No American Left Behind And No Shows Missed

Episode 300 hits on a day that feels bigger than a calendar date. I’m looking back at six years of the Share the Struggle Podcast, 300 consecutive weeks with no hiatus, no missed shows, and no hiding from the messy parts of building a life. If you’ve ever felt stuck, tired, or unsure, the core idea is the one that keeps me moving: everybody struggles, but you decide whether you go through it or grow through it. That choice shows up in your habits, your relationships, and the future you’re quietly recording every day. 

Then the show turns into a real-time snapshot of U.S. history and world security. I’m recording as a major Iran deadline approaches, reacting as the news breaks about a pause in bombing, a ceasefire agreement, and the Strait of Hormuz reopening. I share why leadership, negotiation and national security decisions hit differently when you think about your kids and what kind of world they inherit. 

From there, I walk you through one of the most intense stories I’ve covered: the rescue of a downed U.S. weapons systems officer inside Iran. We break down the timeline from survival and beacon detection to planning, deception, insertion, firefights and extraction, including the scale of the operation and the “no American left behind” promise in action. The emotional punch lands when the mission lines up with Easter weekend and faith: hidden on Good Friday, rescued on Easter Sunday, and the words that cut through it all, “God is good.” If this episode moves you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people who are struggling can find it.

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Transcript

A Milestone Day And Deadline

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Today's episode of Share the Struggle Podcast is truly a milestone show that just happens to take place on one of the most pivotal and critical days in American history and in world security. A deadline looms as we record this episode. Coming off the heels of Easter weekend, we celebrate one of the greatest military achievements as we ask ourselves, what is yet to come? Let me tell you something. Everybody's struggled. The difference is some people choose to go through it and some choose to grow through it. The choice is completely yours. Which one you choose will have a very profound effect on the way you live your life.

Episode 300 And Six Years

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Am I so excited to be back with you? Oh, it is true. It is damn true, boo. And how do I know this to be true? One, because I love you, and because it's episode 300. 300. Episode 3 friggin' hundred. Can you believe it? This truly is a special, special show. You got to know. It's gotta be special for episode 300. Absolutely incredible. I'm gonna be honest, y'all. For those of you that are listening, let's first give praise. Let's give strength, acknowledgement, and recognition to all my day ones in the crowd. All my loyal ones, my faithful ones, my day ones. Numero Uno, you know I love you. Get your ones up. I acknowledge you for buckling up, Buttercup. You have been here since July 2020. 300 consecutive weeks of you and me. As far as the eye can see, the truth from me, I didn't know we would end up here. Okay? I didn't come out the gate with like a firm plan. I didn't chisel it in stone. I didn't carve it in a tree. The truth between you and me is I didn't know what was gonna happen. I didn't know how far this would go. I just wanted to start the show and just let it grow. 300 consecutive weeks later, boys and girls, chipmunk and squirrels. Oh man. Oh, you believe it? Y'all, I I'm willing to bet most of us, nearly all of us, have had several relationships that have never outlasted the show. The commitment that we have to this show. Y'all hearing this 300 consecutive weeks, for 300 consecutive weeks, we have not missed a freaking show. We've put them all together. We ain't made no excuses, we ain't gone on no vacations, we have been through it all. As I'm recording this show and I'm just thinking about how far we've come and and where this came from and how this started, the fact that we started this show during the summer of COVID, the summer of destruction, of uh hate and discontent, right? I was fresh off the heels of making the bold choice to leave a career to chase a dream. I left a 10-year job that I thought was my life's dream and purpose to start a journey to start a brand. My wife and I both ended up unemployed during the same derived week, and my wife told me to go and bet on myself and to make it happen. Now it's hard to believe looking back. It's nearly six years of the podcast, six years in business, the highs, the lows, every which way we go. It's all been recorded, it's all been documented selfishly. I have an audio library of me, my life, my journey, my struggles, my highs, my lows, all the things we've talked about that will live on forever for my family and for my friends, that'll be there forever for my beautiful baby girl to someday, somehow, some way be in a situation where you said, you know what? I wonder what it was like for my dad during this. And you roll back and listen to it because boy all boy, what I wouldn't give to hear from my old man today, what I wouldn't give to sit down with my brother today, what I wouldn't forego to have another conversation with my grandparents today, to hear from them their wisdom, their strength, their composure. I hope selfishly, selfishly, I hope that someday, many, many, many years from now, because I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon, I want this recording for my little girl to live on forever. That's the selfish part of this for me. The positive part of this and the hope and then the hope and and dream and reason why I started this show was to give hope and encouragement and lessons to everybody that listens. And that hopefully, if we went on this journey together, and I brought you through the struggle, I brought you through the fear. It started off about like literally a timeline of my life, letting y'all get to know who I am, and then I took you on the journey of me, my business, my family, my brand, my life, my struggle. Because I truly feel no matter who you are, no matter where you are, you are powerful. You have a story. And the truth is, if you are bold enough, courageous enough, and willing to share your story, then the stuff that you take for granted, the things that you go through, the stuff that you grow through, it is inspiring to others. Because we all want to know that we don't walk this land alone. We all want to know that somebody else out there is going through some of the same shit that we are going through. There is safety in numbers, and the truth be told, I truly believe and feel that success leaves clues. And as much as I might struggle, all the times I've wanted to give up, but I decided to get back up, building being willing enough to share that story with you, to be transparent with you, I hope that that empowers you. And I am hell bet and determined that my life, my brand, my family, my story shall someday, some way be a great success. And we have a chronological timeline of the real life struggle that I went through, that I suffered through to get to the highs that I deserved to get to. Success leaves clues, and someday I'm gonna go back and listen to the episodes of me falling asleep in a lawn chair in the pouring rain at the first ever fair for my event because it was more important to me to keep my apparel dry and to keep my mama warm than it was for me to have a place to sleep. I'm gonna think about the times when I got the phone call of my daddy getting sick and brought to the hospital. I'm gonna listen to those episodes when I went through all the heartache and heartbreak, the ups and downs of thinking my dad was gonna pull through to the reality that he wasn't going to make it through. The day I stood before a room filled with family and friends next to my father's urn, and I pushed record on my cell phone, and I captured the entire eulogy, and I replayed it for you. The connection between the last story about my father and the first story on this podcast, the first ever episode of this podcast coming full circle and being delivered on my father's resting day. That's all captured here on this podcast. A short time later, finding out on my father's birthday that I was going to be a father myself. The excitement, the nervousness, the uneasiness of becoming a dad, becoming a dad at the late stages of life in which I feel like I am, because I'm an old bastard at this point, the most financially unsecure of my life, with the most responsibility of any time in my life, all stacked up at the same time to live this life. All this the trials, the tribulations, betting on myself and my brand time and time again, sacrificing, making crazy decisions, driving halfway across the country to try to save the brand, only to make enough money to just get home. All those stories. There's highs, there's lows, there's triumphs, and there's many, many failures. But they're all a part of me, and thanks to you. It's all gonna live on forever. Three hundred episodes. That's 300 consecutive weeks. How many things in life we give up on? Before 300 weeks? We're talking six years of a podcast, baby. We haven't missed a show. We ain't gone on no hiatus. Okay? It's been a commitment because I'm dedicated to you and I'm thankful for each and every one of you. Now, with all that out the way, I gotta say, per usual, par for

Live Reaction To Iran Deadline

SPEAKER_01 11:11

the course, I prepared something extravagant and uh didn't do it. So, um, but I'm gonna give you my excuse coming up in 30 seconds. Until then, I'm gonna build up the whole plan here. I had given a lot of thought to having a guest on the show. I thought the also uh appropriate factor of having my wife on the show. We had an amazing family experience this weekend. I'll touch a little bit on that experience at the end of the show and um and and then you know beg for forgiveness and hope and plead to get the wife on the show next week. But um her schedule, my schedule, uh most importantly, the baby's uh let's just say developing personality might limit that recording opportunity for the day. I've also been kicking around a few new openings and closes for the show, and uh I thought today would be a great day to drop those. But I gotta be honest, y'all. I'm a little wrapped up in American history and world security today, because as I record this podcast today, it is Tuesday, April 7th, and at the moment in which I'm recording this show, we are one hour away from the imposed deadline by President Trump on Iran, which has caused a lot of uh talking, it has caused a lot of uh fears, it has caused some optimism, some pessimism, it's caused a lot, okay? We're an emotional roller coaster, we are in a blender of emotions and feels right now. So, with that being said, the importance of today, the significance of today, and the fact that I knew I would be recording as we came down to the wire on today's deadline being the loud, proud, patriotic SOB that you know me to be. I think it's important to address U.S. history. I think it's important to outline and celebrate one of the most successful military campaigns in American history that took place over the weekend and allow ourselves the opportunity to record the podcast as the deadline approached and be able to react and respond to whatever the outcome was of that deadline right here on the podcast. That's one of the best things I love about this show. Number one, it's it can be a negative. I like to run things all the way up to the deadline, no pun intended. But because of that, it's a raw, real-time response to life. So I'm recording this show as I'm reading what's going on in the news. I'm downstairs in the garage, flat screens on, Fox News is on, I can see what's happening. We did the same type of scenario when it was election season. We were recording in real time, responding to what we saw on TV right here before you and me. I think again, it's a great picture and time capsule of uh U.S. history and and how I react to it over the course of time. Like I just talked about, depending on the way things were to go this evening, you could go back and hear my real raw response to life as it happened. I thought that was tremendously important. Before I get rockin' and rolling, as you hear this, you already know the outcome to this, and it's been flashing across my screen. Trump has suspended the bombing of Iran for two weeks. They've agreed on a mutual ceasefire, and the Straits of Hormuz has been reopened safe and sound. This is always the outcome, I think, that we were expecting. It's crazy. A lot of people have um kind of went off the deep end about the way that Trump handled this and the things that he said, and um the the way they viewed it as certain threats to be made. I want some people to understand this, and I'm not gonna harp on this too much, but the people were negotiating kill thousands of their own people on a daily basis. You're not going to negotiate with them the way presidents have always negotiated. This has been coming and should have been handled for over 40 years now. We are only now fortunate enough to have a president bold enough and willing enough to risk the biscuit and get after it. So, with that said, Trump is the greatest negotiator, in my opinion, in the history of business. It's all about the art of the deal, and he yet again proved himself to be right. But we know later on tonight, when I turn on the news, you're not gonna hear praise all around. They're gonna be ripping him down and trying to invoke the 25th Amendment and all this nonsense. But the great thing is, this is a tremendous, successful victory for the safety of the entire world, and truly a great day for America. I do think over the next two weeks this will get locked down, this will get straightened out. And up until this point, we've handled something that has needed to be handled for a very long time. This is about, as I was just speaking about, this is about my daughter. This is about all of our daughters and sons and granddaughters and grandsons. This is about the future and the safety. This should have been done a long, long time ago. I'm glad, I'm grateful, I'm thankful that this is the outcome we're getting right now, and um we can we can kind of move on from that. But I really wanted to be recording live and read and react and see what was going to come from this deadline because it certainly had me hoping and praying and questioning a lot of things today. So I'm grateful for the way that this turned out. With that said, staying on the subject of the United States military and adding in the weekend that was from Good Friday to Easter Sunday.

Easter Weekend And A Rescue

SPEAKER_01 17:35

I want to wrap those things together. I want to start by saying part of the episode today would have been me and my wife on here discussing that we did something as a family for the very first time. We went to a Friday night, Good Friday church service. We then followed it up with a Sunday morning Easter service, and my wife has a very tremendous experience that that I'm really compelled to have her share. We were both able to witness something very powerful on Sunday, and I wanted the optimism of that story to end today's show. But life gets in the way, and I've got a uh a daughter that is fastly developing in overachieving, okay? She might be encountering the I guess some folks call it terrible twos, that they're very terrible. She might be an overachiever because she's encountering them a few months early. Alright. All that said, I'm gonna save that for another day, but I'm gonna connect a few things. I'm gonna connect Easter weekend with one of the most amazing American military feats in our history. I know a lot of you don't follow the news, some of you are loyal to the news, but no matter what your degree of dedication to the news might be, I'm pretty sure you heard of the plane that was shot down in Iran and the two pilots that had to be jecked. And the first of those pilots was rescued uh pretty quickly, but the the second the second pilot who was the uh weapons specialist officer, he um was not collected so quickly, and it turned into a search and rescue mission for him. And I want to outline some of the details of that mission. I want to outline some of what went into the rescue of this individual and how proud we should be as Americans for what was achieved over Easter weekend. Now, there's far too many details for uh me to know off the top of my squash. There's um a lot of stuff that I think should be outlined, but in the quickest manner possible. But I really want to take us inside the mission. I want to do a quick deep dive, a few layers below the onion, so we can understand just the magnitude of what happened. So to do this, you might hear some paper in the background because it's not often that I go about it this way, but I've got some notes today because I need to follow a timeline for us to truly understand the magnitude of this event. So

Inside The Search And Rescue

SPEAKER_01 20:38

I have a timeline here broken down into hours and phases. Phase one is the shot down and survival phase from hours zero to two. A US F-15E strike eagle is shot down over Iran. A pilot and a WSO, which is a weapons specialist officer, both have to eject. What's crazy here is because the plane's moving and based off the ejection and and I mean all the factors that be, I read that these two individuals landed a couple miles apart from each other. Imagine exiting the same plane at the same time and being a couple miles apart from each other. The WSO lands in hostile territory, separated from the aircraft, and immediately activates survival gear. He has a beacon location transmitter and he begins evasion, hiding, avoiding Iranian patrols. This phase is critical because if he is captured early, the mission changes completely. And in these times, you start thinking about the fact that Iran is putting out rewards. They're trying to capture this individual because this would be the biggest negotiation power they have. This would probably be all that they have, and they would be pre parading this American through the Streets of Iran. Phase two is detection and confirmation between hours one and six. U.S. command detects the beacon signal. Drones and surveillance assets are redirected. Analysis confirms the WSO is alive. His approximate location. Iranian forces also begin searching the crash area and a race begins. The US rescue versus Iranian capture. Hours six through eighteen, phase three, planning and deception. US Central Command builds a rescue plan. The CIA launches deception, spreads false info that the airman is already recovered. The goal is to reduce the Iranian search pressure. By time for insertion, meanwhile, the WSL continues moving and hiding to avoid detection. Phase four, force buildup. This takes place between hours 12 and 24. Massive assets move into position. Fighters for air dominance, tankers for refueling, drones for overhead, roughly 150 plus aircraft staged. Special operations teams prepare to insert. This is when it turns into a full scale military operation, not just a rescue. Night one, initial insertion, phase five, helicopters, blackhawks crossed into Iran. Special operation forces inserted near target areas. Simultaneously, A ten Warthogs begin sandy escort rolls. Drones monitor Iranian troop movement. First boots on the ground inside hostile territory. Night one and into day two, phase six, contact and firefight. Iranian forces close in on the area. U.S. forces engage. A tents provide close air support. Guns and runs. Ground team secure perimeter. Some aircraft take fire. Helicopters are damaged. The WSO is located during this window. This is absolutely the most dangerous moment. It's a tight window before enemy forces overwhelm this area. Night two phase seven extraction attempt. Rescue team reaches the WSO, confirms identity. Anti capture protocols. Extraction begins under pressure. Heavy coordination, air covered overhead, ground teams holding position, timing is everything. Lingering too long increase the risk. Phase eight, emergency adjustments. The situation deteriorates, enemy forces increasing, landing zones compromised. The US adapts, uses alternate extraction routes, brings in additional aircraft. C 130 is used for staging, later destroyed to prevent capture. This right here shows just how fluid and chaotic this operation was to be. From what I've researched, the aircraft that the US destroyed during the exit were reported to be C-130 transport planes. So quick research gives me an estimate of uh 70 to 90 million dollars per aircraft for a C-130J. Reports indicate two aircraft were destroyed, which puts roughly a total of 140 to 180 million in US dollars. The planes weren't lost by accident, they were intentionally destroyed by US forces, preventing sensitive technology from falling into Iranian hands and avoid giving any intelligence on the mission. Man, what a difference a great leader

Cost Debates And Leadership

SPEAKER_01 25:49

makes. What a difference a true American patriot makes. I've seen the idiots on the news, on mainstream media, on social media crying about the cost to the United States over these planes. The cost of 140 to 180 million dollars destroyed. These planes take on enemy fire, they go down. In the middle of a a rescue mission, another rescue mission takes place. Trump's answer to this, blow the damn planes up. People are crying about the money that was spent. Trump's answer to this, no American left behind. I don't think we need to spend too much time digging into Hillary Clinton and Benghazi. I don't know if we need to spend too much time into Joe Biden's philosophy on leaving military equipment in Afghanistan. Auto penned Joe Biden in 2021's withdrawal from Afghanistan. The estimated value is about 7.1 billion US dollars. The figure reflects US funded military equipment that remained in with Afghan forces that was later captured by the Taliban after the collapse of the Afghan government. Some of the things included aircraft, helicopters, blackhawks, light attack aircrafts, A-29 super tricanos, um, a lot of parts obviously were taken off of these things, vehicles, thousands of Hum Vs, armored vehicles, tactical trucks, weapons gear, rifles, M4s, M sixteens, machine guns, night vision, body armor, communications equipment, special operation capabilities, communication systems. Unbelievable. These things were all left behind just to be captured by the Taliban. Good job, Joe. To further the craziness of democratic leadership, under Barack Obama, the US paid Iran one point seven billion dollars. Now there's many disputes over how much money was handed over, but the bottom line is one point seven billion in actual US cash given to Iran from Barack Hussein Obama. And you're gonna complain about President Trump putting American safety and security first in blowing up two damn planes. No American left behind the way it always used to be, the way it should forever continue to be.

Faith Parallels And Good Friday

SPEAKER_01 28:57

Back to our timeline, end of night two, phase nine, final extraction, WSO successfully loaded onto extraction aircraft. Forces begin withdrawal aircraft, exit Iranian airspace under protection of fighters, mission success. Phase ten, the aftermath, the US confirms recovery, losses assessed, operation labeled one of the largest and most complex missions ever. Speed mattered, every hour increased the risk of capture. Intelligence plus deception were just as important as the firepower. United States Air Superiority made this rescue possible. Hundreds of personnel risked their lives for one American. The rescue of the United States Weapons System Officer from Iran was a massive multi-layered combat search and rescue operation. Highlighting some of the things that were necessary, the resources dedicated, the people invested and involved, special operations forces, boots on the ground, elite units including SEAL Team 6 and other special operation troops, roughly 200 plus commandos involved in the rescue effort. Task locate, secure, and extract the downed airmen deep inside hostile territory. Massive air support. Over 150 aircrafts. About 155 aircraft participated in the total. You understanding this? 155 aircrafts dedicated to this mission. Fighter jets, air cover and suppression, drones, surveillance and targeting, transport aircraft, intersection and extraction. This scale is what made it one of the largest combat search and rescue operations in American history. This mission included many rescue helicopters. Blackhawk helicopters used to fly into hostile terrain, extract the WSO under fire. Some helicopters were hit by enemy fire during the mission. Close air support, A10 Warthogs, A-10 Thunderbolt II Warthog aircraft flew sandy missions, attack enemy forces nearby, protect rescuers on the ground. These aircrafts engaged in a close range gunfight to shield the rescue. Transport plans and forward staging. C-130 Hercules aircraft. Insert troops and equipment. Create a temporary landing zone inside Iran. These are the two C at least two of those C 130s were destroyed by US forces to prevent capture. Survival and tracking tech. This is a critical piece. The down W So had a combat survivor evader locator. This device automatically transmitted his location, allowed encrypted communication with rescuers. It was a key reason they were able to find him. Intelligence and deception, the CIA's involvement. The Central Intelligence Agency ran a deception campaign. They spread misinformation that the airmen had already been rescued. The goal was to confuse the Iranian forces and to buy them time, but it certainly did. Drones and surveillance, MQ-9 Reaper type drones reported used for real-time surveillance, tracking enemy movement. This has been described as one of the most complex and dangerous rescue operations ever. The bottom line, to rescue a single weapons officer, the United States used hundreds of special forces, 150 plus aircraft, helicopters, fighters, drones, and transports, advanced tracking technology, intelligence deception operations, and all of this just shows how serious the US military takes recovering personnel. That is commitment, a promise made and guaranteed to all military members that join. These huge resources that were committed, the risk that were that were willing to be accepted, all to prevent the loss of one individual. No American left behind. Truly, truly incredible. Listening to President Trump highlight the commitment, the sacrifice, and the capabilities of the US military as I heard him say, no American left behind goosebumps. Complete goosebumps and pride. Everybody involved with that mission that stood at that podium and delivered a speech was incredible. One of the things that I want to use to encompass the importance of this mission to capture the emotion and connect with the reality of the weekend that was.

SPEAKER_00 34:17

In that moment of isolation and danger, his faith and fighting spirit shone through. Good Friday, hidden in a cave, a crevice all of Saturday, and rescued on Sunday, flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday. A pilot reborn, all home and accounted for, a nation rejoicing. God is good.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

If you don't have chills, if you don't have goosebumps, I don't know what to say. I've heard those words from Pete Hegseth so many times. Spent so much time in reflection, spent so much time smiling, spent so much time thankful, grateful, and praying. Can you imagine this member of the military, this WSO going down, hitting the eject button, and then running for survival? He climbed nearly 7,000 feet or over 7,000 feet and hid in a crevasse in a cave in the mountains. When he was able to communicate, the first and only thing he said was, God is good. Hageth, drawing the connection. Good Friday. For us Christians, all that Good Friday means just what Jesus Christ went through for each and every one of us, the blood that was shed for each and every one of us. I think about me and my family going to church on Good Friday for the first time as a family. As we embrace our faith and begin to learn more about our faith, learn the true meanings of Easter, starting with Good Friday. I thought about how many times I checked in over the weekend, leaving the news on, checking Twitter, checking news feeds, looking to see was he rescued, was this member of the US military saved, worrying he would be paraded around the streets of Iran. All that he had to go through. The fear, the sacrifice, the cluelessness, not knowing, realizing the enemy was tracking him with every passing second. God is good. For the United States military to dedicate all that it did, to risk all that it did to save one American. For him to be leaving Iran safe and sound with the sun coming up on Easter. He is risen. The rebirth of Jesus, the rebirth and saving of this soldier and this country. Truly amazing stuff. Maybe it hits so close to home for me because my wife and I are on this journey to experience, to explore, to embrace our faith, realizing more the true meaning of life each and every day. Understanding the importance of Easter Sunday for us. And for anyone else who believes. The fact that this all happened on this weekend. This all happened during this holy week. The most critical and important lessons of life the timing. It is not coincidential. Knowing the timing, understanding the mission, realizing all that went into it gave me the grace to know today that the deadline of today was going to be okay. There's far too much on our side for it not to be okay. I needed to take the opportunity to take episode 300 and celebrate and acknowledge

Gratitude And Closing Message

SPEAKER_01 39:17

one of the greatest triumphs and victories in American military history. The opportunity to connect our faith and these lessons was far too great. What an amazing, tremendous story that has not been given the accolades it deserves. It has not been showered and celebrated like it should be. Because far too many people in the media just hate our president that much that they root against our military, that they root against our faith. It's a sad, shameful time that we must endure. But this too shall pass. And this weekend was a great, amazing, triumphant thing to see and experience. And the connection and the parallels were not lost on me. And that's why I found it so tremendously important to share with you. Wow. What a powerful time to be alive. What a grateful time to be alive. Three hundred episodes just happens to be on the heels of the most important weekend and week and events of my faith, my faith and the faith of so many more. Arguably the greatest United States rescue mission ever executed on the day of a deadline deal in Iran that just might change the safety and security of the entire world. Wow. Unbelievable, hard to understand, hard to process. All I can say, isn't it great to know that God is good? Thank you for supporting my American dream. Now go wash your freaking hands. That's it, and that's all, Biggie Smalls. Underscore underscore backgroundly thank you for supporting my merry history. Now go wash your fucking hands, you filthy savage.