Calm in the Chaos Podcast

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Calm in the Chaos Podcast So Others May Live! 🫡🇺🇸 Brian Dickinson, the bestselling author of Calm in the Chaos and Blind Descent, a former U.S. Navy's elite, unsung heroes.

Navy Aviation Rescue Swimmer and Mount Everest Solo Summiteer delivers raw, untold rescue experiences from the U.S. Each episode dives deep into the mindset of the individuals selflessly heading into the chaos to save the lives of others. So Others May Live! Become a Paid Subscriber for Access to Early Episodes: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/calminthechaospodcast/subscribe

*This podcast is an unofficial exploration of the lives and missions of U.S. Navy Aviation Rescue Swimmers. It is not endorsed by or affiliated with the U.S. Navy or the Department of Defense.

10/07/2026

18 years as a Navy Rescue Swimmer. Nearly 4,000 flight hours. And after waiting 11 years for a real-world rescue, the call finally came.

Two F/A-18 pilots had ejected over the Pacific and were floating in the dark. Chris Allen and his crew went to get them.

In Episode 66, Chris takes us through his career with HSC-6, responding to the 2011 Japan tsunami with a broken wrist, losing three squadron members in the HSC-8 helicopter mishap, flying the memorial flight over the crash site, and the midnight rescue he’d spent more than a decade preparing for.

Most of a Rescue Swimmer’s career isn’t the rescue. It’s being ready when the call finally comes.

🎙️ Episode 66 — Calm in the Chaos

So Others May Live. 🫡🇺🇸

09/23/2026

26 years. 10 deployments. And a career that came full circle at Rescue Swimmer School.

Newly retired Senior Chief Jeff Plowman started his Navy career wanting to jump out of helicopters and finished it back in Pensacola, leading the school that built him.

In Episode 65, Jeff talks about the hard lessons along the way—including a DUI that nearly ended his career, the leaders who gave him a second chance, and how that grace shaped the leader and instructor he became.

He may never have gotten the dramatic open-ocean rescue, but he spent 26 years making sure the next swimmer would be ready for theirs.

🎙️ Episode 65 — Calm in the Chaos

So Others May Live. 🫡🇺🇸

09/18/2026

When the plan disappears, what will you fall back on?

🚁 In Calm in the Chaos, Brian Dickinson explores how training prepares us to stay focused, communicate and keep functioning when everything changes.

Are you training for the moment everything goes sideways?

Read the full article → https://tinyurl.com/VAIWeekly

08/26/2026

From Rescuing a SEAL to Flying Dust-Off Missions in Iraq | Shane Hallesy | Ep. 63

A Navy SEAL missed the deck during a night fast-rope insertion, and it fell to Shane Hallesy to go in after him—one small piece of a career that spans Navy rescue swimmer, Army Blackhawk pilot, and federal law enforcement aviator.

In this episode of Calm in the Chaos, Shane Hallesy shares 5 years as a Navy Aviation Rescue Swimmer followed by 30-plus years in the Army National Guard—flying Blackhawk medevac missions over western Iraq embedded with the Marines, changing tactics mid-deployment to keep from getting shot down, and later flying maritime interdiction for Customs and Border Protection in Puerto Rico.

In this episode:
* Hoisting down at night to rescue a Navy SEAL who missed the deck during a fast-rope insertion
* Transitioning from Navy rescue swimmer to Army Blackhawk pilot
* Flying dust-off medevac missions over western Iraq with the Marines
* Flying into a sandstorm during his first days in-country
* A mass casualty response in Fallujah and learning to vary his approach to avoid getting shot at
* Struggling to assimilate after deployment—and finding a second calling flying law enforcement missions for CBP and the Department of Transportation

From the flight deck to the desert to the border, Shane Hallesy never stopped being the guy who goes in after people.

👉 Subscribe, share, and leave a review. It helps more veterans, first responders, and families find these stories.

CALM IN THE CHAOS PODCAST — Episode 63

So Others May Live. 🫡🇺🇸

Rescue Swimmer Merchandise https://shop.calminthechaospodcast.com Military & First Responders: Use code SARRESCUE10 for 10% off 100% of proceeds support the podcast
📖 Calm in the Chaos — The Book by Brian Dickinson Available at www.briandickinson.net


08/12/2026

A Secret Six-Day Mission Into Iraq & Rescuing a Rescue Swimmer | Aviation Rescue Swimmer Scott Haskell | Ep. 62

Scott Haskell and his crewmate Tater have a standing joke: they’re one of the only rescue swimmers who ever rescued a rescue swimmer.

In this episode of Calm in the Chaos, Anthony Haskell shares 20 years in Naval Aviation—from a 100-mile scramble to recover a downed EA-6B crew, to a secret six-day mission into Iraq to bring home an ejected F-18 pilot, to a flight deck wire-snap that nearly took his crew out and earned his aircraft a painted purple heart. After the Navy, he kept saving lives as a drill instructor, combat pool instructor, police officer, and lifeguard trainer.

In this episode:
* The 100-mile scramble to recover a downed EA-6B crew—and the “rescued a rescue swimmer” story that followed
* A secret six-day mission into Iraq to search for a downed F-18 pilot
* Finding him in a salt lake near Karbala—and the honor guard that met the aircraft
* A flight deck wire-snap during an F-18 ejection that injured deck crew and earned his helicopter a painted purple heart
* Becoming a drill instructor and training non-swimmers at the “combat pool”
* Earning his first official live rescue at HS-14

Two decades of recoveries, rescues, and near-misses—and a career that never stopped saving people, in or out of uniform.

👉 Subscribe, share, and leave a review. It helps more veterans, first responders, and families find these stories.

CALM IN THE CHAOS PODCAST — Episode 62

So Others May Live. 🫡🇺🇸

07/29/2026

Dodging the USS Stark, a Minefield in the Persian Gulf & Sharks Under a Flipped Zodiac | Aviation Rescue Swimmer Bryan Huggett | Ep. 61

A last-minute decision to re-enlist and go home to get married kept Bryan Huggett off the USS Stark—just months before it was struck by two Iraqi Exocet missiles.

In this episode of Calm in the Chaos, Bryan shares 20 years of service split between the U.S. Navy and the Michigan Army National Guard: flying tanker es**rts through Persian Gulf minefields during the Iran-Iraq War, rescuing a flipped Zodiac while sharks circled below, and later trading Navy wings for a decade as a Huey crew chief fighting wildfires and training Navy SEALs for Afghanistan.

In this episode:
* The twist of fate that kept him off the USS Stark before it was hit by two Exocet missiles
* Flying tanker es**rt missions through Persian Gulf minefields during the Iran-Iraq War
* The night the USS Samuel B. Roberts hit a mine—and locking and loading on one of his own
* Rescuing a flipped Zodiac in the Atlantic, circled by sharks
* Trading Navy wings for a decade as a Huey crew chief in the Michigan Army National Guard
* Training Navy SEAL Team 1 ahead of their deployment into Afghanistan

Two branches, two decades, and one calm head no matter what got thrown at him.

👉 Subscribe, share, and leave a review. It helps more veterans, first responders, and families find these stories.

CALM IN THE CHAOS PODCAST — Episode 61

So Others May Live. 🫡🇺🇸

Rescue Swimmer Merchandise https://shop.calminthechaospodcast.com Military & First Responders: Use code SARRESCUE10 for 10% off 100% of proceeds support the podcast

07/15/2026

Hoisted Down to the Orion Capsule | Artemis II Astronaut Recovery Rescue Swimmer Chris Upton

The whole world watched the Orion capsule splash down in the Pacific and the U.S. Navy Aviation Rescue Swimmer hanging from a cable beneath an MH-60S Sea Hawk—lowered down to bring the astronauts home from the Moon.

In this episode of Calm in the Chaos, Chris Upton shares what it was like to be one of the Aviation Rescue Swimmers on the hoist during the historic Artemis II recovery. After NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen splashed down off the coast of San Diego—returning from humanity’s first lunar mission in over 50 years—Chris was part of the team trusted to physically bring them up out of the Pacific and onto the helicopter that would deliver them to the USS John P. Murtha.

CALM IN THE CHAOS PODCAST — Episode 60

So Others May Live. 🫡🇺🇸

Rescue Swimmer Merchandise https://shop.calminthechaospodcast.com Military & First Responders: Use code SARRESCUE10 for 10% off 100% of proceeds support the podcast
📖 Calm in the Chaos — The Book by Brian Dickinson Available at www.briandickinson.net

250 years. An imperfect nation, built by people willing to fight, sacrifice, serve, and keep pushing toward something be...
07/04/2026

250 years. An imperfect nation, built by people willing to fight, sacrifice, serve, and keep pushing toward something better.

Today we celebrate freedom, remember those who paid for it, and carry forward the responsibility that comes with it.

Happy 4th of July. 🇺🇸

Grateful to have served and to call this country home!

07/03/2026

When NASA’s Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific off the coast of San Diego, four astronauts came home from the Moon for the first time in over 50 years. And right there—feet from the capsule, voice on the radio, eyes on every moving piece—was a U.S. Navy Aviation Rescue Swimmer.

In this episode of Calm in the Chaos, Sean “Sondy” Sondergaard takes us inside one of the most historic recovery missions in modern naval aviation history—the Artemis II astronaut recovery. From the safety boat positioned right next to the Orion capsule, Sean coordinated communications among the divers, the helicopters, the recovery ship USS John P. Murtha, and NASA’s Landing and Recovery team as Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen were brought home from lunar orbit.

But Artemis II is just one chapter.

Sean shares what it takes to earn the wings of a Navy Aviation Rescue Swimmer, the missions that shaped him, and what it felt like to be part of a team trusted by NASA to bring astronauts safely back to Earth.

In this episode:
* Inside the Artemis II splashdown and recovery operation
* What it’s like to be in the safety boat next to the Orion capsule
* Coordinating communications between divers, helicopters, NASA, and the recovery ship
* The training that prepares Navy Rescue Swimmers for missions of this magnitude
* Assigned to HSC-23, working with the Navy dive medical team, and the USS John P. Murtha
* Bringing astronauts home from the Moon for the first time in over 50 years
* The legacy of Navy recovery operations—from Mercury and Apollo to Artemis

Sean Sondergaard’s story is a reminder that behind every historic mission is a team of quiet professionals doing the hard, dangerous, precise work the world rarely sees.

👉 Subscribe, share, and leave a review. It helps more veterans, first responders, and families find these stories.

CALM IN THE CHAOS PODCAST — Episode 59

So Others May Live. 🫡🇺🇸

06/17/2026

A Marine drifting in the South China Sea. A helicopter door tearing free in flight and exploding through the rotor system. A Parkinson’s diagnosis after twenty years of service.

Each one demanded something different from U.S. Navy Aviation Rescue Swimmer Kevin McNease.

In Episode 58 of Calm in the Chaos, Kevin reflects on two decades spent answering distress calls, operating in some of the most unforgiving environments on earth, and carrying the responsibility that comes with wearing the wings and fins of a Rescue Swimmer. From pulling a Marine from the water who refused to let go of his weapon to surviving a catastrophic mechanical failure at altitude, his story is one of service, sacrifice, and resilience.

Today, the mission looks different. Kevin is facing Parkinson’s disease with the same grit, humility, and determination that carried him through every rescue, every deployment, and every challenge the Navy placed in front of him.

Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

So Others May Live. 🫡🇺🇸

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