original airdate 4/15/22
Erick Miyares recounts his path from the Marine Corps and 7th Special Forces Group into a highly secretive Army special mission unit, conducting intelligence and advanced force operations across Afghanistan, Iraq, and other sensitive environments. He also opens up about being shot in Colombia, hunting high-level targets in Ramadi, singleton missions, hostage rescue work, and the psychological toll of spending two decades operating in the shadows.
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00:00 – Start
02:38 – Erick’s Cuban-American Upbringing in Miami
04:18 – Joining the Marine Corps
06:13 – Airborne, Pathfinder & Becoming a Scout Sniper
07:20 – Leaving the Marines for Army Intelligence
10:12 – Becoming a SIGINT / Electronic Warfare Operator
12:42 – Getting Assigned to 7th Special Forces Group
14:32 – Life on a Special Operations Team Alpha
18:37 – Mission on the Ecuador-Colombia Border
23:13 – Ambushed by Guerrillas
27:04 – Getting Shot in His First Firefight
34:31 – Discovering the Secretive JSOC Intelligence World
35:19 – Getting Hog-Tied by Rangers During a JSOC Exercise
41:22 – Selection for a Special Mission Unit
44:06 – What Makes the Right Kind of Operator?
47:18 – Living With Ambiguity & Controlling Aggression
51:04 – The History & Mission of the Unit
58:44 – Straddling Special Operations and Intelligence
1:04:28 – 9/11 Changes Everything
1:06:01 – Early Global War on Terror Missions
1:09:10 – Afghanistan & Advanced Force Operations
1:11:20 – What AFO Operators Actually Do
1:19:33 – Hunting a High-Level Target in Ramadi
1:23:23 – Going Up Against State-Level Tradecraft
1:26:01 – Infiltrating a Cordon-and-Sweep Operation
1:28:03 – Finding the HVT and Leaving Him in Place
1:29:31 – RPG Attack & Hours of Fighting in Ramadi
1:34:44 – Building the Final Target Package
1:35:48 – Rangers Raid the Target & Seize Everything
1:39:02 – Sitting Face-to-Face With the Man He Hunted
1:41:24 – Espionage Inside a War Zone
1:41:40 – The American Hostage Rescue Mission
1:46:07 – The Psychological Toll of Constantly Switching Missions
1:49:31 – Compartmentalization, Secrets & Family Life
1:53:38 – Activating an Emergency Destruction Plan
1:57:23 – Destroy the Gear and Escape
2:03:03 – The Fear of Being Captured on a Singleton Mission
2:07:41 – When the Entire City Went Dark
2:09:40 – Treating PTSD With a Stellate Ganglion Block
2:15:05 – Helping Special Operations Veterans Get Treatment
2:18:47 – Leaving the Clandestine World Behind
2:20:25 – Opening Pandora’s Box After 20 Years
2:22:49 – Suicide, PTSD & Finally Asking for Help
2:24:24 – Becoming Erick Again After the Military
2:27:10 – What Special Operations Does to Families
2:30:26 – The Nightmare of Forgetting Who You Really Are
2:36:11 – Why Army “Spies” Struggle to Tell Their Stories
2:38:20 – Classified Trauma & Getting Help From the VA
2:42:00 – Why Secret Careers Are So Hard to Translate to Civilian Life
2:47:27 – Is This Line of Work Better for Single Men?
2:51:19 – Politics vs. Operating in a War Zone
2:55:25 – Cuban-Americans in Special Operations
2:57:03 – Why These Stories Need to Be Told
3:01:34 – Where to Find Erick & Closing Thoughts
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