Ash Alexander Cooper II (Drones in Modern Warfare, Forging Human Performance and The Mindful Soldier) - Episode 1186
Behind The Shield
James Geering
4.9 • 695 Ratings
🗓️ 8 January 2026
⏱️ 126 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ash Alexander-Cooper is a former specialist military unit commander, combat helicopter pilot, wounded veteran, international athlete, musician, leadership and resilience expert. In this second conversation, we discuss the potential healing and damaging potential of drone technology, his new book Mindful Soldier, forging human performance, growing from childhood trauma, the healing power of altruism and so much more.
Ash became one of the most operationally experienced officers of his generation, spending almost seven years deployed, leading some of the world’s most skilled forces in predominant challenging, complex and hostile environments, such as the Balkans, the Middle East, and Central Asia.
Following retirement from active duty, Ash turned his attention to business, focussing on addressing issues of leadership, resilience, team-building, leader development, talent management and more, after recognising how many companies today experience very similar difficulties to what he and his colleagues faced in combat.
Ash draws on lessons learned from more than 25 years of experience in managing and leading diverse multinational military, civilian, government, sports, and other elite teams, using those insights and experience gained from working in some of the world’s most challenging, hostile and complex environments.
With powerful examples of resilience, leadership, teamwork and trust, Ash assists businesses and leaders develop the skills, mindset, and behaviours necessary in order to adapt and win. Leveraging empowering and motivational stories from his personal and professional life, Ash now supports companies, organisations and teams of all sizes to fulfil their potential.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode is sponsored by a company who has truly found a solution to an age-old problem, |
| 0:05.0 | and that is KarnerBunker Gear. |
| 0:07.5 | One of the most prevalent conversations in the fire service is should we or should we not |
| 0:12.5 | train in our bunker gear? |
| 0:14.5 | Now, the answer to both is yes. |
| 0:17.0 | As most of us are aware, the carcinogens from structure fires of which there are over 260 that are dangerous to human health, not to mention the PFAS and other chemicals that are within our gear from the manufacturing process are factors that we obviously want to minimize. |
| 0:33.5 | Now, the other side of the coin is that we do need to train in our gear. |
| 0:37.4 | There is no way to acclimatize the heat retention and lack of mobility than to actually wear the gear. |
| 0:43.3 | So seeing this problem himself, firefighter and exercise physiologist Ryan Conley developed a carcinogen-free gear at a much lower cost that can be used in non-IDLH atmosphere and training that does not |
| 0:57.3 | require puncture or tear resistance. Now as someone who always trained in gear myself throughout my |
| 1:03.0 | career, I wish this technology was around then. And I got to test it personally while coaching my |
| 1:08.9 | tactical athlete class a few weeks ago and can testify that |
| 1:12.7 | it not only simulates the heat retention of frontline gear, but also the lack of mobility, |
| 1:18.7 | which is imperative at operating at a high level on the fireground. Now, some additional benefits |
| 1:23.9 | include being able to doff the gear when you do get banged out for a call, |
| 1:28.7 | increasing the lifespan of your frontline bunker gear, and then also public education. |
| 1:34.0 | Think of the number of times that we allow, for example, school children to wear our gear |
| 1:38.2 | when it's infused with all these carcinogens. |
| 1:41.6 | So there are so many real-world applications for a fraction of the cost |
| 1:46.1 | of IDLH-rated bunker gear. So if you want to hear the whole story behind this, listen to my |
| 1:52.2 | conversation with Ryan Conley on episode 1175 of the Behind the Shield podcast, or go to |
| 1:59.4 | karnerbunkergear.com. Welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast or go to carna bunkergear.com. |
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