Service Beyond War: Combat, Kidney Donation, and Endurance with Matt Cavanaugh
Combat Story
Ryan Fugit
4.8 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 31 January 2026
⏱️ 181 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of Combat Story, AJ Pasciuti sits down with Matt Cavanaugh, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, combat veteran, strategist, endurance athlete, and living kidney donor, for a conversation about what service really looks like when nobody's watching.
Matt is the author of Best Scar Wins: How You Can Be More Than You Were Before, and his story goes far beyond combat. We start with his experiences in Iraq and the weight of leadership under pressure, then move into the harder-to-talk-about parts of life after war: grief, identity, responsibility, and the quiet choices that shape who we become.
Matt shares why he decided to become a non-directed living kidney donor, donating to a stranger and helping spark a chain that saved eight lives, including a fellow service member. Not long after surgery, he took on an endurance challenge called 1K4D (One Kidney, Four Deserts) — nearly 1,000 kilometers of self-supported racing across Namibia, Georgia, Chile, and Antarctica, including moments where the heat hit 131°F and the margin for error disappeared.
This episode isn't about highlight reels. It's about follow-through. It's about choosing discomfort for the sake of others, and what it takes to keep going when the "why" has to be bigger than you.
If you're interested in combat leadership, post-traumatic growth, endurance mindset, or service beyond the battlefield, this conversation will stick with you.
🎙️ Guest Information — Matt Cavanaugh | Best Scar Wins
Matt Cavanaugh, PhD, is a West Point graduate and retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel/Strategist who deployed to Iraq with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, earning two Bronze Stars and the Combat Action Badge. After the military, he became a living kidney donor who sparked an eight-life donor chain and has gone on to test his limits as an elite endurance athlete, including winning an ultramarathon across Antarctica.
🔗 Find Matt Online:
🐦 X (Twitter): https://x.com/mlcavanaugh
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mlcavanaugh1
📖 Book — Best Scar Wins: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Best-Scar-Wins/ML-Cavanaugh/9781637747742
🌐 Book Website: https://bestscarwins.com
🔗 Personal Website: https://mlcavanaugh.com
🎙️ Host Information — AJ Pasciuti | Combat Story | Darkhorse
AJ Pasciuti is a retired Marine Force Recon Scout Sniper and Infantry Weapons Officer (Marine Gunner), author of Darkhorse: Harnessing Hidden Potential in War and Life, and host of the Combat Story Podcast, where veterans share honest, unfiltered stories of service, leadership, and life after combat.
🔗 Find AJ Online:
📕 Book (Darkhorse): https://www.amazon.com/Darkhorse-Harnessing-Hidden-Potential-Life/dp/1400254973
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ajpasciuti/
📘 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelo-pasciuti/
🔗 Website: https://www.ajpasciuti.com/
🎧 Featured Combat Story Episodes with AJ
👉 Combat Story Podcast – Part 1 (USMC Sniper & Force Recon)
- Battle of Fallujah | Shooting w/ Chris Kyle | American Sniper | AJ Pasciuti
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4QI-5sNeCs
👉 Combat Story Podcast – Part 2 (Sniper vs Sniper Battle)
- Killing the Enemy's Most Lethal Sniper | Force Recon | AJ Pasciuti
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5Ggly1TGAU
Learn a new Language and get up to 55% off your subscription at www.Babbel.com/COMBATSTORY
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Third stage of the race, the temperatures hit 131 degrees Fahrenheit. |
| 0:07.0 | And when I crossed the finish line, I didn't even realize how effed up I was. |
| 0:12.0 | Like, I was the frog in the boiling pot, and I didn't know I was. |
| 0:15.0 | Wow. |
| 0:16.0 | And I wobbled across the finish line. |
| 0:18.0 | People are pulling my pack off. They're dumping water on my head, and are pulling my pack off, |
| 0:21.2 | they're dumping water on my head, |
| 0:22.9 | and people pulled my shoes off. |
| 0:25.2 | Like they forced me to the ground and pulled my shoes off. |
| 0:28.1 | It was this moment where I just said to myself, |
| 0:30.4 | this is real, this is serious. |
| 0:33.1 | And if I didn't need another reminder, |
| 0:35.3 | a fourth of the runners that week dropped out of the race due to the heat. |
| 0:39.3 | I've never been in a race that was like that. |
| 0:43.3 | Welcome to combat story. I'm AJ Peschutie, a retired Marine, force recon, scout sniper, and Marine gunner with 21 years of service, |
| 0:50.3 | multiple combat tours, and a lifetime of lessons learned in the arena itself. |
| 0:55.3 | On this show, I sit down with warriors from every front line to uncover what combat truly |
| 1:00.0 | feels like and how it shapes the way we see life, each other, and ourselves. |
| 1:04.9 | This is Combat Story. |
| 1:07.3 | Today on Combat Story, we're joined by Matt Kavanaugh, a retired United States Army Lieutenant Colonel, |
| 1:12.6 | Combat Veteran, and Strategist who served in assignments ranging from Iraq to the Pentagon, |
| 1:17.6 | and has spent his career thinking hard about what service actually looks like when nobody's watching. |
... |
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