Behind The Shield

Latest Episodes:

Walt Dix (The 24/72 Revolution, the Journeyman Firefighter and Forging Tactical Athletes) - Episode 1250 Jun 07, 2026

Show notes

Walt Dix is the IAFF 12th District Vice President and 38 year veteran of the fire service. We discuss joining the fire service in the 1970s, the evolution of fire attack, the firefighter work week, the truth behind the FLSA, mental health, fitness standards, forging journeymen and so much more.

Born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Walter, a native of South Florida, dedicated his career to the Fire Rescue Service. He served for over 37 years as a Firefighter/EMT with Broward County Fire Rescue, achieving the rank of Fire Captain in 1986.

Under his leadership in the early 1990s, Broward County consolidated its Fire and EMS services into a single department. Captain Dix has held various positions within the department, including Captain Special Operations Technical Rescue, Captain Hazardous Materials team, and head of the Fire Training Division.

As a charter member of the Local Union in 1979, he served in several Union Officer positions until his election as President of the Broward County Professional Firefighters and Paramedics Association IAFF Local 4321 from 1990 to 2017. In 2017, he was honored as President Emeritus of IAFF Local 4321.

In 2004, the Broward County Council of Professional Firefighters honored him with the prestigious title of Firefighter of the Year. Subsequently, in 2009, he was recognized as the Florida Professional Firefighter of the Year by the Governor, State Fire Marshal/CFO, and Florida Cabinet. In 2010, he received the IAFF Local Leadership award at the IAFF 50th Convention held in San Diego.

President Dix concurrently served as a Trustee and Vice President of the Florida Professional Firefighters for a total of 13 years. The State Association honored him with Vice President Emeritus status for his distinguished service.

From 2001 to 2017, President Dix served as the International Association of Firefighters 12th District Field Service Representative. In 2008, he was appointed to the IAFF/IAFC Labor Management Initiative as an LMI Facilitator, collaborating with numerous fire departments to provide Labor Management training.

DVP Dix holds various affiliations, including the Broward County Regional Emergency Medical Services Council, the IAFF Elected Human Relations Committee, and the International Association of Fire Fighters Occupational Health and Safety committee.

In 1998, the BCPPFF Benefit Fund was established to provide healthcare, supplemental benefits, and retiree subsidies. DVP Dix has served continuously as the Chairman/Trustee of the BCPPFF Benefit since its inception. Additionally, he serves as a Trustee for the International Association of Firefighters Staff and Employees’ Pension Plans.

In 2017, DVP Dix was elected to the International Association of Firefighters 12th District Vice President position, a role he continues to serve today. As the IAFF 12th District Vice President, he is responsible for overseeing the membership of over 44,000 Firefighters in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean Islands.

Jeff Bonner (Fighter Pilot Combat Missions, the Power of Debriefs and the Airline Industry) - Episode 1249 Jun 05, 2026

Show notes

Jeff “Bones” Bonner is a former combat fighter pilot, squadron commander, airline captain, keynote speaker, and creator of The Debrief Advantage™ System. Drawing from decades in high-pressure aviation environments, Jeff teaches leaders and teams how fighter pilots use debriefing, reflection, and intentional adjustment to improve performance, strengthen culture, and grow through adversity.

Jeff is the author of The Daily Debrief™ and a Harvard-trained performance strategist whose work centers on one core belief: experience alone doesn’t make us better — reflection followed by adjustment does. Through his speaking and writing, he helps leaders across public safety, healthcare, athletics, aviation, and business build habits and cultures of continuous improvement.

His mission is simple: help people navigate pressure with greater clarity, resilience, humility, and purpose.

https://debriefadvantage.com/

Jason, Emily and Rich II (Learning from War, the Power of Diplomacy and the Obesity Crisis) - Episode 1248 Jun 02, 2026

Show notes

Jason McCarthy enlisted in the Army after 9/11 because of 9/11 and served in Special Forces in Iraq and the Sahel region of West Africa. In 2007, while visiting Emily in war-torn West Africa, Jason built Emily a “go-ruck” for her to keep in her vehicle and at home, ready to go at all times. This was the origin of what is now GORUCK.

Former Central Intelligence Agency case officer, Emily McCarthy, served her country on the frontlines of the Global War on Terrorism. In the years following 9/11, she operated in war-torn Africa where she was responsible for recruiting human sources and collecting intelligence in the interest of national security.

Richard Rice retired from the U.S. Army as a Special Forces Senior Non-Commissioned Officer in 1994 after 30 years of service. The last 25 years of which were spent in various Special Operations Forces (SOF) assignments. He was a Program Coordinator, Director and Vice President at Fayetteville Technical Community College from 1994 to 2015.

https://www.goruck.com/

Tim Mickelson (Professional Golf, Fatal Wildfires and Innovations in Engine Operations) - Episode 1246 May 28, 2026

Show notes

Tim Mickelson is a professional golfer, caddie and the CEO of Cedar Valve. We discuss growing up in a golfing family, training the youth athlete, midfullness and performance, his brother Tim's success, caddying, learning from the tragic Cedar fire, innovating engine operations and so much more.

Tim Mickelson brings over 20 years of experience in both the sports industry and small business. After officially retiring in 2024, he returned in 2025 driven by his belief in Cedar Valve’s potential to transform fire industry standards. His objective: to put this innovative device on every fire engine in the United States and help protect countless firefighters, communities and structures.

https://www.cedarvalve.com/

Nate Morgans (Ibogaine in the Fire Service, Overcoming Addiction and the True Cost of War) - Episode 1245 May 27, 2026

Show notes

Nate Morgans is National Guardsman, Tusla Fire Department Deputy Chief and the CEO of the Casey Skudin 343 Fund. We discuss his journey into the military, joining the fire service, combat deployments, his battle with alcoholism, the healing power of Ibogaine, fighting for plant medicine treatment in Oklahoma and so much more.

Nate has devoted his life to serving others, both in uniform with the U.S. Army National Guard and on the frontlines of the Tulsa Fire Department. He enlisted young, commissioned in 1998, and soon transitioned to the National Guard while beginning his career at the Tulsa Fire Department, following in his father’s footsteps. In 2003, Nate deployed to Afghanistan for a year, leaving just days after the birth of his first child. When he returned, he pushed ahead without processing the emotional toll of deployment and new fatherhood. Looking back, he can see this was when he started leaning on alcohol to cope.

A devoted father of three, Nate tried to manage the demands of firefighting, military service, and family life. By 2019, after deployments to Ukraine, mounting pressures at work, and the collapse of his marriage, his drinking spiraled. A DWI and a near-blackout incident resulted in a two-rank demotion and derailed the future he’d been building. In the years that followed, he tried everything – AA, leadership programs, two rounds of inpatient rehab, and repeated detox attempts through the VA. Doctors prescribed Ativan to manage his withdrawals until a psychiatrist told him they could no longer continue. Terrified of detoxing alone, Nate began flying to Mexico to buy the medication without a prescription, doing whatever he could to survive a cycle he desperately wanted to break. Everything changed when he learned about ibogaine therapy from a close friend and fellow firefighter. He applied to the 343 Fund for a first responder grant and was approved the next day.

Ibogaine was the intervention that finally broke the cycle he’d been trapped in for years. During his ibogaine treatment, he saw flashes of memory that helped him understand how he’d gotten so stuck. In the days that followed, years of guilt and shame began to lift, and the compulsion to drink finally disappeared. He describes ibogaine as “smoothing out the ruts” in his brain – and credits the 343 Fund’s integration program with helping him build new pathways and stay grounded in recovery. When he returned to work, coworkers told him he looked ten years younger. Nate went straight to the fire union and said, “This is going to save lives.” He has since helped connect multiple firefighters to treatment and now serves as a Board Advisor to the 343 Fund, working to expand healing pathways for first responders and their families. Today, Nate is grounded, present, and hopeful. His three children are proud of him, and his mission is renewed. Nate took his last drink on November 21, 2024 – and is now celebrating one year of sobriety. He also serves as an Ambassador for Americans for Ibogaine and is proudly helping lead the charge to help legalize Ibogaine for therapeutic use in his home state of Oklahoma.

https://343fund.org/

Ryan Scalmanini (Coast Guard Deployments, Military Transition and Maximising VA Benefits) - Episode 1244 May 24, 2026

Show notes

Ryan Scalmanini is a U.S. Coast Guard Veteran and the Director of VA Disability Compliance and Analytics for Veteran Benefits Guide (VBG). In his role, Ryan manages the training and development for VBG’s VA disability claims manager team to ensure they are equipped with the information and resources they need to successfully support the company’s Veteran clients. He is also responsible for end-to-end quality control of the claims support process.

Prior to joining VBG, Ryan was a Rating Veteran Service Representative, or Rater at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), where he became an expert on the VA’s Disability Compensation System. Ryan also served in the U.S. Coast Guard for four years, where he was an engineer and rescue swimmer while attached to a law enforcement and rescue unit.

Ryan holds a Bachelor of Science in Management from the University of Phoenix. Outside of VBG, Ryan enjoys spending time with his wife, playing beach volleyball and assisting Veterans/first responders in finding their path of healing and purpose.

Joseph Sullivan (First Responder Dispatch Innovation, Advances in Communication and the Future of Robots) - Episode 1243 May 21, 2026

Show notes

Joseph Sullivan is the founder of Active911, the emergency response platform trusted daily by first responders across the country for real-time incident coordination. He also founded Alyrica Networks, Nova Dynamics, and Daxbot, where his work focuses on deploying autonomous robotic systems into real-world environments. His background spans communications infrastructure, emergency operations, and robotics, with multiple patents in autonomous navigation and multi-agent decision-making systems. Sullivan currently serves as Director of Nova Dynamics and remains deeply involved in building operational technology for high-consequence environments.

Active911 is a respected leader in emergency communications and software, providing alerting, mapping, and scene resources for over 500,000 first responders worldwide. Based out of Western Oregon, we are proud to offer our services to the people that depend on us. Our focus is to take care of our brother and sister responders while our drive is to make sure you get the tools you need to get the job done and save lives easily and without distraction.

https://active911.com/

Kevin Grange (Grizzly Bear Attacks, Flight Medicine and National Parks) - Episode 1242 May 19, 2026

Show notes

Kevin Grange is an award-winning freelance writer with an emphasis on the medical field, adventure and travel. He is a firefighter/paramedic with Jackson Hole Fire/EMS and Grand Teton National Park in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We discuss his journey into Emergency Medicine, grizzly bear attacks, wilderness medicine, homelessness, addiction, mental health, flight medicine and so much more.

His latest book, Grizzly Confidential: An Astounding Journey Into the Secret Life of North America’s Most Fearsome Predator is available for pre-order now, to be published in September 2024.

Grange’s third book, Wild Rescues: A Paramedic’s Extreme Adventures in Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton was published by Chicago Review Press in March 2021, also winning the High Plains Book Award in the Medicine & Science category.

In June 2015, Berkley Books, a division of Penguin Random House, published Kevin’s memoir Lights and Sirens: The Education of a Paramedic. Lights and Sirens is a true account of going through UCLA’s famed Daniel Freeman Paramedic Program—and practicing emergency medicine on the streets of Los Angeles.

In 2011, The University of Nebraska Press published Grange’s travel memoir, his first book, Beneath Blossom Rain, about his 24-day trek through the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. The memoir has received wide press in the United States; is available on the Kindle and Nook, as an audiobook from Audible.com and has been translated and published in China, India and Latvia.

Emily Kaplan III (Broken Science, Solving the Nation's Health Crisis and Optimising First Responders) - Episode 1241 May 17, 2026

Show notes

Emily Kaplan is the co-founder of The Broken Science Initiative and MetFix. She is focused on helping coaches and doctors reverse chronic diseases using lifestyle interventions. The BSI is the research arm of the initiative, doing deep dives into how modern peer-review works, or in many cases does not work, looking at how industry influences outcomes and how to evaluate good research versus corrupted findings.

They host monthly Journal Club gatherings for community members to learn what a study purports to conclude and then what the methods, findings and statistical tools are actually finding. With regular live streams with metabolic experts, the BSI and MetFix communities have exclusive opportunities to learn and problem solve. MetFix has more than 130 independently owned locations, transforming lives daily. The education is offered online and in-person and designed to be an added layer of nutrition and behavior change for gyms and medical practices worldwide.

Fit For Duty, is the newest MetFix online class designed for first responders including law enforcement, firefighters, federal air marshals and emergency medical professionals. Built to teach metabolic mechanisms in practical ways with tools first responders can implement immediately to start improving their health outcomes. More at MetFix.org

Johnathon Ehsani (Reducing Deaths on our Roads, the Iranian Conflict and Autonomous Vehicles) - Episode 1240 May 14, 2026

Show notes

Johnathon Ehsani is an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he works at the intersection of transportation and public health. His research focuses on teen and novice drivers, distracted driving, older adult mobility, and how people understand and use new technologies like autonomous vehicles.

He regularly advises the U.S. Department of Transportation and state agencies on driver education and licensing policy, chairs a National Academies Transportation Research Board committee, and has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles while speaking widely on how safer transportation systems can improve lives.

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