Combat Story (Ep 44): Dan Pronk | Australian SASR | Medical Doctor | Author | Entrepreneur | Resilience Shield

Combat Story

Ryan Fugit

History

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 2 October 2021

⏱️ 94 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today we hear the Combat Story of Dr. Dan Pronk, a former Australian SAS doctor who completed four tours to Afghanistan. Do not be fooled by the doctor title, Dan was on the front lines conducting hundreds of operations with the elite SAS.

This is the first of two interviews with Dan.

Before the military, Dan was a triathlete and lived what he described as an average Australian upbringing. The military put him through medical school, but he wanted to be part of the elite SAS and fought for years for a chance to just get to selection, which he eventually did.

Since leaving the military, Dan has gone on to an executive role in medical management, as well as co-owning the multimillion dollar company TacMed Australia and founding several other entrepreneurial startups.

He’s written several books, including Average 70kg Dickhead: Motivational Lessons from an Ex-Army Special Forces Doctor, and Arterial Tourniquets: For Police Officers, Law Enforcement and other First-Responders. He just released a third book with two fellow former SAS operators called Resilience Shield.

Dan’s also a motorhead with a love of high performance cars, leading him to own a classic Ferrari and Lamborghini. He also created Delta Automotive that builds these limited edition classic sports cars.

Dan was referred to me by another SAS leader as “legend” in the community and I hope you enjoy this first of two Combat Story rounds with Dan as much as I did.

Find Dan Online:

Website Resilience Shield www.resilienceshield.com/
LinkedIN Dan Pronk https://www.linkedin.com/in/danpronk/
Instagram @danpronk www.instagram.com/danpronk/?hl=en

Show Notes

0:00 - Interview begins
1:07 - Dan Pronk bio
2:13 - Interview begins
9:00 - Tough schooling and getting beaten with a cricket bat (for both Ryan and Dan)
10:25 - Dan’s family military history and father who was an Army helicopter pilot
13:50 - Dan’s rebellious stage, triathlons, and tough cars
19:30 - Running and that release
24:50 - “Maneuvering” myself into an elite group
29:15 - Extrinsic motivation of being a triathlete rather than being an intrinsically motivated soldier
32:30 - Shifting from college and triathlons to medical school and the military
38:15 - The “lightbulb moment” to join SAS
43:50 - Why is SAS sending doctor’s through Selection?
47:10 - Motivational moment of being doubted
49:05 - Darker and harder moments of Selection
55:45 - What’s it like being a Selection-certified doctor in SAS?
59:20 - First deployment with SAS as a Task Force asset
1:02:35 - First mission outside the wire as a doctor AND the gunner on a vehicle
1:06:35 - First time I got shot at “accurately”
1:10:35 - Another mission and being in contact with snipers on quad bikes and more vehicles going against the Taliban
1:12:55 - No indication of PTSD starting to seep in
1:15:10 - Another deployment to Afghanistan in 2011 (reference to the Drug Enforcement Agency aka DEA's Drug Flow Attack Strategy Team or FAST)
1:16:44 - Difficult mission and a “turning point” for Dan. “We’re playing for keeps now”
1:26:45 - Dan’s background in the Emergency Room and working trauma

Transcript

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0:00.0	He unfortunately, as the lead man in his element struck a big improvised explosive device
0:04.9	and the whole compound rock that was a big device and it was a bitter eerie in that the entire
0:11.6	village went quiet. The gunfight stopped. Everything went dead quiet. There was this massive blast,
0:17.4	this huge plume of dust and smoke and everything went silent. Then everything resumed and the
0:25.2	radios came to life with trying to get information and I started to grab my med kit. I'd been up on
0:30.8	the roof shooting through a little keyhole there trying to sort of suppress this enemy position
0:37.2	with another gun. I raised down, got my kit on, waited for the call and sure enough got this call
0:42.4	through that we had some some critically injured casualties. Welcome to Combat Story. I'm Ryan
0:49.9	Fugid and I serve Warzone Tourers as an Army attack helicopter pilot and CIA officer over a 15-year
0:55.2	career. I'm fascinated by the experiences of the elite and combat. On this show, I interview some
1:00.8	of the best to understand what combat felt like on their front lines. This is Combat Story.
1:07.4	Today we hear the combat story of Dr. Dan Prok, a former Australian SAS doctor who completed
1:12.8	four tours in Afghanistan. Do not be fooled by the doctor title. Dan was on the front lines
1:18.4	conducting hundreds of operations with the elite SAS. This is the first of two interviews with Dan.
1:24.9	Since leaving the military, Dan has gone on to an executive role in medical management,
1:29.4	as well as co-owning the multi-million dollar company TACMED Australia and founding several
1:34.2	entrepreneurial startups. He's written two books, average 70 kilogram dickhead, motivational
1:40.2	lessons from an ex-Army Special Forces doctor and arterial tourniquets for police officers
1:45.6	law enforcement and other first responders. He just released a third book with two fellow
1:50.5	former SAS operators called Resilience Shield. Dan was referred to me by another SAS leader as a
1:57.5	legend in the community and I hope you enjoy this first of two combat story rounds with Dan
2:02.6	as much as I did. As a note, the connection is somewhat spotty at parts given the US to Australia
	...

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