Sean Evangelista (Ski Patrol, Tier One Special Operations and the Leadership Crisis) - Episode 833

Dixon Phillips is a former collegiate athlete, Pasco County firefighter and former union president of IAFF Local 4420. In this third conversation, he unpacks the history, mistruths and realities of Florida's Amendment 3, the negative impact it will have on Florida's first responders and the safety of their citizens. We also discuss proactive solutions to government overspending from community medicine to the 24/72 firefighter shift. "As President of IAFF Local 4420, Pasco County Professional Firefighters, I proudly represented over 800 members who serve our community with dedication and professionalism. In this role, I led collective bargaining efforts, negotiate contracts, handle member grievances and disciplinary matters, and advocated for legislative change and appropriations that directly impact the fire service. With nearly a decade of experience as a firefighter paramedic, I understood the challenges our members face on the job and fought every day to ensure they have the support, protections, and resources they need. Whether it's pushing for better benefits, addressing workplace issues, or securing funding at the local and state level, I was committed to advancing the rights and well-being of our membership."

Hon. Allen Clark is a Vietnam veteran, author, public speaker and Minister. We discuss giving both his legs for his country, the physical and mental rehabilitation journey, working with the VA, the spiritual arm of healing, the industrial military complex and so much more. After attending Phillips Exeter Academy, Allen graduated the United States Military Academy in 1963, after which he was commissioned in the Army Corps of Engineers. Two years after graduation from West Point, he volunteered for a tour in Vietnam where he served as a Military Intelligence officer assigned to the Fifth Special Forces Group. Allen sustained injuries in an early-morning mortar attack at the Dak To Special Forces camp on June 17, 1967, that necessitated the amputation of both legs below his knees. His military service and sacrifice were recognized with receipt of a Silver Star for Gallantry in Action, the Purple Heart, and the Combat Infantryman's Badge. He was airborne-qualified. While learning to adjust to his disability and to walk on prosthetic legs, he obtained an MBA in finance and investments from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Allen's first post-graduate position was as an investment manager for Ross Perot. His other private sector experience has spanned oil and gas exploration, real estate marketing, and mortgage lending. He has been vice president of a bank, president of three oil service companies, and co-founder of a real estate investment company in Texas. Allen's impassioned commitment to public service and to helping veterans began with an appointment in 1979 as the Special Assistant for Administration to Texas Governor William P. Clements, Jr. In 1981, Allen was President Ronald Reagan's selection to be Deputy Administrator for the Veterans Administration (now the Department of Veterans Affairs). However, he chose to remain in Texas where in 1982 he received the Texas Republican Party's nomination to run for State Treasurer in a race that was won by former Texas State Governor Ann Richards. In 1989, he was nominated by President George H.W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Assistant Secretary for Veterans Liaison and Program Coordination at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In 1991, he received his second VA confirmation as Director of the National Cemetery System, a position in which he served until the end of the President George H. W. Bush administration. Allen's dedicated efforts to support veteran's causes at the national and state levels were recognized with his selection in 2011 by the Texas state Disabled American Veterans organization as their Outstanding Disabled American He retired in 2005 as the Public Affairs Officer of the VA North Texas Health Care System in Dallas, Texas. His current lay ministry, Combat Faith is involved in outreach efforts to help active duty military personnel and veterans recover from the traumas of combat and their adverse wartime experiences. Allen participates in many community and civic activities, including regularly speaking at warrior transition battalions, military post chapels, high schools and colleges, service and veteran groups, youth conferences, and churches. He has addressed many audiences nationwide as a public official, motivational speaker, and political candidate. www.combatfaith.com

Dr. Thaer Ahmad, MD is a board-certified emergency medicine physician, global health expert, educator, and humanitarian who has provided medical relief and healthcare capacity-building in some of the world's most devastated conflict zones for over fifteen years. A Palestinian-American raised on Chicago's South Side, Dr. Ahmad first traveled to Gaza in 2009 on a medical mission and has returned multiple times since. After borders reopened in late 2023, he was deployed by the World Health Organization as part of an Emergency Medical Team to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in 2024, where he worked in the emergency department's resuscitation room. His humanitarian medical work has also taken him to Lebanon (missions in October 2024 and May 2026) and to the West Bank (four medical missions, most recently July 2026), with capacity-building across Syria, Türkiye, Jordan, and Kenya, and refugee-health work across Europe and the Middle East. Since October 2024, Dr. Ahmad has been denied entry into Gaza by Israeli authorities on five separate occasions, most recently on July 29, 2026, despite planned humanitarian medical missions. At home, he is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Global Emergency Medicine Academy at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) and on the advisory board of The Borgen Project. He is a board member of the Palestinian American Medical Association (PAMA) and a past board member of MedGlobal. A three-time recipient of the Humanitarian Award from his medical staff and the 2025 SAEM Global Emergency Medicine Academy Humanitarian Service Award honoree, he has become a leading public voice — testifying before the United Nations, speaking with Refugees International, and now appearing in the documentary American Doctor (dir. Poh Si Teng), which premiered at Sundance and opens in select theaters from August 14, 2026. https://thaerahmad.com/

Nick O'Kelly is a former U.S. Army Green Beret and Special Operations Blackhawk Pilot. We discuss his early life, his journey into the military, Special Forces selection, serving in South East Asia, transitioning into Aviation, Organizational Stress, returning to the SF community as a pilot, his own powerful mental health story, NuCalm and so much more.

Dave Gallagher began his fire service career when he listened to his Dad’s fire stories and stories about his grandfather who served in the days of the horses. He joined his local volunteer fire department in 1976 as a FF/PM after spending two years as a founding member of a Fire/Rescue Explorer Post in Montgomery County Ohio. Soon after he was hired by the Fairborn, Ohio FD, where he spent a year, but then was hired by the Wayne Twp FD in 1979, which became the Huber Heights Fire Division. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1982, and during his time there served as a HazMat Technician and Training Officer. His journey also saw him brought on as an instructor and advisory board member to FDIC and instructor for Firehouse Magazine in the mid-nineties. He traveled the country with some of the biggest names of the Fire Service and learned tremendously in their presence and has done his best to pass the lessons along. In 2004 he was retired due to LODI, but continued to instruct with On Scene Training Associates and several other groups including working with Affordable Drill Towers. He moved to just outside of Worcester, Massachusetts, and began working at the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy in 2014. He also joined one of the elite firefighting training groups, the New England FOOLs chapter, where he is a Life Member, and had the honor to be an instructor for the Joey D Foundation conferences in NY and TX. In 2020 he and his wife Sue moved to St Lucie County in Florida where he also helped out at several of the Treasure Coast FOOLs trainings. He has been a featured speaker on podcasts and has written articles for Fire Service magazines.