Generation Kill to MARSOC: Jason Lilley’s Combat & Personal Journey

Combat Story

Ryan Fugit

History

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 August 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this unfiltered Combat Story episode, we go deep with Jason Lilley — Recon Marine, MARSOC Raider, CIA Global Response Staff, and co-creator of Savage Actual. Jason opens up about his path from a turbulent youth to serving in some of the most elite units in the U.S. military, facing the chaos of Iraq and Afghanistan, and building a new life as a creator and veteran advocate.

In this episode:

From family struggles to joining the Marine Corps
First Recon, Generation Kill, and the invasion of Iraq
Intense firefights in Fallujah and Afghanistan
Life in MARSOC and the CIA’s Global Response Staff
Losing brothers in combat and to suicide
Using humor and brotherhood to survive the worst moments
Creating Savage Actual with Patrick: gaming, military authenticity, and raw veteran stories

🌐 Connect with Jason:

Savage Actual YouTube: youtube.com/@SavageActual
Savage Actual Website: savageactual.com
Jason’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jasonmlilley
Jason’s Instagram: instagram.com/reconraider79

In this episode, Jason Lilley shares his riveting journey from being a Marine grunt to working for the State Department and CIA. He details his intense experiences during the Iraq invasion, life-altering moments in Fallujah, and the camaraderie formed in the face of danger. Lily also opens up about his struggles with depression and finding purpose post-service, running a YouTube channel and podcast, Savage Actual. Watch as he discusses the highs and lows of military life and his ongoing journey to harness his experiences for a meaningful civilian life.

Timeline

00:00 Introduction
01:36 Personal Struggles and Joining the Marines
04:15 Combat Experiences and Reflections
13:48 HelloFresh Sponsorship
15:35 More Combat Stories and Reflections
18:24 Loss and Brotherhood
29:03 Savage Actual and Patrick
31:27 Would You Do It Again?

📌 Tags & Keywords:

#MarineCorps #ReconMarine #MARSOC #GenerationKill #CIA #CombatStory #VeteranStories #SpecialOperations #SavageActual #Fallujah #IraqWar #WarriorMindset #MilitaryPodcast

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	My name's Jason Lilly. I was a Marine.
0:14.0	I had a pretty unique last name already, so I just went by Lily for the most part or Lily Pat or Lilla Hummer.
0:21.6	So, you know, like the other my picks.
0:23.6	Starting out, I was a Grunt Infantry Guy of 311.
0:28.6	I was with Fifth Marines throughout 3-5 specifically in Lima Company, which is a Hilo unit.
0:34.6	And then first Recombatatian did the whole invasion generation kill documented on that and then
0:42.3	right after that went to Fallujah so I did two years over there at first got out of the Marine Corps took a break and
0:49.3	it got to get sucked back into the Marines and went into Marsop, which was a brand unit at the time,
0:55.5	that stood up in October of 2006 and I got there six months after that to the west coast
1:01.0	of Pendleton and then got back out of Marsock in 2011, worked for the State Department for about
1:08.5	a year and a half and then worked for the CIA doing the Global Response Staff
1:13.6	GRS for about four and a half years.
1:17.6	I'm working on my captain's license for fishing here in South West Florida.
1:22.6	I run a YouTube channel in a podcast called Savage Actual. Yeah, I do some tactical advising on video games and authenticity of how it looks.
1:33.3	Kind of a jack of all trades in a sense.
1:36.3	I was, I'll just be real and I love my parents to death, but I went through multiple divorces as a kid.
1:43.3	And by age 14 I've gone
1:45.7	through three and that last one like really broke me and I I know that pains my
1:51.5	parents to hear me say that but it just it's life and it happens especially in
1:55.1	American all the time so I got super lost and super depressed kind of moldeded into one thing, and partied a lot and started
2:04.5	making really bad decisions and surrounded myself with kind of the broken people that were just
2:08.8	lost.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 20 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ryan Fugit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Ryan Fugit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.