CS#75: The Real 12 Strong Green Beret | Horse Soldier | Special Forces HoF | Author | Bob Pennington
Combat Story
Ryan Fugit
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 21 May 2022
⏱️ 119 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
[Call to Action: Please refer your friends to www.trustsafetyinstitute.com if they're looking for high paying jobs where they can still help people and fight bad actors.]
Today we hear from one of the very few men who was there, one of the Horse Soldiers as they’ve been called: Bob Pennington.
Bob spent more than 30 years in the service, much of that with Special Forces, including kinetic operations in the Gulf War to one of the first teams on the ground in Afghanistan and more. He’s a Distinguished Member of the Special Forces Regiment and in the Georgia Military Veterans’ Hall of Fame.
He and his Horse Soldier teammate Mark Nutsch have just released a book about their experiences in the days after 9/11 titled “Swords of Lightning: Green Beret Horse Soldiers and America's Response to 9/11.” And if his life can’t get any better, he and Mark are also principals in the company that produces Horse Soldier Bourbon.
I hope you enjoy this inside look into what happened from 9/10 (the day before the world changed) through the some of the first operations on the ground in Afghanistan (and enjoy some of Bob’s celebrity moments given his representation as a key role in the movie 12 Strong) as much as I did.
#military #veteran #greenberet #horsesoldier
Find Bob Online:
-Instagram - Horse Soldier Bourbon @horsesoldierbourbon https://www.instagram.com/horsesoldierbourbon/
-Bob’s Favorite Charities: Tunnels to Towers https://t2t.org/ and Land of the Free Foundation https://www.landofthefreefoundation.org/
Find Ryan Online:
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-Send us messages at https://m.me/combatstoryofficial
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-Learn more about Ryan www.combatstory.com/aboutus
-Intro Song: Sport Rock from Audio Jungle
Show Notes:
0:00 - Intro
0:42 - Guest Introduction (Bob Pennington)
2:07 – Thank you for supporting The Trust & Safety Institute
2:45 - Interview begins
4:02 - Meeting Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon for the 12 Strong movie
7:40 - Growing up with a father in the military and early interest in Green Berets
13:32 - Starting his career in Ranger Battalion after college
24:37 - Being a Warrant Officer in SF community
34:51 - Combat Story - Experience in the Gulf War
50:10 - Where he was when 9/11 happened
59:48 - Mindset at the time of 9/11 and being one of the teams picked for the mission in Afghanistan
1:12:45 - Combat Story - First operations on the ground in Afghanistan
1:38:31 - Swords of Lightning book backstory and information
1:43:42 - Horse Soldier Bourbon
1:49:42 - What did you carry into combat?
1:52:05 - Would you do it again?
1:54:11 - Help connect those who served with meaningful and great paying jobs after service
1:56:49 - Listener comments and shout outs
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | That mission was the pinnacle of my career. That is what every special forces |
| 0:05.1 | Drainbury drains up. He drains up going into an area on his own, the 12-man ODA, |
| 0:13.9 | fighting with indigenous troops, or militia, to defeat bad people. It's amazing. |
| 0:23.1 | Welcome to Combat Story. I'm Ryan Fugid and I serve WarZone Tours as an army attack |
| 0:27.2 | helicopter pilot and CIA officer over a 15-year career. I'm fascinated by the experiences |
| 0:32.8 | of the elite and combat. On this show, I interview some of the best to understand what combat |
| 0:37.9 | felt like on their front lines. This is Combat Story. Today we hear a combat story I've been |
| 0:43.6 | looking forward to for years. As many listeners know, I closely followed the war in Afghanistan |
| 0:48.9 | immediately following 9-11. I revered the Green Berets who rode into combat on horseback |
| 0:54.5 | to take America's fight to the enemy. Today we hear from one of the very few men who was there, |
| 1:00.3 | one of the horse soldiers, as they've been called, Bob Pennington. Bob spent more than 30 years in |
| 1:06.7 | the service. Much of that with special forces, including kinetic operations in the Gulf War, |
| 1:12.4 | to one of the first teams on the ground in Afghanistan and more. He's a distinguished member |
| 1:17.6 | of the Special Forces Regiment, basically the Special Forces Hall of Fame, |
| 1:22.2 | and in the Georgia Military Veterans Hall of Fame. He and his horse soldier teammate, Mark Nuch, |
| 1:28.0 | have just released a book about their experiences in the days after 9-11, titled Swords of Lightning, |
| 1:33.6 | Green Beret Horse Soldiers, and America's Response to 9-11. And if his life can't get any better, |
| 1:39.8 | he and Mark are also principals in the company that produces horse soldier bourbon. |
| 1:45.2 | I hope you enjoy this inside look into what happened from 9-10 the day before the world changed, |
| 1:51.8 | through some of the first operations on the ground in Afghanistan. And I hope you enjoy some of Bob's |
| 1:58.2 | celebrity moments, given his representation in a key role in the movie 12 Strong, as much as I did. |
| 2:07.1 | Before we dive into this combat story, a quick thanks to the hundreds of listeners who signed up |
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