# Interview Only w/ AJ Pasciuti - A Marine Sniper’s Message on Service, Sacrifice, and Country Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-chuck-toddcast-1551191/interview-only-w-aj-pasciuti-a-marine-sniper-s-message-on-service-sacrifice-and-country Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-chuck-toddcast-1551191/interview-only-w-aj-pasciuti-a-marine-sniper-s-message-on-service-sacrifice-and-country.md Podcast: [The Chuck ToddCast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-chuck-toddcast-1551191) Published: 2026-05-25T09:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://omny.fm/shows/the-chuck-toddcast/interview-only-w-aj-pasciuti-a-marine-sniper-s-message-on-service-sacrifice-and-country Audio file: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/claritaspod.com/measure/pscrb.fm/rss/p/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/p57137/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/c749d540-b5b7-42b1-a855-b33100f844fa/ff61bcbb-8f57-47bd-b5a9-b454013b3604/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=8e017e60-9c2d-418d-97bb-b33100f84504 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-chuck-toddcast-1551191/episodes/interview-only-w-aj-pasciuti-a-marine-sniper-s-message-on-service-sacrifice-and-country Duration seconds: 4599 ## Resource Former Marine sniper AJ Pasciuti — author of the new book Dark Horse and host of the Combat Story podcast — joins the Chuck Toddcast for one of the most riveting and clear-eyed conversations about military service, leadership, and the realities of modern war. Pasciuti was 16 years old on September 11th, enlisted at 17, and eventually became the Marine who led the team that killed "Juba" — the notorious Iraqi sniper who uploaded videos of his American kills to the internet to taunt the U.S. military. He walks listeners through the entire hunt: how Marines studied Juba's uploaded footage to identify his patterns, how the team set a trap, how Pasciuti spotted Juba in his hide by catching the glint off the lens of a Sony Handycam, and how he knew within minutes that they'd gotten him — while emphasizing that he may have pulled the trigger but it was an entire team that brought Juba down. Pasciuti reflects on the strange experience of fighting enemies who saw themselves as freedom fighters rather than terrorists, why attention to detail is the trait that weeds out most sniper candidates, and how snipers are ultimately meant to combat the enemy emotionally as much as physically. The conversation broadens into a sweeping meditation on what military service teaches you about America — and where Pasciuti worries the country is heading. He calls the military one of the last bastions of the American dream, where opportunity is real but has to be earned, and argues that a culture promoting service to the greater good over the accumulation of wealth would make America measurably healthier.. Pasciuti is openly worried about political leadership infecting the values of the military, makes the case that empathy must be viewed as a strength rather than a w… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-chuck-toddcast-1551191/episodes/interview-only-w-aj-pasciuti-a-marine-sniper-s-message-on-service-sacrifice-and-country/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-chuck-toddcast-1551191/interview-only-w-aj-pasciuti-a-marine-sniper-s-message-on-service-sacrifice-and-country.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.