PODCAST · government
Desert Rat Testament
by U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground
Desert Rat Testament is a monthly anthology that collects the stories and recollections of retired U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground employees of decades-long service.
Episodes
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 38
Host Mark Schauer talks with Col. John Nelson, a tanker and former product manager for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle who served as commander of U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground from June 29, 2023 to June 11, 2026. Nelson followed his service at Yuma Proving Ground by assuming command of White…
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 37
Host Mark Schauer talks with Jerry Mayer, who grew up as an Army brat but served in the Navy from 1965 to 1986. He worked as a civilian at Naval Air Facility El Centro for 13 years before working at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground from 2009 to 2021.
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 36
Host Mark Schauer talks with Lt. Col. (ret.) Robert Rutledge, a retired Marine who served in the infantry from 1968 to 1970 and as an officer from 1975 to 2002. A Vietnam Veteran and Purple Heart recipient, after retiring from active duty he was a civilian pilot at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground...
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 35
Host Mark Schauer talks with Chief Warrant Officer 4 (ret.) Jay Stokes, a Green Beret who served in uniform from 1974 to 1998 and was instrumental in relocating the U.S. Military Freefall School to Yuma Proving Ground in the 1990s. In retirement, he set the world record for most parachute jumps…
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 34
Host Mark Schauer talks with Gary Magrino, who while on active duty served as transportation officer for U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground from 1982 to 1985. He and his wife loved the Yuma community so much they stayed in town, where he became prominent in the local business community. He founded the...
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 33
Host Mark Schauer talks with Darin Meeks, who after retiring as an Army 1st Sgt. worked as a geodetics technician at Yuma Proving Ground from 2005 until his retirement in 2025. Raised in Yuma County and widely known in the community, for 13 years of his 22-year active-duty career he was an Army…
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 32
Host Mark Schauer talks with New York native Ron Basolet. After a 26-year active-duty career in the United States Marine Corps, Basolet brought his decades of experience in logistics to U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground's Combat Automotive Systems Division in 2006, at the height of the surge in Iraq....
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 31
Host Mark Schauer talks with Sgt. Maj. (ret.) Ronald Rodriguez, the son of a career Army veteran who served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. After a career as a Military Policeman, Rodriguez served for more than 20 years overseeing Yuma Proving Ground's Emergency Services and Emergency...
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 30
Host Mark Schauer talks with Wayne Schilders, who grew up in Arkansas and enlisted in the National Guard during his junior year in high school. Joining the regular Army after graduation, Schilders trained in field artillery at Fort Sill and spent a year at Camp Stanley, South Korea before…
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 29
Host Mark Schauer talks with Maria Johnson, a Navy veteran who was lead combat vehicle data collector at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground from 1987 until medically retiring in 2013. She is today a resident of the Arizona State Veterans Home Yuma, where she was the first female resident.
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 28
Host Mark Schauer talks with Col. (ret.) Randy Murray, who was commander of U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground from 2014 to 2017. An aviator, prior to his command he had served in the Army for 24 years in positions that included testing aviation systems for the U.S. Army Operational Test Command. He...
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 27
Host Mark Schauer talks with Col. (ret) Stephen Kreider, who was commander of U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground from 2003 to 2006. After a 28-year Army career, he served as Director of the Future Combat System Combined Test Organization and as the Army’s Program Executive Officer of Intelligence,...
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 26
Host Mark Schauer talks with Col. (ret) John Bullington, who was commander of U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground from 2006 to 2009. After a 32-year Army career, he served as Assistant Director of the Arizona Game and Fish Department for nine years before retiring to Arkansas.
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 25
Host Mark Schauer talks by phone with Col. (ret) Reed Young, who served as commander of U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground from 2011 to 2014, which included the busiest test workload year in the post's history. Today, Young is the Program Manager for Robotics and Autonomy at the Johns Hopkins…
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 24
Host Mark Schauer talks with Teri Womack, who from 1986 to 2019 worked in a variety of positions at Yuma Proving Ground, from an administrative assistant at the Systems Test Branch to her final post as a marketing specialist working in the public affairs office. She was the primary escort on…
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 23
Host Mark Schauer talks with Maj. (ret) James Branch, whose 22 years in the Army included serving at the Military Freefall School at Yuma Proving Ground from 2011 to 2013, first as executive officer, then as commander. Today he is the Senior Army Instructor for Yuma County, Arizona's first Army...
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 22
Host Ana Henderson talks with Peter Efroymson, who worked at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) as a firefighter and 911 emergency dispatcher from 1993 to 2024. Hear as he recounts his contributions and memories about his time responding to emergencies in and around YPG.
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 21
In this episode of Desert Rat Testament hear Alan Pumphrey, an officer who served as post adjutant at Yuma Proving Ground in the early 1980s who recently returned to visit for the first time in more than four decades. Hear as he recounts his memories of Cold War-era YPG with host Ana Henderson.
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 20
Host Mark Schauer talks with Minerva Peters, whose Department of the Army career began in 1985. After 15 years working as an operations research analyst with the Army’s Operational Test and Evaluation Command, she began working at Yuma Proving Ground in 2000. Attracting attention for her work on...
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 19
Host Mark Schauer talks with Mike Kingston, who served as a test photographer at U.S. Army Cold Regions Test Center as a soldier during the Vietnam era and as a civilian from 1989 to 2014. A former wildland firefighter well known as a volunteer firefighter in Delta Junction, Alaska, in his...
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 18
Host Mark Schauer talks with Jonna Pittman, who retired as U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground's Logistics Manager in 2024. Prior to starting her civilian career here in 2007, she served in the Army from 1977 to 2007, retiring as a Sergeant Major.
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 17
Host Mark Schauer talks with Command Sgt. Maj. (ret.) Forbes Daniels. Born in Guyana, he immigrated to the United States as a teenager and enlisted in the Army in 1981. His tenure as Yuma Proving Ground’s Command Sergeant Major from 2008 to 2012 was bookended by multiple deployments to Iraq and...
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 16
Host Mark Schauer talks with Alan Tinseth, a nuclear engineer who worked at Yuma Proving Ground as a test officer and in the Technology and Investments Directorate from 1984 until his retirement in 2022. The son of a wounded veteran of the Korean War's Battle of Chosin Reservoir, in 1989 he was a...
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 15
Host Ana Henderson talks with John Curry, an Arkansas native who worked at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground as a software developer and operations research and systems analyst from 1991 until his retirement in 2022. He supported testing for the Warfighter from the Gulf War through the Global War on...
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 14
Host Mark Schauer talks with Yolanda Canales, who worked in U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground's public affairs office from 1984 until her retirement in 2016. A Yuma native, Canales was editor of "The Outpost," the proving ground's twice-monthly official newspaper that has published continuously since...
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 13
Host Mark Schauer talks with Dean Weingarten, who served as YPG’s chief meteorologist from 1989 until his retirement in 2013. A former Army officer raised in Wisconsin, Weingarten also served as a meteorologist at then-Camp Hunter Liggett while in uniform and in Panama as an Army civilian. He…
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 12
Host Mark Schauer talks with Command Sgt. Maj. (ret.) Jamathon Nelson. Born at Camp Lejune, North Carolina, he initially followed in his father’s footsteps as a Marine Corps infantryman, enlisting in 1985. He worked for a time as a logger following his Marine enlistment, then served in the Army...
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 11
Host Mark Schauer talks with Col. Patrick McFall, a Tennessee native and infantry officer who served in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan prior to his command of U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground from July 8, 2020 to June 29, 2023. An active and beloved figure in the broader Yuma community during his…
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 10
Host Mark Schauer talks with Col. Ross Poppenberger (ret.), who was born in Minnesota and raised in Arizona. His final post in a distinguished Army career that saw him deployed twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan was as commander of U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground from 2017 to 2020. Following his...
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 9
Host Ana Henderson chats with Anne Fisher, who worked at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground from 1986 to 2022, spending the bulk of her career with the Department of Public Works and Mission Safety Office. Long active in the Yuma community, Fisher is a former District Governor in Rotary International.
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 8
Host Mark Schauer talks with Bill Heidner, who was born in Illinois and raised in Wisconsin. After a career serving in the Army as a Non-Commissioned Officer from 1976 to 1997, he worked as a civilian in Army museums at Fort Polk and Fort Irwin before serving as curator of U.S. Army Yuma Proving...
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 7
Host Mark Schauer talks with Lt. Col. Michelle Stoleson (ret), who was born in Florida and hailed from an active duty Air Force family. She earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from California’s Harvey Mudd College and a master’s degree in engineering from Claremont Graduate...
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 6
Host Ana Henderson talks with Chuck Crawford, who lived on post at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground as a child prior to his career as a security guard and range control specialist. Hear how YPG's range controllers help keep developmental tests of military equipment safe, as well as how the workers'...
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 5
Host Mark Schauer talks with Chuck Wullenjohn, a native of Sunnyvale, California and Coast Guard veteran who served as Yuma Proving Ground's Public Affairs Officer from 1989 to 2018. A well-known figure in Yuma, he was also an adjunct professor of government and U.S. Constitution classes at…
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 4
Host Mark Schauer talks with Chief Warrant Officer 4 (ret.) Stan Gourley, who grew up in New Jersey and served in Vietnam. After 20 years in uniform, he worked 26 years in federal service, ultimately serving at Yuma Proving Ground from 1991 to 2008 and retiring as airfield manager. In retirement,...
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 3
Host Mark Schauer talks with Col. Robert Filbey (ret.), who was born in Champaign, Illinois and had a distinguished career as an Army officer culminating in command of Yuma Proving Ground from 1996 to 2000. Following his retirement, he and his wife Nancy stayed in Yuma, volunteering countless…
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 2
Host Mark Schauer talks with David Horn, who grew up in Minnesota, earned a degree in mechanical engineering, and worked in private industry prior to working in the Combat Automotive Division at Yuma Proving Ground beginning in 1985. After 12 years at the proving ground Horn returned to private...
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Desert Rat Testament, Episode 1
Host Mark Schauer talks with Julio Dominguez, who grew up in New Mexico and was a Marine Corps Non-Commissioned Officer and underground mining engineer prior to his career at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG). Starting as a test officer in the Munitions and Weapons Division in 1985, Dominguez…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Desert Rat Testament is a monthly anthology that collects the stories and recollections of retired U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground employees of decades-long service.
HOSTED BY
U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Desert Rat Testament have?
Desert Rat Testament currently has 38 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Desert Rat Testament about?
Desert Rat Testament is a monthly anthology that collects the stories and recollections of retired U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground employees of decades-long service.
How often does Desert Rat Testament release new episodes?
Desert Rat Testament has 38 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Desert Rat Testament?
You can listen to Desert Rat Testament on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Desert Rat Testament?
Desert Rat Testament is created and hosted by U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground.
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