Urban Valor: the podcast

In this Urban Valor Podcast, former Army Sergeant First Class Vincent Morales shares his unbelievable journey from growing up around gang violence in Kansas City, Missouri, to fighting through some of the most dangerous experiences of the Iraq War, including the Battle of Mosul, the 2004 Mosul dining facility bombing, and devastating roadside IED explosions. Vincent opens up about losing fellow soldiers, surviving repeated combat blasts, struggling with severe physical and mental injuries, a...

In today's Irban Valor Podcast, Octavio talks about combat in Iraq, repeated IED attacks, losing Marines in his unit, being engulfed in flames, the medevac and ICU experience, learning to walk again, adapting to life with severe burns and a hand amputation, and the impact his injuries had on his wife and children. Octavio also opens up about what happened after the uniform came off...struggling with alcohol and drugs, losing his sense of purpose, rebuilding his family life, returning to his ...

Marine Staff Sergeant Tony Storey served 21 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, including combat deployments to Somalia and Iraq. At just 21 years old, he led Marines into Somalia during Operation Restore Hope, survived a bullet striking the sandbag beside his head, and later endured a monsoon that flooded his fighting position with human remains. In this episode, of Urban Valor, Tony shares what it was like entering Mogadishu, serving as an 0311 Rifleman, training Iraqi security forces, and car...

Army Veteran Manny Pasillas Lucio shares the combat story that changed his life forever. Born in Mexico and raised in California, Manny grew up navigating family tension, poverty, and the streets of Compton before deciding to join the Army after 9/11. After basic training at Fort Benning, he was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington, where he became part of a Stryker infantry unit and later joined a scout sniper platoon. In this episode of Urban Valor, Manny opens up about his deployment to Iraq, ...

Former Marine Force Recon veteran Kirk Spradely, call sign “Tadpole,” shares his powerful life story...from surviving a brutal childhood and orphanage violence, to becoming a Marine Force Recon operator, working for Blackwater in Iraq, serving in OGA special programs, flying Blackhawk and Apache helicopters, and later supporting the Kurdish military. In this episode of Urban Valor, Kirk opens up about the day his teammate Tommy Jenner was killed by an enemy sniper in Ramadi. Kirk says the sn...

David Aceron served in the United States Army from 2003 to 2012 as a combat engineer and counter-IED specialist, conducting deadly route clearance missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. His job was simple in theory, but brutal in reality: find the bombs before they found his convoy. As a Husky operator and combat engineer, David spent years hunting hidden IEDs, landmines, command-wire explosives, and roadside bombs designed to kill American soldiers. In this episode, David Aceron shares what it w...

Army Combat Medic Daniel Jimenez served from 2003 to 2023, deploying with the 82nd Airborne into Afghanistan as an 18-year-old medic during the height of the Global War on Terror. In today's Urban Valor's podcast, Daniel shares what it was like to survive Taliban ambushes, treat casualties under fire, face grenades, RPG attacks, firefights, trauma, and the reality of becoming an Army medic in war. This is the real story of a young soldier thrown into Afghanistan, learning fast, carrying an a...

Iraq War stories like this don’t come from Hollywood… they come from guys who actually lived it. This Iraq War veteran story from a U.S. Army fuel convoy driver who was thrown into Iraq at just 20 years old...no armor, driving fuel trucks, getting shot at, and running missions daily through active war zones. We break down what it was REALLY like on the ground — from entering Iraq during the early invasion, to driving the “Highway of Death,” dealing with gunfire, extreme heat (140°+), and ze...