Behind The Shield

Joe DiBernardo is a retired FDNY Deputy Chief and the President of the Lt. Joseph P. DiBernardo Memorial Foundation. We discuss his early life, serving as Army Reconnaissance in Vietnam, his road into the fire service, some of his many career calls, his son Joseph's path into the FDNY, the "Black Sunday Fire", losing his son in 2011, the importance of bail out equipment, the foundation and so much more.

Nicholas Seedsman is a former Australian SAS operator and the founder of the Warrior Refit Foundation. We discuss his early life in Australia, his journey into the Special Forces, his perception of war, traumatic brain injury, the crippling effects of autoimmune disease, mental health, the power of stem cell therapy, psychedelics, his non-profit and so much more.

Jason Bitzer is a Hawaii Ocean Lifeguard, author and the founder of "Never Off Duty". In this second conversation, we discuss the pandemic's impact on Oahu's beaches, tourism, understaffing, wave parks, proactive lifeguarding and his powerful perspective on his son's pediatric cancer diagnosis.

Beau Porter is a veteran Los Angeles firefighter and the man behind "Firefight Mentality". We discuss his multi-generational firefighting family, his own journey into the fire service, homelessness, addiction, gang violence, his powerful perspective on the pandemic, losing his best friend, his own mental health story, the genesis of his project and so much more.

Justin Brooks is a veteran lawyer, the founder of the California Innocence Project and the author of his new book "You might go to Prison even though you're Innocent." We discuss his early international life, his journey into law, the margins of error in the legal system, interrogation psychology, racial bias, plea bargains, some of his wrongful conviction cases and much more.

John Graham is a former British Army Paratrooper and member of 22 SAS. He is also known as his pen name John Geddes, the author of "Spearhead Assault" detailing his experience in the Falkland Islands War and "Highway to Hell" telling his military contracting story in Iraq. We discuss his early life in England, his journey into the military, serving in Northern Ireland, The Battle of Goose Green, war in the Middle East, contracting, close protection work, mental health, leadership and much more.

Luis Nevarez is a veteran firefighter who retired at the rank of chief. In 2002, he lost an arm in an electrocution at a house fire and fought to return to the profession he loved. We discuss escaping gang culture as a child, his journey into the fire service, firefigher fitness, leadership, the physical and mental rehbilitation journey, his perspecitve through the ranks, mentorship, the Phoenix Society and so much more.

Damian Porter is a former Australian special forces operator, police officer and current active duty firefighter. We discuss his early life in New Zealand, bodybuilding, his journey into the military, his perspective on war, the transition into law enforcement, entering the fire service, his new platform "The How not to Die Guy" and so much more.

Mark Watson spent the early part of his career in education before transitioning into cognitive rehabilitation. We discuss his own learning challenges as a child, his journey into teaching, physical education, traumatic brain injury, strokes, neuroplasticity, reahabilitation programming and much more.

Chuck DiChiara has spent 35 years in Law Enforcement with a majority of his time in SWAT. We discuss his journey into policing, fitness standards in SWAT, defensive tactics, police grappling, compassion in Law Enforcement, use of force, school safety, mental health and much more.

Jason Friedman is a veteran firefighter/paramedic whose career spans from New York to Florida. We discuss his journey into the volunteer fire service, his road to paramedicine, some of his career calls, losing his parents, his powerful mental health story, the Shatterproof program, Ketamine therapy and so much more.

Dr João Goulão is Portugal's Director of Addiction Intervention and one of the men who spearheaded the decriminalization of all drug use. In this second conversation we discuss Portugal's pandemic experience, the mental health ripple effect, fighting smuggling, what happens when support and funding are cut, obesity, gender dysphoria and so much more.

Jason Kasper is a former Green Beret and USA Today bestselling author of the Spider Heist, American Mercenary, and Shadow Strike thriller series. In this second conversation we discuss the Afghanistan withdrawal, his fight to rescue his interpreter, the pandemic, the Mlitary Industrial Complex, catharsis through writing, his powerful mental health story, the healing power of psychedlics and so much more.

Courtney Starkey is a Hypnotherapist and the author of "Cornflower". We discuss her turbulent childhood, her pursuit of mental health tools, the journey into hypnotherapy, hypnosis myths, the spiritual realm, alternative realities, healing, high performance and so much more.

Rob Ramirez is a veteran South Florida firefighter, USAR TF2 team member and National Rescue Consultants instructor. We discuss his journey into the fire service, responding to special need patients, entering special operations, Hurricane Katrina, the Parkland attack, the Surfside collapse, Hurricane Ian, firefighter fitness, realism in training, mental health and so much more.

Noah Galloway is an Army Airborne Veteran, amputee, author and altruist. We discuss his father's amputation, Noah's journey into the military, the IED that took his arm and leg in Bagdhad, his powerful physical and mental rehabilitation journey, obstacle racing, his book "Living with no Excuses", his non-profit and so much more.

Al Kavadlo is a strength and conditioning coach, author and one of the leaders in calisthenics training. We discuss his journey into fitness, bodybuilding, his introduction to coaching, the incredible power of bodyweight training, the importance of mobility, training the aging athlete, music and much more.

Lee Jeffries is an accountant and photographer who work spans from the homeless poulation to Metallica. We discuss his journey into accounting, the importance of mentorship, the chance encounter with a homeless woman that began his photography journey, catching a person's soul through film, how he ended up working with one of our generation's greatest bands and so much more.

Steve Gillespie is a retired FDNY Special Operations Firefighter and the man behind "Surviving the Job". We discuss volunteer firefighting as a teen, his journey into the FDNY, training diligence in Special Operations, his harrowing 9/11 story, The "Black Sunday" fire, the Deutsch Bank fire, processesing multiple LODDs, his own mental health story and much more.

Chance Burles is a Canadian Army veteran and the host of The Collective. We discuss childhood trauma, his journey into the military, his deployment in Afghanistan, transition, horsemanship, the healing power of equine therapy, podcasting, jiujitsu and so much more.