We Had Bin Laden And Let Him Go: Special Ops Veteran Exposes It All | Mike Drop Episode 237

Mike Drop

Mike Ritland

Society & Culture, Documentary, Politics, News

4.9 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2025

⏱️ 162 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Geoff Dardia joins Mike Ritland to expose the real story behind Afghanistan, the missed chance to take out Bin Laden, and how politics destroyed 20 years of sacrifice.Dardia is a former Master Sergeant and Green Beret who lived it for real — from kicking doors in hostile countries to hunting bad guys under night vision.Before that?He was supposed to be a Navy SEAL — training shoulder-to-shoulder with Mike Ritland — until a medical issue derailed that path. Instead of quitting, Geoff took the fight to Special Operations, racking up multiple deployments as a Weapons Sergeant, Intel Sergeant, and Ops Sergeant.Since leaving active duty, Geoff’s been on a different kind of warpath — fighting for the health and survival of the special operations community. As the founding director of SOF Health Initiatives for the Task Force Dagger Foundation, he’s tackling the issues nobody wants to talk about — traumatic brain injuries, cancer, and the hidden wounds killing more operators than enemy bullets ever did. Like + Subscribe to the Mike Drop Podcast to Support the Show & Guests at http://youtube.com/@MikeRitland?sub_confirmation=1 Subscribe to the Mike Drop Patreon Page to see Ad-Free Episodes Early + Bonus Content at https://www.patreon.com/mikedrop ---------- Support Geoff Dardia - Website - https://www.taskforcedagger.org/sof-health/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffrey-dardia/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sof_health_initiative/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100081804750883 ---------- TEAM DOG FOOD, TREATS & SUPPLEMENTS Be Your Dog’s Hero: Veteran-owned by a former Navy SEAL and Special Operations K9 Trainer, Team Dog provides a complete diet of science-backed premium dog food, treats, and supplements to optimize your dog’s health, forged from rigorous standards and real-world expertise. https://www.teamdog.shop TEAM DOG ONLINE TRAINING Mike Ritland – a former Navy SEAL & Special Operations K9 trainer – shares his simple and effective dog training program to build trust and control with your dog. Based on Mike’s bestselling book “Team Dog, Train the Navy SEAL Way”, join tens of thousands of families that successfully trained their way to a better dog. https://www.teamdog.pet SHOP ALL THE MIKE RITLAND BRANDS Get all your Mike Ritland branded gear - Mike Drop | Trikos | Team Dog https://shop.mikeritland.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Race the rudder, raise the sails, raise the sales!
0:05.0	Captain, an unidentified ship approaching, over.
0:07.0	Roger that.
0:08.0	Wait, is that an enterprise sales solution?
0:13.0	Reach sales professionals, not professional sailors.
0:17.0	With LinkedIn ads, you can target the right people by industry, job title, and more.
0:21.4	To get 100 pounds off your first campaign, go to LinkedIn.com slash lead to claim your credit.
0:26.7	That's LinkedIn.com slash lead. Terms and conditions apply.
0:30.1	Where are you originally from? I grew up in Kenny Bunkport, Maine.
0:32.8	Grew up on the water, New England kid, right? Growing up, I mean, when George Bush was president, they built a helicopter landing pad
0:39.3	right down the street from my house.
0:40.4	I remember watching the dudes doing duck drops,
0:42.2	pushing the Zodes out, jumping behind them.
0:44.0	I always knew what I was gonna do since I was a little kid.
0:46.3	That's what I wanna do, I wanna be in the ocean.
0:48.2	This isn't just about right off the bat. Your very first deployment, you find yourself boots on the ground in Afghanistan day one.
0:58.1	What's going through your mind?
0:59.3	It's funny because it's like baptism by firing, right?
1:01.7	Anyone who knows southern Afghanistan knows that fire base cover is no joke.
1:06.0	My second firefighter of the day, I take a peak camera on, went through the truck and hit my helmet, bounced off, winning my body armor, hit my plate, and lit my hair on fire.
1:15.3	And I was like, okay, it's give me a long trip. You get to a point where you got to accept
1:19.4	your own death, like you're a walking dead man. But that first trip shaped everything else after.
	...

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