Delta Force Operation "Acid Gambit" Hostage Rescue of Kurt Muse*

About this video

Mike Ritland’s guest recounts his role as the lead breacher during the 1989 Panama operation to extract Kurt Muse from Modelo Prison. He describes faulty intelligence about the door configuration, mission compromise due to a Marine’s phone call home, and the high-risk breach that succeeded despite a helicopter crash during extraction.

Key takeaways

• The guest describes receiving flawed intelligence that reported one steel door when there were actually two doors (steel and prison bar), forcing him to adapt his explosive breach plan on site
• According to the guest, the mission was compromised when a Marine called home on a landline, leading to increased security and a 20-minute H-hour shift with the 82nd Airborne already airborne
• The guest recounts that despite the extraction helicopter being shot down with Muse aboard and two team members wounded, all 26 operators survived the six-minute operation

Episode details: published August 6, 2026 · 469.9K views · 2:03 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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