Award-winning Journalist Kevin Knodell joins Subject Matter Expert to unpack how a Navy fuel leak contaminated drinking water in Hawaii, detailing what residents lived through, what accountability looks like now, and how that crisis connects to the wider Pacific.

Kevin takes us on-the-water with the U.S. Coast Guard and partner nations fighting illegal fishing, how patrols work in the Pacific, and what is real and what is hype concerning Chinese aggression.

Kevin Knodell is a Hawaii-based reporter known for deep field work across the Pacific and the Middle East. He has embedded with the U.S. Coast Guard throughout the South Pacific and covered Hawaii’s military fuel water pollution crisis for Honolulu Star-Advertiser; his work highlights how decisions made far away shape daily life on the islands. He has previously written for The Daily Beast, Foreign Policy Magazine, Playboy, The Nib, Coffee or Die Magazine, Vice and others. He is the co-author of the graphic novels “Machete Squad” and “The 'Stan.”

In this episode:

• Hawaii’s Red Hill water crisis and Navy accountability

• How patrols actually work on Pacific fisheries enforcement

• How illegal fishing can be a canary-in-the-coal mine for other illegal activity

• How U.S.–China competition is impacting the world

• What it was like reporting in the Middle East

Follow Kevin Knodell

• Follow Kevin on Instagram

• Read Kevin’s Reporting

New here? Welcome to Subject Matter Expert, hosted by Marty Skovlund Jr., featuring top experts across diverse and relevant fields without regard to political bias. If you're looking for an echo chamber, this isn't it!

In each episode, Marty dives deep into high-impact topics with guests who have been there, done that, offering nuanced insights and practical takeaways, while highlighting their unique stories, knowledge, and experiences.

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• ⁠Send Me: The True Story of a Mother at War⁠

• ⁠Violence of Action: The True Stories of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the War on Terror⁠

Eric Stebner is a retired U.S. Army Ranger who received a Silver Star for his actions during the Battle of Takur Ghar, also known as “Roberts Ridge.”

In a Veterans Day special, Stebner joins Subject Matter Expert for a candid conversation about courage, loss, leadership, and life after war. He gives a ground-level account of the fight on that 10,000-foot Afghan peak, remembers his best friend Bradley Crose, and reflects on the men who didn’t come home.

We also talk about the culture of the 75th Ranger Regiment before and during the Global War on Terror, what keeps soldiers alive in combat, and what it means to come home and keep leading.

Master Sergeant (Ret.) Eric Stebner is a decorated Army Ranger with a Silver Star for his actions on Takur Ghar and a long career in the 75th Ranger Regiment. He served across the Global War on Terror and later mentored the next generation of Rangers—he was my platoon sergeant when I arrived at 1st Ranger Battalion in 2006. He’s known for calm leadership under fire, a relentless focus on team over self, and for honoring fallen servicemembers like Bradley Crose through his efforts with 4VR RIP.

In this episode

• A firsthand account of Takur Ghar/Roberts Ridge

• Remembering Bradley Crose and the Rangers who fell

• Ranger culture, training, and the habits that matter in combat

• Leadership lessons from the Ranger Regiment

• Veterans Day reflections and life after service

Support Veterans

• Learn more about 4VR RIP

• Follow 4VR RIP on Instagram

New here? Welcome to Subject Matter Expert, hosted by Marty Skovlund Jr., featuring top experts across diverse and relevant fields without regard to political bias. If you're looking for an echo chamber, this isn't it!

In each episode, Marty dives deep into high-impact topics with guests who have been there, done that, offering nuanced insights and practical takeaways, while highlighting their unique stories, knowledge, and experiences.

Subscribe & Follow

• Subscribe to ⁠Subject Matter Expert on YouTube⁠

• Subscribe to ⁠Subject Matter Expert Clips on YouTube⁠

• Follow ⁠Subject Matter Expert on Instagram⁠

• Follow ⁠Marty on Instagram⁠

Buy Marty's Books

• • ⁠Send Me: The True Story of a Mother at War⁠
• • ⁠Violence of Action: The True Stories of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the War on Terror
    

Open-source intelligence (OSINT) expert Justen Charters joins Subject Matter Expert to break down how influence campaigns actually spread online and how investigators trace Chinese-aligned networks across platforms.

We get practical on dark-web scams and fraud pipelines, triaging deepfakes and coordinated campaigns in real time, geolocation verification, and cyber cases that shape the world we live in. We also hit ethics, from doxxing red lines to how new platform rules shape what evidence you can collect.

Justen Charters is the founder of Unchartered, a digital investigations and training firm specializing in uncovering hard-to-find data and identifying key risks related to individuals and organizations. He is a former journalist who is now a veteran OSINT practitioner whose career began covering ISIS and Iran before expanding into fraud, extremism, and foreign influence. He builds workflows to track malign networks across languages, platforms, and borders.

• ​Follow Justen on LinkedIn
• ​Follow Justen on X
• ​Check out Justen’s company Unchartered

New here? Welcome to Subject Matter Expert, hosted by Marty Skovlund Jr., featuring top experts across diverse and relevant fields without regard to political bias. If you're looking for an echo chamber, this isn't it!

In each episode, Marty dives deep into high-impact topics with guests who have been there, done that, offering nuanced insights and practical takeaways, while highlighting their unique stories, knowledge, and experiences.

Subscribe & Follow

• ​Subscribe to ⁠Subject Matter Expert on YouTube⁠
• ​Subscribe to ⁠Subject Matter Expert Clips on YouTube⁠
• ​Follow ⁠Subject Matter Expert on Instagram⁠
• ​Follow ⁠Marty on Instagram⁠

Buy Marty's Books

• ​⁠Send Me: The True Story of a Mother at War⁠
• ​⁠Violence of Action: The True Stories of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the War on Terror

It’s Halloween week on Subject Matter Expert, featuring the host of Jacked History, Jack Mandaville!

In this episode we dive into dark and curious corners of history: animals on trial at the Salem witch trials, the real origins of trick-or-treating, the legend of the Headless Horseman, whether San Antonio’s Menger Hotel earns its “most haunted” rep, and the true stories behind a few truly grim figures: Vlad the Impaler, Elizabeth Báthory, and Carl Panzram. We also run a rapid-fire “Wrong Answers Only” round for laughs and get Jack’s hottest history take (you’ll probably be offended).

Jack Mandaville is a writer, producer, Marine Corps combat veteran, and the host of Jacked History, a fast-growing YouTube channel where he unpacks strange, hilarious, and interesting stories from the past with a dose of sarcasm and comedy. If you like sharp history with personality, go check out Jacked History on YouTube or Spotify and subscribe to support the show.

• ​Subscribe to Jacked History
• ​Follow Jack Mandaville on Instagram
• ​Follow Jack Mandaville on X

New here? Welcome to Subject Matter Expert, hosted by Marty Skovlund Jr., featuring top experts across diverse and relevant fields without regard to political bias. If you're looking for an echo chamber, this isn't it!

In each episode, Marty dives deep into high-impact topics with guests who have been there, done that, offering nuanced insights and practical takeaways, while highlighting their unique stories, knowledge, and experiences.

Subscribe & Follow

• ​Subscribe to ⁠Subject Matter Expert on YouTube⁠
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• ​Follow ⁠Subject Matter Expert on Instagram⁠
• ​Follow ⁠Marty on Instagram⁠

Buy Marty's Books

• ​⁠Send Me: The True Story of a Mother at War⁠
• ​⁠Violence of Action: The True Stories of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the War on Terror⁠

War pushes families to the edge—and recent aid cuts make hard choices even harder in war-ravaged regions of Africa.

ChildVoice CEO Nathan Mandsager joins Subject Matter Expert to explain what aid reductions mean for girls at risk in places like Sudan, Nigeria, eastern DRC, South Sudan, and the Sahel—and what actually lowers danger on the ground. We dig into what is really happening on the ground in Africa, the realities of ration cuts, how to deliver trauma-informed care, and how a faith-forward approach can help heal, and even prevent future conflict.

Who is Nathan Mandsager? Nathan is the CEO of ChildVoice, working as a humanitarian focused on women and children refugees of war. With over 20 years of humanitarian experience, he is focused on practical protection for war-affected women and children—counseling, education, career training, and survivor-centered recovery across East and Central Africa.

• Learn more about ChildVoice
• Donate to support ChildVoice's mission
• Follow ChildVoice on Instagram

New here? Welcome to Subject Matter Expert, hosted by Marty Skovlund Jr., featuring top experts across diverse and relevant fields without regard to political bias. If you're looking for an echo chamber, this isn't it!

In each episode, Marty dives deep into high-impact topics with guests who have been there, done that, offering nuanced insights and practical takeaways, while highlighting their unique stories, knowledge, and experiences.

Subscribe & Follow

• Subscribe to ⁠Subject Matter Expert on YouTube⁠

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Buy Marty's Books

• ⁠Send Me: The True Story of a Mother at War⁠

• ⁠Violence of Action: The True Stories of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the War on Terror⁠

War correspondent Hollie McKay takes us inside Afghanistan during and after the fall of Afghanistan in 2021, where she was reporting on the ground with little to no safety net.

We dig into what life is like for frontline reporters, how life as a conflict journalist can be complicated, and the ethical and safety calculus of reporting in active conflict zones like Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, and Myanmar. McKay also talks about the long lasting effects of human atrocities in places closer to home, like Mexico.

Hollie McKay is an award-winning war reporter and author of “Only Cry for the Living: Memos from Inside the ISIS Battlefield” and other books. She has reported all over the world, from Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, and Ukraine to Myanmar and Mexico with a focus on civilians, accountability, and ground truth.

• Follow Hollie’s work on Substack: https://holliesmckay.substack.com/

• Buy Hollie’s book “Only Cry for the Living: Memos from Inside the ISIS Battlefield”: https://a.co/d/hx8N8Bu

• Buy Hollie’s book “Afghanistan: The End of the US Footprint and the Rise of the Taliban Rule”: https://a.co/d/iwhfGMo

New here? Welcome to Subject Matter Expert, hosted by Marty Skovlund Jr., featuring top experts across diverse and relevant fields without regard to political bias. If you're looking for an echo chamber, this isn't it!

In each episode, Marty dives deep into high-impact topics with guests who have been there, done that, offering nuanced insights and practical takeaways, while highlighting their unique stories, knowledge, and experiences.

Subscribe & Follow

• Subscribe to ⁠Subject Matter Expert on YouTube⁠

• Subscribe to ⁠Subject Matter Expert Clips on YouTube⁠

• Follow ⁠Subject Matter Expert on Instagram⁠

• Follow ⁠Marty on Instagram⁠

Buy Marty's Books

• ⁠Send Me: The True Story of a Mother at War⁠

• ⁠Violence of Action: The True Stories of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the War on Terror

Harvard professor Avi Loeb joins Marty Skovlund Jr. to unpack the newest interstellar visitor, 3I/ATLAS, and to draw a hard line between extraordinary claims and extraordinary evidence on UAPs.

We get specific on what’s actually observed for 3I/ATLAS, how it compares with prior interstellar detections, and the kind of sensors, data, and public transparency that would move the needle on UAP research. We also talk about why bold science—done rigorously—still pays dividends for science, culture, and technology.

Avi Loeb was the longest serving chair of Harvard’s Department of Astronomy, the founding lead of the Galileo Project, and bestselling author of nine books, including “Extraterrestrial” and “Interstellar.” He holds a PhD in Physics, was a long-term member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, and authored over a thousand scientific papers (with h-index of 131 and i10-index of 614) on a wide range of topics, including black holes, the first stars, the search for extraterrestrial life and the future of the Universe.

• Follow Avi’s work on Medium:

• Buy Avi’s book “Interstellar”
• Buy Avi’s book “Extraterestrial”

New here? Welcome to Subject Matter Expert, hosted by Marty Skovlund Jr., featuring top experts across diverse and relevant fields without regard to political bias. If you're looking for an echo chamber, this isn't it!

In each episode, Marty dives deep into high-impact topics with guests who have been there, done that, offering nuanced insights and practical takeaways, while highlighting their unique stories, knowledge, and experiences.

Subscribe & Follow

• Subscribe to ⁠Subject Matter Expert on YouTube⁠

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• Follow ⁠Subject Matter Expert on Instagram⁠

• Follow ⁠Marty on Instagram⁠

Buy Marty's Books

• ⁠Send Me: The True Story of a Mother at War⁠

• ⁠Violence of Action: The True Stories of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the War on Terror⁠

Marty Skovlund Jr. sits down with tactical hippy Jay Pelletier of Q, LLC for a wide-open, engineering-driven conversation about modern firearms and sound suppression.

We dig into the design thinking behind Q’s "Honey Badger" and "The Fix" bolt action, then get practical about silencers and why innovation doesn't necessarily require reinventing the wheel. Jay also breaks down the goals of 8.6 Blackout (8.6mm BLK)—heavy rounds with fast twist rates, and real-world performance—plus what consumers routinely get wrong about all of the above.

Jay’s a proud New Englander raised in southern Maine who has spent nearly a decade in the firearms industry (including years at SIG SAUER) before joining Q in 2019, where he leads consumer education and appears across Q’s media staples like King of the Bush and the Live Q or Die podcast—while jokingly serving as “Owner, CEO, Sales Intern, and Janitorial Liaison.”

We also hit a book segment on Jack Carr’s new novel Cry Havoc, and how Jack is best in class at what he does.

If you care about innovation in firearms, the realities of silencer use, and where 8.6 BLK is headed, this episode is for you.

• Follow Jay on Instagram
• Follow Q, LLC on Instagram
• Find out more about Q, LLC here

New here? Welcome to Subject Matter Expert, hosted by Marty Skovlund Jr., featuring top experts across diverse and relevant fields without regard to political bias. If you're looking for an echo chamber, this isn't it!

In each episode, Marty dives deep into high-impact topics with guests who have been there, done that, offering nuanced insights and practical takeaways, while highlighting their unique stories, knowledge, and experiences.

Subscribe & Follow

• Subscribe to ⁠Subject Matter Expert on YouTube⁠

• Subscribe to ⁠Subject Matter Expert Clips on YouTube⁠

• Follow ⁠Subject Matter Expert on Instagram⁠

• Follow ⁠Marty on Instagram⁠

Buy Marty's Books

• ⁠Send Me: The True Story of a Mother at War⁠
• ⁠Violence of Action: The True Stories of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the War on Terror⁠