Retired Major Tony Mayne joins the podcast to walk through 12 years in U.S. Special Operations Command, including nine years in the 75th Ranger Regiment's 3rd Battalion, where he took part in the regiment's historic combat parachute assault into Afghanistan after 9/11 and later jumped into Iraq — completing eight combat deployments in support of the Global War on Terror and earning induction into the 2024 Ranger Hall of Fame. We go deep on the night of October 19, 2001, standing in the door of a C-17 as one of the first U.S. Rangers to parachute into Afghanistan, and the fight for Haditha Dam, where his vehicle broke down mid-assault and later got caught in an ambush on both sides of the road.

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In the final part of this conversation, Mike Sarraille recounts the base attack in Jalalabad where he served as Joint Strike Force commander, dismantles the conspiracy theories surrounding Extortion 17, and shares the story of Guardian dog Bart's final act protecting his handler Jet Li. He then breaks down his transition out of the military, the founding of Talent War Group, and his current role at Overwatch Mission Critical, before diving deep into the booming and controversial world of AI data centers. The episode closes with the story behind the record-breaking 7-continents-in-7-days skydiving mission and his reflections on purpose after service.

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Part 2 of this conversation with Mike Sarraille picks up inside the deployments that followed Ramadi, including the chaotic quick-reaction mission into Sadr City alongside a hastily assembled team from two different SEAL platoons. Mike breaks down the brotherhood built with Army infantry on the ground, the Sunni Awakening, and why he believes the Iraq War was ultimately a policy mistake despite the valor shown by the troops who fought it. He also opens up about the line he drew when ordered to move his men into an unnecessary risk, his transition to DEVGRU, the reality of Green Team versus BUD/S, the night Adam Brown was killed in Afghanistan, and the devastating loss of Extortion 17—including the brutal process of notifying the families left behind.

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Mike Sarraille breaks down his path from getting kicked out of college to Force Recon to Navy SEAL to DEVGRU. He talks Delta vs DEVGRU, deploying to Ramadi with Task Unit Bruiser, and standing three feet from Michael Monsoor the day he died saving his team. Also covers DEVGRU selection and why he thinks the Iran conflict is repeating Iraq's mistakes.

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In the final part of this Mike Drop conversation, Prime Hall traces his path from military transition into deep psychological healing. He details his first 5-MeO-DMT experience, a profound "hard reset" that showed him both the devastating and the redemptive paths his life could take, and how it launched an unexpected connection to Mike Tyson and Tyson Ranch. Prime opens up about the harder road that followed—relapse, medication struggles, and losing two close friends to suicide within days of each other—and how ayahuasca, integration therapy, and a structured approach to plant medicine helped him rebuild. The conversation closes on his new book, Permission to Heal, his work in the firearms tech space, fatherhood, and his personal relationship with faith.

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Prime Hall returns for Part 2 of this Mike Drop conversation, taking listeners deep into his time as a Marine Raider deployed to Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He recounts the brutal June 14th, 2012 ambush where two of his closest teammates were shot, the insider attack that nearly killed him weeks later, and the invisible wounds—traumatic brain injury, hearing damage, and psychological toll—that followed him home. Prime also weighs in on the Charlie Kirk shooting, drawing on his own firsthand experience witnessing a similar gunshot wound in combat. The episode closes with his medical retirement, the unraveling that came with it, and the first steps toward healing through ayahuasca.

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Mike Ritland sits down with Prime Hall — former Marine Raider, Marine Corps water survival instructor, co-founder of Deep End Fitness and Operation Resilience, founder of the Underwater Torpedo League, and recipient of the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, Bronze Star, and Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal. Prime is also the author of "Permission to Heal: Redefining Strength for Warriors, Athletes and High Performers" and features in the upcoming documentary "Air Hunger." In this episode, Prime opens up about being dropped into a Village Stability Operations post in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, the insider attack that changed his life, and how 5-MeO-DMT and ayahuasca journeys became the turning point in a healing process he now shares through his book and work with veterans.

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In the final part, Mike LeBlanc explains why Ukraine has become a real-time preview of future warfare, where robots and drones now do most of the fighting and over 80% of incoming Russian drones are stopped before impact. He breaks down the political reasons Russia hasn't crushed Ukraine, the underexplored frontier of subsurface warfare exposed by Iran, and why he believes autonomy—not new weapons types—is the true turning point in combat.

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In Part 2, Mike LeBlanc details how a chance call pulled him away from a private equity offer and into Silicon Valley, where he co-founded Cobalt Robotics before launching Foundation Future Industries. He walks through the brutal early days of building a robotics startup, a company crisis over fabricated sales contracts that forced him to overhaul the business, and the pivot into humanoid robots for the Department of War. The conversation turns to real combat testing in Ukraine, the ethical debate inside his own company over weaponizing robots, human-in-the-loop safeguards against battlefield mistakes, and why he believes America—not China—will lead the humanoid robotics race.

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Former Marine Corps officer, Harvard Business School graduate, and entrepreneur Mike LeBlanc spent 13 years in the Marine Corps, including back-to-back deployments advising Afghan forces, service with First Recon, a joint special operations task force in Bahrain, and a Pentagon role evaluating emerging military technology. After leaving active service, he founded Cobalt Robotics and later co-founded Foundation Future Industries. In this episode, we dig into his early days advising Afghan forces, including a green-on-blue attack just 30 days into his deployment after an Afghan soldier saw news coverage surrounding the “Innocence of Muslims” film. We then shift into his work building humanoid robots and why he believes they could eventually replace American troops in some of the battlefield’s most dangerous roles.

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In the final part of this conversation, Major John Spencer breaks down the discipline he's built his career on: urban warfare. He explains why cities are the most complex environment any military can fight in, why the U.S. lacks real expertise in fighting underground, and how history's most costly urban battles keep repeating the same avoidable mistakes. He closes by discussing what he sees as the next frontier of warfare — the world beneath our feet.

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