“The mission. The men. Me.” The “3 M’s” of leadership taught to officers in Vietnam and still applicable to building great leaders in any industry. As leaders we put people first, but sometimes the mission must happen regardless of the people.
For the second episode of our 2023 Army Navy Game tailgate party, we warmed up with a little Cold Zero Whiskey and a conversation with two former Green Berets of very different generations who left service for federal law enforcement.
Casey Maxted and Bill “Hawk” Albracht joined Fran Racioppi to share why grit and teamwork were critical to their careers in Special Forces, in the FBI and Secret Service, and now as they build a spirits company.
Grab a glass of Cold Zero then take a listen, watch or read our conversation as Casey breaks down the opportunities and challenges that come with starting a spirits brand, and Bill shares what it was like to go back to Vietnam and walk the battlefield he once fought on.
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Hawk, Casey, welcome to The Jedburgh Podcast. We’re live from the Army-Navy game at Gillette Stadium.
Thank you. Thanks for having us.
I want to talk about a bunch of different things with both of you guys. Both of you served as Green Berets in Special Forces. Casey, you were in the first group. Hawk, you were in a variety of different groups, primarily the fifth group that served in Vietnam. I want to get into that for a minute. The Vietnam veterans, let’s talk for a second about them specifically. Were so instrumental not only in that conflict. We as a society did such a poor job of bringing them home and reintegrating them into society. Also, that generation and your peers laid the fabric of American society as unsung heroes. What we live now and many of the things that we take for granted in society are a result of those sacrifices that were made by the Vietnam generation. Talk for a minute about the decision to even go into the service at that time.
I was eighteen years old. I was just out of high school and I wanted to serve and adventure. I went down to the Army recruiter with my best buddy in 1966 and I said, “I want to join the Army. I want to be a paratrooper, I want to go infantry and I want to go to Vietnam, sir.” We had two heads. Once he figured out we were serious, he said, “This is your lucky day. I just happen to have two slots here. They’ll be gone for the afternoon.” We go, “Joe, we got to go.” We signed up in 1966. Apparently, the nuns and priests of the Catholic high school were correct. I was not applying myself because I found myself in officer candidate school at eighteen. I turned 19 in the middle of August of ‘67 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant at the end of August ‘67. I was the proverbial newly admitted thing. I always looked older than I was. I was a kid and I had to buy the beer and then I went into Special Forces. I could get in there at nineteen because I was an officer. It usually had to be 20 or 22. I got in and then went from there.
What about you, Casey? Different generation for sure. As I mentioned, you served in the first group. What was that decision to come into the Special Forces? Why serve?
I was motivated by the events of 9/11. I was in college at the time and didn’t have direction. I didn’t know what I wanted to do.
Where’d you go to school?
In Iowa, a private school called St. Ambrose. I remember that day being moved. I was standing outside in my yard later in the afternoon and it was crazy because there were no flights that day, if you remember. There was one plane that flew overhead with two fighter jet escorts. Air Force One flew right over me. I don’t know what happened, but that moment was when I was like, “I’m going to serve this. This is what I need to do.” I’m glad I did and made that decision.
How many years total?
I was on active duty until 2009 and then I switched over to federal law enforcement and served in the 19th group as well, so about 13 years total.
That story for both of you guys, that’s why I prefaced the conversation with what you do after services as equally as important as what you do in service. Hawk, you were in the Secret Service.
I was. I got out, I was 22, did not have a college education, and never had been in a college.
Three years in Vietnam?
No. 1 year as enlisted, 2 years as an officer, 4 to 6 years in Thailand, and then a full year in Vietnam as a captain. I was 22 and I started college. He went to St. Ambrose, I was across the river at Augustana in Rock Island, and junior college there too. I realized that came about in junior year and senior year, these jobs were selling insurance, being managers of accounts, and stuff that I didn’t want to do. Somebody said, “You ought to look into law enforcement, and if you’re going to look into law enforcement with a degree, look to federal law enforcement.” I did. I started shotgunning the applications out and Gerald Ford had been shot at twice. Our guns had been drawn once the shot was fired. There’s one and Moore. They were Secret Services. “We got to hire some more.” I was caught up in that. At 27, I became a Secret Service agent.
This is young for a Secret Service agent.
[00:07:53] At that time, not so much. It was average because we would hire guys that had an experience like veterans, police officers, teachers, stockbrokers, a professional experience where you’ve dealt with the public and dealt with people and you went beyond. I attended a bar in college and now I’m managing that bar.
That builds character working in a bar.
That’s true because we’ve all been there.
As a Secret Service agent, the rumor on the street here, at least in the parking lot, is that you worked with four different presidents.
I’m going to say yes. However, my White House years were Reagan and Bush. There was never, ever a better time that I’m aware of to be a Secret Service agent. They were the best. If you didn’t like their persona in public, you didn’t like them because there was no phoniness about them. There was no two-faced about them. They believed in America, they loved America, they loved their military and our law enforcement.
Everything they did to us seemed in keeping with America’s standards and traditions. I’m not going to throw stones at any other president. It doesn’t matter that we did care for them and like them so much because the president I was not particularly keyed with was Jimmy Carter. I didn’t care for him. The protection of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, or George Bush never varied. It’s always the same. It’s always top-flight professional. It’s just that time seems to go by quicker when you’re with somebody that you admire.
Casey, you were in federal law enforcement in the FBI. After your time on active duty, why transition to the bureau?
When I decided to go into the military, I looked at it as a marathon, not a sprint. I wanted to be in it for the long haul, the fight against terrorism. That’s the decision I made. I thought that was the best move. While I worked on terrorism a little bit, I also worked on other violations as well. It was just an opportunity to continue to serve and something that gave me purpose. Like-minded individuals are motivated for the same reasons and I enjoyed my career while I was there.
One of the things that we talk a lot about that’s important is how you build the lead teams. What do you look for? What’s the character of people like? I joked that working in a restaurant builds character because it does when you talk about hard work, discipline, or dealing with people you may or may not like, but you’re still going to have to deal with them and show them respect. It’s important when you learn those things, especially when you’re young and you work in those roles. As you guys have progressed through your military career and into your service, and I want to get into the post-service years as well, what are those things that you took away from your military service? What are those character traits that you took away that you then applied to your next roles?
The word that most people go to now is grit. You look for grit in almost everything that you do. People are going to stick with it when the cards are stacked against you. At the end of the day, if you just surround yourself with people of integrity, that’s an all-encompassing quality that I’d look for, like building a business, a team, whatever you’re doing. If you have people with integrity, they’re always doing the right things when nobody’s looking. They’re looking for ways to make the team better and supporting your leadership when there is somebody in a leadership position other than yourself. Those are the things I look for. It’s stuff that was ingrained in me in being a part of a team back in my SF days.
What about you, Hawk?
Everything he said, 100% back it up. I want to relay a story. About first day, first class in officer candidate school, 1967, we’re all in there.
I went in 2004. The barracks were probably the same ones though. We were probably sleeping on the same mattress.
God help you that you’ll have that one. The first day was leadership and the instructor got up there and said, “I’m going to teach you everything you need to know about leadership.” The pen’s ready and everything. He says, “There are three Ms of leadership. It’s the Mission, the Men, and Me. At all costs, you as infantry officers must accomplish the mission. Once that mission is accomplished, you must take care of your men because, without the men, you couldn’t have accomplished the mission. In a distant third, me, any promotions, any accolades, any pats on the back that come your way, feel free to accept them.”
I took those three Ms of leadership and I’ve taken those throughout the rest of my life. I never forgot them. Sometimes, especially in the world we live in, people’s feelings and sensitivities can cloud the issue of accomplishing the mission. I never have. It’s the mission first and then we’ll deal with whatever problems you have. It’s harsh, but sometimes the mission just outweighs the person.
The mission is always in building organizations and teams. The mission is grounding fabric. That’s the thing that everybody looks at from the very beginning and all the way through. When you face adversity, that’s what brings you back to the right answer. You talked about integrity, “What are the decisions that I have to make? Why am I making those decisions?” If we truly understand our mission and we start there, then in those times when we’re under pressure, when there’s chaos, confusion, and lack of guidance, we’ve all worked in an organization where there was a tremendous lack of guidance at times. Sometimes that just makes it better. There’s the mission. You can come back to that guiding fabric and that foundation and make solid decisions.
What Casey said, too, is the team concept, being part. The three of us being a Special Force, I don’t know if anybody knows that better than we do, being part of a team. You don’t have to be the leader, but you can be a contributing force, a part of that team. You don’t have to be in the star role on a football team, but you can be a contributing member. You can be in the B squad and still be a part of that team and contribute to every win and every accomplishment they had. We know that. It’s not about the individual, it is about the team going forward and the team accomplishing the mission.
Post your time in the Secret Service, you’ve gone on to found businesses now.
I would say I found a business. I left the Secret Service and went to Ford Motor Company, great outfit. They did some downsizing. They said, “Buy out here,” which I took because being in Detroit was like you got another combat zone. I went back home to the Quad City area where the area was generally from and just became a consulting more or less what I pick and choose what I wanted to do.
Casey, you founded Cold Zero, which I’m enjoying now. It’s warming me up out here. What brought you into the spirits business?
I was looking for a new adventure.
That’s an adventure. That’s a tough space.
It is, honestly. It’s tougher than I ever imagined. I’ve surrounded myself again with the team so that we can overcome the challenges that we face and make this into a thriving business. My partners all hail from the special operations community, all Green Berets. Nick Lavery you just had on is one of my partners. We came up with the brand Cold Zero.
Not a bad partner.
He’s a stud. My other two partners are former SF guys too with incredible backgrounds. Cold Zero, for military and law enforcement, speaks your first shot on a cold barrel. It’s your first shot at a range or your first shot at a bar, even though I hope you drink this as more than just a shot. This is more of a whiskey that you want to sit around a fire at nightcamp type thing.
One thing I’m excited about is when you go back and talk about our mission, part of our mission is giving back to veteran causes. We have a reserve that just came out. It’s got a label that pays homage to the Medal of Honor recipients. We have six recipients who participated and signed every one of our bottles. A portion of those proceeds goes back to the Medal of Honor Society. We’re excited about that. It’s really good whiskey. It was our rye whiskey that we have here that we aged in wine barrels for nine months and it’s incredible.
I got to try that.
I’ll get you some. What’s great about it is the fact that it gives back to those guys. The other thing that we did was tell a story. We posted their bottles on our social media and put links to these guys’ stories because that’s what we want to keep. We want to keep those stories alive for the generations to come. “Go read about these guys and what they sacrificed for the country that you’re living in today.”
What’s been the biggest challenge as you saw the vision, you began to build the company, you created your team, and now you got to execute in a very heavily concentrated market?
It’s the ins and outs of business learning how to navigate the spirit business specifically. It’s a heavily controlled market and we’re dealing with the state, retailers, and distributors. All of them take a cut and put hurdles in front of you. Every state is different. It’s learning how to navigate that. We did a first-time buy with a company and sold through that quickly. We’re proud of that. We’re hoping that you guys will see us in the military market very soon consistently. It’s just the ins and outs of business ownership and learning how to navigate through all the hurdles that are specifically in the alcohol business.
We’ve got the vodka and you’ve got the bourbon. Any other in the line now?
We started with the whiskey and the vodka in 2023 and we added our reserve in 2024. We’re in year number two now. We’re a fairly young business, but we have plans for the future. That’s where we’re at now. Our whiskey is a big seller for us. That’s the one that everybody seems to enjoy. We’re excited about it.
Next time, I’m trying the vodka. Vodka’s good.
It’s just incredible. We get to tell stories about veterans and that’s what we want to do through our business. I’m lucky I met Bill a few years ago with a mutual friend. Bill was talking earlier about how the veterans in the Vietnam era didn’t get the welcome home that we did. When I was a little kid, we used to have these parades in our small town in Iowa and the guys like Bill would be walking in it, you’d see them decorate on their headgear and all that stuff. I looked up to these guys when I was a little kid and that’s how I got to where I am now.
When I got to meet Bill, it was truly one of the great blessings of my life personally. Our personal and professional lives are so similar. It’s scary. We were able to live close to each other now. We see each other frequently. To be able to do stuff like this together is awesome. It’s incredible to be able to hear his stories and share experiences. I love it.
It was a lifetime of service when you think about it. Not only do you have your service in the military, you have your service in federal law enforcement, and now you have service to each other as you continue to build this company and community. We’re here at Army-Navy. What brought you here?
I’m with Warrior Rising. It’s a great organization helping veterans find purpose after service or business ownership. Bill’s been a part of that now with us. He speaks at our events and things of that nature. We come out every year and celebrate the next generation of warriors. I know that we get into the Army-Navy rivalry, but I’ll tell you what. I was in Philly in 2023 and I had my little guys with me. We met some Navy guys at the Rocky statue. They were amazing. When all things are said and done on the football field, I’m just proud that all these guys are out there serving on our behalf. Now we’re in good hands as far as I’m concerned with the next generation of warfighters.
They were the fine young men and women that are in these service academies. I wear the uniform of our country. It gives you the heart that we’ll get through this mess and we’re going to move forward. This Warrior Rising that Casey has graciously invited me to be a part of, I like what I do for them. They’re incredible. They’re helping veterans and the generation of guys that got out. Age doesn’t matter. If you have something going and they can provide some professional assistance, get you vectored into where you need to be, they’re there for you.
I have to put a plugin for this other foundation. It’s called The Greatest Generations Foundation. They are veterans. What they do is take warriors back to the battlefield. They took guys to Omaha Beach and served their rangers to point the Hawk. Andre Valley and Hal Moores were soldiers. They took them back there in groups and documented it all to help them be powerful. I got back from a battle that I was in with 8 of the guys that I served with and they took us there. Whatever demons I still had rattling around were gone when I stood on that ground 54 years later. That kind of a foundation, this kind of organization, Warrior Rising, and this kind of a product, all veteran orientated, all the ones that bring the veterans together, give us all hope.
I got to ask you, what was it like going back onto that battlefield? I served three deployments to Iraq and there were a lot of times when we would come out of an engagement or something. I would think about that when I went back to the base. “I wonder if there will be a time when I will come back or be able to come back to this location with my kids or my family one day and show them this is where I was.” What was that experience like?
Surreal. I never thought I’d be there. We’re on a firebase. Special Forces provided the security. After five days, we were out of ammo and out of water out of support as the North Vietnamese Army was coming up the North Slope to overrun us at South Slope. We broke out of the North Slope and about 130 of us fought our way to safety while I was here. To be back there and look around where Ron Ross died and the other was shot out of the air, this is where I lost a man and this is where they hit us, it came crashing back, but I was prepared because I had my brothers with me and we got through it. It was truly an adventure.
I’ll tell you. The next episode that will be released is going to be on The Wall That Heals, which is the three-quarter replica of the Vietnam Memorial wall that travels the country. I had the opportunity to go to it and partake in the building of it and then sit down in front of it at night all lit up and have a conversation with those responsible for bringing it to New York City. As I said, when we started, your generation did so much.
I was talking about this. No whining, no complaining. We got home. We were one step away from being despised. We realized it and we got together. We knew who each other was. We just said, “I got to get on with our lives.” I got home at 70. We didn’t talk about it unless we were talking to somebody else because we didn’t want to get into it. In 1996, I was at a Special Forces convention reunion, whatever. Bo Gritz was there, very famous in the Special Forces. He was there. Like I said, he’s legendary. I’d seen him on the train in 1970. I talked to him I said, “Colonel Gritz, I always saw you on the train.” He goes, “You were with the fifth in Vietnam.” I said, “Yes, sir.” He goes, “Welcome home.” He shook my hand.
Sixteen years after I got home, he was the first person who ever told me “Welcome home.” I then relayed that to everybody. Vietnam veterans now picked that up as a standard when they see another veteran. We tell them “Welcome home.” You see how it’s changed. Now it’s changed. America does have a conscience. Our veterans now are held in the very highest esteem and regard, which they always should have been.
We see that here now. We have a great game coming up in a little bit. We got to have a few more of these and then we got to get inside. Casey and Hawk, thanks so much for sitting down and telling these stories.
Thanks for having us.
Go Army.
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