S.O.S. (Stories of Service) - Ordinary people who do extraordinary work

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A phrase that sounds like pure chaos becomes a surprisingly thoughtful answer to a real problem: how do veterans date, connect, and feel understood after the uniform comes off? We sit down with MJ and Dave, the minds behind “Fuck Veterans, I Do,” to unpack how an outrageous joke turned into a genuine veteran community where civilians are welcome too, and ...

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A single headline can’t carry the weight of a sexual assault allegation, especially when intoxication, fragmented memory, and missing digital evidence are part of the story. We wanted a conversation that slows everything down and asks the harder question: what can actually be proven, and what are we merely assuming?

I’m joined by military defense a...

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A job can end fast. Identity usually doesn’t. That tension sits at the center of my conversation with Steve Stan Toulus, a Staten Island native whose path runs through the NYPD, performance, Hollywood sets, independent filmmaking, podcasting, and private investigation work. His story isn’t about chasing fame. It’s about what you do after the plan br...

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A lot of political talk starts with slogans. We start with receipts and a life story. I’m Teresa Carpenter, and I sit down with Carl Lester Boyenton, an independent candidate for Congress in Mississippi’s 4th congressional district, to ask the questions voters rarely get to ask: what shaped you, what do you actually believe, and what happens when party po...

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Combat doesn’t care about your politics, your bio, or your social media takes. It cares whether you can think clearly under pressure, carry what you must carry, and keep moving when the plan breaks and the fight gets close. That’s where our conversation goes as I sit down with Marine veteran Assad Khan to talk about women in combat, infantry reality, and ...

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The most dangerous leadership failure rarely happens on a stage. It happens in a quiet moment when you can protect your reputation or protect your integrity and you pick the one that gets you promoted. 

I’m joined by John Constantine, a former United States Secret Service agent who spent nearly 23 years in protection work, including the Special Oper...

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We all remember what we lost on September 11th, 2001. But 25 years later, there’s another question that matters just as much: do we remember what rose? 

We sit down with award-winning filmmaker Michael Geyer, director and producer of The Heroism and Resiliency of 9-11: From Tragedy to Triumph, narrated by Gary Sinise, to talk about the stories that ...

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A kid from the Mississippi Delta grows up chopping cotton, runs out of money in college, donates plasma to eat, and still believes he can lead. That’s the starting line for my conversation with Ty Pinkins, a 21-year U.S. Army veteran who served three combat tours, traveled the world, and ended his military career as a communications aide to President Obama, a r...

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One of the hardest leadership tests isn’t combat, it’s standing up to your own institution when the truth becomes inconvenient. We sit down with retired Navy SEAL Captain Bradley Geary, a former commander in Naval Special Warfare, to talk about what it feels like to go from trusted leader to suspected scapegoat almost overnight.

Brad walks us throu...

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Watching someone turn the uniform into a prop for clicks hits different when you’ve worn it, deployed in it, and watched friends stake their lives on what it represents. That’s why we sit down with Dr. Chase Spears, former Army public affairs officer and combat veteran, for a blunt conversation about the erosion of military standards and what happens when...

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Thirteen service members died at Abbey Gate, and the country barely blinked before the headlines changed. That silence is what Navy veteran, entrepreneur, and wooden flag craftsman Joe Burdick could not accept, so he turned remembrance into something tangible, public, and permanent.

We talk about the Abbey Gate bombing during the Kabul evacuation and why it st...

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A single leadership decision can change the course of a career and sometimes a life. Chad Bruckner joins me to talk about what he’s learned across infantry combat missions in Iraq and 15 years in law enforcement, and why the “price of service” is often paid quietly after the call ends. We get honest about moral injury, shame, and the painful gap bet...

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Patriotism looks easy from the stands. It looks clean on a jumbotron, polished in a flyover, and settled in a two-minute tribute. But when we turn service into a performance, we lose the only thing that can keep us honest: responsibility. Teresa sits down with retired U.S. Army Major and Afghanistan combat veteran Michael P. Hart to talk about the price of war that m...

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A judge told William Brown something that should stop any veteran cold: New Jersey’s anti-discrimination law did not clearly protect veterans like him. Bill is a former Navy SEAL, a working attorney, and the founder of the New York City SEAL Swim, so he did what he’s trained to do when the mission matters. He adapted. He organized. And he took the fight o...

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A knock at the door is the moment many military families replay for the rest of their lives, and the person on the porch often had far less preparation than you’d expect. We sit down with retired U.S. Marine Christopher Murphy to talk about casualty notification and what it really means to serve as a casualty assistance officer when a service member dies. Chris...

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A warship is built for uncertainty, but COVID demanded a different kind of readiness. We’re joined by retired Captain John York, the senior medical officer aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt during the 2020 outbreak, to tell the story from inside the crisis: what the medical team saw, what leaders heard, and why the public narrative never fully matched the lived...

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A C-section goes wrong, the truth stays buried, and a young soldier spends seven years fighting for the words that should have come on day one: we made a mistake, and we’re going to take care of you. We sit down again with Lauren Paladini, whose delivery at Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg ended with a severed vessel connected to her right uterine arter...

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Orders are supposed to be clear, lawful, and tied to mission. So what happens when a policy feels wrong in your gut, looks shaky in the paperwork, and gets enforced with threats, segregation, and career-ending consequences?

I’m joined by Scott Lauderer, a retired Air Force reservist with 25 years of service across multiple branches, and former Army Serge...

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Social media can make you feel surrounded and alone at the same time, and veterans often get hit hardest by that whiplash. I sit down with Jenna Carlton, a former U.S. Navy aerographer’s mate and the creator behind The Millennial Veteran, to talk about the double-edged reality of online community: it can save you on your worst day, but it can also drag you into...