Mandatory Fun

Jumping into freezing water is just part of the legacy of being a Navy SEAL. During World War II, the U.S. Navy Combat Demolition Units were just a handful of guys equipped only with a pair of shorts, a knife, and maybe some explosives. But the roots of being amphibious is still close to the Navy special warfare community – that's why they still call themselves "Frogmen."

Some 74 years ago, these Navy Combat Demolition Units braved...

Our guest Sebastian Junger is not a military veteran. He makes that clear, but he sure sounds like one. Maybe it's because he's seen more conflict than many in the United States military. If there's an expert on modern warfare and the long-term effects of those who live it, that person is Sebastian Junger.

He joins us to discuss his new PBS documentary airing on Memorial Day "Going To War" and explains how people transform before, ...

The real James Bond is finally revealed: A few years ago Larry Loftis decided to stop publishing legal articles and work full-time on researching and writing the story of Dusko Popov, the daring World War II double agent who worked tirelessly to keep the Nazis off guard about the upcoming D-Day invasions.

That work became his book Into the Lion's Mouth: The True Story of Dusko Popov: World War II Spy, Patriot, and the Real-Life Ins...

When Doc Todd left the Navy after spending three years as a corpsman, he didn’t have any transition assistance or training. He lost friends. He lost Marines. After separating from the military, he saw even more of his Marines take their own lives through substance abuse and suicide. It’s wasn’t the ending he had expected when he joined.

He joined the Navy in 2007 after spending four years in sales and restaurant jobs. He wanted to ...

"It was like walking onto the surface of the moon," Graham Elwood says of his first experience walking off of a C-17 in Afghanistan.

His experience was not unlike many of our own first times deploying to a far-off edge of the world. We take a long, long C-17 (or god help you, C-130) ride for seemingly endless hours. There are no windows. The plane is packed. Forget about an in-flight movie or looking out the window. And when you wa...

Clint Emerson is not your average U.S. Navy retiree. He's not your average anything and he never was. That might be why so many Fortune 500 companies want Emerson to not only speak at their corporate gatherings but also teach them how to survive some extreme circumstances.

Emerson is a former Navy SEAL and the author of a number of books, notably "100 Deadly Skills: The SEAL Operative's Guide Eluding Pursuers, Evading Capture, and ...

In this episode of the Mandatory Fun podcast, the gang comments on some of the biggest coming the U.S. military will face in the coming days.

Because external challenges are easy for a fighting force like ours, the internal struggles are the ones we really want to talk about. These affect not only the troops themselves, but potentially their families, friends, and morale as well.

New physical standards for all

The recent y...

In this episode of the Mandatory Fun podcast, the crew discusses what military movies veterans need to see in 2018.

Since all veterans have their own idea of what makes a good military movie, Blake, Tim, and even the new WATM contributor, Sean chime in what they think makes a solid war film.

Is having a war film base on a true story more important than having epic explosions? Or a movie where the real heroes of the day play themsel...

In this episode of the Mandatory Fun podcast, the crew speaks with standup comedian turned actor Tone Bell.

Tone isn't a veteran, but as always, there's a connection. On the Netflix show Disjointed, Tone plays a veteran who has served on three Iraq combat deployments and now deals with the everyday struggle of veteran issues.

To play the role, Tone prepped for multiple levels of PTS, the process of veteran transition, the culture o...

In this episode of the Mandatory Fun podcast, we speak with standup comedian turned actor Tone Bell.

Tone isn't a veteran, but he plays an Army veteran with multiple combat deployments under his belt and now who deals with everyday veteran issues like PTS and transitioning out of the military on the Netflix show Disjointed.

You may remember Tone from a few other shows he's been on like 9JKL, The Flash, Truth Be Told, and Bad Judge ...

In this episode of the Mandatory Fun podcast, we speak actor, TV host, and former U.S. Army Green Beret Terry Schappert. You may remember Terry from the popular History Channel show Warriors, and now, Hollywood Weapons on the Outdoor Channel with Israel Defense Forces reconnaissance man, Larry Zanoff.

Terry was a Special Forces Team Sergeant who happened to serve alongside WATM's own Chase Milsap.

Hollywood Weapons gears up to take...

In this episode of the Mandatory Fun podcast, we speak with U.S. Navy SEAL veteran turned entrepreneur Eli Crane. You may have seen Eli pitch his business Bottle Breacher on the hit TV show Shark Tank. Eli's appearance landed him a partnership with celebrity businessmen Mark Cuban and Kevin O'Leary.

Eli stopped by our show to talk about what military strategies he uses to run his multi-million dollar business.

"A lot of the tactics...