#342 Garand Thumb - SERE Specialist on Surviving the Most Dangerous Places on Earth

Mike Jones served as both a SEER (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) instructor and TACP (Tactical Air Control Party) officer in the Air Force before transitioning to full-time content creation on his popular YouTube channel "Garand Thumb." He was raised in a Mormon family in Southern California near Ventura, attended medical school briefly, and initially attempted the pararescue pipeline before struggling with underwater confidence training and experiencing shallow water blackout episodes. This led to his reclassification as a SEER specialist, where he excelled and eventually earned his beret.

Jones's SEER training was extraordinarily comprehensive, taking him through every major global biome including extreme Arctic conditions (negative 80 degrees Fahrenheit), the Mojave Desert with 48-hour dehydration exercises, tropical jungles in Washington state, coastal areas, and open ocean survival. He describes learning to survive on 250-500 calories daily while performing complex tasks, employing friction methods to start fires, tanning hides using animal brains, snaring deer with primitive rope, and understanding the physiological aspects of extreme environments. He emphasizes that this training provided experiential knowledge that allowed him to teach potential evaders from direct personal understanding.

After SEER, Jones transitioned to the TACP career field, earning a second beret as a Tactical Air Control Party officer. He explains that TACPs advise, assist, and control air power for ground units, working with everything from A-10 Warthogs to Apache helicopters to MQ-9 drones. He describes the unique challenge of the TACP career path where operators are often the sole Air Force liaison attached to Army or Marine units, making them central nodes in the kill chain.

Jones's YouTube channel began accidentally when he made a video demonstrating how to properly set up a tactical plate carrier (JPC) to avoid having to explain it repeatedly to unit members. That video garnered a million views, leading him to create content on gear setup, eventually expanding into gun reviews, survival techniques, and military culture content. Since 2018, he has consistently posted one video per week without missing a single week, accumulating experience with over 500 firearms in his personal armory and testing hundreds of different weapons systems.

Regarding current global warfare, particularly in Ukraine, Jones discusses how drone technology has fundamentally transformed combat. He cites interviews with Ukrainian operators indicating that drones now account for over 90% of kills in contested areas. FPV (first-person view) drones equipped with explosives have made traditional military movement nearly impossible, forcing units to wait for days or weeks to safely extract from positions. He emphasizes that electronic warfare will likely be the key factor in future conflicts between developed nations, as EW capabilities could neutralize drone swarms, potentially returning warfare to traditional fieldcraft and tactical movement.

On his faith journey, Jones explains how he was raised Mormon (LDS), went to the missionary training center at age 19 but left after two months due to concerns about the church's historical foundations. He emphasizes his commitment to Christian faith and a personal relationship with Christ rather than religious institutionalism. He notes his father's initial disappointment but eventual acceptance, and appreciates Mormon emphasis on family units and preparedness culture.

Jones advocates for comprehensive preparedness, identifying water as the absolute priority for survival situations. He discusses water storage using 50-gallon drums with bleach, rain collection systems, gravity filters that can purify 100,000+ gallons, and knowledge of locating groundwater by digging near dry riverbeds. He emphasizes that in collapse scenarios, desperation will drive human behavior toward violence and theft, making property security, armed defense, and community organization essential. He specifically references the 2010 Haiti earthquake aftermath and cholera outbreak as examples of how quickly secondary disasters kill more people than initial catastrophes when sanitation fails.

On prepping strategy, Jones recommends storing two years of food (noting Mormons pioneered this practice), maintaining diverse seed collections, acquiring hard skill knowledge through books, and establishing community relationships before crisis occurs. He stresses that in a genuine breakdown scenario, the first two weeks would involve waves of desperate city evacuees attempting to reach rural areas, creating what he describes as "a war" of defending property from desperate people. He advocates for rural homesteads with water rights, communication with neighboring ranchers, and armed preparedness including firearms for everyone in the community.