WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:12.599 The Team House with your hope, Jack Murphy and David Bark. Hey, folks, 2 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:14.640 this is episode three hundred and eighty one of The 3 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:18.359 Team House. I'm Jack Murphy. With our guest tonight is 4 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:22.000 Major General retired Pete Gallagher. He served for thirty five 5 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:24.679 years as a signals officer, twelve of those in the 6 00:00:24.679 --> 00:00:28.839 Special Operations Community, seven of those years in Army Special 7 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:33.200 mission units. All kinds of different interesting assignments throughout the 8 00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:36.159 War on Terror and beyond here that we're going to 9 00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:39.759 get into. Thanks Pete for joining us on the show tonight. 10 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:43.000 Hey, Jack, it's my pleasure. Thanks. I want to give 11 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:46.240 a shout out to Frank de Lesio. He obviously connected 12 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:49.240 us a good friend from ATF, did some crazy things 13 00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:51.840 there for that task Force, and I'm glad he made 14 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:53.320 the connection area you can. 15 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:56.640 And folks out there can go and find Frank. On 16 00:00:56.960 --> 00:00:59.960 two episodes we've done in the past, Frank was undercover 17 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:06.000 for ATF guy who's infiltrating Nazi motorcycle gangs. Yeah, he's 18 00:01:06.040 --> 00:01:08.400 got some stories, so yeah, you guys can go back 19 00:01:08.439 --> 00:01:09.959 in time and find those if you want. 20 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:14.079 But he also runs a pretty awesome Black River tobacco 21 00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:17.519 company he runs with a cigar lounge about fifteen minutes. 22 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:20.239 For me, it's it's a it's like my cheers. I'm 23 00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:23.480 like Norm and Frank's like Sam, and that's my cheers. 24 00:01:24.359 --> 00:01:26.879 Is uh? Is that done in? Is it South Carolina? 25 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:30.879 No, it's in North Carolina, Carolin right off I ninety five. 26 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:33.400 So anybody out there listen, if you're traveling down I 27 00:01:33.519 --> 00:01:35.680 ninety five and you want a really nice cigar land 28 00:01:36.120 --> 00:01:38.920 to come in and smoke a stick and have have 29 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:41.079 some brown water. You know, Frank's a great American and 30 00:01:41.319 --> 00:01:42.400 he'll take good care of you. 31 00:01:42.519 --> 00:01:46.000 That's awesome. So Pete, I'm gonna ask you the same 32 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:48.120 question I ask everyone. Tell us a little bit about 33 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:50.319 how you grew up and how that eventually took you 34 00:01:50.359 --> 00:01:51.640 towards military service. 35 00:01:52.760 --> 00:01:55.200 Yeah. So I was born in a place called Pittsburgh, Kansas, 36 00:01:55.239 --> 00:01:58.079 in the southeast corner of the state. You know, right 37 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:01.560 in the four state areas. You got Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, 38 00:02:01.719 --> 00:02:04.519 and Arkansas right in that area. And I grew up, 39 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:08.719 you know, middle class family. My dad owned a construction company. 40 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:12.000 He built those metal buildings and throughout the four state area, 41 00:02:12.439 --> 00:02:15.120 any industrial park would be you know, building you'd find 42 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:18.520 a bunch of metal buildings built by Gallagher Construction company. 43 00:02:19.159 --> 00:02:22.240 My mom kept the books. I was the fourth of 44 00:02:22.680 --> 00:02:25.479 six kids. You know. They tried to do everything they 45 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:27.879 could to give us a quality of life. I mean, 46 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:32.479 sent us to a Catholic school there. Uh, and we 47 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:34.599 had a swimming pool in our yard, but it was 48 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:38.120 it was always leaking. It was nasty, it was miserable. 49 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:39.680 By the time we got it clean in the summer, 50 00:02:39.719 --> 00:02:42.400 it was summer was almost over. It was. We had 51 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:44.800 a little cabin by the lake, a grand lake that 52 00:02:45.319 --> 00:02:47.280 was never finished. It was one of these things. It 53 00:02:47.319 --> 00:02:49.879 was always a work in progress. My dad had a 54 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:52.240 boat and it leaked all the time. So he tried 55 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:54.479 to give us the great American you know dream. But 56 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:56.680 it was it was interesting, you know kind of times. 57 00:02:56.680 --> 00:03:02.199 But unfortunately, Yeah, he my two older sisters and my 58 00:03:02.280 --> 00:03:05.280 older brother, you know, they had moved out of the house. 59 00:03:05.319 --> 00:03:07.280 I was in high school. I had two younger brothers. 60 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:10.919 My dad passed away when he was fifty one years old, 61 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:14.360 and that was pretty significant for me because my mom 62 00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:20.919 was a wreck and she you know, every year going 63 00:03:20.960 --> 00:03:23.319 back to the you know, Catholic school and construction coming 64 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:26.520 every summer, I'd work for my dad, right, and you know, 65 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:29.599 I'd work with all these misfits, these wage grade misfit 66 00:03:30.199 --> 00:03:33.599 guys that were just you know, rude talking, you know, 67 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:36.360 cuss every other word was a cuss word. Every night 68 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:39.439 after work, they'd be, you know, pouring down the beers. 69 00:03:39.719 --> 00:03:42.240 And I'm this teenage kid, you know, trying to work 70 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:45.680 out and get ready for high school football, working construction 71 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:48.599 in the summer, and every time I'd start the school year, 72 00:03:48.599 --> 00:03:50.599 I'd have to kind of decompress and get back into 73 00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:53.240 making sure I wasn't saying something stupid in front of 74 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:55.919 Sister Mary Elephant there at the Catholic school, you know 75 00:03:55.960 --> 00:03:58.280 what I mean. But one year in particular, it was 76 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:03.360 it was the summer of nineteen actually nineteen eighty. I 77 00:04:03.400 --> 00:04:05.240 was getting ready to go into my senior year in 78 00:04:05.560 --> 00:04:10.879 July twenty fifth. You know, typically, my dad would wake 79 00:04:10.919 --> 00:04:12.879 me up on a Monday morning and you know, kind 80 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:14.039 of chew my ass, tell me it was time to 81 00:04:14.039 --> 00:04:17.720 get up and get ready for work. And that morning, 82 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:21.079 my mom woke me up just in shock because my 83 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:24.360 dad wasn't breathing and he had died in a sleep 84 00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:28.399 of a heart attack. And I kind of changed the 85 00:04:28.439 --> 00:04:30.879 game for me. I was, you know, a little bit 86 00:04:30.879 --> 00:04:32.560 of a I was a little bit of a hell 87 00:04:32.680 --> 00:04:35.480 and I you know, raised, I wasn't the best student 88 00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:39.759 in the world. You know, probably b's and c's occasional 89 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:44.439 less than that. But I immediately had to grow up. 90 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:48.240 I immediately had to I'm sixteen, almost seventeen years old. 91 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:50.920 I had a kind of a shock to the system 92 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:52.480 there where I really needed to grow up and take 93 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:54.519 care of my mom and take care of my two 94 00:04:54.519 --> 00:04:57.279 younger brothers and kind of figure out life. And I 95 00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:01.000 kind of launched me into trying to become the adult 96 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:02.839 in the house. Like I said, my mom was a 97 00:05:02.839 --> 00:05:06.040 wreck and so trying to navigate that because most of 98 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:08.399 my all three of my older siblings were out of 99 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:10.800 the house at the time. So that was a kind 100 00:05:10.839 --> 00:05:14.040 of a wake up moment for me. And then that 101 00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:17.199 same fall, I had a brand new high school football coach. 102 00:05:17.480 --> 00:05:21.800 He was just a model citizen. He was a math 103 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:25.160 teacher in high school coach, and I really liked him 104 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:26.560 a lot. I mean, he was you know, I was 105 00:05:26.600 --> 00:05:28.680 trying to do everything I could to you know, make 106 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:30.079 sure he knew I was going to be his go 107 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:32.720 to guy on the football team my senior year. But 108 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:34.480 I was also pretty good at math, and so I 109 00:05:34.759 --> 00:05:37.879 was going through my senior year, I knew I wanted 110 00:05:37.920 --> 00:05:40.759 to go to college, and I knew I was I mean, 111 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:43.480 I was looking at trying to play football. I didn't 112 00:05:43.480 --> 00:05:46.040 have any real offers. There was a couple junior colleges 113 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:49.639 that you know, offered some scholarships, but Pitts State, Pittsburgh 114 00:05:49.639 --> 00:05:53.560 State University in Kansas, the Guerrillas. They were an NAIA 115 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:56.160 football powerhouse at the time. Now they're Division two. But 116 00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:00.079 I decided to He recommended that I walk on of 117 00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:03.120 pitt State. And one of the other things he said, 118 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:05.120 he had a really good buddy when he was going 119 00:06:05.160 --> 00:06:08.319 to college. That was ro OTC Catery at pitt State, 120 00:06:08.600 --> 00:06:11.759 an airborne ranger, a guy named Kurt Long, and Chuck 121 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:15.920 introduced me to Kurt. And Chuck Smith was legend he's 122 00:06:16.040 --> 00:06:18.319 legendary football coach. But that was his first year there. 123 00:06:18.680 --> 00:06:21.480 But he said, you know, if I had it all 124 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:23.160 to do over again, I would have I would have 125 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:27.800 got commissioned and I would have served at least four years. 126 00:06:28.120 --> 00:06:31.600 He goes, I highly recommend you join r OTC at 127 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:33.639 least for the first two years. Give it a shot. 128 00:06:33.959 --> 00:06:35.759 You'll learn a little bit about leadership. You'll get to 129 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:37.879 shoot guns, you'll get to repel off the you know, 130 00:06:37.959 --> 00:06:39.759 Russ Hall, You'll get to you know, you'll learn a 131 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:41.319 little bit about leadership. But you're also going to be 132 00:06:41.319 --> 00:06:43.720 able to boost your GPA. And so for me, I 133 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:46.000 was like, Okay, you know, I'll do that. I'll try that. 134 00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:49.120 So as a freshman going into Pitt State, you know, 135 00:06:49.160 --> 00:06:51.480 I had a I had a girlfriend, ended up marrying 136 00:06:51.480 --> 00:06:55.120 her later. But I go into Pitt State and you know, 137 00:06:55.160 --> 00:06:58.160 I'm working at the library, I'm you know, majoring in mathematics, 138 00:06:58.519 --> 00:07:01.360 I'm playing football. I've got a couple of other part 139 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:04.480 time things I'm doing. Uh And you know, my freshman 140 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:09.720 year on the football team, I I didn't make. I 141 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:11.839 didn't make the varsity. I was on the but I 142 00:07:11.879 --> 00:07:14.120 started on the junior varsity and we had like five games. 143 00:07:14.279 --> 00:07:16.120 So every other year back then, they would either red 144 00:07:16.120 --> 00:07:19.000 shirt the freshmen or they would allow them to play, 145 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:21.920 you know, junior varsity. So I had the opportunity to 146 00:07:21.959 --> 00:07:25.279 play in a few games, starting at outside linebacker there 147 00:07:25.319 --> 00:07:27.319 at Pitt and UH, it was it was a lot 148 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:30.360 of fun, and I went in through springball, I go 149 00:07:30.439 --> 00:07:35.319 through you know, summer, and I get to the fall 150 00:07:35.399 --> 00:07:38.120 of my sophomore year, and I feel like I'm doing 151 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:40.240 pretty good. And I had a really good off season 152 00:07:40.279 --> 00:07:43.600 and kind of working to get ready, and I realized, 153 00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:46.600 you know, a bunch of Juco transfers came in that 154 00:07:46.680 --> 00:07:50.879 were freaking super fast, super strong, and they came in 155 00:07:50.920 --> 00:07:53.360 and I started noticing my position on the depth chart 156 00:07:53.800 --> 00:07:57.120 going down instead of going up. And so after we 157 00:07:57.160 --> 00:08:03.079 had a scrimmage and I kind of got I got 158 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:06.199 juped by the quarterback and I missed the tackle. Uh, 159 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:09.720 and I got yanked out of the scrimmage and I 160 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:12.160 didn't get to go back in. And then Monday, it 161 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:14.199 was a scrimmage on a Saturday. Monday, I go back 162 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:16.199 in there and I see I've dropped two positions on 163 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:18.480 the depth chart. I just started thinking about everything I 164 00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:20.360 was trying to balance, you know, trying to manage a major, 165 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:24.040 trying to you know, do okay in academics, having a girlfriend, 166 00:08:24.040 --> 00:08:27.000 and load balancing all this stuff. And then I, you know, 167 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:28.800 I was still having fun with the ROTC stuff, but 168 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:30.600 I just didn't have time to do it. And so 169 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:33.240 I made a decision to hang up my cleats and 170 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:36.320 focus on something that I could actually maybe go pro in. Right, 171 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:40.519 And there's my thoughts are, if I stuck it out, 172 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:42.960 I may have been able to start as a senior, 173 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:45.279 but you'd never know. And I just wasn't gonna waste 174 00:08:45.320 --> 00:08:47.600 the time and energy because it was college sports is 175 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:49.200 like a full time job. And I don't think I 176 00:08:49.279 --> 00:08:52.799 was good enough, you know. I mean I had great hands, 177 00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:55.000 I was probably big enough, but I don't know if 178 00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:56.399 I was fast enough. There was a lot of a 179 00:08:56.399 --> 00:08:58.440 lot of speechers coming in there, and it was just 180 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:01.600 it was a consciousness vision. It was almost like one 181 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:04.360 that you make it and you don't want to make it, 182 00:09:04.519 --> 00:09:05.679 but when you make it, you know it was the 183 00:09:05.720 --> 00:09:09.039 right choice. Right. So I did that, and I decided 184 00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:12.320 to kind of go all in on a military uh 185 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:14.279 you know, at least do four years. And that was 186 00:09:14.360 --> 00:09:16.240 kind of what he said, you know, go try to 187 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:18.240 go active duty and do at least four years. And so, 188 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:21.360 you know, I got married in nineteen eighty four, ended 189 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:23.840 up going to the ROTC advance camp, and I didn't 190 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:25.759 I had no idea what branch I wanted to go, 191 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:29.279 you know, and a lot of guys wanted to go aviation, 192 00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:30.440 A lot of guys wanted to go in am I, 193 00:09:30.440 --> 00:09:32.960 a lot of guys wanted to go infantry. I didn't 194 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:35.600 know what I wanted to do. I wanted to what 195 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:38.200 I thought is I was going to go in four years, 196 00:09:38.519 --> 00:09:43.039 and I wanted something technical to go with my math 197 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:45.720 degree so I could learn something and be marketable. And so, 198 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:48.200 you know, when I was out at Fort Riley for 199 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:53.080 the Advanced ROTC Advance Camp, you know, I learned a 200 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:54.799 little bit about Signal Corps and what they do, and 201 00:09:54.840 --> 00:09:56.919 I was like, you know, maybe I'll go Signal Corps 202 00:09:56.919 --> 00:09:58.720 and see what that's all about. And so I put 203 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:01.039 that down. I ended up getting my first choice. I 204 00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:04.360 got commissioned in eighty five. I still had to do 205 00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:06.320 my student teaching, was I was majoring in math and 206 00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:09.159 phized at the time and had to do student teaching, 207 00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:11.159 and my wife had to do her student teaching as well. 208 00:10:11.399 --> 00:10:15.320 So we didn't actually you know, interactive duty until summer 209 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:17.639 of nineteen eighty six, and you know, I went to 210 00:10:17.639 --> 00:10:19.960 Fort Gordon, Georgia there and it was kind of the 211 00:10:19.960 --> 00:10:21.679 beginning of my Signal Core journey. 212 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:26.960 That's cool. So you had to go through I mean, 213 00:10:27.519 --> 00:10:30.120 I guess I should just ask you what's like that 214 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:32.679 process of becoming a signals officer, Like what is your 215 00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:35.799 kind of like advanced individual training and all that stuff, 216 00:10:35.799 --> 00:10:38.559 that kind of pipeline. 217 00:10:39.559 --> 00:10:42.559 Yeah, so as an officer, every officer. Now they call 218 00:10:42.600 --> 00:10:45.440 it Bullock Basic Officer Leadership Course, but back then they 219 00:10:45.519 --> 00:10:49.360 called it SOBC Signal Officer Basic Course. And it's almost 220 00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:51.960 six months. It's at Fort Gordon, Georgia, and they train 221 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:55.039 you on, you know, all the foundational stuff of how 222 00:10:55.080 --> 00:10:58.600 to be an officer, okay, and it builds on everything 223 00:10:58.679 --> 00:11:02.080 you get whether you're OCS or West Point or ROTC. 224 00:11:02.279 --> 00:11:05.159 They start building that foundation of Okay, this is what 225 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:08.039 it's going to be like for you to be successful 226 00:11:08.039 --> 00:11:11.399 as a platoon leader or as a battalion level staff offers. 227 00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:13.080 These are the things you need to know, the things 228 00:11:13.080 --> 00:11:15.039 you need to learn, a lot of focus on PT, 229 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:19.000 a lot of focus on maintenance, logistics, all the fundamentals 230 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:24.159 you know, the accountability, maintenance, all the readiness kind of 231 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:26.679 things that a good platoonier needs to learn and know. 232 00:11:27.080 --> 00:11:29.120 They teach you all that, but then they really focus 233 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:32.399 on the technical skills, and at the time, you know, 234 00:11:32.440 --> 00:11:37.440 when I was at Gordon, I got pinpointed. Everybody was 235 00:11:37.480 --> 00:11:42.559 either getting Korea or Germany, and then a few folks 236 00:11:42.600 --> 00:11:45.759 would get like Fort Wachick, Arizona, Fort Hood, or Fort Bragg. 237 00:11:45.960 --> 00:11:48.879 Those were like the big you know, places where most 238 00:11:48.919 --> 00:11:51.720 folks were trying to go, and I didn't know much 239 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:54.080 about any of those. I actually wanted to go to 240 00:11:54.120 --> 00:11:56.960 Fort Lewis, Washington, and I put that in as my 241 00:11:57.360 --> 00:11:59.600 first assignment, but I didn't I wanted to go there 242 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:01.759 because that's my wife was born, and we were you know, 243 00:12:01.799 --> 00:12:03.879 thinking about, you know, going out there and just seeing 244 00:12:03.879 --> 00:12:06.200 what it was like. But I ended up getting pinpointed 245 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:11.039 to third Infantry Division in Wurtzburg, Germany. And so after 246 00:12:11.080 --> 00:12:15.360 I graduated the Signal Basic course, I was actually, uh 247 00:12:16.120 --> 00:12:18.799 my wife got pregnant with our first son. It was 248 00:12:18.840 --> 00:12:23.360 actually it's interesting because his birthday is exactly nine months 249 00:12:23.399 --> 00:12:26.200 after my birthday. I'm not sure that's coincidental or not, 250 00:12:26.600 --> 00:12:32.639 but his uh, he was born in When I graduated 251 00:12:32.679 --> 00:12:35.639 Fort Gordon, I ended up going to write Patterson Air 252 00:12:35.639 --> 00:12:39.360 Force Base for this very technical school on computer networking, 253 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:42.000 and I kind of realized it was a graduate level 254 00:12:42.679 --> 00:12:46.360 training at the Air Force Institute of Technology, and I 255 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:48.840 went from six months at Fort Gordon to six months there, 256 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:52.399 and it was it was kind of nerd, geekd, you know, 257 00:12:52.440 --> 00:12:53.960 one oh one kind of stuff. I mean, it was 258 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:57.240 not in my wheelhouse, but I was learning about computer networks. 259 00:12:57.240 --> 00:13:00.120 I was learning all this stuff and it was it 260 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:02.879 was a lot of studying, and it was it was 261 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:05.480 a lot of work to learn all that technical stuff 262 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:07.679 because I, you know, like I said, I was pretty 263 00:13:07.720 --> 00:13:10.000 good at math, but I really didn't understand all the 264 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:12.840 computer networking and all that kind of stuff. But one 265 00:13:12.879 --> 00:13:16.279 of the things that happened is while I was there 266 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:19.759 at Right Pat, my first son, my oldest son, was 267 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:24.399 born and my wife was having some complications and I 268 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:30.279 his birth was right by right. The night of his 269 00:13:30.360 --> 00:13:33.919 birth was the day before my computer networking final, and 270 00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:36.440 it was the hardest class I had. And I tried 271 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:38.840 to get out of taking the final and getting it rescheduled, 272 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:40.799 but the instructor was kind of a jerk and he 273 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:42.679 wouldn't let me. So I ended up taking the test 274 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:44.759 and I bombed it. And that was like I was 275 00:13:44.799 --> 00:13:46.200 doing pretty well in all the other courses, but I 276 00:13:46.279 --> 00:13:48.559 ended up getting like a C barely got a see 277 00:13:48.600 --> 00:13:52.320 in that class. And anyway, it was like it was 278 00:13:52.360 --> 00:13:54.799 one of those things where and the guy was a captain. 279 00:13:54.840 --> 00:13:56.840 He was an Army captain teaching at this Air Force. 280 00:13:57.039 --> 00:14:00.600 But it was like, I will never be like that guy. 281 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:03.159 You know, if one of my guys or one of 282 00:14:03.159 --> 00:14:06.240 my soldiers, you know, if they have a family issue, 283 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:07.759 you got to let them take care of that, and 284 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:10.200 you can. You can reschedule a test, you can reschedule, 285 00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:12.159 you know, if somebody needs to come off a j 286 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:15.559 RTC deployment or whatever. You know, allow them the opportunity 287 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:17.159 to take care of their family if they need to. 288 00:14:17.240 --> 00:14:19.799 And so it just kind of left a mark. But 289 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:22.799 my son was born there at Right Pat and now 290 00:14:22.919 --> 00:14:24.519 you know, actually he's serving. He's a major in the 291 00:14:24.600 --> 00:14:27.559 Army today. But yeah, it was a that was kind 292 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:29.159 of the training path. And then I ended up going 293 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:32.759 over to Germany for my actually before right after Right Pat, 294 00:14:32.759 --> 00:14:35.279 I ended up going to Airborne School Fort Benning, and 295 00:14:35.279 --> 00:14:39.320 then my wife, my my newborn baby, and I flew 296 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:42.039 to Germany to begin our three year journey there in 297 00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:45.720 the third Infantry Division, Rock of the morn in Burtzberg. 298 00:14:46.039 --> 00:14:48.120 Hey guys, it's your pal Jack. I just want to 299 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:49.799 take a moment to tell you about the sponsor for 300 00:14:49.879 --> 00:14:54.320 this show, which is stop Box. Stop Box makes this 301 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:59.320 very cool box to secure your items in where your 302 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:04.759 valuable or weapons could be a firearm, knife, things that 303 00:15:04.840 --> 00:15:09.320 you want to keep away from kids. Opens up like so, 304 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:13.480 and the way it locks is very interesting, and you 305 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:16.120 can change the combination by the way. So you have 306 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:19.120 these actuators on the side, and in this case for 307 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:22.799 demonstration purposes, the code is to hold down the index 308 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:26.440 finger and pointer finger and then come over and there's 309 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:30.519 a thumb hit that and it opens up. So that's 310 00:15:30.559 --> 00:15:35.440 the code. And this thing is proudly made in the 311 00:15:35.559 --> 00:15:38.480 us of A, so they keep the quality very high. 312 00:15:38.759 --> 00:15:41.679 It's also TSA compliant, so you can throw this in 313 00:15:41.720 --> 00:15:44.559 a bag and travel with it. And stop Box also 314 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:47.679 offers a range of other innovative products, including their vehicle 315 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:50.879 safe chamber lock and other essential gear designed to keep 316 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:54.200 you prepared and protected wherever you are. For a limited 317 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:57.039 time only, our listeners are getting a crazy deal. Not 318 00:15:57.080 --> 00:15:59.320 only do you get ten percent off your entire order 319 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:02.879 when you use the code code House at STOPBOXUSA, dot com. 320 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:05.080 But they are also giving you a buy one, get 321 00:16:05.080 --> 00:16:08.759 one free for their Stopbox Pro that's ten percent off 322 00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:11.399 and a free Stopbox Pro when you use the code 323 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:16.279 house at STOPBOXUSA dot com. Discover a better way to 324 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:20.240 balance security and readiness with Stopbox. I'd like to ask 325 00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:23.240 a little bit about Army signals in general, Like for 326 00:16:23.320 --> 00:16:26.799 people out there, including myself quite frankly, that don't necessarily 327 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:29.360 understand all the ins and outs of it is your 328 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:33.120 job as a signals officer is primarily helping the unit 329 00:16:33.159 --> 00:16:37.080 communicate internally or helping units communicate with one another. What's 330 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:39.440 sort of like the way that's framed out. 331 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:44.879 Yeah, so it's uh so, every unit has to be 332 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:47.679 able to move, shoot and communicate. And every infantry unit, 333 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:51.080 every even an a team and special Forces has you know, 334 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:54.480 eighteen echos communicators on the team. There are specially trained 335 00:16:54.519 --> 00:16:57.679 experts that know understand, you know, have the expertise and 336 00:16:57.720 --> 00:17:00.519 the technical know how to be able to install, operate 337 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:04.119 and maintain the communications systems that that unit requires. And 338 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:08.720 the higher you are on achelon you know, so an 339 00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:11.680 infantry platoon may have a radio or two. Now they 340 00:17:11.720 --> 00:17:14.240 have a lot of Now they have Android devices and 341 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:15.839 and all kinds of comps. But back in the day, 342 00:17:15.880 --> 00:17:18.039 they may have a radio uh and they'd be up 343 00:17:18.039 --> 00:17:20.799 on one single radio unit. As you go up the 344 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:25.960 higher echelons, you know, company, battalion, brigade, there's more coordination 345 00:17:26.039 --> 00:17:29.880 and synchronization required, not only down and in with your units, 346 00:17:30.359 --> 00:17:33.319 but with adjacent units and higher headquarters. So there will 347 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:37.000 be you know, requirements for communications at command posts where 348 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:40.000 decisions are made. Uh. And and like the special opsit 349 00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:42.559 it would be a forward operating base for example, where 350 00:17:42.599 --> 00:17:46.079 you'd have additional communications. It might be satellite reach back 351 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:49.440 or big HF systems that allow you to communicate you 352 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:51.799 know with you know, be online a site to higher 353 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:54.359 headquarters and things like that. And so so it's uh, 354 00:17:54.799 --> 00:17:57.880 it's really you're like the phone company for the for 355 00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:00.559 the army, you know. You know, it's like so like 356 00:18:00.599 --> 00:18:03.160 the Verizon or the AT and T for the army. 357 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:05.519 And it's and you got to ensure that, you know, 358 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:09.880 I mean, obviously the enemy gets a vote, and you know, 359 00:18:09.880 --> 00:18:12.279 if they have electronic warfare capability and all that, you 360 00:18:12.599 --> 00:18:14.799 have to have what's called a pace plan, the ability 361 00:18:14.839 --> 00:18:17.559 to have a primary alternative contingency and emergency, you have 362 00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:22.559 multiple options, so commanders can command because you know, decisions 363 00:18:22.599 --> 00:18:25.920 don't get disseminated down to the lowest tactical level if 364 00:18:25.960 --> 00:18:27.680 you don't have good communications. 365 00:18:28.039 --> 00:18:33.559 All right, and then you went to the advance course 366 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:35.240 for special operations. 367 00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:39.759 Uh yeah, oh h yeah. So I spent I felt 368 00:18:39.799 --> 00:18:41.559 like I was a pretty damn good signal officer. And 369 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:44.440 in Germany, you know, we spent a lot of time, 370 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:48.279 you know, uh, supporting what was called reforger Exercise Return 371 00:18:48.359 --> 00:18:51.960 of Forces to Germany. As an infantry division, we had 372 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:54.839 we had our you know, tactical assembly areas. We would 373 00:18:54.839 --> 00:18:57.839 have these things called lariat advances, which were alert. There 374 00:18:57.880 --> 00:19:00.279 was a constant state of readiness during the Cold War, 375 00:19:00.759 --> 00:19:04.960 and at this time, you know, President Reagan had just 376 00:19:06.119 --> 00:19:09.519 actually when I got to Germany, President Reagan was still president. 377 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:13.799 While I was in Germany, George H. W. Bush took over. 378 00:19:14.599 --> 00:19:17.960 And then in nineteen eighty nine, just cause happened, and 379 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:20.839 I was over in Germany fighting the Cold War. You know, 380 00:19:20.839 --> 00:19:25.079 it was you know, concerned about Russia and USSR, the 381 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:28.039 Soviet Union, and we had our GDP locations. We were 382 00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:30.000 you know, training, we were doing maintenance, we were doing 383 00:19:30.039 --> 00:19:32.319 all the stuff that every good unit does, and I 384 00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:34.599 was I was really you know, I felt like I 385 00:19:34.599 --> 00:19:36.960 was a good platoon leader, a really good company XO, 386 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:39.599 and I was learning how to be a good signal officer. 387 00:19:39.640 --> 00:19:43.640 And I was pretty excited about, you know what I 388 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:47.000 was learning. But I also realized that, you know, okay, 389 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:50.039 you have this thing called just Cause. And I've heard 390 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:52.160 about all the units that went, and none of them 391 00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:54.759 were coming out of Germany. And then when I wrapped 392 00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:57.599 up that assignment, just as my wife and I were, 393 00:19:57.640 --> 00:20:00.359 you know, in our we had another son born and 394 00:20:00.839 --> 00:20:03.440 while we were in Germany. He's now a special ops 395 00:20:03.480 --> 00:20:07.599 communicator over in the third Group, but he was born 396 00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:10.000 when we were in Germany. And as our family was 397 00:20:10.039 --> 00:20:13.039 making its way back to the Signal Officer Advance Course 398 00:20:13.079 --> 00:20:18.640 at Fort Gordon. This was in nineteen ninety, Saddam invades 399 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:22.759 Kuwait and I'm leaving the third Infantry Division and there 400 00:20:22.759 --> 00:20:25.880 were some guys that had the opportunity to get deployed 401 00:20:26.039 --> 00:20:31.279 to Operation Desert Shield. I get to the Signal Advance 402 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:34.359 Course and I'm watching it on TV and units from 403 00:20:34.359 --> 00:20:37.359 Bragg are going. I mean, as you know, there was 404 00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:39.000 a lot of different units that ended up going to 405 00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:42.200 Desert Shield and Desert Storm. One of the guys I 406 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:44.039 met and we became really good friends at the Signal 407 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:46.519 Advance Course had just came from this Special Ops Signal 408 00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:49.079 battalion that had just stood up in nineteen eighty six 409 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:51.880 called the one twelve, and he had a certain swagger 410 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:55.279 about him, and he had a certain kind of you know, 411 00:20:57.440 --> 00:21:01.359 mindset and focus, and immediately kind of became really good 412 00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:03.519 friends with the Signal Advance Course, and he started telling 413 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:05.759 me about this unit at Bragg called the one twelve 414 00:21:05.799 --> 00:21:08.480 Special Op Signal Battalion, And so the more I heard 415 00:21:08.519 --> 00:21:10.200 about it, the more intrigued I was. And it was 416 00:21:10.680 --> 00:21:14.000 and so for my class there was one slot for 417 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:17.680 the one twelve, and I wanted it, and I told 418 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:20.480 Signal Branch that I wanted it, uh, And then I 419 00:21:20.519 --> 00:21:22.920 went up to Fort Brag with him. I interviewed with 420 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:25.720 the battalion commander, interviewed with the battalion S three and 421 00:21:25.799 --> 00:21:28.240 the XO, and I told them how bad I wanted 422 00:21:28.279 --> 00:21:30.440 to be in that unit, and so I ended up 423 00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:36.000 getting the slot. But while we're at at the Signal 424 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:38.160 Advance Course, I was supposed to do a couple of 425 00:21:38.200 --> 00:21:41.200 following courses. The battalion commander calls me. He said, hey, 426 00:21:41.240 --> 00:21:44.960 we're getting ready to deploy to Desert Storm or Desert Shield. 427 00:21:45.480 --> 00:21:48.200 And it was right before desert storms started. He goes, 428 00:21:48.920 --> 00:21:51.000 I need you to cancel your following courses. I need 429 00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:52.720 you to come into the I want to I want 430 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:54.000 to make my S one and then make you a 431 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:58.240 company commander. So I was like absolutely. So you know, 432 00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:02.640 I you know, as a brand new captain, every captain 433 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:04.359 wants to command a company at least or an O 434 00:22:04.440 --> 00:22:08.440 DA right, you want you want that green tab leadership position. 435 00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:10.720 And so you know, for me, it's like hell, yeah, 436 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:12.680 I get to command in a special ops signal of attime. 437 00:22:12.920 --> 00:22:15.640 I'm in. Yeah. So I was like, you know, we 438 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:18.119 couldn't leave Fort Gordon fast enough to get to Fort Bragg. 439 00:22:18.119 --> 00:22:20.799 And then I get to Fort Bragg and most of 440 00:22:20.839 --> 00:22:24.480 the unit is deployed. Uh, and I become the S one, 441 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:27.839 the personnel officer, and they come back and my first 442 00:22:28.200 --> 00:22:30.759 duty is to run the awards ceremony for all the 443 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:32.720 war heroes that had just come back. Right, So you 444 00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:34.839 got this big and I was like, you know, so 445 00:22:35.640 --> 00:22:38.240 I was like, okay, I missed just cause I missed 446 00:22:38.359 --> 00:22:41.839 Desert Shield and I was like, will my day ever come? 447 00:22:42.119 --> 00:22:43.839 And I really wasn't worried about it, but it's just 448 00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:45.079 one of those things I wanted to get to brag. 449 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:47.400 I wanted to, you know, be part of something, and 450 00:22:47.440 --> 00:22:49.759 it was but I learned a lot and I had 451 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:52.519 the opportunity to command Alpha Company. We called it Alpha Pride, 452 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:55.079 and the focus was proud of who you are, what 453 00:22:55.160 --> 00:22:57.359 you do, and who you represent. And I took command 454 00:22:57.400 --> 00:23:00.519 of the company that it was probably the the weakest 455 00:23:00.519 --> 00:23:03.480 company in the battalion, and that was an opportunity for me, 456 00:23:03.720 --> 00:23:06.720 like on day one, actually it was actually on day one, 457 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:09.160 I had a chance to make an impact. We had 458 00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:12.519 there's this thing called GMF, which I think it stands 459 00:23:12.519 --> 00:23:15.039 for Ground Mobile Force or something, but they manage all 460 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:18.160 the satellite constellations out there. And so right after the 461 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:20.359 change of command as a company, brand new company commander, 462 00:23:21.960 --> 00:23:23.960 my one of my platoon leaders comes up to me 463 00:23:24.680 --> 00:23:28.000 and he's and we had this ongoing exercise supporting usasac 464 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:30.599 US Army Special Operations Command. It was a pretty high 465 00:23:30.680 --> 00:23:33.839 visibility exercise and we had what was called an eighty 466 00:23:33.880 --> 00:23:37.319 five van, which is satellite hub van right outside of 467 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:41.200 the USASAC headquarters. They were running columns into you know, 468 00:23:41.240 --> 00:23:43.279 a bunch of the leaders in there. Well, we got 469 00:23:43.319 --> 00:23:46.599 notified from GMF, which they're like the big brother of 470 00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:50.039 all satellite operations, and they were you don't want to 471 00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:52.519 screw up. And so what happens They said, we tracked 472 00:23:52.519 --> 00:23:54.279 off the bird. They can't reach anybody in the van. 473 00:23:54.519 --> 00:23:56.200 They don't know, you know, what the heck's going on. 474 00:23:56.640 --> 00:23:59.079 So as soon as that my kind of welcome speech 475 00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:01.839 to the or to the company was over, I drive 476 00:24:01.880 --> 00:24:04.440 over to the USASAG headquarters and I see one of 477 00:24:04.440 --> 00:24:08.559 our specialists walking up with some bolt cutters and I'm like, 478 00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:10.240 specialist blants, So what do you do? He goes, I 479 00:24:10.279 --> 00:24:11.720 got to open the van and get us back on 480 00:24:11.720 --> 00:24:13.519 the satellite. I don't know what the hell. And then 481 00:24:13.559 --> 00:24:16.279 I see this guy named Sergeant Lewis walking up with 482 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:19.160 a burger king band. He's got a burger king bag 483 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:21.279 and he's like, you know, jaw jacket and just kind 484 00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:24.319 of loaf. I'm like, what the hell, I said, Sartain Lewis. 485 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:25.920 He goes, yeah, sir, I had to go get something 486 00:24:25.960 --> 00:24:28.599 to eat. I'm like, okay, you are no longer the 487 00:24:28.599 --> 00:24:31.319 team chief for this Blant that you are now in 488 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:33.799 charge of this team and started Lewis. I needed to 489 00:24:33.799 --> 00:24:36.160 see the first stargeant when you go back to the 490 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:38.559 company here, I needed to see the first sargeant and 491 00:24:38.680 --> 00:24:41.240 he was one of these weak n CEOs. And what 492 00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:44.039 I noticed right then is number one I had to make. 493 00:24:44.119 --> 00:24:46.319 It was a leadership opportunity on day one, but it 494 00:24:46.400 --> 00:24:48.720 was also a guy like Blantet saw that I was 495 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:53.279 willing to make a decision and Bert take away the 496 00:24:53.319 --> 00:24:55.559 burden of him having to work for a piece of 497 00:24:55.559 --> 00:24:58.599 crap NCO, you know what I mean, and this NCO 498 00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:01.079 and he he was a week link and it was 499 00:25:01.119 --> 00:25:04.519 pretty obvious. Uh. And so Blansip became a team chief 500 00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:06.200 and did a really good job. But for me, it 501 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:08.400 was just it was kind of like day one in 502 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:11.039 that unit. It was kind of an exciting opportunity. But 503 00:25:11.640 --> 00:25:16.799 we had, you know, several different exercises and events. We 504 00:25:16.839 --> 00:25:21.000 did a big exercise supporting soccer over in Augenbury, England 505 00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:24.319 and all across Europe. We had teams all over to 506 00:25:24.359 --> 00:25:27.319 include up in Norway. It was a great event we 507 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:30.640 did that. We had a we were getting ready to 508 00:25:31.079 --> 00:25:33.240 plan for a Cobra gold over in Thailand. I had 509 00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:35.960 an opportunity to go over with UH to do the 510 00:25:35.960 --> 00:25:39.000 pre deployment site survey with our at the time, our 511 00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:42.279 Battalion command sergeant major. His name was Ronnie Beaver mccannon. 512 00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:44.680 If you ever met Beaver, he was a first Group guy, 513 00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:47.599 but he was the one twelfth command sarty major. And 514 00:25:47.640 --> 00:25:50.079 we were getting ready for all that, and then I 515 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:55.279 was on a j RTC exercise actually j RT I 516 00:25:55.359 --> 00:25:58.079 believe we were at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas at the time, 517 00:25:58.440 --> 00:26:02.079 not Fort Poke, Louisiana, on a j RTC exercise with 518 00:26:02.119 --> 00:26:05.839 seventh Group and sock South. And I get a call 519 00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:09.880 from our Battalion XO and he said, hey, how much 520 00:26:09.880 --> 00:26:14.480 do you know about the Special Mission unit across post there. 521 00:26:15.400 --> 00:26:17.400 I said, well, I mean, I'm driven by the compound 522 00:26:17.440 --> 00:26:19.319 a lot. I don't really know anybody that works there. 523 00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:20.839 I don't know a whole lot about it, because well, 524 00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:22.720 they need a captain. They're standing up a new tactical 525 00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:26.519 communications troop and they need a captain for this job. 526 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:31.039 And you know, the Tian commander is looking at one guy, 527 00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:32.759 but he goes, I think you'd be perfect for the job. 528 00:26:33.319 --> 00:26:35.799 Are you interested? And I said, yeah, yeah, I'm interested. 529 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:37.759 It was just kind of like, so you go from 530 00:26:37.799 --> 00:26:40.920 conventional third Infantry Division to white soft and now it's 531 00:26:40.920 --> 00:26:44.079 an opportunity to go into a whole other part of soft. 532 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:47.640 And so I ended up, you know, trying out. And 533 00:26:47.799 --> 00:26:49.160 it wasn't you know, I didn't have to do the 534 00:26:49.160 --> 00:26:51.880 alarm wock. I wasn't going to you know, West Virginia 535 00:26:51.960 --> 00:26:54.960 selection and doing all the stuff that an operator in 536 00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:57.319 that unit goes through. But you go through a lot 537 00:26:57.359 --> 00:26:59.000 of the other stuff. You eat the PT test, the 538 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:02.440 psyche val, the background checks, you know, all the you know, 539 00:27:02.920 --> 00:27:06.519 the uh everything that goes into it, and then you 540 00:27:06.559 --> 00:27:09.160 go through this inner board interview board, which was pretty brutal, 541 00:27:09.240 --> 00:27:11.039 but it was it was you know, when it was 542 00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:12.680 all said and done, you get out of the board 543 00:27:12.680 --> 00:27:15.799 and you're like, holy shit, that was miserable. And then 544 00:27:16.400 --> 00:27:19.359 the sergeant major of Signal Squadron and I goes, well, 545 00:27:19.400 --> 00:27:20.799 how do you think you did? I said, I don't 546 00:27:20.839 --> 00:27:22.599 know how I did. He was, well, you did great. 547 00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:25.559 The guys love you. I'm like, awesome. So I go 548 00:27:25.640 --> 00:27:27.400 back to the one twelfth and I'm you know, I 549 00:27:27.400 --> 00:27:29.319 got to kind of finish up my time. I'm the 550 00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:36.039 assistant three after my company command. Uh. And while I'm well, 551 00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:39.160 I know, I'm going from one twelve signal over to 552 00:27:39.240 --> 00:27:45.440 the Special Mission Unit. They are doing rehearsals for operations 553 00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:49.559 in Somalia. And so I get my badge, I get 554 00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:52.240 a lot of my kit, I get my walllockers. I 555 00:27:52.559 --> 00:27:54.480 can come and go and go into signals squatter. And 556 00:27:54.599 --> 00:27:58.039 they didn't improcess me completely, but they gave me the 557 00:27:58.240 --> 00:28:00.720 signal Squadron commander wanted me to have access and come 558 00:28:00.720 --> 00:28:02.839 over and meet with the guys when I could, and 559 00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:04.519 he wanted me to be a role player for all 560 00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:07.680 the train ups for Somalia. And so I go out there, 561 00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:10.000 you know, while I'm still in the one twelve, while 562 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.839 they're prepping for you know, operations in Somalia, I go 563 00:28:15.079 --> 00:28:17.240 out to the compound and they're doing all these rehearsals 564 00:28:17.240 --> 00:28:20.680 with the Rangers with one sixties Special Ops Aviation Regiment. 565 00:28:21.160 --> 00:28:24.799 And I'm watching these rehearsals happen with all these aviation assets, 566 00:28:24.839 --> 00:28:27.799 all these different units and everything that's going on, the 567 00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:29.960 number of role players and what they put into their 568 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.119 training scenarios, and I'm like, Holy shit, they spent more, 569 00:28:34.160 --> 00:28:36.839 They spent more training budget on this one rehearsal, and 570 00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:38.799 we probably were able to spend in the you know, 571 00:28:39.160 --> 00:28:41.119 I mean, it was just it was amazing. I knew 572 00:28:41.160 --> 00:28:42.839 that this was okay, this is a different kind of place, 573 00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:46.200 this is a pretty significant And before I signed into 574 00:28:46.200 --> 00:28:49.440 the unit, I actually went on a JR EX a 575 00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:52.640 joint readiness exercise started out at Fort Bliss and then 576 00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:54.559 we went out to the Nevada test site and it 577 00:28:54.640 --> 00:28:57.240 was with one of the squadrons in the Unit B Squadron. 578 00:28:58.279 --> 00:29:01.279 But the day we deployed for the RX, you know, 579 00:29:01.279 --> 00:29:05.119 I went into the Signal Squadron team rooms and I 580 00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:07.400 go in. It's I think it's in August of nineteen 581 00:29:07.480 --> 00:29:11.640 ninety three, and I, you know, I'm starting to get 582 00:29:11.640 --> 00:29:13.000 to know the guys, and I get to go out 583 00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:16.119 on this exercise with one of the one of the squadrons. 584 00:29:17.039 --> 00:29:18.200 But I still got to go back to the one 585 00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:21.880 twelve and finish my job. And so I go back 586 00:29:21.880 --> 00:29:24.960 and I my last day in the one twelve Signal 587 00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:30.599 Battalion was a Monday morning. It was October fourth, nineteen 588 00:29:30.680 --> 00:29:33.960 ninety three, and so you know, it's my last day 589 00:29:33.960 --> 00:29:36.640 I'm getting ready to final out, take all my paperwork 590 00:29:36.680 --> 00:29:38.839 and two over one file everything and go from the 591 00:29:39.279 --> 00:29:43.039 regular system to the what's called the dasher, which is 592 00:29:43.119 --> 00:29:45.720 you know, where all the special mission units files. So 593 00:29:46.759 --> 00:29:49.160 I have to basically sign out on the personnel side 594 00:29:49.160 --> 00:29:52.039 in one unit, drive over across post to the new unit. 595 00:29:52.920 --> 00:29:55.839 And when I get to this unit, everything was different 596 00:29:55.880 --> 00:29:58.519 because every time I'd been in the team rooms, you know, 597 00:29:58.519 --> 00:30:00.680 it's typical team rooms. I mean like team house, right, 598 00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:02.920 I mean, it's like a locker room. It's it's you know, 599 00:30:03.039 --> 00:30:05.759 it's it's alpha male's doing what alpha males do. And 600 00:30:05.960 --> 00:30:09.920 the you know, camaraderie, the team where the banter. None 601 00:30:09.960 --> 00:30:12.160 of that was happening. On four October. I walked in there. 602 00:30:12.440 --> 00:30:16.279 Everybody was laser focused. Everybody was moving with the purpose. 603 00:30:16.279 --> 00:30:18.160 There were guys in there, you know, packing their stuff, 604 00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:21.559 rolling stuff, getting it packed up. Nobody was saying shit. 605 00:30:21.960 --> 00:30:27.480 Everybody had total focused mindset and like it was. It 606 00:30:27.559 --> 00:30:29.519 was all on. It was mission was on and I 607 00:30:29.519 --> 00:30:31.720 hadn't seen the news. I mean, I got up, I 608 00:30:31.720 --> 00:30:34.440 did PT, took a shower, you signed out, and drove 609 00:30:34.480 --> 00:30:37.400 across post and one of the other captains in the 610 00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:39.880 unit is like, his name is John Hillebrand. He's like, 611 00:30:40.079 --> 00:30:41.960 I said, John, what the hell's going on? Why is everybody? 612 00:30:41.960 --> 00:30:44.839 So what's going on? He goes, you haven't seen the news, 613 00:30:44.839 --> 00:30:48.039 have you? I said no. He goes, uh, yeah, that 614 00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:50.559 was fucking here. So we go into the squadron conference room. 615 00:30:50.599 --> 00:30:52.440 They have two TVs on. One was on Fox, one 616 00:30:52.480 --> 00:30:55.200 was on CNN. And we walk in and I see 617 00:30:55.200 --> 00:30:58.759 the Somali kid bouncing on the rotor blade. You know, 618 00:30:58.880 --> 00:31:01.440 you remember that scene. It was on the news and 619 00:31:01.480 --> 00:31:03.119 you just it was all over. It was all over 620 00:31:03.119 --> 00:31:07.279 the news. Uh. And it was like holy shit, okay, 621 00:31:08.200 --> 00:31:10.279 you know because I saw those guys on the day 622 00:31:10.319 --> 00:31:12.799 I flew out to the j RX. Everybody's from Signal 623 00:31:12.799 --> 00:31:15.720 Squadron that was flying to Somalia. They were going out 624 00:31:15.759 --> 00:31:18.039 one way, we were going the other. So I and 625 00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:21.720 it was like wow. And this was probably around nine 626 00:31:21.839 --> 00:31:24.079 thirty in the morning. So I'm trying to sign into 627 00:31:24.119 --> 00:31:27.720 the unit through their Personal Services Troop, which is like 628 00:31:27.759 --> 00:31:31.839 the s one or their HR human resources entity. Those 629 00:31:31.839 --> 00:31:34.240 guys are dealing with the mass casualty. They don't have 630 00:31:34.279 --> 00:31:36.720 time to im process this new captain, you know what 631 00:31:36.759 --> 00:31:39.039 I mean. So I'm just like, I'm just like watching 632 00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:42.599 and learning and saying, holy crap, this is these guys. 633 00:31:42.880 --> 00:31:44.240 They'll get to me when they can get to me, 634 00:31:44.839 --> 00:31:47.759 you know. The and the I remember the Personnel Service 635 00:31:47.759 --> 00:31:51.000 Troop Sergeant Major Angie Whitaker coming up to me and 636 00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:53.240 she said, hey, sir, I'm so sorry, but I said, 637 00:31:53.440 --> 00:31:56.039 you guys, do what you gotta do. And so I 638 00:31:56.200 --> 00:32:00.359 go down back down to the Signal Squadron, and uh, 639 00:32:00.440 --> 00:32:03.400 there was a legendary retired one officer, a guy named 640 00:32:03.400 --> 00:32:06.279 mister Z Paul Z Eastman. He was the deputy commander 641 00:32:06.319 --> 00:32:10.279 of Signal Squadron. He was up at the meeting in 642 00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:12.720 what's called the back with Rooms named after Charlie beckwot 643 00:32:12.839 --> 00:32:15.359 Ishes where the room where like he is, the command 644 00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:17.839 conference room basically. And he comes back down from the 645 00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:22.000 back with Room and he goes, all right, a squadron 646 00:32:22.160 --> 00:32:24.519 is going to deploy tonight. The d c O is 647 00:32:24.559 --> 00:32:27.720 going with them. John, he's talking to Hildebrandt, the other captain. 648 00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:30.519 He goes, you're going to go over with a squadron. Pete, 649 00:32:31.359 --> 00:32:35.400 you are going to be a casually assistance officer. They've 650 00:32:35.400 --> 00:32:37.480 they've identified you to be a casually assistant officer for 651 00:32:37.480 --> 00:32:40.759 a guy named Randy Schuger. He's he's missing in action 652 00:32:40.920 --> 00:32:44.599 right now. He's probably an escape in evasion mode. Hopefully 653 00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:46.680 we can roll him, you know, pick him up, but 654 00:32:47.000 --> 00:32:48.960 right now he's missing in action. But I need you 655 00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:50.920 to go to a meeting at one o'clock this afternoon, 656 00:32:51.640 --> 00:32:54.559 and um, like Roger that whatever I gotta do, you know. 657 00:32:54.920 --> 00:32:59.519 And so that moment, that first day in that unit, 658 00:33:00.160 --> 00:33:04.160 with that responsibility and knowing what happened, and I think 659 00:33:04.200 --> 00:33:07.119 everybody knows what happened afterwards. If you've seen black Hawk Downer, 660 00:33:07.160 --> 00:33:09.160 if you've read the book, I mean Randy Schugart and 661 00:33:09.160 --> 00:33:11.640 Gary Gordon, you know, both of the guys that went 662 00:33:11.680 --> 00:33:14.319 in too, you know, and gave their life trying to 663 00:33:14.319 --> 00:33:17.680 save the pilot Mike Durant at the at the second 664 00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:21.480 crash site. I mean, you know, they they definitely they 665 00:33:21.519 --> 00:33:25.000 were put in for and definitely deserve the middle of honor. 666 00:33:25.039 --> 00:33:28.519 But to actually be selected for a duty like that 667 00:33:29.960 --> 00:33:31.960 on day one, it was like for me, it was 668 00:33:31.960 --> 00:33:34.240 like nothing else mattered at that point. I mean, I 669 00:33:34.279 --> 00:33:36.160 knew I needed to learn how to be a you know, 670 00:33:36.200 --> 00:33:38.359 a communicator in the unit, but I needed to focus 671 00:33:38.440 --> 00:33:41.319 on that and I needed to, you know, and that's 672 00:33:41.480 --> 00:33:44.400 that's what mister z. This is no fail man, this 673 00:33:44.480 --> 00:33:46.759 is this is your job. Everything else can wait, but 674 00:33:46.880 --> 00:33:49.400 you got to, you know, do everything you can. And 675 00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:52.440 it was a couple of days I think before uh, 676 00:33:52.559 --> 00:33:55.079 you know, they got they identified the remains, and they 677 00:33:55.200 --> 00:33:58.799 notified you know, Stephanie Shugart and and uh and I 678 00:33:59.440 --> 00:34:02.480 was allowed and I got brought to her house to 679 00:34:02.519 --> 00:34:05.319 meet her and help her. And just what an amazing, 680 00:34:05.720 --> 00:34:09.440 amazing person I mean. And Randy's parents, Herb and Lewis, 681 00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:11.320 they were you know, the salt of the earth, dairy 682 00:34:11.320 --> 00:34:14.000 farmers from the great state of Pennsylvania, and just I mean, 683 00:34:14.079 --> 00:34:18.000 just to be able to just help this family navigate that, 684 00:34:18.079 --> 00:34:22.920 you know, this all the process that goes with, you know, 685 00:34:23.039 --> 00:34:26.920 losing a loved one in combat and everything else, especially 686 00:34:27.079 --> 00:34:30.400 with like a Medal of Honor recipient, everything that goes 687 00:34:30.400 --> 00:34:33.360 with it, because their ceremonies that I mean, it was. 688 00:34:34.760 --> 00:34:38.840 It was an interesting time for sure. And one of 689 00:34:38.920 --> 00:34:41.880 the things that you know, as we were going through it, 690 00:34:41.920 --> 00:34:43.960 there was a guy, one of the sergeant majors in 691 00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:48.840 the unit. His name was Craig Maxim. I don't know 692 00:34:48.880 --> 00:34:50.519 if you've ever heard of Craig or met Craig, but 693 00:34:50.559 --> 00:34:55.559 he was this wirey, wiry you know, just big old 694 00:34:55.599 --> 00:34:58.719 bushy mustache. He was an operator's operator. He was he 695 00:34:58.840 --> 00:35:01.760 was the man egg led every one of He went 696 00:35:01.800 --> 00:35:05.599 on every single notification to every family member of the 697 00:35:05.639 --> 00:35:07.719 guys from the unit that were killed. But he also 698 00:35:07.840 --> 00:35:11.840 led every one of the color details and they were immaculate, flawless. 699 00:35:12.159 --> 00:35:14.320 He had, you know all. I mean, there was a combination. 700 00:35:14.440 --> 00:35:16.840 We had a couple of guys from Signal Squadron. They're 701 00:35:16.840 --> 00:35:19.840 part of the color detail, but they did every single 702 00:35:20.519 --> 00:35:26.599 uh service, uh, you know, memorial service. Uh. But when 703 00:35:26.760 --> 00:35:31.800 I was getting ready for Randy's funeral, which was in 704 00:35:31.880 --> 00:35:36.920 Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania or not, it wasn't at Carlisle Barracks, 705 00:35:36.960 --> 00:35:39.119 but it was in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. But one of a 706 00:35:39.159 --> 00:35:42.280 former unit member was actually going to the War College 707 00:35:42.280 --> 00:35:45.000 at the time, a Colonel Ike Ike Slaughter, So he 708 00:35:45.119 --> 00:35:47.280 was like magnificent. He was like one of those guys 709 00:35:47.280 --> 00:35:50.079 that you know, he was helping me kind of like 710 00:35:50.119 --> 00:35:52.719 my almost my advanced party where he was on the 711 00:35:52.719 --> 00:35:57.760 ground in Carlisle he could help me kind of orchestrate stuff. 712 00:35:57.800 --> 00:36:01.280 But if you can imagine the number of people that 713 00:36:01.320 --> 00:36:03.400 were coming in from all different locations and trying to 714 00:36:03.480 --> 00:36:07.519 orchestrate all this, and you know, planes, trains and automobiles, 715 00:36:07.599 --> 00:36:10.440 you know, VIPs coming from all over I mean General Downing, 716 00:36:11.000 --> 00:36:14.280 you know, just all these different cats and coming from 717 00:36:14.280 --> 00:36:16.800 different places, you know. And I was focused on the family, 718 00:36:16.880 --> 00:36:18.559 but you have all these heavy hitters, and you didn't 719 00:36:18.599 --> 00:36:20.760 want I couldn't have any hiccups, you know what I mean. 720 00:36:20.920 --> 00:36:22.719 So I'm laying out the plan I go into started 721 00:36:22.800 --> 00:36:25.559 Major Maxim's office. I'm kind of laying out the entire 722 00:36:25.599 --> 00:36:28.400 plant boom boom boom, you know, walking it through and 723 00:36:28.440 --> 00:36:30.159 trying to make sure I didn't miss a fricking beat, 724 00:36:30.199 --> 00:36:36.079 you know, because again before that, before Randy, before Randy's funeral, 725 00:36:36.840 --> 00:36:40.079 we had the memorial service when Sea Squadron came back, 726 00:36:40.559 --> 00:36:43.599 we had the memorial service at JFK Chapel there on 727 00:36:43.679 --> 00:36:47.119 Fort Bragg and Wayne Downing. I remember him telling me 728 00:36:47.119 --> 00:36:49.159 he was a four star commander in so Com at 729 00:36:49.199 --> 00:36:52.480 the time. He's like, hey, if you run in, he 730 00:36:52.519 --> 00:36:55.079 goes number one. This judy, this duty is sacred and 731 00:36:56.360 --> 00:36:59.760 you do not let anybody tell you no. Do not. 732 00:37:00.760 --> 00:37:02.440 If you run into a single brick wall, I want 733 00:37:02.440 --> 00:37:05.119 you to call me directly. And I didn't. There was 734 00:37:05.159 --> 00:37:06.599 no way in hell I was gonna call him. I 735 00:37:06.639 --> 00:37:08.039 was just not gonna left. I was going to breach 736 00:37:08.039 --> 00:37:10.239 any brick wall. But it was one of these things 737 00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:12.000 where I knew the pressure was on. I could not 738 00:37:12.039 --> 00:37:14.440 screw this up. I mean I could. There's probably things 739 00:37:14.480 --> 00:37:16.519 I did screw up when I was in the unit, 740 00:37:16.519 --> 00:37:18.480 but that was one thing I was making sure. There's 741 00:37:18.519 --> 00:37:20.639 no way in hell I can screw this up. So anyways, 742 00:37:20.679 --> 00:37:23.559 I'm getting ready for Randy's funeral and trying to, you know, again, 743 00:37:23.599 --> 00:37:26.079 take care of the family and all the all the 744 00:37:26.119 --> 00:37:30.360 people flying in and everything, laying it out for Craig Maxim. 745 00:37:30.519 --> 00:37:33.920 He's like, damn, sir, she got the ship wired tight. 746 00:37:34.679 --> 00:37:38.159 He goes, you consider being an operator, and that was 747 00:37:38.199 --> 00:37:40.840 like the greatest compliment because I knew this guy was legendary. 748 00:37:40.840 --> 00:37:43.719 And I was like, sorry, Major, I'm a I'm a communicator, 749 00:37:43.920 --> 00:37:46.480 and I think the unit needs communicators, and so that's 750 00:37:46.519 --> 00:37:48.000 that's where I can best serve the unit. But I 751 00:37:48.039 --> 00:37:52.639 appreciate the vote of confidence and you know, I thought 752 00:37:52.639 --> 00:37:54.719 about it, but I felt I knew my place, you 753 00:37:54.719 --> 00:37:57.039 know what I mean, and and I knew, you know, 754 00:37:57.519 --> 00:38:00.360 what I brought to the organization, and but it was 755 00:38:00.400 --> 00:38:03.159 it was one of those really significant compliments at the time. 756 00:38:03.239 --> 00:38:07.639 But yeah, that was kind of my I guess, between 757 00:38:07.719 --> 00:38:09.800 the WHITESFF and the one twelfth and then joining that 758 00:38:09.920 --> 00:38:13.400 unit as you know, a fairly young captain. I think 759 00:38:13.400 --> 00:38:16.920 it was about ninety three. I had just turned thirty 760 00:38:16.960 --> 00:38:17.440 at the time. 761 00:38:17.800 --> 00:38:20.519 So if you're in the market for a new mattress, 762 00:38:20.559 --> 00:38:22.679 you've probably seen all the brands out there vuying for 763 00:38:22.719 --> 00:38:26.519 your attention, big names, splashy ads, all promising the same thing. 764 00:38:26.599 --> 00:38:28.679 But here's the only brand that does it right. It's 765 00:38:28.760 --> 00:38:32.159 got Sped. Ghostped was created and is still run by 766 00:38:32.199 --> 00:38:36.079 manufacturing experts with more than twenty years of mattress making experience. 767 00:38:36.639 --> 00:38:38.320 They know the craft and they know how to build 768 00:38:38.320 --> 00:38:41.239 a bed that actually lasts. So how do they offer 769 00:38:41.320 --> 00:38:43.679 premium mattresses for up to fifty percent off lesson in 770 00:38:43.719 --> 00:38:46.519 the competition. It's not hype, it's smart logistics. As a 771 00:38:46.559 --> 00:38:50.960 family owned company, that means there's no board of investors 772 00:38:50.960 --> 00:38:54.280 to answer to. It's just folks working hard selling mattresses. 773 00:38:54.559 --> 00:38:57.679 These are the true manufacturing pros, and the result is 774 00:38:57.719 --> 00:39:00.280 an exceptional cooling and comfort at a price I won't 775 00:39:00.320 --> 00:39:02.760 keep you up at night. Every ghost Bed mattress includes 776 00:39:02.800 --> 00:39:05.719 proven cooling materials back by a twenty to twenty five 777 00:39:05.920 --> 00:39:09.239 year Warring Tea. You also get one hundred and one 778 00:39:09.320 --> 00:39:12.519 night's sleep trial with free returns if the mattress doesn't 779 00:39:12.559 --> 00:39:15.840 work for you, and fast free shipping. Most orders arrive 780 00:39:15.880 --> 00:39:18.800 in two to five days. Right now. As a Teamhouse listener, 781 00:39:18.880 --> 00:39:21.320 you can get twenty five percent off sitewide for a 782 00:39:21.320 --> 00:39:24.440 limited time. You can just go to gosped dot com 783 00:39:24.599 --> 00:39:28.119 slash house and use a promo code house at checkout. 784 00:39:28.440 --> 00:39:32.840 That's gosped dot com slash house promo code house upgrade 785 00:39:32.880 --> 00:39:35.639 your sleep. Ghost Bed the makers of the coolest beds 786 00:39:35.679 --> 00:39:38.719 in the world. Some exclusions apply see site for details. 787 00:39:38.760 --> 00:39:41.159 I want to think ghost Bed so much for continuously 788 00:39:41.199 --> 00:39:44.440 supporting us. It's been going on a year almost so 789 00:39:44.519 --> 00:39:46.880 I really appreciate that. I hope you guys if you're 790 00:39:46.920 --> 00:39:48.920 in the if you're in the market for mattresses or 791 00:39:48.920 --> 00:39:51.639 pillows or betting, check out ghost Bed. You can go 792 00:39:51.639 --> 00:39:54.880 to gosped dot com slash house and get twenty five 793 00:39:54.920 --> 00:39:58.119 percent off right now, Love you and love ghost bed. 794 00:39:58.239 --> 00:39:58.840 Thanks guys. 795 00:39:59.760 --> 00:40:02.679 I'm that's a bit of a baptism by fire arriving 796 00:40:02.679 --> 00:40:04.519 to the unit under those circumstances. 797 00:40:05.119 --> 00:40:05.960 Yeah. Absolutely. 798 00:40:07.079 --> 00:40:09.639 How was the rest of your time there helping to 799 00:40:09.719 --> 00:40:12.440 establish this joint communicator unit or troop? 800 00:40:13.519 --> 00:40:19.199 Uh? Well so, so the tactical communications troop. It consisted 801 00:40:19.239 --> 00:40:21.159 of running the base station for the unit, the reach 802 00:40:21.239 --> 00:40:25.920 back basically the you know, the the lifeline for everybody 803 00:40:25.960 --> 00:40:29.039 deployed was the base station. So we had operators in 804 00:40:29.079 --> 00:40:31.519 the bay station, you know, and but we also ran 805 00:40:32.280 --> 00:40:35.599 we had a deployable team that ran the unit's command 806 00:40:35.639 --> 00:40:39.119 post every time it would deploy. They were the forward communicators. 807 00:40:39.440 --> 00:40:44.320 And then we had communicators with every Sabers squadn So 808 00:40:44.400 --> 00:40:47.519 every Savers quadron at the time had two communicators that 809 00:40:47.599 --> 00:40:50.039 had to go through the operator training course and get 810 00:40:50.239 --> 00:40:54.039 and be able to pass oh wow, OTC. They went through. 811 00:40:54.199 --> 00:40:57.000 They were direct sport communicators for the Sabers Quatters. Now 812 00:40:57.039 --> 00:40:58.880 I think they have you know, a lot more too, 813 00:40:58.920 --> 00:41:01.280 but back then it was only two. You had a 814 00:41:01.320 --> 00:41:02.880 senior and a junior and they were It's kind of 815 00:41:02.880 --> 00:41:05.719 like an ODA but on steroids a little bit where 816 00:41:05.760 --> 00:41:08.679 a Saber squadron had a couple of communicators there and then, 817 00:41:09.599 --> 00:41:12.800 but all of those worked for the tac Coom Troop commander, 818 00:41:13.360 --> 00:41:16.119 and so I didn't go to OTC, but I got 819 00:41:16.119 --> 00:41:22.039 to go to a lot of different training events that 820 00:41:22.079 --> 00:41:24.880 were related to OTC. So my first year in the 821 00:41:24.960 --> 00:41:28.360 in the unit, I went to the selection and training 822 00:41:28.960 --> 00:41:33.159 UH Squadron. I guess, and you've had like Paul hall 823 00:41:33.159 --> 00:41:36.320 On here before, some of the best operators teach s 824 00:41:36.320 --> 00:41:38.559 and t they teach operator training course, they run selection, 825 00:41:39.039 --> 00:41:44.239 but they ran a combat skills course for for support folks, 826 00:41:44.760 --> 00:41:47.679 communicators and medics and others. It was only a couple 827 00:41:47.679 --> 00:41:51.039 of weeks, but it was an abbreviated kind of basic 828 00:41:51.079 --> 00:41:54.960 focus on on you know the fundamentals, basic rifle marchsmanship, 829 00:41:55.239 --> 00:41:57.679 you know all the kind of you know PT tests, 830 00:41:57.679 --> 00:41:59.719 you did all the all the stuff that you know 831 00:42:00.039 --> 00:42:03.920 that they It was like an abbreviated condensed OTC. I 832 00:42:03.960 --> 00:42:07.599 mean we did ladders, we fast rope, we repelled off 833 00:42:07.639 --> 00:42:09.880 the tower, we ran the O course, we did CQB, 834 00:42:10.360 --> 00:42:13.039 I mean everything that they thought we might need to do. 835 00:42:13.199 --> 00:42:15.880 Or a support guy might have to do. They tried 836 00:42:15.920 --> 00:42:17.880 to take all the lessons from Samali and say, hey, look, 837 00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:20.320 never again are we going to you know, have to 838 00:42:20.559 --> 00:42:22.960 rely on support guys to go outside the wire and 839 00:42:22.960 --> 00:42:25.760 not have them you know, trained and ready on the basics. 840 00:42:25.760 --> 00:42:27.559 And so it was pretty awesome to go through that 841 00:42:27.599 --> 00:42:30.119 because I will tell you, on day one, you know, 842 00:42:30.199 --> 00:42:33.119 my basic rifle marksmanship, my target, it looked like a 843 00:42:33.119 --> 00:42:35.880 freaking shotgun blaff. But by the end of the two 844 00:42:35.920 --> 00:42:38.400 weeks when we had long gun competition, I kind of 845 00:42:38.400 --> 00:42:40.320 went from worse to first, So it was kind of cool. 846 00:42:40.320 --> 00:42:41.960 A lot of the guys in the squadron made fun 847 00:42:42.000 --> 00:42:43.880 of me, but it was one of those things. I mean, 848 00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:46.400 I wasn't I wasn't like a laser, you know, a 849 00:42:46.440 --> 00:42:48.480 dead eye shooter. But by the time those guys got 850 00:42:48.480 --> 00:42:50.320 done with me, I was a pretty damn good shot 851 00:42:50.679 --> 00:42:52.239 because they know what the hell they're doing and they 852 00:42:52.280 --> 00:42:56.000 focus on the fundamentals and you know. But so I 853 00:42:56.039 --> 00:42:59.280 got to go through that. We went through live agent training, 854 00:42:59.679 --> 00:43:02.239 you know where we went to Fort McClelland, Alabama with 855 00:43:02.280 --> 00:43:05.400 the OTC course. I did live agent training, did a 856 00:43:05.480 --> 00:43:08.559 lot of role playing, for the OTC classes they were 857 00:43:08.559 --> 00:43:11.360 going through all the different scenarios. I spent a lot 858 00:43:11.400 --> 00:43:14.079 of time you know helping S and T where they 859 00:43:14.079 --> 00:43:16.639 would always you know, request volunteers to be role players, 860 00:43:17.480 --> 00:43:24.079 and then ended up uh going to Halo School in 861 00:43:24.480 --> 00:43:28.199 June of with that OTC class that was going through. 862 00:43:28.199 --> 00:43:29.840 I got to go to Halo School with them out 863 00:43:29.840 --> 00:43:34.079 at Marana in Arizona, which was pretty cool. But that 864 00:43:34.159 --> 00:43:40.440 first year we did a my first real exercise with 865 00:43:40.559 --> 00:43:43.800 the unit was an exercise called Hadrian's Wall with Too 866 00:43:43.880 --> 00:43:48.039 two S a S over in U in Scotland and England. Uh, 867 00:43:48.400 --> 00:43:50.599 and it was it was pretty awesome. I mean it 868 00:43:50.639 --> 00:43:53.320 was my first time going out as the senior you know, 869 00:43:53.519 --> 00:43:56.639 representing the squadron and we were out there with a squadron. 870 00:43:57.119 --> 00:44:00.159 It was in December and it was I think was 871 00:44:00.199 --> 00:44:03.800 it the while we were at that exercise, we had 872 00:44:03.840 --> 00:44:06.840 members of the unit that were down in Colombia. We 873 00:44:06.880 --> 00:44:10.480 got notified that Pablo Escobar had been killed, but there 874 00:44:10.519 --> 00:44:12.920 was still a lot going on with the exercise or 875 00:44:13.000 --> 00:44:16.400 operations in Colombia, and so you know, I spent the 876 00:44:16.440 --> 00:44:19.559 time over with the two two S as great exercise 877 00:44:19.719 --> 00:44:21.960 kind of a little bit of a suckfest because the 878 00:44:22.039 --> 00:44:24.599 units tried to out do each other on the training. 879 00:44:24.599 --> 00:44:27.400 It was pretty cold, it was rainy, it was somewhat miserable, 880 00:44:27.400 --> 00:44:28.800 but it was all said and done. We went back 881 00:44:28.800 --> 00:44:31.360 to Hereford, you know, had a great after action review 882 00:44:31.400 --> 00:44:35.159 and you know, drink some SuDS together in a place. 883 00:44:35.199 --> 00:44:36.880 I don't remember the name of the bar, but they 884 00:44:36.920 --> 00:44:39.239 called it the Sticky Carpet, but it was it was 885 00:44:39.280 --> 00:44:43.880 just good bonding and camaraderie. And they had a similar unit, 886 00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:49.360 the two sixty fourth Signals Organization that some of the 887 00:44:49.360 --> 00:44:51.840 guys there we became pretty good friends. And then later 888 00:44:51.920 --> 00:44:53.840 on I ran into some of them when I was, 889 00:44:53.920 --> 00:44:57.280 you know, the JCU commander after nine to eleven. But 890 00:44:57.679 --> 00:45:00.360 it was it was a good first year. I spent 891 00:45:00.480 --> 00:45:04.840 Easter Sunday in nineteen ninety four in Bogota, Columbia, you know, 892 00:45:04.880 --> 00:45:07.039 going to visit our guys that were that were there. 893 00:45:07.079 --> 00:45:10.400 That was a time in the summer of ninety four 894 00:45:10.599 --> 00:45:16.280 we were planning very I mean very heavily for Haiti Haiti, yep. 895 00:45:16.679 --> 00:45:19.639 And you know I was the lead planner for Haiti. 896 00:45:20.719 --> 00:45:23.480 As you kind of know what happened there. I mean, 897 00:45:24.239 --> 00:45:26.639 you know they aborted the mission. I mean we had 898 00:45:26.639 --> 00:45:30.159 guys that there ready, but I did have communicators from 899 00:45:30.199 --> 00:45:33.840 my team with Colin Powell on the Grand Colin Powell, 900 00:45:33.840 --> 00:45:36.719 Sam Nunn, and Jimmy Carter. I had one of our 901 00:45:36.760 --> 00:45:39.320 signal squad on communicators was there and we had another 902 00:45:39.320 --> 00:45:41.159 one up at the White House. I mean that that's 903 00:45:41.239 --> 00:45:45.079 how you know, and I mean they handpicked this unit 904 00:45:45.519 --> 00:45:50.400 to send communicators. So what I learned there, I mean 905 00:45:50.519 --> 00:45:56.079 just you know, going through I mean just all the 906 00:45:56.079 --> 00:45:58.840 different every quarter you'd run a joint readiness exercise every 907 00:45:59.199 --> 00:46:03.079 and there was always training events where the squadrons are 908 00:46:03.079 --> 00:46:07.000 doing environmental training, whether it's winter training, jungle training. You know, 909 00:46:07.000 --> 00:46:10.239 they would do building training in urban areas. There was 910 00:46:10.360 --> 00:46:13.960 always a need to participate in those types of events 911 00:46:14.000 --> 00:46:16.920 and learn and do everything you can to understand what 912 00:46:17.079 --> 00:46:21.159 it takes for the operator on the X and everything 913 00:46:21.199 --> 00:46:24.039 that they need to have all the enablers to interconnect. 914 00:46:24.079 --> 00:46:26.480 And so I learned how important it was not only 915 00:46:26.519 --> 00:46:30.559 for the assault net, the fire's net, emergency resupply, KAZI VAC, 916 00:46:30.920 --> 00:46:32.880 you know, all the kinds of things where they need 917 00:46:32.880 --> 00:46:35.719 a lifeline and they need something. Now there's no time 918 00:46:35.760 --> 00:46:37.320 to blink. I mean, you've got to have the ability 919 00:46:37.360 --> 00:46:39.920 to connect those guys. And so I spent three years 920 00:46:39.960 --> 00:46:45.400 in that unit. I wanted as I was leaving, you know, 921 00:46:46.039 --> 00:46:48.880 I went through two different signal squadron commanders. I wanted 922 00:46:48.880 --> 00:46:51.119 to come back more than anything and be the signal 923 00:46:51.159 --> 00:46:54.079 squadron commander. I ended up leaving that unit and going 924 00:46:54.079 --> 00:46:57.800 to Commanding General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, which was 925 00:46:57.920 --> 00:47:00.360 pretty close to where I grew up. I spent a 926 00:47:00.440 --> 00:47:03.039 year there before I ended up going out to Hawaii. 927 00:47:04.480 --> 00:47:07.519 And what was the assignment out in Hawaii? 928 00:47:09.679 --> 00:47:11.880 So it was in the twenty fifth Infantry Division. It 929 00:47:11.960 --> 00:47:14.679 was interesting because I was at a before I left 930 00:47:14.719 --> 00:47:18.000 Fort Bragg. I want I knew I wanted to come 931 00:47:18.000 --> 00:47:19.960 back to Fort Brag because my wife had a teaching job, 932 00:47:20.400 --> 00:47:23.199 our kids, our kids had friends, and I had it. 933 00:47:23.280 --> 00:47:25.360 We had a house, we had bought a house. It's like, 934 00:47:25.639 --> 00:47:27.719 you know, there's a signal but brigade at Fort Bragg. 935 00:47:27.760 --> 00:47:30.800 There was a signal battalion in the eighty second and 936 00:47:30.840 --> 00:47:33.039 my goal was to get back to a conventional signal 937 00:47:33.119 --> 00:47:35.599 unit by a little bit of time and then get 938 00:47:35.599 --> 00:47:37.159 back to signal squad that's what I wanted to do, 939 00:47:37.239 --> 00:47:40.000 get back to Lovelworth, come back to Bragging and find 940 00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:42.800 my way back into signal squad. But when I get 941 00:47:42.800 --> 00:47:47.760 out to Fort Levenworth at CGSC, because my records were 942 00:47:47.760 --> 00:47:51.440 on the DASSER or they were hidden from the normal system. 943 00:47:51.800 --> 00:47:54.800 When Signal Branch came out to interview us and decide 944 00:47:54.840 --> 00:47:59.760 where we wanted to go, the branch assignment officers said, hey, 945 00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:03.679 I want to get you what's called branch qualified, which 946 00:48:03.719 --> 00:48:05.679 means via Battalian S three or an XO or a 947 00:48:05.719 --> 00:48:09.039 Brigade S six uh, and that even if it means 948 00:48:09.039 --> 00:48:10.519 going back to Fort Bragg. So I was trying to 949 00:48:10.559 --> 00:48:12.599 find a job back at Fort Bragg. When I get 950 00:48:12.599 --> 00:48:16.639 out to Levenworth, a new lieutenant colonel assignment officer and 951 00:48:16.679 --> 00:48:19.760 the major's assignment officer were interviewing all the majors from 952 00:48:19.800 --> 00:48:22.519 the Signal Corps. It was branch day and you're meeting 953 00:48:22.519 --> 00:48:26.199 with your assignment officer and they didn't have my O 954 00:48:26.360 --> 00:48:29.559 RB and they had everybody else's RB in there. And 955 00:48:30.280 --> 00:48:32.840 I said, well, I have a copy of it. They 956 00:48:32.840 --> 00:48:35.000 didn't have it because it wasn't I guess because I 957 00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:36.639 had just left the unit. It wasn't in the system, 958 00:48:37.199 --> 00:48:40.599 and so she looks at my o RB says, Germany, 959 00:48:41.599 --> 00:48:49.800 Fort Bragg. You spent six years at Fort Bragg. You're 960 00:48:49.840 --> 00:48:51.760 to going overseas. I said, well, wait a minute, I've 961 00:48:51.800 --> 00:48:54.440 been overseas. I was in Germany, I said. And the 962 00:48:54.480 --> 00:48:56.800 guy sitting next to her, I said, I can't remember 963 00:48:56.840 --> 00:48:58.639 his name, but I said, he told me I got 964 00:48:58.639 --> 00:49:01.199 to get branched. I can get branch call, and even 965 00:49:01.199 --> 00:49:03.119 if it means going back to Fort Bragg, I've already 966 00:49:03.119 --> 00:49:05.840 got units that want me to come back. And she goes, well, 967 00:49:06.480 --> 00:49:08.639 it's not fair for you to do back to back 968 00:49:08.639 --> 00:49:11.119 of Simonson Homestead at Fort Bragg and just oh show. 969 00:49:11.280 --> 00:49:12.960 She said, it's not fair for you to just hang 970 00:49:13.000 --> 00:49:15.320 out at Fort Bragg while other people are doing, you know, 971 00:49:15.719 --> 00:49:18.920 back to back tours in Korea. I said, ma'am, have 972 00:49:19.000 --> 00:49:23.079 you ever been stationed at Fort Bragg? I said, nobody 973 00:49:23.119 --> 00:49:25.360 just hangs out at Fort Bragg. I said, in the 974 00:49:25.440 --> 00:49:28.159 units of Fort Bragg, they're on mission, They're on every deployment. 975 00:49:28.280 --> 00:49:32.639 You've got the units with the highest level of priority. 976 00:49:32.840 --> 00:49:34.400 I said, you don't just hang out at Fort Bragg. 977 00:49:34.400 --> 00:49:35.599 I said, I want to go to Fort Bragg for 978 00:49:35.679 --> 00:49:38.280 the mission. It's not to hang out in Fayetville. But 979 00:49:38.400 --> 00:49:40.119 she goes, well, okay, but if you did have to 980 00:49:40.119 --> 00:49:43.039 go overseas, where would you want to go? And I said, 981 00:49:43.920 --> 00:49:51.159 it's like a stumped chump question. I said, okay, maybe Hawaii, 982 00:49:51.719 --> 00:49:55.360 Alaska of Italy. You know, I just kind of threw 983 00:49:55.400 --> 00:49:57.320 things out there. She was and she had just come 984 00:49:57.320 --> 00:50:00.800 from Alaska. She goes, why Alaska? Why not Saudi Arabia. 985 00:50:01.199 --> 00:50:03.880 I'm like, what am so? I'm like, holy shit, this 986 00:50:03.920 --> 00:50:05.960 didn't go as planned. So I go home and I 987 00:50:05.960 --> 00:50:09.360 talked to my wife. I'm like, I might be going 988 00:50:09.400 --> 00:50:10.840 to Saudi Arabia. I don't understand. 989 00:50:10.880 --> 00:50:14.039 It's got no beer in Saudi Arabia. Like hell with that, 990 00:50:14.079 --> 00:50:14.880 I'm going this. 991 00:50:14.920 --> 00:50:17.599 Did not go as plan. But then Scotty Miller, who 992 00:50:17.679 --> 00:50:19.599 was in the unit with me, was my next door 993 00:50:19.719 --> 00:50:21.880 was lived right across the street from me at Levenworth. 994 00:50:21.920 --> 00:50:24.960 We actually became really good friends while we were at 995 00:50:24.960 --> 00:50:27.079 CGSC together. He was, as you know, he was the 996 00:50:27.079 --> 00:50:29.800 Assault Force commander on the ground there in Somalia, and 997 00:50:30.119 --> 00:50:32.480 obviously I got to do him pretty well when I 998 00:50:32.559 --> 00:50:37.559 was working with Randy's family there. But Scott. Scott introduced 999 00:50:37.599 --> 00:50:40.400 me to the division commander of the twenty fifth Infantry 1000 00:50:40.400 --> 00:50:44.400 Division at Levenworth. So I talked to him, and you know, 1001 00:50:44.639 --> 00:50:46.559 it was basically over a beer at a place called 1002 00:50:46.559 --> 00:50:49.679 the Havana Club there on Fort Levenworth. It was almost 1003 00:50:49.679 --> 00:50:52.760 like an interview, and so I ended up getting the 1004 00:50:52.800 --> 00:50:55.280 opportunity to go serve in the twenty fifth ID. So 1005 00:50:55.280 --> 00:50:58.360 when I left CGSC, I go to a twenty fifth 1006 00:50:58.400 --> 00:51:02.119 Infantry Division and I my first job is as the 1007 00:51:02.119 --> 00:51:05.920 division It's called the ADSO Assistant Division Signal Officer. Now 1008 00:51:05.960 --> 00:51:08.800 they call it the Deputy G six, but it's a 1009 00:51:08.840 --> 00:51:11.760 major's billet. You're on the division staff, and you know, 1010 00:51:11.920 --> 00:51:14.159 you do what division staff officers do, a lot of planning, 1011 00:51:14.239 --> 00:51:17.480 a lot of you know, every all the different exercises. 1012 00:51:17.679 --> 00:51:19.599 And in twenty fifth at the time, they have all 1013 00:51:19.599 --> 00:51:22.800 these different exercises all across the Pacific, you know, Balacatan 1014 00:51:22.880 --> 00:51:26.000 and the Philippines. You have Cobra Gold in Thailand. You 1015 00:51:26.039 --> 00:51:30.000 have JRTC rotations where one of the maneuver brigades would 1016 00:51:30.039 --> 00:51:32.519 rotate back to Fort Polk and go through j RTC. 1017 00:51:32.679 --> 00:51:36.559 So you're always kind of planning, you know, division activities 1018 00:51:36.559 --> 00:51:38.440 and events there. So I spent a year doing that, 1019 00:51:38.840 --> 00:51:41.719 and then I became the Battalion S three at the 1020 00:51:41.800 --> 00:51:44.960 one twenty fifth Signal Battalion. And the great part about 1021 00:51:44.960 --> 00:51:47.559 that is the battalion commander was a guy named Tom 1022 00:51:47.599 --> 00:51:50.920 Trowbridge who had spent time in the unit. He was 1023 00:51:50.960 --> 00:51:53.719 in the unit before I was. He was a legendary 1024 00:51:53.800 --> 00:51:56.760 communicator as well. He was he spent he was a 1025 00:51:56.880 --> 00:52:00.960 Ranger Regimental S six, They spent in the Ranger Regiment, 1026 00:52:01.280 --> 00:52:03.719 and he was the JCU commander of the Joint Communications 1027 00:52:03.719 --> 00:52:07.079 Commander at JSOCK, and so he and I had a 1028 00:52:07.159 --> 00:52:09.800 history and we had a lot of you know, had 1029 00:52:09.840 --> 00:52:12.119 walked some of the same ground previously. And I got 1030 00:52:12.119 --> 00:52:14.599 to be his S three for a year, which is 1031 00:52:14.599 --> 00:52:17.639 really his operations officer, as you know, and so you know, 1032 00:52:17.679 --> 00:52:22.840 it's conventional communications for a conventional for a conventional division 1033 00:52:22.920 --> 00:52:25.599 in the Pacific. But I learned a lot and it 1034 00:52:25.639 --> 00:52:28.679 was a great opportunity. And then I stuck around one 1035 00:52:28.719 --> 00:52:31.719 more year to be I was trying to work my 1036 00:52:31.760 --> 00:52:35.039 timing again to try to get back to Bragg, and 1037 00:52:35.079 --> 00:52:37.280 so I stuck around one more year to be what's 1038 00:52:37.280 --> 00:52:39.760 called the secretary of the General Staff, working for two 1039 00:52:39.800 --> 00:52:42.760 different commanding generals, a guy named Tom Hill who ended 1040 00:52:42.800 --> 00:52:44.239 up going to First Corps and then a guy named 1041 00:52:44.280 --> 00:52:46.400 Kip Ward who came in after him. So as a 1042 00:52:46.599 --> 00:52:51.239 secretary of General Staff, it's a it's an thankless job. Really. 1043 00:52:51.239 --> 00:52:53.760 You run the staff for the general to aid, so 1044 00:52:54.920 --> 00:52:57.760 you learn how our division headquarters runs. But it wasn't 1045 00:52:57.800 --> 00:53:00.360 a job I necessarily wanted, but it was the job 1046 00:53:00.400 --> 00:53:02.760 the CG wanted me to do, so I did it. Uh. 1047 00:53:02.840 --> 00:53:04.880 But while I was in that job, I got UH, 1048 00:53:05.199 --> 00:53:08.559 I got to go interview and put my name in 1049 00:53:08.599 --> 00:53:12.599 the hat for JCU and I so I went and 1050 00:53:12.639 --> 00:53:16.360 interviewed uh and interviewed with at the time Lieutenant or No, 1051 00:53:17.400 --> 00:53:19.599 it was Major General Doug Brown. Doug Brown was a 1052 00:53:19.599 --> 00:53:22.079 former one sixtieth guy ended up being the four star 1053 00:53:22.119 --> 00:53:24.599 at so COM. But General Brown selected me to be 1054 00:53:24.719 --> 00:53:30.280 the next JCU commander. And while I'm working for General Hill, 1055 00:53:30.920 --> 00:53:33.199 he gets announced to go to ICORPS, the first Corps 1056 00:53:33.199 --> 00:53:35.519 out at Fort Lewis. So he's getting promoted the three 1057 00:53:35.559 --> 00:53:38.559 star and he and Doug Brown are are friends. They've 1058 00:53:38.559 --> 00:53:41.000 known each other from and days in the hundred first 1059 00:53:41.039 --> 00:53:43.039 together and They've known each other for a long time, 1060 00:53:43.519 --> 00:53:49.159 and General Hill wanted me to be his aide and 1061 00:53:49.239 --> 00:53:52.800 go like leave Hawaiian and go to Fort Fort Lewis. 1062 00:53:53.119 --> 00:53:56.119 But I had just been selected for j CU, and 1063 00:53:56.159 --> 00:53:57.719 I was like, there's no freaking way I want to 1064 00:53:57.760 --> 00:53:59.519 go be his aide. I've been the STS for a year. 1065 00:53:59.559 --> 00:54:04.840 But as like I said, Sir, I think it would 1066 00:54:04.880 --> 00:54:07.599 be an honor to be your aid, but it would 1067 00:54:07.599 --> 00:54:09.360 not be the honorable thing to do. I looked General 1068 00:54:09.400 --> 00:54:10.599 Brown in the eye and told him I wanted to 1069 00:54:10.639 --> 00:54:12.760 be as JCU commander and I am not. I want 1070 00:54:12.760 --> 00:54:14.800 to be the JCU commander. That's what I want to do, 1071 00:54:14.880 --> 00:54:17.519 and I want to command. So I had the opportunity. 1072 00:54:18.480 --> 00:54:20.159 We ended up pulling our kids out of school a 1073 00:54:20.199 --> 00:54:23.679 little bit early in two thousand and I took command 1074 00:54:23.719 --> 00:54:28.559 on our anniversary on the twelfth Mallion in two thousand 1075 00:54:28.920 --> 00:54:31.760 and At the time, everything was focused on the Balkans. 1076 00:54:32.400 --> 00:54:35.119 You know, a lot of work going on inside the 1077 00:54:35.599 --> 00:54:39.880 Jaysock community. It was all about the Balkans, and you know, 1078 00:54:40.079 --> 00:54:43.840 two's love all across Bosnia and Sarajevo. I mean, were 1079 00:54:43.920 --> 00:54:47.960 they were hunting the you know, the war criminals of 1080 00:54:48.159 --> 00:54:50.360 pif Wick, I think is what they called the operations. 1081 00:54:50.760 --> 00:54:53.760 So you know, again, one of my first trips when 1082 00:54:53.800 --> 00:54:56.760 I got to j CU was into to see what 1083 00:54:56.800 --> 00:54:58.480 we were doing on the ground there in Bosnia. But 1084 00:54:58.800 --> 00:55:01.159 we had a really awesome training cycle, you know, the 1085 00:55:02.280 --> 00:55:09.480 Joint Operational Readiness Training Cycle for the JSUK units. Inside JCU, 1086 00:55:09.599 --> 00:55:11.800 we have these named exercises that we run every quarter 1087 00:55:12.320 --> 00:55:14.960 and we do everything from you know, basic establishment of 1088 00:55:14.960 --> 00:55:17.760 the is SB, the forward staging base, mission support sites, 1089 00:55:18.000 --> 00:55:20.559 you know, putting your communicators through the drills, just battle 1090 00:55:20.599 --> 00:55:23.239 drill after battle drill. We had communicators that would go 1091 00:55:23.320 --> 00:55:26.039 up and work in the National Capital Region with at 1092 00:55:26.079 --> 00:55:31.000 the FBI headquarters for what's called the Emergency Support Teams 1093 00:55:31.239 --> 00:55:32.880 where those guys were on a short string. They had 1094 00:55:32.880 --> 00:55:34.519 to be wheels up within an hour and a half. 1095 00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:36.960 So we would constantly every month we would we would 1096 00:55:36.960 --> 00:55:42.440 do a rotation up there. We did we had we 1097 00:55:42.440 --> 00:55:45.840 would do shipboard training where we would establish a float 1098 00:55:45.960 --> 00:55:49.199 staging basis on a variety of Navy vessels. We would 1099 00:55:49.199 --> 00:55:51.199 do that once a quarter. I got to do my 1100 00:55:51.280 --> 00:55:55.519 first quarterly training brief to General Brown on the USS 1101 00:55:55.559 --> 00:55:59.599 Teddy Roosevelt, which was pretty awesome. And uh but I 1102 00:55:59.639 --> 00:56:01.840 will tell we had, you know, and we had a 1103 00:56:01.880 --> 00:56:05.360 giant readiness exercise out in Guam and in the Pacific 1104 00:56:05.480 --> 00:56:08.960 where we were on the USS Bellowood, and it was miserable. 1105 00:56:08.960 --> 00:56:10.400 We couldn't get calms and I thought I was going 1106 00:56:10.480 --> 00:56:14.760 to get fired. It was, it was, it was. It 1107 00:56:14.800 --> 00:56:16.000 was one of those things where I thought I was 1108 00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:19.159 gonna I thought I was gonna lose my job because 1109 00:56:19.159 --> 00:56:21.480 we just could not There was there was problems with 1110 00:56:21.519 --> 00:56:27.199 the satellite UH antennas on the actual ship and we 1111 00:56:27.239 --> 00:56:31.199 had difficulty communicating where the JASAW commander had to leave 1112 00:56:31.239 --> 00:56:34.800 the vessel because he didn't have reliable comps. And I 1113 00:56:34.840 --> 00:56:36.599 was frustrated as hell because I felt like I let 1114 00:56:36.679 --> 00:56:38.920 him down. But you know, we hotwa washed it, we 1115 00:56:38.960 --> 00:56:41.599 figured it out, and you know, I mean the unit 1116 00:56:41.639 --> 00:56:45.280 had succeeded so many times before that, and after that, 1117 00:56:45.760 --> 00:56:48.239 uh he realized that there was a problem and it 1118 00:56:48.320 --> 00:56:51.280 was beyond what our operators were able to fix at 1119 00:56:51.280 --> 00:56:55.119 the time. But uh So, while we're going through all that, 1120 00:56:55.159 --> 00:56:57.239 we have a change of command and Dale Daily takes 1121 00:56:57.239 --> 00:57:02.079 over for h for Doug Brown, and Daly's the new 1122 00:57:02.159 --> 00:57:10.239 Jaysaw commander and he starts stands up this capability called 1123 00:57:10.360 --> 00:57:15.119 Advanced Force Operations AFO. And so they picked a former 1124 00:57:15.199 --> 00:57:17.880 squadron commander over at the unit to lead, a guy 1125 00:57:17.960 --> 00:57:21.039 named Scotty Miller. We've talked about before again, the same 1126 00:57:21.079 --> 00:57:23.360 guy that was on the ground in Somalia. So Scott's 1127 00:57:23.440 --> 00:57:25.480 personal friend of mine. We're neighbors. We live in, you know, 1128 00:57:25.559 --> 00:57:29.199 in the same neighborhood there in Pine Valley in North Carolina. 1129 00:57:29.320 --> 00:57:33.000 We you know, we would drink beer and share stories 1130 00:57:33.000 --> 00:57:36.559 together and all that. So Scott's standing up this and 1131 00:57:36.880 --> 00:57:40.280 I hand picked some of my very best communicators inside JCU, 1132 00:57:40.360 --> 00:57:44.000 which is saying a lot because in JCU they they 1133 00:57:44.000 --> 00:57:47.320 are considered the best communicators in the Department of I 1134 00:57:47.320 --> 00:57:50.280 guess now Department of War, and so best of all 1135 00:57:50.280 --> 00:57:52.960 the services. But I had him picked three or four guys, 1136 00:57:53.159 --> 00:57:57.079 actually three guys that can function in this Loviz environment, 1137 00:57:57.119 --> 00:57:59.719 that have the maturity, have the ability to help Miller 1138 00:57:59.760 --> 00:58:04.199 stand end up this capability. And so we go through 1139 00:58:04.360 --> 00:58:07.480 another we go through another joint readiness exercise out at 1140 00:58:07.519 --> 00:58:10.039 Nellis Air Force Base, you know, kind of running the 1141 00:58:10.079 --> 00:58:13.760 traps and getting our muscle memory and improving what we do. 1142 00:58:13.840 --> 00:58:18.800 But then in September of two thousand and one, we're 1143 00:58:18.840 --> 00:58:22.880 on this big exercise. It's the first real theater wide 1144 00:58:22.960 --> 00:58:29.599 AFO joint AFO focused Joint Readiness exercise. And so we 1145 00:58:29.639 --> 00:58:35.199 have folks spread out from England, Germany, Hungary and because 1146 00:58:35.239 --> 00:58:37.000 we still had stuff going on in the Balkans, we 1147 00:58:37.039 --> 00:58:41.880 had an operating base in Tuslam. We were flying from 1148 00:58:42.159 --> 00:58:47.119 the UK in a C seventeen with I was I 1149 00:58:47.159 --> 00:58:51.039 was actually with the Jasok J three and a bunch 1150 00:58:51.119 --> 00:58:53.840 of the battle staff that we're flying into establish a 1151 00:58:53.880 --> 00:58:59.320 staging base in Tuslam. When across the data net we 1152 00:58:59.400 --> 00:59:04.079 get word, you know, the World Trade Center and the 1153 00:59:04.119 --> 00:59:07.760 Pentagon had been you know, airplanes had crashed into the 1154 00:59:07.800 --> 00:59:11.000 World Trade Center and the Pentagon and the communicator watching 1155 00:59:11.039 --> 00:59:14.000 the data that force pulls us up. It's like this 1156 00:59:14.000 --> 00:59:17.440 doesn't make sense because it had it was you know, 1157 00:59:17.480 --> 00:59:19.639 we were it was everything. Almost all the traffic up 1158 00:59:19.639 --> 00:59:22.800 to that point was exercise traffic. And get this. It's like, 1159 00:59:22.840 --> 00:59:23.559 holy shit. 1160 00:59:23.679 --> 00:59:26.000 Does that come across like this is this is not 1161 00:59:26.079 --> 00:59:28.079 a drill, you know, not part Yeah. 1162 00:59:28.079 --> 00:59:30.119 I didn't say that, it just but it was like 1163 00:59:30.400 --> 00:59:32.320 it you know, it didn't say exercise, and it was 1164 00:59:32.360 --> 00:59:34.920 just it was like bam. And so I get it 1165 00:59:34.920 --> 00:59:36.159 and I give it to the j three He's like 1166 00:59:36.159 --> 00:59:38.360 holy fuck, and you know, I'm it's like and so 1167 00:59:38.400 --> 00:59:42.159 we're sitting there and we land. We land on the 1168 00:59:42.159 --> 00:59:45.239 ground at the airfield in Tusla. As the ramp comes down, 1169 00:59:45.280 --> 00:59:48.639 I remember a Master Sergeant Wayne had Dot, he was 1170 00:59:48.679 --> 00:59:51.400 the jock and CEO. He walks up, meets us on 1171 00:59:51.440 --> 00:59:54.159 the ramp and basically just told us in He was like, hey, 1172 00:59:54.159 --> 00:59:56.559 the exercise has been canceled. You know, we're going into 1173 00:59:56.599 --> 00:59:59.159 crisis action planning. So it was a few days before 1174 00:59:59.199 --> 01:00:02.159 we could actually leave to get back on us soil. 1175 01:00:02.239 --> 01:00:05.679 But yeah, it was another kind of monumental moment there 1176 01:00:06.039 --> 01:00:09.559 as as the commander of d O d's finest communicators 1177 01:00:09.599 --> 01:00:13.199 I guess now Department of Wars Finess communicators. 1178 01:00:13.199 --> 01:00:16.920 And what was kind of like the uh, the tone 1179 01:00:16.960 --> 01:00:18.880 I guess when you got back to the States, because 1180 01:00:18.920 --> 01:00:21.559 I mean, now you're planning for a real war, right. 1181 01:00:22.119 --> 01:00:25.920 Oh yeah. Yeah. So so we get back and it's, uh, 1182 01:00:26.079 --> 01:00:29.039 you know, typically you're on a string for a four 1183 01:00:29.079 --> 01:00:31.440 hour sequence, you know, you know what I mean if 1184 01:00:31.440 --> 01:00:35.599 there's a JCS order to launch the National Mission Force. 1185 01:00:35.960 --> 01:00:38.639 You typically, you know, it's fairly it's usually no notice, 1186 01:00:38.639 --> 01:00:41.239 and it's you know the three hundred. I mean, you 1187 01:00:41.320 --> 01:00:45.599 go through the drill. This was you know, crisis action planning, 1188 01:00:45.639 --> 01:00:49.320 to deliberate planning, to you know, building concept of operations 1189 01:00:49.320 --> 01:00:52.320 on what can we do, what will we do? What 1190 01:00:52.360 --> 01:00:54.280 are we gonna you know, and all this stuff has 1191 01:00:54.320 --> 01:00:57.519 to get briefed up to the president, right, And so 1192 01:00:57.559 --> 01:01:01.880 we're going through the drill at Fort Bragg. We've got 1193 01:01:02.679 --> 01:01:06.559 you know a bunch of different scenarios going on, and 1194 01:01:07.639 --> 01:01:11.800 you know, we're we start pushing communicators out probably I 1195 01:01:11.840 --> 01:01:14.719 think it was around the seventh of October. You know, 1196 01:01:15.280 --> 01:01:18.119 we start sending L and o's to different different locations. 1197 01:01:18.159 --> 01:01:21.119 And then I can't remember what day we actually deployed, 1198 01:01:21.119 --> 01:01:23.360 but we ended up deploying to establish a staging base 1199 01:01:23.760 --> 01:01:27.960 at masira Oman and then we had a a float 1200 01:01:28.000 --> 01:01:30.559 staging base on the Kiddihawk. Coms were good, by the 1201 01:01:30.559 --> 01:01:33.000 way on that one, which was the real world and 1202 01:01:33.039 --> 01:01:34.760 it mattered, and when it mattered most. 1203 01:01:34.679 --> 01:01:37.920 That was where the super long helicopter infill was flowing 1204 01:01:37.960 --> 01:01:38.440 off the kitty. 1205 01:01:38.519 --> 01:01:41.760 Yeah, yeah, so we're at Masira Aman with the staging 1206 01:01:41.800 --> 01:01:44.559 base and you know, you got the whole task force there, right, 1207 01:01:44.599 --> 01:01:50.119 And so the Rangers are getting ready for Operation Rhino 1208 01:01:50.679 --> 01:01:54.800 and the unit, the Special Machine out of BRAG is 1209 01:01:54.960 --> 01:01:58.280 getting ready for Operation Get Go and those are set 1210 01:01:58.320 --> 01:02:01.440 to go down nineteen twenty October or uh. So we're 1211 01:02:01.440 --> 01:02:04.400 going through everything. You know, a couple of things that 1212 01:02:04.880 --> 01:02:07.079 I got in a couple of heated arguments with the 1213 01:02:07.159 --> 01:02:13.760 J six at the time because they were they wanted 1214 01:02:13.760 --> 01:02:21.159 to use what was they There was a deal with 1215 01:02:21.599 --> 01:02:23.280 call signs. They didn't want to switch call suns from 1216 01:02:23.280 --> 01:02:24.920 one squadron to another or something. So we had to 1217 01:02:25.039 --> 01:02:27.079 we had to resolve that. We got that resolved, but 1218 01:02:27.559 --> 01:02:31.719 there was a crypto was going to change on midnight 1219 01:02:32.400 --> 01:02:38.320 on the twentieth. It was gonna yeah, And so I 1220 01:02:38.400 --> 01:02:40.360 tell the JAY six, I said, hey, we got to 1221 01:02:40.960 --> 01:02:43.760 talk to the sitcom J six and have them freeze 1222 01:02:43.760 --> 01:02:46.360 the crypto key. Yeah. Yeah, he didn't and he didn't 1223 01:02:46.360 --> 01:02:50.519 want to do it, and he didn't want to tell 1224 01:02:50.559 --> 01:02:52.719 the ball He didn't want to tell the JSUT commander 1225 01:02:53.159 --> 01:02:55.880 that we had we had a crypto changeover in the 1226 01:02:55.920 --> 01:03:01.360 middle of the op and I said, we've got to no, boy. Yeah, 1227 01:03:01.679 --> 01:03:03.280 And so I'm at a lieutenant colonel at the time, 1228 01:03:03.280 --> 01:03:05.719 he's an Air Force colonel, and I tell General Daily. 1229 01:03:05.800 --> 01:03:09.159 I said, they said, hey, Sir, we gotta we're gonna 1230 01:03:09.159 --> 01:03:11.199 We're gonna have to either roll early or we're gonna 1231 01:03:11.239 --> 01:03:15.159 have to uh freeze the crypto. But we can't have 1232 01:03:15.280 --> 01:03:18.760 operators flying and be digging around with changing the crypto 1233 01:03:18.880 --> 01:03:21.760 key in the middle of the app And so I 1234 01:03:21.840 --> 01:03:26.400 ended up calling back to Jaysuk Jayson. I called the 1235 01:03:26.719 --> 01:03:29.239 one of my buddies that was in the in Jaysuck 1236 01:03:29.280 --> 01:03:31.199 at the time, and then I ended up calling personally 1237 01:03:31.239 --> 01:03:33.199 called I kind of went over the head of the 1238 01:03:33.320 --> 01:03:36.320 Jaysok J six and personally called Dennis Moran, who was 1239 01:03:36.360 --> 01:03:39.000 a syentcom J six. I said, hey, sir, we got 1240 01:03:39.039 --> 01:03:40.400 a little bit of a problem. I think you know 1241 01:03:40.440 --> 01:03:42.039 you can make a decision, but we need to make 1242 01:03:42.039 --> 01:03:44.679 a damn decision because we can't have this gown go 1243 01:03:44.719 --> 01:03:46.920 down in the middle of the app. Uh. And so 1244 01:03:47.280 --> 01:03:51.039 they ended up rolling early. But it was created a 1245 01:03:51.039 --> 01:03:52.920 bit of a Kabooki dance because the guys go through 1246 01:03:52.800 --> 01:03:55.159 the rehearsals and they're on one set of key and 1247 01:03:55.199 --> 01:03:57.079 then they got to come back and reload all their 1248 01:03:57.119 --> 01:03:59.000 crap with the new key. But they did it, and 1249 01:03:59.039 --> 01:04:00.639 they were able to do all the commons. It's like, 1250 01:04:00.800 --> 01:04:02.559 why don't we just freeze it? And you know what 1251 01:04:02.599 --> 01:04:04.440 I mean. But it's one of those things. But if 1252 01:04:04.480 --> 01:04:07.440 the J six at the time didn't have the guts 1253 01:04:07.440 --> 01:04:09.760 to tell the boss that he needed to, you know, 1254 01:04:09.960 --> 01:04:11.320 we need to do this. I was like, you can't 1255 01:04:11.320 --> 01:04:13.880 just let it happen. We got to be proactive and 1256 01:04:13.920 --> 01:04:17.320 like make it happen that you got to take care 1257 01:04:17.320 --> 01:04:18.920 of the guys on the ground. You can't let them 1258 01:04:19.000 --> 01:04:21.840 just you know, frustrated. 1259 01:04:22.239 --> 01:04:25.000 One of those situations you mentioned where all of a sudden, 1260 01:04:25.039 --> 01:04:27.280 the reach back is cut off because the comma is 1261 01:04:27.400 --> 01:04:27.880 rolled over. 1262 01:04:28.159 --> 01:04:31.559 Yeah, yeah, and that's that's just that can't happen. You 1263 01:04:31.639 --> 01:04:34.360 just can't happen. So then you know, we ended up 1264 01:04:35.480 --> 01:04:38.920 pushing I mean, so so we we went kind of 1265 01:04:38.960 --> 01:04:42.159 from that that mode of of the initial operations right 1266 01:04:42.199 --> 01:04:49.800 now in Gecko to operation called relentless Pursuit I think 1267 01:04:51.480 --> 01:04:54.880 or relentless Strike. I can't went from relentless. We ended 1268 01:04:54.920 --> 01:05:00.239 up we kind of rolled from multiple operations multiple to 1269 01:05:00.239 --> 01:05:04.159 the strikes UH to something called Relentless Pursuit, which which 1270 01:05:04.239 --> 01:05:06.639 kind of took us into the Battle of Tora Bora 1271 01:05:06.880 --> 01:05:11.960 UH and so UH at the time Miller had brought 1272 01:05:12.000 --> 01:05:16.320 over a whole bunch of different operators from different units 1273 01:05:16.639 --> 01:05:19.400 and started standing up this a a FO Task Force 1274 01:05:20.039 --> 01:05:24.360 and they established Advanced Force Operations and they were some 1275 01:05:24.400 --> 01:05:26.360 of the first elements and they and I added some 1276 01:05:26.400 --> 01:05:31.920 additional JCU communicators with them to establish UH comps in Bogram. 1277 01:05:32.000 --> 01:05:36.000 And this was when Bogram it wasn't there was no 1278 01:05:36.280 --> 01:05:37.400 there was no green beans. 1279 01:05:37.440 --> 01:05:37.960 It was. 1280 01:05:38.199 --> 01:05:42.039 It was. It was dusty, it was. There was minefield, 1281 01:05:42.119 --> 01:05:44.960 there was there was mines out there, live minds, there was. 1282 01:05:45.599 --> 01:05:49.440 It was. It was a very very rustic, to say 1283 01:05:49.440 --> 01:05:51.159 the least. And so we get out there and we 1284 01:05:51.159 --> 01:05:54.039 get set up and you know, guys, are you know, 1285 01:05:54.400 --> 01:05:56.760 using the bathroom in a in a piss tube, you know, 1286 01:05:56.800 --> 01:06:01.079 the white PVC pipe tube, you know, burning their stuff. 1287 01:06:01.119 --> 01:06:04.719 I mean, it was it was luxury living at its finest, 1288 01:06:04.760 --> 01:06:07.159 but it was. And then I remember Gary Harrell had 1289 01:06:07.159 --> 01:06:11.400 come over. He was leading an element from from Syncom 1290 01:06:12.000 --> 01:06:17.559 and UH Miller was leading AFO, and that's when kind 1291 01:06:17.599 --> 01:06:23.079 of things started happening where you know, the first quatern 1292 01:06:23.079 --> 01:06:26.320 that came in was Peace Quattered, and then I can't 1293 01:06:26.360 --> 01:06:29.000 remember who came in behind them, but we were kind 1294 01:06:29.000 --> 01:06:32.880 of doing a rotation in about January, and so I came, 1295 01:06:33.559 --> 01:06:38.119 I came back in January of two thousand and two, 1296 01:06:38.599 --> 01:06:40.760 and I sent you know, we had a we kind 1297 01:06:40.760 --> 01:06:43.360 of did a rotation and had some other folks out there. 1298 01:06:43.360 --> 01:06:46.239 So I wasn't I wasn't out there during the Roberts 1299 01:06:46.320 --> 01:06:52.559 Ridge or the what was it called Pete labor Into. 1300 01:06:52.719 --> 01:06:54.599 I know Pete was on your show before. But Pete 1301 01:06:54.679 --> 01:06:59.639 ended up replacing Scotty Miller as the AFO lead out there. Yeah, 1302 01:07:00.000 --> 01:07:04.960 what was the name of the operation Anaconda. Yeah, So 1303 01:07:04.960 --> 01:07:07.159 so I had I had some guys out there, you know, 1304 01:07:07.199 --> 01:07:09.559 supporting Jaysack at the time. That was a pretty ugly, 1305 01:07:10.159 --> 01:07:12.519 ugly event, you know what went down with Anaconda, And 1306 01:07:12.559 --> 01:07:14.440 I know, I mean, I don't know if Pete was 1307 01:07:14.480 --> 01:07:16.599 able to tell you the story there, but yeah, there 1308 01:07:16.599 --> 01:07:18.320 was a lot of a lot of hard lessons learned 1309 01:07:18.320 --> 01:07:21.880 on that one. I ended up giving up command of 1310 01:07:22.119 --> 01:07:26.039 JCU in the summer of two thousand and two, and 1311 01:07:26.079 --> 01:07:30.119 then I got to go command another unit, so which 1312 01:07:30.280 --> 01:07:32.960 I went back to the one twelve Signal Battalion to 1313 01:07:33.039 --> 01:07:36.800 become the Signal Battalion commander. And while I was supporting 1314 01:07:36.920 --> 01:07:40.760 Jaysak as JCU commander, the one twelfth had supported John 1315 01:07:40.840 --> 01:07:44.519 Mulholland and the fifth Group up in you know, uh 1316 01:07:44.920 --> 01:07:47.840 it's Bekistan, you know, on the early days they they 1317 01:07:48.280 --> 01:07:51.599 had a company up there supporting him. And by the 1318 01:07:51.639 --> 01:07:54.119 time I got to the one twelfth, they had been rotating, 1319 01:07:54.480 --> 01:07:58.000 you know, in and out of in and out of Afghanistan. 1320 01:07:58.480 --> 01:08:01.159 And when I took command on the in July of 1321 01:08:01.320 --> 01:08:07.119 two thousand and two, the one twelfth had folks all 1322 01:08:07.159 --> 01:08:12.639 across Afghanistan. They had a team up in Djibouti supporting 1323 01:08:12.719 --> 01:08:15.159 Horn of Africa, and they had a team out in 1324 01:08:15.159 --> 01:08:19.800 the Philippines supporting Siejasoda dash P or Combined Joint Special 1325 01:08:19.840 --> 01:08:24.439 Operations Task Force Philippines. And so I think the picture 1326 01:08:24.560 --> 01:08:26.439 that was on the on the splash page, that was 1327 01:08:26.600 --> 01:08:29.279 me out at Oregonee on my first battlefield circ there, 1328 01:08:29.279 --> 01:08:31.159 pulling a couple of guys out of Oregonee and switching 1329 01:08:31.159 --> 01:08:35.199 out the teams there. There was a great opportunity, you know, 1330 01:08:35.239 --> 01:08:38.560 to go from JCU to the one twelfth, continue serving 1331 01:08:38.600 --> 01:08:43.319 in soft, continuing in command, continuing, you know, to support 1332 01:08:43.319 --> 01:08:46.920 the fight while we you know, my first year in 1333 01:08:46.960 --> 01:08:50.520 the one twelfth, about December of two thousand and two, 1334 01:08:50.560 --> 01:08:56.359 we started planning real heavy for operations in Iraq. There 1335 01:08:56.439 --> 01:08:59.960 was Sentcom level exercises that were all kind of set 1336 01:09:00.119 --> 01:09:02.560 in the stage for what would we need to do 1337 01:09:03.079 --> 01:09:05.479 if we were going to go into Iraq. And then 1338 01:09:05.680 --> 01:09:08.800 the spring, obviously of two thousand and three is when 1339 01:09:09.439 --> 01:09:13.720 Operation Iraqi Freedom kicked off and I basically deployed a 1340 01:09:13.800 --> 01:09:20.640 battalion tack Tactical Command Post CO located in luded Cutter 1341 01:09:20.720 --> 01:09:24.560 with supporting General Gary Harrell, who was the Soxcent commander 1342 01:09:25.199 --> 01:09:28.079 at the time. But we had one of my companies 1343 01:09:28.159 --> 01:09:33.479 was in Romania supporting Charlie Cleveland and tenth Group, and 1344 01:09:33.560 --> 01:09:38.159 I had another company in Jordan and spread out between 1345 01:09:38.239 --> 01:09:42.920 Jordan and Kuwait supporting John Mulholland in fifth Group. And 1346 01:09:43.000 --> 01:09:46.279 one company was just returned from Afghanistan and they were 1347 01:09:46.319 --> 01:09:48.720 kind of our reserve back at Fort Brag So the 1348 01:09:48.720 --> 01:09:51.840 majority of my battalion was deployed from two thousand and 1349 01:09:51.840 --> 01:09:55.079 three for the initial phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom. 1350 01:09:56.560 --> 01:09:59.159 How did that kind of go on or how did 1351 01:09:59.199 --> 01:10:02.159 it turn out for or you from like a signals perspective, 1352 01:10:02.159 --> 01:10:04.279 I mean a lot of times we hear the operator 1353 01:10:04.319 --> 01:10:06.760 perspective or the soldier on the ground, the tank are 1354 01:10:07.159 --> 01:10:09.800 kind of interested in the communications piece of it. 1355 01:10:11.000 --> 01:10:13.119 Yeah, so I would tell you that this. I mean, 1356 01:10:13.159 --> 01:10:15.720 even though you're in special option, you have probably better 1357 01:10:15.760 --> 01:10:19.279 communications capability than the conventional forces, at least we did 1358 01:10:19.279 --> 01:10:22.399 at the time. They still our systems were still too big, 1359 01:10:22.479 --> 01:10:25.079 too clunky, not as maneuverable as they needed to be 1360 01:10:25.159 --> 01:10:28.720 to support up and support what needed to happen, And 1361 01:10:28.840 --> 01:10:32.079 especially with you know, Tenth Group, where they established a 1362 01:10:32.079 --> 01:10:35.279 staging base in Romania and you have this big satellite 1363 01:10:35.359 --> 01:10:39.199 hub in Romania. Typically you don't jump a satellite hub. 1364 01:10:39.279 --> 01:10:43.279 You jump the spokes, you jump the single dish, you know. 1365 01:10:44.159 --> 01:10:50.000 But General Cleveland wanted to get his just sort of 1366 01:10:50.079 --> 01:10:53.720 out of Romania and into northern Iraq, and so jumping 1367 01:10:53.760 --> 01:10:57.920 the hub was a bit of an undertaking and it 1368 01:10:59.399 --> 01:11:02.960 was so I mean, the guys you know, fought through it, 1369 01:11:02.800 --> 01:11:05.840 but we learned a lot of lessons and we can't 1370 01:11:05.840 --> 01:11:08.760 and what we were able to do though from the 1371 01:11:08.880 --> 01:11:11.920 lessons we learned on OIF one. By the time I 1372 01:11:11.960 --> 01:11:16.359 gave up command in two thousand and four, of the 1373 01:11:16.399 --> 01:11:18.760 one twelve, we had pretty much modernized the whole battalion. 1374 01:11:19.000 --> 01:11:21.640 We had, you know, supportive use of SoC and and 1375 01:11:21.720 --> 01:11:24.359 so COM. Really so COM was in our corner helping us, 1376 01:11:24.439 --> 01:11:27.199 you know, modernize the get smaller and lighter, more capable 1377 01:11:27.319 --> 01:11:31.039 capabilities out there, and basically upgrade almost every team that 1378 01:11:31.079 --> 01:11:33.199 we had in the inventory, which was good. But a 1379 01:11:33.199 --> 01:11:34.760 lot of that was you kind of got to go 1380 01:11:34.800 --> 01:11:37.720 to war with the kit you have, and then you know, 1381 01:11:37.800 --> 01:11:41.840 you you build as you come, as you are, build 1382 01:11:41.880 --> 01:11:44.199 as you go, and constantly improve, right, And that's what 1383 01:11:44.199 --> 01:11:47.680 we were trying to do, is constantly improve and try 1384 01:11:47.720 --> 01:11:51.680 to make things better for the commanders and the soft 1385 01:11:51.720 --> 01:11:52.880 elements that were out in the field. 1386 01:11:53.039 --> 01:11:59.159 So and after the invasion and everything, what was sort 1387 01:11:59.199 --> 01:12:00.319 of the next step for you. 1388 01:12:00.079 --> 01:12:04.640 You So I spent about four months over there, came back, 1389 01:12:06.000 --> 01:12:09.039 and then we had downsized our support to about a 1390 01:12:09.039 --> 01:12:12.840 company level, So we started rotating companies. You know, always 1391 01:12:12.880 --> 01:12:16.279 had a company rotating over the whole time. I was 1392 01:12:16.279 --> 01:12:18.920 the remainder of the time I was in command, and 1393 01:12:19.000 --> 01:12:21.239 so and I took a couple more trips over to 1394 01:12:21.319 --> 01:12:23.800 visit the guys, but I was not there, you know, permanently, 1395 01:12:23.840 --> 01:12:29.319 after probably about I guess, back July of three. And 1396 01:12:29.439 --> 01:12:32.119 that's when it started getting you know, after the initial 1397 01:12:32.159 --> 01:12:35.239 phase of OIF started getting ugly into the you know, 1398 01:12:35.279 --> 01:12:38.479 the insurgency, right, and so things were starting to get 1399 01:12:38.920 --> 01:12:39.800 a little uglier there. 1400 01:12:39.840 --> 01:12:43.439 But yeah, and then what did you do after the 1401 01:12:43.600 --> 01:12:44.960 one talent one to twelve? 1402 01:12:46.239 --> 01:12:49.119 So I got selected on what's called this smooth board, 1403 01:12:49.119 --> 01:12:54.119 the Special Mission Unit Selection Board, to command a mission 1404 01:12:54.159 --> 01:12:57.760 support squadron for a special Mission unit up in up 1405 01:12:57.760 --> 01:13:01.199 in Northern Virginia based out of Fort Belvoir. So I 1406 01:13:01.239 --> 01:13:05.319 got selected. I got notified. Actually I got notified while 1407 01:13:05.319 --> 01:13:09.520 I was in Iraq visiting. I was visiting the Task 1408 01:13:09.560 --> 01:13:16.000 Force in Iraq, and I got a call and I remember, 1409 01:13:16.359 --> 01:13:19.079 I got the call from the Deputy Commanding General of USask. 1410 01:13:19.479 --> 01:13:23.760 And then I get to the units, the Special Mission 1411 01:13:23.840 --> 01:13:27.279 Units Forward deployed headquarters in Baghdad, and I remember Bennet's 1412 01:13:27.279 --> 01:13:29.920 Socolak congratulating me. It was like he already knew he. 1413 01:13:30.600 --> 01:13:32.199 I guess a lot of folks knew before I knew 1414 01:13:32.239 --> 01:13:35.960 but anyway, I got notified while I was there, and 1415 01:13:36.000 --> 01:13:40.600 then the following summer I took command of the mission 1416 01:13:40.640 --> 01:13:42.840 sports Quader for this special mission unit. And it was 1417 01:13:42.880 --> 01:13:48.039 a unique, very unique command. Uh. Everything the unit does 1418 01:13:48.159 --> 01:13:52.800 is you know, low visibility, kind of clandestine mindset. Most 1419 01:13:52.800 --> 01:13:55.359 of the uh, you know, a lot of our you 1420 01:13:55.399 --> 01:13:58.760 work very closely with the intel community. Uh. You know, 1421 01:13:59.239 --> 01:14:03.359 we have you know, specialists in human intelligence and in 1422 01:14:03.359 --> 01:14:06.000 one of our squadrons. We had specialists in signals intelligence 1423 01:14:06.239 --> 01:14:08.600 in another one of our squadrons. And then I had 1424 01:14:08.600 --> 01:14:10.560 the squadron that had all of the medics, all of 1425 01:14:10.600 --> 01:14:15.000 the rigors, all of the logistitions, and all the communicators 1426 01:14:15.199 --> 01:14:17.239 and everything we had to do, you know, if you 1427 01:14:17.279 --> 01:14:20.479 have to do it in a clandestine environment in many cases, 1428 01:14:20.640 --> 01:14:23.840 you know, not in uniform. Uh. In many cases, everything 1429 01:14:23.840 --> 01:14:27.520 has to be unattributed, you know, non attributable. So it's 1430 01:14:27.560 --> 01:14:29.560 all you know, you've got to be able to hide 1431 01:14:29.600 --> 01:14:32.760 in plain sight and be able to you know, connect 1432 01:14:33.159 --> 01:14:35.439 these operatives that are spread out in a variety of 1433 01:14:35.600 --> 01:14:37.920 you know, very dangerous places and make sure they have 1434 01:14:38.000 --> 01:14:40.279 everything they need to function and survive. And so it 1435 01:14:40.319 --> 01:14:43.319 was it was a unique, uh, Cape opportunity there to 1436 01:14:43.359 --> 01:14:47.119 command a similar but very different kind of unit. And 1437 01:14:47.159 --> 01:14:51.560 so for me, it was six straight years of commanding 1438 01:14:51.840 --> 01:14:56.520 in special ops. Uh, you know, between j CU one 1439 01:14:56.640 --> 01:15:01.000 twelve and then this uh this other special sorry yeah, 1440 01:15:01.039 --> 01:15:03.479 between JCU the one twelfth and then this other special 1441 01:15:03.479 --> 01:15:06.239 mission unit. It was it was you know, I loved it. 1442 01:15:06.239 --> 01:15:09.399 It was it was great. And uh. But while I 1443 01:15:09.479 --> 01:15:14.640 was in that unit, every time the unit commander would deploy, 1444 01:15:15.359 --> 01:15:17.479 I would he would put me in charge of be 1445 01:15:17.600 --> 01:15:19.720 like the rear D. I was running the unit in 1446 01:15:19.760 --> 01:15:23.079 the rear, and uh, we were constantly rotating a squadron 1447 01:15:23.119 --> 01:15:27.840 commander over uh forward deployed to run all the unit 1448 01:15:27.880 --> 01:15:30.960 operations that were happening between Afghanistan and Iraq and a 1449 01:15:31.000 --> 01:15:35.279 lot of the adjacent countries. Okay, because a lot of 1450 01:15:35.359 --> 01:15:39.279 what we were doing was you know, intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance 1451 01:15:39.279 --> 01:15:43.960 and those types of things. And so as A in 1452 01:15:44.079 --> 01:15:46.760 March of two thousand and five, I got to deploy. 1453 01:15:47.560 --> 01:15:51.439 We had previously called this the Forward Deployed Element dead A. 1454 01:15:51.840 --> 01:15:54.720 It was pre you know, you'd I think you'd talked 1455 01:15:54.720 --> 01:15:57.279 about dead A in your book, actually, but it was 1456 01:15:57.279 --> 01:16:00.239 a they named it. It was just our commander had 1457 01:16:00.239 --> 01:16:02.600 called it that, but Macrystal wanted to change the name 1458 01:16:02.640 --> 01:16:05.960 of the task force, and so he called it Task 1459 01:16:06.000 --> 01:16:11.000 Force three five six. And the story behind the task 1460 01:16:11.039 --> 01:16:14.720 force is one of our operatives was actually killed in 1461 01:16:14.800 --> 01:16:19.359 a in a suicide bombing at the Moses Dining facility 1462 01:16:19.439 --> 01:16:23.159 in December December twenty first, a guy named Rob Odelle 1463 01:16:23.159 --> 01:16:26.439 Special Forces eighteen series. He was a member of the 1464 01:16:26.520 --> 01:16:30.880 unit he got killed. And because our unit was kind 1465 01:16:30.880 --> 01:16:33.880 of leading this task force, General Macrystal picked the number 1466 01:16:34.079 --> 01:16:37.439 based on the Julian date of the date that Rob 1467 01:16:37.520 --> 01:16:40.319 got killed, and so three five six was was what 1468 01:16:40.520 --> 01:16:42.640 you know, the Julian date of December twenty first. So 1469 01:16:42.880 --> 01:16:45.199 I was the first commander of Task Force three five six, 1470 01:16:45.199 --> 01:16:47.640 which was pretty awesome. And I get over there and 1471 01:16:47.680 --> 01:16:51.760 I'm replacing a guy named Sean. Sean mulholland who's related 1472 01:16:51.760 --> 01:16:55.279 to John Sewan was he had one of the other 1473 01:16:55.279 --> 01:16:58.199 squadrons at the time. But we did the battle handoff 1474 01:16:59.000 --> 01:17:03.279 and then one of the big things that happened, you know, 1475 01:17:03.560 --> 01:17:07.159 I had a tremendous team of in the task Force 1476 01:17:07.159 --> 01:17:11.159 supporting supporting the task force. I had a smaller Task 1477 01:17:11.159 --> 01:17:13.840 Force three five six that. We had a Foreign Fighter 1478 01:17:13.880 --> 01:17:16.880 Exploitation Team, so I had members from our unit, some 1479 01:17:17.039 --> 01:17:21.560 intel support. I had members from the FBI hr T 1480 01:17:21.760 --> 01:17:24.199 that was on our team. And what we were really 1481 01:17:24.199 --> 01:17:27.560 trying to do is understand and run the rat lines 1482 01:17:27.600 --> 01:17:30.239 back to all these different countries that were fueling the 1483 01:17:30.319 --> 01:17:33.560 insurgency with foreign fighters and so a lot of it was, 1484 01:17:33.720 --> 01:17:36.359 you know, things that were coming off of computers. We 1485 01:17:36.399 --> 01:17:40.079 had a computer forensics exploitation expert out there. We had 1486 01:17:40.720 --> 01:17:46.840 we were getting information from the the Tactical Screening Facility 1487 01:17:47.039 --> 01:17:50.079 the TSF, where they were doing before guys would go 1488 01:17:50.159 --> 01:17:52.560 to to like a lot of the prisons, they would 1489 01:17:52.760 --> 01:17:55.279 you know, there was there was interrogations going on to 1490 01:17:55.359 --> 01:17:58.039 kind of exploit and analyze what was happening so they 1491 01:17:58.039 --> 01:18:01.119 could you know, disseminate that information and find and fixed. 1492 01:18:01.159 --> 01:18:03.279 So that was kind of there. We were there there 1493 01:18:03.359 --> 01:18:05.079 during this whole thing called the F three E A 1494 01:18:05.199 --> 01:18:08.760 D cycle. I think you're familiar with that fine fixed, finish, Exploit, 1495 01:18:08.800 --> 01:18:12.560 analyze and disseminate. Where we came in was really the exploit, 1496 01:18:12.640 --> 01:18:15.680 analyze and disseminate, Exploit, analyze and disseminate. We were we 1497 01:18:15.680 --> 01:18:17.319 were trying to pull the thread on all of that 1498 01:18:17.359 --> 01:18:19.680 stuff and working with the task force on the ground 1499 01:18:19.680 --> 01:18:22.840 that we're doing multiple operations. Every single night we had 1500 01:18:23.159 --> 01:18:26.039 there was a joint interagency task force being led over 1501 01:18:26.079 --> 01:18:29.039 in Afghanistan, there was another one in Iraq, and then 1502 01:18:29.239 --> 01:18:34.159 we had working directly for me. I had uh you know, 1503 01:18:34.439 --> 01:18:39.720 operatives and analysts at various embassies and stations co located 1504 01:18:39.760 --> 01:18:43.880 with their counterparts where really we would fuse the intel, 1505 01:18:44.640 --> 01:18:47.560 put a plan of action together, and then give it 1506 01:18:47.600 --> 01:18:50.520 to a force to take action. And you know, typically 1507 01:18:50.600 --> 01:18:52.479 on the ground in Iraq Afghanistan, it was a direct 1508 01:18:52.520 --> 01:18:54.399 action and one of the units would take it. But 1509 01:18:54.399 --> 01:18:56.840 if it was in one of these other countries, it 1510 01:18:56.920 --> 01:18:59.479 was usually internal law enforcement where they would take action 1511 01:18:59.560 --> 01:19:02.800 based on information, you know, And so it became a 1512 01:19:02.800 --> 01:19:06.880 pretty powerful machine. And one of the things that while 1513 01:19:06.880 --> 01:19:09.880 I was there, we had this special event that we 1514 01:19:09.920 --> 01:19:13.199 had planned where we brought in a chief of Base 1515 01:19:13.279 --> 01:19:17.239 and one of my senior liaisons that was in I'm 1516 01:19:17.239 --> 01:19:19.319 not going to say what country, but they came in 1517 01:19:19.399 --> 01:19:23.960 with some equivalents to I would say probably equivalent to 1518 01:19:24.000 --> 01:19:28.039 like the US FBI, where they brought in some investigators 1519 01:19:28.520 --> 01:19:33.720 that were hardcore you know, no, really, they understood the 1520 01:19:33.760 --> 01:19:37.359 culture and they were going to do the interrogations. And 1521 01:19:38.000 --> 01:19:41.439 so we launched this thing at Abu Greb and it 1522 01:19:41.560 --> 01:19:43.960 was on the second of April and two thousand and five. 1523 01:19:44.479 --> 01:19:45.960 So I fly out there with my team and get 1524 01:19:45.960 --> 01:19:48.680 everything set up, and you know, we're kind of going 1525 01:19:48.720 --> 01:19:51.119 through our first day of planning. We're getting you know, 1526 01:19:51.199 --> 01:19:53.319 kind of putting on our game face to figure out 1527 01:19:53.359 --> 01:19:55.000 how we're going to do all this. We're coordinating with 1528 01:19:55.039 --> 01:19:57.199 the staff there at Abu grab and you know, you 1529 01:19:57.239 --> 01:20:00.640 have conventional units there, yeah, am I units. You have 1530 01:20:00.720 --> 01:20:04.600 military police, you have you know, marines guarding the facility 1531 01:20:04.600 --> 01:20:06.079 and all that stuff. So we're trying to get the 1532 01:20:06.119 --> 01:20:07.720 lay of the land and figure out we've got this 1533 01:20:08.159 --> 01:20:10.560 nasty little hoots we're staying in. You know, we set 1534 01:20:10.600 --> 01:20:12.319 up our coms. We had a couple communicators from the 1535 01:20:12.359 --> 01:20:17.119 Joint Communications Support Element with us that you know, it 1536 01:20:17.159 --> 01:20:21.520 was kind of a mixed bag of teammates and we 1537 01:20:21.600 --> 01:20:24.119 built this little, i'd say, a little cross functional team 1538 01:20:24.159 --> 01:20:26.800 to go take on this mission. And so, you know, 1539 01:20:27.000 --> 01:20:29.600 we get there on day one, we get everything set up, 1540 01:20:29.640 --> 01:20:33.479 and that night at child right after the call for 1541 01:20:33.520 --> 01:20:37.520 prayer at about seven oh six pm or nineteen oh six, 1542 01:20:38.039 --> 01:20:40.840 you know, local time or whatever. We're we're eating child, 1543 01:20:40.880 --> 01:20:45.880 we're at the dining facility and we hear damn, that 1544 01:20:45.960 --> 01:20:48.840 was close. And we hear another one, and it's like, 1545 01:20:50.520 --> 01:20:53.359 I call this shit. They're bracketing the dining facility. And 1546 01:20:53.399 --> 01:20:55.399 then there's just and then all hell broke loose and 1547 01:20:55.439 --> 01:20:57.760 for about two and a half hours, it was just 1548 01:20:58.159 --> 01:21:02.039 constant state of rockets. Four there were four vehicle born 1549 01:21:02.079 --> 01:21:05.079 id's that hit the towers of the camp. There was 1550 01:21:05.479 --> 01:21:08.159 it was a gunfight went on for I mean, it 1551 01:21:08.199 --> 01:21:11.000 went on for a long time. It was pretty significant, 1552 01:21:11.079 --> 01:21:13.039 and we ended up a couple of our guys. I 1553 01:21:13.039 --> 01:21:15.079 mean we went to chow. You know, we didn't bring 1554 01:21:15.079 --> 01:21:17.000 our long guns with us ord nods, but it was 1555 01:21:17.239 --> 01:21:19.800 getting dark and all, and so a couple of guys 1556 01:21:19.800 --> 01:21:21.800 went back and they scooped up our long guns. We 1557 01:21:21.800 --> 01:21:23.920 were stale still at the dining facility. They didn't want 1558 01:21:23.920 --> 01:21:27.279 a lot of people running around the compound, but we, uh, 1559 01:21:28.199 --> 01:21:30.399 we were kind of bracing ourselves for the Alamo moment, 1560 01:21:30.600 --> 01:21:32.439 you know what I mean, because it was we didn't 1561 01:21:32.439 --> 01:21:34.000 know what the heck was going on. There was a 1562 01:21:34.159 --> 01:21:38.640 I think like seventy some insurgents got killed. I think 1563 01:21:38.640 --> 01:21:42.800 there was like forty four wounded, US wounded. We had 1564 01:21:42.800 --> 01:21:46.000 one guy that basically had a shrapnel scrape on his arm, 1565 01:21:46.000 --> 01:21:48.680 but that was about it. But it was U. I 1566 01:21:48.720 --> 01:21:50.560 was supposed to leave that night at nine o'clock, I 1567 01:21:50.600 --> 01:21:51.840 was getting the team set up and I was going 1568 01:21:51.880 --> 01:21:56.079 to go back to Ballad. I called back and told 1569 01:21:56.119 --> 01:22:00.840 General m. Crystal. I said, hey, there's threats. There's there's 1570 01:22:01.199 --> 01:22:05.600 there's discussion of having like the threat in the case 1571 01:22:05.640 --> 01:22:07.840 there may be more of this. And I don't really 1572 01:22:07.880 --> 01:22:10.239 feel comfortable leaving my guys out here and not being here. 1573 01:22:10.640 --> 01:22:13.039 So I'm going to stay for the week if you're 1574 01:22:13.079 --> 01:22:15.920 okay with it. And I didn't have great comms with 1575 01:22:15.960 --> 01:22:18.319 all the other outsides, which kind of but I had 1576 01:22:18.319 --> 01:22:20.960 a good nco back at Blood that was taking care 1577 01:22:21.000 --> 01:22:23.199 of all the other outside so I had good enough comms. 1578 01:22:23.680 --> 01:22:25.279 But I and Blot I had great comms. But here 1579 01:22:25.319 --> 01:22:27.640 I had but it was like I could do what 1580 01:22:27.680 --> 01:22:30.319 I needed to do from ab Abu Grab for a week, 1581 01:22:30.920 --> 01:22:32.560 and but I didn't want to. I didn't want to 1582 01:22:32.680 --> 01:22:35.840 leave the team and not and go back to Ballad 1583 01:22:35.880 --> 01:22:38.520 when you know, they thought there might be you know, 1584 01:22:38.560 --> 01:22:41.560 this was this was during the heavy days of Zarkawi, 1585 01:22:41.760 --> 01:22:44.760 just doing you know, brutal stuff in a variety of locations, 1586 01:22:45.199 --> 01:22:50.920 and that same night it so I forgot to tell 1587 01:22:50.960 --> 01:22:54.119 you this. But while I was at Ballade, my brother 1588 01:22:54.640 --> 01:22:57.039 was also. He was in a conventional unit. He was 1589 01:22:57.079 --> 01:23:03.119 a logistician in the first cost coms course pork Man 1590 01:23:03.479 --> 01:23:05.760 and out of Fort Bragg. They were on the other 1591 01:23:05.800 --> 01:23:09.239 side of Ballad. But every Sunday night or every Sunday afternoon, 1592 01:23:09.279 --> 01:23:11.680 he and I would meet at our defect, our dining 1593 01:23:11.680 --> 01:23:15.119 facility for lunch. We'd have lunch together and then we'd 1594 01:23:15.119 --> 01:23:17.760 smoke a cigar and drink near beer afterwards and just 1595 01:23:17.840 --> 01:23:20.720 kind of shoot the crap and tell stories about what happened. 1596 01:23:20.720 --> 01:23:24.119 And so that's Saturday night when when all hell broke loose. 1597 01:23:24.640 --> 01:23:26.760 I send him a note and I said, hey, man, 1598 01:23:26.800 --> 01:23:28.520 I'm not going to be able to have to meet 1599 01:23:28.560 --> 01:23:31.640 you for lunch and cigars tomorrow. Crazy thing happened. I'll 1600 01:23:31.640 --> 01:23:37.439 tell you when I get back. And his response was yeah, no, kid, 1601 01:23:37.439 --> 01:23:39.560 and me too. I'll talk to you when I can. 1602 01:23:40.079 --> 01:23:41.720 And so come to find out, I get back to 1603 01:23:41.760 --> 01:23:47.359 Ballod and he was leading a convoy of a logistics 1604 01:23:47.439 --> 01:23:49.880 unit that was getting ready to go replace another unit. 1605 01:23:49.920 --> 01:23:52.479 And they were about two and a half miles outside 1606 01:23:52.560 --> 01:23:56.800 the gate of Abu Grave going to a logistics facility 1607 01:23:57.079 --> 01:24:01.479 when their convoy got blown up by They actually lost 1608 01:24:01.479 --> 01:24:03.920 guys in the convoy and they got they hit an 1609 01:24:03.920 --> 01:24:07.079 id and they came to like a standstill and they 1610 01:24:07.239 --> 01:24:11.159 you know, they had apache gunships called in and actually 1611 01:24:11.159 --> 01:24:14.439 helped them get through that that situation. But that all happened, 1612 01:24:14.479 --> 01:24:16.960 you know, myself and my brother, you know, within just 1613 01:24:17.000 --> 01:24:18.880 about a three mile radius of each other on the 1614 01:24:18.920 --> 01:24:21.640 same night, which was pretty crazy. When we told that 1615 01:24:21.680 --> 01:24:23.399 story to my mom, she about lost her mind. 1616 01:24:23.439 --> 01:24:28.399 But before we move on, I wanted to ask you 1617 01:24:28.439 --> 01:24:31.880 sort of what you learned about the foreign fighter networks, 1618 01:24:31.960 --> 01:24:35.640 because I mean, it's obviously kind of a nebulous thing, 1619 01:24:35.680 --> 01:24:38.000 but I remember the intel we were getting at the time. 1620 01:24:38.079 --> 01:24:40.920 But these guys were coming from all across North Africa, 1621 01:24:41.359 --> 01:24:44.000 through Syria into Iraq, and what did you. 1622 01:24:44.279 --> 01:24:45.800 There was there was a lot of them coming from 1623 01:24:45.800 --> 01:24:48.039 North Africa. There's a lot of them coming through Jordan. 1624 01:24:48.600 --> 01:24:52.239 The rat lines were running through Jordan and through Syria. Uh, 1625 01:24:52.319 --> 01:24:54.840 there was a lot coming from places like Saudi Arabia, 1626 01:24:55.720 --> 01:25:01.359 you know, other I mean it was yeah, there was 1627 01:25:01.439 --> 01:25:06.159 no like single source of foreign matters. There there was 1628 01:25:06.199 --> 01:25:07.800 a I mean they were coming from all over the place. 1629 01:25:07.800 --> 01:25:11.560 And and zark cowi uh, I mean he was God 1630 01:25:11.600 --> 01:25:15.039 rest his soul, but he was, I mean he was 1631 01:25:15.880 --> 01:25:20.920 he was a vicious vicious uh he I mean he 1632 01:25:21.000 --> 01:25:23.680 was doing everything he could to fuel the insurgency and 1633 01:25:23.880 --> 01:25:26.640 wreak havoc on on on our forces on the ground, 1634 01:25:26.640 --> 01:25:30.880 and I mean just ruthless killings of I mean, thank 1635 01:25:30.880 --> 01:25:32.800 god he met his fate, you know, a few months later. 1636 01:25:32.840 --> 01:25:35.640 But yeah, it was it was pretty brutal. But I 1637 01:25:35.680 --> 01:25:37.479 would say, I mean there was no single source. A 1638 01:25:37.479 --> 01:25:39.000 lot of them coming from North Africa, a lot of 1639 01:25:39.000 --> 01:25:42.439 them coming you know from I mean he had ties 1640 01:25:42.479 --> 01:25:54.680 back to Jordan obviously, so some coming from Jordan. Uh yeah, yeah. 1641 01:25:54.720 --> 01:25:57.920 But the folks we brought over were brought over for 1642 01:25:57.960 --> 01:25:59.439 a reason because a lot of them were coming from 1643 01:25:59.479 --> 01:26:03.199 that particular their country. I'm just yeah. Uh. 1644 01:26:03.840 --> 01:26:08.279 And around after this assignment, was this when you went 1645 01:26:08.359 --> 01:26:11.079 to be a part of the Joint Recontast Force. 1646 01:26:12.359 --> 01:26:17.359 Yeah, so there was a lot of different units doing 1647 01:26:18.039 --> 01:26:23.279 clandestine like stuff, right, and General McCrystal realized that we 1648 01:26:23.319 --> 01:26:26.960 needed to establish some best practices and some capability. So 1649 01:26:27.000 --> 01:26:30.159 you have the Ranger Recon Detachment, you had Operational Support 1650 01:26:30.159 --> 01:26:32.479 Troop at the at the unit down at Fort Bragg. Uh, 1651 01:26:32.600 --> 01:26:34.399 you had I can't remember the name of the squadron 1652 01:26:34.439 --> 01:26:41.359 that that out of a dev group, Black squadron, Yeah, yeah, 1653 01:26:41.399 --> 01:26:43.720 and and then you had you know, the unit I 1654 01:26:43.840 --> 01:26:47.039 was in. And so what they did is they picked 1655 01:26:47.039 --> 01:26:48.560 a guy named John Burnham. I don't know if you know. 1656 01:26:48.600 --> 01:26:53.800 Johnny's a retired Navy seal, but John and uh, Heypman, 1657 01:26:53.880 --> 01:26:55.920 I can't remember Heypman's first name, but he led the 1658 01:26:55.920 --> 01:26:58.119 Black Squadron group. And then we had So what they 1659 01:26:58.520 --> 01:27:00.439 did is they stood up this joint read this Task 1660 01:27:00.479 --> 01:27:03.560 Force co located with our unit at our headquarters at 1661 01:27:03.600 --> 01:27:07.319 Fort Belvoir and really trying to get a handle on 1662 01:27:08.479 --> 01:27:12.399 who's doing what where and for what purpose. For all 1663 01:27:12.479 --> 01:27:16.399 the clandestine it was related activities, you know, it was 1664 01:27:16.840 --> 01:27:20.640 kind of advanced force operations. That Miller and those guys 1665 01:27:20.640 --> 01:27:23.720 that stood up was a very small sliver, but all 1666 01:27:23.760 --> 01:27:25.800 the units were building their own intel capabilities. They were 1667 01:27:25.800 --> 01:27:28.039 all building their own you know, they were running sources, 1668 01:27:28.079 --> 01:27:31.119 they were running you know and doing signals intelligence and 1669 01:27:31.119 --> 01:27:32.680 all that, and so it was it was really trying 1670 01:27:32.680 --> 01:27:36.359 to get it all organized and focused and and and 1671 01:27:36.399 --> 01:27:38.319 they stood up a task force to kind of coordinate 1672 01:27:38.319 --> 01:27:41.279 and deconflict that stuff so we wouldn't have folks tripping 1673 01:27:41.279 --> 01:27:43.159 over each other, I guess, and and really trying to 1674 01:27:43.279 --> 01:27:46.159 establish some best practices for a lot of that capability. 1675 01:27:46.760 --> 01:27:49.680 So it's sort of like JSOCK for the recon community. 1676 01:27:50.319 --> 01:27:54.600 Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was really a JSCK entity that 1677 01:27:54.920 --> 01:27:58.000 but our boss was asked to stand it up and 1678 01:27:58.720 --> 01:28:00.720 at the time it was Conrad out and then Mike 1679 01:28:00.800 --> 01:28:05.000 Nagata came and took over my second year there as 1680 01:28:05.039 --> 01:28:06.119 the unit commander. 1681 01:28:08.079 --> 01:28:10.600 And around this time, like what were you seeing from 1682 01:28:10.720 --> 01:28:13.439 you know, the recon community? I guess you could say, like, 1683 01:28:13.479 --> 01:28:16.640 how how did it evolved over the subsequent you know, 1684 01:28:16.720 --> 01:28:18.800 ten years or so. 1685 01:28:19.039 --> 01:28:24.520 I mean a lot of it was, you know, having 1686 01:28:24.560 --> 01:28:30.199 the process of the capability down for you know, getting 1687 01:28:30.239 --> 01:28:32.399 guys to go to the farm and actually learn how 1688 01:28:32.399 --> 01:28:36.399 to do human operations correctly, and then coordinating in that 1689 01:28:36.520 --> 01:28:39.760 and deconflicting that with the agency. Uh, everything we did 1690 01:28:39.760 --> 01:28:42.920 on the singing side had NSA oversight, you know, because 1691 01:28:43.640 --> 01:28:47.439 and so making sure that you know, we weren't we 1692 01:28:47.439 --> 01:28:50.119 weren't going to get out of sorts with with folks 1693 01:28:50.119 --> 01:28:54.359 that really had singate authorities and stay synchronized with with 1694 01:28:54.520 --> 01:28:56.960 the with the NSA. But a lot of things was 1695 01:28:57.000 --> 01:29:03.119 really establishing best practices and best capable for technical technical capabilities, 1696 01:29:03.439 --> 01:29:07.079 you know, clandestine comms, cove comp capabilities, you know, making 1697 01:29:07.079 --> 01:29:11.640 sure guys could go in you know undetected, uh, with 1698 01:29:11.840 --> 01:29:14.159 capabilities that we're going to allow them to do what 1699 01:29:14.199 --> 01:29:16.560 they needed to do and be able to communicate in 1700 01:29:16.640 --> 01:29:19.560 a clandestine fashion, and trying to find the best kit 1701 01:29:20.000 --> 01:29:23.039 that wouldn't you know, send some sort of military signature 1702 01:29:23.560 --> 01:29:25.399 where they could go in with something that you know 1703 01:29:25.520 --> 01:29:28.239 just look like a phone or a laptop or or whatever, 1704 01:29:28.319 --> 01:29:31.640 but it had you know, capabilities that could be used. 1705 01:29:32.159 --> 01:29:37.359 We had some established some cover capabilities for logistics where 1706 01:29:37.399 --> 01:29:40.359 things could be forward staged, you know, in a variety 1707 01:29:40.359 --> 01:29:43.840 of locations, and just you know learning and working with 1708 01:29:44.880 --> 01:29:48.520 Intel community teammates and counterparts to put some you know 1709 01:29:48.640 --> 01:29:53.960 systems in place, using you know, diplomatic pouch to you know, 1710 01:29:54.000 --> 01:29:57.439 get capability in and get it distributed to you know, 1711 01:29:57.520 --> 01:30:00.720 different locations, just a variety of trade craft and field 1712 01:30:00.760 --> 01:30:04.000 craft capabilities that constantly were evolving. Does I answer your 1713 01:30:04.079 --> 01:30:06.479 question absolutely? Uh. 1714 01:30:06.720 --> 01:30:08.760 And from there you were off to the War College. 1715 01:30:09.840 --> 01:30:14.119 Yeah, I ended up. So when I was Mike Nagata, 1716 01:30:14.319 --> 01:30:19.039 I was, I think so on the trip later I 1717 01:30:19.079 --> 01:30:21.000 went back to Iraq and it was just a short 1718 01:30:21.079 --> 01:30:24.800 visit visiting our guys. And the first time, I think 1719 01:30:25.199 --> 01:30:27.600 Troutman was my boss. The second time, Mike Nagotta was 1720 01:30:27.600 --> 01:30:32.319 my boss. And well, and I uh, I got selected 1721 01:30:32.319 --> 01:30:35.119 for brigade command while I was we were in ballade. 1722 01:30:36.039 --> 01:30:38.119 I remember we were kidnapped, getting ready to fly out 1723 01:30:38.119 --> 01:30:41.720 on a on a helicopter out to the to link 1724 01:30:41.800 --> 01:30:43.000 up with some of our guys that were in a 1725 01:30:43.039 --> 01:30:45.520 safe house out on the Syrian border. And I was 1726 01:30:45.520 --> 01:30:48.800 flying with Nagoda and a couple others and he gets 1727 01:30:50.520 --> 01:30:55.039 the brigade command slate, and you know, commanders typically get 1728 01:30:55.079 --> 01:30:57.960 notified when somebody on their organization either gets promoted or 1729 01:30:57.960 --> 01:31:02.279 gets slated for command. And he raised my command Slaty said, well, Pete, 1730 01:31:02.319 --> 01:31:04.960 looks like you're going to command a brigade. You got 1731 01:31:04.960 --> 01:31:08.319 the DS Central Field Command, whatever the hell that is. 1732 01:31:08.800 --> 01:31:11.279 He goes. You know, you can't spell disappointment without disso, 1733 01:31:12.039 --> 01:31:14.960 and I was like, I never forgot that. So anyway, 1734 01:31:15.680 --> 01:31:18.479 I get slated for command, and then I leave the 1735 01:31:18.600 --> 01:31:21.960 unit and I go to National War College. And so 1736 01:31:22.000 --> 01:31:24.159 I'm at National War College in two thousand and six. 1737 01:31:24.319 --> 01:31:31.079 Two thousand and seven, my son, my oldest son, had 1738 01:31:31.159 --> 01:31:36.279 just enlisted in the Army as an infantryman and he 1739 01:31:36.600 --> 01:31:38.720 signed an airborne contract. He was supposed to go to 1740 01:31:38.800 --> 01:31:42.000 eighty second. He's going through one station unit training at 1741 01:31:42.000 --> 01:31:49.239 Fort Benning, Georgia, and he gets pinpointed to third Brigade, 1742 01:31:49.239 --> 01:31:52.640 tenth Mountain Division, and at that time, third Brigade, tenth 1743 01:31:52.640 --> 01:31:55.239 Mountain Division, the brigade commander was a guy named Mick 1744 01:31:55.279 --> 01:31:59.439 Nicholson who later became my boss. But they were deployed 1745 01:31:59.640 --> 01:32:01.439 and they were in the corn gall and they were 1746 01:32:01.960 --> 01:32:05.960 all on what's considered Regional Command East. And I'm at 1747 01:32:05.960 --> 01:32:10.119 the War College at National in Downtown d C. Spend 1748 01:32:10.159 --> 01:32:12.119 in my year there before I go into Brigade Command, 1749 01:32:12.640 --> 01:32:16.800 and I go down to my son's graduation, and you know, 1750 01:32:16.840 --> 01:32:20.479 he's excited, he just made it through something I didn't 1751 01:32:20.479 --> 01:32:22.199 even think he was going to you know, survive his 1752 01:32:22.279 --> 01:32:24.359 teenage years, because he was he was more of a 1753 01:32:24.359 --> 01:32:27.319 hellion than I was. But he ended up, you know, 1754 01:32:27.399 --> 01:32:29.960 making it through basic training and a t as an infantryman. 1755 01:32:30.640 --> 01:32:32.880 And he's slated to go to the tenth Mountain Division. 1756 01:32:33.399 --> 01:32:36.319 When I go to his graduation at Benning, he can't 1757 01:32:36.359 --> 01:32:39.159 wait to introduce me to his his drill sardant, and 1758 01:32:39.199 --> 01:32:40.880 so I go meet his drill sardant. I was like, 1759 01:32:41.119 --> 01:32:44.680 this is freaking awesome man. He's proud of his accomplishments, 1760 01:32:44.720 --> 01:32:46.520 and his drill Targean told me some great things about 1761 01:32:46.560 --> 01:32:48.840 him and all that. Then he gets to Tenth Mountain 1762 01:32:48.920 --> 01:32:52.800 and he's up at Fort Drum, New York, and the 1763 01:32:52.840 --> 01:32:56.399 brigade he's going to is deployed and he's going as 1764 01:32:56.399 --> 01:32:59.720 a replacement because they've lost a bunch of soldiers and 1765 01:32:59.800 --> 01:33:02.640 so he's in third Brigade and he slated to go 1766 01:33:02.680 --> 01:33:05.880 to Afghanistani. He just doesn't know when. And I'm sitting 1767 01:33:05.880 --> 01:33:09.119 at you know, I'm living at Fort Belvoir, I'm attending 1768 01:33:09.159 --> 01:33:13.720 the National War College, and I started asking him about 1769 01:33:13.760 --> 01:33:16.159 you know, It's like, Matt, what do you do for 1770 01:33:16.239 --> 01:33:19.039 like pre combat training. He's like, we're not doing anything. 1771 01:33:19.079 --> 01:33:23.560 We're freaking painting walls, moving wall lockers. I said, well, 1772 01:33:23.560 --> 01:33:27.000 who's he goes, well, they got Rear D. Rear D, 1773 01:33:27.159 --> 01:33:29.920 the rear Detachment n c O is that they're they're 1774 01:33:29.920 --> 01:33:32.319 not the cream of the crop. They're you know, as 1775 01:33:32.359 --> 01:33:35.000 proud as he was of his drill sergeant, he was 1776 01:33:35.119 --> 01:33:38.640 frustrated as hell when he was, you know, in hurry 1777 01:33:38.680 --> 01:33:41.800 up in wait mode, sitting back at Fort Drum, North Carolina, 1778 01:33:42.319 --> 01:33:44.960 or at Fort Drum, New York. And so I'm like, 1779 01:33:45.880 --> 01:33:49.239 this sucks. And I realized Mick Nicholson's n CEO, his 1780 01:33:49.279 --> 01:33:52.720 command sergeant major was a guy named Jim Redmore. Jim 1781 01:33:52.840 --> 01:33:55.640 was he was the fire support in CEO at the 1782 01:33:55.760 --> 01:33:57.840 unit at Fort Bragg when I was there as a 1783 01:33:58.159 --> 01:34:00.680 signal squad and we got to know each other pretty well. 1784 01:34:00.720 --> 01:34:03.439 And so I sent Jim a note reach out to 1785 01:34:03.520 --> 01:34:06.039 him on email. I said, hey, sorry, Major, I don't 1786 01:34:06.039 --> 01:34:07.600 know if you remember we worked together in the unit, 1787 01:34:07.640 --> 01:34:11.880 but my son is in the brigade and he's getting 1788 01:34:11.920 --> 01:34:16.319 ready to deploy. And when I saw him graduating, I 1789 01:34:16.399 --> 01:34:18.439 basically told the story about when he graduated, he was 1790 01:34:18.720 --> 01:34:21.319 you know, he had nothing but confidence in the Non 1791 01:34:21.319 --> 01:34:23.680 commission Officer Corps and he was as proud as he 1792 01:34:23.720 --> 01:34:28.520 could be. But he's on his way to Afghanistan in 1793 01:34:28.560 --> 01:34:30.760 a few weeks, and I want to make sure he's 1794 01:34:30.760 --> 01:34:33.520 an asset not a liability because he's not getting any 1795 01:34:33.520 --> 01:34:38.840 training right now. And he, uh, he goes, Sir, I 1796 01:34:38.880 --> 01:34:41.399 remember you, I remember you well, he goes, my daughter's 1797 01:34:41.439 --> 01:34:44.159 over in Iraq right now. Right now, I know exactly 1798 01:34:44.239 --> 01:34:48.039 what you're going through. I got this and that weekend 1799 01:34:48.119 --> 01:34:51.640 was Labor Day weekend, and Matt comes, he gets he 1800 01:34:51.640 --> 01:34:53.359 gets a pass, and he comes down to visit me 1801 01:34:53.359 --> 01:34:56.319 at Fort Belvoir, and you know, I had just left 1802 01:34:56.359 --> 01:34:58.399 the unit and I had all the medics that that 1803 01:34:58.520 --> 01:35:00.520 worked for me, and so there was a high speed 1804 01:35:00.600 --> 01:35:03.920 Special Forces medic that was in the mission supports Quartern, 1805 01:35:04.399 --> 01:35:07.960 and he brought over a dummy, and he brought over, 1806 01:35:08.359 --> 01:35:12.640 you know, a manica, you know, basically brought over all 1807 01:35:12.720 --> 01:35:16.039 kinds of training aids for for medical training. And so 1808 01:35:16.079 --> 01:35:18.640 I'm cooking, We're having a cookout on our back porch 1809 01:35:18.840 --> 01:35:22.319 for Belvoir. And the guy's name is Neil Glease and 1810 01:35:22.399 --> 01:35:26.279 Neil is running Matt through a scenario after scenario of 1811 01:35:26.720 --> 01:35:29.960 you know, first first responder combat life saver kind of stuff, 1812 01:35:30.199 --> 01:35:33.479 and just the whole weekend and Saturday and Sunday and 1813 01:35:34.079 --> 01:35:37.880 it's just just running him through drill after drill, and 1814 01:35:37.880 --> 01:35:40.760 then he puts together a medkit for him and and 1815 01:35:40.800 --> 01:35:43.720 he puts he has this laminated you know, training thing, 1816 01:35:44.359 --> 01:35:46.720 and you know, it's just SF Medic one oh one 1817 01:35:46.800 --> 01:35:48.840 kind of stuff. But by the time Matt got done, 1818 01:35:49.039 --> 01:35:51.479 you know, drill after drill, just doing this, he had 1819 01:35:51.800 --> 01:35:54.760 a lot of confidence in casualty collection, you know what 1820 01:35:54.760 --> 01:35:57.279 I mean, just treating a casually and all that stuff, 1821 01:35:57.479 --> 01:35:59.760 and he was like motivated. It was like the first 1822 01:36:00.680 --> 01:36:03.960 first bit of pre deployment training he had was by 1823 01:36:04.000 --> 01:36:07.239 accident over beer with one of my buddies from the unit. 1824 01:36:08.319 --> 01:36:12.199 But Matt left and Neil he built him a med 1825 01:36:12.279 --> 01:36:16.079 kit with a little you know, in a canvas pack 1826 01:36:16.159 --> 01:36:17.960 and he said, hey, man, when you get back up 1827 01:36:18.000 --> 01:36:20.000 the four drum, when all you he when all your 1828 01:36:20.000 --> 01:36:22.800 privates are sitting around pounding your PUDs waiting for leadership 1829 01:36:22.800 --> 01:36:24.720 from an n c O and you're not getting it, 1830 01:36:25.079 --> 01:36:26.960 just pull this stuff out and do everything. We did 1831 01:36:26.960 --> 01:36:30.680 this weekend, do it with your buddies, and that's like cool. 1832 01:36:31.159 --> 01:36:32.720 He loved it, and so he goes back up to 1833 01:36:32.760 --> 01:36:35.279 Fort Drum. About that time, the ricochet effect had happened 1834 01:36:35.279 --> 01:36:38.239 from Sergeant Major Redmore back to the rear d and 1835 01:36:38.279 --> 01:36:40.119 they started, you know, putting them through their paces and 1836 01:36:40.199 --> 01:36:42.680 running and taking them into ranges and doing all the 1837 01:36:42.760 --> 01:36:46.319 kind of stuff that they should have been doing. But yeah, 1838 01:36:46.520 --> 01:36:49.520 just you know, I mean, we owe it to those 1839 01:36:49.560 --> 01:36:51.920 young kids before we put them out there, to make 1840 01:36:51.920 --> 01:36:53.760 sure that we're not sending them out there, you know, 1841 01:36:53.760 --> 01:36:56.880 And it hits home pretty hard when it's your own son, 1842 01:36:56.920 --> 01:36:59.520 you know what I mean. So so I called it 1843 01:36:59.560 --> 01:37:02.560 a favor, but it was worth it and it needed 1844 01:37:02.560 --> 01:37:02.960 to happen. 1845 01:37:03.039 --> 01:37:05.680 What was your son ready to drop his SFAs packet 1846 01:37:05.680 --> 01:37:06.640 after that experience? 1847 01:37:09.119 --> 01:37:12.279 Yeah, well yeah, I don't know about that. He was 1848 01:37:12.319 --> 01:37:14.199 still a private first class, but he was. He was 1849 01:37:14.199 --> 01:37:17.880 pretty motivated. But then he gets to what's funny is 1850 01:37:18.000 --> 01:37:22.399 he goes back to Afghanistan and by this time, my 1851 01:37:22.600 --> 01:37:25.399 brother that was with me in Ballade a few years 1852 01:37:25.439 --> 01:37:29.479 earlier is now in Jaysaka as a logistician and he's 1853 01:37:29.520 --> 01:37:34.079 in Bogram and so Matt flies into first he flies 1854 01:37:34.119 --> 01:37:38.199 into K two, I think, and he flies into Bogram. Uh, 1855 01:37:38.239 --> 01:37:41.520 and you know, my brother meets him at Bagram at 1856 01:37:41.520 --> 01:37:44.600 the airfield and he's, you know, buffel backdrag carrying all 1857 01:37:44.600 --> 01:37:47.119 this crap, and uh, you know, they go have lunch 1858 01:37:47.159 --> 01:37:49.399 together or they go have chow together or whatever, and 1859 01:37:49.439 --> 01:37:51.479 they and they get caught up and then he flies out. 1860 01:37:51.600 --> 01:37:54.039 I think he ends up going out to Oregonee, same 1861 01:37:54.079 --> 01:37:56.319 place where I was. I picked up my team from 1862 01:37:56.319 --> 01:37:59.840 the one twelve, but he ends up going out there. Uh, 1863 01:38:00.039 --> 01:38:03.239 they're in Burmeill. I think they think they end up 1864 01:38:03.239 --> 01:38:03.720 in Vermeill. 1865 01:38:04.000 --> 01:38:05.119 Is that I'm not sure. 1866 01:38:05.920 --> 01:38:08.399 Yeah, so he's in I don't know if you've ever 1867 01:38:08.439 --> 01:38:11.000 heard of the book by Sean Parnell called Outlaw Platoon, 1868 01:38:11.640 --> 01:38:14.319 But Matt Matt was in that platoon two eight seven 1869 01:38:14.840 --> 01:38:16.840 Company two eight seven, if I'm not mistaken, he was 1870 01:38:16.840 --> 01:38:19.560 in se Sean Parnell was his platoon leader. By the 1871 01:38:19.600 --> 01:38:22.479 time Matt gets there, there's six months into the rotation. 1872 01:38:22.600 --> 01:38:26.479 So you got this this newbie showing up and he's 1873 01:38:26.479 --> 01:38:29.039 fresh meat obviously, so he's got to like find his 1874 01:38:29.119 --> 01:38:33.119 way amongst a unit as a as an FMNG, you know, 1875 01:38:33.359 --> 01:38:36.520 kind of trying to earn his earn his stripes and 1876 01:38:36.600 --> 01:38:40.760 figure out life. And the first time he goes outside 1877 01:38:40.800 --> 01:38:44.159 the wire, one of the other they go to set 1878 01:38:44.239 --> 01:38:47.600 up a casually collection point for another platoon that it 1879 01:38:47.800 --> 01:38:51.800 got hit and everything that Neil toddyim on our back 1880 01:38:51.840 --> 01:38:54.079 porch that day he was able to actually put into 1881 01:38:54.119 --> 01:38:57.119 practice on this on his first mission outside the wire, 1882 01:38:57.600 --> 01:39:03.079 which wow, crap. Yeah. Then that brigade, I don't know 1883 01:39:03.119 --> 01:39:05.880 if you remember, but that brigade got extended. Typically they 1884 01:39:05.880 --> 01:39:08.399 were doing twelve month rotations. That brigade got it. They 1885 01:39:08.399 --> 01:39:13.439 were supposed to come home over the holidays, and in fact, 1886 01:39:13.680 --> 01:39:16.479 some of the some of the folks advanced, they sent 1887 01:39:16.560 --> 01:39:19.239 the they had already done the left seat, right seat 1888 01:39:19.760 --> 01:39:22.840 with the brigade that was coming in behind them. Uh, 1889 01:39:22.960 --> 01:39:26.640 and some of the elements of their unit had already 1890 01:39:26.640 --> 01:39:30.359 returned back to Fort Drum and some of the families 1891 01:39:30.359 --> 01:39:34.560 had left Christmas presents waiting for their arrival after right 1892 01:39:34.600 --> 01:39:37.159 after the holidays where they were, you know, they left 1893 01:39:37.159 --> 01:39:39.359 the tree up and they were left Christmas presents waiting, 1894 01:39:39.479 --> 01:39:41.399 and they got notified they weren't coming back till like 1895 01:39:41.479 --> 01:39:45.199 Memorial Day. So he ended up you know, spending all 1896 01:39:45.960 --> 01:39:49.760 probably about nine months over there. But uh, when he 1897 01:39:49.840 --> 01:39:55.840 was when he got back, he uh, you know, he 1898 01:39:56.199 --> 01:39:58.079 was again. It was one of those moments where my 1899 01:39:58.760 --> 01:40:00.920 other son and I went up and he meant Fort Drum, 1900 01:40:00.960 --> 01:40:02.560 New York. We kind of went back to the we 1901 01:40:02.600 --> 01:40:05.319 went to the welcome home thing and I flew up there. 1902 01:40:05.399 --> 01:40:07.479 It was it was Memorial Day weekend. I remember it 1903 01:40:07.520 --> 01:40:10.800 pretty pretty clear. But when they got back and they 1904 01:40:10.880 --> 01:40:13.159 came in, he couldn't wait to introduce me to a 1905 01:40:13.199 --> 01:40:16.119 squad leader. There's a guy named staff Startant, Jeffrey Hall, 1906 01:40:16.520 --> 01:40:20.399 a former ranger who was in the Tenth Mountain. And uh, 1907 01:40:21.560 --> 01:40:23.960 I asked started Hall. I was like, you know, like 1908 01:40:24.000 --> 01:40:25.960 any dad would do. I guess, like, so, how do 1909 01:40:26.119 --> 01:40:28.680 do you know? I'll tell you what, sir, He's fucking 1910 01:40:28.680 --> 01:40:32.760 steady in a gunfight. I was like, holy shit, that 1911 01:40:32.840 --> 01:40:34.760 was the greatest thing anybody could ever tell me, you 1912 01:40:34.800 --> 01:40:38.159 know what I mean. I was like, okay. I I 1913 01:40:38.239 --> 01:40:41.119 was like, Wow, that's good to hear, you know what 1914 01:40:41.159 --> 01:40:47.119 I mean. And so anyway, later on, okay, after the war, college, 1915 01:40:47.159 --> 01:40:49.319 I get to dis a Central Field Command and you 1916 01:40:49.359 --> 01:40:52.880 can't spell disappointment without this on I'm responsible you know 1917 01:40:52.960 --> 01:40:57.880 for all the like enterprise, the big pipes for all 1918 01:40:57.920 --> 01:41:01.159 of the symcom AOAR you know. So we've got a 1919 01:41:01.199 --> 01:41:03.800 lot of different things going on. You know, we're trying 1920 01:41:03.800 --> 01:41:08.000 to build up capacity, network capacity, big pipes for reach back, 1921 01:41:08.359 --> 01:41:10.399 you know, for a RAQ in Afghanistan, and at the 1922 01:41:10.439 --> 01:41:13.960 time Iraq was hot and heavy, Petraeus was leading i RAQ. 1923 01:41:15.199 --> 01:41:20.960 I can't remember who was leading Afghanistan at the time. 1924 01:41:23.439 --> 01:41:30.359 But anyway, while i'm uh, while I'm at dissent, we 1925 01:41:30.439 --> 01:41:33.399 go through a couple of major challenges. Number one is 1926 01:41:33.880 --> 01:41:39.960 we had this we had this event called Buckshot Yankee 1927 01:41:40.479 --> 01:41:43.560 and h Buckshot Yankee one hundred and first was the 1928 01:41:43.560 --> 01:41:46.159 forward deployed in r C East Regional Command East. A 1929 01:41:46.159 --> 01:41:48.359 good friend of mine was the was the G six 1930 01:41:48.439 --> 01:41:54.199 there named Brett Reister. What had happened is there was 1931 01:41:54.720 --> 01:42:02.800 cyber vulnerabilities being on all USB drives and they were 1932 01:42:02.840 --> 01:42:06.439 able to kind of penetrate networks and move latterly through 1933 01:42:06.439 --> 01:42:08.720 the networks, and they were considered a huge risk by 1934 01:42:09.479 --> 01:42:13.079 at the time it was NSA and Joint Task Force 1935 01:42:13.199 --> 01:42:15.840 G and O Global Network Ops. Before this was before 1936 01:42:15.880 --> 01:42:19.479 Cybercomb actually stood up. But this operation became a freaking 1937 01:42:19.600 --> 01:42:22.000 nightmare for everybody on the ground, and they were trying 1938 01:42:22.000 --> 01:42:25.600 to identify, you know, all the risk and had to 1939 01:42:25.720 --> 01:42:28.000 wipe a bunch of different machines, clean them up, and 1940 01:42:28.039 --> 01:42:31.119 get rid of what they believed to be all of 1941 01:42:30.640 --> 01:42:33.600 the cyber risk and the cyber threats on these It 1942 01:42:33.720 --> 01:42:37.319 significantly changed a lot of tactics, techniques, and procedures of 1943 01:42:37.319 --> 01:42:38.760 what people were doing when they were going out on 1944 01:42:38.800 --> 01:42:41.199 aircraft and when they were going out in vehicles because 1945 01:42:41.520 --> 01:42:44.119 thumb drives at the time were being used for almost everything, 1946 01:42:44.159 --> 01:42:49.000 and it created quite a challenge. But that was kind 1947 01:42:49.039 --> 01:42:52.079 of thing one that was pretty significant during my time 1948 01:42:52.119 --> 01:42:56.399 at The other thing that happened that was really significant 1949 01:42:56.439 --> 01:43:03.039 was there was a cable or an anchor drag across 1950 01:43:03.079 --> 01:43:07.439 some undersea cables off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt, and 1951 01:43:07.640 --> 01:43:12.760 during this time it was it wiped out about ninety 1952 01:43:12.760 --> 01:43:17.640 five percent of the intra theater or the reach back 1953 01:43:17.840 --> 01:43:22.159 inner theater reached back comps from centcom A r to 1954 01:43:22.199 --> 01:43:26.479 anywhere in the world. Basically, these big pipes it rely 1955 01:43:26.560 --> 01:43:30.199 on these fiber optic cables that are go undersea that 1956 01:43:30.239 --> 01:43:32.520 they carry a tremendous amount of data and when we 1957 01:43:32.600 --> 01:43:34.760 lost that, I get a call in the middle of 1958 01:43:34.800 --> 01:43:38.239 the night as the disissent command round in the theater 1959 01:43:38.359 --> 01:43:41.239 net op center for all of Sentcom. So everything is happening, 1960 01:43:41.520 --> 01:43:44.239 you know, from the network side, we're managing monitoring it 1961 01:43:44.279 --> 01:43:46.640 and managing it and trying to you know, operate and 1962 01:43:46.680 --> 01:43:50.560 defend and constantly improve the network. And we get this 1963 01:43:50.640 --> 01:43:53.000 call that you know, we had a cable cut, and 1964 01:43:53.319 --> 01:43:56.560 first things like okay, and what does that mean, Well, 1965 01:43:57.319 --> 01:44:00.439 we have no reach back except satellite. It's like, oh, 1966 01:44:00.520 --> 01:44:03.520 that's pretty significant because the throughput on satellite and the 1967 01:44:03.560 --> 01:44:06.800 latency and everything else just you know, it's it's with 1968 01:44:06.960 --> 01:44:14.079 two major operations going on simultaneously. It created a real challenge. 1969 01:44:14.079 --> 01:44:16.560 So we ended up, you know, figuring out how to 1970 01:44:16.600 --> 01:44:21.520 execute something called minimize, where you minimize unnecessary traffic focus 1971 01:44:21.600 --> 01:44:23.479 on the stuff that matters most. We had to bump 1972 01:44:23.560 --> 01:44:28.359 up some add some additional satellite capacity to certain organizations 1973 01:44:28.359 --> 01:44:31.760 out there, reduce for others. We were making all kinds 1974 01:44:31.800 --> 01:44:35.560 of moves and at the same time, we're working with 1975 01:44:35.600 --> 01:44:39.079 all these telecommunications because a lot of this is commercial 1976 01:44:39.159 --> 01:44:42.359 telecommunications providers that do all this, and it had impact 1977 01:44:42.359 --> 01:44:45.479 not on just operations, it was the banking industry everything, 1978 01:44:45.479 --> 01:44:50.119 and we had huge impacts globally on you know, commerce 1979 01:44:50.159 --> 01:44:52.720 and everything else. But you know, they had to get 1980 01:44:52.760 --> 01:44:56.760 these cable repair ships out there and it took a 1981 01:44:56.800 --> 01:44:59.399 while and we had to al wrap a bunch of 1982 01:44:59.399 --> 01:45:02.399 that stuff. But all that stuff, you know, was happening, 1983 01:45:02.520 --> 01:45:07.880 and then we had a general Petraeus ended up coming 1984 01:45:07.920 --> 01:45:11.239 out of Iraq and taking over Syncom and I think 1985 01:45:11.279 --> 01:45:14.199 that's when we went through Buckshot Yankee, which so the 1986 01:45:14.199 --> 01:45:17.119 first cable cut thing actually happened first, But then then 1987 01:45:17.159 --> 01:45:19.960 we went through Buckshot Yankee, which was the big cyber event. 1988 01:45:20.000 --> 01:45:22.880 I had a new DISSA director and we were looking 1989 01:45:22.920 --> 01:45:28.000 at how do we get you know, more capability over 1990 01:45:28.039 --> 01:45:33.720 in the theater, more fiber connectivity, multiple routes, reduce the 1991 01:45:33.920 --> 01:45:38.279 ad capacity, add resiliency, and reduce the single points of failure. 1992 01:45:38.560 --> 01:45:40.479 So we spent a lot of time and energy working 1993 01:45:40.560 --> 01:45:44.239 that and coordinating that and setting up different routes. And 1994 01:45:44.840 --> 01:45:46.359 one of the things we were trying to do is 1995 01:45:46.439 --> 01:45:50.239 establish a fiber ring around Afghanistan, around Ring Road and 1996 01:45:50.279 --> 01:45:52.560 connect a lot of the keynotes. And we were putting 1997 01:45:52.840 --> 01:45:56.600 beefing up the Comms and Cobble in Condehar and in 1998 01:45:57.760 --> 01:46:00.199 Bob Raham and so as the distancing commander. I I 1999 01:46:00.279 --> 01:46:03.000 go over in two thousand and nine. It's in the 2000 01:46:03.000 --> 01:46:05.279 spring of two thousand and nine. I think it was 2001 01:46:05.359 --> 01:46:09.920 right after Buckshot Yankee actually, and my son is deployed again. 2002 01:46:10.359 --> 01:46:12.640 This time he's still in two eight seven, but now 2003 01:46:12.680 --> 01:46:16.760 he's Sergeant Gallagher and not you know, Pfc. Gallagher. And 2004 01:46:19.239 --> 01:46:21.760 while I'm visiting the hundred and first in Regional Command 2005 01:46:21.800 --> 01:46:24.680 East and we're looking to set up you know, a 2006 01:46:24.720 --> 01:46:28.800 big communications node there and add capacity, I get a 2007 01:46:28.880 --> 01:46:32.079 chance to fly out to Fob Airborne, which is where 2008 01:46:32.279 --> 01:46:37.239 my son was located. And so, you know, I hop 2009 01:46:37.520 --> 01:46:39.600 my n CO I C and I hop on A 2010 01:46:39.800 --> 01:46:43.600 forty seven and we start flying into Bob Airborne and 2011 01:46:43.640 --> 01:46:45.920 we're gonna spend the night. I'm gonna meet with Matt's 2012 01:46:45.960 --> 01:46:48.640 Battalian commander. We're gonna do midnight chow with him and 2013 01:46:48.680 --> 01:46:50.680 his buddies, spend the night, and then we're going to 2014 01:46:51.079 --> 01:46:53.560 link up with at the time, the Deputy commanding General 2015 01:46:53.600 --> 01:46:55.239 of the one hundred and first and the G six. 2016 01:46:55.239 --> 01:46:57.239 We're gonna meet us the next morning. And we were 2017 01:46:57.279 --> 01:47:00.359 going to do go out to Pakistan and do some 2018 01:47:00.399 --> 01:47:02.720 other stuff. And so anyway, I fly out to FOB 2019 01:47:02.760 --> 01:47:07.000 Airborne and as we're flying in, they're getting rocketed and 2020 01:47:08.039 --> 01:47:10.119 we get waved off, and so we end up landing 2021 01:47:10.119 --> 01:47:12.880 at FOB Shank, which is where the third Brigade headquarters is. 2022 01:47:13.199 --> 01:47:14.279 So I was going to go in and see my 2023 01:47:14.279 --> 01:47:17.119 buddy Dave Hate. We were in the War College together, 2024 01:47:17.159 --> 01:47:18.439 and I was gonna go tag up with Dave and 2025 01:47:18.520 --> 01:47:21.119 kind of check in with the brigade commander. And we 2026 01:47:21.119 --> 01:47:22.760 were on kind of a milk run. So we ended 2027 01:47:22.840 --> 01:47:24.880 up catching a ride on a on a supply bird 2028 01:47:24.880 --> 01:47:28.039 that was going from FOB to FOB. Right, so we start, 2029 01:47:28.239 --> 01:47:30.600 We get off my n C and I get off 2030 01:47:30.640 --> 01:47:33.359 the bird at Fob Shank. We start heading into the 2031 01:47:33.399 --> 01:47:37.960 brigade talk when one of the crouchie from the aircraft 2032 01:47:38.039 --> 01:47:39.840 runs up and grabs us and said, hey, we got 2033 01:47:39.840 --> 01:47:42.640 the all clear from FOB Airborne and so we're gonna 2034 01:47:42.640 --> 01:47:44.279 we're gonna head back over there. I was like, all right, 2035 01:47:44.319 --> 01:47:46.159 So we get back in the helicopter and we go 2036 01:47:46.199 --> 01:47:50.359 back to FOB Airborne and we land, we drop off, 2037 01:47:50.399 --> 01:47:52.479 and it's like freaking pitch black and we see a 2038 01:47:52.479 --> 01:47:55.079 couple of little lights and then my son walks up 2039 01:47:55.079 --> 01:47:56.680 to me and goes, Dad, you're not gonna let a 2040 01:47:56.680 --> 01:48:00.199 couple of freaking rockets cause you to puss out. You know, 2041 01:48:00.359 --> 01:48:03.439 he's basically busting my chops. He goes, I can't believe 2042 01:48:03.079 --> 01:48:05.960 you weren't gonna land here because of a couple of rockets. 2043 01:48:06.000 --> 01:48:08.760 He's we get that ship all the time, all right, buddy. 2044 01:48:09.039 --> 01:48:11.000 So anyway, it was it was pretty cool to see him. 2045 01:48:11.039 --> 01:48:12.680 I mean, he had been downrange for a little bit 2046 01:48:12.760 --> 01:48:16.159 and so and he we had. We ended up having 2047 01:48:16.199 --> 01:48:19.319 midnight chow. He was in his uh he was in 2048 01:48:19.399 --> 01:48:21.720 the same squad. He was actually a team leader now 2049 01:48:22.039 --> 01:48:26.039 still working for Sergeant Hall. Uh and uh, you know, 2050 01:48:26.439 --> 01:48:29.640 he showed me his hooch and everything and his living arrangements. 2051 01:48:29.640 --> 01:48:31.760 We got to, you know, stayed up and had midnight 2052 01:48:31.840 --> 01:48:34.079 chow with him and all of his buddies. Everybody was 2053 01:48:34.079 --> 01:48:36.720 in his squad and you know, kind of telling stories 2054 01:48:36.720 --> 01:48:40.039 like you do at a at a a combat outpost there. 2055 01:48:40.520 --> 01:48:45.840 And uh, then we get back in. Uh then he 2056 01:48:45.880 --> 01:48:49.000 gets selected to be a squad leader and he gets 2057 01:48:49.039 --> 01:48:51.640 moved from that team in that squad for working for 2058 01:48:51.720 --> 01:48:54.960 Sargeant Hall. Uh, and now he's leading a squad that 2059 01:48:55.279 --> 01:49:01.039 does all the what's considered all the h oh Man 2060 01:49:01.159 --> 01:49:04.359 one of the key leader engagement, so all the klis. 2061 01:49:04.359 --> 01:49:07.199 When his battle when his battalian commander was doing battlefield circulation, 2062 01:49:07.520 --> 01:49:11.399 they had a PSD and Matt led the security detail 2063 01:49:11.560 --> 01:49:17.119 for Colonel Gallahu, the battalion commander. That was his new squad. 2064 01:49:17.279 --> 01:49:19.560 So he got moved from I think B Company over 2065 01:49:19.600 --> 01:49:22.439 to HHC. And so he got fleeted up to squad 2066 01:49:22.520 --> 01:49:26.000 leader and moved to a different role. Well about a 2067 01:49:26.039 --> 01:49:29.159 week after he got fleeted up the squad leader and 2068 01:49:29.239 --> 01:49:33.680 moved to a different role, his squad Sergeant Hall and 2069 01:49:33.800 --> 01:49:36.119 I think three or four other guys got killed by 2070 01:49:36.119 --> 01:49:40.479 an IED blast. Oh my god. And so I'm sitting 2071 01:49:40.520 --> 01:49:43.439 in my office back at Tampa and I get this 2072 01:49:43.520 --> 01:49:46.079 call from Matt And I told my deputy. My deputy 2073 01:49:46.119 --> 01:49:48.439 was a GS fifteen civilian. I said, Hey, if I 2074 01:49:48.439 --> 01:49:49.680 ever get a call from my son, I don't care 2075 01:49:49.680 --> 01:49:51.399 who I'm talking Terry, I don't care what I'm doing. 2076 01:49:51.560 --> 01:49:53.760 If he calls interrupt me, I'll take the call. And 2077 01:49:53.800 --> 01:49:56.840 so I had somebody in my office and said it 2078 01:49:56.880 --> 01:49:58.520 was a little nervous. He didn't want to interrupt me, 2079 01:49:58.560 --> 01:50:01.159 but he said, hey, sir, your son's on phone. So 2080 01:50:01.239 --> 01:50:03.640 I get on the phone with him, and I could 2081 01:50:03.680 --> 01:50:06.079 tell something was wrong. And I hadn't heard the news 2082 01:50:06.560 --> 01:50:12.199 of this, and uh and he uh, he said he 2083 01:50:12.279 --> 01:50:15.720 had sick. I mean, he had never dealt with like 2084 01:50:15.920 --> 01:50:18.520 grief ever in his life. He had not. He hadn't 2085 01:50:18.520 --> 01:50:20.199 even seen it, you know, one of his grandparents die 2086 01:50:20.279 --> 01:50:22.239 or anything like that. He had not. I don't even 2087 01:50:22.199 --> 01:50:24.399 know if he'd ever know a funeral up until that point. 2088 01:50:24.479 --> 01:50:27.000 And so, you know, he calls me and he kind 2089 01:50:27.000 --> 01:50:28.960 of is telling me what's going on, he said, he goes, 2090 01:50:29.079 --> 01:50:31.600 he goes, I'm over here in h E C. And 2091 01:50:31.640 --> 01:50:34.119 he goes, it's because those were my guys. Those were 2092 01:50:34.159 --> 01:50:36.399 those were my buddies. I've been with these guys for years. 2093 01:50:36.399 --> 01:50:39.840 That that was my squad, that was my team. Those 2094 01:50:39.880 --> 01:50:42.159 were my guys. I should have been there. And he 2095 01:50:42.239 --> 01:50:46.479 had significant remorse, you know, and he had he had 2096 01:50:46.520 --> 01:50:48.840 guilt and and everything else, and he was he was 2097 01:50:48.880 --> 01:50:53.239 dealing with it. He that was a long conversation about 2098 01:50:53.279 --> 01:50:56.520 how to deal with grief and how to compartmentalize it 2099 01:50:57.079 --> 01:50:59.159 and be able to you know, when you're sitting in 2100 01:50:59.159 --> 01:51:01.680 your cot or when you're working in when you're working 2101 01:51:01.720 --> 01:51:03.600 out at the gym or whatever, or if you're at 2102 01:51:03.640 --> 01:51:06.359 the dining facility, you can think about all that. But 2103 01:51:06.399 --> 01:51:08.800 when you're on the turret and you're out there and 2104 01:51:08.840 --> 01:51:11.840 you're doing you know PSD, for those key leader engagements, 2105 01:51:12.279 --> 01:51:13.520 you got to put that You got to lock that 2106 01:51:13.520 --> 01:51:14.960 stuff in the box, and you got to focus, and 2107 01:51:15.000 --> 01:51:16.880 you got to make sure you keep your head on 2108 01:51:16.880 --> 01:51:20.000 a swivel and focus on the mission. That's why you're there. 2109 01:51:20.039 --> 01:51:24.000 And it was a hard conversation for me, just to 2110 01:51:24.600 --> 01:51:27.600 hear the pain in his voice, you know what I mean. 2111 01:51:27.640 --> 01:51:31.399 And I had just had probably just a few weeks earlier, 2112 01:51:32.159 --> 01:51:34.800 you know, had midnight chat with all those guys, and 2113 01:51:34.880 --> 01:51:36.079 so I tried to make it a point to go 2114 01:51:36.119 --> 01:51:39.520 to all their funerals. I hit all but one. But yeah, 2115 01:51:39.560 --> 01:51:44.279 it was it was tough on him. But he you know, 2116 01:51:44.359 --> 01:51:48.000 he's he's he's a studs. He's uh. But yeah, that 2117 01:51:48.119 --> 01:51:52.640 was that was an interesting, you know, dad moment. And 2118 01:51:52.960 --> 01:51:56.680 being the father of a of a of two soldiers 2119 01:51:57.079 --> 01:51:59.680 and they both you know, between them, they've got you know, 2120 01:51:59.680 --> 01:52:02.439 five combat deployment. So you know, Matt's had three, He's 2121 01:52:02.439 --> 01:52:04.359 had two in the Tenth Mountain and one with the 2122 01:52:04.399 --> 01:52:07.640 eighty second, and then his younger brother Jake had to combat. 2123 01:52:07.680 --> 01:52:11.680 He was deployed in Operation New Dawn and you know, 2124 01:52:11.840 --> 01:52:15.039 as a young paratrooper in the eighty second, and then 2125 01:52:15.039 --> 01:52:19.039 he got deployed in Inherent Resolve. They were both in 2126 01:52:19.159 --> 01:52:23.800 Iraq at the same time, so for in twenty seventeen. 2127 01:52:25.119 --> 01:52:27.720 But yeah, that was a that was an interesting one, 2128 01:52:27.800 --> 01:52:28.000 you know. 2129 01:52:28.560 --> 01:52:31.359 Yeah, I mean being you know, immensely proud but also 2130 01:52:31.640 --> 01:52:33.159 very worried about your sons. 2131 01:52:34.079 --> 01:52:38.399 Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'd much rather be deployed myself than 2132 01:52:38.479 --> 01:52:40.039 be worried about doing their deployed. You know. 2133 01:52:40.840 --> 01:52:46.000 Yeah, you were probably every other parent too. And then 2134 01:52:46.279 --> 01:52:49.039 two thousand and nine you're with the A F Pack 2135 01:52:49.159 --> 01:52:59.159 Coordination Center. Pardon two thousand and nine, you were with the. 2136 01:52:59.239 --> 01:53:01.439 Oh yeah, yeah, so leave, yeah, I leave this assent 2137 01:53:01.640 --> 01:53:06.000 right and uh uh. They have this big signal conference 2138 01:53:06.039 --> 01:53:08.720 every year. It was down at Fort Lauderdale, and I 2139 01:53:08.760 --> 01:53:11.279 get told by the Chief of Signal and by the 2140 01:53:11.399 --> 01:53:16.039 Army c IO G six, uh or no, the netcomp commander. Hey, look, 2141 01:53:16.039 --> 01:53:18.279 we're going to try to We're going to try to 2142 01:53:18.279 --> 01:53:20.840 get you to Fort Gordon to be the chief of staff, uh, 2143 01:53:20.880 --> 01:53:22.880 and it should be a great job for you and 2144 01:53:23.159 --> 01:53:26.119 may make you competitive. I'm like, all right, cool, I'll 2145 01:53:26.119 --> 01:53:28.600 do that whatever, whatever, whatever you guys need me to do. 2146 01:53:28.960 --> 01:53:30.720 But so I think I'm going to Fort Gordon to 2147 01:53:30.760 --> 01:53:34.199 be the chief of staff. And my wife and I 2148 01:53:34.199 --> 01:53:37.319 are actually celebrating our anniversary. Were down at Key West, Florida, 2149 01:53:37.439 --> 01:53:41.840 and I get notified, uh that I'm been by name 2150 01:53:41.920 --> 01:53:46.399 requested by General McCrystal to stand up this thing called 2151 01:53:46.399 --> 01:53:50.199 the Pakistan Afghanistan Coordination. So it was actually Scott Miller 2152 01:53:50.359 --> 01:53:52.439 who was on the Joint Staff as the d d 2153 01:53:52.600 --> 01:53:55.359 s O, the Deputy Director for Special Ops at the time. 2154 01:53:55.439 --> 01:53:58.520 Miller was or Miller was the Deputy Director for Special Ops, 2155 01:53:58.840 --> 01:54:02.039 but Crystal was the director of the Joint Staff. And 2156 01:54:02.079 --> 01:54:07.359 they're standing up this cross functional team on the Joint 2157 01:54:07.399 --> 01:54:11.800 Staff to focus the attention of DC and all the 2158 01:54:11.800 --> 01:54:14.520 inter agency and everybody on the main effort which President 2159 01:54:14.520 --> 01:54:18.199 Obama made Claire was Afghanistan and Pakistan. So they built 2160 01:54:18.199 --> 01:54:20.520 this thing and Admiral Mullin at the time was the 2161 01:54:20.680 --> 01:54:24.680 chairman of the Joint chiefs. It was established in two 2162 01:54:24.720 --> 01:54:26.960 thousand and nine and I was one of the plaine holders. 2163 01:54:27.199 --> 01:54:30.119 I had the chance to work between myself and there's 2164 01:54:30.119 --> 01:54:33.000 a Navy seal was the other six, a guy named 2165 01:54:33.000 --> 01:54:36.880 Tim Semanski. Miller handpicked both of us, basically got the 2166 01:54:36.960 --> 01:54:39.720 crystal to sign the by name request. But they built 2167 01:54:39.720 --> 01:54:41.680 the team with people they knew and trusted, and so 2168 01:54:42.039 --> 01:54:44.479 it was pretty cool. Again, it was an opportunity to 2169 01:54:44.479 --> 01:54:46.520 do something other than signal and go in there and 2170 01:54:46.560 --> 01:54:52.279 be a deputy director for a very important entity. At 2171 01:54:52.279 --> 01:54:56.079 the time. There was a lot of antibodies the joint 2172 01:54:56.199 --> 01:54:58.520 staff J five didn't you know, he felt that that 2173 01:54:58.640 --> 01:55:01.079 was his job. He didn't want some one star you know, 2174 01:55:01.479 --> 01:55:04.439 having you know, the same credibility as a joint director. 2175 01:55:04.479 --> 01:55:06.640 But if you know Scotty Miller, if you know Mick 2176 01:55:06.680 --> 01:55:08.800 Nicholson who came in behind him, and every other pack 2177 01:55:08.920 --> 01:55:11.399 director that came in, I mean they were all you know, 2178 01:55:12.359 --> 01:55:15.800 high quality, you know, war fighting leaders, that were the 2179 01:55:15.840 --> 01:55:17.960 right guys for the job. But it was it was 2180 01:55:18.000 --> 01:55:21.840 an interesting opportunity. So when we first get there, you know, 2181 01:55:22.600 --> 01:55:25.680 it's my crystal. When we first getting set out, my 2182 01:55:25.760 --> 01:55:27.920 crystal just gets on the ground in Afghanistan and he's 2183 01:55:27.920 --> 01:55:32.119 doing and he's doing his assessment and I remember, I 2184 01:55:32.119 --> 01:55:37.560 mean it was late nights, every night, early mornings, late nights, weekends. 2185 01:55:37.880 --> 01:55:40.159 It was probably of all the jobs I had in 2186 01:55:40.279 --> 01:55:45.399 thirty five years of service, that was probably the worst 2187 01:55:45.560 --> 01:55:52.239 grind because we were constantly and just churning out, you know, 2188 01:55:52.319 --> 01:55:54.800 rit ahead material for the Chairman and the Sect Deaf 2189 01:55:55.039 --> 01:55:57.239 and at the time the Chairman was Admiral Mullen and 2190 01:55:57.319 --> 01:56:00.359 the Sect Deaf with Bob Gates, Secretary of Gates. And 2191 01:56:00.359 --> 01:56:02.880 it was during this period where you know, my Crystal 2192 01:56:02.920 --> 01:56:04.520 was going over there and he wanted to and they 2193 01:56:04.520 --> 01:56:07.079 were ramping up the number of forces and he was 2194 01:56:07.079 --> 01:56:12.840 doing his assessment. And I get a call on Saturday 2195 01:56:12.920 --> 01:56:18.000 night from the Director of the Joint Staff's office and 2196 01:56:18.000 --> 01:56:22.960 they said, hey, somebody leaked my Crystal's assessment and Bob Woodward, 2197 01:56:23.119 --> 01:56:25.439 you know, Bob Woodward, the author, And he said, Bob 2198 01:56:25.479 --> 01:56:27.800 Woodward has a copy of it, and he let us 2199 01:56:27.880 --> 01:56:32.560 know that I need you to come in and we 2200 01:56:32.600 --> 01:56:34.640 need to go through this assessment and we need to 2201 01:56:34.680 --> 01:56:37.439 look for what should be redacted because he wants to 2202 01:56:37.439 --> 01:56:41.239 give us a shot to redact things that should be 2203 01:56:41.239 --> 01:56:43.920 redacted before he goes to the press with it. So 2204 01:56:44.720 --> 01:56:46.880 that was good on him to do that. So, like, 2205 01:56:47.920 --> 01:56:50.600 you know, call in a few guys at Dave Doyle 2206 01:56:51.119 --> 01:56:54.000 and a couple of intel analysts and a few folks 2207 01:56:54.159 --> 01:56:55.880 and we end up meeting at like nine point thirty 2208 01:56:55.880 --> 01:56:59.119 on Saturday night and we're going through the Crystal assessment 2209 01:56:59.520 --> 01:57:02.880 line and we and the guidance was, you know, if 2210 01:57:02.880 --> 01:57:05.119 it's a risk risk to mission, risk to force, and 2211 01:57:05.199 --> 01:57:08.920 risk to international relations, everything else is fair game. Okay, 2212 01:57:09.039 --> 01:57:11.399 leave it in there unless it unless it will cause 2213 01:57:11.439 --> 01:57:14.079 a risk to mission, the risk risk to the force, 2214 01:57:14.560 --> 01:57:16.760 and risk internationally. So we went we spent all night 2215 01:57:16.840 --> 01:57:20.439 going through that and making a recommendation of what should 2216 01:57:20.439 --> 01:57:24.840 be redacted and why. And so the next morning, you know, Miller, 2217 01:57:25.640 --> 01:57:27.159 he let us do all the work and then he 2218 01:57:27.159 --> 01:57:29.720 meets us in the next morning with the Director of 2219 01:57:29.720 --> 01:57:34.239 the Joint Staff, Admiral or General Cartwright, the Vice Chief 2220 01:57:34.479 --> 01:57:37.439 the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Michelle Flornoy, 2221 01:57:37.880 --> 01:57:42.640 who was OSD Policy and we're sitting in the Vice's 2222 01:57:42.680 --> 01:57:45.760 office and we're going through it and uh, you know, 2223 01:57:45.960 --> 01:57:48.680 some of what we recommended being redacted. They said, now 2224 01:57:48.680 --> 01:57:50.479 that's common knowledge, that's not you know, we have to 2225 01:57:50.479 --> 01:57:53.039 worry about that. So we finally get to a spot 2226 01:57:53.239 --> 01:57:58.279 where we're comfortable saying, okay, you know, we leave this 2227 01:57:58.359 --> 01:58:00.680 in and we'll take that out. So then it's got 2228 01:58:00.720 --> 01:58:02.840 to go to Mullan. So Sunday morning we have the 2229 01:58:02.880 --> 01:58:06.079 meeting with the Vice and Flornoy, and then the next 2230 01:58:06.199 --> 01:58:08.319 day it has to go to Mullen and Gates, and 2231 01:58:08.399 --> 01:58:11.520 so you know, we're churning all day on Sunday, and 2232 01:58:11.880 --> 01:58:14.560 then it finally gets the Secretary, Gates and Mullan and 2233 01:58:14.560 --> 01:58:17.159 they're satisfied. It's like, okay, we're gonna let this go. 2234 01:58:17.279 --> 01:58:20.479 This this this should be no harm, no foul. It's 2235 01:58:20.520 --> 01:58:24.600 fine if he prints it. Uh. And but then Secretary 2236 01:58:24.680 --> 01:58:28.239 Gates is a press secretary, comes down and he wants 2237 01:58:28.319 --> 01:58:34.880 me to email the redacted version to uh Bob Woodward. 2238 01:58:35.279 --> 01:58:38.680 I said absolutely not, I said, I am not. I 2239 01:58:38.720 --> 01:58:41.720 will give I will send you the redacted version, but 2240 01:58:41.800 --> 01:58:43.319 I am not going to be the guy that pulls 2241 01:58:43.319 --> 01:58:45.479 the trigger on an email to Bob Woodward. 2242 01:58:50.079 --> 01:58:50.800 I don't blame you. 2243 01:58:51.439 --> 01:58:53.199 He goes, damn, I gotta go log in. I said, yeah, 2244 01:58:53.199 --> 01:58:55.439 but I'm not doing it. But anyway, Yeah, it was 2245 01:58:55.479 --> 01:59:01.119 an interesting then, uh, you know, constantly supporting, trying to 2246 01:59:01.119 --> 01:59:03.479 do everything we could to support General McCrystal, make sure 2247 01:59:03.520 --> 01:59:06.520 that I SAFF was synchronized with SENTCOM, was synchronized with 2248 01:59:06.520 --> 01:59:09.680 the Joint Staff, was synchronized with the services, and it 2249 01:59:09.720 --> 01:59:12.359 was it was, it was good. We established a thing 2250 01:59:12.399 --> 01:59:13.880 called the AFT Pack Hands. I don't know if you 2251 01:59:13.880 --> 01:59:16.640 remember that. Or we were trying to get guys you know, 2252 01:59:16.720 --> 01:59:19.279 trained on the language and the culture, and we there 2253 01:59:19.319 --> 01:59:22.880 was folks identified from all the different services. It was 2254 01:59:22.920 --> 01:59:26.199 a good idea. I don't think it actually uh delivered 2255 01:59:26.199 --> 01:59:28.640 as as we wanted it to. But trying to get 2256 01:59:28.680 --> 01:59:32.680 guys you know, culturally culturally astute and you know, learning 2257 01:59:32.800 --> 01:59:35.479 you know, Dari or Farsi and trying to posh to 2258 01:59:35.600 --> 01:59:37.439 and learning the languages and being able to go over 2259 01:59:37.439 --> 01:59:40.279 there and actually you know, be difference makers. And some 2260 01:59:40.319 --> 01:59:43.039 of them did better than others. I mean, uh, but 2261 01:59:43.640 --> 01:59:45.399 by the time I ended up my next job, I 2262 01:59:45.720 --> 01:59:47.720 ended up from there and went over to be the 2263 01:59:47.720 --> 01:59:51.000 ICEF J six. But uh, it was a good year 2264 01:59:51.039 --> 01:59:53.560 in the Pakistan Afghanistan coordination, so all but I could 2265 01:59:53.560 --> 01:59:57.880 not wait to deploy, but a year of that churn, 2266 01:59:57.920 --> 02:00:00.399 I was ready. I was ready to get down range. 2267 02:00:00.439 --> 02:00:05.760 And so as we're approaching, you know, the spring, I 2268 02:00:05.760 --> 02:00:08.560 think I'm going over to be General mccrystal's J six 2269 02:00:09.760 --> 02:00:12.279 And then I don't know, if you ever heard of 2270 02:00:12.279 --> 02:00:15.000 a lady named Sally Donnelly, you know who Sally is. 2271 02:00:16.840 --> 02:00:22.239 She's a very she's a strategic communications expert. She's spent 2272 02:00:22.279 --> 02:00:24.520 a lot of time. She was a special advisor to 2273 02:00:25.199 --> 02:00:29.039 the chairman at the time, Admiral Mullen, and she spent 2274 02:00:29.159 --> 02:00:32.319 some time in the media. She does a lot to 2275 02:00:32.399 --> 02:00:37.279 prep people for, you know, going through congressional hearings and 2276 02:00:37.279 --> 02:00:41.960 testimony and stuff like that. Very very knowledgeable. Anyway, she 2277 02:00:42.159 --> 02:00:44.479 walks down with a couple of copies of the Rolling 2278 02:00:44.479 --> 02:00:48.399 Stone article and drops them on my desk and Tim 2279 02:00:48.439 --> 02:00:53.479 Semanski's desk, and we start reading it. And as soon 2280 02:00:53.520 --> 02:00:55.319 as we read like the first paragraph and a half, 2281 02:00:55.359 --> 02:00:59.319 it's like, oh crap, this is And then so the 2282 02:00:59.399 --> 02:01:05.479 crystalines obviously resigning and gets replaced by General Petraeus. The 2283 02:01:05.760 --> 02:01:07.359 good thing is I had met Patreus when I was 2284 02:01:07.399 --> 02:01:10.680 the discent commander before, so I didn't I had never 2285 02:01:10.720 --> 02:01:13.920 worked for him but prior to that, but I worked 2286 02:01:14.159 --> 02:01:15.760 you know with him when I was down at Dissent 2287 02:01:15.800 --> 02:01:18.000 and he was a Sincom commander, and when he was 2288 02:01:18.079 --> 02:01:20.600 before that, when he was in Iraq. So I felt 2289 02:01:20.600 --> 02:01:22.800 comfortable enough knowing, you know, if I wasn't going to 2290 02:01:22.840 --> 02:01:25.039 work for my Crystal, I was going to be working 2291 02:01:25.039 --> 02:01:29.199 for a good boss. So I ended up deploying in 2292 02:01:29.279 --> 02:01:35.079 August of two thousand and ten to be the ice 2293 02:01:35.760 --> 02:01:39.439 you know, J six there. It was a big push. 2294 02:01:39.479 --> 02:01:42.479 There was really getting everybody on the Afghan Mission network, 2295 02:01:43.000 --> 02:01:48.520 which was the coalition communications or computer network where everything 2296 02:01:48.560 --> 02:01:51.560 was releasable, and really trying to get us off of 2297 02:01:51.640 --> 02:01:55.319 SIPPER and really you know, writing for release and sharing 2298 02:01:55.359 --> 02:01:59.319 information with coalition partners and actually you know, trying to 2299 02:01:59.359 --> 02:02:01.960 operate as a coalition with everybody on the same network. 2300 02:02:02.640 --> 02:02:06.359 It was a NATO job, so my staff was it 2301 02:02:06.399 --> 02:02:09.359 was it was an interesting mix of people. I had 2302 02:02:09.359 --> 02:02:12.159 a Canadian deputy when I first got there, he was amazing. 2303 02:02:12.560 --> 02:02:17.079 I had a Polish frequency manager. I had a German 2304 02:02:17.399 --> 02:02:23.199 sergeant major. I had a French plans officer, I had uh. 2305 02:02:23.239 --> 02:02:25.039 It was. It was a mixed bag of doughnuts. Man, 2306 02:02:25.079 --> 02:02:27.640 it was. It was awesome. And it was very difficult 2307 02:02:27.960 --> 02:02:32.840 to find anybody on my staff that could speak clear English, 2308 02:02:33.399 --> 02:02:37.520 let alone right, you know, clear English for staff products. 2309 02:02:37.760 --> 02:02:39.520 It was. It was quite challenging. So I spent a 2310 02:02:39.600 --> 02:02:41.159 lot of you know, a lot of time kind of 2311 02:02:42.239 --> 02:02:45.439 really muddling through some stuff. But uh, it was it 2312 02:02:45.520 --> 02:02:49.399 was an interesting time, you know. I learned a lot 2313 02:02:49.439 --> 02:02:51.399 working for General Petraeus. I spent a lot of time 2314 02:02:51.479 --> 02:02:54.279 trying to do battlefield circulations, trying to pull the whole 2315 02:02:54.319 --> 02:02:57.079 J six community together from all the regional commands and 2316 02:02:57.079 --> 02:02:59.039 and all the different units and and stuff that we're 2317 02:02:59.079 --> 02:03:01.399 out there. It was a it was in the height 2318 02:03:01.680 --> 02:03:03.720 of the surge, so there was a there was a 2319 02:03:03.760 --> 02:03:08.920 lot happening during that time. Obviously, the biggest thing that 2320 02:03:09.000 --> 02:03:11.880 happened was, and it wasn't I was not involved with 2321 02:03:11.920 --> 02:03:15.680 it at all, was the Neptune Spear, the operation to 2322 02:03:15.720 --> 02:03:18.399 take down you know, to kill Bin Lauden that happened 2323 02:03:18.399 --> 02:03:22.199 while I was there, uh, but had absolutely nothing to 2324 02:03:22.239 --> 02:03:24.680 do with it. You know. I come in the morning 2325 02:03:24.720 --> 02:03:27.520 for our standard you know, battle update brief first thing 2326 02:03:27.520 --> 02:03:28.880 in the morning and go in to try to make 2327 02:03:28.920 --> 02:03:31.399 sure everything's working, you know, so when the commander takes 2328 02:03:31.399 --> 02:03:34.000 his update brief, he isn't frustrated with the comms and 2329 02:03:34.039 --> 02:03:36.399 the VTC and everything else. So I go in a 2330 02:03:36.439 --> 02:03:38.720 little bit early, like I did every morning, and then 2331 02:03:38.800 --> 02:03:41.319 I you know, they got the TV on and and 2332 02:03:41.479 --> 02:03:46.119 they're getting ready for the Obamas speech after the operation 2333 02:03:46.199 --> 02:03:49.039 that happened. But the operational security for that was was 2334 02:03:49.680 --> 02:03:53.600 you know, from president on down, you know through Jaysuck, 2335 02:03:53.840 --> 02:03:55.960 was was pretty tight. I mean I don't even think 2336 02:03:56.000 --> 02:03:58.399 they let the trays know until the operation was ongoing. 2337 02:03:58.680 --> 02:04:01.319 I mean, that's how clear know how good the obsect was. 2338 02:04:02.479 --> 02:04:07.159 And then I happened right before shortly before I redeployed. 2339 02:04:07.159 --> 02:04:09.079 After you know, I was there for about thirteen months. 2340 02:04:09.439 --> 02:04:14.399 The uh I had the horrible crash of Extortion one 2341 02:04:14.520 --> 02:04:17.439 seven where we lost all the special operators that were 2342 02:04:17.479 --> 02:04:21.319 on the on the Chinook. That was a pretty pretty 2343 02:04:21.319 --> 02:04:27.319 brutal incident as well. Through my time there, it was 2344 02:04:28.520 --> 02:04:32.840 there was a lot of I think they've been making 2345 02:04:32.920 --> 02:04:35.000 quite a bit of progress. I had portrays for probably 2346 02:04:35.000 --> 02:04:37.319 the first eleven months, and then I ended up having 2347 02:04:37.359 --> 02:04:40.439 John Allen for the last couple of months there, and 2348 02:04:40.520 --> 02:04:42.319 then I came back and I was spent a year 2349 02:04:42.319 --> 02:04:45.680 in as the EXO to the c IO G six 2350 02:04:45.720 --> 02:04:50.479 back in the Pentagon. That was another, you know, interesting job, 2351 02:04:50.560 --> 02:04:53.960 a little bit of a grind, not necessarily a job 2352 02:04:54.000 --> 02:04:58.319 you really want until it's over, and then well, I was. 2353 02:05:00.119 --> 02:05:02.079 It was a test of my resilience, I'll put it 2354 02:05:02.119 --> 02:05:05.720 that way. You being deployed with guys like my Crystal 2355 02:05:05.840 --> 02:05:09.079 and Miller and you know, Mick Nicholson and uh, you 2356 02:05:09.119 --> 02:05:14.079 know Jove Hotel and all these different leaders you know 2357 02:05:14.199 --> 02:05:18.840 that were just so calm and poised under pressure. Just 2358 02:05:19.359 --> 02:05:22.600 going back to the Pentagon and seeing the stupid stuff 2359 02:05:22.600 --> 02:05:25.479 people would just freak out over when nobody's shooting at you, 2360 02:05:25.600 --> 02:05:28.680 and you know, and you just you just watch and 2361 02:05:28.880 --> 02:05:31.960 learn and live working for some of the most poised 2362 02:05:32.000 --> 02:05:35.359 leaders under pressure, and then you get in an environment 2363 02:05:35.359 --> 02:05:38.479 where you know, they flip out over the craziest stuff. 2364 02:05:38.479 --> 02:05:41.800 But anyway, it was it was an interesting year. I 2365 02:05:41.840 --> 02:05:45.039 was kind of it was a position that they picked 2366 02:05:45.079 --> 02:05:48.359 me for again, because this was probably about the third 2367 02:05:48.640 --> 02:05:51.359 opportunity I was. I had to be looked at for 2368 02:05:51.359 --> 02:05:53.920 for brigadier general, and while I was in that job, 2369 02:05:54.039 --> 02:05:57.600 I ended up getting selected and so I ended up 2370 02:05:57.640 --> 02:06:01.880 My next role was as they I got selected for 2371 02:06:02.000 --> 02:06:04.439 one star and I went out to Fort Wachuca, Arizona 2372 02:06:04.800 --> 02:06:08.199 and commanded what's called Network Enterprise Technology Command net COM, 2373 02:06:08.359 --> 02:06:11.199 which is they run really all the IT infrastructure for 2374 02:06:11.560 --> 02:06:13.760 all the post camps and stations for the Army. So 2375 02:06:13.800 --> 02:06:17.199 it was more of an enterprise IT type role. About 2376 02:06:17.399 --> 02:06:21.720 sixteen thousand people spread out all over the globe. Pretty 2377 02:06:21.720 --> 02:06:24.600 big mission. But the biggest challenge I had in that 2378 02:06:24.720 --> 02:06:29.359 role was dealing with seaquestration. So we were furloughing and 2379 02:06:29.399 --> 02:06:33.479 we had a pretty heavy concentration of civilian workforce, and 2380 02:06:33.560 --> 02:06:37.439 we had to go through the challenges of sequestration, trying 2381 02:06:37.479 --> 02:06:39.520 to figure out how do we keep the network up 2382 02:06:40.479 --> 02:06:42.840 when you don't have any money, you know, and trying 2383 02:06:42.880 --> 02:06:46.479 to make sure we focused on ensuring that all of 2384 02:06:46.520 --> 02:06:51.439 our Oconas connections weren't bothered, and we took all of 2385 02:06:51.439 --> 02:06:53.920 our risk in Konas. And there was a method to 2386 02:06:53.960 --> 02:06:56.920 the madness there is all your four star headquarters in 2387 02:06:56.960 --> 02:06:59.399 the Army were in Konas, and all the Army senior 2388 02:06:59.479 --> 02:07:03.159 leaders were in hous and if we could isolate everything 2389 02:07:03.239 --> 02:07:08.319 forward deployed and indo pay comm in Southwest Asia and 2390 02:07:08.439 --> 02:07:11.880 the UK and Korea and everything else and make sure 2391 02:07:11.920 --> 02:07:15.359 that they could kind of focus and operate without any 2392 02:07:15.560 --> 02:07:20.279 risk admission, we would assume risk and uh stateside, because 2393 02:07:20.279 --> 02:07:22.039 we know the senior leaders weren't going to tolerate it, 2394 02:07:22.079 --> 02:07:23.880 we would be able to get the resources we needed. 2395 02:07:24.079 --> 02:07:25.960 So there was a little bit of method to the madness. 2396 02:07:26.520 --> 02:07:28.800 But it was it was interesting times. We were trying 2397 02:07:28.840 --> 02:07:32.640 to manage, you know, down to the dollar, every individual 2398 02:07:32.680 --> 02:07:35.279 contract and a lot of this, you know, enterprise it 2399 02:07:35.680 --> 02:07:38.000 is is a lot of its contract labor, and so 2400 02:07:38.159 --> 02:07:42.920 it was it was creative contract management and just to 2401 02:07:42.920 --> 02:07:45.520 try to make sure that you know, we could keep 2402 02:07:45.520 --> 02:07:49.119 the phones up, keep all the VTCs up, and the 2403 02:07:49.159 --> 02:07:52.680 network's running so the army could continue to function. But uh, 2404 02:07:53.159 --> 02:07:55.840 it was an interesting time, especially for the civilian workforce 2405 02:07:56.199 --> 02:07:58.680 because they were for a load for quite a bit 2406 02:07:58.720 --> 02:08:05.840 of time. And from there, I spent a couple of 2407 02:08:05.880 --> 02:08:08.920 years at Netcom. I was acting or the deputy commander 2408 02:08:08.960 --> 02:08:12.399 for a few months, about a year, and then I 2409 02:08:12.439 --> 02:08:15.319 ended up being the acting commander for the second year, 2410 02:08:15.800 --> 02:08:20.319 and then from there I ended up going to Sentcom 2411 02:08:20.760 --> 02:08:24.399 to be the J six for General Austin, who I 2412 02:08:24.439 --> 02:08:25.840 had worked for when he was the director of the 2413 02:08:25.920 --> 02:08:29.439 Joint Staff. He was the first four star in Sentcom. 2414 02:08:29.479 --> 02:08:35.800 And so I get there in late May and I 2415 02:08:35.880 --> 02:08:39.479 start my transition the first week of June, and my 2416 02:08:39.640 --> 02:08:43.159 first day as the j six after the left seat 2417 02:08:43.199 --> 02:08:46.359 right seat with my predecessor, was the day Moses or 2418 02:08:46.439 --> 02:08:50.319 the day Isis went rolling into Moses, and so we 2419 02:08:50.399 --> 02:08:53.600 ended up going right into crisis action planning for Operation 2420 02:08:53.760 --> 02:08:57.520 what ended up becoming Operation Inherent Resolved. So that was 2421 02:08:57.560 --> 02:09:03.279 again another this opportunity, another baptism by fire in a 2422 02:09:03.279 --> 02:09:05.640 new role, but it was it was good, you know, 2423 02:09:05.640 --> 02:09:08.720 pulling all the communicators together, trying to find creative ways 2424 02:09:08.720 --> 02:09:13.239 to stitch together the coalition, rebuilding a lot of the 2425 02:09:13.479 --> 02:09:17.800 big connectivity that had had been atrophied in Iraq, because 2426 02:09:17.800 --> 02:09:20.119 there wasn't a whole lot left in Iraq, but there 2427 02:09:20.199 --> 02:09:22.760 was still you know, there was still fiber and there 2428 02:09:22.760 --> 02:09:26.640 were still capabilities that weren't hot. So we had to 2429 02:09:26.680 --> 02:09:28.359 figure out what was available to us and what we 2430 02:09:28.399 --> 02:09:33.840 could re establish and start building an interesting connection for 2431 02:09:33.960 --> 02:09:37.159 this coalition that was that was forming under Operation Inherent Resolved. 2432 02:09:37.600 --> 02:09:39.199 I did that for a couple of years. I ended 2433 02:09:39.279 --> 02:09:43.000 up getting promoted to major general. I actually thought I 2434 02:09:43.039 --> 02:09:45.079 was going to go to h They were looking at 2435 02:09:45.119 --> 02:09:49.439 me to either go command was called CCOM Communication Electronic Command, 2436 02:09:49.960 --> 02:09:53.920 or possibly the Cyber Center of Excellence. But then I 2437 02:09:53.960 --> 02:09:56.000 get notified that I'm going to be what's called the 2438 02:09:56.039 --> 02:10:00.279 AON director, the Architecture Operations Networking Space Director for the 2439 02:10:00.279 --> 02:10:03.640 G six of the Army. And so so I ended 2440 02:10:03.680 --> 02:10:06.800 up working for the new G six or the G 2441 02:10:06.920 --> 02:10:09.159 six the Army a guy named Lieutenant General Bob Farrell. 2442 02:10:09.760 --> 02:10:11.079 And when I get there and I have my first 2443 02:10:11.159 --> 02:10:13.600 office call with him, I'm like, hey, I thought I 2444 02:10:13.640 --> 02:10:18.079 was supposed to be going to SEACOM. What happened? He said, 2445 02:10:18.079 --> 02:10:21.640 General Millie happened. Milly wanted you to come here to 2446 02:10:21.680 --> 02:10:25.560 the Army G six. And part of that was because 2447 02:10:25.600 --> 02:10:26.880 Milly got to know me when I was on the 2448 02:10:26.960 --> 02:10:29.279 Joint Staff, and I think he trusted me and he 2449 02:10:29.319 --> 02:10:31.439 brought me in. He knew there was that the Army 2450 02:10:31.479 --> 02:10:34.359 network was pretty jacked up and that the Army didn't 2451 02:10:34.359 --> 02:10:38.000 have the network it needed. And there was this report 2452 02:10:38.039 --> 02:10:41.680 that was written from the Institute of Defense Analysis that 2453 02:10:41.800 --> 02:10:47.600 was directed by the House Armed Services Committee, AirLand Subcommittee 2454 02:10:48.000 --> 02:10:50.199 that really wanted to take a good hard look at 2455 02:10:50.199 --> 02:10:53.079 the at the Army's network, because the network was not 2456 02:10:53.760 --> 02:10:56.199 the network the Army needed to fight against the peer adversary. 2457 02:10:57.119 --> 02:11:01.000 And so I got selected to what's called the Army's 2458 02:11:01.000 --> 02:11:04.079 Network Cross Functional Team and spent my last four years, 2459 02:11:04.760 --> 02:11:07.199 you know, leaning in to try to modernize the Army network. 2460 02:11:07.239 --> 02:11:11.800 And that's everything from you know, multipath, you know, resilient 2461 02:11:11.840 --> 02:11:15.319 communications in a contested environment, you know where you're in 2462 02:11:15.319 --> 02:11:19.239 contested in space, the electromagnetic spectrum, and cyber trying to 2463 02:11:19.239 --> 02:11:24.560 find resilient capabilities that can function in that environment. Being 2464 02:11:24.600 --> 02:11:29.159 able to establish a common operating environment for computer, you know, 2465 02:11:29.239 --> 02:11:32.840 for command and control, and being able to communicate and 2466 02:11:32.880 --> 02:11:36.520 synchronize all the war fighting functions, trying to streamline and 2467 02:11:36.560 --> 02:11:40.880 make our command post more survivable, more mobile, reduced signature, 2468 02:11:41.319 --> 02:11:43.880 and then really working on joint interoperability. So those were 2469 02:11:43.960 --> 02:11:46.319 kind of the three or four lines of effort we 2470 02:11:46.319 --> 02:11:48.800 were focused on, and we were driving it pretty hard, 2471 02:11:48.920 --> 02:11:52.720 you know. And I did that from twenty seventeen to 2472 02:11:52.760 --> 02:11:55.319 twenty twenty one, and that's where I culminated my career 2473 02:11:56.359 --> 02:11:58.800 in the Army. I ended up. We went through COVID, 2474 02:11:58.960 --> 02:12:01.720 which was an interesting time. We went through some major 2475 02:12:02.359 --> 02:12:06.600 you know, uh fielding of new capabilities to a lot 2476 02:12:06.640 --> 02:12:09.640 of the units, called the Integrated Tactle Network, you know, 2477 02:12:09.680 --> 02:12:13.439 providing units smaller, lighter, more capable comms connectivity than that 2478 02:12:13.479 --> 02:12:15.760 they had before. And that's that's going to be a 2479 02:12:15.760 --> 02:12:19.239 constant work in progress because technology keeps evolving, the threat 2480 02:12:19.319 --> 02:12:22.079 keeps evolving, and so what we've kind of found and 2481 02:12:22.119 --> 02:12:25.159 what we decided then is we made a decision to 2482 02:12:25.199 --> 02:12:29.079 stop fielding capabilities that weren't going to it weren't going 2483 02:12:29.119 --> 02:12:31.920 to be needed in the future fight, and we tried 2484 02:12:31.960 --> 02:12:37.520 to fix the ability for immediately, for units to have 2485 02:12:37.640 --> 02:12:40.680 better capabilities to fight immediately. Get them capability it was 2486 02:12:40.720 --> 02:12:43.439 either being leveraged by the Special Ops community or by others, 2487 02:12:43.439 --> 02:12:47.039 but get them new kit that was capable without trying 2488 02:12:47.039 --> 02:12:49.800 to develop something new and take years to develop and 2489 02:12:49.800 --> 02:12:51.840 spend you know, a fortune, and by the time you 2490 02:12:51.920 --> 02:12:54.319 field it, it's obsolete. So trying to use a lot 2491 02:12:54.399 --> 02:12:57.119 more stuff off the shelf and then capitalizing on stuff 2492 02:12:57.119 --> 02:12:59.560 that the special mission units and the special Ops community 2493 02:12:59.600 --> 02:13:02.079 was using, if it could scale to the army, we 2494 02:13:02.079 --> 02:13:04.960 were trying to you know, feed you know, deliver that 2495 02:13:05.039 --> 02:13:07.239 kind of capability into the army. So it was a 2496 02:13:07.239 --> 02:13:10.119 great mission. I had a very small team. I like 2497 02:13:10.199 --> 02:13:12.319 to call them the most powerful platoon on the planet. 2498 02:13:12.319 --> 02:13:15.079 They were about twenty four people assigned, and I had 2499 02:13:15.119 --> 02:13:19.239 about I would say attached. I had about another twenty five, 2500 02:13:19.680 --> 02:13:22.600 so it was roughly about fifty folks that were really 2501 02:13:22.640 --> 02:13:25.640 trying to you know, doing the heavy lifting of trying 2502 02:13:25.680 --> 02:13:28.640 to modernize the army and get a network that will 2503 02:13:28.680 --> 02:13:30.920 allow the army to do the cape you know, command 2504 02:13:30.960 --> 02:13:33.079 of control that it needs to be able to do. Again, 2505 02:13:33.479 --> 02:13:37.760 the focus was pure adversary think Russia, China, I think 2506 02:13:37.880 --> 02:13:42.199 electromagnetic or electronic warfare and being able to fight through 2507 02:13:42.239 --> 02:13:44.279 all that. So that was fun. It was a it 2508 02:13:44.319 --> 02:13:47.600 was a good last few years. And then on July 2509 02:13:47.720 --> 02:13:51.720 of twenty twenty one, I you know, hung up the 2510 02:13:51.800 --> 02:13:55.079 uniform and I made my move into into industry. 2511 02:13:55.520 --> 02:13:58.560 Did how did that feel after you know, thirty five 2512 02:13:58.640 --> 02:14:01.520 years of military service and you know the way you 2513 02:14:01.640 --> 02:14:04.800 describe your career, I mean it's a great trip, a 2514 02:14:04.800 --> 02:14:06.640 great ride. You know, you did all the things you're 2515 02:14:06.640 --> 02:14:09.279 supposed to do, got promoted to two star. What was 2516 02:14:09.319 --> 02:14:12.920 it like to finally hang up the uniform. 2517 02:14:13.079 --> 02:14:16.159 Everybody tells you you will know when it's time, and 2518 02:14:16.199 --> 02:14:17.840 I knew, I knew it was time. I mean it 2519 02:14:17.880 --> 02:14:19.600 was I mean, I was kind of seeing the riding 2520 02:14:19.680 --> 02:14:21.319 on the wall. There was only a few other things 2521 02:14:21.359 --> 02:14:24.960 that I could do if I was to I was. 2522 02:14:25.640 --> 02:14:27.720 I hit five years in grade as a two star, 2523 02:14:28.079 --> 02:14:29.880 and it's kind of like, Okay, it's time to get 2524 02:14:29.920 --> 02:14:31.279 out of the way and make room for some other 2525 02:14:31.279 --> 02:14:33.479 guys to move up. If I was going to be 2526 02:14:33.520 --> 02:14:36.359 a three star, which I don't think I was going 2527 02:14:36.399 --> 02:14:38.319 to be, it would have been the Army G six 2528 02:14:38.520 --> 02:14:41.840 or DISSA or possibly the Joint Staff J six. And 2529 02:14:41.880 --> 02:14:44.359 at the time, they picked a great guy to be 2530 02:14:44.439 --> 02:14:47.159 the G six, a guy named John Morrison, personal friend 2531 02:14:47.159 --> 02:14:50.199 of mine. They picked a Marine to be the Joint 2532 02:14:50.199 --> 02:14:52.399 Staff J six, guy named Dennis Crawl. He and I 2533 02:14:52.439 --> 02:14:55.720 served together in saintcam another great American great leader, and 2534 02:14:55.760 --> 02:15:01.439 they picked an Air Force leader at for this, so 2535 02:15:01.760 --> 02:15:04.279 I kind of knew that, you know, there was nothing. 2536 02:15:04.640 --> 02:15:06.840 The music stopped and there were no more chairs, and 2537 02:15:06.920 --> 02:15:08.800 I was okay with that because I didn't really want 2538 02:15:08.840 --> 02:15:11.720 to do three more years of grind. I was, you know, 2539 02:15:12.159 --> 02:15:14.000 a couple of those jobs would have been in the Pentagon, 2540 02:15:14.079 --> 02:15:16.439 and I it was it was time to move on, 2541 02:15:16.840 --> 02:15:19.640 and I was very I served longer than I ever 2542 02:15:19.680 --> 02:15:21.520 thought I was going to be able to. You know, 2543 02:15:21.560 --> 02:15:23.359 I went in thinking I'd do four years, build a 2544 02:15:23.359 --> 02:15:27.640 little technical you know, technical skills to offset my math degree, 2545 02:15:27.720 --> 02:15:29.399 and figure out where it would take me on the 2546 02:15:29.399 --> 02:15:32.399 commercial side. I ended up spending a lot more time 2547 02:15:32.439 --> 02:15:34.159 and being able to do a lot more things than 2548 02:15:34.199 --> 02:15:37.600 I ever dreamed possible. And I think it was good. 2549 02:15:37.640 --> 02:15:40.720 It was the time was right for me personally, and 2550 02:15:40.800 --> 02:15:44.760 so we uh, you know, I was looking I was 2551 02:15:44.800 --> 02:15:47.199 looking at all kinds of different things. I reached out 2552 02:15:47.239 --> 02:15:49.119 to a whole bunch of peers, a whole bunch of 2553 02:15:49.319 --> 02:15:52.479 former bosses, Folks that used to work with me, Folks 2554 02:15:52.479 --> 02:15:54.680 that used to work for me, Folks I had met 2555 02:15:54.720 --> 02:15:56.439 in industry over the way, you know, and on my 2556 02:15:56.479 --> 02:15:58.600 way out, it was kind of during the height of COVID. 2557 02:15:59.119 --> 02:16:04.399 It was, you know, early summer of twenty one. COVID 2558 02:16:04.479 --> 02:16:07.319 hit in twenty but you know, everybody was working hybrid. 2559 02:16:07.520 --> 02:16:10.600 You know, at the time, almost all of my interviews 2560 02:16:10.640 --> 02:16:13.239 were either zoom calls or teams calls or whatever, not 2561 02:16:13.359 --> 02:16:17.079 a lot of space to face, and I kind of 2562 02:16:17.119 --> 02:16:20.319 narrowed my search down to you know, I was looking 2563 02:16:20.359 --> 02:16:23.359 at everything, and I felt like, you know, I've got 2564 02:16:23.359 --> 02:16:25.760 thirty five years of experience. I need to be able 2565 02:16:25.760 --> 02:16:28.239 to use that to give something back. And with a 2566 02:16:28.319 --> 02:16:32.639 son that's you know, former infantry now special ops communicator, 2567 02:16:33.040 --> 02:16:37.159 another son that's former infantry now is a military intelligence officer. 2568 02:16:37.719 --> 02:16:40.280 The company I ended up joining, c ACI, was a 2569 02:16:40.280 --> 02:16:43.000 perfect fit for me because I can leverage my you know, 2570 02:16:43.440 --> 02:16:47.959 technical skills, my leadership, my domain experience, and be able 2571 02:16:47.959 --> 02:16:50.440 to provide capabilities that's going to help those guys, you know, 2572 02:16:50.600 --> 02:16:53.040 give them solutions that will allow them to do their 2573 02:16:53.120 --> 02:16:54.639 jobs better. So for me, it was it was a 2574 02:16:54.639 --> 02:16:57.280 good fit. And there was jobs I was looking at. 2575 02:16:57.399 --> 02:17:00.719 Companies I was looking at that were big, that were 2576 02:17:00.760 --> 02:17:04.399 big bureaucratic machines that would have reminded me of serving 2577 02:17:04.479 --> 02:17:08.399 and the building. There were other companies that were big 2578 02:17:08.440 --> 02:17:10.680 bureaucratic machines that would have reminded me of serving in 2579 02:17:10.719 --> 02:17:14.120 something like this again. And then there was this company 2580 02:17:14.120 --> 02:17:17.799 which reminded me a lot of Jasok because it's got structure. 2581 02:17:18.399 --> 02:17:24.639 It's got tremendous I mean, it's forty plus percent veterans, 2582 02:17:25.399 --> 02:17:29.520 a lot of support to the soft and the intelligence 2583 02:17:29.520 --> 02:17:33.840 community and across all the federal government. But what I 2584 02:17:33.920 --> 02:17:36.280 liked about is they had the structure in place, but 2585 02:17:36.399 --> 02:17:38.879 they had been really on a trajectory of going from 2586 02:17:39.040 --> 02:17:43.920 kind of butts in seats services to high end, very unique, 2587 02:17:44.440 --> 02:17:49.920 very technical mission focus capabilities, everything from space to airborne 2588 02:17:49.959 --> 02:17:53.079 platforms to terrestrial you know, everything from command and control 2589 02:17:53.120 --> 02:17:58.239 communications to ISR, electronic warfare, counter uas. I mean, it 2590 02:17:58.360 --> 02:18:00.879 was a great fit for me personally to feel like 2591 02:18:00.920 --> 02:18:04.000 I could come in, I could bring something to the table, 2592 02:18:04.000 --> 02:18:06.360 but I can also learn something. So it was a 2593 02:18:06.399 --> 02:18:09.120 good one of the things people go ahead. 2594 02:18:08.879 --> 02:18:10.639 And so I was just going to ask, you know, specifically, 2595 02:18:10.680 --> 02:18:11.719 what do you do at KHAKI. 2596 02:18:13.440 --> 02:18:16.280 So I'm a senior vice president in the It's called 2597 02:18:16.280 --> 02:18:19.399 our C three I Communit Control, Communications, Intelligence line of business. 2598 02:18:19.399 --> 02:18:24.399 So our primary customer base in the division. I'm in 2599 02:18:24.399 --> 02:18:28.399 the division that does tactical and platform C three I, 2600 02:18:28.840 --> 02:18:33.760 but our customers are Army at Aberde Improving Ground Huntsville. 2601 02:18:34.479 --> 02:18:37.760 We support SOCOM with a big program at Fort Bragg 2602 02:18:37.760 --> 02:18:42.559 North Carolina that supports all of so common with their 2603 02:18:43.000 --> 02:18:46.840 deployable communications capability. We do some work with the Air Force, 2604 02:18:47.920 --> 02:18:50.559 We do some work with Customs and Border Patrol. We 2605 02:18:50.680 --> 02:18:53.840 run their Air and Maritime Operations Center Forum, and we 2606 02:18:53.920 --> 02:18:57.879 run the dhs ICE Tactical Communications. I mean, it's a 2607 02:18:57.879 --> 02:19:01.000 pretty good portfolio. It's kind of in my wheelhouse, but 2608 02:19:01.280 --> 02:19:04.000 I like it. It's a and one of the things 2609 02:19:04.040 --> 02:19:07.000 that when I was leaving, a lot of other retirees 2610 02:19:07.040 --> 02:19:09.479 and folks tell me the thing they missed the most 2611 02:19:09.959 --> 02:19:14.719 when they got out was the camaraderie. And the thing 2612 02:19:14.799 --> 02:19:17.479 I like about this company because you got so many 2613 02:19:17.559 --> 02:19:21.079 veterans in the from the CEO on down, everybody's so 2614 02:19:21.399 --> 02:19:24.840 mission focused. The camaraderie is there. I mean, I feel 2615 02:19:24.840 --> 02:19:26.920 like the people I work with, you know, the role 2616 02:19:27.000 --> 02:19:29.360 I have, I feel like I can do good in 2617 02:19:29.399 --> 02:19:31.680 the role people I work with, I feel like I 2618 02:19:31.719 --> 02:19:34.559 can have fun, you know, and feel like I'm with 2619 02:19:34.719 --> 02:19:37.879 like minded individuals that get the mission accomplished. And it's 2620 02:19:37.959 --> 02:19:40.120 actually for me, it's been a pretty good fit. I've 2621 02:19:40.120 --> 02:19:42.079 been doing it for about a little over four years now. 2622 02:19:43.120 --> 02:19:45.120 And tell us about the six eight Alliance. 2623 02:19:46.319 --> 02:19:49.879 Yeah, so another great piece of advice I had when 2624 02:19:49.920 --> 02:19:52.799 I was transitioning was you're going to want to do 2625 02:19:53.000 --> 02:19:56.319 different things like be on boards or do consulting part time. 2626 02:19:56.399 --> 02:20:01.319 And so I immediately when I transitioned back twenty one, 2627 02:20:01.840 --> 02:20:08.319 I stood up in LLC and I called it six 2628 02:20:08.399 --> 02:20:10.319 eight Alliance because the unit I was in up in 2629 02:20:10.479 --> 02:20:14.440 Northern Virginia. The motto was Isaiah six eight when the 2630 02:20:14.440 --> 02:20:20.239 Lord says, oomselle, who will go for us? And the 2631 02:20:20.479 --> 02:20:22.520 Isaiah six A he says it is I Lord, send 2632 02:20:22.559 --> 02:20:24.680 me and sent me was kind of the unit motto. 2633 02:20:24.760 --> 02:20:27.799 And so I had to pick a name, and I 2634 02:20:27.840 --> 02:20:29.879 was trying to find something that wasn't already taken. So 2635 02:20:29.959 --> 02:20:33.600 I set up in LC in North Carolina. For really 2636 02:20:33.639 --> 02:20:38.719 it's focused on consulting leader development. If I get to 2637 02:20:38.719 --> 02:20:40.840 sit on any boards or anything like that, I'll do 2638 02:20:40.879 --> 02:20:45.799 that through the Limited Liability Company. I'm also at the 2639 02:20:45.879 --> 02:20:50.639 honor of speaking at a ROTC commissioning a few years 2640 02:20:50.639 --> 02:20:53.520 ago at Campbell University. And we bought a house right 2641 02:20:53.520 --> 02:20:56.559 outside Campbell r right on actually right on the golf 2642 02:20:56.600 --> 02:21:00.200 course there at Keith Hills by Campbell University. And when 2643 02:21:00.200 --> 02:21:03.479 the the president of the university found out I was 2644 02:21:03.479 --> 02:21:04.680 moving there. He asked me if I wanted to be 2645 02:21:04.680 --> 02:21:07.920 an adjunct professor, and so I met with the dean, 2646 02:21:07.959 --> 02:21:12.120 I met with the UH, the the chair of the 2647 02:21:12.200 --> 02:21:15.399 Homeland Security Department, and so I teached about I got 2648 02:21:15.440 --> 02:21:18.079 four different classes I teach in the Homeland Security Department. 2649 02:21:18.319 --> 02:21:21.040 I teach one on the foundations and concepts of terrorism. 2650 02:21:21.399 --> 02:21:28.200 I teach a course on intelligence and national security, teach 2651 02:21:28.200 --> 02:21:29.920 a course I'm getting ready to teach a course on 2652 02:21:29.959 --> 02:21:34.840 homeland security, and another one on UH National and International Security. 2653 02:21:34.879 --> 02:21:37.920 So they're they're they're all undergraduate courses, you know, two 2654 02:21:38.040 --> 02:21:41.000 hundred through three hundred series. You know, it's a lot 2655 02:21:41.000 --> 02:21:45.440 of fun. It's good opportunities to do good and have 2656 02:21:45.479 --> 02:21:49.360 some fun, stay connected to the to the youth, contribute 2657 02:21:49.399 --> 02:21:52.559 to my local university there in North Carolina. 2658 02:21:53.200 --> 02:21:56.719 I think I think we have a question for you 2659 02:21:57.559 --> 02:22:01.959 from a viewer or listener. But okay, you mentioned that 2660 02:22:02.040 --> 02:22:03.319 you might be working on a book. 2661 02:22:03.360 --> 02:22:08.239 Also, Yeah, I'm putting some pen to paper. I'm trying 2662 02:22:08.239 --> 02:22:12.680 to get a structured I am. I'm not sure exactly 2663 02:22:12.680 --> 02:22:15.680 what to call it, and I'm not sure exactly what 2664 02:22:16.040 --> 02:22:17.639 you know, it's it's really going to be I think 2665 02:22:18.239 --> 02:22:22.920 a bit of an autobiography and a leadership book. That's 2666 02:22:22.920 --> 02:22:24.159 that's where I want to go with it. I'm just 2667 02:22:24.159 --> 02:22:27.680 trying to kryd to make sure it will resonate. Hopefully 2668 02:22:27.719 --> 02:22:31.399 it will resonate with with some folks beside myself, if 2669 02:22:31.399 --> 02:22:33.600 nothing else, I want to leave it as something that 2670 02:22:33.719 --> 02:22:36.799 maybe my kids and grandkids will read and able to 2671 02:22:36.840 --> 02:22:39.399 hear some stories I wouldn't otherwise get to hear. But yeah, 2672 02:22:39.600 --> 02:22:41.719 I'm working on it right now. It's it's a long 2673 02:22:41.760 --> 02:22:43.159 way from publication though. 2674 02:22:44.159 --> 02:22:44.600 That's great. 2675 02:22:44.600 --> 02:22:47.120 I've got a bunch of stuff jumbled together and I'm 2676 02:22:47.120 --> 02:22:49.639 getting trying to get it organized into some sections, and 2677 02:22:50.159 --> 02:22:51.959 I still have a lot of editing I need to do. 2678 02:22:53.440 --> 02:22:57.879 D What do we got we got from Sean? He asked, 2679 02:22:57.959 --> 02:23:00.600 can you talk about the overall frequency of having to 2680 02:23:00.680 --> 02:23:04.600 troubleshoot army comms issues and what's the most extreme action 2681 02:23:04.719 --> 02:23:07.920 you've had to take or heard of to re establish communications? 2682 02:23:08.639 --> 02:23:17.600 Good question, the most say that again about the frequency? 2683 02:23:18.360 --> 02:23:24.840 Uh, I'm sorry about that. Hold Onald's what's the most 2684 02:23:24.840 --> 02:23:27.399 extreme action you have had to take or heard of 2685 02:23:27.479 --> 02:23:33.079 to re establish army communications? And the overall frequency of 2686 02:23:33.120 --> 02:23:35.159 having to troubleshoot army comms issues. 2687 02:23:37.120 --> 02:23:40.040 Yeah, so I will tell you there was a I 2688 02:23:40.040 --> 02:23:44.879 think the most extreme challenge I had was actually on 2689 02:23:44.920 --> 02:23:49.280 a float staging base in the Pacific and we were 2690 02:23:49.399 --> 02:23:52.920 operating out of Guam and we were on the USS 2691 02:23:53.000 --> 02:23:55.760 Bellow when it was a Navy vessel and it was 2692 02:23:55.799 --> 02:23:58.319 as well as the joint communications You commander and I 2693 02:23:58.360 --> 02:24:03.000 had the best communicators on the planet on my team, 2694 02:24:03.120 --> 02:24:04.879 and we were out there and we had done this 2695 02:24:04.959 --> 02:24:09.600 multiple times before and we could not make it work. 2696 02:24:09.760 --> 02:24:14.239 And the extreme I mean because it was a staging 2697 02:24:14.280 --> 02:24:16.559 base and the Jaysock commander, who was a two star 2698 02:24:16.600 --> 02:24:18.520 at the time and I was at the time, I 2699 02:24:18.559 --> 02:24:22.680 was a major. I could not provide him the colms 2700 02:24:22.719 --> 02:24:27.079 he needed. He had to depart the vessel and go 2701 02:24:27.200 --> 02:24:30.479 back and go back to the intermediate staging base to 2702 02:24:30.520 --> 02:24:33.399 command and control. It was frustrating. It felt like mission 2703 02:24:33.440 --> 02:24:36.040 failure to me. We stayed there and tried to identify 2704 02:24:36.079 --> 02:24:38.479 and isolate the problem and continue to work. One of 2705 02:24:38.479 --> 02:24:42.440 the tier commanders from the Navy, he was on the 2706 02:24:42.479 --> 02:24:44.440 vessel and I didn't want to leave the vessel and 2707 02:24:44.559 --> 02:24:48.399 leave him stranded without console. Our guys constantly troubleshot it, 2708 02:24:48.760 --> 02:24:52.559 and we realized it was a problem inside the system, 2709 02:24:52.639 --> 02:24:56.280 inside the Navy ship where we just couldn't fix it. 2710 02:24:56.360 --> 02:24:58.840 Our guys couldn't fix it, and the Navy couldn't fix it. 2711 02:24:58.879 --> 02:25:01.319 And it was the only a float staging base where 2712 02:25:01.360 --> 02:25:03.920 we've had that kind of a troubleshooting problem where we 2713 02:25:03.959 --> 02:25:08.159 could not find a solution. I think another I mentioned 2714 02:25:08.159 --> 02:25:14.639 the cable cut in Iraq. I mean that was significant, 2715 02:25:15.319 --> 02:25:19.760 just the sheer impact it had on because at that 2716 02:25:19.920 --> 02:25:24.600 time in two thousands, you know, seven two thousand and eight, 2717 02:25:25.639 --> 02:25:29.920 off the you know, having all two simultaneous wars going 2718 02:25:29.959 --> 02:25:33.239 on in Iraq and Afghanistan, and all the reach back 2719 02:25:33.319 --> 02:25:36.760 requirements that uh those four star commanders on the ground 2720 02:25:37.120 --> 02:25:40.479 back to sentcom back to the Pentagon, and the and 2721 02:25:40.520 --> 02:25:43.600 the fact that you know they were operating basically on 2722 02:25:43.639 --> 02:25:46.319 a on a shoe string, you know, with with satellite 2723 02:25:46.360 --> 02:25:50.559 connectivity and significant reduction of bandwidth, a lot of messages 2724 02:25:50.600 --> 02:25:55.120 couldn't go through. That was a that was pretty significant challenge. 2725 02:25:55.440 --> 02:25:57.920 And I would say on the tactical side, at the 2726 02:25:58.040 --> 02:26:09.479 lowest echelon, I think being in situations in Afghanistan where 2727 02:26:10.399 --> 02:26:16.520 you've got all the different the crew systems and the 2728 02:26:16.559 --> 02:26:19.920 counter ID systems, and you've got communicator you know, get 2729 02:26:20.159 --> 02:26:23.120 communications systems on a lot of these convoys and platforms, 2730 02:26:23.559 --> 02:26:27.600 and the spectrum was so congested that a lot of 2731 02:26:27.600 --> 02:26:29.559 the if you had some of your counter i D 2732 02:26:29.719 --> 02:26:32.920 systems up and running for force protection, a lot of 2733 02:26:32.959 --> 02:26:36.159 the comms wouldn't work. And so we were actually we 2734 02:26:36.159 --> 02:26:41.520 weren't we weren't being contested through electronic warfare, but we 2735 02:26:41.520 --> 02:26:45.760 were congesting ourselves by just you know, mismanagement of the spectrum. 2736 02:26:45.879 --> 02:26:48.600 We had stuff that was just co site interference on 2737 02:26:48.639 --> 02:26:50.799 antennas and different things like that, and so you had 2738 02:26:50.840 --> 02:26:53.879 to find creative ways to win, when to turn off 2739 02:26:54.040 --> 02:26:56.760 and turn on the systems and and and be creative 2740 02:26:56.760 --> 02:26:59.639 on kind of you know, establishing some TTPs for that. 2741 02:27:00.120 --> 02:27:01.520 Hopefully that answered the question. 2742 02:27:02.399 --> 02:27:05.959 Yeah, I think so, Thank you Pete album. And before 2743 02:27:05.959 --> 02:27:08.600 we get going tonight, is there anything that we didn't 2744 02:27:08.600 --> 02:27:10.239 get to talk about that you'd like to mention? 2745 02:27:14.200 --> 02:27:17.559 I mean, I just think that you know, I know, 2746 02:27:18.000 --> 02:27:19.559 you know, you had Pete labor on here before. He 2747 02:27:19.600 --> 02:27:22.719 talks a lot about common sense leadership. I think, you know, 2748 02:27:22.760 --> 02:27:26.200 I established something I called common sense leadership years ago, 2749 02:27:26.399 --> 02:27:30.159 and it was a it was you know, and it applied. 2750 02:27:30.200 --> 02:27:31.840 It kind of helped me out through the military a 2751 02:27:31.879 --> 02:27:34.239 little bit. But it was one of these things where 2752 02:27:34.520 --> 02:27:38.159 you know, having the five senses and I call him 2753 02:27:38.440 --> 02:27:41.319 the five senses of leadership, and that's a sense of pride. 2754 02:27:41.719 --> 02:27:45.479 And I think if you go into any organization and 2755 02:27:45.520 --> 02:27:47.879 they have a sense of pride in what they do 2756 02:27:48.559 --> 02:27:50.879 and who they are, what they do and who they represent, 2757 02:27:51.440 --> 02:27:53.680 typically that's that's kind of the key to a high 2758 02:27:53.680 --> 02:27:58.200 performing organization. And I think, you know, as a communicator, 2759 02:27:58.319 --> 02:28:00.479 having a sense of urgency is important when you do 2760 02:28:00.559 --> 02:28:02.600 have a problem with the spectrum, or you have a 2761 02:28:02.600 --> 02:28:04.920 cable cut, or you may not be able to fix 2762 02:28:04.959 --> 02:28:07.079 it immediately. You may not be able to get the 2763 02:28:07.120 --> 02:28:09.600 answer from the top, but you've got to figure that 2764 02:28:09.680 --> 02:28:11.840 downtime is measured in seconds and you got to get 2765 02:28:11.840 --> 02:28:13.399 after it. You've got to have a sense of urgency. 2766 02:28:14.399 --> 02:28:16.559 I think it's important to have a sense of direction, 2767 02:28:17.399 --> 02:28:20.440 know where you're at, where you're going, and how you're 2768 02:28:20.440 --> 02:28:22.559 going to get there. And that's not just when you're 2769 02:28:22.600 --> 02:28:25.360 driving from here to you know, from North Carolina up 2770 02:28:25.360 --> 02:28:27.120 to New York. If I was coming up to see 2771 02:28:27.159 --> 02:28:29.319 you in person, I would need to have a plan, right. 2772 02:28:29.360 --> 02:28:31.600 But it's also you know, if you're a leader and 2773 02:28:31.639 --> 02:28:35.079 you're mentoring a young soldier or you've got an employee, 2774 02:28:35.479 --> 02:28:38.239 it's like when you sit down for a performance counseling, 2775 02:28:38.319 --> 02:28:40.840 it's like, here's where you're at, here's where I'd like 2776 02:28:40.840 --> 02:28:43.120 you to go, and here's how you get there. And 2777 02:28:43.159 --> 02:28:45.799 I think helping put that sense of direction in place. 2778 02:28:46.200 --> 02:28:48.159 I think that's you know, it's a key part of 2779 02:28:48.200 --> 02:28:51.000 counseling and mentoring, no matter whether you're in the military 2780 02:28:51.040 --> 02:28:53.840 or in any world, in any job, I think having 2781 02:28:53.840 --> 02:28:57.440 a sense of purpose too, understanding the big picture. I 2782 02:28:57.559 --> 02:29:00.319 had a leader one time that had a little sign 2783 02:29:00.360 --> 02:29:03.600 on his desk said he said, why leads what and how? 2784 02:29:04.479 --> 02:29:07.520 And if if the leader knows why things need to 2785 02:29:07.559 --> 02:29:09.840 be done and the people that are working for him 2786 02:29:09.879 --> 02:29:11.879 know what to do and how to do it, typically 2787 02:29:11.920 --> 02:29:14.399 they can usually be successful. But I think, you know, 2788 02:29:14.440 --> 02:29:17.360 if you have a brick layer putting one brick on 2789 02:29:17.399 --> 02:29:21.239 top of another, if he knows he's building a cathedral, 2790 02:29:21.280 --> 02:29:23.239 he'll be a little bit more excited about putting one 2791 02:29:23.280 --> 02:29:26.280 brick on top of another, you know. And I know, 2792 02:29:27.000 --> 02:29:29.799 Sidney shack Now used to use this example. You know 2793 02:29:29.840 --> 02:29:33.319 who Sidney shack Now is. He says, you got the 2794 02:29:33.319 --> 02:29:35.239 guy and he's putting one brick on top of another, 2795 02:29:35.559 --> 02:29:37.360 and he asks him what he's doing. He says, I'm 2796 02:29:37.399 --> 02:29:40.280 putting one brick on top of another. And he asked 2797 02:29:40.280 --> 02:29:42.079 the other guy, what are you doing? Hecause, I'm building 2798 02:29:42.120 --> 02:29:43.760 a wall. Can't you see It's going to be a big, 2799 02:29:43.799 --> 02:29:46.239 beautiful wall. And he asked the third guy, and the 2800 02:29:46.239 --> 02:29:48.200 third guy says, I'm going to build the cathedral. It's 2801 02:29:48.239 --> 02:29:50.440 going to be the most beautiful cathedral. He goes, that 2802 02:29:50.440 --> 02:29:52.520 guy has a sense of purpose. He takes pride in 2803 02:29:52.559 --> 02:29:55.760 what he's doing anyway, sense of purpose, knowing the why, 2804 02:29:55.920 --> 02:29:58.440 knowing the big picture. And I think it's also important 2805 02:29:58.440 --> 02:30:01.280 to have a sense of humor. Okay, uh this is 2806 02:30:02.040 --> 02:30:04.920 you know. I was kind of a little bit of 2807 02:30:04.920 --> 02:30:07.399 a smart ass growing up. I was sometimes a class clown. 2808 02:30:08.000 --> 02:30:09.639 Like I said, when my dad died, I kind of 2809 02:30:09.680 --> 02:30:12.440 had to buckle down and become become the man. But 2810 02:30:12.520 --> 02:30:14.559 I feel like I haven't lost my sense of humor. 2811 02:30:14.559 --> 02:30:16.760 I just got to know when to temperate and uh, 2812 02:30:17.040 --> 02:30:18.799 you know, make sure I don't say the wrong thing 2813 02:30:18.840 --> 02:30:21.360 in the run, you know, and offend somebody unintentionally. But 2814 02:30:21.399 --> 02:30:23.440 I think it is important to have fun. I think 2815 02:30:23.440 --> 02:30:25.559 it's important to be able to laugh at yourself. I 2816 02:30:25.559 --> 02:30:28.520 think it's important not to be thin skinned, uh and 2817 02:30:28.760 --> 02:30:30.079 be able to have a good time, because I think 2818 02:30:30.079 --> 02:30:32.360 you can have a whole lot more fun, you know, 2819 02:30:32.479 --> 02:30:37.239 being ready when when you know, when you can have 2820 02:30:37.600 --> 02:30:39.319 you know, tell a few jokes every now and then 2821 02:30:39.399 --> 02:30:42.959 and be able to take a joke. I think, uh, yeah, 2822 02:30:43.280 --> 02:30:44.959 I think I guess what I'd leave you with. Is 2823 02:30:48.079 --> 02:30:52.159 my last kind of mantra that I lashed onto my 2824 02:30:52.239 --> 02:30:55.120 youngest son when he was a he was a teenager 2825 02:30:55.360 --> 02:30:57.920 and I was in the unit in Virginia. He was 2826 02:30:57.920 --> 02:31:01.760 playing travel hockey. He was the captain of his hockey team, 2827 02:31:01.760 --> 02:31:03.680 and he had he had what he called the three 2828 02:31:03.760 --> 02:31:07.600 rules of Gallagherism, and he was the hockey captain and said, okay, Jake, 2829 02:31:08.159 --> 02:31:13.319 talk me through this. He goes, find a way, don't 2830 02:31:13.360 --> 02:31:17.200 be that guy and give him the business. I said, 2831 02:31:17.239 --> 02:31:19.840 I'll explain it. He goes find a way, dadd and 2832 02:31:19.840 --> 02:31:21.159 find a way to get the puck, find a way 2833 02:31:21.159 --> 02:31:23.280 to score or find a way to win, find a way. 2834 02:31:23.680 --> 02:31:27.040 All right, I like it, he goes, Don't be that guy. 2835 02:31:27.120 --> 02:31:28.879 Don't be that guy gets a penalty when the game's 2836 02:31:28.920 --> 02:31:30.440 on the line and we got to play a man down. 2837 02:31:30.799 --> 02:31:34.319 Don't be that guy that you know violates curfew and 2838 02:31:34.399 --> 02:31:36.440 you know has to set the bench. Don't be that 2839 02:31:36.479 --> 02:31:39.000 guy that does stupid shit. And if you find that guy, 2840 02:31:39.159 --> 02:31:41.959 give him the business. A little tough love, a little performance, 2841 02:31:42.079 --> 02:31:44.760 a little uh, you know, wall to wall counseling, whatever 2842 02:31:44.799 --> 02:31:46.879 it takes, give him the business. I'm like, all right, 2843 02:31:46.920 --> 02:31:49.159 I can live with that. That's pretty good. So anyway, 2844 02:31:49.159 --> 02:31:52.680 don't be that guy, give him the business. But I 2845 02:31:52.680 --> 02:31:54.559 think the most important of those three was really find 2846 02:31:54.600 --> 02:31:56.840 a way. And I think, you know, growing up as 2847 02:31:56.840 --> 02:31:59.639 a special ops communicator, I mean I like to call 2848 02:31:59.680 --> 02:32:02.399 myself a special ops communicator, even though it was only 2849 02:32:02.440 --> 02:32:04.639 about a third of my career in special ops. I 2850 02:32:04.639 --> 02:32:06.959 think that's what really gave me the fire in my 2851 02:32:07.000 --> 02:32:09.719 belly to want to continue serving and want to keep 2852 02:32:09.760 --> 02:32:12.600 doing this because I feel like, kind of like Abram's charter, 2853 02:32:12.719 --> 02:32:15.000 you know, for the Rangers, if you can take back 2854 02:32:15.000 --> 02:32:17.440 what you learn to the regular army and make it 2855 02:32:17.520 --> 02:32:20.719 a better you know, make your unit better. I think 2856 02:32:21.479 --> 02:32:24.280 you've you've you've done something there, and I felt like, 2857 02:32:24.360 --> 02:32:26.920 you know, even though I was never a ranger, having 2858 02:32:26.920 --> 02:32:28.879 the privilege and honor of serving in some of the 2859 02:32:28.879 --> 02:32:32.920 best special mission units in the Army. What I've learned there, 2860 02:32:32.959 --> 02:32:34.520 I've been able to take to some of the conventional 2861 02:32:34.559 --> 02:32:37.719 assignments and I think make the organizations better. So for me, 2862 02:32:37.799 --> 02:32:41.600 it's about being able to take something, you know, bring 2863 02:32:41.639 --> 02:32:44.200 what you've learned, and be able to contribute to the 2864 02:32:44.399 --> 02:32:47.680 whatever organization you find yourself in. So anyway, Jack, I 2865 02:32:47.680 --> 02:32:50.319 want to thank you and forgive me the opportunity to 2866 02:32:50.319 --> 02:32:51.520 be on this. This was really fun. 2867 02:32:51.680 --> 02:32:55.399 Yeah. Absolutely, I really appreciate you spending your evening chatting 2868 02:32:55.440 --> 02:32:59.319 with us. It's been really interesting and you know, insightful 2869 02:32:59.319 --> 02:32:59.559 for me. 2870 02:33:01.200 --> 02:33:02.840 Yeah, I mean, I know you have a lot of 2871 02:33:02.840 --> 02:33:05.399 good shows with gun slingers and folks that are doing 2872 02:33:05.440 --> 02:33:07.559 a lot of stuff where you know, and they're working 2873 02:33:07.559 --> 02:33:10.600 on muzzle velocity and you know, you know, close quarter 2874 02:33:10.639 --> 02:33:13.319 battle and there's some real I mean, you have some 2875 02:33:13.360 --> 02:33:16.079 real no kidding, you know warriors and gun slingers on here. 2876 02:33:16.360 --> 02:33:20.399 I mean, I'm you know, I've worked around the nation's 2877 02:33:20.440 --> 02:33:23.040 heroes and supported the best of the very best, and 2878 02:33:23.600 --> 02:33:26.040 I've just been blessed, you know. Like I said, consider 2879 02:33:26.120 --> 02:33:29.000 myself a special ops communicator and I've I've loved every 2880 02:33:29.000 --> 02:33:29.440 minute of it. 2881 02:33:29.680 --> 02:33:33.600 We've also had all kinds of other people, from CIA 2882 02:33:33.799 --> 02:33:37.639 analysts to a combat weather man who is who is 2883 02:33:38.159 --> 02:33:40.479 a hero in his own right. I'll embarrass him by 2884 02:33:40.479 --> 02:33:43.840 saying that he has a Bronze star with Valor. All 2885 02:33:43.920 --> 02:33:46.239 these incredible people that you know, you get to meet 2886 02:33:46.319 --> 02:33:49.280 through doing a show like this. It's it's awesome. And 2887 02:33:49.920 --> 02:33:55.680 I've tried to get special ops logisticians on the show 2888 02:33:55.719 --> 02:33:58.520 before and I've had a hard time getting them to talk. 2889 02:33:58.559 --> 02:34:01.479 But the logistics are as you know, I mean, it's paramount. 2890 02:34:01.600 --> 02:34:05.799 It's none of the other stuff. Yeah, absolutely, But yeah, 2891 02:34:05.799 --> 02:34:08.959 thanks again, Pete, and hope to talk to you again soon. 2892 02:34:09.200 --> 02:34:11.719 And for everyone else out there watching, thanks for joining 2893 02:34:11.799 --> 02:34:14.520 us on the Team House. Check us out on Patreon 2894 02:34:14.559 --> 02:34:17.159 if you haven't already, and we'll see you next time. 2895 02:34:18.840 --> 02:34:19.760 All right, Thanks Jack. 2896 02:34:23.239 --> 02:34:25.040 Hey guys, I want to tell all of you today 2897 02:34:25.120 --> 02:34:28.319 about a new newsletter that we're launching that encompasses both 2898 02:34:28.399 --> 02:34:32.239 the Team House podcast, the eyes On podcast, and the 2899 02:34:32.319 --> 02:34:35.760 high Side News outlet which I run with Sean Naylor. 2900 02:34:36.600 --> 02:34:39.719 The newsletter is gonna be once a week. It's going 2901 02:34:39.760 --> 02:34:42.159 to come into your inbox and you're gonna get the 2902 02:34:42.159 --> 02:34:45.639 most current podcasts on eyes On and the Team House 2903 02:34:46.040 --> 02:34:49.879 and whatever's topical or current on the high side. So 2904 02:34:50.040 --> 02:34:52.079 it's another way for us to get the information out 2905 02:34:52.079 --> 02:34:55.920 to you as social media algorithms are pretty iffy and 2906 02:34:55.959 --> 02:34:58.479 you never really know what you're gonna get. So this 2907 02:34:58.520 --> 02:35:00.600 is a once a week email. It'll slide into your 2908 02:35:00.600 --> 02:35:03.079 inbox and it will have you know the greatest hits 2909 02:35:03.120 --> 02:35:03.680 of that week. 2910 02:35:03.799 --> 02:35:07.000 It's really good man. Checking it out. 2911 02:35:07.079 --> 02:35:11.360 The website for it is Teamhouse Podcast dot kit dot com, 2912 02:35:11.360 --> 02:35:16.239 slash Join Teamhouse Podcast dot kit dot com slash join. 2913 02:35:16.840 --> 02:35:16.959 Uh. 2914 02:35:17.120 --> 02:35:19.239 You go there and you enter into your email list 2915 02:35:19.479 --> 02:35:23.079 or you enter your email into the little thing on 2916 02:35:23.120 --> 02:35:25.600 the website and you're good to go and that'll be it. 2917 02:35:26.319 --> 02:35:29.000 So we really appreciate your support and I hope you'll 2918 02:35:29.040 --> 02:35:29.920 consider signing up. 2919 02:35:30.159 --> 02:35:30.879 Where's the link. 2920 02:35:31.760 --> 02:35:34.319 The link will also be down the description if you're 2921 02:35:34.319 --> 02:35:38.200 looking for it there, and that's Teamhouse Podcast, dot Kit, 2922 02:35:38.479 --> 02:35:44.440 k I t Kilo India Tango dot com, backslash Join