Breaking a Leg on a Combat Jump | Special Forces Sergeant Major Turned Military Memoir Ghostwriter | Randall Surles (SGM, ret.) Round 1
Combat Story
Ryan Fugit
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 24 August 2024
⏱️ 95 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today on Combat Story we have our first of two interviews with 32 year veteran and retired Special Forces Sergeant Major Randy Surles, who entered the Army in 1987 and retired in 2019. Randy saw combat early on in Operation Just Cause as a Ranger and then again for several rotations post-9/11.
Check out our Combat Story Newsletter at www.combatstory.com/newsletter.
In this episode, we cover Randy’s experience in Panama and attending Lancero training in Colombia which you can think of as something like Ranger school without any safety nets!
In round two, we dive into his time leading Green Berets in the post-9/11 era. Randy now helps veterans write their own memoirs as a ghostwriter with the aptly titled website the military editor. With that, please enjoy our first interview with Randy Surles.
Find Randall Surles Online:
- https://militaryeditor.com/
- https://thestoryninjas.com/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/randall-surles-military-editor-mfa-creative-writing-5bbbbb66/?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_reshare-text
🎙️ Connect with Ryan & Combat Story:
- 🔗 Ryan’s Linktree: https://linktr.ee/combatstory
- 🛒 Merch Store: https://www.bonfire.com/store/combatstory/
- 📸 Instagram: @combatstory https://www.instagram.com/combatstory
- 📘 Facebook: @combatstoryofficial https://fb.me/combatstoryofficial
- 📖 Learn more about Ryan: https://www.combatstory.com/aboutus
- 🎵 Intro Song: Sport Rock from Audio Jungle
Show Notes:
00:00 Intro
00:29 Introduction to Combat Story
00:48 Meet Randy Searles: Special Forces Veteran
01:21 Randy's Transition to Ghostwriting
11:36 Randy's Early Life and Military Aspirations
12:13 Evacuation from Iran
20:00 Joining the Military
25:17 Ranger Training and Sniper School
29:35 Life in the Barracks
31:01 Ranger School Challenges
35:37 Operation Just Cause
44:23 Injury and Recovery
52:32 Transition to Green Beret
01:03:44 Struggles with Weapon Assembly
01:05:14 Facing the Q Course Challenges
01:06:12 Mastering Mortars and Anti-Aircraft
01:06:52 Language Course and Deployment
01:07:11 Unexpected Armor Duties
01:10:08 Volunteering for Lancero School
01:20:38 Surviving Lancero School
01:32:04 Combat Stories and Future Plans
01:33:04 Listener Feedback and Closing Remarks
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Two hours I was pretty like I'm going to die. I wish I had done this I wish I had done that I wish I had done the army I was enlisted my dad and then after I rolled across the airfield it didn't get shot magically and shot back and I was like, |
| 0:15.4 | I got this. We're almost there now. We're halfway there. And then I found the guy and I was like, he went for help. I was probably about half mile out. So I called about a hour, but it was seven hours of crawling and it was the sun was up. |
| 0:28.0 | Welcome to Combat Story. I'm Ryan Puget and I serve War Zone Tours as an Army Attack |
| 0:33.2 | Helicopter pilot and CIA officer over a 15-year career. |
| 0:36.7 | I'm fascinated by the experiences of the elite in combat. |
| 0:40.1 | On this our first of two interviews with 32-year veteran and retired Special Forces Sergeant Major Randy |
| 0:55.3 | Searles. He entered the Army in 1987 and retired in 2019. Randy saw combat early on in Operation Just Cause as a Ranger and then again on multiple |
| 1:05.9 | rotations post 9-11. In this episode we cover Randy's experience at Panama and |
| 1:10.4 | attending Lancero training in Colombia which you can think of as something like |
| 1:14.8 | Ranger School without any safety nets. |
| 1:17.5 | In round two, we dive into his time leading Green Berets in the post 9-11 era. |
| 1:21.3 | Randy now helps veterans write their own memoirs as a ghostwriter with the |
| 1:24.8 | aptly titled website the military editor.com. With that, please enjoy our first round |
| 1:30.7 | interview with Randy Searles. |
| 1:33.1 | Randy, welcome to the show and thank you so much |
| 1:35.2 | for taking the time to share your story with us. |
| 1:38.3 | No, thanks for inviting me. |
| 1:39.3 | I'm really excited to talk to you. |
| 1:41.0 | I've listened to your show for a while and as I mentioned |
| 1:44.4 | earlier I don't listen to everything but I do we subscribe and I pick and choose the ones that are |
| 1:49.0 | that are awesome. I love it. You've listened to one more than my wife has so that's great. |
| 1:55.2 | I wanted to kick off because you know when you when you reached out originally your story is |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in -173 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ryan Fugit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Ryan Fugit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.