This is War

Sword and Scale

A raw look at the combat and homecoming experience from American veterans who have been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. “This Is War” chronicles the trials of combat vets both abroad and at home.

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20 episodes
Updated Feb 27, 2023
Explicit

Episodes20

Newest first

Feb 27, 2023 · 13 min
Introducing - Sword and Scale Nightmares
Introducing Sword and Scale Nightmares! True Crime for Bedtime. Your nightmare begins now...The first three episodes will drop on 3.2.23 at 3:23pm EDT. In the meantime, please take a moment to subscribe on your preferred podcast listening platform......
Dec 11, 2019 · 37 min
45 | Dunning
Justin Dunning wanted to tell the story of guys he cared about who were lost, as many of the people I’ve interviewed for this show have, because he wants it known.Google “Killed in Iraq” or “Afghanistan” and you’ll find thousands of links to thousands...
Nov 27, 2019 · 45 min
45 | Sabins
Control often feels like safety. You have a weapon, some buddies and a mission and feel like the only difference between living and dying is execution, but there’s always also luck, or chance. For Jeffrey Sabins, learning to deal with the lack of...
Nov 13, 2019 · 34 min
44 | Ardito
For someone who joined the Army specifically to get into combat dealing with an unseen enemy is more than merely frustrating, it can introduce the insidious notion of pointlessness into your life. When there’s no enemy to fight back against, the best...
Oct 30, 2019 · 47 min
43 | Didier
There isn’t one factor that makes combat so transformative. Instead it is a combination of reactions. To external peril and internal aggression, to personal empathy in the face of the horrible, to your expectations in light of your experiences. For...
Oct 16, 2019 · 37 min
42 | McConnell
We often think of endurance in terms of the physical, how much we can do before we’re out of our depth, but things like psychological and emotional endurance contribute so much to our experiences. David McConnell’s 20-year military career was a test...
Oct 2, 2019 · 43 min
41 | Vande Hei
Joining the Marines seemed as unlikely as it seemed natural for Casper Vande Hei. He was a small guy who always had something to prove. The thing is, no matter how much fight you have in you, or how much you think you have to prove, if you don’t find...
Sep 19, 2019 · 27 min
MONSTRUO SEASON II
http://monstruopodcast.com/From the collective minds of Jack Luna (Dark Topic), Tyler Bell (The Westside Fairytales) and Mike Boudet (Sword and Scale) comes Monstruo, the most disturbing podcast ever made. Nine stories, carefully crafted, one year in...
Sep 18, 2019 · 40 min
40 | Christiana
Sometimes, we want something so desperately that it colors everything we do. Sometimes we even get it. When you get down to it, getting what we want and keeping it probably drives most of us, makes us endure circumstances we otherwise might not and...
Sep 4, 2019 · 43 min
39 | Luetjen
Traversing the distance between what we think we want and what it will take to make us happy is a journey we often don’t know we’re on until it’s near its end. Even then, we often find it impossible to accept what truly makes us happy, because we...
Aug 21, 2019 · 39 min
38 | Horn
As a student, Dwight Horn felt called to enter the ministry but as a Navy Chaplain, he volunteered to follow the Marines to whom he was ministering into battle because he felt it was his duty. Just as Marines don’t want to let one another down during...
Aug 7, 2019 · 42 min
37 | Ohrstrom
We all have a little quit in us, it’s the practical voice of doubt, the one that comes up with perfectly acceptable reasons about why it just makes more sense to give up. Sometimes that voice can’t be argued with or ignored, but there’s a quieter...
Jul 24, 2019 · 37 min
36 | Hunt
Choices open and close doors to our futures, they both can help define who we are and hold us accountable to the person we want to be. Most important, though, they can’t be unmade. Once Andrew Hunt chose to join the National Guard all of his decisions...
Jul 10, 2019 · 38 min
35 | Pettijohn
When you’re responsible to make sure the mission gets accomplished, there’s no greater tool than cool-headedness. For Brandon Pettijohn leading Marines in Afghanistan provided the opportunity to coordinate big picture responses to very specific...
Jun 26, 2019 · 38 min
34 | Riess
There’s no question that combat changes a person, but the kind of change can be both subtle and far-reaching. You learn to internalize fear, angst and doubt but not necessarily to redirect them, and that’s exactly what can make a person a good soldier.
Jun 12, 2019 · 45 min
33 | Ames
The transition into combat is a difficult one by any standard. No matter how sufficiently trained you are there is no substitute for reality to give you a sense of how you’re going to respond under fire, and how well you can coordinate with the rest...
May 29, 2019 · 36 min
32 | Campbell
The endurance that the military teaches can be carried over into civilian life, but it’s tricky. In the military you have to endure because it’s life and death. Outside the stakes don’t seem as high on the face of it, but they are. After all, the life...
May 15, 2019 · 36 min
31 | B. Davies
Combat isn’t about glory, it’s about serving the mission and doing what needs to be done to achieve an objective, but there’s still something particular about the bond combat veterans form forged in circumstances that most people can’t really comprehend.
May 1, 2019 · 32 min
30 | Jimenez
Ernie Jimenez joined the military because he saw it as the career opportunity of a lifetime. He joined the Marines because he wanted to fight. As an infantry assaultman during the Second Battle of Fallujah, he got a good hard look at what it is like...
Apr 17, 2019 · 33 min
29 | Higens
Counterintelligence officer Davin Higens talks about his pre- and post-9/11 experience running assets, the difficulties of chasing down bombmakers in the early days of the war, and the complications for interrogators in the wake of Abu Ghraib.

This is War

Introducing - Sword and Scale Nightmares

45 | Dunning

45 | Sabins

44 | Ardito

43 | Didier

42 | McConnell

41 | Vande Hei

MONSTRUO SEASON II

40 | Christiana

39 | Luetjen

38 | Horn

37 | Ohrstrom

36 | Hunt

35 | Pettijohn

34 | Riess

33 | Ames

32 | Campbell

31 | B. Davies

30 | Jimenez

29 | Higens