In this episode of Soldiers, Stories and Songs, Adam Rossi and Rachel Hill flip the script on one of our usual podcast co-hosts and sit down with Operation Encore (OE) Executive Director and Board Member Guy Jaquier. They discuss OE’s founding by a group of USAF Colonels, how OE works with its artists to help further their professional music careers and some of its initiatives in the works. During this episode, they also explore three of Guy’s songs, including: “Elko” “Ghost Town”, and ...

In this episode of Soldiers, Stories & Songs, Guy Jaquier and Adam Rossi spend time with Air National Guard Firefighter and Recruiter Jovon Newman. Jovon was born in Philadelphia, PA and has served for 9 years (and counting) in the Delaware Air National Guard, currently as an E6 Tech Sargent stationed with the 166 Airlift Wing. Jovon’s musical style is a wonderful blend of country, pop, R&B, with a touch of North East Coast that has been bringing him recognition, awards and radi...

In this episode of “Soldiers, Stories & Songs”, Guy (Jaquier) and Adam (Rossi) spend time with OE artist Sean Russell. Sean was born in Los Angeles and served four years in the US Army as an infantryman. He deployed to Kuwait in late 1994 as part of Operation Vigilant Warrior after the Iraqi Republican Guard started making moves on the country. This massive 72 hour airlift and prepositioning of US forces is credited with deterring Saddam Hussein from trying to repeat the...

In this episode of “Soldiers, Stories & Songs”, Guy (Jaquier) and Adam (Rossi) spend time with OE artist and Army veteran Marc Ridge. Marc enlisted at age 18 and served four years in the 173rd Airborne Brigade, including a 12 month deployment to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. During the podcast, Marc shares his incredible journey. After being born in Lafayette, Indiana to a mother who was then 15 years old, Marc started playing guitar at age 12 and was writin...

In this episode of “Soldiers, Songs and Stories” Guy and Adam chat with Jeff Daugherty, an Operation Encore artist (class of 2023), military spouse, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who is fluent in mandolin, guitar and banjo. Jeff was born in Richlands, NC and is currently living outside of Nashville with Syndey, his wife of 16 years. Sydney is an active duty Air Force Missile Operations Officer currently working on her PhD at Vanderbilt. Together, Jeff and...

In this episode of “Soldiers, Stories & Songs”, Guy (Jaquier) and Adam (Rossi) spend time with Army combat engineer Mike “Doc Straw” Swart. Mike served from 2004-2013 and deployed twice to the Middle East, first near Fallujah in Iraq and later to Asadabad in the Kunar Province in Afghanistan, conducting road clearance for IEDs and other explosives. Following Mike’s separation from the Army, he went back to school and became a doctor of physical therapy focusing on how the body and b...

In this episode of “Soldiers, Stories & Songs”, Guy (Jaquier) and Adam (Rossi) spend time with retired Army helicopter pilot Kate Anderson and military spouse Secily Anderson. Together, they blend compelling lyrics, smooth harmonies and tasty guitar leads as a duet called “Winter Grain”. Learn about how Kate grew up around the Reno Rodeo, almost became a nun, then pivoted to 22 years of service in the Army, and how Secily grew up with music since she was 8 years old and has pl...

In this episode of “Soldiers, Stories and Songs”, Guy (Jaquier) and Adam (Rossi) spend time with retired Army veteran and Green Beret Derek Stoner. After spending a childhood hunting, fishing and working as a farm laborer in small town Craig, Missouri (population 200), Derek joined the National Guard while still in High School and served in the Army after September 11th. Derek spent 20 years serving his country as an elite Green Beret, with over 16 deployments to the Middle East, ...

In this episode of “Soldiers, Stories and Songs”, Guy (Jaquier) and Adam (Rossi) spend some time with Stephen Wayne talking about his humble roots in rural Arkansas and his year long “adventure” at age 14, sneaking on Greyhound buses, living on the streets and playing his old Fender Squire guitar. Yes-Age 14! Of course, he later met an Army recruiter and signed up as a mechanic a few months before 9/11. He retired 21 years later, after a total of 5 years of deployments to Ir...

In this episode of "Soldiers, Stories, and Songs", Guy [Jaquier] and Adam [Rossi] catch up with Operation Encore artist Mike Ponder, a veteran of both the Navy and Marine Corps. Mike was introduced to music at an early age: He started touring at age three and was playing drums at age 6 on stage with his parents and their band "JL and the Country Squires". Mike deployed in support of the Gulf War in 1991, Kosovo in 1999, and Iraq in 2002. He was medically retired from the Navy in 2008 due to c...

In this episode of “Stories, Soldiers and Songs”, Guy [Jaquier] and Adam [Rossi] catch up with Operation Encore artist and Army veteran Schaefer Mueller after his recent OE recording session at AR Audio in San Francisco. During the podcast, they discuss Schaefer’s early music influences including his grandfather who played bass guitar for Funk and Jazz bands, and his parents who drove him to Jimmy Buffett concerts in a minivan decorated with shark fins. Following a period sleeping in hi...

During this episode of “Stories, Soldiers and Songs”, Guy and Adam talk with USMC veteran Brandon Mills about growing up in Kentucky and his service as a Recon Marine and Scout Sniper during multiple combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Brandon also describes his post-military life, which includes three years working with a non-profit in a Palestinian refugee camp, his appearance on the TV series “The Bachelor”, his work in the field of “executive and celebrity security” an...

Meet JB Brown -- an up-and-coming artist and Marine with a humble background and a smooth county-rock sound. In this episode of “Stories, Soldiers and Songs”, Guy (Jaquier) and Adam (Rossi) discuss JB's journey from a young drummer at a county fair to the streets of Iraq and back again. During the podcast, they discuss JB’s service in a Marine recon unit and his close encounter with a roadside bomb that led to his retirement after 12 years of service. As JB opens up ab...

In this episode of “Stories, Soldiers and Songs”, Guy (Jaquier) and Adam (Rossi) catch up with Operation Encore artist and Navy veteran Morgan Warneke in Nashville, TN. During the podcast, they discuss Morgan’s journey from a cross country runner in an Arkansas high school to his time as a Naval Academy cadet, his service as a Surface Warfare Office on a mine sweeper in the Persian Gulf, and finally to his adventures as a singer/songwriter living in Nashville going by the stage name “Fogg War...

In this episode of “Stories, Soldiers and Songs”, Guy (Jaquier) and Adam (Rossi) catch up with Operation Encore artist and Navy veteran Adam Gaffney while he is recording his new EP (!) at AR Audio in San Francisco. During the podcast, they discuss Adam’s humble Midwest roots his adventures while shopping at Walmart, his military service loading weapons as a Navy Aviation Ordnanceman on aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf (including one particular moment almost having his arm torn off while...

In this episode of "Stories, Soldiers and Songs", Guy and Adam interview a new 2021 addition to the Operation Encore family, Scotty Hasting. During the podcast, Scotty discusses his military service and the challenges of trying to become a household name in country music as a Nashville-based singer-songwriter. He also describes his "really bad day" in Afghanistan when he was shot 10 times and reveals how he adapted his guitar-playing by using a little bit of velcro and inge...

In this episode of the Operation Encore (OE) podcase, active-duty Army soldier Bob Deprato drops in the OE studio during his stateside leave and talks to Guy and Adam about his 18-year career in Special Operations. Bob describes his deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan, his time in the Crisis Response Force providing security for overseas embassies, his efforts leading military support for overseas Presidential visits, and his experience acting as an Army security liaison for the Tokyo Ol...

In this episode of the Operation Encore podcast, Marine Landing Support Specialist Barbara Sim gives a fascinating, open and honest description of her time in her marines and her singer-songwriting journey. An upcoming country artist with a soaring voice, Barbara describes her time as part of the "Lioness Group" in Iraq, searching for dangerous contraband and explosives among the population (Preview: finding a grenade was "no big deal"). She also describes the feeling ...

In this episode of the Operation Encore podcast, former Marine Combat Engineer Steve Harwood takes Guy and Adam on a journey of discovery, from a tumultuous youth to the battlefields of Fallujah. Born in Woodenville, WA, Steve tells the story of how his father bought him a 45-day Greyhound bus ticket after high school and how that eventually led him to join the Marines and drive Humvees across Iraq. After dodging incoming fire during his time in Operation Enduring Freedom, he retu...

Army Combat Medic John Evans has a lot of stories to tell. Born in Houston, TX and raised in upstate New York, John idolized his WW2-veteran grandfather and decided to enter the Army immediately following 911. After hearing a slightly inaccurate portrayal of the "Health-Care Specialist" field from his local recruiter, John signed up and was trained as a combat-medic, then deployed multiple times in support of operation Iraqi Freedom. During the podcast, he tells Guy and Adam...