No Substitute for Victory: A Green Beret's Defense Mission with Rep. Pat Harrigan

Building the Base

In this episode of Building the Base, Hondo Geurts and Lauren Bedula sit down with Congressman Pat Harrigan (NC-10), who brings a rare combination of Special Forces experience, defense entrepreneurship, and fresh congressional perspective to America's national security challenges. Drawing from his service in 3rd Special Forces Group, his journey building a weapons and munitions manufacturing company, and his current role on the House Armed Services Committee, Congressman Harrigan discusses the urgent need to revolutionize America's defense industrial base. He shares his candid assessment of government as "a terrible customer," explains his groundbreaking Sky Foundry initiative to build America's first million-drone manufacturing capability, and warns that the nature of warfare has fundamentally changed from the Global War on Terror era. The conversation explores why America must shift from producing "high cost problems to our enemies' low cost solutions" to creating affordable, scalable technologies that can match the pace of modern conflict.

Five key takeaways from today's episode:

1. Personal inspiration drives public service, as Rep. Harrigan reveals how his grandfather's vivid memories of D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge, details he could recite perfectly even with dementia, showed him "what a formative part of his life he made a huge difference for the trajectory of the world," inspiring his own call to serve when he witnessed leadership failures during Afghanistan's fall.
2. The nature of warfare has fundamentally changed, Congressman Harrigan explains, comparing the shift from the Global War on Terror to today's drone-dominated battlefield as the difference between "basketball and baseball" with 80% of casualties in Ukraine now caused by small, inexpensive FPV drones rather than traditional weapons systems.
3. America currently sits at "effectively zero" drone manufacturing capability while being wholly dependent on Chinese supply chains, Rep. Harrigan warns, as adversaries like Russia and Ukraine produce millions of drones annually at costs dramatically lower than America's $20,000-30,000 per unit.
4. The Sky Foundry initiative represents a revolutionary approach to defense manufacturing, combining government-owned facilities with private contractor intellectual property through a royalty-based system that incentivizes innovation while maintaining competition and driving costs down to $500 per drone.
5. Success requires unwavering persistence, Rep. Harrigan emphasizes, sharing his philosophy of "never give up, never give in" when fighting for his daughters Reagan and McKinley's future, because "there is no substitute for victory" and breakthrough solutions will eventually succeed if you believe in them and keep working regardless of initial resistance.