Unit X Co-Founder & F-16 Fighter Pilot | Battles in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Pentagon | Raj Shah
Release Date: 07/18/2024
Fallujah II Reunion 3/5 Marines 20 Years After the Battle | Combat Story at the End WIll Bring You To Tears
Combat Story
Today is a special edition of Combat Story where former guest and retired Sniper and Force Recon Marine AJ Pascuiti invited us to spend two days with the Marines of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, some of America’s finest, as they reunited 20 years after the infamous Battle of Fallujah II in November and December 2004. This episode was designed to be seen on video . Special thanks to AJ for organizing and bringing this together for these Marines from Darkhorse. It’s amazing to think of these men who just walk the streets today with their families like any other American but were once the...
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Tactical Submarines | Launching Missiles and Torpedoes from Subs | 30 Year Navy Vet | Rob Peters
Combat Story
Today we have a Combat Story first as we hear firsthand from Rob Peters who spent almost 30 years in the Navy on submarines from the mid-1990s to just this year. Rob served on five different subs and commanded twice. In this episode we cover some of the different types of subs, the training, and the mission sets, to include special operations forces support and delivery, attack parameters, missile launches and more. Exclusive $35-off Carver Mat at AuraFrames.com. Use code COMBAT at checkout to save! We found Rob thanks to a former guest and forever friend of the show Todd Opalski, the...
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Syria Analysis and What’s Next from CIA Senior Intelligence Service and Diplomat / Former CIA Chief of Station Glenn Corn
Combat Story
Welcome to a breaking-event interview on the extraordinary and rapidly unfolding developments in Syria, covering late November to the present. In this special episode, we’re joined by retired CIA Senior Intelligence Service Officer and former State Department Diplomat Glenn Corn. This conversation is part of The Mad Minute — Glenn’s series delivering sharp geopolitical analysis and expert interviews on critical global issues. Glenn brings unmatched expertise to this discussion, with over three decades of service in the US government, including assignments in Turkey, Russia, and extensive...
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Navy SEAL w/ 7 Deployments | Author of Warrior to Civilian | Rob Sarver
Combat Story
Today we have a fantastic Combat Story with former Navy SEAL Officer Rob Sarver. Rob had more fun than most on his path to becoming a SEAL, originally with a detour as a surface warfare officer that he very skillfully managed to curtail, and leveraged a really interesting network to get a shot at the Teams. This episode is chalked full of both great stories from down range but also really practical explanations for getting ahead and succeeding, much of which has made it into his book, Warrior to Civilian: The Field Manual for the Hero’s Journey. In this episode, Rob covers some amazing...
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Combat in Iraq with ODA 043 | Special Forces Team Sergeant | Grit to Glory Author | Darrell Utt (Round 2)
Combat Story
On today’s episode we sit down for round two with Darrell Utt in an episode that is chalked full of combat experiences from his time in 2006 in Iraq and then some stories from his time in 2007 which, one day, will hopefully be a sequel to his book that’s coming out shortly: Grit to Glory. If you didn’t catch round one last week, Darrell grew up in a really tough home where he stopped his mother from shooting his father at one point and vividly remembered watching his mother walk out of the home for the last time. He found his way to the Army and became a Green Beret, serving in a...
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Special Forces Team Sergeant in Iraq | Green Beret | Grit to Glory Author | Darrell Utt (Rd 1)
Combat Story
Today we have round one of a fantastic two-part Combat Story with a former guest: Darrell Utt, a long time Green Beret and retired Master Sergeant. Darrell just finished writing a book () going into great detail about one deployment when he was a Team Sergeant with ODA 043 in 2006 to Iraq that includes all the highs and lows of leading a team of elite Green Berets. We met with Darrell two years ago for an episode (#74) watched by over a 100K+ people and this time around we get into more of the moments, experiences, and emotion in some of the fighting that Darrell has unearthed...
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82nd Airborne Fighting in the Arghandab Valley | William Yeske
Combat Story
Today we have our second account of the brutal fighting within the Arghandab Valley in Afghanistan from Will Yeske, a former 82nd Airborne RTO at the time. Will went on to write the book Damn the Valley: 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 2/508 PIR, 82nd Airborne in the Arghandab River Valley Afghanistan. Will recounts his experiences fighting and surviving in this brutal location in Afghanistan which takes place at the same time (and just across the river) from the same experience faced by our former guest Andrew Bragg who was in Charlie Company. The IEDs, the suicide bombs, and more come to life in...
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Marine Infantry Officer & USASOC | Warrior Withdrawal | Varpas de Sa Pereira
Combat Story
Today we hear a Combat Story from Marine Officer and US Army Special Operations Command (or USASOC) leader Varpas de Sa Pereira (de SA Pur-rare-a). His book Warrior Withdrawal: When BAMF No Longer Means Bad*$$ M^ther#u@!er is a great read for anyone trying to understand why so many of veterans - myself included - face challenges transitioning out of the military outside of just PTSD. Varpas faced combat many times, deploying time and again with a variety of units in search of some "thing" he was missing. He was finally fully engrossed in the ‘system’ and had trouble pulling himself...
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Brutal Fighting in The Arghandab River Valley with the 82nd Airborne | Andrew Bragg | The Devil’s Playground
Combat Story
On today’s Combat Story we have a deep dive into intense fighting that took place in Afghanistan in the treacherous Arghandab River Valley with Andrew Bragg, a former Army infantryman who served back to back tours to two distinct places in Afghanistan, both with plenty of kinetic activity. Andrew’s book The Devil’s Playground is about one of his deployments with the 82nd Airborne to the Arghandab River Valley where his unit experienced 50% casualties, including 6 KIA. Andrew traveled the country in his car to interview members of his unit from 12 years prior, many of whom had not...
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Swedish Special Operations Soldier | Arctic Ranger | Special Purpose Unit | Intelligence | Number 788 | Max Lauker
Combat Story
Today we have our first Combat Story from a Swedish Special Operations soldier and intelligence professional, Max Lauker. Max spent 20 years in the elite Swedish forces and was a plank holder for one of the predecessor units to what later became Sweden’s Special Operations Group. Check out our Combat Story Newsletter at . He served multiple deployments that we cover in this episode in what I’ve coined as four missions and a funeral to dig into more of the combat experiences and lessons while also touching on loss that comes with this line of work. Max takes us through time fighting in Iraq...
info_outlineToday we have a unique Combat Story with F-16 Fighter Pilot and co-founder of the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx), Raj Shah. Raj was handpicked to stand up an organization that would strengthen our armed forces through contractual and cultural bridges between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon, to include accelerating the contracting process and getting the newest technology from Silicon Valley and tech into the hands of the warfighters faster.
Check out our Combat Story Newsletter at www.combatstory.com/newsletter.
Raj is one of these guys who seems to have more time in a day than the rest of us. He is the Managing Partner of Shield Capital, a venture capital firm focused on technologies at the nexus of the commercial and defense markets; chairman of Resilience Insurance, a start-up powering new approaches to cyber insurance; he was CEO of Morta Security, which was acquired by Palo Alto Networks; and he reported directly to the Secretary of Defense while running DIUx for two years. Raj led DIUx in its efforts to strengthen U.S. armed forces through contractual and cultural bridges between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon. He attended Princeton and got an MBA from Wharton at UPenn.
He and Christopher Kirchhoff recently published ‘Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of War,’ which takes you inside AI labs, drone workshops, and battle command centers—to include Ukraine’s frontline – for a fascinating picture of what it takes to stay dominant in a fast-changing and often precarious geopolitical landscape.
With that, please enjoy this short but interesting episode with Raj Shah.
Book Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of War: https://www.amazon.com/Unit-Pentagon-Silicon-Valley-Transforming/dp/1668031388
Website https://www.unitxbook.com/
https://www.unitxbook.com/?pgid=lvhhykmv-0822ea78-348c-4d11-bbad-0625206ad7dd
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🎵 Intro Song: Sport Rock from Audio Jungle
Show Notes:
00:00 The Power of an Individual in Combat
00:30 Introduction to Combat Story and Raj Shah
01:15 Raj Shah's Background and Achievements
02:21 The Future of Warfare: Ukraine and Israel
04:56 Rapid Technological Advancements
06:55 Raj Shah's Military Journey
08:25 Joining the Air National Guard
09:49 Experiences and Challenges in Flight School
16:21 First Deployment and Technological Disparities
18:13 The Role of Software in Modern Warfare
23:24 The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU)
27:11 Setting Up DIU and Overcoming Bureaucracy
31:23 Negotiating the Term Sheet
31:54 Connecting with Todd Park
32:28 Setting the Vision
33:54 Facing Budget Challenges
36:21 Overcoming Bureaucratic Hurdles
39:07 Evaluating Success and Achievements
41:20 Innovative Contracting with Startups
45:09 Technological Innovations and Wins
51:42 Strategic Cost Considerations in Warfare
53:59 Book Recommendations and Reflections
58:15 Final Thoughts and Listener Comments