Father Mike Olsen served as a medevac pilot in Vietnam in 1970, until he had to be medevaced out himself when his helicopter had an unfortunate encounter with an enemy quad 50 machine gun. While the army wanted to give him a medical retirement, Father Mike worked his way back into shape, demanded a medical board and was able to return to Vietnam,,, where he was promptly shot down again two months later.

While the was was done with him, Father Mike stayed in the Army, eventually retiring as a Colonel. Post military, he enjoyed a career as a contractor with NASA, and now serves a different calling as a priest in New Mexico.

Father Mike talks with us about the mental aspect of returning to war after injury, realizing the affect his military service had on his family, reconciling his faith in God after witnessing the horrors of war, and what we can do as a community to help our veterans.

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Jack Schmitt served as an artillery observer with the US Army in the Vietnam War. Jack talks about beating the cloud of PTSD that he carried with him, and we do mean it was a real cloud that he could see, the not so welcome home he received, reconnecting with friends later in life, and using the skills he learned in the army to transition into a successful civil engineering career after his service.

Admiral Center's naval career spanned multiple conflicts over his 35 years of service. Starting with a summer "internship" in Vietnam while at the Naval Academy, through Desert Storm, as well as as an arms negotiator with the Joint Chiefs of Staff that saw him in the middle of the nuclear negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

Admiral Center talks about the long lasting malaise he felt after being on duty during the Fall of Saigon, his surprise to find out that the movies are actually pretty spot on when it comes to the sound of bullets coming at you, the plusses and minuses we have seen with the transition to an all volunteer military and advice for finding your career in the civilian world. It's an insightful conversation and we hope you enjoy.