Late Night History

Latest Episodes:

Episode 26: RJ Thomas Jun 12, 2023

Show notes

The Late Night History podcast returns in 2023 with Cmdr. Robert “RJ” Thomas. RJ served 32 years in the US Navy (30 of those years within Naval Special Warfare). In this episode we discuss RJ’s life story. It began growing up hunting on his family’s cattle ranch in central California. He had always wanted to become a US Navy frogman, but back in the early 1960s, one had to go to the fleet before arriving at UDT training. Eventually, RJ would pass UDT training and become a frogman. After that, he moved to SEAL Team 2 and deployed to Vietnam. At the time, he was among the best shooters in the Navy. His skills were tested after his helicopter was shot down and he had to defend the crash site with only a M1911 handgun. He would be recommended for the Medal of Honor, however, the award was downgraded to the Navy Cross. Additionally, we also cover the history of Naval Special Warfare through RJ’s eyes. We discussed his tours with UDT-22, his experiences with SEAL Team 2, and later, his career as an officer. Beyond his deployments, RJ is also a distinguished competitive shooter and was instrumental in the development of the SEAL sniper courses as well the .50 caliber sniper rifles, .300 win mags, and other SEAL Team specific gear. This is an episode that you don’t want to miss!

Episode 25: Bill Flavin Dec 02, 2022

Show notes

Tonight’s guest is with Bill Flavin, a retired Army Special Forces colonel with 55 years of experience working for the Department of Defense.

Bill has lived an extraordinary life and has a wealth of experience when it comes to war and peace.

As we do on this show we start chronologically. Bill briefly shares how his famous parents steered him away from life in Hollywood. Bill's mom, Lucile Browne, starred in movies alongside John Wayne, while Bill’s dad, James Flavin, was a character actor. James went to West Point and Bill decided he’d follow that military path too.

We discuss Bill’s extended tour to Vietnam and combat experiences in Cambodia. We also talk about his unique career within Army Special Forces, including leading a team for a program called Project Greenlight. This team operated during the Cold War and, according to Bill, was more of a psychological unit over anything. These Green Berets trained with nuclear weapons and their job was to insert behind enemy lines with mini nukes to take high value targets in the event of World War III.

Thankfully, the nukes were never used.

Towards the end of the show, we discuss Bill’s work with NATO peacekeeping operations. This includes his role in the Balkans hunting PIFWCs in the 90s to flying into Afghanistan with FedEx for on the ground stability assessments in 2002. We close with Bill’s powerful War Peace & Justice Symposium focusing on moral injury.

Learn more about the War Justice Peace Symposium here: https://www.warpeacejustice.org

Follow Late Night History on Instagram: @latenighthistory

Episode 24: Joe Jackson + Jose Martinez Nov 24, 2022

Show notes

Tonight’s guests are Joe Jackson and Jose Martinez — two friends from One More Wave, a non-profit that I’ve supported since 2018. Joe is a former US Navy corpsman with 1st Marine Division who completed a combat deployment to Fallujah, Iraq, between 2006 and 2007. Joe discusses his amazing family lineage of military service, his experiences as a corpsman in combat, and how surf therapy has impacted his road to recovery. Jose is a former US Army soldier who suffered a catastrophic injury after stepping on an IED during a combat deployment to Afghanistan in 2012. At 23-years-old, Jose had to adjust to life as a triple amputee. These days, you can find Jose and Joe competing and winning Gold Medals as a team in para-surf competitions. As far as history goes, we also dive into the fascinating story of how the Paralympics came to be and how veterans of World War II helped bring the games into fruition. We discuss the history of prosthetic limbs dating back to the American Civil War and Jose provides a modern perspective from his own experiences. Joe also shares some interesting facts about west coast watermen and, in particular, swim fins. Naturally, these topics lead us down many glorious rabbit holes including about the San Diego Bottom Scratchers and frogmen from the Underwater Demolition Teams (predecessors to today's US Navy SEALs). You can read about the San Diego Bottom Scratchers here: https://freerangeamerican.us/bottom-scratchers/ You can read about the Naked Warriors here: https://www.coffeeordie.com/naked-warrior-navy-seals Follow Joe Jackson on Instagram: @jojax_85 Follow Jose Martinez on Instagram: @rollwithguru Follow Late Night History on Instagram: @latenighthistory

Episode 23: Sierra Brown Nov 18, 2022

Show notes

Tonight’s guest on the Late Night History podcast is Sierra Brown, a current firefighter at a firehouse in San Diego, California. Sierra has lived quite the adventurous lifestyle from living on a sailboat in Mexico to competing in 100-mile Ultramarathon races to spending several fire seasons as a wildland firefighter. On this episode, expect to learn the history of the hotshot crews in which Sierra was assigned. The hotshots are considered a national resource and respond to wildfires all around the US. We also talk about how Sierra became a smokejumper at age 38 and some memorable experiences throughout her career. Later in the episode, we discuss how Sierra has found outside outlets to challenge herself, including her latest ultramarathon called the Man Against Horse Race. Outside of running, Sierra utilized the therapeutic outlet of spearfishing, which you’ll learn all about in this episode.

Episode 22: John Wolfram Nov 11, 2022

Show notes

Tonight’s guest on the Late Night History podcast is John Wolfram.
John is a former US Navy frogman with two combat tours to Vietnam. In between his tours, John was selected to participate in the famous mission to recover the Apollo 11 astronauts from the ocean after they had just completed the world’s first Moon landing. John shares the stories in great detail.
However, we also talk about other frogman-specific history, including a famous instructor named Vince Olivera. John attended UDTRA — the predecessor name to BUD/S or SEAL training — class 44 and has fond memories of going through training. He remembers Olivera as a tobacco-chewing, cigar-smoking, mean-mugged frogman who had “God” written across his T-shirt. Hear what John had to say about him.

Some other highlights include SERE school, wearing blue jeans in ‘Nam, and animals John kept as pets on his combat tours. Of course, to keep with tradition, we discuss the fascinating beer and food John had during the war. Towards the end of the episode, John shares his impactful missionary work returning to Vietnam years after the war ended.
This is an episode that you do not want to miss!
For those interested, I recommend grabbing John’s memoir — Splashdown: The Rescue of a Navy Frogman

Also checkout John’s YouTube for some cool pictures from his life.

Episode 21: Remi Adeleke Sep 30, 2022

Show notes

Tonight's episode of the Late Night History podcast welcomes Remi Adeleke. Remi has lived quite the inspirational life.

We cover his childhood born into Nigerian royalty and how he lost everything and had to move to the Bronx with his mother and start a new life. We discuss how Remi went from hustling in the streets in the Bronx to achieving his dream in becoming a US Navy SEAL. He went from not knowing how to swim to enduring three Navy SEAL Hell Weeks and spending about 8 years at West Coast-based SEAL Teams.

After three combat deployments, Remi transitioned out of the Navy in 2016 and has found success in Hollywood working alongside Transformers director Michael Bay to even producing his own short film called The Unexpected.

The Unexpected will release on Sept. 30, 2022, on Remi's YouTube Channel and is expected to be made into its own featured film. Remi is also the author of the book Transformed: A Navy SEAL's Unlikely Journey From the Throne of Africa, to the Streets of the Bronx, to Defying the Odds.

Follow Remi on IG: @remiadeleke

Follow LNH on IG: @latenighthistory

Episode 20: Tim Clemente (9/11 Special) Sep 09, 2022

Show notes

On September 11, 2001, Tim Clemente and other FBI agents from the Washington Field Office SWAT team were at Naval Special Warfare Development Group — more widely known as SEAL Team SIX — training in their kill house (also called shoot house). One of Tim's agents alerted him to the developments happening in New York City with early reports indicating a small plane had struck the World Trade Center. Tim's FBI team and several Navy SEALs switched the TV to a live CNN broadcast showing the North Tower on fire. Moments later, the operators watched in horror as the second plane slammed into the WTC's South Tower. Tim tells the remarkable story of responding to the terrorist attacks that day. Along the way, Tim witnessed several small acts of heroism. Following the attacks on 9/11, Tim's team participated in what later became the largest criminal investigation in history.

Read the story here: An FBI Agent's Unforgettable Journey to the Pentagon on 9/11

Listen to Tim Clemente's Audible Original podcast titled After The Fall about the FBI's investigation following 9/11.

Episode 19: Mike Foley Sep 02, 2022

Show notes

My guest today is Mike Foley, a retired Boston Firefighter with 25 years of experience on the job. Mike is also the author of Busy As Hell and Busy As Hell 2 — books that cover the history of the Boston Fire Department’s War Years between 1963 and 1983. In this episode we dive into Mike’s family legacy of four generations of Boston Firefighters from his grandfather who was appointed in 1917 to his son who is still serving to this day. Some highlights of the episode include the Foley's Marine Corps heritage, Mike’s very first experience working a fire at 17-years-old, some Boston-specific fire department history, a discussion about bunker gear and cancer, and perhaps my favorite topic — The Liar’s Club. I first met Mike at the Liar’s Club back in September 2020. The Liar’s Club began in 1968 when a bunch of old retired firefighters would meet for coffee every Wednesday at the training academy on Moon Island in Quincy, Massachusetts. The stories from the glory days would take on a life of their own — tall tales, legends, and sometimes, a few lies. As Mike puts it, “The older we get the better we were when we were younger.” Pickup Mike's books on Amazon: Busy as Hell: Stories, Tall Tales, Legends, Yarns, and a Cast of Characters from the Boston Fire Department's Famed War Years

Episode 18: Chris Ryan Aug 26, 2022

Show notes

Today’s episode is with Chris Ryan whose name may ring a bell if you’re interested in the history of the British Special Air Service otherwise known as the SAS. These days, Chris stays busy writing novels with storylines and characters based on the SAS. His portfolio contains more than 74 novels, which have been made into popular TV series. But perhaps what he’s most known for is his role with Bravo Two Zero, the fateful British SAS team that was compromised in Iraq in 1991 during the Gulf War. Chris wrote a book from his perspective of how the events transpired called “The One That Got Away,” which describes the longest escape and evasion in British SAS history.

In this episode, we lightly touch on those details. Instead, we cover British SAS history, Chris’s time at the German Alpine Guide’s Course in Germany, and the fascinating application of pink camouflage on the so-called Pink Panther, which were land rovers used by the SAS.

Follow Chris Ryan on Twitter: @exsaschrisryan and Instagram: @exsaschrisryan.

Find his books on Amazon.

Episode 17: Neal McCallum Aug 19, 2022

Show notes

My next guest is someone I profiled for a print story published in the summer 2022 limited edition issue of Coffee or Die Magazine. The story inside the magazine is called “The Great Adventure”: Neal McCallum’s 46 Years of Dedicated Service to Uncle Sam.

Some inside baseball for ya, in December 2021, I went to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to cover the 80th anniversary of the attacks. I wrote a couple dispatches and met some interesting people, including former NFL linebacker Donnie Edwards, who played for the Kansas City Chiefs and, at the time, the San Diego Chargers. He now runs Best Defense Foundation where he brings World War II veterans back to their battlefields. Donnie introduced me to Neal.

At the time, I was only privy to Neal’s background as a US Marine having served during the Battle of Okinawa during World War II. But after speaking with him on numerous occasions, I later learned Neal had accomplished far more than I initially perceived.

After World War II, Neal became one of the very first Sky Marshalls in the 1970s in an effort to combat the growing problem of plane hijackings so he helped enforce new anti-piracy laws. We also briefly cover Neal’s 20 years as a criminal investigator for US Customs — you can read about his big cases (which, a link will be in the description) as well as Neal’s government work with the US State Department in the 80s in Russia.
Follow on Instagram: @latenighthistory

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