About this episode

Ryan Kuperus shares his unfiltered experiences and insights on leadership, personal struggles, and veteran support.

Retired Marine Force Recon Gunnery Sergeant Ryan Kuperus closes out his conversation with Mike Ritland with the kind of honesty that makes people uncomfortable — and that's exactly the point. From a brutally candid take on the "silent professional" myth and what weak leadership actually looks like, to a raw account of his ibogaine experience in Mexico and what it revealed about his relationship with his kids, Kuperus doesn't hold back. He also weighs in on Iran, Israel, the Epstein files, and why he thinks the Monroe Doctrine is the only foreign policy that makes sense. And after nearly losing everything to a court-martial he should never have faced, he found his next mission: The Reason Outdoors, a nonprofit using hunting and the backcountry to pull veterans back from the edge — one hunt at a time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Mike Ritland

Guest: Ryan Kuperus

Topics covered

• military experience
• leadership
• mental health
• foreign policy
• veteran support
• personal relationships

Keywords

• ibogaine
• court-martial
• veterans
• hunting
• Monroe Doctrine
• silent professional
• mental health

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Reason Outdoors, Epstein files

Places: Iran, Israel, Mexico

More episodes of Mike Drop

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• DECLARED DEAD IN VIETNAM: Force Recon Legend Finally Gets the Medal of Honor | Ep. 295 | Pt 1 · June 9, 2026 · 49 min
• Venezuela, Ideology, and Why We Keep Fighting Unwinnable Wars | Ep. 294 | Pt. 3 · June 5, 2026 · 47 min
• 11 Deployments, a Downed Chinook, and the Grief That Broke Him Open | Ep. 294 | Pt. 2 · June 4, 2026 · 56 min
• Green Beret Exposes the Government's Chinook Shootdown Cover-Up | Ep. 294 | Pt. 1 · June 2, 2026 · 1h 0m

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