Josh Appel: Pararescue, Emergency Medicine, and a Lifetime Commitment to Service

Josh Appel is an Emergency Medicine Physician, and Chief of Emergency Medicine at the Southern Arizona VA. He is a former Air Force Pararescue Specialist (PJ) who deployed on the rescue/recovery missions for OPERATION: Red Wings, including Lone Survivor Marcus Luttrell and LT. Michael Murphy. Working with the Murphy family, Josh founded the Memorial Day Murph tradition. Josh is a husband, father of three active girls, a teacher, mentor and wellness evangelist.

Kelly first met Josh while out training his PJ squadron when they were new to strength and conditioning. We get into the origin story of the Memorial Day Murph tradition, Operation: Red Wings and the subsequent film, emergency medicine, and the state of healthcare in the US.

Sponsors

​​This episode of The Ready State Podcast is brought to you by LMNT, a tasty electrolyte drink mix with everything you need and nothing you don’t. That means lots of salt — with no sugar. The Starretts just got back from a hiking vacation in Norway, and LMNT was a critical piece of the puzzle. Everyone had LMNT in their water bottles daily and were able to replenish all the electrolytes lost climbing big hills and sauna-ing. Order through our link and receive a free sample pack with all of LMNT’s flavors. Go to DrinkLMNT.com/TRS and check it out!

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This episode of The Ready State Podcast is brought to you by Vitruvian, a technology that revolutionizes strength training. Normally this type of thing doesn’t interest Kelly too much, but when he tried the Vitruvian, he was blown away. You can deadlift over 400 pounds on it, you can do eccentric-only loading on it, and it's really easy to set up and store away. IF you want to learn more about Vitruvian, go to thereadystate.com/vitruvian.

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This episode of The Ready State Podcast is brought to you by Momentous, a leading high performance lifestyle company making the best supplements and sports nutrition products for individuals looking to optimize all parts of their lives. The Starretts are just back from vacation and it has given them a renewed appreciation for what they call “The Juliet Stack” - a single serve protein packet, a sleep pack, and a collagen shot. No more traveling with weird bags of powders and pills. If you want to hit Juliet’s travel stack, go to livemomentous.com/TRS and use code TRS for 20% OFF your first purchase.

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This episode of The Ready State Podcast is brought to you by YETI, from coolers to drinkware to bags, YETI products are Built for the Wild. We have been begging YETI for a lightweight bottle forever, and we are so glad it is here. We use them for all our adventuring and beyond. Add the Tether Cap and you can clip it right onto your pack. If you want to check out the lightweight and shatter resistant Yonder Water Bottle for yourself, go to thereadystate.com/yeti.