The Half Percent Podcast

James Karp was a US Marine (1st Battalion, 3rd Marines) and fought at the 2nd Battle of Fallujah. After leaving the Corps, James joined the French Foreign Legion and went on to be an archaeological technician, working throughout North and Central America. Most recently, James volunteered for the Ukraine Foreign Legion and was in country for 6 months.  James also started SV Chasing Horizon a group of veterans who help other veterans...

Rodger Carlyle was part of the US Navy-AVROC (Aviation Reserve Officer Candidate) program and on track to become a Naval Aviator when a medical issue caused his Naval career to be cut short. Rodger then embarked on a civilian career that took him around the globe, including extensive time in Russia just as the Soviet empire was crumbling. Rodger's career path saw him start and run multiple businesses, writing for political cam...

Nick Allen served 8 years in the US Army, earning his Green Beret. Nick's career in special operations was cut short in his first training mission where he sustained multiple concussions. Nick continued to provide value to his team for the remainder of his Army career but like so many in the military, separation and civilian life proved difficult and Nick has gone thorough many extreme ups and downs. Nick has continued to stay...

Col. Mike Bennett (US Army-Retired) spent 30 years in the US Army and is a graduate of Ranger School and the Special Operations Qualification Course. Mike deployed 7 times around the globe during his career and is the author of the Warlock Series, including the latest in the series, Moths to the Flame-Origin of Warlock. Mike describes his career and writing thusly,
"I plan to write a little different take on the tradition...

Mario Morales spent 7 years in the US Marine Corps (2005-2012) with deployments to Africa and Afghanistan. Mario is a board member for Ruck For Veterans, a veteran service organization that organizes bi-annual rucks every Veterans Day and Memorial Day to bring awareness to veterans' issues and aims to bridge the gap between the community and the military with various events throughout the year. 
Learn more at https://www....

Steve Stratton spent 20 years in the U.S. Army in a career that was anything but typical. Starting at the White House Communications Agency supporting the needs of Presidents Ford and Carter, Vice Presidents Rockefeller and Mondale and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. His work took him around the world introducing him to new cultures, ways of thinking, and the various agencies tasked with projecting and protecting American inter...

Thom Shea spent 23 years as a US Navy SEAL with multiple combat deployments across the globe, and later as an instructor/officer in charge of the SEAL sniper course. Thom's incredible story is one of perseverance, honoring his word and exhibiting the will to keep coming back again and again, no matter what was thrown at him. Thom is the author of "Unbreakable: A Navy SEAL's Way of Life"  and "Three Simple T...

Jose Belen spent 4 years in the US Army and saw combat in the early stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom. As a Field Artilleryman (13B), Jose was with Old Ironsides (1st Armored Division) as they pushed into Iraq in spring of 2003 and he speaks in stark and bracing terms of the mindset of preparing for war and the atmosphere of combat that he and his fellow soldiers faced.  After leaving the Army in 2005, Jose embarked on a successful...

Joe Hayes served four years in the US Marine Corps and deployed twice to Iraq in the early stages of the GWOT. Joe was part of 2nd Battalion/4th Marines (Magnificent Bastards) and his first deployment took him into the heart of the Sunni Triangle and Ramadi, where he and his fire team engaged in an intense gunfight that would forever change Joe and those he served with. Joe goes into fascinating detail of that fateful April day in ...

Mike Nelson spent 23 years in the US Army, first in the 82nd Airborne and then the majority of his career in the special operations community as a Green Beret. Mike grew up in an Army family and attended Virginia Military Institute. He served at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels including as the Deputy Director of the US Central Commander’s Action Group, Future Operations director of Combined Joint Interagency Task Fo...

Fran Racioppi spent 13 years in the US Army, much of that time in Special Operations as a Green Beret. Fran's Army career saw him deploy 3 times to Iraq as well as to multiple countries throughout Africa. His service there included coordinating Special Operations response to Al-Shabab throughout East Africa. In 2014, he planned and coordinated the Special Forces response to Boko Haram in West Africa, as well as oversaw the ope...

Kyle Cassel spent 4 years in the US Marine Corps and another 3 years as a private contractor assigned to the US Army. In that capacity, Kyle was deployed to multiple forward operating bases (FOBs) in southern and eastern Afghanistan, where he spent his days in small workshops and even smaller living quarters. In this wide ranging conversation, Kyle talks about learning cricket from soldiers of the Afghan National Army, the sensatio...

Joe Winslow served in the US Marine Corps for 21 years. Enlisting in the late 1980s, Joe's career took him to Germany as the Berlin Wall fell, to reserve status and then back to active duty and Officer Candidate School through multiple deployments, to the last years where he was Combat Historian in Iraq for the Corps as they battled al Qaeda and other Iraqi insurgents in the Battles of Fallujah. Joe was given carte blanche acc...

Kenneth Earl is a retired Navy Master Chief Cryptologist who spent 21 years in the Navy. Deploying around the globe multiple times throughout his career, Earl dealt with America's most sensitive secrets and classified information, helping to keep America's warfighters at the cutting edge of the battle space. After retiring from the Navy, Earl went on to work for multiple government agencies, combatting cyber crime of all ...

Matthew Charette spent 5 years in the US Marine Corps. From a family of Marines and military service stretching back generations, Matthew knew early on he was going into the military, taking the ASVAB in 9th grade! Initially assigned to Fleet Anti-Terrorism/Security Forces, Matthew deployed to multiple locations in Europe. Later assigned to 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines-Kilo Company, Matthew was deployed to Helmand, Afghanistan and wa...

Christopher Strom spent four years in the US Marine Corps, twenty years as a police officer in the NYPD, retiring a sergeant with the NYPD Intelligence Division. In October 2007, Chris was recruited by the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), a government agency that devised top-secret strategies for combating IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan. As the lead tactical debriefing officer, he participated in over 1...

Ryan Rogers served over a decade in the US Marine Corps. Inspired to join the Corps by the 9/11 attacks, Ryan's service saw him deployed five times, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Iraq, Afghanistan. Ryan also had a ten month stint on the All-Marine Boxing Team, earning a 5-1 record. It was his deployment to Afghanistan as a Squad Leader in 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines in the Battle of Marjah, that formed the basis for his book,...