WEBVTT 1 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:15.519 Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbas. Our guest in 2 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:18.440 this edition is retired to US Marine Corps Master Sergeant 3 00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:22.079 John Daily. He spent twenty one years in uniform, many 4 00:00:22.120 --> 00:00:25.239 of those years in special operations. He is a veteran 5 00:00:25.320 --> 00:00:28.120 of the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan and played 6 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:32.520 key roles in standing up multiple Marine Corps Special Forces units. 7 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:36.679 He's also the author of Tough, Rugged Bastards, a memoir 8 00:00:36.759 --> 00:00:40.159 of a life in Marine Special Operations. And sir, thank 9 00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:41.240 you very much for being with us. 10 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:42.479 Thanks for having me, Greg. 11 00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:43.520 Where were you born and raised? 12 00:00:43.560 --> 00:00:47.479 John born in Leesburg, Virginia. Raised in a little town 13 00:00:47.719 --> 00:00:51.280 outside of that called Hillsboro, Virginia whose only kind of 14 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:54.119 claim to fame was that the right brother's mother I 15 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:57.600 think was born there. But it's on the really close 16 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:00.799 to the Virginia West Virginia Maryland tri state border. 17 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:03.359 There been a history of military service in your family 18 00:01:03.399 --> 00:01:03.840 before you. 19 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:06.439 Served, history not It was in a tradition, you know. 20 00:01:06.519 --> 00:01:09.840 My father had served in the Navy there in Vietnam, 21 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:13.840 and his brother in the Army. My grandfather had served 22 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:16.079 in the Army Air Corps in World War Two, but 23 00:01:16.120 --> 00:01:19.000 that was. That was about it, as far as I'm 24 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:21.959 aware of. It was not an expectation. 25 00:01:22.200 --> 00:01:24.040 I guess you point out in the book that you 26 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:26.000 knew at a very young age, maybe six or seven 27 00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:28.359 years old, that you wanted to be a marine. How 28 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:30.079 did you know at such a young age that that's 29 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:30.760 what she wanted to do. 30 00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:34.920 I saw a marine and I don't know what it 31 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:37.359 was about him or other people's reaction to him, but 32 00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:41.000 it was the bi centennial celebration, so it was seventeen 33 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:44.640 or nineteen seventy six, and we were at a Fourth 34 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:48.280 of July parade and I saw a marine coming through 35 00:01:48.280 --> 00:01:51.519 the crowd. And you know, my father doesn't remember this 36 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:55.640 ever happening. I think it happened. I remember it that way, 37 00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:59.040 but you know, I saw him and just kind of, 38 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:00.879 I don't know what it was, as they kind of clicked, 39 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:03.519 and I asked my dad, you know, what is that guy? 40 00:02:03.799 --> 00:02:06.040 And he told me he used a marine and so 41 00:02:06.439 --> 00:02:08.800 there had always been a rivalry between the Navy and 42 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:12.000 the Marine Corps, so so he will My dad would 43 00:02:12.039 --> 00:02:14.479 never admit that he kind of talked about him with 44 00:02:14.520 --> 00:02:17.759 any kind of awe or whatever, but that's the way 45 00:02:17.800 --> 00:02:20.639 I recall it, and that's I guess my story. At 46 00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:25.080 that age, I realized or knew that that was kind 47 00:02:25.080 --> 00:02:26.120 of what was in store for me. 48 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:28.360 I got to tell you, and this probably won't surprise you, 49 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:30.639 given your many years in the Corps. When I talked 50 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:33.199 to veterans about why they joined it far and away 51 00:02:33.560 --> 00:02:36.240 if they cared about the uniform, it was the Marines. 52 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:38.560 That the uniform attracted more people to the Marines than 53 00:02:38.599 --> 00:02:40.039 I think the uniform of any other branch. 54 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:43.680 There's something about I think, so yeah, it's it looks sharp, 55 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:46.000 and then once you're in, you really don't want to 56 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:48.360 wear it, the dress uniform, you know, if you can. 57 00:02:48.199 --> 00:02:50.439 Avoid it, but but it does look sharp. 58 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:52.080 When did you actually join the Corps. 59 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:55.960 I joined in nineteen eighty seven, just maybe a month 60 00:02:56.120 --> 00:02:57.960 after my high school graduation, So. 61 00:02:58.360 --> 00:02:59.199 I was seventeen. 62 00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:02.599 So my parents said to sign for me, but it 63 00:03:02.680 --> 00:03:05.000 had been you know, ten years, you know that I 64 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:07.479 had been kind of prepping them for it, so well, 65 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:10.960 my mother was reluctant. She's saying the papers and allowed 66 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:12.039 me to join at seventeen. 67 00:03:12.199 --> 00:03:14.919 And shortly after that, you were sent to the swamp 68 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:19.719 at Paris Island, and everyone who knows about the Marine Corps, 69 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:23.400 knows about how tough those those basic training courses go. 70 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:25.560 And you talk in the book about how they break 71 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:27.360 you down and then they build you back up into 72 00:03:27.400 --> 00:03:29.199 the marine they want you to be. So what was 73 00:03:29.240 --> 00:03:32.879 it specifically for you where they finally broke in and 74 00:03:32.919 --> 00:03:34.800 what was the key to you understanding what they were 75 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:35.400 doing there? 76 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:35.840 Oh? 77 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:38.000 I don't for me, I don't remember. 78 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:40.639 I think it's just the process, you know, it's just 79 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:43.439 just throughout. I mean, everything about boot camp is so 80 00:03:43.960 --> 00:03:47.840 foreign to anything that most of us have known before. 81 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:52.479 You know, the language is different, the telling time is different, 82 00:03:52.479 --> 00:03:56.680 everything is absolutely different. You're all your hair shaved off, 83 00:03:56.680 --> 00:03:59.599 and you're kind of homogenized into this you know, this 84 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:04.639 group you know that you're you're training with, and uh so, 85 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:06.759 I think it's just that kind of steady state of 86 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:10.560 getting day after day taught new things and you start 87 00:04:10.599 --> 00:04:14.360 to become you know, you graduates. Is something entirely different 88 00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:16.839 than than the young boys that we started as. 89 00:04:17.160 --> 00:04:20.600 How soon after that did you start pursuing special Forces training? 90 00:04:20.759 --> 00:04:25.519 I had the great fortune, through an error, to be 91 00:04:26.920 --> 00:04:30.839 my first unit, putting put into a sniper platoon, which 92 00:04:30.920 --> 00:04:33.839 was generally reserved for people who had had a little 93 00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:37.639 time in and they had kind of proven themselves. I 94 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:41.680 got thrown into it as a you know, fresh out 95 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:44.199 of boot camp, fresh out of infantry school, Marine, and 96 00:04:44.279 --> 00:04:46.399 so that didn't win me a lot of friends because 97 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:49.959 everyone else, uh, everyone else there had you know, spent 98 00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:52.560 their time, done their you know, kind of made their bones, 99 00:04:52.600 --> 00:04:55.439 proved themselves, and then try it out for the opportunity 100 00:04:55.480 --> 00:04:56.439 to get into that unit. 101 00:04:57.879 --> 00:04:59.160 For me, I kind of fell into it. 102 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:01.319 So I really had to realized very quickly I had 103 00:05:01.319 --> 00:05:04.079 to either prove myself or or I was gonna leave. 104 00:05:04.519 --> 00:05:07.240 So fortunately I was able to do that. And growing 105 00:05:07.319 --> 00:05:09.879 up in uh, you know, growing up in the in 106 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:12.680 the hills, spending a lot of time outdoors, were you know, 107 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:17.079 all skills that certainly aided me in that proceed. 108 00:05:17.240 --> 00:05:18.399 How good of a shot do you need to be 109 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:19.480 to pass sniper school? 110 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:20.240 Pretty good. 111 00:05:20.279 --> 00:05:26.360 We have to hit regularly at a thousand yards generally 112 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:30.120 further than anyone else any other military sniper schools shoot 113 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:34.560 on a for the qualification. Maybe not anymore, but back 114 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:38.319 then there was a lot less technology and things were 115 00:05:38.439 --> 00:05:40.399 a lot more uh you know, there was a lot 116 00:05:40.439 --> 00:05:43.319 of math involved, which is something that nobody really prepared 117 00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:45.839 me for. And I was always the kid in school 118 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:47.160 that was like, you know, how are we ever going 119 00:05:47.240 --> 00:05:49.279 to use algebra, you know, in the real world. And 120 00:05:49.319 --> 00:05:51.319 I came to find out that it is kind of 121 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:53.639 important for a lot of a lot of skills in 122 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:57.279 the military. But yeah, a thousand a thousand meters is 123 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:03.279 a part of the qualification that was challenging, absolutely. 124 00:06:02.839 --> 00:06:05.800 And just for those who might not be that caught 125 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:09.920 up on math, a thousand yards is over half a mile. 126 00:06:10.120 --> 00:06:12.120 How big is the target that you needed to hit here? 127 00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:15.360 So at that we were shooting at a man's sized 128 00:06:16.360 --> 00:06:19.920 cardboard target. So it's i mean, obviously as a sniper, 129 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:22.399 that's kind of your your your role, right, that's what 130 00:06:22.439 --> 00:06:25.680 you're you're shooting at. So with the scope on the rifle, 131 00:06:26.120 --> 00:06:29.920 even with you know, the magnification, you're still really looking at, 132 00:06:30.079 --> 00:06:32.879 you know, a target the size of a pencil eraser 133 00:06:33.319 --> 00:06:35.720 at that distance, you know, so it are the way 134 00:06:35.720 --> 00:06:38.480 it appears anyway, So it's it's challenging. I mean, it 135 00:06:38.519 --> 00:06:42.079 takes a lot of a lot of practice. Unfortunately, you know, 136 00:06:42.120 --> 00:06:45.279 they gave us quite a bit of practice during the course. 137 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:49.439 You also went to surveillance and target acquisition training. Explain 138 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:49.879 what that is. 139 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:53.639 So that really was kind of rolled in with with 140 00:06:53.720 --> 00:06:57.160 our sniper training. So I was in infect a platoon 141 00:06:57.240 --> 00:06:59.360 that I was in was called the Surveillance of Target 142 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:03.600 Acquisition tune in. There we were responsible were responsible for sniping, 143 00:07:03.720 --> 00:07:07.480 for scouting, and for manning what at the time are 144 00:07:07.480 --> 00:07:10.920 called ground surveillance radars. So we wore headphones much like 145 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:14.759 we both have on now and listened to a large 146 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:17.319 radar that had been invented in the kind of the 147 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:23.680 Vietnam era. That was really challenging to identify anything with it, 148 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:26.040 but you know, with enough time on it, you got 149 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:28.560 pretty good at it. So really those were our roles 150 00:07:28.600 --> 00:07:34.399 were to gather information to operate ahead of the regular 151 00:07:34.439 --> 00:07:38.439 infantry units and decide if determine if any bad guys 152 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:41.439 were coming our way, and let let people know. 153 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:45.199 Some of your early assignments were guarding embassies, which the 154 00:07:45.240 --> 00:07:47.959 Marines do of course US embassies around the world. Which 155 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:49.879 nations were you deployed to? 156 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:53.519 I And that's really one of the kind of unknown 157 00:07:53.759 --> 00:07:56.079 duty stations a lot of Marines don't know about. And 158 00:07:56.519 --> 00:07:58.639 again I lucked into that. I lucked into a lot 159 00:07:58.680 --> 00:08:02.839 of things throughout my career you'll you'll discover, but you know, 160 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:05.399 I lucked into it and then found myself in Budapest 161 00:08:06.120 --> 00:08:08.519 in nineteen eighty nine. So that was right as the 162 00:08:09.079 --> 00:08:13.040 Russians were leaving, the wall in Berlin was coming down, 163 00:08:13.639 --> 00:08:16.920 h So it was an incredibly you know, interesting time 164 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:19.560 to be there. So I spent a year in Budapest 165 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:22.439 and then a year and a half in Buenos Aires, 166 00:08:22.519 --> 00:08:25.480 which listened to too shabby either. 167 00:08:25.439 --> 00:08:28.839 Not a bad assignment either. So in Hungary, were there 168 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:33.200 any tense moments as the Communist government there tried to 169 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:35.200 hang on and then was starting to give way or 170 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:36.360 what happened there? 171 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:37.200 Not? 172 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:39.519 Not really when we when I first got there, we 173 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:43.399 were it was more of a comical situation. The Hungarian 174 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:48.919 version of the CIA would use us as the during 175 00:08:48.919 --> 00:08:52.960 their training course the Marines. They would surveil us, all right, 176 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:55.440 So that that led to, you know, a lot of 177 00:08:55.799 --> 00:08:59.320 opportunities to screw with them. So we would, you know, 178 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:01.759 put a bunch of us in the vehicle drive you know, 179 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:04.919 our van, drive down the road and then have people 180 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:07.360 need to get down below the seats and drive back. 181 00:09:07.399 --> 00:09:09.360 And you could see them trying to count and you know, 182 00:09:09.399 --> 00:09:12.679 wondering where, wondering where we went, so that we did 183 00:09:12.679 --> 00:09:17.279 have on on a few occasions, either Russian citizens or 184 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:22.440 Hungarian citizens tried to defect and come into the embassy, 185 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:25.559 and quite often there was uh, you know, they would 186 00:09:25.559 --> 00:09:28.159 be challenged, so we weren't allowed to go out outside 187 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:31.080 of the door to assist them in any way. But 188 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:33.320 it really came down to whether they could they could 189 00:09:33.320 --> 00:09:34.960 make it into the door. Once they made it in, 190 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:36.960 then they were you know. It was our job then 191 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:39.279 to to make sure we kept them safe and uh 192 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:42.399 until everything could get sorted out. But it was not 193 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:46.759 uncommon to have you know, people living in the entryway 194 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:49.039 to the embassy for a day or two until we 195 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:52.200 could get things sorted out both with with them, get 196 00:09:52.200 --> 00:09:54.759 their stories checked out, and determine whether they were you know, 197 00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:56.240 a legitimate refugee. 198 00:09:56.440 --> 00:09:58.639 Let's scoot ahead a little bit too, uh to the 199 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:01.000 war on Tarror. Now you were about as far away 200 00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:03.159 from the US as you could possibly be on nine 201 00:10:03.159 --> 00:10:05.840 to eleven. Tell us where you were, how you found 202 00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:09.279 out about the attacks, and what the immediate aftermath was 203 00:10:09.320 --> 00:10:09.679 like for you. 204 00:10:10.200 --> 00:10:12.799 Certainly so we had, you know, in the Marines, you 205 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:16.240 traditionally will deploy on ship for six months at a time, 206 00:10:16.759 --> 00:10:20.799 and on those deployments you do a lot of training. 207 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:24.679 You are basically there in case something happens. But you know, 208 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:27.440 for most of my time, nothing had really happened. But 209 00:10:28.039 --> 00:10:31.960 on this particular occasion, we had left the States. We 210 00:10:31.960 --> 00:10:35.679 were in Darwin, Australia, and after a couple of days 211 00:10:35.679 --> 00:10:37.600 of training, it was the first night that we had 212 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:40.840 anytime to ourselves, time to go out, and a couple 213 00:10:40.919 --> 00:10:44.240 of us had gone to a pub called Kiddi Osiers 214 00:10:44.600 --> 00:10:47.679 in Irish pub because there's always an Irish pub no 215 00:10:47.720 --> 00:10:50.279 matter where in the world you go, and why we 216 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:52.279 decided we picked an Irish pub, I don't know. But 217 00:10:52.759 --> 00:10:57.080 there was a soccer game on the television above the 218 00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:00.120 bar and we were having a couple of beers, and 219 00:11:00.759 --> 00:11:02.879 you know, at a certain point the bartender yelled and 220 00:11:02.919 --> 00:11:06.559 it was probably nine o'clock at night there, and you know, 221 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:09.480 when we looked up it was the first tower and 222 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.519 you know, the plane flown into it, and very very quickly, 223 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:16.960 within minutes after that. Because we were still trying to 224 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:20.279 piece together what happened, marines started who had been sent 225 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:22.480 you know, we're poking their head in every bar and 226 00:11:22.519 --> 00:11:24.600 telling everybody, Hey, get back to the ship, Get back 227 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:27.919 to the ship. So we finished, our beers got back 228 00:11:27.960 --> 00:11:31.080 to the boat, and you know, by the time the 229 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:33.240 sun came up, we were we were back at sea 230 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:37.559 with three ships that were we were on. By the 231 00:11:37.639 --> 00:11:39.879 end of the month, we were in Pakistan, and then 232 00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:41.960 in November we were in Afghanistan. 233 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:45.320 That's John Daly, a US Marine Corps veteran of Iraq 234 00:11:45.399 --> 00:11:49.360 and Afghanistan who spent most of his career in special operations. 235 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:52.639 When we come back being among the first Marines in 236 00:11:52.679 --> 00:11:57.679 Afghanistan and daily sees his first ever combat. I'm Greg 237 00:11:57.720 --> 00:12:01.320 Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles. 238 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:02.759 Sixty Seconds of Service. 239 00:12:03.080 --> 00:12:06.279 This sixty Seconds of Services presented by T Mobile. T 240 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:09.759 Mobile offers exclusive discounts for a veteran and military families 241 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:13.200 and are proud supporters of the National Defense Network. Visit 242 00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:16.240 tmobile dot com slash military to learn more about how 243 00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:20.440 they support our military community. From Colorado Springs, Bob McLaughlin 244 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:23.720 partnered with the Late Jaysumino a decade ago to create 245 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:26.720 a place that makes services accessible to military veterans and 246 00:12:26.759 --> 00:12:30.559 their families. From that partnership. Mount Carmel Veterans Service Center 247 00:12:30.679 --> 00:12:34.000 was born. At Mount Carmel, veterans who are transitioning from 248 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:36.919 military to civilian life can connect with other veterans who 249 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:39.840 have been through the same journey for peer coaching and counseling. 250 00:12:40.039 --> 00:12:43.399 The center offers services such as help with benefits, housing, 251 00:12:43.399 --> 00:12:47.519 and finding employment, as well as counseling on education, finances, 252 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:50.879 and legal matters. Today's sixty seconds of Service is brought 253 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:54.200 to you by Prevagen. Prevagen is the number one pharmacist 254 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:57.240 recommended memory support brand. You can find Prevagen and the 255 00:12:57.320 --> 00:12:59.639 Vitamin Aisle in stores everywhere. 256 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:03.960 This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbas. Our guest is 257 00:13:04.039 --> 00:13:07.679 retired US Marine Corps veteran John Daily. He served many 258 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:11.919 years in special operations and served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. 259 00:13:12.519 --> 00:13:15.039 We now pick up his story as Daily tells us 260 00:13:15.080 --> 00:13:17.360 about his first assignments in Afghanistan. 261 00:13:17.879 --> 00:13:22.039 After nine to eleven, my platoon was a force reconnaissance platoon, 262 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:25.279 and at this point so I had left the snipers, 263 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:27.360 although we still kind of had a sniper mission, but 264 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:32.919 our responsibility was to work ahead of the other elements 265 00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:35.840 and gather information. Decided you know, find out things that 266 00:13:35.879 --> 00:13:38.159 the commander wanted to know. So we had been tasked 267 00:13:38.200 --> 00:13:42.440 with going ashore in Pakistan to secure some locations where 268 00:13:42.600 --> 00:13:45.720 the MEW could begin to bring in equipment and personnel 269 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:51.679 and stage them to fly in to Afghanistan. And so, yeah, 270 00:13:51.720 --> 00:13:54.759 the war started for us. The ships that we were 271 00:13:54.799 --> 00:13:57.360 on were firing missiles, you know, that was really I 272 00:13:57.399 --> 00:14:00.679 think the first action. And then the Army special operations, 273 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:03.840 you know, the green Beerys were flown in up in 274 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:06.720 the north in the mountains on their horses. 275 00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:08.240 And you had originally thought you were going to be 276 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:11.279 dropped into Afghanistan as well, fairly early on. Eventually it 277 00:14:11.320 --> 00:14:15.679 was November of two thousand and one. Where did they 278 00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:17.159 send you and what were you asked to do? 279 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:21.159 The entire Marine expedition Ery Unit eventually moved into a 280 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:25.559 place what had been and a retreat for falconers. So 281 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:29.240 rich Afghanis would go hang out. There was an airfield 282 00:14:29.320 --> 00:14:33.240 and they would fly their falcons and they falcons would 283 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:37.759 hunt rabbits or whatever they do. Called Camp Rhino is 284 00:14:37.799 --> 00:14:40.960 what we called it. And so it was an enclosed, 285 00:14:41.080 --> 00:14:43.679 little little camp that we you know, stuffed full of 286 00:14:44.120 --> 00:14:49.279 marines and sailors and everybody else. And from there General 287 00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:52.799 Madis wound up being the mad dog everybody has heard 288 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:55.799 of was well being sent over to kind of take 289 00:14:55.960 --> 00:14:59.480 charge of the whole lash up he you know, threw 290 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:03.279 our boss asked us to find a route to get 291 00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:06.360 the Marines to Candahar, which was about one hundred and 292 00:15:06.440 --> 00:15:10.200 twenty miles away through the desert without driving on main roads, 293 00:15:10.360 --> 00:15:13.759 and an effort not to alert the Taliban that we 294 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:16.480 were on the move. So that's you know, one of 295 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:19.480 the primary missions that we did in reconnaissance woop. So 296 00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:22.840 we took off at night in a handful of vehicles. 297 00:15:23.799 --> 00:15:26.519 It's about twenty to thirty of us driving through the desert, 298 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:29.720 picking a route that we could we could get vehicles 299 00:15:30.120 --> 00:15:32.240 up to the edge of Candahar. 300 00:15:32.600 --> 00:15:34.240 Now, as you point out in the book, due to 301 00:15:34.279 --> 00:15:37.960 your embassy assignments and other assignments you had over the years, 302 00:15:38.279 --> 00:15:41.039 you had not been in combat yet in the first 303 00:15:41.399 --> 00:15:44.519 fourteen years of your service. So what were your thoughts 304 00:15:44.559 --> 00:15:47.720 about finally seeing action. Were you confident that your training 305 00:15:47.720 --> 00:15:49.679 had prepared you well or what else was going through 306 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:50.039 your mind? 307 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:53.759 Yeah, that that's always I mean, anybody that's been in 308 00:15:53.799 --> 00:15:57.879 the service you know, has that looming right before the 309 00:15:57.879 --> 00:16:01.600 first time that they go into combat. And honestly, it 310 00:16:01.639 --> 00:16:03.960 had been so long I'd missed out on the Gulf 311 00:16:03.960 --> 00:16:08.120 War because I was in Budapest or in Buenos Aires 312 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:12.120 during that time. So we were eventually on the evening 313 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:14.759 of the seventh of December two thousand and one, sent 314 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:20.879 out to interdict vehicles leaving Kandahar. And as we were 315 00:16:21.480 --> 00:16:25.120 kind of setting waiting for vehicles to leave Kandahar and 316 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:29.240 come up to where we had established a position, you know, 317 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:31.480 I really did not. 318 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:34.279 Feel that this was going to be the day. 319 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:36.159 I kind of felt like I was a bad luck 320 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:38.039 omen or a good luck omen, whichever way you want 321 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:41.200 to look at it, I guess. But when eventually they did, 322 00:16:41.240 --> 00:16:45.720 some vehicles came up full of weapons, full of Taliban fighters, 323 00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:48.559 and we engaged them and got you really, at that 324 00:16:48.600 --> 00:16:50.080 point don't have a whole lot of time to thank 325 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:53.039 You definitely have to fall back on your training. And 326 00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:56.919 it wasn't until after the fact that I really I 327 00:16:57.000 --> 00:16:59.679 was the platoon sergeant, so I was responsible for the 328 00:16:59.720 --> 00:17:02.000 live so these thirty guys that I had with me, 329 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:06.920 and you know, on reflection, you realize that you know, 330 00:17:07.799 --> 00:17:09.960 everything that you do in training has a purpose, right, 331 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:13.880 and it's an absolute value in what people say all 332 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:16.200 the time, being brilliant in the basics, right, just doing 333 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:19.640 the little things that and doing them you know what 334 00:17:19.720 --> 00:17:21.599 we say a lot of times, just do it until 335 00:17:21.640 --> 00:17:23.000 you don't do it until you get it right, do 336 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:24.799 it until you can't get it wrong. So, you know, 337 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:29.359 all of the late nights, the drills, the exercises, you know, 338 00:17:29.480 --> 00:17:32.799 paid off. And the times when when some of my 339 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:35.920 guys were you know, complaining that, hey, you know, can 340 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:37.079 you know, can we get off early? 341 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:37.720 Can we go home? 342 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:39.559 And can we get the weekend off or whatever? And 343 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:41.799 I you know, had to be the guy to say no. 344 00:17:42.039 --> 00:17:44.799 You know, those those times all all paid off. 345 00:17:44.839 --> 00:17:47.400 In terms of interdicting the vehicles there outside of Canada 346 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:50.599 her how did you process who's a threat and who's 347 00:17:50.680 --> 00:17:52.559 just somebody trying to get away from combat? 348 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:54.279 That was really the question. 349 00:17:54.400 --> 00:17:57.599 We were initially told that we could just shoot anybody 350 00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:03.799 leaving Kandor and that was uh. The military in situations 351 00:18:03.799 --> 00:18:05.039 has the authority to do that. 352 00:18:05.319 --> 00:18:07.960 Right. The declare an area or a group of people, 353 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:08.319 or a. 354 00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:12.119 Stretch a roadway hostile, you know, meaning that anybody coming 355 00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:14.319 down that road is fair game. You know, I was 356 00:18:14.359 --> 00:18:21.480 not willing to make that call, right. One of the 357 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:25.400 valuable portions of our training. We spend a lot of 358 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:29.000 time doing discriminatory shooting. So like going into a shoothouse 359 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:32.400 and there are people with a hair dryer in their hand, 360 00:18:32.440 --> 00:18:34.519 there's somebody with a pistol. You know, they look very 361 00:18:34.599 --> 00:18:36.880 very similar. But you you know, we were trained to 362 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:40.960 identify and make sure that we were only shooting people. 363 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:44.160 That needed to be shot. I guess. 364 00:18:44.599 --> 00:18:47.880 So the idea of of me or one of my guys, 365 00:18:48.079 --> 00:18:50.920 you know, shooting into a vehicle and hitting a child 366 00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:53.960 or hitting you know, someone who is trying to flee 367 00:18:54.240 --> 00:18:58.759 the uh, the you know the Taliban, all right, when 368 00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:00.319 we were the ones who were supposed to be, you know, 369 00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:04.480 freeing them from that. You know that I couldn't bring 370 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:06.720 myself to give any order that would it would cause 371 00:19:06.759 --> 00:19:10.880 that or you know, certainly didn't want somebody or myself, 372 00:19:10.920 --> 00:19:13.920 you know, in years to come, having to live with that. 373 00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:16.920 That's John Daly, a US Marine Corps veteran of Iraq 374 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:21.400 in Afghanistan serving in special operations. When we come back 375 00:19:21.640 --> 00:19:25.720 more about Daily's leadership in Afghanistan and later his extensive 376 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:29.440 work in Iraq. Stay with us. I'm Greg Corumbas, and 377 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:35.680 this is Veterans Chronicles. This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. 378 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:38.720 Our guest in this edition is John Daly, a US 379 00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:43.039 Marine Corps veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan serving in special operations. 380 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:45.920 Soon we'll hear a lot about Daily's time in Iraq, 381 00:19:46.279 --> 00:19:50.079 but he now continues discussing how he interdicted potential terrorists 382 00:19:50.400 --> 00:19:51.559 outside of Kandahar. 383 00:19:51.960 --> 00:19:55.480 So it really came down to taking a look at 384 00:19:55.839 --> 00:19:57.680 the task that we were given and then finding a 385 00:19:57.720 --> 00:20:00.039 way to do it that allowed us the opportunity to 386 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:03.480 identify the targets. I was confident that in a head 387 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:06.359 to head gunfight, you know, my guys would win. One 388 00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:09.000 of the Marines in the platoon came up with the 389 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:12.680 idea of, rather than treating it like an ambush, treating 390 00:20:12.680 --> 00:20:15.400 it like a vehicle interdiction mission, which is something that 391 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:19.079 we do. Instead of normally we would use a hell 392 00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:21.960 of orange sniper to stop the vehicle. You know, we 393 00:20:21.960 --> 00:20:24.920 didn't have that luxury at the at the time, so 394 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:30.359 we used concertina wire, you know, metal razor wire, essentially 395 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:33.559 stretched across the road, which at that time I was 396 00:20:33.799 --> 00:20:36.240 had never seen it used in that way right to 397 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:38.680 stop a vehicle, but it stops it very very effectively. 398 00:20:40.440 --> 00:20:42.920 So once the you know, the vehicle approached and we 399 00:20:43.039 --> 00:20:47.799 had reason to believe that they were bad guys, there 400 00:20:47.799 --> 00:20:50.559 were behind them there were two large trucks that had 401 00:20:50.680 --> 00:20:53.880