Behind The Shield

Zamia Cohen is a personal trainer, exercise physiologist and the woman behind Good Human Fitness. We discuss her journey into coaching, the importance of sleep, microcurrent point stimulation, health psychology, her pro bono work with veterans and first responders, GLP-1s and so much more.

"I became a certified personal trainer and joined the personal training team at Equinox Fitness Club in 2002. I quickly became one of their top tier trainers and helped launch Equinox’s West Coast Tier 4 (now Tier X) Coaching program. Throughout my now 22 years (and counting) in the industry of health and wellness, I...

I welcome back Navy SEAL Master Chief Jason Gardner and his wife Iris; a horse wrangler and former EMT. We discuss the elements of a successful marriage, sexual abuse, overcoming trauma, parenting, fasting and much, much more.

Jason Gardner is a former U.S. Navy SEAL, combat leader, and now a leadership instructor and speaker with Echelon Front. Jason spent nearly three decades in the SEAL Teams with eight deployments across the globe. With experience operating in violent cities in both Iraq and Afghanistan, Jason has seen first-hand the power of the leadership lessons taught at Echelon...

John Ryan is a seasoned law enforcement professional with over four decades of distinguished service at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department. He rose through the ranks from Police Officer to Detective Lieutenant Commander and served as Chief of Department in 2012.

Throughout his career, he held leadership roles in multiple regional, federal, and joint task forces, including the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force where he served as a Commander for both the NY Office and the Newark FBI. He was part of the Executive Board for both the NY office and Ne...

Robert Burke is an actor and a nineteen year veteran firefighter. We discuss his early life, his journey into acting, the tragedy that inspired his fire service career, portraying General Mattis in Generation Kill, working on Rescue Me, martial arts, altruism and so much more.

With more than 30 years in medicine, including a background in diagnostic and interventional radiology, Jerome Puryear helps people navigate one of the hardest parts of modern healthcare: knowing what to trust, what matters most, and what to do next. His work focuses on cutting through conflicting advice, misinformation, overlooked warning signs, and complex medical information so people can make clearer, more intentional decisions about their health.

At the center of his work is The Puryear Lens, a simple three-step framework for making better decisions when health information feels noisy or overwhelming: Clarify. Focus. Respond. It helps people...

Timmy Gleason is a veteran Miami firefighter and member of USAR TF-2.

We discuss losing his home to a hurricane as a child, his journey into the fire service, the Haitian earthquake, Hurricane Ian, the Surfside collapse, his own powerful mental health story, addiction, suicide, post traumatic growth and so much more.

Sara Wilkinson is the founder of the Step Up Foundation, skateboarder and Gold Star Widow. In this third conversation, we discuss catharsis through travelling, addressing the mental health crisis through community, turning the page on grief and so much more.

Sara was always familiar with a military life as she grew up the youngest to a father in the Marine Corps. Her upbringing allowed her to understand the stress, high cycle times, of deployments and frequent training trips while furthering to instill her independence and resilience.

Unfortunately, she’s learned even the most prepared can be...

Chad Eldridge, DC is a Chiropractic Physician with a primary focus on performance enhancement, movement, and corrective exercise. We discuss the ailments that led him on the medical path, choosing chiropractic, functional medicine, foundation training, the obesity epidemic and so much more.

Chad Eldridge, DC is a Chiropractic Physician with a primary focus on performance enhancement, movement, and corrective exercise. His passion and curiosity of the human body started at a young age where he spent many hours after school in medical doctor and chiropractic offices, in which his mother worked. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in...

Dr. Jessa LaCroix is a social psychologist, behavioral health researcher, and scientific advisor focused on advancing mental health, suicide prevention, and human performance. She is a Research Assistant Professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and serves as a Lead Scientific Advisor for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) through Strategic Engineering Solutions.

Her work has spanned federally funded research initiatives addressing suicide prevention, cognitive optimization, and mental health. She is passionate about bridging behavioral science and health innovation to develop more effective approaches to prevention, treatment, and resilience.

Dr...

Julie Lewis, a 38-­year AIDS survivor, and mother to Grammy Award winning musician, Ryan Lewis, was infected with HIV in 1984 but not diagnosed until the early 1990s when she was given three to five years to live. After years of silence about her disease, she found an unlikely community of friends to fight alongside and began using her story to make a difference. Her experiences as a woman living with AIDS offers insights about grief and loss, caregiving, spirituality, and the importance of community in the midst of tragedy.

Thirty years later, wanting to find a w...

Dixon Phillips is a former collegiate athlete, Pasco County firefighter and former union president of IAFF Local 4420. In this third conversation, he unpacks the history, mistruths and realities of Florida's Amendment 3, the negative impact it will have on Florida's first responders and the safety of their citizens. We also discuss proactive solutions to government overspending from community medicine to the 24/72 firefighter shift.

"As President of IAFF Local 4420, Pasco County Professional Firefighters, I proudly represented over 800 members who serve our community with dedication and professionalism. In this role, I led collective bargaining efforts, negotiate contracts, handle member grievances...

Hon. Allen Clark is a Vietnam veteran, author, public speaker and Minister. We discuss giving both his legs for his country, the physical and mental rehabilitation journey, working with the VA, the spiritual arm of healing, the industrial military complex and so much more.

After attending Phillips Exeter Academy, Allen graduated the United States Military Academy in 1963, after which he was commissioned in the Army Corps of Engineers. Two years after graduation from West Point, he volunteered for a tour in Vietnam where he served as a Military Intelligence officer assigned to the Fifth Special Forces Group...

Dr. Thaer Ahmad, MD is a board-certified emergency medicine physician, global health expert, educator, and humanitarian who has provided medical relief and healthcare capacity-building in some of the world's most devastated conflict zones for over fifteen years.

A Palestinian-American raised on Chicago's South Side, Dr. Ahmad first traveled to Gaza in 2009 on a medical mission and has returned multiple times since. After borders reopened in late 2023, he was deployed by the World Health Organization as part of an Emergency Medical Team to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in 2024, where he worked in the emergency department's resuscitation room.<...

Nick O'Kelly is a former U.S. Army Green Beret and Special Operations Blackhawk Pilot. We discuss his early life, his journey into the military, Special Forces selection, serving in South East Asia, transitioning into Aviation, Organizational Stress, returning to the SF community as a pilot, his own powerful mental health story, NuCalm and so much more.

Dave Gallagher began his fire service career when he listened to his Dad’s fire stories and stories about his grandfather who served in the days of the horses. He joined his local volunteer fire department in 1976 as a FF/PM after spending two years as a founding member of a Fire/Rescue Explorer Post in Montgomery County Ohio.

Soon after he was hired by the Fairborn, Ohio FD, where he spent a year, but then was hired by the Wayne Twp FD in 1979, which became the Huber Heights Fire Division. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1982, an...

Stefi has an extensive list of achievements in the athletic field but she is also very well accomplished in the academic field. Not only is Stefi a multiple world record holding powerlifter, she is also an exercise physiologist and doctor of physical therapy.

In Olympic Weightlifting Stefi was the Florida senior state gold medalist (2015). Illinois senior state gold medalist and record holder (2015). In Powerlifting Stefi is the current all-time world record holder in squat, deadlift and total, she has 11 total all time world records so far in her career and is the #1 123lb Powerlifter in the world.<...

Jason “Jay” Cheney, is a 18-year Air Force veteran and former police officer of 12 years who spent over two decades serving his community and his country — including seven years on a SWAT team. Jay’s been on both sides of the badge: the one that serves and the one that struggles. After hitting rock bottom and finding his way back through faith, fitness, and purpose, he’s here to share what he wishes every officer knew about mental health, resilience, and the power of asking for help.

https://www.instagram.com/jason_gpnvgs/

Sean Evangelista is a former Tier One Navy SEAL and the founder of "30 Seconds Out". We discuss his traumatic childhood, going through the "Scared Straight" program, climbing, his journey into the Navy, his perspective on war, his transition story, mountaineering, Ski Patrol, entrepreneurship, post traumatic growth and so much more.

After retiring from 20 years in the military, Sean (aka E-Van), left Virginia Beach and headed straight to the Rocky Mountains in Idaho to start a new life in 2013. He taught himself how to ski with the help of some friends then worked as a pro ski patroller...

Richard “DOC” Sprunger is a former U.S. Navy SEAL who served 14 years with five deployments and later spent 24 years as a Firefighter/Paramedic. Across nearly four decades of service, Richard experienced combat, traumatic emergency calls, significant injuries, loss, and the cumulative impact of a career spent running toward other people’s worst days. After losing nine friends and brothers to suicide over a four-year period, including six SEALs and two firefighters, he began confronting the cost that years of trauma, compartmentalization, and emotional armor had taken on his own life and relationships.

That journey led Richard deep i...

I'm sharing this again as I lost my father last month. Dr Richard Geering spent his career as a Veterinary Surgeon in England, practicing on both horses and small animals. During this time he responded with the local fire brigade to many emergencies involving animals.

Samantha Juan is a Filipina-Persian American writer, visual artist, speaker, and U.S. Army veteran whose work examines survival, identity, memory, and the body’s long return to itself. Samantha served in the U.S. Army from 2003 to 2013, including as a signals intelligence analyst and Cultural Support Team leader attached to Joint Special Operations Command in Afghanistan. She is a Bronze Star recipient and 2014 Pat Tillman Scholar, with a BFA from Old Dominion University and an MLA from Johns Hopkins University.

Raised between cultures and shaped by nearly a decade of military service, she brings a rare le...

Dan Bornstein is a former volunteer firefighter, Health and Performance professor at the Citadel and Chair of the US National Physical Activity Plan. We discuss the childhood injury that led him into the fire service, obesity and national security, the financial impact of the nation's ill health, physical education, physical readiness in the tactical professions and so much more.

Daniel B. Bornstein, Ph.D. is the Founding Principal at DBornsteinSolutions, LLC, which operates at the unique intersection of fitness, health, and national security. Dr. Bornstein has over 20 years of experience as a researcher, professor, and industry leader...

Judge Gary Sanders is a judge in the Fifth Circuit Court in Florida. He is also known as one of the fairest and most compassionate justices in Marion County. We discuss his journey into law, addiction and mental health, frivolous lawsuits, physical education, running and so much more.

As a Force Recon Marine, Jake Harriman fought terrorists overseas. As the founder of Nuru International, he battled extreme poverty in Africa. Now he's taking on his biggest mission yet. Harriman is founder and chairman of The Brickyard, a national nonprofit that is part of the growing movement to heal our divided nation and forge a better future. In Rescuing the Idea of America, Harriman shares both his inspiring personal story and a five-step code—believe, serve, connect, lead, and restore—for healing our country's divisions and becoming a nation that stands for the freedom of lasting, meaningful choices for...

Michael Perry is a New York Times bestselling author, humorist, corporate speaker, volunteer firefighter/first responder, and amateur snowplow driver. A lifelong resident of the rural Midwest, his “reflective roughneck” takes on life in Middle America have left hundreds of thousands of readers and live audiences laughing, nodding, and sometimes misty.

The author of over 25 books including Population 485, Truck: A Love Story, Forty Acres Deep, and Peaceful Persistence. Perry’s latest title is Improbable Mentors & Happy Tangents: How firefighters and poets, truckers and nurses, soldiers and singers, and other improbable individuals can show you the way in busine...

Sgt Maj Sebastien Lavoie is a commanding officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, use of force expert and elite tactical athlete. We discuss his journey into policing, martial arts in law enforcement, the importance of physical training, deescalation, realism in training, hiring practices, psychology and so much more.

Sergeant Major Sebastien Lavoie joined the RCMP in 2000. After completing training, he was posted to Tofino Detachment on Vancouver Island, where he became engaged in community and indigenous policing. Displaying a keen interest in Use of Force training; he quickly became the local Use of Force Subject Matter...

John Hudson is the UK Military's Chief Survival Instructor and author of "How to Survive". We discuss flying helicopters, surviving a plane crash, SERE school, extreme temperatures, resiliency and much more.

John is the UK military’s chief survival instructor, designing and implementing the training of instructors in Land, Sea, and Extreme Environment Survival. Prior to joining the RAF as a helicopter pilot, John studied Product Design at Leeds College of Art. He has penned the joint services survival training manual, revised the RAF’s aide memoir found in all military aircraft survival packs and advised on the...

Blake Richardson is a veteran, brain injury advocate, and founder of Help Our Heroes, a nonprofit focused on expanding access to treatments for traumatic brain injury, PTSD, and post-concussive syndrome.After living with an undiagnosed traumatic brain injury for more than a decade, Blake experienced firsthand how difficult it can be to find treatments that address the underlying brain injury rather than simply manage symptoms.

His own experience with hyperbaric oxygen therapy changed the direction of his life and ultimately became a driving force behind his advocacy. Today, Blake works alongside researchers, medical professionals, veterans, first responders...

Jim Burneka is a firefighter, podcaster co-founder of the 'Brothers Helping Brothers' conference and the author of 'Overcoming Tuesday'. In this third conversation, Jim discusses his powerful healing journey through psychedelics, The Brave Program, Project Sanctuary and so much more.

Overcoming Tuesday:

As a first responder, firefighter paramedic Jim Burneka encounters traumatic events the average person will likely never experience, but to him, it’s just another day—it’s Tuesday. In spite of being the wellness coordinator for the local fire department, Jim falls victim to Tuesday, the trauma he encounters daily, and finds himsel...

Brooke Bartlett is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and the founder of The Center for Trauma, Anxiety and Stress. We discuss her journey into psychology, youth athletes, her work in the VA, working with the tacical professions, the unique challenges facing wildland firefighters, post traumatic growth and so much more.

Dr. Bartlett is highly specialized in working with first responders and military members and has over 10 years of experience providing them with evidence-based clinical services in the therapy room and out in the field. She also has an extensive research history examining mental health correlates among first responders...

Scott Caulfield is the Director of Strength and Conditioning for Colorado College and NSCA committee member. We discuss his journey into coaching, training the tactical athlete, the importance of recovery, annual testing, nutrition, sleep and much more.

Scott was named director of strength and conditioning at Colorado College on Sept. 18, 2019. He comes to CC from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), where he served as coaching education manager and head strength and conditioning coach. Caulfield has been involved in fitness and athletics for more than two decades, including his position at the NSCA since 2011. He utilized...

Guy Stephens is a nationally recognized expert on restraint and seclusion and the founder and executive director of the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint (AASR), a national nonprofit working to transform school discipline and create safer, more equitable schools for all students and staff.

Through AASR and a national partnership with the Crisis Prevention Institute, Guy helped develop Reframing Behavior, a schoolwide training program grounded in neuroscience that helps educators prevent crisis and build positive, supportive learning environments. He promotes trauma-informed, neuroscience-aligned, neurodiversity-affirming, relationship-driven, and collaborative approaches, and frequently presents at conferences, universities, and in the media...

Chris Binch is a British Army 2 Para veteran, private Contractor, firefighter and the host of The Old Paratrooper Podcast.

Chris joined the Parachute Regiment at the age of 17. Serving 7 years with 2PARA, and completing 3 tours of Northern Ireland and exercises in Macedonia & Sierra Leone, Chris decided to move onto the Close Protection and Private Security Circuit. Some kinetic taskings and close calls on land and onboard ships fo anti-piracy work, Chris returned to the UK and pursued a career in the Fire & Rescue Service.

Brian Bushway has been described as "probably the world's best completely bind mountain biker". In this incredible conversation we discuss losing his vision at 14 years old, the mental health impact, redefining his identity, how hearing is underutilized by so many, echo location, the power of active listening, how his company Acoustic Athletics can help the tactical communities and so much more.

Brian Bushway graduated from Pepperdine University in 2005 with a degree in Speech Communication and a minor in Non-Profit Management. He went on to earn his Master’s Degree in Special Education and was one of the fe...

Eric Colby is a Coast Guard Veteran turned financial consultant. Eric was assigned to the Port of New York and responded to the attacks on 9/11. We discuss the mass evacuation of Manhattan, the importance of preplanning, mental trauma, homelessness, financial wellness and much more.

Eric is a loving family man, Financial Coach/Consultant, and a proud US Coast Guard Veteran. He is very passionate about helping others and making a positive impact in the lives of people he comes across and in his community. Eric has spent time helping in different capacities from volunteering in police departments...

Roberto Ortiz is a Mexican law enforcement professional and Intelligence Coordinator from Chihuahua, Mexico, whose life changed forever on April 15, 2022, when he was critically injured during an operation and lost both of his legs above the knee.

After approximately seven days in a coma, months in the hospital, a year in a wheelchair, and years of rehabilitation and prosthetic training, Roberto rebuilt his life and returned to active professional service.

Today, he uses his experience to speak about resilience, courage, leadership, faith, family, mental strength, and the realities faced by first responders after critical incidents.<...

Jo Terry is a recently retired licensed physical therapist who owned her own outpatient physical therapy clinic for over 20 years. She was married to Assistant Chief Alan “Chip” Terry, (ret) from the City of Covington Fire Department for 31 years who completed suicide in 2017 after being misdiagnosed.

Since his death in 2017, Jo has spent her time working with first responders and their families affected by PTSD and teaching the class she developed called Trauma and its Effect on First Responders and Their Family, telling Chip’s story and the effects of suicide on those left behind. The course will a...

Zar Horton is a retired Albuquerque Battalion Chief and a StrongFirst Master Kettlebell trainer. We discuss his transition out of the fire service, BMX racing, glycolytic training, exercise and the nervous system, fostering longevity, the importance of sleep and so much more.

Zar has been training others in the use of kettlebells since 2004. For the last 16 years he has devoted himself to bringing safe, functional, strength training and fitness, along with greater quality of life and longevity, to fire service, law enforcement, and our military members. He currently holds position of Master Kettlebell Instructor with StrongFirst. He...

Dany Cotton spent over three decades serving with the London Fire Brigade, retiring as Commissioner. We discuss her journey into the fire service, forging diversity through mentoring, the impact of budget cuts on service and health, violence on first responders, heroism at the Grenfell Tower fire, dirty politics and much more.

Dany retired as the Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade following a service that spanned 33 years. Dany had responded to a host of disasters in her career including the Clapham Junction rail crash and the Grenfell Tower fire.

Emily Ireland is the founder of Hardcore Healing, Inc. and the creator of Light Touch®. Her background includes more than two decades of study and work across craniosacral therapy, functional anatomy, integrative movement, and wellness research.

Her work explores how subtle interventions may support focus, recovery, sleep, emotional balance, and overall wellbeing. Through Light Touch®, Emily’s goal is to make this kind of support more accessible in everyday life through a simple, consumer-facing wearable.

Emily studied at Sarah Lawrence College, the Kane School of Core Integration, and the Upledger Institute, and continues to engage with...