AI Summary
5 min readNick Jones spent five hours trying to get to his two fallen teammates, pinned inside a cave in northern Iraq by ISIS fighters who had turned the entrance into a fortified gunport. He crawled to the edge on broken rock, threw grenades at the enemy by hand, called in a Hellfire that zinged off the cave roof, and finally put his foot on the lip for one last attempt. That is when a bullet—likely a ricochet off the rock beside him—penetrated his shin, severed his superficial peroneal nerve, and ended his fight. He was hoisted out, crying, convinced he had failed. That day earned him the Navy Cross. It also set him on a years-long spiral of pain, alcohol, suicidal ideation, and eventually, a deliberate reconstruction of his life.
The cave and the weight of the award
Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.
Read Full Summary →Free • No credit card required
Never miss an episode of Cleared Hot - Powered by BRCC
Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
What you'll learn
- 1 (00:01) **Opening & Move to Montana** - Andy introduces Nick Jones; Nick describes his long-time fantasy of living in Montana and how a denied training package led him to propose to his wife in Big Sky.
- 2 (03:00) **The Move to Jackson Hole** - Nick explains how his wife’s unhappiness and lack of community in Montana forced a difficult decision to move to Jackson Hole.
- 3 (07:14) **Acquiring a Business & Finding a Mentor** - Nick describes buying the Jackson Hole Shooting Experience and the critical role a mentor played in pushing him to take the leap.
- 4 (15:08) **The Mentor Relationship** - Nick details how a wary connection with a successful Marine veteran evolved into a father-figure mentorship.
- 5 (21:15) **Family Fractures & Setting Boundaries** - Nick and Andy discuss the painful realities of estrangement from family members and the necessity of setting hard boundaries.
- 6 (26:52) **The Wound & The Medical Nightmare** - Nick describes getting shot in the shin and the cascading medical complications that led to a suicide attempt.
- 7 (34:55) **The Cocktail of Pills & Ketamine Horror** - Andy and Nick bond over the nightmare of military pain management, the dangers of polypharmacy, and Nick’s terrifying ketamine experience on the medevac.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Nick Jones enlisted in the Marine Corps at 18 out of Olathe, Kansas. Mortarman, then scout sniper platoon, then selection and 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, where he came up through element member to element leader. Twelve years, five deployments. On March 8, 2020, his team went into the Qarachogh Mountains in northern Iraq to clear a cave complex and lost their team leader and their team chief. He was shot going back for them and kept fighting until he was pulled off the mountain. Six surgeries and eighteen months later he medically retired as a staff sergeant with a Navy Cross and a Purple Heart. He now runs the Talons Reach Foundation.
In 2019 he built a mountain warfare training package for his team in Montana. It got denied. The reason given was that they wouldn't be fighting in the mountains. Ten months later they were.
He proposed on top of Lone Peak and told his wife they'd build a family in Montana in ten years. They got there in one. Five years later she broke down on the drive back from Jackson and told him she had no life there. That conversation moved everybody to Wyoming.
Talons Reach Foundation: https://www.talonsreachfoundation.org/
Join the Cleared Hot Newsletter: https://www.clearedhotpodcast.com
Take the Operator Code Assessment: https://www.theoperatorcode.com
Today's Sponsors:
Black Rifle Coffee:
https://www.blackriflecoffee.com
Hexclad:
For a limited time only, our listeners get 10% off your order with our exclusive link. Just head to https://www.hexclad.com/clearedhot
More from this podcast
Cleared Hot - Powered by BRCC →