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.

The United States Army Special Forces command teams are composed of a commissioned officer, a warrant officer and senior non-commissioned officer. A model has evolved over time and is tributed with being a key component to success on the battlefield of yesterday and today.

To break down just Army Special Forces balances strategy, experience and teamwork, Creator and Host Fran Racioppi sat down with Command Sergeant Major Dave Waldo and Command Chief Warrant Officer Felix Mosqueda; two of the three senior-most leaders of First Special Forces Command.

From atop the Normandy Resistance Monument in Saint Marie Dumont, we broke down what it means to be a Green Beret and how the mission has evolved from the Jedburgh Teams of D-Day to today’s Operational Detachments.

CSM Waldo and Chief Mosqueda shared their priorities and vision for Army Special Forces, how the regiment is adapting in the post Global War on Terror environment, the misconception of the Special Forces mission and how they are tackling the recruiting and manning challenges needed for the next battlefield; whether that be against a peer, near peer or terrorist adversary.

Check out our conversation from the birthplace of modern Special Forces; then head over to our YouTube channel or your favorite podcast platform to catch all our coverage from the 80th Anniversary of D-Day.

And don’t miss our first documentary, Unknown Heroes: Behind Enemy Lines at D-Day, the story of Operation Jedburgh available now only on YouTube.

Highlights

0:00 Introduction

3:18 Welcome to the Normandy Resistance Monument

7:19 Commissioned Officers, NCOs and Warrant Officers

11:23 Preparing the Regiment

13:57 Solving the recruiting challenge

16:56 Are changes coming to the structure of Special Forces?

18:56 Lessons from GWOT

24:14 Defining the next fight

26:02 Current SF culture

30:23 Vision for the Regiment

34:29 The New Uniforms

35:32 Foundations to success

40:13 Football predictions

Quotes

• “They knew they had no choice. There was no can. There was no try. Hope was not a course action. It was only must.”
• If it’s important to my boss, it’s important to me. If it’s cool to my boss, it’s fascinating to me.”
• “Make no mistake about it. And to our adversaries who are listening to this. We are absolutely the top of the mountain.”
• “Are we meeting the numbers? No.”
• “Always do more with less. We’re able to do that because of our training pipeline.”
• “We have to focus on all the missions because every part of the world is set up differently.”
• “First contact should not be human contact. It should be some sort of tech or robotic.”
• “Our adversaries are brilliant. They’re also lethal. But do they love each other the way that our folks do?”
• “If you build good command teams it never gets lonely at the top.”

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.

Army Special Operations Forces are led by LTG John Braga, Commander of United States Army Special Operations Command. General Braga and Creator and Host Fran Racioppi stormed the Utah Beach Communication Bunker responsible for the coordination of German defenses and later the facilitation of the largest amphibious assault in history.

From this iconic setting, we unpacked the significance of World War II on international norms still in play today and challenged at a level not seen since the pre-war era. General Braga shared his vision for Army Special Operations, his focus on threat-informed decision-making, and how Special Operations has evolved; but more importantly where it needs to go and why it’s not there yet.

He also explains how Special Operations are preparing for conflict with nation-states like China and Iran, while also ensuring terrorist organizations have no sanctuary across the globe. Finally, we talk about integration, and why Special Operations is a critical node in the cyber and space fight deep behind enemy lines.

Check out our conversation from underneath Utah Beach. Head over to our YouTube channel or your favorite podcast platform to catch all our coverage from the 80th Anniversary of D-Day.

And don’t miss our first documentary, Unknown Heroes: Behind Enemy Lines at D-Day, the story of Operation Jedburgh available now only on YouTube.

Highlights

0:00 Introduction

3:25 Welcome to the Le Roosevelt Cafe Bunker on Utah Beach

8:14 Significance of Operation Jedburgh

10:15 Rangers on Omaha Beach

13:35 US Army Special Operations mission

19:10 Role of Psychological Operations

24:10 Winning Cognitive Warfare?

29:43 A change to the Special Forces teams?

32:10 Top priority on the next battlefield?

41:10 Combatting an enemy that doesn’t value life?

44:32 The USASOC culture

49:43 Destroying the enemy

55:28 USASOC’s future

1:00:05 Foundations to Success

Quotes

• “Here we have the Jedburghs, with small teams having complete outsized impacts.”
• “We challenge the force…to be strategically driven in everything you do.”
• “We weren’t created for counter-terrorism.”
• “You need to be an information officer.”
• “People are the weapon system of USASOC. That’s our greatest investment.”
• “Every STEM robotics club in high school in America needs to know we have a home for them in Army Special Operations.
• “We have to modernize. We have to change. Or we'll be behind the adversary.”
• “The only way to win is a whole of nation and whole of society approach.”
• “I want to be surrounded by people who want to push themself.”
• “Everyone should be challenging the training calendar. What are you training for?”
• “We can’t be afraid of changing because we might get something wrong.”

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.