Tracer Burnout

The Strategic Veteran

Veteran podcast stories, Army officer insights, and military to civilian transition: Hear from Tracer Burnout hosts Roger Vogel 🇺🇸🎖️ (Lt. Colonel, Civil Affairs) and Dan Baker 🇺🇸🎖️ (Staff Sergeant, Infantry) as they unpack career milestones, lifelong friendship, and how their transition out of the Army led to the creation of a podcast helping fellow veterans find connection and purpose.

🎙️ In this episode of The Strategic Veteran, host Adam Peters brings on Roger and Dan — best friends since childhood and co-hosts of the Tracer Burnout podcast. With decades of Army experience between them, they recount their military beginnings, deployments, leadership lessons, and ultimately, their transition journeys post-active duty. This deeply personal and humorous episode uncovers the emotions behind getting out, adjusting to civilian life, and finding new purpose by amplifying veteran voices on their own platform.

🎖️🇺🇸 GUEST SPOTLIGHT:

Dan Baker:

• U.S. Army Staff Sergeant

• Infantry, 1998–2021

• 4 Deployments (3 Afghanistan, 1 Balkans)

• Served as Drill Sergeant and Master Fitness Instructor at Fort Benning

Roger Vogel:

• U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.)

• Field Artillery & Civil Affairs

• 2 Iraq Deployments with the 82nd Airborne

• PACOM & Indo-PACOM CA assignments with deep language/cultural focus

Dan and Roger now co-host Tracer Burnout, a veteran-led podcast preserving stories of service and promoting healing through shared experience and humor.

⏱️ CHAPTERS:

0:00 – Intro and Guest Welcome

2:16 – Army Brat Origins & Military Legacy

8:43 – Early Career Paths: Enlistment vs. ROTC

17:32 – Combat Deployments: Iraq & Afghanistan

24:01 – Civil Affairs Explained by Roger

32:45 – Fitness, Injury & Retirement Challenges

41:58 – Transition Realities During COVID for Dan

51:12 – Finding Purpose After Service

58:40 – Origin of Tracer Burnout Podcast

1:07:10 – The Value of Storytelling & Ending Stigma

1:14:13 – Final Thoughts & Contact Info

📌 KEY DISCUSSION POINTS:

• Dual perspectives: Officer vs. Enlisted experience and friendship

• Civil Affairs explained: small teams, cultural mapping & human terrain

• What went wrong—and right—in their military transition

• Back injuries, surgeries & finding new purpose afterward

• Launching Tracer Burnout to fill the veteran storytelling void

• Veteran podcasting as a path to healing and community

🔰 MILITARY EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS:

• Dan Baker served 23 years in the U.S. Army as an Infantry Staff Sergeant with deployments to the Balkans and Afghanistan. He retired after working as a drill sergeant and rehab program coordinator at Fort Benning.

• Roger Vogel served 20+ years, beginning in Field Artillery and later transitioning to Civil Affairs. He deployed with the 82nd Airborne to Iraq and later worked in Indo-PACOM as part of Army Special Operations.

💼 EXPERTISE / CIVILIAN SUCCESS:

• Dan & Roger co-founded "Tracer Burnout," a podcast focused on real veteran stories

• Utilized Home Base and The Honor Foundation programs to assist transition

• Advocates for better awareness of transition resources outside the traditional TAP track

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