Shows
Constant CombatThe Fuchsia Feather - Kyle Mader (part 1 of 3)Send a textKyle Mader kept a detailed journal and recounts his path from late arrival on ship to the workup grind, the convoy through Kuwait and Iraq, and two violent days that defined early Ramadi. Street fighting on Easy Street, shifting rules of engagement, and the game changer of an ACOG in gunfights.• joining 2/4 Weapons Company and team makeup• March Air Force Base lanes, MOUT, IED briefs• flight delays, New Jersey layover, Kuwait staging• convoy north, Junction City, Hurricane Point setup• guard on North and South Bridge, spotlight “games”• first IED hits a...
2026-02-181h 01Constant CombatThe Fuchsia Feather - Kyle Mader (part 2 of 3)Send a textPart two with Kyle Mader: gear that mattered, raids that tested nerve, and the twin blasts that changed the platoon. Between a Gunny tossing back a grenade and Oliver North linking the city to Hue, the story moves from gallows humor to loss without losing the thread of what kept people alive.• ACOGs proving their worth under fire• Operation County Fair• Lioness program origins• Bug Hunt rooftop contacts• Oliver North’s urban warfare lens and Vietnam parallels• Chow hall rules• May 1st IED with a concussion, shrapnel, and ch...
2026-02-1852 minConstant CombatThe Fuchsia Feather - Kyle Mader (part 3 of 3)Send a textPart 3 closes with Kyle Mader's memory that unfolds in sharp scenes: near-miss IEDs, a pit of scorpions, hotel firefights, and the long ride home that finally let the breath out. He closes with a little barracks humor, and how talking always made the weight lighter for him.• field injuries and improvised care, including acupuncture relief• a scorpion scare• sniper aftermath • police stations bombed amid a fragile handover• hotel firefight with Bradleys• wild dogs, mortars, smoke pit rituals, and pig Latin humor• leadership friction, communication failures, and fatal consequen...
2026-02-1851 minConstant CombatChaos, Culture, and Carrot Cake - Chris Kackley (part 1 of 2)Send a textChris Kackley tells how a three‑day stop in Hawaii turned into short detour on the way to Ramadi, how broken and inadequate gear forced us to improvise, and why the bond we built now powers some late‑night calls and reunions. Humor and hard lessons come from Chris as he revisits bridges, raids, and the rules that kept shifting.• WhatsApp and Facebook as our modern radio net• Reunion plans and why dates matter• The Marine bond across eras and the birthday culture• Boot camp to SOI to Hawaii to Iraq in d...
2026-02-1358 minConstant CombatChaos, Culture, and Carrot Cake - Chris Kackley (part 2 of 2)Send a textPart two with Chris Kackley of Mobile Assault Platoon 1. Chris tells a volatile slice of Ramadi: from a rooftop firefight to a near-miss RPG, and several good leadership examples that made the difference. Kackley also remembers some humorous hooch life, care packages, camp guard... and moments of honoring friends who didn’t come home.• riding with Oliver North and engaging from a stadium rooftop• rare air support overhead and lessons learned after contact• early April raids and the long waits that followed• IED strikes, an RPG near miss, and split-secon...
2026-02-1352 minConstant CombatA Chiefs Logbook - Manuel Gonzales (part 1 of 2)Send us a textManny Gonzalez talks about his third deployment in 4 years. This time to Ramadi as a combat replacement. He went from advising a Marine Corps video game to landing in Ramadi and learning the Mark 19 overnight. The story moves through shifting IED tactics, hard losses, small wins, and the leaders who kept him steady.• combat casualty replacement orders • reflections as on the invasion as a mortarmen• rapid shift to patrols, raids, overwatch and medevac• evolving IED threats, pressure plates and trip beams• arrival in Ramadi, early KIA and Fox wounded...
2026-02-091h 03Constant CombatA Chiefs Logbook - Manuel Gonzales (part 2 of 2)Send us a textManuel Gonzalez’s notes are exceptional for a charged stretch in Ramadi: VBIEDs, mortars, a TOW shot that made TV, a lifesaving tire shot, and the quiet grit of drivers, gunners, and leaders who kept moving. Outside of the shots and incoming, he also discusses denied extensions, training standards, and how bonds last.• Oliver North encounter and the grenade mindset• VBIED engagement, mortar fire, a TOW shot• City-wide cascade of IEDs, RPGs, and QRF responses• Operation Traveler and urban sniper contact• Near misses, decisive marksmanship, and restraint• Guard...
2026-02-091h 00Constant CombatThe Path From The Dark Side - Joshua Alderette (part 1 of 2)Send us a textJosh Alderette gives a candid oral history: a young lance corporal is yanked from his team and dropped into 81s as a TOW gunner, right after losing a friend. The early Ramadi period shows how expectations fractured early. They were sold stabilization... then hit with IED craters, night missions, and gear failures under stress. What lingers isn’t only violence; it’s the culture that kept people from seeking care.• transfer from MAP 2 to 81s and leadership pushback• March AFB spin-up, open-bolt lessons, early blasts• stigma around getting medical car...
2026-02-041h 01Constant CombatThe Path From The Dark Side - Joshua Alderette (part 2 of 2)Send us a text“We went from amateur to professional in two days.” Ambushes, mortars, Bradleys, and the fog of war as told by Josh Alderette in part 2 of our conversation. Two brutal April days, from convoy ambushes and mortar fire, and the small human moments that still echo decades later. We talk tactics, errors, lucky breaks, and how those hours turned kids into adults overnight.• the white Opel• mortars, counter-battery, and sensing incoming• April 6 push to Echo Company under ambush• rooftop fights, IEDs and palm grove contact• evacuating wounded down Nova under fir...
2026-02-041h 04Constant CombatThe Real Machine Gun Kelly - Nick KellySend us a textNick Kelly recounts Ramadi in 2004, from the first push, to the government center, to the fight that swallowed Easy Street, and the strange silence of coming home. Nick also paints the story of what lingers. It's the humanizing part: calling a parent from an accidentally open phone center; cleaning carbon off steel because it steadies the mind; reading about Vietnam under desert stars; and deciding how much of the past to carry into the present. • background as 0331 in a Mobile Assault Platoon• training gaps versus urban combat reality• convoy north...
2026-01-301h 09Constant CombatA Lifetime of Explosives - Heath McKenzie (part 1 of 2)Send us a textHeath McKenzie's story comes with a lot of laughs sprinkled into a good recounting of some busy days. The streets emptied and everyone knew what came next. If you listen closely, he gives an excellent account of tactical changes made from lessons learned. We walk through April 6 and 7 as Golf pinned down... QRFs ambushed from both east and west, and a small team surging ahead to break the line while the rest of the convoy wrestles contact on every block.• joining 2-4 on the heels of 9/11• Okinawa extension, stop-loss, MP assi...
2026-01-2649 minConstant CombatA Lifetime of Explosives - Heath McKenzie (part 2 of 2)Send us a textPart two with Heath McKenzie of MAP 3. He leads us thru the memory of Ramadi: VBIEDs, RPG ambushes, and his rare Javelin shot... and then recounts the long, messy work of coming home, sobriety, and leaning on people who answer the phone. • VBIEDs and the life-saving impact of up-armored Humvees• The government center as a constant contact point• Hooch life with volleyball, golf, Xbox, and rom-coms• New joins... and close calls with power lines• A sanctioned Javelin strike on a VBIED• Lioness teams’ role in raids and sudden remo...
2026-01-2638 minConstant CombatSemper Familia - Jonathan Wade (part 1 of 2)Send us a textWe catch up with Jon Wade from the 81mm mortars platoon. He details some sharp turns from the workup and flight over.... to the long, slow convoy into Iraq, where a medevac on the highway snaps everyone into a new reality. A reality that shaped how we fought and how he led in the future. • joining 81s in Oki• Super Bowl bet, broken jet, snow PT in Jersey• acclimatizing in Kuwait• the long convoy, first medevac seen, stress and luck• living under daily mortars and calm under fire•...
2026-01-2154 minConstant CombatSemper Familia - Jonathan Wade (part 2 of 2)Send us a textWe revisit Ramadi 2004 with Jon Wade to trace how hard lessons learned became durable leadership in his later career as a senior NCO and Staff NCO. We end on brotherhood, nerves at the finish, and what it means to bring people home.• early raids blocked by chains, walls, missing tools• switch from textbook CQB... to shock and overwhelm• April 6–10 battle: motorbikes, shifting ROE• intel gaps and rare feedback on detainees• HVT hit with Delta and Oliver North present• corrupt cop raid with large caches and documents• unit cul...
2026-01-2147 minConstant CombatFrom Boot to Battle - Daniel Ackles (part 1 of 2)Send us a textDan Ackles brings us back to the moment he stepped off a van from SOI and into a deploying battalion bound for Ramadi. A rushed workup, 7 ton trucks with sandbags, April’s sudden violence, and the moral weight of changing ROE shape a raw, unvarnished account. This interview is blunt, darkly funny, and deeply humanizing via a lived record of how young Marines adapt fast. • boot drop straight into 2/4 without a full workup• crash-course training at March Air Force Base and Kuwait• arrival and life at Hurricane Point• first convo...
2026-01-1752 minConstant CombatFrom Boot to Battle - Daniel Ackles (part 2 of 2)Send us a textPart 2 with Dan Ackles from Rainmaker Platoon to recall Ramadi’s chaos, the missions that went right... until they didn’t, and the people who made it possible to keep going. Language barriers, split-second choices, and the loss of a close mentor anchor a hard look at meaning, duty, and memory.• language barriers• raids with potential intel issues and gestures over words• the IED that wounded 2 Marines and a stalled recovery• the blast that killed Savage• leadership under fire and Doc Contreras’ lifesaving work• culture shocks and unit humor as...
2026-01-1746 minConstant CombatRamadi's Hardest Miles - Jason Mosel (part 1 of 2)Send us a textJason Mosel tells the story of arriving in Ramadi as teenagers on a “peacekeeping” mission; then living through April 4th thru 10th, and the long grind of sustained combat. It's a blur of close-range engagements where a single turn can bring an RPG screaming into your vehicle's grill. We also unpack gear gaps, improvisation, the famous Ollie North night mission, and the politics that shaped the city and missions.• rushed training at March Air Force Base and minimal turnover• building hooch plumbing and fixing broken infrastructure• April 4 loss of Morris
2026-01-1045 minConstant CombatRamadi's Hardest Miles - Jason Mosel (part 2 of 2)Send us a textPart 2 with Mozey is a very candid look at the aftermath of Ramadi through stigma, medication, and a near-suicide. This is an unpolished conversation and the deeper takeaway is simple and hard: recovery isn’t a medal. It’s a practice, a conversation, and sometimes a long quiet run through the woods. If you’ve ever carried something heavy and silent - PTSD, grief, addiction - you’ll find some tools here: speak up, seek community, move with purpose, honor the fallen, and build spaces where you and others can heal.We close wi...
2026-01-1041 minConstant CombatEverybody Wanted to Fight - Jose Miranda (Part 1 of 2)Send us a textJose Miranda’s deep account includes a handover in Ramadi that felt hollow, and the platoon building their own picture from scratch. From there, it’s a street-level view of the Sofia district fights, rockets fired at a suspected Vehicle born explosive, and the hard call to his mother. Before part 2 starts, Jose recalls what it meant to carry a fallen Marine’s story back to his family.• joining the Marine Corps• Okinawa miles that built grit• thin handoff in Ramadi and designing the guard• first IEDs and a fast escalati...
2026-01-0557 minConstant CombatEverybody Wanted to Fight - Jose Miranda (Part 2 of 2)Send us a textWith Part 2, Jose Miranda starts with a streak of fire and close encounter with an Army unit during a friendly fire incident. He moves through several blasts, and carnage that defined a brutal summer in Ramadi. Jose closes with coming home, and the slow work of finding small joys and trusted voices.• the Army engagement• Operation Treasure Island and body recovery on the river• May 12 KIA and the May 29 engineer IED and Echo VBIED• checkpoint split‑second decisions and civilian misreads• rumors, alcohol accusations, and SOG duty• leader...
2026-01-0554 minConstant CombatEasy Street was Definitely Not Easy - Ayron CoxSend us a textAyron Cox paints the path through Ramadi 2004. It's a candid, granular look at modern urban combat, CQB and breaching under fire, javelin employment in a city fight, and the mental health gaps that still shadow returning veterans.Naming a daughter after a fallen leader preserves a legacy of courage and care. His message is not tidy but true: war rewires you... tactics save you... and brotherhood sustains you.• rushed deployment, missing gear, fast acclimatization• patrols on Route Michigan and fighting on Easy Street• MAP tactics, cross-training on TOW, javeli...
2025-12-3053 min
JP Dinnell PodcastBeyond the Battle of Ramadi with Former Navy SEAL Andrew Paul | JP Dinnell Podcast 118JP Dinnell sits down with former Navy SEAL teammate and Veteran of the Battle of Ramadi, Andrew Paul. JP and Andrew talk about the Battle of Ramadi, BUD/s, working for Jocko in Task Unit Bruiser, and how Echelon Front brings battlefield lessons to the boardroom and the home. Get your free training from First In Nutrition: https://www.firstinnutrition.com/jppod More from JP Dinnell: https://www.jpdinnell.com/ Join the conversation on instagram Andrew Paul: http://instagram.com/theandrewmpaul JP Dinnell: http://instagram.com/jpdinnell/...
2025-12-262h 43Constant CombatThe Eye of the Tiger - Brian Fox (Part 2 of 2)Send us a textBrian Fox, combat replacement of Rainmaker Platoon, joins us for part two and takes us straight back to Ramadi: where a pre-mission ritual, a bad gut feeling, and a freshly installed ballistic windshield become the slender line between luck and loss. The moment you heard “I’m not feeling it today,” you could feel the air change. He recounts brotherhood from a Humvee’s cab to life after the war.• pre-mission ritual and a bad gut feeling• IED blast on Route Nova• improvised armor, gear tradeoffs• disguises, mustache fiasco, and base...
2025-12-2546 minConstant CombatThe Eye of the Tiger - Brian Fox (Part 1 of 2)Send us a textGreat convo with Brian Fox who in 2004 was a corporal fapped to military police and refuses to drift away to his end of enlistment... and fights to return to Ramadi. Arriving alone to a bonded unit and earning trust by taking the wheel of Vehicle 2 in Rainmaker platoon. The story tracks hard choices, aggressive driving, VBIEDs on Route Michigan, and the rituals that hold a platoon together.• volunteering out of a FAP to rejoin 2/4 as a first-wave combat replacement• getting assigned to Weapons Company at Hurricane Point• the lonely integr...
2025-12-2546 min
Tier1 PodcastBattle of Ramadi | 2/4 Marines | Iraq War Urban Combat 2004–2006Episode TitleBattle of Ramadi | 2/4 Marines | Iraq War Urban Combat 2004–2006Episode DescriptionThe Battle of Ramadi was one of the most brutal and sustained urban combat engagements of the Iraq War.In this episode of the Tier1 Podcast, two U.S. Marines from 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines share firsthand accounts from the 2004 Battle of Ramadi and their return to Ramadi during the 2006 Iraq War deployment. They discuss urban warfare, counterinsurgency operations, leadership under fire, and the brotherhood forged in one of the most dangerous cities in Iraq.This conversation explores how co...
2025-12-222h 05Constant CombatWith Gauze and Grit - Rudy Contreras (part 1 of 2)Send us a text“Doc” wasn’t just a nickname. It was trust earned under fire in Ramadi. Doc Contreras' story goes from Navy schoolhouse to Ramadi’s streets, where he learns to improvise care, earns a rifle, and covers two mortar platoons through months of daily contact. The story tracks hard lessons in combat medicine, leadership, stress, and how he kept the unit moving.• joining the Navy and embedding with Marines• Bridgeport training and earning trust as “Doc”• deploying via Kuwait and first contact in Ramadi• improvising tourniquets and chest seals with limited gear
2025-12-1955 minConstant CombatWith Gauze and Grit - Rudy Contreras (part 2 of 2)Send us a textNavy Corpsman Rudy Contreras’ job is simple on paper and brutal in practice: find the wounded, make the call, and keep your honor clean. He brings us front seat in part 2 of his interview to combat medicine, the IED strike that took Jeremiah, and the long road from Ramadi to healing. Hard choices, raw humor, and a code of honor shape how Rudy treated enemies, held his Marines together, and found peace years later.• treating enemies and civilians under fire• triage choices, morphine scarcity, and restraint• the IED blast, airway m...
2025-12-1944 min