SOF & Leadership with ADM (Ret) McRaven

We are honored to feature ADM (Ret) William H. McRaven in SOFspot Episode #70. He pulls from his legendary SOF career to share his views of leadership, the future of SOF, and the importance of international partnerships. Don't miss this opportunity to hear from one of the greats!ADM (Ret) William H. McRaven's Books:https://www.amazon.com/stores/William-H.-McRaven/author/B000APSSE0?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=trueUpcoming GSOF Events:https://gsof.org/global-sof-events-listing/Support the show

The Global SOF Team is BACK in your pod-feed! After a year-long hiatus from SOFspot, we're returning with all new episodes. A lot has happened for Global SOF since Summer '22, so Stu, Meaghan, Chelsea, and Jenn got together to discuss just what HAS happened over the course of the past year. From SOF Week to growing the team to policy education, we hit on everything you should know as members of the Global SOF community.As always, you can learn more about the Foundation at www.gsof.org.Support the show

Chelsea sat down with Colonel (R) Jeffrey H. Fischer, a successful author of thrillers and an experienced journalist in international security with a 30-year military career. His service includes seven combat tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Balkans, and he's taken inspiration and experiences from those deployments for his Curt Nover military fiction thriller series. He and his wife have also started a non-profit in Vienna called "Shelter2Service," training shelter dogs to support military Veterans living in Europe. They discuss all of that and more in this episode of SOFspot.Buy Jeff Fischer's Books:https://www.jeffreyhfischer.com/novelsHighlighted GSOF Events:- GSOF Symposium Europe, 24-26 OCT, Brno Czech Republichttps://www.gsofeurope.org/- Modern Warfare Week, 13-16 NOV, Fayetteville, NChttps://mww.gsofsymposium.org/Support the show

In this episode, we discuss military family building and fertility issues. While we DO talk about freezing sperm samples, more importantly we discuss the breadth of the family planning issue in the SOF community, how it's impacting retention, and what policy changes Congress needs to make to support our Special Ops families. Our experts today come from the Military Family Building Coalition and Legacy:Ellen Gustafson, MFBC Co-FounderKaty Bell Hendrickson, MFBC Co-FounderJohn Crowley, Legacy Military AffairsListen to hear from these three experts about this issue and why it's so important that we support their efforts to change US policy on military fertility options.--------Military Family Building Coalitionhttps://www.militaryfamilybuilding.orgLegacy https://www.givelegacy.com/military/https://www.givelegacy.com/nsw/Blue Star Family Survey Resultshttps://bluestarfam.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/BSF_MFLS_Results2021_Family-Building_03_10.pdfEVENT - GSOF Symposium Europehttps://www.gsofeurope.orgEVENT - Modern Warfare Weekhttps://mww.gsofsymposium.orgGlobal SOF Partner Highlight - CAE USAhttp://cae.comSupport the show

In this episode of SOFspot, GSOF President and CEO Stu Bradin talks to Toby Harnden, an author and journalist who was awarded the Orwell Prize for Books in 2012.He also wrote "First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA Mission to Avenge 9/11," which was published in Sept 2021 and tells the story of Team Alpha, an "eclectic band of linguists, tribal experts, and elite warriors who were the first Americans to operate inside Taliban territory after 9/11."Listen on to hear about what inspired Toby to write the book, how he got to know the team, and what it took to get the interviews and details that tell this important story.Buy the Book:https://www.amazon.com/First-Casualty-Untold-Mission-Avenge/dp/0316540951/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=GSOF Partner Highlight: Kymeta Corp.:https://www.kymetacorp.comRegister for the SOF Imperatives Forum:https://my.gsof.org/events/event-details/?id=04ba9634-1647-ec11-a3ee-0003ff66d8d0Support the show

In this episode, we continue our series of interviews with experts in Ukraine. Oleksandr "Sasha" Danylyuk, who we also interviewed in Episode 61, is back to give more updates on the war in Ukraine, what he thinks it will take to end the war, and the extreme actions he expects the Russians to take against his nation.Learn more about our Sustaining Partner, Peraton:https://www.peraton.comSee our Global SOF Ukraine Hub:https://gsof.org/ukraine/Register for Upcoming Global SOF Events:http://gsof.org/eventsSupport the show

In this episode, Stu chats with author John Pomfrets and COL (Ret) Fred Hart about the actions and inspiration behind "From Warsaw with Love," Pomfrets' latest book. COL (Ret) Hart was part of a daring mission in which Polish SOF rescued him and 5 other Americans from Iraq in 1990. Pomfrets tells the story, along with many more that set the scene on the relationship between the US and Poland.Listen on to hear some of the story, and get your copy of "From Warsaw With Love" to read the rest...Buy the Book:https://www.amazon.com/Warsaw-Love-Forging-Unlikely-Alliance/dp/1250296056Corporate Partner Highlight:https://news.northropgrumman.comGlobal SOF Events:https://my.gsof.org/upcoming-eventsSupport the show

In this interview, which we recorded on March 17th, we speak with MG (Ret) Mike Repass. He's the former commander of Special Operations Command - Europe, and he's also on our Global SOF Advisory Council.Our CEO and President Stu Bradin spoke with him to get details on some of the lesser-known stories behind the war in Ukraine. They discuss the high-value natural resources that exist in Ukraine, the humanitarian crisis that is building with Ukrainian refugees, and how he sees the war unfolding.Listen for our conversation with MG Retired Mike Repass.-------Global SOF Ukraine Info Sharing Hub:https://gsof.org/ukraine/ Corporate Partner Highlight: Ciscohttps://www.cisco.comSupport the show

As the war in Ukraine continues, our Global SOF team is adding interviews with regional experts to our podcast schedule, including today's guest: GEN Riho Terras.GEN Terras is the former Chief of Defense for Estonia and is currently a Member of European Parliament. He spoke to Chelsea about the current state of the war, why the Russian approach is failing, and what the US and other Partner Nations can do to provide the needed support to stop Vladmir Putin.Corporate Partner Highlight: Maxarhttp://maxar.comGlobal SOF Ukraine Info Hub:https://gsof.org/ukraine/ Support the show

Due to current events, SOFspot will feature periodic interviews with subject matter experts on the War in Ukraine. Today's guest was Oleksandr "Sasha" Danylyuk, chairman of the Ukrainian Center for Defense reforms and a member of Ukrainian government inter-agency platform for countering hybrid threats.In this discussion, we talk about the will of the people of Ukraine, past and present tactics of the Russian Military, and the behavior of Vladimir Putin.Corporate Partner Highlight - CACI:https://www.caci.comSupport the show