Tonight's guest is Mac Caltrider, the author of Double Knot, a war memoir in seven essays. Mac shares with us his life story, including culture associated with Baltimore, Maryland; two deployments to Afghanistan as a Marine; working as a patrol cop during tumultuous times; and his career in journalism. All of which is connected in Double Knot. 

Episode 39 highlights:

1). Plug Uglies — a now closed Irish pub in Baltimore, Maryland, named after old-timey firefighter gangs that used to start fires and get into street fights.

2). Family lineage in the US military.

3). Mac’s passion for books from an early age, which would prove useful as a writer and journalist years later.

4). Awesome history associated with Mac’s unit, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines (2/8), which includes a tale about the first ever Medal of Honor recipient’s action captured on video (many confuse Air Force CCT John Chapman’s action in Afghanistan as the first).

5). The humorous tales of the wiggling hedgehog and “the smoking crab” in Afghanistan (YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1bEDH4bwHI).

6). Double Knot (YouTube link: https://youtu.be/UP2dlTmig8Y)

7). Coffee or Die magazine and honored by the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation.

8). Pipes & Pages — Where Mac pairs books others should read with a tobacco pipe (https://www.instagram.com/pipes_and_pages/?hl=en).

Buy Double Knot on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Double-Knot-Mac-Caltrider/dp/B0CYX1RB6G) OR at veteran-owned publisher Dead Reckoning Collective (https://deadreckoningco.com/collections/books/products/book-double-knot).

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10% Discount Code using MATTFRATUS at HR4K’s store. HR4K is a UK lifestyle brand founded by British SAS veteran, friend, and guest of the show (Episode 7) Ben Garwood. Follow the link here: https://www.hr4k.uk/?ref=MATTFRATUS