Close Call Knife Fights with Legendary Delta Force Op John 'Shrek' McPhee | Mike Drop 213

About this video

Mike Ritland’s guest, an unnamed former Special Operations veteran, recounts combat missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. He describes a high-risk capture mission involving helicopter insertion, close-quarters gunfights, coordinating air support to hold off hostile locals, and exfiltrating by ground. The guest also discusses hand-to-hand combat on nightly operations, early military working dog programs, and the dangers and value dogs brought to missions.

Key takeaways

• The guest recounts a capture mission in Afghanistan where his team faced AK fire, subdued targets in close combat, and called in gunship support throughout the night to prevent being overrun by locals
• According to the guest, hand-to-hand fighting was common on operations; he used combatives training including leg kicks to the knee and standing on necks to quickly subdue targets
• The guest describes the early military working dog program as chaotic, with dogs biting handlers and teammates frequently, but credits the dogs with saving lives by detecting IEDs and accepting mission risks

Episode details: published November 10, 2024 · 571.4K views · 11:41 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Stories told by Mike Ritland’s podcast guests are the guests’ own accounts, attributed to them — not independently verified. Commentary is Ritland’s, presented as his analysis.

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