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Today we get a slightly different Combat Story where we still hear from a veteran, but this time in terms of overcoming challenges to succeed in business, in addition to their military experience.

For this first Combat Story: Business Edition of, we hear from James Fugit, my brother and a very successful businessman who sold two companies in the defense space providing aviation, intelligence, IT, training, and equipment (in many cases delivering Soviet era helicopter parts and ammunition to various countries while supporting our efforts in Afghanistan). This took him all over the world with many meetings and partners in Russia, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and more. It’s like a real life and legitimate Dogs of War if you’ve seen the movie.

James co-founded ARMA Global Corporation, which provided information technology, engineering, and technical support to defense and government customers, and helped build it from a handful of employees in 2008 to over 800 employees in 2014 when it was sold to General Dynamics Information Technology. He also co-founded and served as CEO of ARMA Aviation Corporation, which provided logistics, supply chain management, maintenance-repair- overhaul (MRO), and training and mentoring to the US government and its allies, which merged with another company called ARCTOS in 2019.

In the military, James was an Army Armor officer and we delve into how his time in the Army helped shape his business acumen and leadership skills, including going through Ranger school at the same time eight trainees died of hypothermia.

As you can imagine, this was a special interview for me given that James is my older brother and someone I’ve looked up to my whole life so getting to dig into some of the bigger decisions and challenges he overcame meant a lot to me personally and I hope you enjoy this first ever business edition of Combat Story as much as I did.

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- Learn more about Ryan www.combatstory.com/aboutus
- Intro Song: Sport Rock from Audio Jungle
Find James Online:
- ARMA LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/arma-aviation

Show Notes:
0:00 - Intro
0:59 - Guest Introduction (James Fugit)
02:35 - Interview begins
04:16 - The biggest success
06:22 - ARMA Global history
11:07 - Childhood
13:15 - Boarding school and path to being successful
18:52 - Want to join the Military
19:59 - 4Patriots
21:18 - JMU and the Military
28:25 - Hypothermia at Ranger school incident and impact
30:38 - Time in the Army
39:18 - from the Army to ARMA
47:01 - Meeting Todd and taking risks
51:53 - Building the team
01:01:18 - Milestones of success
01:07:12 - Working with Russia
01:10:57 - Key players
01:12:55 - Surreal moments
01:15:29 - Military training to business success
01:19:58 - What's next
01:20:30 - Listener comments and shout outs