John Wagner joined us a few weeks ago to talk about the issue of getting interpreters out of Afghanistan. Some of his personal stories in that episode really brought forward a different side of the war that we thought we'd try to expand on. He and I started at West Point together in the same 10-person squad, spent four years in the same company, before graduating and going off to Ft. Sill together. From there we found ourselves in the same battalion in the 101st Airborne Division and deployed together twice. In this and following episodes, we'll be telling the normal stories we do when we're together. Joking about problems at West Point, feelings around the deployment, and struggles through both. Hopefully this can present another side of the 20+ year Global War on Terror. John was a Ranger-qualified Artillery Officer who served as a platoon leader and a fire support officer during a twelve month deployment to Zhari District, Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne Division’s 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment during the troop surge of 2010-2011. He also served as an artillery advisor to the Afghan National Army in the Kunar River valley for most of 2012. He now works in medical device manufacturing with a startup called GT Medical Technologies, whose mission is to improve the lives of patients with brain tumors.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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