When the Plan Goes to Hell

The enemy gets a vote. And sometimes the hardest lessons in leadership come when you realize you've made the wrong call.In Episode 342 of The War Locker Show, Tom and Chuck welcome two combat-tested military leaders and accomplished authors: retired Marine Major Scott A. Huesing, author of Echo in Ramadi, and retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Clay Novak, author of the Terry Davis military thriller series.What starts with the usual military trash talk quickly turns into a remarkably candid discussion about leadership, accountability, and the decisions that stay with you long after the mission ends.Clay shares a troubling experience during a combat operation in Baghdad, when routine, complacency, and operational pressure collided with deadly consequences. Scott recounts a mission in Ramadi that forced him to rethink how his Marines would operate in one of Iraq's most dangerous cities.Together, they explore the difference between managers and leaders, the challenge of leading troops through tragedy, and whether credibility comes from always making the right decision or having the humility to correct a wrong one.The conversation also tackles discipline versus punishment, shame versus humiliation, the art of communicating with different personalities, and the importance of belonging and brotherhood after leaving military service.And because this is The War Locker, there's plenty of merciless interservice ribbing, questionable fashion commentary, and the kind of unfiltered storytelling that happens when veterans get together without a public affairs officer supervising the conversation.Two warriors. Two authors. A lifetime of lessons learned the hard way.Welcome to The War Locker.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-war-locker-show--6767179/support.Join us for War Locker LIVE — formerly Locker Room Live! Stream (almost) every Thursday at 7:30 PM PST on YouTube, where we dive deep into current events, culture, and the real conversations shaping modern society. Remember: If we release a War Locker Interview, we will be LIVE the same day! Support War Locker and War Locker LIVE by leaving a review and sharing the show! Visit www.warstoriesofficial.com to listen to past episodes, grab exclusive merchandise, become a patron, and follow us on Twitch Instagram and Facebook for updates, behind-the-scenes content, and community discussions.

What happens when a guy looks at conventional K9 training methods and decides there's a better way to teach a dog to follow its nose?You get Mike Herstik. And eventually, you get a wall.In Episode 341 of The War Locker Show, Tom and Chuck welcome internationally experienced K9 trainer Mike Herstik, along with special guest Clay Novak, for a conversation about the Herstik Wall, the innovative training system Mike developed to teach detection dogs reliable, focused responses to target odors.From the fundamentals of scent detection to the importance of building dogs that can work independently of handler influence, the Herstik Wall represents a fascinating intersection of behavioral science, practical training, and real-world law enforcement.Join us as we get into the mind of the man behind the method, because sometimes the most important innovation in police work isn't another million-dollar piece of equipment.Sometimes it's a wall, a dog, and somebody smart enough to recognize what the dog actually needs to learn.Welcome to The War Locker.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-war-locker-show--6767179/support.Join us for War Locker LIVE — formerly Locker Room Live! Stream (almost) every Thursday at 7:30 PM PST on YouTube, where we dive deep into current events, culture, and the real conversations shaping modern society. Remember: If we release a War Locker Interview, we will be LIVE the same day! Support War Locker and War Locker LIVE by leaving a review and sharing the show! Visit www.warstoriesofficial.com to listen to past episodes, grab exclusive merchandise, become a patron, and follow us on Twitch Instagram and Facebook for updates, behind-the-scenes content, and community discussions.

There's a fine line between police leadership and organized confusion. Sometimes that line comes with a badge, a pension, and a corner office.Retired Wichita Police Department commander Christian Cory returns to The War Locker Show to join Wolfman and Caveman for an unapologetic tour through the strange, dangerous, and occasionally spectacularly stupid realities of police work.What begins as a conversation about backup guns, duty belts, and the equipment that can save an officer's life quickly spirals into meth-fueled encounters, bizarre calls for service, weapon retention, and the kinds of stories that make civilians ask, "Wait, that actually happened?"But the real fireworks start when the conversation turns to police leadership.Christian pulls back the curtain on department politics, questionable promotions, misconduct investigations, the misuse of license plate reader technology, and the growing tendency of police administrators to prioritize public relations over sound judgment.Along the way, the guys tackle a question every veteran cop eventually confronts: What happens when doing the right thing becomes a career-limiting decision?Three retired cops. Decades of experience. Enough bureaucratic nonsense to require its own evidence locker.Welcome back to The War Locker Show. Where reality doesn't negotiate, and common sense occasionally needs backup.This episode is dedicated to fallen Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Officer Austin Abdelnabi and the men and women who continue to serve despite the challenges of modern law enforcement.Come home with your shield or on it.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-war-locker-show--6767179/support.Join us for War Locker LIVE — formerly Locker Room Live! Stream (almost) every Thursday at 7:30 PM PST on YouTube, where we dive deep into current events, culture, and the real conversations shaping modern society. Remember: If we release a War Locker Interview, we will be LIVE the same day! Support War Locker and War Locker LIVE by leaving a review and sharing the show! Visit www.warstoriesofficial.com to listen to past episodes, grab exclusive merchandise, become a patron, and follow us on Twitch Instagram and Facebook for updates, behind-the-scenes content, and community discussions.

The Constitution was written with quill pens. Today, the government has artificial intelligence, facial recognition, automated surveillance networks, and access to more information about your daily movements than the Founding Fathers could have imagined.So where the hell does that leave the Fourth Amendment?Former U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins returns to The War Locker Show for Part 2, joining Tom and Chuck for a wide-ranging conversation about constitutional rights, government authority, emerging technology, and the increasingly complicated relationship between public safety and individual liberty.The guys dig into Flock Safety cameras and automated license plate readers, geofence warrants, digital tracking, and the question of when ordinary police observation becomes government surveillance. They also examine major constitutional controversies involving free speech, firearms regulation, the Second Amendment, and the limits of federal authority.Then there's artificial intelligence. What happens when algorithms help investigators identify suspects, analyze evidence, or build criminal cases? How do defendants challenge evidence produced by technology they may not fully understand? And can constitutional protections keep pace with tools that evolve faster than the legal system?Along the way, Bud brings a prosecutor's perspective to the difficult questions where constitutional principles, public expectations, and law enforcement realities collide.Because the technology may be new, but the underlying question isn't:How much power should the government have, and who gets to decide when it's gone too far?Welcome back to The War Locker Show.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-war-locker-show--6767179/support.Join us for War Locker LIVE — formerly Locker Room Live! Stream (almost) every Thursday at 7:30 PM PST on YouTube, where we dive deep into current events, culture, and the real conversations shaping modern society. Remember: If we release a War Locker Interview, we will be LIVE the same day! Support War Locker and War Locker LIVE by leaving a review and sharing the show! Visit www.warstoriesofficial.com to listen to past episodes, grab exclusive merchandise, become a patron, and follow us on Twitch Instagram and Facebook for updates, behind-the-scenes content, and community discussions.

What does leadership look like when the people following you have to live with the consequences of your decisions?This week, Tom and Chuck sit down with retired Marine Major Scott Huesing, bestselling author of Echo in Ramadi: The Firsthand Story of U.S. Marines in Iraq's Deadliest City.Scott spent 24 years in the Marine Corps, rising from enlisted Marine to infantry officer before commanding Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, the legendary “Magnificent Bastards,” during brutal urban combat in Ramadi, Iraq.But this isn't just a war-story episode.Scott talks about what it meant to be responsible for Marines he didn't necessarily consider his friends, but whom he was determined to bring home. That opens a much bigger conversation about the difference between leadership and management, discipline and punishment, shame and humiliation, and being liked versus accepting responsibility for the people entrusted to you.The guys also dig into trust under pressure, making decisions without perfect information, adapting when Reality proves you wrong, and how Marines from radically different backgrounds became extraordinarily effective when united by training, trust, and a common purpose.Today Scott carries those lessons forward as an author, speaker, and founder of Solid Copy Media, helping other veterans preserve and tell their stories.Combat may provide the backdrop for this episode.Leadership is the story.You magnificent bastards.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-war-locker-show--6767179/support.Join us for War Locker LIVE — formerly Locker Room Live! Stream (almost) every Thursday at 7:30 PM PST on YouTube, where we dive deep into current events, culture, and the real conversations shaping modern society. Remember: If we release a War Locker Interview, we will be LIVE the same day! Support War Locker and War Locker LIVE by leaving a review and sharing the show! Visit www.warstoriesofficial.com to listen to past episodes, grab exclusive merchandise, become a patron, and follow us on Twitch Instagram and Facebook for updates, behind-the-scenes content, and community discussions.

Some decisions give you time to think. Others give you seconds, and you may spend years living with what happened next. In Episode 337 of The War Locker Show, Tom and Chuck sit down with retired Scottsdale Police Officer James Peters, whose law-enforcement career placed him in an extraordinary number of deadly-force encounters.Peters talks candidly about those shootings, the decisions that surrounded them, the scrutiny that followed, and how those experiences ultimately changed the trajectory of his career. Contemporary reporting documented seven officer-involved shootings during Peters' Scottsdale career, an exceptionally unusual history that generated both departmental review and intense public controversy.Today, Peters works with VirTra, helping law-enforcement agencies use immersive simulation to prepare officers for situations where judgment, communication, tactics and force decisions collide. The conversation explores what simulation can teach that a traditional firearms range cannot, why officers need opportunities to make difficult decisions before those decisions become real, and how better training can expose mistakes without requiring reality to collect the tuition.Peters has described simulation as a tool for addressing high-risk encounters including use of force while reducing some of the limitations associated with conventional training. And then the conversation takes an unexpected turn when Tom and James discover their careers crossed paths in a way neither expected: they both worked for the same supervisor. That coincidence neither of them enjoyed and opens a conversation about leadership, ethics, and organizational culture.This isn't a conversation about learning how to shoot faster. It's about learning how to make better decisions before the consequences become permanent.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-war-locker-show--6767179/support.Join us for War Locker LIVE — formerly Locker Room Live! Stream (almost) every Thursday at 7:30 PM PST on YouTube, where we dive deep into current events, culture, and the real conversations shaping modern society. Remember: If we release a War Locker Interview, we will be LIVE the same day! Support War Locker and War Locker LIVE by leaving a review and sharing the show! Visit www.warstoriesofficial.com to listen to past episodes, grab exclusive merchandise, become a patron, and follow us on Twitch Instagram and Facebook for updates, behind-the-scenes content, and community discussions.

When most people think of criminal investigations, they picture interrogation rooms, dramatic confessions, and TV detectives breaking suspects under pressure. The reality is far different. In Episode 336 of The War Locker Show, Tom and Chuck sit down with recently retired Captain Christian Cory of the Wichita Police Department to explore how modern investigative interviewing has evolved from intuition into science.Captain Cory began his career just as Wichita was closing one of the nation's most infamous investigations with the capture of BTK killer Dennis Rader. Over the next 24 years, he served in homicide, violent crimes, gang investigations, crisis negotiations, patrol, and ultimately led the Crimes Against Persons Bureau. Today, his passion lies in science-based interviewing, cognitive interviewing, rapport development, and using evidence-based research to improve investigations and help detectives uncover the truth without relying on outdated interrogation myths. Whether you're in law enforcement, leadership, or simply fascinated by human behavior, this conversation offers an inside look at the psychology of communication, trust, and truth.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-war-locker-show--6767179/support.Join us for War Locker LIVE — formerly Locker Room Live! Stream (almost) every Thursday at 7:30 PM PST on YouTube, where we dive deep into current events, culture, and the real conversations shaping modern society. Remember: If we release a War Locker Interview, we will be LIVE the same day! Support War Locker and War Locker LIVE by leaving a review and sharing the show! Visit www.warstoriesofficial.com to listen to past episodes, grab exclusive merchandise, become a patron, and follow us on Twitch Instagram and Facebook for updates, behind-the-scenes content, and community discussions.

Every story has the power to change someone else's life...if we're willing to tell it. This week, Tom and Chuck welcome Matt and Monica, hosts of The Matt & Monica Podcast, for an honest conversation about resilience, loss, faith, marriage, and the responsibility that comes with sharing your story.Matt opens up about the unimaginable tragedy that claimed the lives of his former wife and 16-year-old son, and how that experience reshaped his understanding of grief, purpose, and healing. Together, Matt and Monica discuss why authentic conversations matter, how vulnerability can become strength, and why some of life's darkest moments often become the foundation for helping others.Although The War Locker Show and The Matt & Monica Podcast come from different backgrounds, both share the same mission: creating meaningful conversations that encourage people to grow, persevere, and remember they're never walking through life's battles alone. Sometimes the greatest legacy isn't avoiding hardship. It's helping someone else survive theirs.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-war-locker-show--6767179/support.Join us for War Locker LIVE — formerly Locker Room Live! Stream (almost) every Thursday at 7:30 PM PST on YouTube, where we dive deep into current events, culture, and the real conversations shaping modern society. Remember: If we release a War Locker Interview, we will be LIVE the same day! Support War Locker and War Locker LIVE by leaving a review and sharing the show! Visit www.warstoriesofficial.com to listen to past episodes, grab exclusive merchandise, become a patron, and follow us on Twitch Instagram and Facebook for updates, behind-the-scenes content, and community discussions.

Choosing the hard road doesn't end when military service does. In Part 2 of our conversation with Matthew Perry, Chuck and Clay continue exploring the mindset that has guided Matthew from the U.S. Army into leadership roles in fraud investigations, operations analysis, and the private sector.The discussion moves beyond military experience to examine how discipline, accountability, and mission-focused leadership apply to everyday life. Together they explore why effective leaders seek diverse perspectives united by a common purpose, why trust is earned through preparation rather than titles, and why doing the difficult thing often produces the greatest long-term rewards.This isn't just a conversation about military leadership. It's about building character, leading people well, embracing responsibility, and understanding that the principles forged under pressure don't expire when the uniform comes off. The hard road rarely gets easier. You simply become the kind of person capable of walking it.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-war-locker-show--6767179/support.Join us for War Locker LIVE — formerly Locker Room Live! Stream (almost) every Thursday at 7:30 PM PST on YouTube, where we dive deep into current events, culture, and the real conversations shaping modern society. Remember: If we release a War Locker Interview, we will be LIVE the same day! Support War Locker and War Locker LIVE by leaving a review and sharing the show! Visit www.warstoriesofficial.com to listen to past episodes, grab exclusive merchandise, become a patron, and follow us on Twitch Instagram and Facebook for updates, behind-the-scenes content, and community discussions.

Every day, child predators exploit the anonymity of the internet. Every day, investigators work to stop them. In Episode 333 of The War Locker Show, Chuck sits down with Zach Neefe, a Department of Homeland Security Special Agent, Task Force Investigator, and instructor with the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC).Zach shares what it's really like to investigate online child exploitation, from assuming undercover identities to communicate with predators to conducting peer-to-peer investigations involving Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). He explains the patience, technology, and investigative techniques required to identify offenders, build cases, and protect children in an increasingly digital world. This isn't Hollywood. It's the reality of investigators who voluntarily spend their careers working in one of law enforcement's darkest assignments so that others don't have to.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-war-locker-show--6767179/support.Join us for War Locker LIVE — formerly Locker Room Live! Stream (almost) every Thursday at 7:30 PM PST on YouTube, where we dive deep into current events, culture, and the real conversations shaping modern society. Remember: If we release a War Locker Interview, we will be LIVE the same day! Support War Locker and War Locker LIVE by leaving a review and sharing the show! Visit www.warstoriesofficial.com to listen to past episodes, grab exclusive merchandise, become a patron, and follow us on Twitch Instagram and Facebook for updates, behind-the-scenes content, and community discussions.