Combat Story

The Cold War was fought long before the first shots of Vietnam captured America's attention. By 1966, more than 400,000 U.S. troops were committed to the war, Marine Corps Captain James "Jim" Steele among them, on his first trip back to Vietnam since advising South Vietnamese forces in 1961. The war had escalated fast: an August 1964 attack on a U.S. Navy ship in the Gulf of Tonkin, and a second reported attack that later analysis showed never happened, pushed President Lyndon Johnson to commit American combat troops to the fight. This time, Steele was there to fight, and he would need every bit of his reconnaissance training to survive what came next.
Episode 3 opens with Steele trading his assigned radio call sign, "Lavender Lace," for one he chose himself: Evil Eye. From there, we follow him through a training exercise in the Philippines that turned into a night spent tied to palm trees waiting for a tsunami that never arrived, and through the hard lessons of a second combat tour: picking up the remains of a Marine after a mine strike, discovering a fellow Marine killed by recoilless rifle backblast, and confining a Marine who fragged a fellow officer to an improvised cell until Division could take him away.
The episode also tracks two of the tour's defining threats: a defective batch of M16s that jammed in the field and got Marines killed before the Marine Corps traced the problem to the wrong gunpowder, and a night ambush in which Steele's experience in nighttime combat pistol matches let him take out four infiltrating enemy soldiers by instinct, in the dark, before they reached his position.
It builds to late April 1967, when a machine gun round passed through both of Steele's legs, narrowly missing the bone and a main artery. His rifle jammed. He dodged a grenade thrown at him, threw two of his own, and made his own tourniquets while his corporal was killed running to his aid. Wounded and bleeding, Steele talked his own medevac helicopter down to his position by radio. What followed, a mixed-up Red Cross telegram that told his wife Marlene he'd been shot in four places he hadn't been, an experimental surgical technique to save his legs from infection, and Steele altering his own service record to get back to the war before a doctor ever signed off on him, reveals a Marine who had trained himself, by his own account, to feel almost invincible.
Reconnaissance Man is more than the story of one Marine. It is the story of reconnaissance itself, told through the career of one of its pioneers.
In this episode:
The Gulf of Tonkin incident and the road to a 400,000-troop war
Getting the call sign "Evil Eye"
A near-tsunami during training in the Philippines
Toughening up: picking up the pieces after a mine strike
Fragging in the ranks and Private Washington
The M16's deadly jamming problem in the field
Volley grenades, pistol tactics, and calling in fire support
A night ambush: taking out four infiltrators with a pistol
Wounded: shot through both legs in late April 1967
Losing a corporal, and talking down his own medevac
A telegram mix-up and an experimental surgery in Guam
Rewriting his own paperwork to get back to the war
If you enjoyed Episode 2, Episode 3 follows Steele into the war he'd only advised on before, and the night that nearly ended his life.
Chapters:
0:00 The Road Back to Vietnam
4:00 Tied to a Tree: The Philippines Tsunami Scare
6:45 Turning Hard: Picking Up the Pieces of War
10:35 Fragging in the Ranks: Private Washington
13:01 The M16's Deadly Jamming Problem
17:19 Grenades, Mortars, and Calling In Air Support
22:51 Night Ambush: Four VC in the Dark
27:14 Wounded: Shot Through Both Legs
33:15 Talking Down His Own Medevac
36:10 A Telegram and an Experimental Surgery in Guam
45:34 Getting Back to Vietnam Before His Legs Had Healed
Created by investigative journalist Ashly McGlone in collaboration with the Marine Reconnaissance Foundation (MRF), and visually brought to life by Combat Story, Reconnaissance Man is a nine-part limited series following Steele's extraordinary 30-year military career through Vietnam, the Cold War, and beyond.
🎙️ Guest — James Lyle Steele
James Lyle Steele is a retired U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel whose 30-year career carried him through Vietnam, the Cold War, and beyond. A member of the original generation of Marine reconnaissance men, Steele's story offers a rare firsthand look at war, survival, and service across decades of American military history.
Ashly McGlone is an investigative journalist and the creator of Reconnaissance Man. As Steele's granddaughter, she pairs reporting, narration, and historical context with family connection to bring his extraordinary story to life with depth and care.
Find Reconnaissance Man and Ashly McGlone Online:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reconnaissanceman/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashlyreports/
X: https://x.com/ReconManPod
X: https://x.com/AshlyReports
🎙️ Host — AJ Pasciuti
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 and extraordinary individuals share honest, unfiltered stories of combat, survival, leadership, and life after adversity.
Find AJ Online:
Book (Darkhorse): https://www.ajpasciuti.com/book
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ajpasciuti/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelo-pasciuti/
Website: https://www.ajpasciuti.com/
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Four career Marine scout snipers packed into one room, no script, no agenda — and what comes out of it is some of the funniest, most specific war stories you'll hear all year, sitting right next to a dead-serious reckoning with what their own community did to itself.
AJ Pasciuti sits down with three of his closest friends from the sniper and reconnaissance world — Mic Skinta, Roland LeBlanc, and Dagan Van Oosten — four storied careers in one conversation. Combined, this is decades in the Marine Corps sniper community: schoolhouses, deployments, instructor duty, and the fight to keep the program alive. As AJ puts it going in: some of it gets serious, most of it doesn't, and it's a solid few hours of the guys doing what they're actually best at.
That means this one runs the full range. Stories that only make sense to the four people who lived them — getting "hugged" in the sniper school stalking lanes, a prank war that turned an officers' briefing upside down, a care package of garage-sale He-Man toys that became a running joke on an FOB in Afghanistan for weeks. And then, without ever losing the room's energy, a real conversation about the three-star ultimatum that nearly ended Marine Corps sniper school, why they saved it, why it got cut anyway, and why they see the same pattern playing out with the Corps's scout program today. It closes on the case all four of them actually believe: invest in the person holding the rifle, not just the gear in their hands.
Chapters:
0:00      Cold open
1:01      Meet the Four Horsemen
2:26      Pig hugging: sniper school stories begin
29:46     A He-Man care package to Afghanistan
35:28     The BRC prank wars
44:16     The three-star ultimatum that could've killed sniper school
52:09     Rebuilding the course — and winning it back
59:30     What stalking never actually tested
1:06:44   How the sniper community wrote its own ending
1:35:28   Building the Infantry Marine Course
1:39:06   The refrigerator that said everything
1:45:29   Budget, standards, and the Ranger comparison
2:02:09   Today's fight: GRC, ARC, and a fear for recon's future
2:19:18   Invest in the human, not just the gear
2:20:07   Train smarter, not harder
2:28:26   Have we lost yet?
2:31:41   Closing thoughts
Guest Information — Dagan Van Oosten
Dagan "Hoot" Van Oosten is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Reconnaissance Marine, and former Scout Sniper who deployed to Iraq before spending more than a decade in federal contracting supporting U.S. government operations overseas, including as a contractor for the CIA. Today he's an entrepreneur and co-founder of Nomadic Research, where he also hosts the Nomadic Research Podcast.
Find Dagan online:
Nomadic Research: https://nomadicresearch.com/
Nomadic Research Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@nomadic-research-podcast
Nomadic Research Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nomadic_research_podcast/ 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dagan_van_oosten/ 
Guest Information — Mic Skinta
Mic Skinta enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1995 and spent nearly three decades in the scout sniper community — sniper team leader, platoon sergeant, platoon commander, and instructor at Scout Sniper Instructor School and Scout Sniper School Kaneohe Bay — before being selected for the Marine Gunner Program and commissioning as an Infantry Weapons Officer. He deployed in support of Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, and Inherent Resolve (Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Kuwait), closing out his career as Regimental Gunner at School of Infantry West before retiring in 2022. His decorations include the Legion of Merit and the Combat Action Ribbon with two stars. He's now Senior Business Development Manager, military division, at Ultimate Training Munitions.
Guest Information — Roland LeBlanc
Roland LeBlanc served 20 years in the Marine Corps as a Reconnaissance Marine and Scout Sniper, including a stretch with 1st Force Reconnaissance Company as a Point Man and Scout Sniper. During a 2010 deployment to Afghanistan he was awarded two Purple Hearts and a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with "V" for valor. He went on to instruct at Recon Training Company and I MEF Special Operations Training Group, serve as a Platoon Sergeant with 2nd Force Reconnaissance Battalion, and work overseas as a senior advisor to Dutch special operations forces, earning the Meritorious Service Medal. He retired as a Master Sergeant in 2026 and is now in outside sales at MATBOCK.
Host Information — AJ Pasciuti
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 and extraordinary individuals share honest, unfiltered stories of combat, survival, leadership, and life after adversity.
Find AJ online:
Darkhorse: https://www.ajpasciuti.com/book
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ajpasciuti/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelo-pasciuti/
Website: https://www.ajpasciuti.com/

Andrew Sullivan led an Army infantry platoon through two tours in Iraq and commanded a company in Afghanistan — and says his own interpreter carried more risk, and more of the war, than he ever did. Today Andrew runs No One Left Behind, fighting to get America's wartime allies home before it's too late.
Andrew commissioned as an infantry officer out of Virginia Military Institute and served over nine years in the U.S. Army, deploying twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan, with a later posting to Latvia as tensions rose with Russia. He led a rifle platoon through a leadership crisis in Iraq's Mesan Province, ran the drawdown at Al Assad Air Base, and commanded a company working alongside the Afghan National Army in Zabul Province — where he grew close with his interpreter, Amodi, and first learned what the Special Immigrant Visa program actually promises the people who serve beside American troops. He's been fighting for that promise ever since: first as legislative director at With Honor Action, now as executive director of No One Left Behind.
The conversation covers Andrew's path to service after 9/11, Ranger School and where Army and Marine Corps training genuinely differ, the leadership mistake he says he still hasn't forgiven himself for, two deployments to Iraq — including the unglamorous work of shutting down a forward operating base — and a company command in Afghanistan defined by firefights, IEDs, and a 250-lb bomb that landed in the middle of six Afghan soldiers without detonating. It closes on the work he does now: what the SIV program actually requires, why it's stalled, and what's at stake for the tens of thousands of interpreters and soldiers still waiting on America's word.
Learn more or support the mission: 
Website: Nooneleft.org
Donate:  https://give.nooneleft.org/CombatStory 
 
Guest Information — Andrew Sullivan
Andrew Sullivan served over nine years as a U.S. Army Infantry Officer, deploying twice to Iraq and once each to Afghanistan and Latvia. After leaving active duty, he became Executive Director of No One Left Behind, a nonprofit fighting to get Special Immigrant Visas issued to the Afghan and Iraqi interpreters and allies who risked their lives serving alongside U.S. forces. Under his leadership, NOLB has helped drive an approved backlog of more than 30,000 allies forward while operating almost entirely on private funding — the program currently receives $0 in direct government support. Sullivan continues to push for the visas, resettlement support, and follow-through the U.S. promised the people who fought beside it.
Find Andrew online:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-sullivan-a2a97755/
NOLB LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/no-one-left-behind
NOLB Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NoOneLeftBehindUS
NOLB Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nooneleftbehindus/
NOLB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGYfopN1o2D79z2xsWeyKnA/videos
 
Host Information — AJ Pasciuti
AJ Pasciuti is a retired Marine Force Recon Scout Sniper and Infantry Weapons Officer (Marine Gunner) with 21 years of service and multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is the author of Darkhorse: Harnessing Hidden Potential in War and Life and the host and creator of the Combat Story Podcast, where veterans share honest, unfiltered stories of service, leadership, combat experience, and life after war. Through Combat Story, AJ's mission is to capture the real moments that shaped warriors—not invented drama, but the specific incidents and choices that define character—and to honor the lineage and lessons of military service.
Find AJ online:
Book (Darkhorse): https://ajpasciuti.com/darkhorse
Website: https://www.ajpasciuti.com
Instagram: @ajpasciuti
Chapters:
0:00 – Cold open
1:52 – Introduction
3:54 – What called him to service, and 9/11
18:49 – Virginia Military Institute
23:16 – Commissioning and infantry training
27:40 – Ranger School
50:04 – First duty station and a last-minute orders swap
58:43 – First Iraq deployment begins
1:00:00 – A platoon's entire leadership gets fired
1:14:00 – The "manifesto" email — and the lesson that followed
1:27:00 – Second Iraq deployment: shutting down Al Assad Air Base
1:36:00 – Coming home
1:44:00 – Afghanistan: company command in Zabul Province
2:08:00 – The JDAM that didn't go off
2:25:00 – Meeting Amodi and what he learned about real sacrifice
2:30:00 – Inside the Special Immigrant Visa program
2:54:00 – How to help No One Left Behind
 
 
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Gunnery Sergeant Timothy Colomer was a decorated EOD technician in Iraq when a daisy-chain IED detonated directly beneath his truck. The blast broke his helmet in half. It should have sent him home. Instead, he made a choice that defined his character—he stayed deployed to lead his team.
But the war wasn't over when the deployment ended. Back home, Timothy faced something harder than combat: uncontrollable rage, traumatic brain injury, and the struggle to find purpose. Then, unexpectedly, he picked up a paintbrush.
In this episode, AJ sits down with Timothy to explore his unlikely journey from bombs to canvas—and how a single painting of a female warrior reconnected a suicidal Marine with her daughter, leading her to therapy, recovery, and reconnection with her family. Timothy shares how his art went viral on cruise ships, how his work will be etched into marble at the Marine Corps EOD Monument at Quantico, and what it means when the tools that kept you alive in war become tools that destroy you in peace.
This is a story about transformation, the power of vulnerability, and finding a new way to serve.
Guest Information — Timothy Colomer
Gunnery Sergeant Timothy Colomer is a retired U.S. Marine EOD Technician who served multiple deployments including one combat deployment in Iraq. On December 11, 2006, he sustained severe blast injuries from a daisy-chain IED that fractured his helmet and caused traumatic brain injury—yet chose to remain deployed to lead his team. After leaving active duty, Colomer transitioned to professional artist, using his work to process trauma and support fellow veterans. His paintings have reconnected suicidal Marines with their families, gone viral globally, and will be permanently etched into marble on the EOD Obelisk at the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Virginia (unveiling May 2027).
Find Timothy online:
Art Portfolio: www.littledogartstudios.com 
Instagram: @littledogartstudioshouston 
Host Information — AJ Pasciuti
AJ Pasciuti is a retired Marine Force Recon Scout Sniper and Infantry Weapons Officer (Marine Gunner) with 21 years of service and multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is the author of Darkhorse: Harnessing Hidden Potential in War and Life and the host and creator of the Combat Story Podcast, where veterans share honest, unfiltered stories of service, leadership, combat experience, and life after war. Through Combat Story, AJ's mission is to capture the real moments that shaped warriors—not invented drama, but the specific incidents and choices that define character—and to honor the lineage and lessons of military service.
Find AJ online:
Book (Darkhorse): https://ajpasciuti.com/darkhorse
Website: https://www.ajpasciuti.com
Instagram: @ajpasciuti
LinkedIn: /angelo-pasciuti
Combat Story Podcast: https://combatstory.com

Alex Lemons survived the Battle of An Najaf without a scratch from the enemy — and nearly died from friendly fire instead, when a young Marine mistook him for an insurgent and put six rounds past him from fifteen yards away.
This is Part 2 with Alex Lemons, a former Marine Scout Sniper, Iraq War veteran, and co-author of Warbody with environmental historian Joshua Howe. We pick up in Najaf and Fallujah in 2004, follow Alex through two more deployments including a year advising Iraqi and Polish forces under General Petraeus, and then get into why he and Josh wrote the book: the case that concussions, PTSD, and toxic exposure — lead, burn pits, contaminated water at Camp Lejeune — compound on each other in ways the military has never fully accounted for, and what that means for how we treat veterans of every generation who've served since.
This one's long, and it's worth sitting with. Especially if you've served, or you're close to someone who has.
Subscribe and follow Combat Story wherever you listen.


Guest Information — Alexander Lemons
Alexander Lemons is a former U.S. Marine Scout Sniper and Bronze Star recipient who served multiple combat deployments during the Iraq War, including Nasiriyah and Fallujah. He is the co-author of War Body: A Marine Sniper and the Hidden Violence of Modern Warfare, a powerful look at the hidden physical and psychological costs of combat and what war leaves behind long after the shooting stops.
War Body: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324066330
Featured Article: https://www.hcn.org/issues/57-2/a-veteran-transforms-a-legacy-of-violence-into-a-campaign-for-restoration/
Host Information — AJ Pasciuti
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://ajpasciuti.com/darkhorse
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ajpasciuti/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelo-pasciuti/
Website: https://www.ajpasciuti.com/
Chapters
0:00 – One round, twelve inches from his face
2:37 – Chasing a flyer into the sniper platoon
13:14 – A guerrilla war nobody upstairs would admit to
17:29 – Sniper school, and the partner he lost before he ever deployed
48:38 – Into the Battle of An Najaf
58:36 – The 1,600-yard shot, and the tank he had to call in
1:12:17 – Losing Sergeant Rochas — then almost losing himself to his own side
1:22:45 – Two stories through a roof: the injury that started the clock
1:26:16 – A second deployment, and leadership that nearly got them killed
1:41:19 – Walking away from the Corps to advise generals in Iraq
1:50:26 – Coming home to a Marine Corps — and a body — that didn't fit anymore
2:00:24 – The anorexia, and the lead he didn't know he was wearing
2:44:37 – Three forces: concussions, PTSD, and toxicants
3:19:47 – "The war is continuing in everybody's body"