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Episodes from Behind The Shield
Kory Flowers (Hurricane Helene, the Addiction Crisis and the Power of Mentorship) - Episode 1247
Kory Flowers is a 27-year veteran Captain with the Greensboro Police Department. Captain Flowers trains law enforcement officers nationwide on various subversive criminal groups, leadership, tactical communication, and has written articles and conducted podcasts for publications including Police1, Police Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and National Public Radio. He is a frequent guest on numerous law enforcement podcasts, and guest television host on On Patrol Live.We discuss his childhood in North Carolina, the addiction crisis, reducing recidivism, the power of mentorship, losing brother police officers, the impact of Hurricane Helene, community...
Carmen Ordoñez (Losing a Firefighter Spouse to Work Related Cancer and Navigating Grief) - Episode 619
Carmen Ordoñez is a TV host, lifestyle expert and the widow of Miami firefighter Fernando Ordonez. We discuss their parents' immigration stories, their romance story, the birth of their son, Fernando's cancer diagnosis, grief, growth, community and so much more.Carmen is a TV Host and on-air lifestyle expert. She was married to City of Miami firefighter, Fernando Ordoñez, who was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2014 and passed away 10-months later at the age of 34. Carmen found herself a young widow at the age of 31, left behind to raise their 2-year old son.
Tim Mickelson (Professional Golf, Fatal Wildfires and Innovations in Engine Operations) - Episode 1246
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 an...
Nate Morgans (Ibogaine in the Fire Service, Overcoming Addiction and the True Cost of War) - Episode 1245
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...
Ryan Scalmanini (Coast Guard Deployments, Military Transition and Maximising VA Benefits) - Episode 1244
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 beca...
Frank Wright (The First Marine Raiders, Iwo Jima and PTSD in the WWII Generation) - Episode 561
Frank Wright was one of the original Marine Raiders who fought on both Guam and Iwo Jima in WWII. We discuss his journey into the Marines, special forces selection, hand to hand combat, facing banzai attacks, his powerful mental health story, writing his book and so much more."I fought like mad as the Japanese stormed down the hill yelling 'Malians you die, Malians you die.' I emptied my rifle magazine, twice. Out of ammo I slashed and plunged my bayonet into as many as I could until…"Battles in the Pacific is Wright’s au...
Joseph Sullivan (First Responder Dispatch Innovation, Advances in Communication and the Future of Robots) - Episode 1243
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...
Kevin Grange (Grizzly Bear Attacks, Flight Medicine and National Parks) - Episode 1242
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 Extr...
Emily Kaplan III (Broken Science, Solving the Nation's Health Crisis and Optimising First Responders) - Episode 1241
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...
Greg Kelley (The Wrongful Conviction that allowed a Predator to Roam Free) - Episode 458
Greg Kelley was a promising high school football player when he was falsely accused of sexual abuse of a child and wrongfully imprisoned. He spent the next six years proving his innocence, three of which were in prison. We discuss his early life, his parent's medical issues that led to him staying with a friend, the outcry, the horrendous cascade of unethical practices in both the investigation and trial, the horrors perpotrated by the predator that roamed free, overturning the decision, the power of love, reclaiming his football career and so much more.
Johnathon Ehsani (Reducing Deaths on our Roads, the Iranian Conflict and Autonomous Vehicles) - Episode 1240
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.
Louie Disney (Firefighter Fitness, the Power of Sobriety and the Combat Challenge) - Episode 1239
Louie Disney is a 40-year-old veteran firefighter and EMT based in Colorado, who believes that to be a truly effective first responder, you must be resilient and fully prepared for the demands of the job—both physically and mentally. With over 20 years of fire service experience across Kansas and Colorado—including wildland firefighting—Louie knows firsthand the heavy toll the profession takes. He is a survivor of severe depression and hardcore alcoholism, enduring years of blackouts before a devastating wake-up call forced a change. In 2013, Louie T-boned a car at 60 mph on his Harley. Forced to learn how to w...