Claim OwnershipUrban Valor: the podcast
Subscribed: 156Played: 7,654
Subscribe
© 2026 Sport of Business, LLC
Description
Welcome to Urban Valor, where we hear the stories of our veteran heroes in their own words. Within these vet interviews, you'll hear everything from combat stories, life stories pre/post military, military transition, and everything in between. Our interviews aren't just war stories or combat veteran interviews, but interviews from any military veteran willing to share. Our mission is to educate the masses with what military veterans go through while serving their country and how life has been since their military transition back to civilian life. Join our cause, online community, and show your support for Urban Valor at https://urbanvalor.com
228 Episodes
Reverse
Most people think they understand Navy SEAL combat, BUD/S training, and Hell Week… but the real moment that changes everything isn’t during training — it’s before your first mission. In this weeks Urban Valor Podcast, Alex Rogers shares the exact moment he realized he was about to take a life for the first time. While preparing for a deployment, loading magazines like he had done countless times before… something felt different. “This is for human flesh.” That realization hit hard — and no...
He joined the Army to escape his past… But it followed him anyway. This is this episode of Urban Valor, we talk about childhood trauma, abuse, anger, and transformation through the military. Ernie Mariscal shares what happened to him at just 5 years old… and how that moment shaped everything... from becoming a violent kid, to running the streets, to eventually joining the United States Army in 1991 searching for a way out. For a while, the military gave him exactly that: structure, d...
Juan Perez’s story doesn’t start in the military… it starts in the streets. Before the Marine Corps, he was involved with gangs, running with the wrong crowd, and heading down a path that only ends one way. Then he made a decision that changed everything...he joined the U.S. Marines and became an infantryman deployed to Afghanistan. During one mission, an IED detonated just feet from his team. One of his closest friends was hit... losing both legs in the blast. Juan shares what that momen...
This one’s heavy. We’ve heard a lot of military stories over the years… but this one stuck with us. Rick served in the U.S. Navy during the late 80s, and during a deployment in the South China Sea, they got a call about a stranded refugee boat. What they found when they got there… was nothing like they expected. There were bodies everywhere. Survivors that couldn’t even stand. People so far gone they had to be carried onto the ship. And the part that really messes with you… what those pe...
Ryan Spadafore grew up surrounded by chaos. His father, a former LAPD officer, was eventually caught running a drug manufacturing operation that exploded and triggered a federal investigation. Soon the DEA, FBI, and federal prosecutors were involved, and Ryan found himself caught in the fallout of a criminal case that shattered his family. At the same time, his older brother was battling addiction during the height of the OxyContin epidemic, creating a violent and unpredictable environment ...
Former Marine Raider Prime Hall shares his unbelievable journey from growing up in South Texas, surviving childhood trauma, and getting involved in the drug world, to eventually becoming a U.S. Marine Corps Infantryman and Marine Raider (MARSOC). On today's episode of the Urban Valor Podcast, Prime breaks down the reality of Marine Corps boot camp, the mindset required to survive Marine Raider selection, and the leadership differences between traditional Marine infantry units and special ope...
In this episode of the Urban Valor Podcast, we sit down with a World War II Army veteran who survived one of the deadliest moments of the European campaign...the Rhine River crossing! And later walked through a liberated Nazi death camp! At just 19 years old, Paul A. Groves was drafted into the U.S. Army and assigned as an infantry messenger with E Company, 89th Infantry Division under General Patton. In January 1945, he landed in France before pushing toward the Rhine River — one of t...
55 months in combat. Three Iraq deployments. Countless missions in Mosul. And when it was over… he didn’t want to come home. In this Urban Valor Podcast interview, JayR McIntyre opens up about surviving 55 months in combat, losing over 20 soldiers, being issued a body bag, and battling severe PTSD after returning home. This is a powerful United States Army combat story about survival, mental health, and the reality of war. JayR grew up in gang culture in Long Beach before joining the U.S. A...
Cynthia Garcia’s story is one of the most powerful Marine Corps stories you’ll ever hear. As a single mom, she ran into a Marine recruiting office seeking protection — and that moment changed her life forever. Today, she’s an active-duty United States Marine Staff Sergeant, but her journey through Marine boot camp, recruiting duty, deployment, and motherhood was anything but easy. In today's Urban Valor Episode, we look into what it really takes to become a female Marine, the mental battles ...
Before he ever wore the uniform, Rolan Smith lived a life of chaos, brotherhood, and near-death experiences that most people wouldn't survive. In this Urban Valor episode, Rolan shares what really led him to enlist in the United States Marine Corps — and how an 85 MPH crash in the middle of the desert nearly ended that path before it began. Raised in Amarillo, Texas, Rolan was the definition of a wild kid. Sports, trouble, loyalty — and a brotherhood with his best friend Price that would tak...
Pryce Seymour opens up about growing up in chaos, being conceived in jail, surviving a violent and unstable childhood, and finding purpose in the United States Marine Corps. From prison visits as a kid… to boot camp prank wars… to brutal infantry training… to nearly dying in a high‑speed rollover accident… this story doesn’t let up. Pryce was later selected to be followed by Netflix for a Marine Corps documentary — but what you didn’t see on screen is even crazier. The drinking, the injuries...
In today's Urban Valor Podcast, Raphael Valentino Williams Jr. shares his journey from Afghanistan to policing the streets to battling PTSD, trauma, and identity loss after service. This is the reality many veterans and law enforcement officers face when the uniform comes off, but the mission mindset never does. Raphael opens up about military service, security forces training, and the mental shift required to survive in combat — and how that same conditioning nearly destroyed him back home....
This week on Urban Valor, we sit down with Herb Thompson — the only U.S. Army Soldier to ever earn both the Green Beret and Drill Sergeant of the Year honors. Herb shares war stories from his time in Afghanistan, what it takes to survive Special Forces selection, and how the very Army that built him later tried to tear his career apart from within. For 21 years, Herb led from the front...on the battlefield and in the barracks. But it wasn’t combat that almost broke him. It was the fight to ...
1The war didn’t end overseas. It followed them home. Justin Governale joined the U.S. Marine Corps at 17, driven by the aftermath of 9/11 and a chaotic upbringing in Laredo, Texas. What he found wasn’t just military structure—it was trauma, hazing, chaos, and survival. This raw episode pulls no punches as Justin exposes what it was like to deploy to Iraq in 2005 and 2007 with 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines—one of the units hardest hit in Fallujah, losing 33 men. From becoming a Scout Sniper, sur...
Marine Seth Allen never saw it coming. Straight out of boot camp, he was dropped into 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines — a unit already under investigation for violence, drugs, and misconduct. What was supposed to be a proud chapter of service quickly spiraled into chaos. In this interview with Urban Valor, Seth pulls back the curtain on the gritty reality of life in the Marine Corps. From near-death firefights in Iraq to the dysfunction and violence he experienced even among his fellow Marines, t...
Meet Billey Dooley — Army veteran, former foster kid, survivor of toxic leadership, fire missions labeled “danger close,” and a system that failed those who needed it most. In this episode of Urban Valor, Billey opens up about nearly being killed by incoming fire, surviving chaos both at war and at home, and the pain of losing a soldier to suicide just hours after a life-altering conversation. From a chaotic childhood in Riverside to jumping out of planes and calling fire missions in Afghani...
His friend took his spot. The convoy was hit. Only one came home. In this Urban Valor episode, Marine Veteran Travis Pinn shares a devastating Iraq War story that changed his life forever. As an 0311 Infantry Rifleman with the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, Travis endured some of the war’s most brutal moments—multiple IED attacks, deadly ambushes, and the psychological trauma that followed him home. But the moment that haunts him most? The day a fellow Marine took his place in a convoy... and ...
He quit during Hell Week. Most don’t come back. Jovon Quarles did — and became a Navy SEAL Honor Graduate. Born into chaos in Washington D.C., Jovon grew up with a mom addicted to crack, no father, and violence all around. He became a dad before he graduated high school. Then he joined the Navy — not because he wanted to, but because he had no choice. He found the SEAL Teams by accident. But what followed wasn’t luck — it was pain, failure, and redemption. In this Urban Valor interview, Jo...
This episode took the air out of the room. Jessica sits down with Urban Valor and walks us through the life most people never see behind the uniform. From a childhood surrounded by chaos and addiction… to stepping into a Marine Corps environment that felt more like danger than brotherhood… to losing herself inside a bottle just trying to cope with the weight of everything she’d carried since childhood. She gets real about the DUI that nearly ended her career, the harassment she endured, the...
This is the stuff they don’t put in documentaries. Seth Ryan’s first combat mission as an Army Ranger wasn’t just historic — it was horrifying. We’re talking chemical suits, pitch-black raids, gunships in the sky, and digging up decomposed soldiers with their bare hands. This is the real story behind the rescue of POW Jessica Lynch — told by the guy who lived it. And trust me... you’ve never heard it like this like you will on today's Urban Valor Episode! In this episode, Seth walks us thr...
Comments
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States