A Private Military Contractor’s Workout/Pre-Op Music Playlist

Pictured above: Waiting for a workup to deployment exercise at an undisclosed location in Virginia.

I’ve been told I work a “cool guy” job – it’s tactical, its fast paced, I’m always traveling (sorry to my editor Scott Witner for never getting articles in on time), but most importantly I get to live what seems to the outside world to be todays “American Dream”, so, therefore, people ask me all sorts of questions. “Hey man, what’s your go-to weapon of choice?”, “What’s your blade?”, etc. Over the next few months I’m going to be going through my loadout, my pre-mission routine, my EDC stateside and oversea’s and so on and so forth. Today we’re going to cover music.

Working out with music is like having a cheat code. It gets your blood moving, it can sometimes be used instead of drinking pre-workout or red bull. Music “gets the people going”. Here are my workout and pre-mission playlist.

Jimi Hendrix/Stevie Ray Vaughan (Because they both deserve credit) – Voodoo Child (Slight Return) If I even have to explain one of the best scenes from Black Hawk Down then you should probably either watch it or go back to living the “airsoft operator life” in your moms basement and let the adults talk here.

Jordan Max – Hell “What you gonna do? Watch the world fall down?” A powerful song that clears my head during a workout and makes me realize why I put my body through hell to do what I do for work.

Ol’ Dirty Bastard – Shimmy Shimmy Ya “Shimmy shimmy ya shimmy yam shimmy yay” Some of the call signs we use are “ODB” and “Wu-tang”. “ODB this is Wu-Tang, I read you Lima Charlie”

Wu-Tang Clan – C.R.E.A.M. “Dolla dolla bill y’all”  because Wu-Tang is the music of the people.

Soundgarden – Black Hole Sun A playlist isn’t complete with some grunge music.

Whiskey Meyers – Frogman “Never been the one to run away… Round the world with a gun in my hand” Truth be told, I feel like shit putting this song on here due to the fact I AM NOT a frog, but this song is just plain badass.

Bring Me The Horizon – Blasphemy “Bite your tongue and close your mind”. I’ve kind of adopted this motto for running/cardio because if I shut off my mind and bite my tongue, I literally don’t realize I’m running.

FFDP – War is the Answer I don’t need to explain.

House of Pain – Runnin’ up on Ya It’s always good to surprise your enemy by moving in the shadows and “Runnin’ up on ya”.

Kurt Vile – Pretty Pimpin Truth be told I’m kind of a hipster/surfer dude and love indie rock. Kurt Vile is one of my favorite artists these days.

Lord Huron – The Night We Met “I am not the only traveler who has not repaid his debt” I travel overseas a significant amount for work and it takes a toll on the body.

Metallica – The Struggle Within Can’t have a go-time playlist without Metallica.

There are tons of songs out there that “get the juices going”. My playlist is always evolving and changing. What artists are in your pre-op/workout playlist?