Special Forces Sergeant Major in Afghanistan | Military Memoir Ghostwriter | Randall Surles (SGM, ret.) Round 2
Combat Story
Ryan Fugit
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 31 August 2024
⏱️ 81 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today on Combat Story we have our second interview with 32 year veteran and retired Special Forces Sergeant Major Randy Surles, who entered the Army in 1987 and retired in 2019. In round one we covered Randy’s jump into Panama where he broke his leg and had to crawl for seven hours to safety, his transition into Special Forces from the Ranger Regiment, and attending Lancero school in Colombia, which you can think of as a more dangerous Ranger School (entirely in Spanish!).
Check out our Combat Story Newsletter at www.combatstory.com/newsletter
In this episode, we dive into his time leading Green Berets in the post-9/11 era in Afghanistan where he saw mulitple combat deployments. Randy now helps veterans write their own memoirs as a ghostwriter with the aptly titled website The Military Editor. With that, please enjoy our second interview with Randy Surles.
Find Randall Surles Online:
Find Ryan Online:
🎙️ 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
00:34 Introduction to Combat Story
00:53 Randy Searles' Military Journey
01:49 Lancero School Challenges
02:38 Jungle Survival Training
12:10 Mission in South America
17:34 Early Deployment to Afghanistan
41:19 Adapting to New Equipment and Strategies
42:16 Unexpected Challenges and Base Management
44:56 IED Encounters and Tactical Adjustments
49:20 Leadership and Tactical Raids
54:30 Hostage Rescue in Colombia
01:10:51 Military Editor and Skill Bridge Program
01:19:31 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Our plan was to overwhelm everybody with massive amount of people that we had. |
| 0:05.0 | So we had 30 Afghan mercenary guys that train the security force that we trained. |
| 0:10.0 | And we had us and so as a team of 12 plus we had augmentation from C. A and |
| 0:16.0 | Saiyov so we had the 15 20 guys Americans there we stationed around where |
| 0:20.9 | he's in Jalal that where we could go just about anywhere and he calls he's like hey we're here at this location |
| 0:26.9 | We're here right now like all the guys are there we roll wind with our 20 trucks basically I thought we were all going to die. |
| 0:33.0 | Welcome to Combat Story. I'm Ryan Puget and I serve War Zone Tours as an Army |
| 0:37.8 | Attack helicopter pilot and CIA officer over a 15-year career. I'm fascinated by the experiences of the elite in combat. |
| 0:45.0 | On this show, I interview some of the best |
| 0:47.0 | to understand what combat felt like on their front lines. |
| 0:50.0 | This is Combat Story. |
| 0:52.0 | Today on Combat Story, we have our second round interview with 32-year veteran and retired special forces |
| 0:58.9 | Sergeant Major Randy Searles, who entered the Army in 1987 and retired in 2019, if you can believe it. |
| 1:05.1 | In round one, we covered Randy's jump into Panama where he broke his leg on the jump itself |
| 1:10.0 | and had to crawl for seven hours to safety. |
| 1:12.7 | His transition into Special Forces from Ranger Regiment |
| 1:15.4 | and then attending Lancero School in Columbia, |
| 1:18.1 | which you can think of as a far more dangerous Ranger school |
| 1:21.1 | conducted entirely in Spanish, if you can imagine that. |
| 1:24.6 | In this episode we dive into his time leading green Berets in the post 9-11 era, |
| 1:28.8 | multiple combat tours to Afghanistan. |
| 1:31.6 | Randy now helps veterans write their own memoirs as a ghostwriter |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in -166 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.