Ret. Green Beret Zach Garner - Part 1 | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 138

About this video

Mike Ritland interviews Zach Garner, an Army veteran with four combat deployments who served 11 years before medical retirement due to TBI and seizures. Garner recounts his upbringing in Indiana influenced by his Vietnam veteran father, his path from playing in a punk band to enlisting, and transitioning from artillery to forward observer roles. The conversation covers his father’s candid Vietnam stories, parenting philosophies across generations, and Garner’s early military training and deployment experiences.

Key takeaways

• Garner attributes his enlistment decision partly to watching Black Hawk Down with his father, a three-tour Vietnam veteran who initially discouraged military service but eventually supported his choice
• According to Garner, his father’s parenting approach balanced high standards with freedom to make mistakes, a philosophy Garner adapts when raising his teenage stepdaughter with stricter boundaries
• Garner describes reclassing from MLRS artillery to forward observer specifically to get attached to infantry units and experience combat operations directly rather than from a distance

Episode details: published May 28, 2023 · 47.4K views · 1:45:35 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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