War, Faith, and Finding Home

This is the conversation I wish existed when I was growing up as an Iraqi refugee in America.

In this episode, I sit back down with Special Forces veteran and author Mark Grodvic, whose book Those Who Face Death pulls back the curtain on the Iraq War in a way most people never see. We go way beyond tactics and headlines into the quiet, heavy human moments: building trust with Kurdish forces after years of broken promises, standing on the front lines together, and what it really means to lead when politics and reality don’t match.

We talk about veterans trying to make sense of their service 20 years later, my own experience as a refugee trying to “close the loop” on unanswered questions, and how honest storytelling can give people a kind of closure that policy never will. We also go straight at the topic most people avoid: Islam, faith, and the way religion gets weaponized and misunderstood in the West.

If you’re a veteran, a student of history, a person of faith, or just someone who wants a more honest lens on Iraq and the people who lived it from both sides, this episode will stretch you. Stay to the end to hear about Mark’s Veterans Day promo for Those Who Face Death and why he feels an urgency to tell these stories now.

Watch it, sit with it, and share it with someone who still has unanswered questions about that war.