Former Green Beret and SMU Operator | David Carmichael | Ep. 412

The Team House

dee takos

History, Government, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.7 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2026

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

David Carmichael joins us to discuss his memoir Gray Man: A Life Lived Under the Radar, tracing his life from growing up in missionary communities across West Africa to surviving abusive boarding schools and eventually finding his way into the U.S. Army. He breaks down his path through 5th Special Forces Group, the old Q Course, Somalia, HUMINT work, Korea, and the mindset that shaped a career spent largely out of the spotlight.
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00:00 — Start
00:51 — Growing up as a missionary kid in West Africa
03:18 — Life near Timbuktu: mud huts, no electricity, and isolation
04:17 — Sent to boarding school at six years old
07:10 — Abuse, censorship, and surviving missionary boarding schools
10:26 — Returning home, moving schools, and culture shock in America
13:16 — Leaving strict religion behind and joining the Army
15:01 — Chasing Special Forces and finding a path into 5th Group
20:48 — The old Q Course, Camp Mackall, and earning the Green Beret
24:09 — Somalia MTT: training local forces after the Soviets left
28:29 — Selection, HUMINT training, and becoming a military “Grey Man”
34:26 — Family life, Korea, Panmunjom, and dealing with North Koreans
44:42 — DCI award, retirement, and choosing family over promotion
48:27 — Building a scuba and military gear business after the Army
52:03 — Reconnecting with family and lessons from his father
54:31 — Writing Gray Man: A Life Lived Under the Radar
58:15 — Business lessons, honesty, and closing thoughts

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey folks, this is episode 412 of the team house. I'm Jack Murphy here with our guest on the show, David Carmichael. He is the author of Gray Man, a life lived under the radar. You guys can go and find this book on Amazon right now. I read the Kindle version, but I also have a hard copy here. It is about David's life growing up.
0:22.8	He had a very interesting upbringing growing up largely in Africa.
0:27.6	And then it chronicles some of his journey through the Army as well.
0:32.5	So Michael, thank you for joining us.
0:35.8	We really appreciate it.
0:38.2	Thank you for having me.
0:39.5	I do too.
0:41.7	So I guess to start at the beginning, David, I mean, tell us a little bit about, you know, your family background.
0:50.4	My grandparents immigrated from Scotland,
0:57.0	well, originally during the, just before the Depression.
1:02.0	And then when the Depression hit, they headed back to England
1:06.0	and came back just before the war started to the States.
1:11.0	My father was born in England, and then he married my mother here in the States,
1:17.3	and they decided to become missionaries.
1:19.7	So my grandparents were already missionaries in Ghana,
1:24.7	which was at the time was the West Coast, uh, Gold Coast in West Africa.
1:31.8	That's where my father grew up.
1:33.4	He came back to States, got married, and he went back.
1:36.1	And I grew up in Mali mostly with trips to boarding schools throughout West Africa.
1:44.0	And I was there from 1956 until I came to the States to go to college and join the military.
1:53.0	So my parents were out there for 27 years.
1:57.0	My brother grew up out there and he went back to Africa for mostly the rest of his
	...

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