On October 24, 2016, Veteran On the Move released episode 136, “Cigars and Sea Stories with Marine Veteran Michael Penney.” The host was Joe Crane. His show had passed 100 episodes of interviews about the people, programs and resources that help veterans move into entrepreneurship. The episode runs about 51 minutes.
What the episode covered
The show notes introduce Michael as the founder and host of the Cigars and Sea Stories podcast. They also mark a new role:
Michael recently took over as the director of the Bunker in Raleigh Durham, NC.
Veteran On the Move #136 show notes
The notes describe Bunker Labs as a national 501(c)(3) built by military veteran entrepreneurs. At the time it had chapters in 12 cities and offered educational programs, mentors, events and local networks to help veterans start and grow businesses.
Most of the notes lay out Cigars and Sea Stories. They use the same operations-order format the show had used since early 2016:
- The show: a place for veterans “to act out and speak their minds,” covering relevant topics, interviews with prominent veterans and war stories. Any Marine or FMF corpsman could be a guest, recorded in by Skype.
- Intent: empower veterans to act as a whole by creating positive change, voting on issues that matter, raising awareness for worthy causes and speaking out against injustice.
- Desired end state: “a network of veterans that can accomplish any task and, an America that can actually police itself.”
- Execution: the team travels to veterans who are making a difference and records on site, so listeners get candid access to their insights and sea stories.
The notes also announce a release schedule: two episodes a week, every Tuesday and Thursday.
Why it mattered then
This episode came at a turning point. Through 2015 and early 2016, Michael was introduced mainly as a podcaster and a BloodStripes.com contributor. By the fall he was leading the Bunker in Raleigh-Durham. That put him on the program side of veteran entrepreneurship, helping other veterans build businesses in addition to telling their stories.
Veteran On the Move had a big audience among transitioning veterans. The show claimed more than 500,000 verified listens. That was a strong place to announce both projects.
Looking back
The Bunker role and the operations-order habit both fed the 5 Paragraph Business Plan, his O-SMEAC-based framework for planning a business. The intent behind Cigars and Sea Stories, veterans speaking up and acting together, still runs through his work today.
This post is part of the From the Archive series, which collects Michael’s past media appearances in one place. See the full media archive.
Work with Michael
Marine veteran, TEDx speaker and author of the 5 Paragraph Business Plan. Bring him to your stage, wear the gear, or catch him live.