Combat Story (Ep 49): Ray McPadden [Part 2] | Ranger | JSOC | Purple Heart | We March at Midnight
![Combat Story (Ep 49): Ray McPadden [Part 2] | Ranger | JSOC | Purple Heart | We March at Midnight](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.youtube.com%2Fvi%2FIcW_dxvJZvA%2Fmaxresdefault.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
About This Episode
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Today we hear the second part of Ray McPadden’s Combat Story. Ray is a former Army Infantry Officer who survived four brutal deployments. In Part 1, we covered his time with 10th Mountain in the Korengal Valley, a notoriously violent part of Afghanistan. [Part 1 can be found at https://youtu.be/uebr9kPuPLM]
In Part II, we pick up just after Ray returns from 16 months as a Platoon Leader in Afghanistan. He immediately goes to ROP (the Ranger Officer Program) to be assessed for the Ranger Regiment.
In this interview, Ray provides some incredible detail about the types of missions and decisions soldiers have to make within the JSOC community and the stark differences between the special ops and conventional military in terms of resources, equipment, aviation, personnel, and more.
For those who want to know what it was like to roll out on a multiple hit night in Iraq with JSOC, this interview will make you feel like you’re inside the Stryker and on the objective. If you want more, check out Ray’s great book - We March at Midnight.
I hope you enjoy this second round of Ray’s combat story as much as I did.
Instagram @raymcpadden1 https://www.instagram.com/raymcpadden1/ Book We March at Midnight https://www.amazon.com/We-March-Midnight-War-Memoir-ebook/dp/B08W2NQF4H
Follow on Instagram @combatstory https://www.instagram.com/combatstory Follow on Facebook @combatstoryofficial https://fb.me/combatstoryofficial Send us messages at https://m.me/combatstoryofficial Email ryan@combatstory.com Learn more about Ryan www.combatstory.com/aboutus Intro Song: Sport Rock from Audio Jungle
Show Notes
We March at Midnight
Chapters
- 0:00Intro
- 0:46Guest introduction
- 1:50Interview begins and returning from the Korengal Valley
- 8:15Did you get treatment for PTSD after the first deployment
- 13:00Coming straight back from combat to Ranger Officer Program
- 20:25Interesting model in the Ranger Regiment
- 27:57What’s a Ground Force Commander
- 30:08How hard is the Ranger Officer Program
- 33:43The Darby Queen
- 43:30Arriving to 2nd Ranger Battalion
- 46:52Big Boy Rules
- 50:57Combat Story #1 - Running ops Day 1
- 55:23JSOC Mission Briefs in combat
- 1:11:19Combat Story #2 - Hasty follow-on operation
- 1:18:45Couldn’t sleep post-mission
- 1:23:56Combat Story #3: Tier 1 HVTs operating in difficult spaces
- 1:45:28Combat Story #4: The reality of warfare and children on the battlefield
- 1:53:38Why choose the title “We March at Midnight”?
- 1:56:25What did you carry with you into combat?
- 1:59:25Would you do it all again?
- 2:01:28Listener shout outs and comments
