Episode 503 Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh The Other Side of the GWOT Transcript
This transcript is from episode 503 with guest Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh.
Scott DeLuzio: [00:00:00] There’s a side of the global war on terrorism that rarely gets talked about. The agents, the analysts, and other professionals who didn’t wear a military uniform, but still showed up on foreign soil under fire and in direct support of the mission, Gunnar Wogh lived that reality. From the Marine Corps to a top tier career in the FBI, he served with purpose deploying alongside special forces in Afghanistan as part of a quiet, crucial support role.
Most never even hear about. This episode isn’t just about career transitions or tactical stories, it’s about building legacy Gunner shares. Why honoring every person who served in the post nine 11 fight uniformed or not. It matters more than ever and how his work with the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation and the Travis Manion Foundation is helping to make that legacy permanent.
Before we dive into this episode though, make sure you’re subscribed to the email newsletter at [00:01:00] driveonpodcast.com/subscribe You’ll get my five favorite episodes sent straight to your inbox, no fluff, just the best insights to help you drive on. Now, let’s get into today’s episode.
Scott DeLuzio: Gunner, welcome to the show. I’m really glad to have you here looking forward to this conversation. But welcome, welcome to the show.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: Scott, thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate you inviting me on the show. Really excited to be here with you and your listeners.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. I’m excited about this conversation as well. For the listeners who aren’t familiar you know, with you and your background, you’re former Marine Corps all, although there’s no, no such thing as a former Marine, I guess. Right? So, so you’re a Marine and you also came outta the FBI, so, the kind of interesting background there and a little story that probably goes along with that too.
Can [00:02:00] you tell us a little bit about yourself, your background and, and how you came to work with the FBI
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: Sure I’ll, you know, I guess I’ll start with the Marine Corps ’cause that’s where I started. After a year of, of college, I was kind of wonderingly wandering aimlessly and one of my high school buddies had always said, Hey. We should join the Marine Corps. ‘Cause they’re the, they’re the best. And so after my freshman year I said, you know, I really gotta get some structure in my life.
You know, I was kinda you know, spending too much time partying at the frat and things like that. And, so I literally called the recruiter, you know, on a cold day in February and said, Hey, I’d like to, to sign up. He said, oh, you’re at the University of Pittsburgh, you know, yada, yada, yada. Come down, took the scored high.
Got my, my acceptance. And then know, I think I to her bootcamp on in May after my, the semester was over. And I, I told my parents after I had signed the contract, and then like, you did what, what, where are you going? Paris Island. did this happen? You know, that kind of thing.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: went to Paris Island. [00:03:00] In reserves Marine Corps reserves infantry unit in West Virginia and then decided, oso officer, selection officer for the Marines, you know, met him and he asked me to do, said, Hey, you should do OCS Officer Candidate School. So I did two summers of OCS. And so when I graduated with a, a teaching degree I had a choice.
Go be a teacher or go on active duty in the Marine Corps. And I said, yeah, I think I’m gonna try, you know, the Marines. And to see where that goes. So. Got, got commission. Second lieutenant went to the basic school at Quantico combat engineer officer mostly east coast cherry Point, North Carolina.
And then did some time at Camp Lejeune then took over a reserve unit, ran a Marine Corps reserve unit in South Bend, Indiana. Which was great fun, got promoted to captain, fantastic rank was a, just a great tour of duty there, but knew that if I was, I was, I, you know, I needed to either step up and, and go back into the, you know, fleet Marine force.
Probably be in zone for major at that point in time. At that point, you know, probably due 20 years or it was time to transition out. [00:04:00] And decided, you know, it was the nineties with a fairly quiet time. You had, I missed Desert Shield, desert Storm between a couple people in my unit got called up, but I didn’t. And so, decided to look outside the Marine Corps and was looking in the private sector. Had had a couple job offers. I. And one day I got a call from the incoming sheriff of St. Joe County in South Bend, Indiana, who was a former Marine. So I got, I got a call from him because another Marine gave him my resume.
You know, it’s networking is so,
Scott DeLuzio: Sure.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: so critically important. And he called me and said, Hey, I’d like you to take you to lunch. Well, you’re the sheriff, you can do whatever you want. So, took him to, you, went to lunch with, with with share the incoming sheriff for Xen and we kind of hit it off and he asked, said, Hey, I’ve got some political appointee positions. Would you consider joining my team? And I said, well, yeah. I, I, I wasn’t a law enforcement officer in the Yeah. I wasn’t a military police in, in, in the Marine. He goes, yeah, I just really want somebody who’s gonna do the right thing, you know, follow the law, that sort of thing. And so he offered me a position with St.
Joseph County Police [00:05:00] Department which I accepted. I was the chief deputy, essentially his number two, kinda his XO.
Scott DeLuzio: Okay.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: is a challenging job in a for, you know, 110 sworn officers, a hundred jailing jail officers budget of nine, $10 million. And it was a politically challenging position. Did for, for a a a bit and then got recruited into the FBI. loved local law enforcement, you know, really loved making our community stronger. Helping, you know, the officers be better in their jobs and getting them the tools and resources they needed to do their job effectively. But the FBI got recruited by the FBI out of South Bend and seemed like a good career move for me after, you know, almost 9, 8, 9 years to active duty, the Marine Corps, you know, federal law enforcement, you know, a little more stability than, than being in a politically appointed position. So, you know, finished my application with, and the application the bureau takes, if it goes really fast, it takes a year. Mine took about 18 months and then, you know, went to back to Quantico, [00:06:00] Virginia for the FBI new agent training program at the FBI Academy, which is about six months long. Then reported for duty. My first office was FBI, Kansas City. I worked white collar crime right outta the gate. Had a great supervisor, great training agent, and then worked hard to get on the SWAT team, which is a secondary, you know, duty in the FBI got on the SWAT team pretty quickly. ended up being certified as you know, a Salter sniper, an EMT. So my truck had a lot of gear, which was a lot of fun. And as part of that after the, invasion of Afghanistan and then, you know, later Iraq. Department of Defense asked FBI if they would send SWAT and or former military agents to the, the to Iraq and Afghanistan theaters to support DOD elements, who were essentially doing what we in the FBI called a search warrant.
You know, they called a sensitive site exploitation. most of the SWAT guys, gals raised their hand, said, Hey, I want to [00:07:00] go. I raised my hand. It took me about 18 months to finally get, you know, my name on the list. We did some pre-deployment training in Utah. And then I checked in I was assigned to Afghanistan checked into Bagram with the FBI detachment there.
‘Cause I was a semi computer guy. initially got tasked to stay in, in, in Bagram and, and help out some DOD forensic examiner issues there they were talking about, and those out. And then was fortunate enough to get assigned to seventh special portion of the group in Jalalabad.
Scott DeLuzio: Okay.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: Which is where one of the senior non-commissioned officers, there was Michael Rod Rodriguez, who we’ll probably talk about. did that for a few months. Reported back to, to FBI Kansas City then raised my hand to become a manager. Went to FBI counter-terrorism division at headquarters where I was forward deployed to the National Security Agency at Fort Meade for about three, four years to do some joint between the FBI and NSA, which was a, a great experience. Another DOD element, I went to FBI Baltimore to work cyber crime [00:08:00] back to Fort Mead to work for General Alexander at the US Cyber Command as the FBI liaison from FBI headquarters, cyber division to cyber command as they stood up as a, as an official combatant command. Then came to FBI Cleveland here in Ohio as a cyber crime supervisor. that for a couple years, went back to headquarters to work for the deputy director. A special assistant. Came back to Cleveland as the assistant special agent in charge number two, and then was gonna retire outta here. And that was called back and asked by Director Ray to come back to FB headquarters to be his executive special assistant to run his strategy and operations section. Which I did for about 13, 14 months until I retired in, in 2020. And then I went into really cybersecurity, pretty hard, doing cybersecurity risk assessments. Incident response after one of our companies would, our, our, our clients would get hacked, you know, to go do the incident response, help them bring their network back online. Did that, taught at Tiffany University as an adjunct [00:09:00] professor. Did some government consulting, and went to Arizona to work for Amazon Global Security. Did that for a couple years. Great experience working in Amazon Global Security. That was a, a really, a very strong military affinity group there, warriors and which was really a privilege to be a part of. And then got recruited. A position here back in Cleveland with Cleveland Cliffs, a big iron ore and steel producer in the United States to be the director of security. And so we came back to Cleveland here. So that’s that’s my career in, in a nutshell.
Scott DeLuzio: No, and that’s a pretty diverse career. You know, a lot of stuff that you are are talking about actually stuff that kind of coincidentally was. Things that I had envisioned for myself. I, I actually went to college to become an accountant with a goal of becoming an FBI agent. I, I joined nine 11, happened while I was in college.
I joined the national Guard after graduating from college and did about six [00:10:00] years there and just never went back into like that, that law enforcement mode, that mindset or anything like that. It was just, it. It was off the table at, at that point. So, it, but it’s you know, interesting to see someone else go through kind of similar steps.
You know, maybe not necessarily having FBI as the goal, but you know, that, that for me, that like, that’s, that’s what I was looking for. And you know, hearing kind of your, your progress kind of got me thinking, gee, that that could have been me you know, somewhere in Afghanistan, but w with not with.
A military uniform on with a you know, more civilian you know, FBI you know, background that, that would be something interesting, you know?
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: I often think about, you know, what would happen if nine, if I had still been in when nine 11 started?
Scott DeLuzio: Sure.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: I pro I probably would’ve stayed in the military at that point. And
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: of guys and gals, you know, after nine 11 who had left the military, you know, a lot of people tried to get back in to their job.
My brother was one of them.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: and it took him a couple years to do it. You know, you know, having that. [00:11:00] The, the priorities change in the FBI you know, director free, let’s see. He resigned in May of 2001 retired. You know, director Mueller took over. He was, he came into the position, I think in May of 2001 as acting director.
He was the US attorney for Northern District of California if memory serves. Also former Marine. And then he was sworn in on the F into the FBI as the, as the director of the sixth Director, I believe. Seventh, eighth, yeah. Sixth director. You know, on September 4th, 2001, and then a week later, nine 11 happens, which then. the entire, you know, national threat priorities of the FBI department of Justice, C-I-A-N-S-A, where we all start to really, you know, build that international terrorism mu you know, motion you know, to really participate in the global war on terrorism. And, and so we, you know, I, I was working white collar crime during the day, but routinely at night, then there would be leads from our counter-terrorism squad to say, Hey, we need help covering these leads. Whether it’s surveillance or interviewing people, and all of us were raising our hand to go out and support [00:12:00] the you know, the fight within the international terrorism front. So yeah, I was, I was fortunate to have an outlet for that. But if, if I hadn’t, I probably would’ve been, you know, somebody who said, Hey, you know, I wanna go back in the Marine Corps to serve ’cause I think that impact that, nine 11 impacted so many people like you to change your entire life priorities based on the needs of, of the country.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, exactly. And you know, that that was one of the things back then for, for the younger people, the younger generations who weren’t alive back then or just, you know, little kids back then you know, some of them are serving in the military right now, but they didn’t, they didn’t know that that atmosphere that, I mean, we all when I talk about this now, the, the kind of older folks who were around at that time, like the atmosphere was like very.
Strong pat, patriotic feel to it. And it was like, yeah, we, we want to go and support the country serve, you know? God bless the USA was blasting on every, you know, radio station and everything. You know, all those kind of things were, it was [00:13:00] a very patriotic moment in in, in our country’s history.
And I, I, I think it really drove people to go and and serve in ways that maybe they weren’t expecting to. Like you said, it, it was, you know, kind of more serving the needs of a country versus your own personal individual needs. And so, you know, kind of very interesting and I thanks for sharing, you know, how.
You ended up in Afghanistan from your time in the FBI and, and how all that worked because I think it’s sort of a unique thing that maybe not too many people know about is that, you know, some of our law enforcement people in, in the FBI and you know, people like that, they, they did serve in in the global war on terrorism and that is.
Something that gets overlooked, I think, you know, very easy to put a label on, you know? Yes, the Marines, the army, the Air Force, the Navy, the, you know, all the, the whole military. We can, we can say, yeah, they, they served over there, but, you know, there’s people like yourself as well who, who [00:14:00] served and participated in you know, what was going on over there and, and made made it possible for some of the things.
That needed to be done to get done while you were over there. And you know, one of the reasons, the way we met was through our involvement in the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation you know, being fellows in, in that program and, or, or for the foundation. And you had mentioned Rod earlier where, I guess that’s where you met him, was was in Afghanistan at Jalalabad.
Is that, is that correct?
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: That. Yeah, that’s exactly right, Scott. So
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: you know, when I left Bagram, you know, I hopped a C one 30 down to, to Jalalabad and, and then checked in with with the team there. It was a small team, you
Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: 15, you know, soldiers, you know, one, air Force airmen and then and then me, the FBI guy who attached to them. And it was was some of the most dedicated, competent professionals I ever worked with. It was an amazing group and, you know, they were they were so tight knit and their sense of kind of bond and [00:15:00] trust with each other. Obviously because they trained together so much, they knew each other so well, but. know, I remember the the literally hopped off the plane, threw my bag down, they said, Hey we gotta, you know, we’re gonna go to this site here. And, and, and you know, somebody’s gonna turn this kind of large group of weapons they want to turn over to, to the military and. And they said, you know, who are you?
And I told ’em my name, the FBI, and you know, what’s your background? You know, I was in the Marines for, for eight years. And they’re like, okay, you’re good. You know, you can, you can be on a, a 50 caliber mark 19. And, and and that was it. You know, that was the, the test, the litmus test for those guys. And it was, it was a great, great experience.
It was, it was really a privilege to get to spend, you know, you know, 4, 3, 4 months with, with that team. And Rod was one of the senior the staff NCOs there. And, and so he and I he developed a friendship and, and maintained that after I left and, and, and, and really in more closer contact with Rod more so than, than anybody else for a while.
But then, you know, as we all do, we kind of tend to grow apart. And I went back [00:16:00] to FBI land and he went in the military, eventually retiring, and then doing some other things. And then it was literally, you know, sheer luck. I was on the. The deputy staff. So it must have been probably 20 17, 20 18, something like that.
And I was walking through the tunnels in Crystal City, Virginia, you know, the, the, you know, subterranean tunnels that, that are below the street level there. And there’s some shopping areas and I’m walking around on my, my work phone and walk around a corner and literally run into the guy. I’m like, Hey, excuse me.
And I look up and it’s Rod. He’s, he’s looking at his phone, he looks at me, I look at him, I’m like, rod. And he goes, gunner. And we hadn’t probably spoken in a year or two at least,
Scott DeLuzio: Right.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: I knew that he was doing something with the Global On Terrorism Memorial Foundation. You know, I was tracking it kind of through social media.
We’ve never really had a discussion about it. He goes, Hey, look, I’m going to a meeting. Here’s my card. I need you to call. You know, email me, call me. We need to talk this week. And so, then, you know, we, [00:17:00] we, we linked up, he told me what he was doing and, and such an inspirational story about, you know, how I tell people, you know, when you, you talk about, you know, you, you know, leaving an impact is, you know, I almost always pivot into Rod’s story.
’cause know, here’s a guy that didn’t have, you know, lots of money, lots of political connections, things like that, and decides this needs done. And, and I’m going to do it. And, and just by, you know, sheer force of will, he did it. And so he said, Hey, I remember, you know, our conversation is, Hey, we’re having a run on the mall.
‘Cause we want this built on the mall. This is, you know, this is years ago. And so we’re gonna have some members of Congress who are G wat veterans. They’re coming out. We got some media people and once you come out, we’ve got some other FBI guys coming out, guys and gals, and we’re gonna run around the mall and look at prote per perspective sites.
And I said it would be an honor. So put my PT gear on and went down to the mall. We ran around, looked at some sites. It was a great day. Then he asked you know, a short time later and he said, Hey, would you consider, you know, being, you know, [00:18:00] an, an official volunteer, an ambassador for the Memorial Foundation? Of course, rod, yeah, I’d be, I’d be privileged to be an honored to do that. And so I did that for a couple of years, did some events, you know, here and there, those sorts of things. I left, I basically came back to Cleveland. I supported Rod and, and the, and the foundation as much as I could. then what was it, maybe two year and a half ago, you know, he and, and Jen called and said, Hey we’d really like you to be part of the Design Advisory Council.
And explained to me at this point, now that site’s been selected. They’re, they’re working with architects and, you know, they wanted input from veterans and, and people who served and, and gold star family members. And he asked me to be the representative essentially, of the non-uniform. You know, global War on Terrorism veterans, you know, that group.
And there’s, you know, as, as you, as you said, there’s a number of FBI agents. FBI support staff, professional staff intelligence analysts, computer scientists who were in in the, in the the G Watt theater Iraq or [00:19:00] Afghanistan, obviously, CIA. you know, the entire United States intelligence community you know, DEA you know, the list goes on and on, you know, as we all interacted with so many different groups in, in in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And so I was a member of the, the DAC Design Advisor Council you know, great to be part of that group and. Sit down and be interviewed by Rod for probably an hour, hour and a half, you know, and talk about my experience and, and then, you know, meet with the team and talk about, you know, what that this memorial, you know, means, means to me and to, you know, the people I’m representing. and then I’m assuming much like you, I was surprised when Rod and Jen said, Hey, we really need to get you on a phone call. Okay. And I wasn’t sure what was going on. They they said, Hey, we would really appreciate you and, and I’d like to like you to be the first, you know, non-uniform Jawbreaker fellow.
And of course, you know, anytime Rod and Jen are calling the answer’s almost always going to be yes.
Scott DeLuzio: Sure.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: anytime you’re working with people of that caliber, good things are gonna happen.
Scott DeLuzio: That’s right.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: you know, they’re, they’re such an inspiration to what they [00:20:00] have taken, almost something that was nothing. And to where we are today in 2025, and the things we’re talking about doing over the next couple of years is. Really, really special. So that’s yeah, it’s it’s, I was fortuitous to be walking through the, the, the this crystal city and run into Rod years ago and it’s brought me where to we are today.
So a lot of fun.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, it, it’s pretty interesting how, how all that worked and you know, the. The alphabet soup, as we call it sometimes, of all the, the three letter agencies that, that are involved they all were involved in one way or another in, in the global War on Terrorism. And there there’re people, like you mentioned all these different organizations and oftentimes, like I said earlier, that it’s forgotten.
And so I think it’s an amazing thing that Rod and, you know, the. The rest of the team with the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation, what they did to include everybody who’s involved in this. It’s not, it’s not just a military [00:21:00] focused memorial. It’s not just a, you know. All Army, all marines, all Navy, you know, whatever.
It’s, it’s all inclusive. It’s, it’s for all of us, for anyone who was involved in the global war on terrorism. And that, that to me is the thing that, that really set this. Memorial apart from perhaps some of the others, not to put any of the others down. ’cause some of them are fantastic and, and they’re beautiful and they have a lot of meaning and symbolism behind them and everything too.
So I’m not trying to put anything, any other memorial down or anything like that by saying this, but I think the, the thought that went into it is special and, and perhaps even unique with the memorials that we’ve. We’ve seen so far, you know, in, in the, the mall in, in Washington all around the, the area.
But, you know, part of our jobs as fellows for the, the memorial is to raise awareness [00:22:00] of, of the project ke keeping people aware of, you know, what it is that’s going on over there. And you know, that that’s something that I, I. Have come to enjoy doing is spreading that awareness and seeing people’s faces when, when we talk to ’em and tell them that there is going to be a memorial.
And it’s for our generation of, of you know, war fighters and families. It includes the, the gold star families and the, the non-uniform folks like, like yourself who served over there. It includes everybody and, and you know, when you tell people their face kinda just. Lights up. At least that’s been my experience.
You know, we, and you were talking earlier you said that you kind of sat down with Rod and you know, had to go over kind of what did, what does this memorial mean to you? What, what does it mean to you? If, if you don’t mind sharing that, I.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: No, that’s, that’s a great question and you know. For me, it’s you know, it is a challenging question ’cause, you know, it was such a different experience, you know, from, you [00:23:00] know, going from the FBI into, you know, to supporting, you know, the Global War on terror in theater. And so when they asked me about that, you know, it’s a challenging question I think for all of us to answer.
You know, what, what do you want out of the memorial? What are your expectations and what does it mean to you? And particularly since you, you kind of hit, talked about it there, Scott, of. You know, this memorial is, you know, the, the, the global war on terrorism is still ongoing and we’re talking about building a memorial. And so it’s fairly recent. It’s, it’s not like it was 40 or 50 years ago. And so, you know, for me, you know, what I, what I’m hoping is, is that it’s a place that people can go and have an appreciation of the amount, the, the level of sacrifice of so many people the, the war. And that’s, you know, that’s the, the men and women who are obviously in the theater, but then also the. The family’s on the back end. You know, my, my brother like I said, he was, he was a former Marine and then, you know, joined the, the United States Army you know, 25th Infantry Division, second Ranger Regiment got off active duty [00:24:00] and then raised his hand to go back in. But he waited until he was, could, you know, joined the National Guard in Michigan and went right to Iraq and, you know, did a, a long combat tour there as a company commander. Then I, and stayed on active duty with the A GR. In Michigan and, you know, did another tour in, in Afghanistan and Haat and, you know, and, and just thinking about, you know, his family and then thinking about all those families that are just like his, whether they were, you know, you know, you know, part of the United States Army, you know, you know, DOD or they were a state national guard, or, you know, people like me who went and whose families on the back end having to deal with this, you know. All the time and these, and you look at the, you know, I went to, you know, I was just, I was only in Afghanistan for a few months. And you look at the amount of people in the military, how many combat tours they did, Iraq and Afghanistan, just this constant cycle. And the, you know, the, the pre-deployment, post-deployment work and how often they were gone and these spousals and the kids who had to survive.
Without one of [00:25:00] their you know, their, their loved ones, their, their mom or their dad, you know, not being there. I mean, so challenging. So, you know, how does it encompass, you know, the, those who served in, in primarily Iraq and Afghanistan, but then also captures that, that sense of, of sacrifice of the families who were left back, you know, behind to essentially keep the family going.
Right. And, you know, and raise, you know. You know, kids without, you know, quite often mom or dad being gone for, for months often years at a time. So, you know, for me it’s the, it’s the education piece. And certainly know, so we can educate future generations who, you know, who don’t remember nine 11.
Right. Who, you know, they, they don’t, they have no recollection of, other than a history book of, of what that was like. And you talked about that early on, is that sense of patriotism, how the whole country came together for that time right after nine 11 and said, you know, we’ve, we’ve got a. gotta really kind of, you know, batten down the hatches here and, and you know, ’cause we got, you know, kicked in the teeth a little bit here. And so, you know, how do we capture some of that so that people have an appreciation for [00:26:00] the sacrifice of the men and women who went and, and support the globe on terrorism. The the families that stayed back here to hold it together, did what they needed to do. You know, to continue to, to raise families and, and, and be productive members of society. And then, you know, you know the amount of people. We see from the mental health aspect of from the healing side of it, of, hopefully this can become a place where people can go and, and have a place to take that next step in their journey towards, you know, healing some of the, the traumatic issues they’ve had to deal with in the past so that we can, you know, see continued growth of our, our military service members.
And, you know, that’s a, that’s a tremendous, tremendous challenge.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, for sure. It’s a huge challenge. And I feel like a lot of the other memorials that were built maybe not the Vietnam ’cause I think that was shortly thereafter after the war ended. It wasn’t too, too long. I think it was in the eighties when, when that memorial was built.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: Sounds right.
Scott DeLuzio: if I, if my memory serves me correctly, which that may [00:27:00] or may not be true, but but other memorials like the World War II Memorial, I, I believe it was 50 or 60 years after the war ended that.
That memorial got built and you know, we see it nowadays. We see people going into Washington on these, these honor flights. You know, a lot of these older World War II veterans in their, their nineties and maybe even hundreds where there. Essentially having to be pushed off the plane in a wheelchair and, and, you know, pushed around Washington to go see this memorial that is in my mind long overdue.
And, and you know, knowing that they’ve lived all these decades with all the stuff that they had to do while they were in. The theater of, you know, whether it’s specific or European theaters or sometimes in some cases both. You know, they had to live with all those, those things that they did.
And perhaps this memorial for them gave them a bit of closure and, you know, gave them a little bit of [00:28:00] peace. I don’t know. But, but I know that there. There’s some World War II veterans who never got a chance to see their memorial be built and, and that, that kind of stings a little, you know, and, and so knowing that yeah, sure.
Not everybody who served in the global war on terrorism is going to be around to be able to see it. I understand that too. But it, there’s a heck of a lot more you know, around now than there will be 50 or 60 years from now. And so I’m glad that this memorial is being built now. So that. You know, we, we do have, like you, you were saying that.
That place of not only the education for the younger folks, but for the people who did serve the, the, the, I guess, a place to come and come and see that your service is being recognized and that it’s. Hopefully a place for healing. You know, we’re talking about mental health issues that a lot of veterans are having, and it’s not just the, the younger folks that are having it, you know, Vietnam era and, and even earlier [00:29:00] they’re, they’re having mental health issues as well.
And, and sometimes you know, just there’s a stigma associated with, with that. And so, you know, who knows, maybe, maybe by. Seeing that the country actually gives a damn and is doing something to you know, support that service. Maybe, maybe that’s something that can be beneficial or healing to to some of these people, right?
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: Well, if it, if it helps even one person, I think it’s worth it.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Yeah.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: seeing so far too many issues, you know, mental health issues and, and the, and the suicide numbers are, Embarrassing. And, and we, we need to be better. So if it, if it helps one or woman that I, I think we can call it success.
Scott DeLuzio: I agree. Yeah, exactly. And so you’re not just involved with the Global War on Terrorism Memorial foundation, you’re also involved with the Travis Manion Foundation. Is that that correct?
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: So, so the Travis Manion Foundation is, is, you know, their, their namesake [00:30:00] is Lieutenant First Lieutenant Travis Manion Marine Naval Academy graduate, was a wrestler at the Naval Academy. Did his first tour to Iraq and came back and was at Camp Lejeune and battalion of the regiment said, Hey, we need a, we need a company, great officer to go and do this.
You know, neighbor this other mission similar to what Travis had done previously, I. We need a company, great officer, to take this group back into Iraq. And, and Travis went to his boss and said, Hey, I, I’ll go back. And they said, well, you know, you’ve already gone. You don’t need to go back. We’ll find somebody who hasn’t been there. And he said, look I know this mission better than anybody. I’ve been to Iraq. I know exactly what’s happening. I, I’m the most qualified I want, you know, you need to send me and his, his. Kind of, motto of his, how he lived his life and what he said there was, you know, if not me, then who?
Right? ‘Cause I’m the most qualified. so, his command sent him back to Iraq, into this into this it was like a neighborhood [00:31:00] reclamation thing. I can’t remember the exact name of the mission. And he is, he and his marines were out out on, on a, a mission. And they received sniper fire.
You know, Travis was hit. He directed his Marines to safety. But he was ultimately killed as a result of that the wound. And that was April 29th, 2007. And so his parents, his dad’s a retired Marine Colonel, Tom Manion, decided a we need to do something to capture the spirit of who Travis was and that, if not me, then who you know, mantra.
So his family found, you know, started the Travis Manian Foundation and Travis is. Roommate at the, at the Naval Academy was a young man named Brendan Looney, who played lacrosse at the academy. Brendan became a naval officer. I can’t remember what his MOS was, but after Travis was killed, he decided to reshape his naval career and go to Buds to be a seal. And Brendan was colorblind. So he is the first I believe the first, sailor to make it [00:32:00] through buds while being colorblind. So he became a seal, and then Brendan was tragically killed in a helicopter accident over Afghanistan a few years later. And so those two are buried next to each other at Arlington. And so, Brendan’s wife Amy Looney is also a member of the foundation. so really, they, they, you know, they, they, it’s really built around that, that mantra of, you know, if not me, then who? Right. If, if you’re not gonna do it, who is right? We in this, you know, a lot of us. We’re always too busy.
We always have an excuse or complain about something. And if you’re not gonna, you know, I don’t like the community you’re in. There’s, you know, something you want fixed. If you’re not gonna do it, then who’s going to do it?
Scott DeLuzio: Right.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: you know, I like to, you know, talk about, you know, let’s not leave, don’t leave a liability, leave a legacy as with what you’re doing. And so, and my, my son who is a former army officer. He was at Bucknell University, wrestled there, and this is, yeah, this would’ve been spring of 2015. The one of the ge the guest speaker for his spring wrestling banquet [00:33:00] was a gold star family member who was a volunteer with the Travis Manion Foundation, which at that point was really in its infancy. And, you know, my wife and I are both struck by how much Travis reminded us of our son, you know, Connor, you know, wrestler and good kid and helped everybody out. And, and we said, well, we should really get in. We should let me reach out to them. And so I reached out to the foundation and got connected with Tom Travis’s father. We talked about, you know, my position at the FBI and what we could do. We brought Tom out and talked to the leaders at FBI Cleveland, and then we, when I was at headquarters, I said, wait, I think there’s a message here that we can take to FBI field offices. So we had Tom and then Rob Bender, who was the CO at the time also former Marine take, brought them to headquarters, talked to the director, the deputy director, the senior leaders of the FBI. we took them to multiple field offices just to talk about. legacy and how important it is that we, every one of us do something to make our communities, you know, better [00:34:00] whether you’re in the FBI or, you know, whatever your role is. And so the foundation the Travis Mania Foundation has really grown and to, you know, kind of, you know, what they, they focus on the mission is, you know, to empower veterans and families of fallen heroes to develop character in future generations. so there’s really three kind of. Core things that they focus on. One is, you know, survivor Expeditions taking, you know, you know, survivors and, and, and Gold Star family members on, on, on Expeditions to help that development and healing process. Know, two is, is the Spartan leadership program.
So they have a, oh i’s think it’s about a. Eight month program you apply to be a an SLPA Spartan Leadership Program. Runs from April to November, believe, maybe March to November. you get together a few times throughout the year. And it’s really talking about how individual and personal growth for you know, a form, you know, veterans, military service members, families of the fallen. so I was an SLP graduate cohort [00:35:00] for a few years back. Really a privilege to be part of that group and, and get to still good friends and talk to a lot of those, the men and women of that group all the time. And, and of that SLP is, Hey, a project that you could focus on, that you can make your community better?
That doesn’t have to be veteran focused. It can be anything. Hey, do something to make your community better. And the third, and really the flagship program of, of the Travis Manion foundation is, is a program called Character Does Matter program, CDM, where you take Veterans Families of the Fallen are really kind of inspired civilians who, you know, like my, my wife is you know, before she joined TMF, she’s an employee now. She was an inspired civilian and, and did some of these, these support groups. And so you go through a training program, you know, to become certified as a CDM mentor. And this is, you know, veterans going out and talking to young people, right? And why character matters. You know, why the choices you make, which is really, you know, the, the, in the there’s, you know, the input is your character.
The output is that decision you’re [00:36:00] going to make. Every day to do something. Doing the right thing matters. And in developing character, instilling character, talking about the different you know, character strengths and, you know, personality traits, you know, whatever you call them, you know, everybody’s got, you know, you know, values in different orders based on who you are and your life experiences and your mine are gonna be different than yours and mine are different than my wife’s.
And they change over time as we have life experiences and like going out and talking to young people, middle school, high school. Why this matters and, and how that can, you know, can change somebody’s life. And so there’s, there’s thousands of CDM mentors around the United States. So it’s really you know, and they, they do several other large things I guess events throughout the year.
One is in the spring, there’s a the manion work out of day, the manion wand, which is, you know, Travis’s workout, which is, he was killed on April 27th, 2007. So you do I’m sorry, April 29th, 2007. So you do 29 back squats, run a quarter mile, do that seven times. And the back [00:37:00] squat, recommended weight is 135 pounds, which is absolutely brutal.
That’s the spring. And then there, the kind of fall flagship program is a nine 11 heroes run. And there’s a runs all over the country. I’m in Cleveland. We had our inaugural one last year. My wife really helped. There’s been a there, there’s one in Phoenix every year. It’s a great event.
And we had, my last year in Phoenix, we had about six, 700 runners there. Really a special event, you know, to be part of that and see so many people come out to support and talk about nine 11 and what it meant to them. and so it’s, you know, TMF is for me is, is been a, it’s been a privilege much like, you know, the Global on Terrorism Memorial Foundation to be part of, with my wife being a me, you know, an employee now of the foundation, she’s the one of the senior coordinator here in, in the Midwest. So I know everything that’s going on with TMO on a day-to-day basis. But it’s, it’s, it’s a lot of fun to be involved with, with so many people who are making an impact.
And you talked about the Vietnam Memorial you know, last this most recent weekend, one of our, our chapter leads, his father was a a Navy veteran [00:38:00] in Vietnam. And so he said, Hey, I wanna do something to honor Vietnam veterans. And so he organized this event at a local high school where we went out and we hung flags along the, the kind of the on the fence line and at the at the football field. And on each flag we had a tag or two from the name of a, an Ohio service member who’s, missing an action or was a POW in, in Vietnam. And then we ran stairs I can’t remember the exact number, five, 600 stairs. You know, to honor, you know, honor their service and had a, you know, a number of people come out and, just, you know, he did that just to. You know, honor his father’s legacy and it was really a special moment and looking forward to that, those sorts of things. You know, continuing to grow and supporting supporting some of these events in, in our area. So, that, that’s TMF in a nutshell. It’s really, they have a great partnership with the Global on Terrorism and World Foundation. You know, when I was in Phoenix, we had Rod come speak at a couple of our events. He was our guest speaker at the nine 11 Heroes Run one year.
Scott DeLuzio: Mm-hmm.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: had Jen, you know, from the GWA Foundation [00:39:00] here last year to speak. She’s from Ohio and lives just down the road in Columbus. So a great relationship where you have two, you know, two different but supportive groups are willing to help each other out which is so critical.
Scott DeLuzio: Well, and I, I think whenever you have groups like that, that they, they kind of support the same, group of people, if you will, like the same you know, the veteran community, like they, that it’s a very similar background. There’s overlap anyways. There’s, there’s, they’re not a hundred percent you know, aligned with their their target focus.
But there’s definitely some overlap. And anytime that you can come together and collaborate and help each other out, I think that just amplifies. What it is that you’re doing because, you know, global War on Terrorism, they have their audience, you know, Travis Manu Foundation. They have their audience, and if they can come together and do something together and, and kind of amplify each other’s mission, it just helps everybody out.
And it, I I think it’s you know, like a win-win in this situation where, where everybody walks away with. Some positive outcome [00:40:00] and like you were saying before, if even if it helps one person, it’s worth it. And so, I and I, I’m absolutely positive that both of these organizations are helping way more than one person.
You know, the Global War on Terrorism Memorial will I. Eventually be built. So it’s not quite there yet. But you know, as a member of the Design Advisory Council, I’m sure you’re familiar with the proceedings and you know, where, where it’s at and everything as far as the, the design goes. But which is, as of this recording is yet to be released to the, the public.
I still don’t even know what it looks like. So it’s it’s one of those things where I’m kind of on the edge of my seat. I, I’m, I’m wanting to, I’m wanting to see it. I, I had a, a, you know, call with Jen last week and I was, I was hoping that we’d get a little insight into it, but nothing, they, they’re still keeping that, that close to the chest, so I get it.
It’s fine. I, I can wait. I can be patient. Yeah, I think so.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: I’m, I’m hoping, but yeah. Two great organizations and it’s great to see them supporting each other, really to build that just awareness,
Scott DeLuzio: [00:41:00] Yeah,
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: spread the word of, Hey, this is what the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation is. This is what the Travis Spanning Foundation is.
And that, that kind of mutual support so we can, you know, socialize, you know, what these groups are and get more people involved.
Scott DeLuzio: that’s right. Exactly. And you know, especially for the Global War on Terrorism Memorial because it’s I mean, it’s been in the works for. Gosh, Al almost 10 years now, probably, or, or actually probably about 10, 10 years it’s been in the works. But it, it. It still has a little ways to go and has a ways to go as far as the design, the fundraising, the, all the work that it needs to be done to get this thing across the finish line.
There’s a lot of work to do there. And so, you know, that’s, I, the way I see it, kind of part of our roles is to raise awareness for that and you know, so that. One of the reasons why I wanted to have you on the show is to, you know, so we could talk about the, the memorial and, and help raise some awareness about it.
But, but also not, not just in a you know. [00:42:00] Hey, make a donation kind of thing, but more of a, a general awareness make, making people aware that this is something that’s, that’s happening. It’s coming. It’s, it’s gonna happen. Knowing the leadership team that we have on the on for the Global War on Terrorism Memorial it.
It’s gonna happen, you know, regardless of any obstacles that, that are in the way. And there have been plenty along the way. Yeah, exactly. And so, I, I have no doubt that this is going to come to life you know, in the next few years here. And, and so it’s. Probably one of the, the most inhospitable places in the country to to build a new memorial or, or any structure is, is right in the nation’s capitol where there’s so much red tape and legislation that needs to be passed.
And they already had two laws that had to be passed. I, I believe in order to, even secure the site for the memorial. And so there’s, there’s just a lot of red tape that they have to go through. And, and so it’s, it’s gonna be a challenge, but it’s, it’s gonna get done. I’m, I’m [00:43:00] absolutely positive.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: we’re getting there, aren’t we? We’re
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, exactly. You know, day by day, inch by inch. We’ll, we’ll get there. So, before we wrap up is there any other you know, work that you’re involved in or any other message that you want to get across to the audience that, that we maybe haven’t talked about yet?
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: The only thing that comes to mind, Scott, is really, you know, the, I guess the importance of networking and, you know, I, I’ve been out of the Marine Corps for obviously a number of years you know, I, I, I tell people, you know, every job, I, I mean, I got my. Job in the police department because of a connection in the Marine Corps connection. And then every job I’ve had outside of the, you know, post FBI career has been because of, you know, somebody got a copy of my resume from generally another veteran who said, Hey, this guy’s looking for a job. And how important it is that. You know, veteran, non-veteran network and network. Well, you
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: friends and, and, and remember those people.
And, and you know, we had to, you know, you know, [00:44:00] a, a friend of mine who he was in Cleveland Army Veteran it was about my age was, you know, tragically killed a few weeks ago, and he was really the, the hub of the veteran of network in Cleveland and, and was the guy who. could go to Andy and, and send a copy resume, and then Andy would shotgun it out to all of us.
And then we would say, Hey, yeah, I’d call him up, take him to coffee. That, you know, that guy or Gwan. And then, yeah, who, who, who are you trying? Where are you trying, what, what kind of job are you looking for? What company’s looking for? ’cause I know everybody in, in the Midwest and we’ll, we’ll figure it out. Network and network hard. You know, take care of your friends. Those, you know, those people that you’re checking on. You know, you know, out there, you, you serve with you know, how important it’s to check in on them, you know, routinely, you know, occasionally, Hey man, how you doing? Everything all right?
You know, it’s, it’s you know, a lot of people are struggling out there and it’s important that we check on it, check in on each other, or just you know, take care of each other. And it’s, it’s, it can be tough, but we’re, we’re fortunate to have the tools here in the United States, you know, the cell phones and social media and things like that where we can reach out and touch somebody and.
Scott DeLuzio: [00:45:00] Yep.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: And, and you know, you and I connected through the global War on TCE Memorial Foundation, and, and I, I look forward to, to meeting you in person. But you know, you know, I guarantee that what you, and I’ll be friends for a long time to come.
Scott DeLuzio: Oh, absolutely. And to the point of networking how I even got involved with the Global War on Terrorism Memorial foundation is because I went to the military influencer conference back in October of 2024. And, I met Rod, I met Jen I met them there as well as hundreds of other people who were there.
There’s, there’s so many people that, that you meet at at conferences like that. But, but I went there really with no expectations. I had no, I. Set agenda, I need to meet this person or that person. And, you know, anything like that, it, it wasn’t really like that. I, I, I knew went there because I knew those were the people that I wanted to be in touch with for one reason or another.
Everyone had their own unique reasons that I might wanna be in touch with them. But when. We were [00:46:00] there. I was, I was talking with rod he bumped into him just because he was, he was standing there by himself. He was probably just checking a message on his phone or something like that. And he and I,
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: find that hard to believe. Rod’s usually got a group of people around
Scott DeLuzio: well, and that, see that, that’s exactly what I thought too, because I had seen him previously, you know, earlier in the, the week and, and he had just always had people around him. And, and so I was like. This is a rare opportunity. He’s just standing there by himself. I might as well go and introduce myself.
And you know what the hell, I had already talked to Jen at that point and and so I, I walked up to him. I, you know, introduced myself and we, we just had a conversation like just. You know, two, two guys that, you know, served in the, the Army and, and we got to know each other a little bit and you know, shared a little bit about each other’s stories.
And it was, I mean, I already knew a, a bit about his story, but, you know, I got to share a little bit with, with him. And then I guess afterwards he and Jen were talking, you know, just comparing notes and they, they both kind, kind of my name [00:47:00] came up in both of their, their notes. And that’s, that’s.
How that phone call ended up starting for me was essentially they, they they, they sent me an email and it’s like, Hey, we, we want to. Talk with you. And I was like, okay, well, I figured it was just, you know, follow up. You know, I, I had no expectations, you know, just a follow up from after the conference or whatever.
And no, no. They wanted to ask me to join the team and, and be, be you know, one of the fellows from, for the memorial. And, and I, I was kind of blown away. I was like, why me? You know, of, of all the, the people out there who, who could be why me? And, and you know, they just.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: I think we all said that.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, exactly. And I, I, I, I think that’s, that’s the nice thing about it, getting to know, you know, people like yourself.
I, I, I talked with Megan as well, the, another one of the, the fellows you know, everybody is just very humble and not, not really like. A huge, big personality or anything like that, that’s gonna be like, oh yeah, well of course they asked [00:48:00] me because, you know, I’m the best and I’m great and that like nobody is like that.
And it, it, everybody who’s involved in it is, is very you know, down to earth, humble and really really just good people all around. And I, and I think when you get a bunch of good people together with a common goal we’re gonna do some great things. So I, I think.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: things are gonna happen.
Scott DeLuzio: I think this is, this is definitely gonna be an exciting exciting time and you know, I’m, I’m looking forward to see you know, how everything and you know, turns out, you know, so,
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: As well, you know, it’s, it is always a privilege to work with people like Rod and Jen ’cause they’re, you know, they’re really almost like a force of nature of what they’ve been able to accomplish.
Scott DeLuzio: yeah
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: you know, just getting to work with them is, is really a privilege.
Scott DeLuzio: that’s right.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: I, I, it, it’s, i, I’m looking forward to, we’re all at the National Mall for the, you know, the grand, the the grand opening ribbon cutting and, special that will be.
And it’s, it’s not too far away.
Scott DeLuzio: It is not. Yeah. And I’m, I’m really, really looking forward to that. And I actually, we, my, I was talking to my, my wife and I was like, you know, we, we we’re [00:49:00] gonna, we’re gonna go there for this and it’s gonna be like a, you know, a family trip and everything. So we, we, we have the whole whole thing already kind of planned out.
Like we, we already know that we’re gonna do it. We just don’t know when Exactly yet. So we, it’ll, but we’ll be there. So, well, anyways, gunner, it, it’s been. An absolute pleasure speaking with you learning about your background in the Marine Corps and the FBI your service overseas in Afghanistan has, you know, it’s, again, very much appreciated, but also one of those things that I, I think just too many people don’t know about, and I really wanted to shed some light on the fact that.
Other people other than the military did serve in Afghanistan. And, and I’m, I’m grateful for your service and, and for the, the work that you and the other men and women who, who went over there were able to accomplish. So, so again, thank you for for coming on and thank you for everything that you’re doing.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: Well, Scott, it’s really been a privilege spending a little bit of time with you. Thanks thanks again for the for everything, for setting this up and thanks for your service and really look forward to meeting you in person one day.
Scott DeLuzio: Absolutely. [00:50:00] All right. Take care.
Ganpat “Gunner” Wagh: Take care.
Scott DeLuzio: Thank.