On Veterans Day we celebrate our military from every service and every generation. Freedom requires people of character to stand up for America…no matter the challenge.

This Veterans Day, the Jedburgh Podcast, the Jedburgh Media Channel and the Green Beret Foundation are proud to announce our partnership with the University of Health and Performance outside of Bentonville, Arkansas.

Dedicated to providing our transitioning service members with the skills needed to build careers in health and fitness, and as entrepreneurs, UHP is leading the way in showing private industry just how valuable our Veterans will be for the next generation of America.

While at UHP, Fran Racioppi had the chance to sit down with Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the youngest Governor in America and one of only 13 female Governors across the country. Governor Sanders is a staunch advocate for up-skilling transitioning Veterans and is working hard to ensure Arkansas has the resources and job opportunities to bring Veterans to the state.

The Governor and Fran discussed her Veterans initiatives, her outlook now that the 2024 election is decided, and how it is incumbent upon all leaders to bring the country together to get things done for the American people.

HIGHLIGHTS

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:46 Welcome to the University of Health and Performance
• 2:12 Veterans Day in Arkansas
• 3:08 Arkansas is upskilling Veterans
• 4:22 Women Governors are changing America
• 5:23 America post-election
• 6:36 Can America come together?
• 
  

QUOTES

• “Creating an atmosphere that allows us to keep Veterans right here in Arkansas is a great thing.”
• “We want this to be the best place for Veterans to call home.”
• “Having women in leadership I think is absolutely critical to the long term success of our county.”
• “We have to focus on things everybody can agree on and things that lift our country up.”
• “Remember where the enemies are; and it’s not within our own country.”

The Jedburgh Podcast and the Jedburgh Media Channel are an official program of The Green Beret Foundation. Watch, listen or read all our Veterans Day coverage. Follow the Jedburgh Podcast and the Green Beret Foundation on social media. Listen on your favorite podcast platform and watch us on YouTube as we show why America must continue to lead from the front, no matter the challenge.

The opinions presented on the The Jedburgh Podcast and the Jedburgh Media Channel are the opinions of the guests and the host Fran Racioppi. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Green Beret Foundation and the Green Beret Foundation assumes no liability for their accuracy.

Hostage diplomacy is an ugly game. For decades America’s adversaries have imprisoned US citizens in an effort to leverage diplomatic, economic or military advantage. These cases range from exaggerated charges, to disproportionate penalties, to outright lies. Each case is different. And each case affects both the lives of the incarcerated, their families and ultimately American power.

Jose Pereira was held prisoner by the Venezuelan government for five years. He was the CEO of Citgo and after a Thanksgiving Day meeting in Caracas, he and five other Citgo executives were arrested and charged with bribery, corruption and other false charges. They became known as the Citgo 6.

Jose joined Fran Racioppi to share the story of his captivity, his year long solitary detention in the Submarine, starvation, sickness, sham trials, and his time in a coma. Jose talks about his mental battles with depression and suicidal ideation.

Like all great leaders, Jose sought solutions using the buckets his food was delivered in as a clandestine courier service to exchange letters with his wife. These letters kept him alive, gave him hope and now serve as the foundation to his new book “From Hero To Villain: My True Story of the Citgo 6.”

Special thanks to Hostage US for supporting the families of American hostages and those wrongfully detained, as well hostages and detainees when they return home.

HIGHLIGHTS

• 0:00 Welcome Home
• 3:39 Summoned to Venezuela
• 7:51 Surviving the first 48 hours
• 16:05 Bargaining chips for oil
• 20:09 Smuggling letters in food
• 23:58 The toll on the family
• 28:07 Captive with Green Berets
• 30:24 Prisoner Swap
• 38:47 Hostage Diplomacy
• 41:34 The challenges of coming home
• 45:51 The role of Hostage US
• 49:19 The healing process
• 51:01 Daily Foundations to Success

QUOTES

• For us, Thanksgiving became kind of a nightmare.”
• “Nobody was prepared because this was a sham situation.”
• “They target high profile people because they need to leverage you.”
• “I stayed 10 months in total confinement.”
• “In those containers I found that you could put a double bottom.”
• “Your family is a hostage even worse than you. They are a spiritual and mental hostage.”
• “Bring the American back no matter the tool that you need to use.”
• “You are literally caught in a time machine. You are literally in a cage for five years.”

The Jedburgh Podcast and the Jedburgh Media Channel are an official program of The Green Beret Foundation. Watch, listen or read our conversation from Epigen Technology in Arlington, VA. Follow the Jedburgh Podcast and the Green Beret Foundation on social media. Listen on your favorite podcast platform and watch the full video version on YouTube as we show why America must continue to lead from the front, no matter the challenge.

The opinions presented on the The Jedburgh Podcast and the Jedburgh Media Channel are the opinions of the guests and the host. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Green Beret Foundation and the Green Beret Foundation assumes no liability for their accuracy.

Nobody’s coming to save you. It’s a simple phrase, but one that can mean the difference between success and failure. Elite performers know that when it’s time to take action, they need to be ready to execute with precision and without excuse.

Scott Mann is a retired Special Forces Officer, the architect of Operation Pineapple Express, and a leader who knows how to get results against the odds.

Scott first joined Fran Racioppi after the withdrawal from Afghanistan to share how he took a stand when few would. Now he’s showing us just how to apply an action first mindset to anything we set out to do.

Our rainy Sunday morning conversation from the banks of New York City’s East River was the perfect backdrop to break down his new book; Nobody’s coming to save you: a Green Beret’s guide to getting big shit done.

Scott defines the churn; the divisiveness, fear-laden complexity of the world that is in our face 24/7 across our devices. He shows us how that has put us all in a trance of distraction, disengagement, disconnection and distrust where transactional relationships focus on performing for each other instead of connecting. As a leader of action, Scott gives us the cure; which rightfully so will be MESSY.

Jump In with Scott and Fran as they wake up New York City, then head over to our YouTube channel or your favorite podcast platform to catch all our coverage of the 2024 election cycle and our national security series with today’s most prominent Special Forces leaders.

HIGHLIGHTS

• 0:00 Welcome to New York City
• 2:07 Why is Nobody Is Coming To Save You?
• 4:05 The Four D’s
• 6:40 The loss of social connection
• 17:20 Get MESSY to get s**t done
• 18:35 Storytelling matters

QUOTES

• “We are in our own form of that unprecedented churn.”
• “The average attention span of a human in the west is eight seconds.”
• “We’ve atrophied the ability to tap into what’s below the waterline of our human nature.”
• “Now it’s a verb. ‘I’m going to unfriend you.’”
• “We’ve lost the ability to make human connection in a meaningful way..”
• “We ignore storytelling at our peril. Everything has become bullet points.”
• “It wasn’t the stories they told; it was the stories they asked to hear.”
• “All of us are capable of strategic outcomes if we set our mind to it.”

The Jedburgh Podcast and the Jedburgh Media Channel are an official program of The Green Beret Foundation. Learn more on The Jedburgh Podcast Website. Subscribe to us and follow @jedburghpodcast on all social media. Watch the full video version on YouTube.