WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:02.439 Hey, everyone, Welcome to episode two hundred and forty of 2 00:00:02.439 --> 00:00:06.200 The Teamhouse. I'm Jack Murphy here with Dave Park. Our 3 00:00:06.200 --> 00:00:10.240 boy Adam White is back there in the darkness. De's 4 00:00:10.359 --> 00:00:13.320 pressing the buttons and our guest in studio. He's third 5 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:15.560 appearance on the show, but the first time in studio. 6 00:00:15.640 --> 00:00:18.879 We're really excited to have him here. I haven't seen 7 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:22.320 this dude in person for like seventeen years. This Mike Edwards. 8 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:25.440 Mike served in the seventy fifth Ranger Regiment. We were 9 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:28.519 in three seven five back in the day together, and 10 00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:31.000 he went on to have a career in the Regimental 11 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:34.880 Reconnaissance Company and then as a military freefall instructor. 12 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:37.240 So we're really excited to have you here. Man. 13 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:39.320 Well, thanks for having me back. I appreciate it. Yeah, 14 00:00:39.320 --> 00:00:42.840 good to see you on person for real. Yeah, hell yeah. 15 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:46.359 And oh shout out to a new artwork on the wall. 16 00:00:46.439 --> 00:00:49.000 That's from Invader Girl. If you guys go check her 17 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:52.520 out at Invadergirl dot Invader girl art dot com or 18 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:53.799 follow her on Instagram. 19 00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:56.479 Yes, it's got amazing art. Definitely check her stuff out. 20 00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:00.359 She has awesome stuff that is sweet. So Mike, I'm 21 00:01:00.359 --> 00:01:00.880 gonna have you. 22 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:03.679 I'm sorry if I have you repeat yourself a little bit, 23 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:05.439 but I'm gonna I think it got cut off a 24 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:07.400 little bit in our first interview actually, but I'm gonna 25 00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:08.719 ask you to tell us a little bit about like 26 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:11.480 your origin story and sort of your upbringing in like 27 00:01:11.560 --> 00:01:14.000 your path towards military service, Like how did that come 28 00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:14.719 about for you? 29 00:01:15.159 --> 00:01:18.159 Yes, So I grew up living out in the country, 30 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:20.200 just me and my brother playing in the woods, shooting 31 00:01:20.200 --> 00:01:23.159 baby guns, hunting squirrels and you know, rabbits and stuff 32 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:29.920 like that in rural Alabama. Had a normal upbringing, good mother, 33 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:32.040 good father, you know, I love them both. 34 00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:32.719 We're still close. 35 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:36.519 My whole family's close, cousins, aunts, uncles. So I had 36 00:01:36.519 --> 00:01:37.840 a good bond there with family. 37 00:01:39.879 --> 00:01:40.280 Grew up. 38 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:41.599 As I got a little bit older, my dad went 39 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:42.840 in the army. He went in the army kind a 40 00:01:42.840 --> 00:01:44.760 little bit later in life, like in his thirties, and 41 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:48.519 he became an officer. So once I got older, Yeah, 42 00:01:48.519 --> 00:01:51.959 I never really thought about joining the military, but I 43 00:01:52.040 --> 00:01:55.200 was probably about midway through high school and I just decided, 44 00:01:55.239 --> 00:01:57.159 you know, I want to try out the military, you know, 45 00:01:57.200 --> 00:01:58.840 go in the National Guard. So I joined the National 46 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:01.920 Guard my dad wanted me to be an officer, so 47 00:02:01.959 --> 00:02:04.000 I ended up doing boot camp and AI t for 48 00:02:04.040 --> 00:02:07.840 the National Guard, was an infantry National Guard. 49 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:09.639 And then went to marrying military and suit to be 50 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:10.159 an officer. 51 00:02:10.199 --> 00:02:13.039 So did two years there and then I was good 52 00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:15.840 at Rotc's type stuff, the military aspect of it. 53 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:18.599 But I was too I was young and immature. 54 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:21.680 I wanted to party, and I was too worried about trouting, 55 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:23.479 you know, drinking and partying and stuff like that. 56 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:25.759 So I didn't focus on grades as well as I should. 57 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:28.879 The military aspect, I mean, like all hundreds, but then 58 00:02:28.919 --> 00:02:30.840 you know, pet score good to go. But then some 59 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:33.479 of the other aspects I was struggling on. So I 60 00:02:33.560 --> 00:02:36.960 ended up withdrawing from school after two years. It was 61 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:38.800 a two year military school where you do two years, 62 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:40.719 you get your commission as an officer, and then you'd 63 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:43.120 go to like University of Alabama or Auburn or something 64 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:47.879 like that. So I withdrew failing and just decided to 65 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:50.280 just move back in with my mom down in like 66 00:02:50.360 --> 00:02:55.039 Gulf Shores Folly area of Alabama. Lived down there, did 67 00:02:55.080 --> 00:02:57.240 some construction work for a little bit, but you know, 68 00:02:57.520 --> 00:02:59.439 the army thing was kind of always in the back 69 00:02:59.479 --> 00:02:59.960 of my mind. 70 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:03.039 So I ended up enlisting to go active duty. 71 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:06.879 Started off in third Infantry Division at Kelly Hill on 72 00:03:07.240 --> 00:03:10.000 Fort Benning in a mechanized infantry unit. 73 00:03:10.039 --> 00:03:11.159 Did a little bit of time there. 74 00:03:12.759 --> 00:03:15.360 Have some good friends still keep in touch from from 75 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:18.560 back then, but did some time there. Ended up wanted 76 00:03:18.599 --> 00:03:21.120 to go Special Forces. Always thought like special Forces. Green 77 00:03:21.159 --> 00:03:23.639 Beret was like the way to go. My dad was like, hey, 78 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:27.199 special Forces is the brains. Rangers are the brawn. That's 79 00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:29.599 what my dad used to say. And uh, you know, 80 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:32.439 I ended up doing everything to get ready to set 81 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:35.199 up for Special Forces selection, and then you know, had 82 00:03:35.319 --> 00:03:38.039 did the prept test, had a selection date setup and 83 00:03:38.039 --> 00:03:39.240 then boom got popped for. 84 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:41.280 Orders to go to Korea. 85 00:03:41.639 --> 00:03:44.280 So I did a year in Korea and then nine 86 00:03:44.280 --> 00:03:46.719 to eleven popped off, and then things changed and I 87 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:48.560 ended up going to the Ranger Regiment. So I guess 88 00:03:48.599 --> 00:03:50.439 that's kind of in the nutshell and kicking it off 89 00:03:50.479 --> 00:03:53.400 from childhood up to initial entry in the army. 90 00:03:53.800 --> 00:03:56.520 What what was it like when you were in. 91 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:59.520 Because I didn't even know if there is mechanized infantry anymore? 92 00:03:59.639 --> 00:04:03.560 Was there? Yeah? The Strikers, Yeah, Bradley's. Yeah, I was 93 00:04:03.560 --> 00:04:06.919 in a Bradley. No, no, it's not because it used 94 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:09.599 to be yeah loving Mike, Yeah, no, I don't. I 95 00:04:09.639 --> 00:04:11.759 don't think the ms exist really. Yeah. 96 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:15.960 So, like, what what was that light compared to like 97 00:04:16.120 --> 00:04:17.160 straight leg infantry? 98 00:04:17.800 --> 00:04:19.199 It was it was completely different. 99 00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:22.839 We were at the mercy of those bradleys, right, So 100 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:24.920 wherever the Bradley went, that was like our little that 101 00:04:25.319 --> 00:04:26.959 was like our shop, you know, so it. 102 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:28.279 Rolled around they did staying. 103 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:30.079 We kept all of our gears strapped to the outside 104 00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:32.680 of like our rucksacks, a shopped on the outside, MRIs 105 00:04:32.680 --> 00:04:34.279 and stuff like that. It would drop the raft we 106 00:04:34.279 --> 00:04:36.959 would go do light infantry stuff, but then we'd always 107 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:40.639 come back to that Bradley and it actually we ended 108 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:42.680 up spending a lot of time in those bradleys too. 109 00:04:42.759 --> 00:04:47.720 I remember one time at NTC we were driving around. 110 00:04:47.720 --> 00:04:50.600 I think we were like twenty something hours straight in 111 00:04:50.759 --> 00:04:52.399 the back of the bradleys. I mean, you're just like 112 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:54.439 sleeping like this, and then you're up and then you're 113 00:04:54.439 --> 00:04:56.639 sleeping like everybody's piled in there. 114 00:04:56.680 --> 00:04:59.720 You're stacked in there like sardines, right, and those things. 115 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:01.079 I don't don't know if a lot of people know 116 00:05:01.160 --> 00:05:02.959 they have a drain hole plug in the bottom of 117 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:05.959 them because they're made to be amphibious, right, So even 118 00:05:06.040 --> 00:05:09.959 the newer ones still have the legacy train plugs. So 119 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:12.839 we'd be in those things. You couldn't unhatch that thing. 120 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:15.000 It was like like you almost had to have orders 121 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:17.879 to let the ramp down. So twenty something hours in there, 122 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:20.040 like we were popping those train holes out and peeing 123 00:05:20.040 --> 00:05:24.240 out of the train holes. It was nasty in the 124 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:26.319 back of those things, just to be quick with it. 125 00:05:26.360 --> 00:05:28.600 But yeah, it was. It was different, a lot different 126 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:29.480 than light infantry. 127 00:05:29.639 --> 00:05:32.720 Yeah, I never really experienced light infantry until I got 128 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:33.519 to the Ranger Regiment. 129 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:36.639 Yeahah, what was it like for you in Korea because 130 00:05:36.680 --> 00:05:39.560 that's uh, that's kind of a hardship to it, right 131 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:40.560 for infantry. 132 00:05:40.839 --> 00:05:42.560 Yeah, that's what I mean, that's what they call it. 133 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:45.560 So for me when I went there, it was prior 134 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:48.639 to nine to eleven. When I initially got there, it 135 00:05:48.680 --> 00:05:51.079 was we had a star major that was big on 136 00:05:51.160 --> 00:05:53.160 PT so I mean that kind of set me up 137 00:05:53.199 --> 00:05:55.439 for the Ranger Regiment. He was like, I want everybody 138 00:05:55.480 --> 00:05:58.360 to run a marathon before the time you leave here. 139 00:05:58.439 --> 00:06:00.560 So in twelve months. If you're ye, He's like, we're 140 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:01.920 gonna do a little bit more, a little bit more, 141 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:05.120 a little bit more. So we do these incredibly slow 142 00:06:05.160 --> 00:06:08.199 but yet long runs. So by the time that year 143 00:06:08.279 --> 00:06:11.439 was up, I had run a marathon in a battalion formation, 144 00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:16.279 like like probably two thirds of the formation was gone, 145 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:18.480 like because we were on Camp Casey, and then there 146 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:20.720 was another base called Camp Hoby. So we'd run around 147 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:22.759 Camp Casey, then run around Camp Hoby, then run around 148 00:06:22.759 --> 00:06:24.959 Camp Casey, and then around Camp Hoby's super small bases. 149 00:06:25.639 --> 00:06:28.959 Every time we passed by a battalion area, like formation 150 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:31.000 would just sheathe off, you know what I mean, Like, 151 00:06:31.079 --> 00:06:35.480 oh so, but you know I couldn't quit because I 152 00:06:35.480 --> 00:06:38.120 had that drive that got me to the range regiment, 153 00:06:38.519 --> 00:06:40.319 so that set me up for it. We did a 154 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:44.839 lot at rock marching and stuff, and then but you 155 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:46.920 were stuck there on the base. There wasn't a whole 156 00:06:46.920 --> 00:06:49.279 We did a little bit of training, probably trained a 157 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:52.959 little bit more than I did Stateside in the mechanized infantry. 158 00:06:53.600 --> 00:06:56.040 But then nine to eleven happened and they like locked 159 00:06:56.040 --> 00:06:59.759 the base down. They had us pull in security. We 160 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:02.759 were doing like roving patrols around the base, and you know, 161 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:06.160 everybody was like on you know, super high alert. But 162 00:07:06.199 --> 00:07:08.639 the thing that really got me was that here we 163 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:12.560 are now at war, right or like at the very beginning, 164 00:07:12.600 --> 00:07:15.000 we thought we were going to war, but they amped 165 00:07:15.079 --> 00:07:18.079 up security. Yet I was carrying around at M sixteen 166 00:07:18.600 --> 00:07:21.360 with no AMMO in it, literally no or At first 167 00:07:21.399 --> 00:07:22.560 they had us with axe. 168 00:07:22.360 --> 00:07:24.639 Handles, like that, am I gonna do with an ax handle? Man? 169 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:27.680 But they had us with axe handles carrying it around. 170 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:30.879 Then they gave us rifles, but like you had to 171 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:32.600 inspect the crap out of them and then you could 172 00:07:32.680 --> 00:07:36.600 walk around, but you had no AMMO. Then eventually it 173 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:39.240 finally got to where we get IAMMO. But your magazine, 174 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:41.680 every round was counted and tape was over the top 175 00:07:41.720 --> 00:07:43.920 of it, and it was stuffed in the magazine well 176 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:45.879 with tape on the top of it, so if you 177 00:07:45.879 --> 00:07:47.319 wanted to shoot anybody, you had to take it out, 178 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:49.240 take the tape off, put it back in, and rack it. 179 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:53.560 So it was frustrating. So it really had like a 180 00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:56.399 disdain for the army. I really hated it and I 181 00:07:56.439 --> 00:07:57.959 really wanted to get on it. And I noticed it 182 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:01.720 before that we would guard empty concrete pads for like 183 00:08:02.120 --> 00:08:03.959 hours while everybody was out, and I'm like, why am 184 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:06.279 I wasting my time doing this? And then nine to 185 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:09.120 eleven kind of perpetuated that. But I was now, we're 186 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:10.839 at war and that's what I joined the military for. 187 00:08:11.639 --> 00:08:13.560 So I just looked to reenlist and so I re 188 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:15.639 enlisted for Ranger Battalion and that's. 189 00:08:15.480 --> 00:08:16.319 Where I went from there. 190 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:19.279 And what was it that took you to the Rangers 191 00:08:19.319 --> 00:08:21.079 instead of SF like you had planned? 192 00:08:21.639 --> 00:08:24.160 Well, there was a guy that was in my unit 193 00:08:24.199 --> 00:08:27.000 out there actually, And speaking of that, it was one 194 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:29.720 of the things they did in Korea was the Manchu Mile, 195 00:08:30.120 --> 00:08:32.320 so they called it. It's like a thirty mile rock march. 196 00:08:32.919 --> 00:08:35.320 And I love rock marching so much. So we're like 197 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:39.080 hut like rocking about fifteen miles into this rock march 198 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:41.600 and I'm just like everybody's sucking, but I'm like, dude, 199 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:42.759 I love this stuff. 200 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:45.519 And this dude was like, if you love this, you 201 00:08:45.559 --> 00:08:46.399 need to be a Ranger. 202 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:49.480 And I was like, oh, I'm thinking about doing Special Forces, 203 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:50.960 but he was like, nah, you want to go to 204 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:53.440 the Ranger regiment. He's like, you go to Ranger regiment, 205 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:55.480 You're gonna kill bad guys. If you want to do 206 00:08:55.519 --> 00:08:57.080 this kind of stuff in rock March took. 207 00:08:56.960 --> 00:08:59.120 You up with all the rock marching you desire, Yeah, 208 00:08:59.320 --> 00:09:00.960 all your heart, yeah desire. 209 00:09:01.799 --> 00:09:04.559 So I said, okay, well I was, so I started 210 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:05.399 asking more questions. 211 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:09.039 I didn't know anything about Rangers, and then you know, 212 00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:10.759 that's ended up being the route that I went. I 213 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:12.759 went and re enlisted, and I wasn't sure that I 214 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:15.440 was going to go to Ranger Btine because I think 215 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:17.919 they mixed it up with a Ranger school at first. 216 00:09:18.759 --> 00:09:20.480 But luckily, through the. 217 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:22.840 Coaching of that NCO, I was able to make sure 218 00:09:22.840 --> 00:09:25.200 that I went to Ranger Batinin and so I went 219 00:09:25.240 --> 00:09:27.559 and did that and then almost didn't make it like 220 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:30.799 I was selling out in today. I almost didn't even 221 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:33.080 make it into RIP because you know they do vehicle 222 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:35.440 inspections at the very beginning of RIP. Well, I had 223 00:09:35.480 --> 00:09:38.559 a tellight that was out in my vehicle, and I 224 00:09:38.600 --> 00:09:40.320 can't remember exactly how it happened, but one of the 225 00:09:40.360 --> 00:09:42.960 cadure was like, it's no big deal. You're not going 226 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:44.720 to drive it while you're in RIP, so it's just. 227 00:09:44.679 --> 00:09:47.519 Going to be parked. You can get it fixed after 228 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:48.960 RIP and I said okay, cool. 229 00:09:50.200 --> 00:09:52.759 So then I ended up getting questioned by another one 230 00:09:52.759 --> 00:09:54.320 of the cadure and I was like, well, the caduret 231 00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:56.399 said that I could get it fixed afterwards, and they're like, no, 232 00:09:56.440 --> 00:09:58.240 you got to get it fixed right now. He never 233 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:00.519 told you that. I'm like, wait, that's what told me. 234 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:03.639 They're like, well, you're calling Cadre a liar. I was like, 235 00:10:03.720 --> 00:10:05.960 I'm just saying that's what he told me. And I'm 236 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:07.679 sorry if I mean, if you think I'm calling. 237 00:10:07.559 --> 00:10:09.559 Him a liar. They're like, You're dropped from the course, like. 238 00:10:09.639 --> 00:10:11.559 Right at the beginning, like I'd just gotten smoked up 239 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:14.039 a little bit, boom dropped from the course. Now I 240 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:17.399 was in holdovers. But I literally went like with tears 241 00:10:17.399 --> 00:10:19.879 in my eyes. I was like please, and like I 242 00:10:19.919 --> 00:10:22.799 beg the cadre. I was like, please give me another shot. 243 00:10:23.480 --> 00:10:26.279 I like, I will do anything. I did not mean 244 00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:28.360 to say that he was a liar. I was just 245 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:30.639 saying what I heard and I wasn't trying to call 246 00:10:30.679 --> 00:10:32.720 him a liar. Maybe there was a misunderstanding or whatever, 247 00:10:32.759 --> 00:10:34.759 but I was like, please don't kick me out, And 248 00:10:34.840 --> 00:10:37.279 so luckily he had compassion for me and let me 249 00:10:37.320 --> 00:10:38.919 start the next rip class. 250 00:10:39.480 --> 00:10:44.799 So it's it's wild sometimes, like these these edge moments 251 00:10:44.840 --> 00:10:48.320 in people's careers, especially military careers. Yeah, that can make 252 00:10:48.440 --> 00:10:51.159 or break them depending on how it goes. 253 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:54.600 Yeah, you know, that's totally out of your control. It's 254 00:10:54.639 --> 00:10:56.360 totally out of your control. There's a lot of that 255 00:10:56.360 --> 00:10:57.679 that happens. Yeah, you know. 256 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:04.519 Yeah yeah, So what so what was it like for 257 00:11:04.600 --> 00:11:08.159 you when you got to battalion? You're what rank were you? 258 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:10.519 I was an E four, so you're an import? 259 00:11:10.600 --> 00:11:13.600 Yeah, I was an import untabbed E four no ranger 260 00:11:13.639 --> 00:11:19.679 tab getting there. Luckily, I consider myself squared away. I mean, 261 00:11:19.720 --> 00:11:22.159 the guys that knew me may say otherwise. I thought 262 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:24.320 I was squared away, like I had. I pretty much 263 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:27.679 had the the seven dash shape memorized back then. I 264 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:29.799 was in physically, I was in really good shape. I 265 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:31.720 was in way better shape than most of the other privates, 266 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:34.720 so I didn't have that hanging over my head. I 267 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:36.559 was knowledgeable, so I kind of was able to kind 268 00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:38.000 of stay under the radar for the most part. But 269 00:11:38.039 --> 00:11:39.519 I mean, you know how it is as a private 270 00:11:39.639 --> 00:11:42.399 ranger battalion. Yeah, you can't stay under the radar. You're 271 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:45.720 gonna get just destroyed constantly. One of the big things 272 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:49.919 that I remember was we went we had we had 273 00:11:49.960 --> 00:11:54.120 done a range. Talking about Joe Capp, he was one 274 00:11:54.120 --> 00:11:56.399 of my he was one of my guys in my 275 00:11:56.480 --> 00:11:58.200 squad at the time, Like I was a team leader 276 00:11:58.200 --> 00:11:59.720 and he was one of my guys I think, I think, 277 00:12:00.200 --> 00:12:01.399 or no he was maybe it was one of a 278 00:12:01.399 --> 00:12:04.799 sample team. But we went out to a range and 279 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:06.960 it was either him or one other guy. I had 280 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:09.759 inspect my gear. We did a live fire and we 281 00:12:09.879 --> 00:12:11.679 had remember we'd had that dude that got shot with 282 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:13.919 a blank adapter on in the shootouse. 283 00:12:13.799 --> 00:12:17.200 Remember that school, Yeah, and that was a big deal. 284 00:12:17.480 --> 00:12:20.679 Four three or four sounds about right. So that was 285 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:21.320 a big deal. 286 00:12:21.399 --> 00:12:24.039 I was a brand new corporal and that dude got 287 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:27.480 shot with a live round through a blank adapter, And 288 00:12:27.559 --> 00:12:30.559 so they were like really being scrutinizing on like Blake's 289 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:33.639 blanks and live ammo ammo shakedowns did. 290 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:35.320 So we're at this range. 291 00:12:35.399 --> 00:12:37.080 I had my dudes, I swear to god, I had 292 00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:39.600 my dudes shake me down, like check my stuff, and 293 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:41.159 they checked all my pouches and stuff. 294 00:12:42.840 --> 00:12:46.200 Go back, throw my my rack into the wall. Loocker. 295 00:12:46.279 --> 00:12:48.279 And then about a week later, we had a range 296 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:49.879 where it's a machine gun range and I was a 297 00:12:49.879 --> 00:12:52.519 brand new RSO, like corporal. So they're like, you're gonna 298 00:12:52.519 --> 00:12:54.879 go be the RSO. So I'm like all right, So 299 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:56.679 I go go out there to be the range safety 300 00:12:56.679 --> 00:13:00.279 officer and didn't shoot, left my kid in the US 301 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:03.960 the whole time. But then at the end of the range, 302 00:13:03.960 --> 00:13:05.600 they're like, everybody, bring your stuff. 303 00:13:05.320 --> 00:13:07.279 Out and lay it out. And then they were like 304 00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:08.519 and I was like, do you want me to grab 305 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:10.200 mine's are' and they're yeah, yeah, grab yours. 306 00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:11.919 Too, And I'm like, okay, I go to grab it 307 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:14.279 out of the bus, and you know how it is 308 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:16.440 like when you grab it and you're like, wait a minute, 309 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:19.080 what's that feels a little heavy. Yeah, it's a little weird. 310 00:13:19.399 --> 00:13:21.960 There's there's a smoke grenade and one of my pouch 311 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:25.480 just a smoke grenade. But I'm like, my heart sank 312 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:27.559 right away, and I'm like, oh my god, I hope 313 00:13:27.559 --> 00:13:30.080 I like and I know where that came from. They did, 314 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:32.320 They just didn't check that very backpack was one of 315 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:35.919 those dump pouches, but that zipped up. I was like, 316 00:13:35.960 --> 00:13:38.080 oh my god. So I take this thing out there 317 00:13:38.759 --> 00:13:41.320 and I lay it out and I'm just like I 318 00:13:41.399 --> 00:13:43.120 go over to the platoons and I'm like, hey, sorry, 319 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:46.120 I got bad news for you. I was like, in 320 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:49.159 that pouch, I have a smoke grenade that was left 321 00:13:49.159 --> 00:13:50.200 over from another range. 322 00:13:50.759 --> 00:13:52.519 They just laid into me. Oh that's shit. 323 00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:55.159 They like started They're like, you go stand over there, 324 00:13:55.240 --> 00:13:56.399 do push ups all like I'm. 325 00:13:56.279 --> 00:13:58.240 Doing push ups and push ups and push ups. 326 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:01.200 And then they finished, check everybody else, load everybody on 327 00:14:01.240 --> 00:14:03.799 the bus. This is at Red Cloud Range, so not 328 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:05.840 too far from the rest on the street. It was 329 00:14:05.879 --> 00:14:07.159 like three miles or so. 330 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:10.080 They made me. They took the bus back and they 331 00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:12.080 made me imt like, I'm up. 332 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:14.720 He sees me, I'm down. I'm up, he sees me, 333 00:14:14.759 --> 00:14:17.759 I'm down. All the way back three miles of imts. Dude, 334 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:21.240 this is the beginning of it, right, And meanwhile the 335 00:14:21.240 --> 00:14:23.759 bus just left me. They sent a humbie back to 336 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:26.399 like monitor me. I am ting all the way back, 337 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:30.559 so I get back. Then my squad leader says, I 338 00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:33.480 want you to go all the way up. He basically 339 00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:35.440 briefs me on all this stuff. He's like, you're gonna 340 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:38.519 uh you're gonna understand accountability of your equipment and how 341 00:14:38.519 --> 00:14:40.559 important this all is and making sure you've got all 342 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:40.919 your stuff. 343 00:14:40.919 --> 00:14:42.559 And I'm like, how does this even have anything doing? 344 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:44.480 You have a smoker name. But he made me. 345 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:47.759 Imt to the barracks and grab like just like the 346 00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:50.919 canteen cup, come all the way back. Then imt all 347 00:14:50.919 --> 00:14:53.200 the way back. IMT you know, for the crowd out 348 00:14:53.240 --> 00:14:58.519 there is individual movement techniques like I'm up running, Yeah, 349 00:14:58.679 --> 00:15:00.600 like you're being shot at. You're taking over the whole way, 350 00:15:00.600 --> 00:15:02.399 so you can't just run there and back. So it 351 00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:04.720 takes a while. So I go, then I get the canteen, 352 00:15:04.919 --> 00:15:06.759 Then I come back, get the canteen cover. Then I 353 00:15:06.759 --> 00:15:09.960 go get the alice clips. Until all of my TA fifty, 354 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:12.840 all of my entire issue. This was about eight hours later. 355 00:15:12.919 --> 00:15:16.159 Oh my god, all my issue was laid out in formation. 356 00:15:16.759 --> 00:15:20.759 So I never ever took that, you know, AMMO shakedowns 357 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:24.120 not serious ever again after that because but yeah, it 358 00:15:24.200 --> 00:15:28.080 was embarrassing though as a corporal, you know, brand new NCO. 359 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:30.320 So they call it right and then here I am 360 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:33.120 just being just made look made to look like crap 361 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:34.000 in front all the privates. 362 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:36.200 It was the most embarrassing moment. Yeah, but it's a 363 00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:39.720 lesson that you'll never forget. Yeah, sure, yeah, did they. 364 00:15:39.559 --> 00:15:41.720 Have when you were the skipping forward a little bit? 365 00:15:41.720 --> 00:15:43.600 But when you were the mortar platoon sergeant, did they 366 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:46.120 still have the huge amnesty box? Because one of the 367 00:15:46.120 --> 00:15:49.080 guys from mortars brought a like an eighty one millimeter 368 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:52.480 round back from the range. Once they had like an 369 00:15:52.519 --> 00:15:55.000 amnesty box, like literally you could open it up and 370 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:55.759 like put things. 371 00:15:55.799 --> 00:15:58.159 I don't remember that. That'd be a good question for 372 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:01.519 less than dusky. I mean, yeah, I don't. I don't 373 00:16:01.559 --> 00:16:04.840 remember that. But uh, dude, those guys are out of 374 00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:05.960 control guys. 375 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:07.639 There were some good dudes, man. 376 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:10.720 I love working with those guys, but dude, as I 377 00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:12.720 got to and I don't want to jump out too much, 378 00:16:12.759 --> 00:16:16.360 but in the mortple tune. 379 00:16:15.639 --> 00:16:17.480 The discipline was still strong there. 380 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:19.440 Like when I went back to third range of battalion, 381 00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:21.440 I mean, discipline was still good in the regimen compared 382 00:16:21.480 --> 00:16:24.559 to anywhere else. But those guys really held it to 383 00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:26.600 the next level still, And like I had to like 384 00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:28.480 kind of like turn a blonde eye because a lot 385 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:29.919 of what they were doing was like not. 386 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:32.919 Authorized, but I'm like, I'm good with it. You know, 387 00:16:33.720 --> 00:16:36.000 I'm with you the crap out of those dudes. But 388 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:37.519 I'm over here. Yeah. 389 00:16:38.039 --> 00:16:41.320 Years ago, we had uh iaing Karusha Gay and he 390 00:16:41.399 --> 00:16:43.879 was describing mortar section. He's like, I think he described 391 00:16:43.879 --> 00:16:46.039 this most terrifying place in range for battalion. 392 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:49.559 Oh I wouldn't. Yeah, it's it's no joke. And there's 393 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:52.000 some of the smartest guys too. Yeah, yeah, you have 394 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:54.840 to be. You know, these dudes could do a lot 395 00:16:54.840 --> 00:16:56.840 of that math in their head and you're talking you're 396 00:16:56.879 --> 00:16:59.240 talking trigonometry, dude, and these guys are just like cranking 397 00:16:59.240 --> 00:17:00.919 it out on their head. Oh boom boom boom boom, 398 00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:05.319 No big deal, it's a I had a under respect 399 00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:07.000 for that place until I went there to be the 400 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:10.279 platoon sergeant. I was like, man, these dudes are all geniuses. 401 00:17:10.839 --> 00:17:12.640 They just want to do the best that they can. 402 00:17:12.759 --> 00:17:15.359 They all wish they were shooters in the line. So 403 00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:17.119 one of the big things that I tried to do 404 00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:20.319 there was bring in something new for them. 405 00:17:20.359 --> 00:17:20.559 You know. 406 00:17:21.720 --> 00:17:23.880 I was like, man, these guys are not being utilized 407 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:25.200 overseas the way they should. 408 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:27.559 So I was like, what can we do? 409 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:29.799 So thinking about like what I did in RC, So 410 00:17:30.119 --> 00:17:32.359 I was like, okay, I send dudes over to RC 411 00:17:32.519 --> 00:17:35.079 to do classes on like battlefield interrogation because I'm like, 412 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:37.119 that's cool. It's something a new skill that they didn't 413 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:39.240 get to do, but they could go over there and 414 00:17:39.319 --> 00:17:42.160 learn how to battlefield interrogate. So now they are forced 415 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:45.240 multiplier reces. If they're not shooting mortars, they'd be like, hey, 416 00:17:45.319 --> 00:17:48.599 I can interrogate, right. Send a bunch of guys to 417 00:17:48.759 --> 00:17:52.920 Army Sniper School too. The sniper platoon as you know, Like, 418 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:54.359 I don't know if it was that way when you 419 00:17:54.359 --> 00:17:56.599 were there, but definitely when I was a more platoon sergeant, 420 00:17:56.839 --> 00:17:58.839 we had our black Side weapons, which were all the 421 00:17:58.839 --> 00:18:01.240 weapons that were like it by JAYSK, and then you 422 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:04.920 had the regular Army sniper rifles. Well, nobody ever used 423 00:18:04.920 --> 00:18:06.880 the regular Army sniper rifles, but at that time it 424 00:18:06.920 --> 00:18:08.160 was actually a pretty good rifles. 425 00:18:08.200 --> 00:18:10.640 The SAS I think it was the I can't remember 426 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:14.359 what that stands for, but oh you're talking about the Yeah, 427 00:18:14.440 --> 00:18:17.039 the five to five six No, not the spr you're 428 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:18.200 talking about spry. 429 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:21.079 This was a seven six to two gas gun. It 430 00:18:21.160 --> 00:18:25.200 was an AR ten platform that the Army had come 431 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:29.160 up with like the Sky one ten. Yeah, yes, yeah, 432 00:18:29.160 --> 00:18:32.079 that's one ten. So they had those, but nobody used them. 433 00:18:32.079 --> 00:18:35.319 But it was a solid gun, right, But all the 434 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:38.400 snipers would use the three hundred win bags or they 435 00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:42.160 would use the freaking SR twenty five because yeah it 436 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:44.319 was cooler, you know what I mean. But so they 437 00:18:44.359 --> 00:18:46.279 didn't use those others. So I got all the sniper 438 00:18:46.359 --> 00:18:49.839 rifles assigned to the mornpaltoon. So I had five dudes 439 00:18:49.880 --> 00:18:53.000 that went to regular Army sniper school, they were sniper qualified, 440 00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:53.920 and then they had their own. 441 00:18:53.799 --> 00:18:54.960 Signed sniper rifles. 442 00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:57.640 I tried to send them to cross train lots of 443 00:18:57.640 --> 00:19:00.319 different stuff like that so they could be for smalls. 444 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:01.839 We actually sent a couple du just to SODIC too, 445 00:19:01.880 --> 00:19:04.680 you know, the special Courses sniper of course too. So 446 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:07.440 because they were just undervalue guys, I mean not that 447 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:11.920 they were undervalued, but you know, they weren't utilized to 448 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:13.599 the best of their ability. I mean they were taking 449 00:19:13.640 --> 00:19:15.240 them out, they were taking mortar to a lot of 450 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:16.799 times they weren't even taking the mortar tube. 451 00:19:16.839 --> 00:19:18.680 So it's like they're just an extra dude sitting on 452 00:19:18.680 --> 00:19:19.079 a VP. 453 00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:21.599 So you justify it though, I mean you need security 454 00:19:21.640 --> 00:19:24.119 around the mortar section when they're in the field. Yeah, 455 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:26.279 and you know that's just added value for the soldier 456 00:19:26.279 --> 00:19:26.920 and whatever else. 457 00:19:27.119 --> 00:19:27.920 You know, he brings to. 458 00:19:27.839 --> 00:19:30.559 The table and you think about on the BPS, they're 459 00:19:30.599 --> 00:19:32.240 at a spot where they're going to get some reach anyway, 460 00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:33.200 they're going to have some standoff. 461 00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:34.319 It's a good spot for a sniper. 462 00:19:34.440 --> 00:19:37.119 Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it adds flexibility to them. 463 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:42.640 So, uh, you're a Ranger Battalion misspent youth as a corporal. 464 00:19:43.720 --> 00:19:45.759 That was about the time when I met you, actually 465 00:19:45.799 --> 00:19:49.319 when you when you came back from Ranger school and 466 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:50.920 then you went on to become a squad leader in 467 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:54.279 second platoon, right, third plato, third platoon. 468 00:19:54.359 --> 00:19:57.039 Sorry, yeah, so I was a squad leader in third 469 00:19:57.000 --> 00:19:59.759 bullatune did a couple of trips to Iraq. 470 00:20:01.240 --> 00:20:01.759 We did. 471 00:20:02.759 --> 00:20:05.799 One of the more notable trips was that one to 472 00:20:05.880 --> 00:20:07.680 Mosul up there, which you were with us. 473 00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:09.119 On that one. 474 00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:11.599 We did a bunch of raids, we stayed hitting I 475 00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:13.599 think it was that deck of cards or whatever the 476 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:17.000 bad guys that they had, and we had a really 477 00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:20.079 high success rate up there Mosul. I remember I can't 478 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:21.720 remember the exact stats, but I think we had like 479 00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:24.119 a ninety something percent success rate. It was at that 480 00:20:24.279 --> 00:20:27.960 time that trip our platoons specificularly that task force at 481 00:20:28.039 --> 00:20:31.039 least had the highest success rate I think of Iraq 482 00:20:31.079 --> 00:20:32.920 at the time. Do you have any recollection of like 483 00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:34.920 how many raids we did on that deployment, because I 484 00:20:35.240 --> 00:20:38.000 probably a thousand or more. I mean we were doing 485 00:20:38.119 --> 00:20:41.599 two to three a day, yeah, every single day, pretty much. Yeah, 486 00:20:41.640 --> 00:20:44.759 I mean I remember we had two platoons there, so 487 00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:46.960 we had a platoon that would go in daytime hits 488 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:49.039 because it was that busy that we were cranking targets 489 00:20:49.079 --> 00:20:51.519 during the day, which was not normal for us, and 490 00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:52.880 then crank and targets at night. 491 00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:54.720 Well, then we went to twenty four hours on and 492 00:20:54.759 --> 00:20:59.599 twenty four off. Oh just a ball crusher, Yeah, dude, Yeah, 493 00:21:00.039 --> 00:21:02.759 dudes were coming back just getting tanked with ivys like 494 00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:05.759 about to pass. We were all so exhausted by the 495 00:21:05.799 --> 00:21:06.640 end of that deployment. 496 00:21:06.839 --> 00:21:10.440 But then you you told the story that you know, 497 00:21:10.839 --> 00:21:13.039 well on one of the previous interviews we did. But 498 00:21:13.480 --> 00:21:15.519 when we were getting these missions going down into tell 499 00:21:15.559 --> 00:21:18.079 Afar a lot and both of our platoons got in 500 00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:20.920 the nasty firefights down there every time we did that, 501 00:21:22.519 --> 00:21:24.920 and you guys weren't a pretty substantial firefight. 502 00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:28.240 Down there too. Yeah. We uh. We went to Talifar 503 00:21:28.680 --> 00:21:30.480 to hit three different targets. At the time. 504 00:21:30.839 --> 00:21:34.039 The regular army had this whole city court und off 505 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:36.200 and they weren't really going in there because if they 506 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:38.200 were going in, dudes were getting sniped out of the 507 00:21:39.240 --> 00:21:41.039 tankers hatches a tank down there. 508 00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:41.759 Yeah, yeah, it was. 509 00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:44.039 Tanks, and they were getting like they have to pop 510 00:21:44.119 --> 00:21:45.519 up out of the tanks so they can see where 511 00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:47.680 they're going as they're driving along, you know, because that 512 00:21:47.720 --> 00:21:50.519 thing is so big. And the dudes that were popped 513 00:21:50.599 --> 00:21:53.440 up the TC were getting smoked by snipers, so they 514 00:21:53.599 --> 00:21:55.759 kind of cordoned it off. We were supposed to go 515 00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:58.640 in there, smack some targets and loosen it up. So 516 00:21:58.680 --> 00:22:01.680 we went in this one target. I ended up like 517 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:03.839 killing I think our snipers shot like two dudes that 518 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:06.599 tried to flee. Not a big deal. Went to the 519 00:22:06.599 --> 00:22:08.480 second target. We never even made it to the third 520 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:11.039 target because we went to the second target. It was 521 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:14.759 kind of a narrow street. I remember, I was like 522 00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:17.839 we rotated who was like the leads assault squad leader too, 523 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:19.359 and I was kind of pissed because it wasn't my 524 00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:20.359 day to be the lead. 525 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:21.240 Assault squad leader. 526 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:23.880 So I was across the way doing cross coverage and 527 00:22:23.880 --> 00:22:26.319 we had two other squads on the other side, and 528 00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:28.920 we get ready to breach, and then a kiowa, like 529 00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:32.039 a regular army kiowa, flew over top and it kind 530 00:22:32.039 --> 00:22:35.599 of woke everybody up. And I remember our platooners specifically 531 00:22:35.599 --> 00:22:37.799 briefed them, don't fly any birds over top. We want 532 00:22:37.799 --> 00:22:40.400 to keep this super quiet. So that bird flies over 533 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:44.519 the top, the bad guys start waking up. We hear 534 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:46.359 like coms just saying like, hey, there's moving on the 535 00:22:46.440 --> 00:22:49.480 roof and stuff like that. Well, our dude is getting 536 00:22:49.480 --> 00:22:52.720 ready to donk the door with like the little battering 537 00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:56.319 rainow type deal. And as he's getting ready to rear back, 538 00:22:56.759 --> 00:22:59.039 the door opens up and this dude's like staring him 539 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:02.359 in his face and he goes compromise, right, So the 540 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:04.599 bad guy slams the door and takes off our dude 541 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:07.480 boots the door in, goes right in. That dude dropped 542 00:23:07.480 --> 00:23:09.640 a frag like he shut the door, dropped a frag 543 00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:13.599 and ran. So soon as that first assault squad went in, 544 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:16.680 all those dudes took a point blank grenade blast, you know, 545 00:23:16.759 --> 00:23:20.079 like all into their legs, you know, and you know, 546 00:23:20.200 --> 00:23:23.559 like I like to tell people that don't know because 547 00:23:23.640 --> 00:23:25.799 you know, you see the movies like Commando and stuff 548 00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:28.279 like that. Dudes are like taking machine gun rounds to 549 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:30.519 the chest and like they just suck that up and 550 00:23:30.599 --> 00:23:33.119 keep going. But grenade blasts like turn them into a 551 00:23:33.160 --> 00:23:36.359 pink mist. It's just completely opposite. Like bullet like rifle 552 00:23:36.440 --> 00:23:39.559 rounds don't mess around like it caused a serious damage. 553 00:23:39.559 --> 00:23:41.400 If it hits a bone, you're probably gonna lose that limb. 554 00:23:41.799 --> 00:23:44.079 But grenades, I'm not really too scary. 555 00:23:44.119 --> 00:23:46.160 Grenades. It's just kind of like take it in the 556 00:23:46.200 --> 00:23:48.200 backside and you're just they're so. 557 00:23:48.559 --> 00:23:53.319 Random and how they like how they like damage people. 558 00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:55.519 Yeah, they are, I mean there really are. These are 559 00:23:55.559 --> 00:23:59.519 also like ancient Russian hand grenades that are not probably 560 00:23:59.640 --> 00:23:59.920 the best. 561 00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:03.359 Yeah, and you know, I wouldn't want to take a 562 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:07.440 sixty seven yeah point blank. You know our frags, Yeah, 563 00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:10.759 but the Russian and Chinese ones, I'm not too scared 564 00:24:10.759 --> 00:24:13.599 about them. You're right now, if they're right on top 565 00:24:13.680 --> 00:24:16.960 of you, you're probably gonna take like like Captain lose 566 00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:18.559 end up having to lose a leg. 567 00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:21.039 But I've been around. 568 00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:23.640 Countless grenade blasts from like from me to him, and 569 00:24:23.680 --> 00:24:26.480 it's just kind of like it's like a beasting act whatever, 570 00:24:26.519 --> 00:24:28.319 you know what I mean, barely goes under the skin. 571 00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:30.880 But these dudes were pretty much point blank on it. 572 00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:32.319 They were all within like a couple feet of it, 573 00:24:32.359 --> 00:24:33.920 so it really kind of messed them up pretty good. 574 00:24:34.519 --> 00:24:36.440 The second squad that was getting ready to go kind 575 00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:38.519 of hesitated for a second, like I think. 576 00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:39.480 Like what is going on? 577 00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:41.720 And then I just took my squad and blew past them, 578 00:24:41.799 --> 00:24:44.400 went right into the house because you know, I was 579 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:46.400 already chomping at the bit because I love being the 580 00:24:46.440 --> 00:24:49.279 first guy in anyway. So I roll in there and 581 00:24:49.319 --> 00:24:51.519 it was it was sketchy, man. We didn't know where 582 00:24:51.559 --> 00:24:52.920 this was coming from. We didn't know if we were 583 00:24:52.920 --> 00:24:54.640 going to take fire right off in there. 584 00:24:55.440 --> 00:24:56.000 We'd go in. 585 00:24:56.279 --> 00:24:58.759 There was like two or three or like three or 586 00:24:58.759 --> 00:25:02.160 four rooms right away, like a little like a corridor 587 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:03.960 with like a couple of rooms, and then it opened 588 00:25:04.039 --> 00:25:07.000 up into a bigger courtyard and went in cleared the 589 00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:09.480 first room on the left, cleared, the first room on 590 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:12.400 the right, and there's literally nobody in there. The first 591 00:25:12.440 --> 00:25:14.279 room on the left was one of our guys who 592 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:16.160 was in there kind of like laying up against the wall. 593 00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:19.079 Blood was streaming out of his arm, and I was like, hey, dude, 594 00:25:19.079 --> 00:25:20.880 you're good, and he's like, yeah, man, I'm good. I'm 595 00:25:20.880 --> 00:25:22.920 like all right. So we kept going because like my 596 00:25:23.079 --> 00:25:25.119 focus wasn't to treat him, it was to keep finding 597 00:25:25.160 --> 00:25:27.319 the bad guys. Went into the next room, saw another 598 00:25:27.400 --> 00:25:29.640 ranger in there kind of dragging himself back in. He 599 00:25:29.720 --> 00:25:32.559 was wounded in his legs, and we told him like, hey, dude, 600 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:35.319 do sulf aide and start patching yourself up. 601 00:25:35.400 --> 00:25:37.440 Medical being here shortly kept going. 602 00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:41.519 Went into the next room and I'm like stacked up 603 00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:43.920 on the door, getting ready to go in, and then 604 00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:45.960 I heard like the sound of like just like in 605 00:25:45.960 --> 00:25:48.920 the movie, like clink, like a grenade rolling on the ground, 606 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:51.440 and I like, see this thing roll between like from 607 00:25:51.480 --> 00:25:54.440 me to your feet from me. I'm looking at this thing. 608 00:25:54.640 --> 00:25:56.119 It was kind of like I had all the time 609 00:25:56.119 --> 00:25:56.480 in the world. 610 00:25:56.519 --> 00:25:57.039 I'm looking at it. 611 00:25:57.079 --> 00:25:59.680 I'm like, I'm about to be an ugly thing about 612 00:25:59.720 --> 00:26:02.039 blow up right in my face, but I just booted 613 00:26:02.039 --> 00:26:04.000 it kicked it out of the way and then turned 614 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:07.160 in dove and we had some ranger casualties literally about 615 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:09.319 from like right over here, like five feet away, So 616 00:26:09.359 --> 00:26:11.640 I turned and dove towards them. Caught some grenade shopping 617 00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:15.319 on the back, but it was pretty minor. Long story short. 618 00:26:15.400 --> 00:26:17.680 Went on to continue to clear that place. One of 619 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:21.400 my privates took a shot in the shoulder, almost took 620 00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:24.880 his arm off, got shot in the knee with it. 621 00:26:24.960 --> 00:26:27.440 I think it was whatever the sub camera with the 622 00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:31.799 seven six to two the machine gun RpK RpK, Yeah, 623 00:26:32.680 --> 00:26:36.279 got shot by that. I engaged the guys. There was 624 00:26:36.319 --> 00:26:38.279 two dudes over there where the machine gun. I engaged them. 625 00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:40.599 Me and some other guys did took those guys out. 626 00:26:41.160 --> 00:26:43.640 One of my team leaders ended up treating that guy, 627 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:45.680 which I didn't even realize. I was kind of in 628 00:26:45.720 --> 00:26:49.480 the lead and received some fire turn return fire suppressed 629 00:26:49.480 --> 00:26:51.279 that went to go ahead and clear this next room 630 00:26:51.279 --> 00:26:53.440 that we're getting ready to go in, and we were moving, 631 00:26:53.640 --> 00:26:57.440 you know, meticulously around. So even though I engaged that threat, 632 00:26:57.480 --> 00:26:59.559 I continued focused over here. May not have been the 633 00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:01.039 right thing to do at the time, but that's just 634 00:27:01.079 --> 00:27:03.960 what we did. Went in that room, cleared it. Nobody 635 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:04.359 was in there. 636 00:27:04.599 --> 00:27:05.079 Come out, and. 637 00:27:05.079 --> 00:27:07.799 I'm like, where the heck is my squad? Like it 638 00:27:07.880 --> 00:27:09.599 was like five man assault teams is what we were 639 00:27:09.640 --> 00:27:12.039 running back then. So I didn't have a lot of dudes, 640 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:15.279 but I was like, man, I'm missing some dudes. 641 00:27:15.319 --> 00:27:16.640 Well, one was. 642 00:27:16.359 --> 00:27:19.440 Walking down a stairwell, another one was treating one of 643 00:27:19.440 --> 00:27:21.480 the other guys that got shot, and then I had 644 00:27:21.519 --> 00:27:24.880 like another two dudes with me. So I'm like, oh man, 645 00:27:24.920 --> 00:27:26.920 one of my dudes is messed up. So then we 646 00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:29.759 kind of regrouped. We took a bunch more frags. Actually, 647 00:27:29.799 --> 00:27:31.240 at that point in time, I went back out and 648 00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:33.480 grenades would just started raining down from the roof, Like 649 00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:37.319 dudes were on the roof just chucking them, and the 650 00:27:37.319 --> 00:27:39.599 grenades kept going off and going off. I took grenades 651 00:27:39.599 --> 00:27:43.440 shopping on the hand then or in this wrist. Several 652 00:27:43.480 --> 00:27:46.480 other dudes got wounded. So then at that point in time, 653 00:27:46.519 --> 00:27:49.000 I pulled back and went outside to try to see 654 00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:51.359 what was going on. Like our platoon leader and pl 655 00:27:51.400 --> 00:27:55.039 were not even on comms. They were completely pinned down 656 00:27:55.079 --> 00:27:57.599 at the time. So I ended up kind of taking 657 00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:00.160 charge of that whole situation. I was like, what our 658 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:03.319 vehicles like, outside security was just jacked up. So I 659 00:28:03.359 --> 00:28:07.079 went out, reorganized security outside, started bringing our metavac vehicles 660 00:28:07.160 --> 00:28:08.960 up because I'm like, I know, we got casualties. 661 00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:10.720 This dude's jacked up. There's probably even more that I 662 00:28:10.759 --> 00:28:11.319 don't know about. 663 00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:14.920 Brought the metavac vehicles up and then started just consolidating 664 00:28:14.920 --> 00:28:17.240 casually as the best possible and trying to like coordinate 665 00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:20.000 this firefight. Meanwhile, our j tax were calling in air 666 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:22.759 strikes and doing trying to do little burg gun runs. 667 00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:25.680 I don't think they could actually at the time while 668 00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:28.519 we were on target. It was just the bad guys 669 00:28:28.519 --> 00:28:30.880 were so close in proximity to us that cast was 670 00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:31.880 just not usable. 671 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:34.440 Yeah, So once. 672 00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:37.079 We pulled off, they pretty much leveled that entire city block. 673 00:28:37.160 --> 00:28:38.880 I think like two hundred dudes or something with a 674 00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:42.720 yeah AC one thirty eight tens, probably some F sixteen's 675 00:28:42.720 --> 00:28:45.079 with some two thousand pounders blowing them up. 676 00:28:45.160 --> 00:28:45.359 Yeah. 677 00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:48.680 Yeah, I was telling you before the show your direct 678 00:28:48.759 --> 00:28:51.759 leadership one to put you in for a DSc for that, uh, 679 00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:52.759 that whole action. 680 00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:53.559 That's crazy. 681 00:28:53.640 --> 00:28:58.400 Yeah, and you know it kind of my understanding was 682 00:28:58.440 --> 00:29:02.839 it didn't go through because above our platoon level, it was. 683 00:29:02.839 --> 00:29:04.839 They felt that it wouldn't look good if you know, 684 00:29:04.920 --> 00:29:08.480 an NCO got a DSc and not an officer. 685 00:29:09.240 --> 00:29:14.319 Yeah, that's how it works out. 686 00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:17.440 We need to Hey everybody, if you're hearing this you're 687 00:29:17.480 --> 00:29:19.839 not a member of the Team House Patreon, we'd love 688 00:29:19.880 --> 00:29:23.160 for you guys to consider subscribing. You get a ad 689 00:29:23.160 --> 00:29:27.039 free episodes early and often. You can watch our Team 690 00:29:27.079 --> 00:29:30.240 House episodes live too and ask questions to the guests. 691 00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:33.400 And you also get our sister podcast, Eyes On also 692 00:29:33.960 --> 00:29:37.000 early and ad free completely, and you can ask any 693 00:29:37.039 --> 00:29:39.680 of the guys on that show questions as well. And 694 00:29:39.720 --> 00:29:41.799 for what it really does is help support the show, 695 00:29:41.920 --> 00:29:44.319 helps us keep going. We can do it without the 696 00:29:44.359 --> 00:29:49.079 Patreon subscribers. So if you wouldn't mind considering joining us 697 00:29:49.119 --> 00:29:52.400 on Patreon dot com slash the Teamhouse, that link is 698 00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:55.440 in the description or the show notes down below. Thanks guys, 699 00:29:55.480 --> 00:29:56.200 appreciate it. 700 00:29:57.519 --> 00:30:00.240 So talk to us about you know, I know we're 701 00:30:00.279 --> 00:30:02.960 retreading some previous ground here, but I mean talk to 702 00:30:03.039 --> 00:30:04.480 us about you know, when you decide to go to 703 00:30:04.599 --> 00:30:05.960 r RC, like how did that come about? 704 00:30:06.119 --> 00:30:08.039 Like what when? When did the ID even come to 705 00:30:08.079 --> 00:30:10.480 your head? What did you know about them? So, you know, 706 00:30:10.519 --> 00:30:12.119 I'd seen the guys around. 707 00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:14.519 I saw dudes with like hair like literally as long 708 00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:19.839 as this, big long beards over there, and I'm just 709 00:30:19.920 --> 00:30:22.559 super fit dudes. I mean, like, you know, Rangers are 710 00:30:22.599 --> 00:30:25.039 fit dudes. Compared to even other soft units. They are 711 00:30:25.039 --> 00:30:28.440 typically pretty fit guys, but it was just a whole 712 00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:30.279 other level of fitness man and like more. 713 00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:32.799 Mature guys, you know, older guys. I'm like, who are 714 00:30:32.839 --> 00:30:33.240 these guys? 715 00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:34.759 I'm like, these dudes c I A, you know what 716 00:30:34.759 --> 00:30:36.119 I mean, Like when I was in Ranger time, like 717 00:30:36.279 --> 00:30:38.039 these CIA dudes like walking around here. 718 00:30:38.599 --> 00:30:39.480 I had no clue. 719 00:30:40.440 --> 00:30:44.799 I went to PODC as an E five and met 720 00:30:44.920 --> 00:30:49.799 a guy uh named Kurt Conklin who was at the time. 721 00:30:49.880 --> 00:30:51.839 He was in the company, was r D at the time, 722 00:30:52.200 --> 00:30:56.559 and went to PLDC with him and uh we we 723 00:30:56.599 --> 00:30:57.119 talked about it. 724 00:30:57.200 --> 00:30:59.000 I was like, oh, you're over there, like what do 725 00:30:59.079 --> 00:30:59.480 they do? 726 00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:01.359 And then he yeah, I couldn't tell me a whole 727 00:31:01.359 --> 00:31:03.279 lot because they were like super secretive, but it was 728 00:31:03.400 --> 00:31:05.119 enough that it kind of intrigued me. So I was like, 729 00:31:05.160 --> 00:31:06.559 I kind of want to do that. I was already 730 00:31:06.599 --> 00:31:10.240 kind of getting tired of groundhog day and range very time. Yeah, 731 00:31:10.319 --> 00:31:11.880 you know, because you get a new private and you 732 00:31:11.960 --> 00:31:13.799 kind of got to start back at the basics all 733 00:31:13.839 --> 00:31:16.640 over again. Yeah, you got good gear and you got 734 00:31:16.640 --> 00:31:18.960 great training opportunities, but you're always having to kind of 735 00:31:18.960 --> 00:31:20.519 back it down a little bit and then ramp it 736 00:31:20.559 --> 00:31:23.839 back up for the most part. And then so I 737 00:31:23.880 --> 00:31:25.880 was kind of tired of that. I wanted something new. 738 00:31:25.920 --> 00:31:29.599 I was gonna go to Delta Force Selection or or 739 00:31:29.759 --> 00:31:32.240 and now I heard about r D and so I 740 00:31:32.279 --> 00:31:35.119 was considering that. Got wounded on that trip in tal Afar. 741 00:31:35.200 --> 00:31:37.480 I had to get some surgeries and stuff, and then 742 00:31:38.160 --> 00:31:40.240 did another deployment, and then after that I went. 743 00:31:40.119 --> 00:31:43.200 To be a RIP instructor. It was RIP Cadre. Did 744 00:31:43.240 --> 00:31:44.960 that for a while, enjoyed that. Well. 745 00:31:45.039 --> 00:31:47.680 Then you know, the star major came to me and 746 00:31:47.839 --> 00:31:51.039 was like, hey, we need somebody for this Omega program. 747 00:31:51.160 --> 00:31:52.720 Do you want to go do this omegapro. I was like, 748 00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:53.599 I don't even know what that is. 749 00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:55.720 Sounds good and he was like, yeah, you get to 750 00:31:55.759 --> 00:31:58.039 grow your beard out and throw your hair out and 751 00:31:58.039 --> 00:32:01.720 stuff and deploy. Yeah, I'm like, sounds good. You know, 752 00:32:01.799 --> 00:32:03.920 like because you know, as a line betind Ranger, you're 753 00:32:03.960 --> 00:32:05.480 not doing that. You see the snipers get to do 754 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:07.240 it at the batinn recky guys get to do it. 755 00:32:08.039 --> 00:32:10.880 But I didn't, you know, I didn't know like occasional guys. 756 00:32:10.880 --> 00:32:13.079 So I get to go do that and wear civilian 757 00:32:13.079 --> 00:32:15.039 clothes overseas, and I thought that was kind of cool. 758 00:32:15.079 --> 00:32:18.000 So I deployed and did that. And when when I 759 00:32:18.039 --> 00:32:20.319 went over the first time, I was with my friend 760 00:32:20.400 --> 00:32:23.599 Rodney Brown and some of the Seal Team six dudes 761 00:32:23.640 --> 00:32:25.279 that he was with there in. 762 00:32:26.839 --> 00:32:27.160 Gecko. 763 00:32:27.400 --> 00:32:30.680 But the second time, I did a second trip. And 764 00:32:30.759 --> 00:32:32.240 you know, I know, we'll talk probably more about the 765 00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:33.920 other other stuff later, but I did a second trip 766 00:32:33.960 --> 00:32:36.160 because you're talking about why did I go to r D. 767 00:32:36.839 --> 00:32:38.720 So the second Omega trip that I did was in 768 00:32:38.720 --> 00:32:41.359 two thousand and eight, and I was at Oregon E 769 00:32:41.680 --> 00:32:44.000 and I and the guys I swapped out with there 770 00:32:44.160 --> 00:32:47.200 was RC Team three at the time, r D Team three, 771 00:32:47.880 --> 00:32:50.079 and I was like, man, this is what you guys do. 772 00:32:50.319 --> 00:32:52.279 Like you guys are like, this is what you guys do, 773 00:32:52.319 --> 00:32:54.559 and they're like, ah, this job's kind of lame, you 774 00:32:54.559 --> 00:32:56.759 know what I mean, Like we're going on to bigger 775 00:32:56.759 --> 00:32:58.559 and better things, and I was like, this is lame. 776 00:32:58.680 --> 00:33:00.559 This is like the coolest deployment ever done. 777 00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:02.359 And so you guys, this is kind of like to them, 778 00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:03.720 it was kind of lane because it was kind of 779 00:33:03.720 --> 00:33:05.920 dead at the time, and they were like, yeah, we're 780 00:33:05.960 --> 00:33:08.440 doing some other stuff and so they were like, come 781 00:33:08.480 --> 00:33:10.720 to selection and I was like, okay. So then I 782 00:33:10.759 --> 00:33:13.160 was like, that's what I want to go do. So 783 00:33:13.440 --> 00:33:15.960 then I just started training up really running at high 784 00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:18.000 altitude up there, trying to get back in good shape. 785 00:33:18.039 --> 00:33:18.279 Again. 786 00:33:18.599 --> 00:33:20.200 I mean I was in shape, but I like, you 787 00:33:20.279 --> 00:33:22.759 need to be in really good shape for that selection. 788 00:33:23.359 --> 00:33:26.400 And then after that went back as a rip cadre 789 00:33:26.680 --> 00:33:29.279 and then put in my packet, went to selection, you know. 790 00:33:29.559 --> 00:33:31.920 So that's how it started. I bumped into an overseas 791 00:33:31.920 --> 00:33:32.839 doing the Omega stuff. 792 00:33:32.920 --> 00:33:35.880 Yeah, and we've talked about selection before with you, but 793 00:33:36.680 --> 00:33:41.200 it's it's it's it's a unique selection, like it really 794 00:33:44.640 --> 00:33:46.720 really focused on the demands of the job. 795 00:33:47.480 --> 00:33:49.599 Yeah, there's a you have to be physically fit to 796 00:33:50.359 --> 00:33:53.880 pass it. It's similar to you know, like Delta force selection. 797 00:33:54.039 --> 00:33:56.359 It's it's really based a lot off of that, a 798 00:33:56.400 --> 00:33:59.519 lot of walking in the mountains, navigating long distances with 799 00:33:59.599 --> 00:34:02.680 a rockszach on. So you're gonna walk, you know, anywhere 800 00:34:02.680 --> 00:34:05.880 from i'd say fifteen to eighteen twenty miles a day 801 00:34:06.799 --> 00:34:09.880 in the mountains, and then you're just getting assessed the 802 00:34:09.960 --> 00:34:11.800 entire time. There's dudes out there paying attention to what 803 00:34:11.840 --> 00:34:12.800 you're doing. I don't want to go on too many 804 00:34:12.840 --> 00:34:14.440 details because I know they like to try to keep 805 00:34:14.440 --> 00:34:17.880 that stuff under wraps. But I think what's the most 806 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:20.400 unique about it is is the OTC pipeline. I think 807 00:34:20.400 --> 00:34:24.320 they call it RTC now the Reconnaissance Training Course. But 808 00:34:24.480 --> 00:34:27.000 that course, you know, like a lot of the other 809 00:34:27.199 --> 00:34:28.920 guys like Delta Force and stuff like that, there are 810 00:34:28.920 --> 00:34:32.880 programs about six months long to go through RCAs is 811 00:34:32.960 --> 00:34:35.960 like eleven or twelve months long. It's almost a full year. 812 00:34:36.599 --> 00:34:39.760 And you walk some distance like we walked forty miles 813 00:34:39.800 --> 00:34:42.360 with a tactical recie rock. Like I've walked forty miles 814 00:34:42.360 --> 00:34:45.000 with a rock weighing over one hundred pounds before in 815 00:34:45.159 --> 00:34:48.360 mountainous terrain just to get to the target like that 816 00:34:48.519 --> 00:34:50.320 was just to get to the mission, right. And then 817 00:34:50.360 --> 00:34:52.639 the mission goes for like several days and then you 818 00:34:52.679 --> 00:34:58.000 walk out right, so right, we did freefall infiltrations. We 819 00:34:58.000 --> 00:34:59.800 were big on freefall stuff. That's how I kind of 820 00:34:59.840 --> 00:35:01.159 got into the free fall realm. 821 00:35:01.960 --> 00:35:04.679 But yeah, they didn't. There was no holds barred man 822 00:35:04.679 --> 00:35:05.639 a lot of the training that we did. 823 00:35:05.719 --> 00:35:09.119 I'm like, dude, if somebody knew that they left us 824 00:35:09.159 --> 00:35:12.199 out here flapping like it's like somebody'd probably be in 825 00:35:12.199 --> 00:35:14.679 trouble because I mean, no joke, Like nobody is like 826 00:35:14.719 --> 00:35:16.480 they didn't care. We out in the middle of the desert, 827 00:35:16.719 --> 00:35:20.239 twenty miles from anything, with our own supplies and nobody 828 00:35:20.280 --> 00:35:21.880 to talk to, you know at times. 829 00:35:22.039 --> 00:35:24.679 Yeah, like I can't believe this is allowed in the military. 830 00:35:25.719 --> 00:35:29.320 It was good stuff though, Yeah, And I mean for 831 00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:33.559 people who have not, you know, rucked, you know, maybe 832 00:35:33.599 --> 00:35:35.440 you go on hikes. I guess rucking is a new 833 00:35:35.480 --> 00:35:40.559 health fab now though. Yeah, rucking. But but anyway, for 834 00:35:40.559 --> 00:35:43.840 people who haven't rucked, when Mike says that, like they 835 00:35:43.840 --> 00:35:48.239 were rocking miles over a mountainous strain, one mile, two 836 00:35:48.280 --> 00:35:52.039 miles over a mountain is not like rocking a mile 837 00:35:52.199 --> 00:35:55.800 or two miles, because it may be a miles the 838 00:35:55.840 --> 00:35:57.519 crow flies, Oh yeah, bout. 839 00:35:57.400 --> 00:35:59.679 Four or five miles. Yeah, this is some ultra light 840 00:35:59.679 --> 00:36:03.360 bullshit either. Yeah, they got you carrying radios. 841 00:36:03.199 --> 00:36:07.800 Batteries, battery water. Yeah, I mean, no joke. On one 842 00:36:07.800 --> 00:36:10.760 of them, we were out near Arizona. We walked forty 843 00:36:10.800 --> 00:36:13.559 miles on infill in that one, and I remember the 844 00:36:13.639 --> 00:36:16.519 casuret were like, why are you guys going so slow? 845 00:36:16.920 --> 00:36:19.239 And were like, I feel like we're going really fast, 846 00:36:19.239 --> 00:36:21.119 you know what I mean. So they're like, hey, meet 847 00:36:21.199 --> 00:36:23.239 us at this road intersection. One of the few times 848 00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:25.519 that during a movement like that they had actually interacted 849 00:36:25.559 --> 00:36:28.639 with So they told us, hey, meet us at this 850 00:36:28.719 --> 00:36:29.440 road intersection. 851 00:36:29.920 --> 00:36:31.519 So we meet them at that road intersection. 852 00:36:31.559 --> 00:36:33.519 They pull up and they're like, lay your rucksacks out, 853 00:36:33.519 --> 00:36:35.559 and they were like, you don't need all that crap. 854 00:36:35.840 --> 00:36:37.239 Get rid of that, get rid of this. 855 00:36:37.599 --> 00:36:40.719 So they slimmed our loads down from I think I 856 00:36:40.840 --> 00:36:43.360 was the RTL on that one and I met I 857 00:36:43.440 --> 00:36:45.280 weighed my ruck it was like one hundred and twenty 858 00:36:45.280 --> 00:36:48.039 something pounds, and after that it was down to about 859 00:36:48.039 --> 00:36:50.320 one hundred pounds, and some of the guys had a 860 00:36:50.320 --> 00:36:52.320 little bit lighter rucks, probably down to ninety or eighty 861 00:36:52.360 --> 00:36:54.760 something pounds. But I mean, we just had too much 862 00:36:54.760 --> 00:36:56.440 stuff because we didn't want to fail the mission, so 863 00:36:56.480 --> 00:36:59.840 we had instead of two extra cable for the cable 864 00:36:59.840 --> 00:37:01.800 that we had the primary, we had like two extra 865 00:37:01.880 --> 00:37:05.320 cables of this, two extra batteries for every battery, and 866 00:37:05.360 --> 00:37:07.719 we were just carrying way too much stuff. So we 867 00:37:07.840 --> 00:37:09.519 but we learned, I mean, that's what part of it 868 00:37:09.599 --> 00:37:11.679 was about, like learning what your limits were and what 869 00:37:11.719 --> 00:37:14.960 you can carry, and then also learning other ways to 870 00:37:15.039 --> 00:37:17.639 come up with solutions to these problems. Like, for example, water, 871 00:37:17.960 --> 00:37:20.440 we got these little purification little deals that we can 872 00:37:20.480 --> 00:37:22.159 carry so we didn't have to carry as much water 873 00:37:22.159 --> 00:37:23.079 because water is super heavy. 874 00:37:23.079 --> 00:37:26.079 It's the heaviest thing. We carried that in food, in batteries. 875 00:37:26.320 --> 00:37:28.760 But then we got these little straws that we could literally, 876 00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:32.000 you know, decontaminate any type of water, and that saved 877 00:37:32.039 --> 00:37:34.039 us so we could carry less water weight and then 878 00:37:34.039 --> 00:37:36.199 always just refill if we could just find a water 879 00:37:36.239 --> 00:37:38.920 source that was key and decontaminate. 880 00:37:39.320 --> 00:37:42.159 Doesn't necessarily make water taste good. 881 00:37:42.039 --> 00:37:46.599 Nah, It ca'd still be nasty looking too, right, Yeah, 882 00:37:46.679 --> 00:37:48.719 some of those filters later on got a lot better. 883 00:37:48.880 --> 00:37:51.039 It would make it clear too, yeah. Yeah. Back in 884 00:37:51.079 --> 00:37:52.440 the day, they tasted like charcoal. 885 00:37:52.559 --> 00:37:57.079 Yeah, yeah, yeah, I missed it a little bit. Uh 886 00:37:57.239 --> 00:37:59.880 less is like popping off in the chat we love you. 887 00:38:00.599 --> 00:38:03.880 But he mentioned something about when you were at a 888 00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:06.679 betting having a problem with the woman across from three 889 00:38:06.760 --> 00:38:11.760 seven to five something about a dip. Can Did I 890 00:38:11.800 --> 00:38:12.280 get that right? 891 00:38:12.360 --> 00:38:12.599 Least? 892 00:38:12.840 --> 00:38:15.360 I can't get back to that part of the churin. 893 00:38:15.239 --> 00:38:17.239 I used to dip, so it probably had something to 894 00:38:17.239 --> 00:38:21.079 do with me dipping. I used to dip Copenhagen back 895 00:38:21.079 --> 00:38:23.920 in the day, and a lot of people don't think 896 00:38:23.960 --> 00:38:27.360 that's the cleanest, you know, habit to have. So I'm 897 00:38:27.360 --> 00:38:29.039 sure somebody probably got pissed off of me for a 898 00:38:29.239 --> 00:38:30.360 spinner or something. What do you say? 899 00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:34.679 I don't know, Maybe maybe he'll pop back up with it. Yeah, 900 00:38:34.719 --> 00:38:36.840 I just wanted to I saw that earlier. 901 00:38:36.440 --> 00:38:36.960 In the chat. 902 00:38:37.039 --> 00:38:43.199 But what what was life like for you going from 903 00:38:43.400 --> 00:38:46.519 so you had seen three this is your third aspect 904 00:38:46.599 --> 00:38:50.599 of the military. You've been mechanized infantry, conventional infantry, and 905 00:38:50.599 --> 00:38:52.800 then you had been a range of battalion and now 906 00:38:52.840 --> 00:38:55.800 you're RRD. Did it just feel like life kept getting 907 00:38:55.960 --> 00:38:58.679 better or did it open your eyes like different aspects 908 00:38:58.719 --> 00:39:01.440 of the military that you know that you didn't know 909 00:39:01.480 --> 00:39:02.199 where possible. 910 00:39:02.760 --> 00:39:05.599 Yeah, I mean it did open my eyes because you know, 911 00:39:05.719 --> 00:39:07.760 like in the regular Army, you're only read on to 912 00:39:08.320 --> 00:39:10.880 like this very little bit. You get the Ranger Betien, 913 00:39:11.440 --> 00:39:13.679 you're read on to like you know what Delta Force 914 00:39:13.679 --> 00:39:16.360 studentes look like, and like you work with them regularly, 915 00:39:16.599 --> 00:39:19.440 Seal Team six, all that kind of stuff or see 916 00:39:19.440 --> 00:39:22.480 you guys. But then when you get to RC, like 917 00:39:22.719 --> 00:39:25.159 you you've already known what all those guys are about, 918 00:39:25.199 --> 00:39:27.559 but now you know the background behind how they do 919 00:39:27.599 --> 00:39:29.679 what they do because you're helping do what they do, 920 00:39:30.119 --> 00:39:32.920 like you're facilitating it with a reconnaissance piece. And then 921 00:39:32.960 --> 00:39:35.880 you're read onto so many different other programs because there's 922 00:39:35.960 --> 00:39:38.159 all these different skills that we have to have to 923 00:39:38.199 --> 00:39:41.079 do our job that most people don't know about, and 924 00:39:41.119 --> 00:39:43.159 that stuff that you know shouldn't probably be talked about, 925 00:39:43.159 --> 00:39:46.400 but just a lot of the tradecraft and stuff that 926 00:39:46.440 --> 00:39:48.480 we learn and I didn't know. I'm like, dang, I 927 00:39:48.480 --> 00:39:49.840 get to do this. It was the greatest thing in 928 00:39:49.840 --> 00:39:52.159 the world. Like going through OTC, it was the best 929 00:39:52.159 --> 00:39:54.800 time ever. Physically demanding and always. 930 00:39:54.519 --> 00:39:55.559 Under the gun, you know what I mean. 931 00:39:55.559 --> 00:39:58.440 You never know if you're gonna get fired at any 932 00:39:58.440 --> 00:39:59.840 point in time, or if you're not going to pull 933 00:39:59.880 --> 00:40:02.840 the standard because the standard are super high and you're 934 00:40:02.880 --> 00:40:05.119 competing against the other guys that are there with you too. 935 00:40:05.639 --> 00:40:08.519 But the training was just amazing. I mean it was 936 00:40:08.559 --> 00:40:09.920 some of the cool stuff. I got to learn how 937 00:40:09.920 --> 00:40:12.639 to pick locks and pick out a handcuffs and like 938 00:40:12.760 --> 00:40:14.400 at the at one point in time, I could pick 939 00:40:14.400 --> 00:40:16.920 out any set of handcuffs in like a matter of seconds, 940 00:40:16.960 --> 00:40:18.880 you know what I mean, like, you know, ten fifteen seconds. 941 00:40:19.639 --> 00:40:21.239 We get to do a lot of cool stuff like that, 942 00:40:21.400 --> 00:40:25.000 learn how to you know, resist interrogations and all that 943 00:40:25.119 --> 00:40:28.679 kind of stuff. The shooting, you know, long range shooting, 944 00:40:28.719 --> 00:40:31.719 pistol shooting. I really got into the pistol shooting there 945 00:40:31.760 --> 00:40:33.800 too because we did a lot of the low viz 946 00:40:34.000 --> 00:40:36.320 constialed carry stuff, so I ends up being a pistol 947 00:40:37.440 --> 00:40:39.079 So we did a lot of pistol shooting courses and 948 00:40:39.360 --> 00:40:41.920 that became a passion that I really liked, was pistol shooting. 949 00:40:42.039 --> 00:40:43.519 It's something you got to really work out a lot 950 00:40:43.559 --> 00:40:44.119 to get good at. 951 00:40:44.280 --> 00:40:46.559 Do you want to tell people, maybe for the young 952 00:40:46.639 --> 00:40:49.119 rangers out there who still to this day don't know 953 00:40:49.119 --> 00:40:50.760 what RRC is, Do you want to make the little 954 00:40:50.760 --> 00:40:54.079 recruitment pitch and tell people what RRC is, what those guys. 955 00:40:53.840 --> 00:40:55.480 Do, or well it's not just rangers anymore. 956 00:40:55.480 --> 00:40:58.440 So yeah it's open right, yeah you should be rangers. 957 00:40:59.119 --> 00:41:02.000 Well, I think it's it's like one of our old 958 00:41:02.079 --> 00:41:04.320 n c ucs said, he said, it's like the best 959 00:41:04.400 --> 00:41:05.400 kept secret in the army. 960 00:41:05.559 --> 00:41:06.440 Really, I think it is. 961 00:41:06.519 --> 00:41:09.880 The funding is when I was there was so immense 962 00:41:10.199 --> 00:41:13.079 because you've got we had like six six man teams 963 00:41:13.079 --> 00:41:14.719 at that most, and that was if the teams were full, 964 00:41:14.760 --> 00:41:19.239 So you're talking like thirty six operators and we had 965 00:41:19.480 --> 00:41:21.960 just the best funding in the world. Anything like any 966 00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:23.719 training that we wanted to do, we could do. 967 00:41:24.079 --> 00:41:25.159 I mean, you name it. 968 00:41:25.239 --> 00:41:27.480 You think outside the box, you look at on the 969 00:41:27.599 --> 00:41:30.599 online to the most craziest course you could be taught 970 00:41:30.599 --> 00:41:34.360 by some wazoos civilian over here about this, whatever it is, 971 00:41:35.320 --> 00:41:38.239 if you could justify it, which everything really is justifiable 972 00:41:38.239 --> 00:41:40.000 for RECKI you know what I mean, especially when the 973 00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:40.840 clandestine stuff. 974 00:41:41.320 --> 00:41:42.559 You submit it, and we could do it. 975 00:41:42.599 --> 00:41:45.480 I mean literally, I never we never got turned down 976 00:41:45.480 --> 00:41:47.559 for anything. It was if it didn't happen, it was 977 00:41:47.599 --> 00:41:50.039 because the timing just didn't line up. Right, So there's 978 00:41:50.079 --> 00:41:51.880 that aspect to it. But we got to work with 979 00:41:51.920 --> 00:41:53.239 a lot of really good people. I mean, some of 980 00:41:53.280 --> 00:41:55.000 the best guys I've ever met in the military, some 981 00:41:55.039 --> 00:41:57.400 of the smartest guys. I mean, you got really smart 982 00:41:57.440 --> 00:42:00.199 dudes in all of soft but that place had some 983 00:42:00.320 --> 00:42:02.400 really smart guys that still this day some of the 984 00:42:02.400 --> 00:42:03.960 most impressive guys I've ever worked with. 985 00:42:04.880 --> 00:42:05.599 Excuse me, the. 986 00:42:05.519 --> 00:42:08.000 Physical fitness aspect of it, you've got to be super fit, 987 00:42:08.079 --> 00:42:10.239 and we had some ridiculously fit guys there too. 988 00:42:11.199 --> 00:42:13.039 But I think it was a great place to work. 989 00:42:13.039 --> 00:42:15.000 I mean, I don't know if it's changed since I left, 990 00:42:15.480 --> 00:42:17.039 but I wouldn't change it for the world. I mean 991 00:42:17.039 --> 00:42:19.199 I got to interact with all the different agencies, with 992 00:42:19.280 --> 00:42:21.920 all the other like Tier one units that were out there, 993 00:42:22.880 --> 00:42:24.920 and it was it was definitely gratifying for sure. 994 00:42:26.599 --> 00:42:29.800 Did you see a lot of an answer to this 995 00:42:29.880 --> 00:42:34.000 to your comfort level? Obviously, but obviously back on the nineties, 996 00:42:34.159 --> 00:42:39.599 r RD was you know, like a sort of more 997 00:42:39.760 --> 00:42:44.719 like a force recon sort of you know, yeah, yeah, 998 00:42:44.719 --> 00:42:47.440 it was a tactical wreki and then all of a sudden, 999 00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:52.639 I don't say all of a sudden, but you you 1000 00:42:52.679 --> 00:42:55.559 guys proved your worst so much that you brought more 1001 00:42:55.599 --> 00:42:59.639 onto the national stage as a national asst as opposed 1002 00:42:59.679 --> 00:43:01.800 to a regimental asset. 1003 00:43:02.039 --> 00:43:04.199 Did you see. 1004 00:43:03.920 --> 00:43:07.480 Like the training expanding sort of based on the mission 1005 00:43:07.519 --> 00:43:08.559 sets and things like that. 1006 00:43:08.920 --> 00:43:10.599 Yeah, it definitely did. So we did. 1007 00:43:10.840 --> 00:43:13.679 All the teams were trained in tactical reki, the greenside reki, 1008 00:43:13.760 --> 00:43:16.360 like you were saying, and we were really good at that, 1009 00:43:16.480 --> 00:43:17.920 and that was our bread and butter. But then we 1010 00:43:17.960 --> 00:43:22.559 also trained in like the AFO piece to the CTR 1011 00:43:22.679 --> 00:43:26.880 type stuff, blending in you know, all the different aspects 1012 00:43:26.920 --> 00:43:28.679 of trade craft that you can do there too, And 1013 00:43:28.679 --> 00:43:30.480 that's where a lot of that other training came along, 1014 00:43:31.719 --> 00:43:34.840 learning how to hack into computers and stuff like that. 1015 00:43:34.920 --> 00:43:37.239 Like I suck at technology to this. 1016 00:43:37.199 --> 00:43:40.199 Day, but when I would go through those courses, I 1017 00:43:40.239 --> 00:43:41.800 was pretty good at the stuff for a little while. 1018 00:43:41.800 --> 00:43:42.639 And then if we used it. 1019 00:43:42.760 --> 00:43:44.480 A lot of stuff we didn't use that often, but 1020 00:43:44.599 --> 00:43:46.599 it did come in handy, Like we would have to 1021 00:43:46.639 --> 00:43:48.960 learn how to encrypt stuff because I may have to 1022 00:43:49.000 --> 00:43:52.800 travel to a certain location with a civilian computer and 1023 00:43:52.960 --> 00:43:55.039 have to hide stuff on there, and like, obviously I 1024 00:43:55.039 --> 00:43:56.280 want somebody to be able to look at it real 1025 00:43:56.360 --> 00:43:58.079 quick and not be able to find what I have, right, 1026 00:43:58.119 --> 00:43:59.440 So they taught us to do that. But it came 1027 00:43:59.480 --> 00:44:03.320 in handy really when we were training the ARU, the 1028 00:44:03.360 --> 00:44:07.360 Afghan Reconnaissance unit that we created in Afghanistan. We taught 1029 00:44:07.360 --> 00:44:09.559 them a lot of tech trade craft. We taught them 1030 00:44:09.559 --> 00:44:11.880 a lot of like physical trade craft too, because those 1031 00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:12.800 dudes were. 1032 00:44:13.400 --> 00:44:17.599 Our proxies, you know, in Afghanistan. They lived in the world. 1033 00:44:18.440 --> 00:44:22.039 These dudes were running like a taxi service or a 1034 00:44:22.039 --> 00:44:25.239 cell phone shop or whatever, doing what we needed them 1035 00:44:25.239 --> 00:44:27.320 to do, collecting on how we needed them to collect. 1036 00:44:27.360 --> 00:44:29.880 But they but they were out there flapping. They weren't 1037 00:44:29.880 --> 00:44:32.599 attached to a military base. They were all by themselves 1038 00:44:32.760 --> 00:44:34.639 with no backup. Like if they were on a mission, 1039 00:44:35.400 --> 00:44:37.840 you know, if it got really bad, we could possibly 1040 00:44:38.000 --> 00:44:40.559 leverage some assets to come get them. But most of 1041 00:44:40.599 --> 00:44:42.559 the time, those dudes are just going to be just stuck. 1042 00:44:42.599 --> 00:44:44.440 Like Chuck, I remember you tell me that, Like it 1043 00:44:44.519 --> 00:44:46.400 was very rare that you would have like physical face 1044 00:44:46.440 --> 00:44:48.920 to face contact with them because they were just so deep. 1045 00:44:49.039 --> 00:44:51.639 Yeah, it was, and it was frowned upon a lot. 1046 00:44:51.679 --> 00:44:53.800 Although I did it more than a lot of people did, 1047 00:44:53.880 --> 00:44:54.119 and I. 1048 00:44:54.559 --> 00:44:55.559 Got some heat for that. 1049 00:44:56.440 --> 00:44:59.280 Where I was at up in Condu's, it was pretty 1050 00:44:59.280 --> 00:45:01.239 conducive for me to drive outside the base and get 1051 00:45:01.280 --> 00:45:03.480 low viz and link up with these guys. And I 1052 00:45:03.519 --> 00:45:06.280 can't remember, but for some reason we were collecting a 1053 00:45:06.320 --> 00:45:08.440 lot of data off the cameras and there's no way 1054 00:45:08.480 --> 00:45:11.119 to get that except for to physically get the SD 1055 00:45:11.159 --> 00:45:12.800 card because it was old school, right. 1056 00:45:12.719 --> 00:45:15.000 And the IT networks in Afghanistan. 1057 00:45:15.079 --> 00:45:17.800 It's not five G right, No, yeah, back then it 1058 00:45:17.920 --> 00:45:22.079 was not even close to anything. So we would what 1059 00:45:22.119 --> 00:45:24.440 I would do is we and these guys were trained 1060 00:45:24.519 --> 00:45:27.280 just like tradecraft that you learn at the agency, you 1061 00:45:27.320 --> 00:45:29.239 know what I mean, Like similar, but we had to 1062 00:45:29.320 --> 00:45:31.760 kind of wider it down to be within the rigs to. 1063 00:45:31.679 --> 00:45:33.079 Teach that stuff to them. 1064 00:45:33.719 --> 00:45:35.800 But I would have my dudes, you know, they were 1065 00:45:35.840 --> 00:45:37.760 accurate with time too, So I would say, Hey, I 1066 00:45:37.800 --> 00:45:41.039 need you to drive by this location at this exact 1067 00:45:41.079 --> 00:45:43.960 time plus or minus one minute, and I want you 1068 00:45:44.000 --> 00:45:46.199 to put your SD card wrapped up in a napkin 1069 00:45:46.519 --> 00:45:49.239 and a water bottle because there's trash water bottles everywhere, 1070 00:45:49.280 --> 00:45:51.880 I guess, chucking on the ground. And then I would 1071 00:45:51.880 --> 00:45:54.480 be driving so that my timing was just so that 1072 00:45:54.800 --> 00:45:57.800 as this dude went down this street, I was literally 1073 00:45:57.880 --> 00:46:00.360 about a couple hundred meters behind him, or maybe just 1074 00:46:00.400 --> 00:46:01.760 barely could see him going away. 1075 00:46:01.760 --> 00:46:03.480 So I see him go, I can see him. 1076 00:46:03.360 --> 00:46:05.920 Do the act, the operational act, and then I can 1077 00:46:05.920 --> 00:46:08.360 come by pick up the trash. So we never face 1078 00:46:08.400 --> 00:46:10.519 the face contact. But now I have his SD card 1079 00:46:10.719 --> 00:46:12.840 and I can go back download the video footage off 1080 00:46:12.840 --> 00:46:13.119 of it. 1081 00:46:13.079 --> 00:46:14.760 For a target that we were we were doing. 1082 00:46:14.800 --> 00:46:17.480 So it's funny, you know, it's funny that you mentioned 1083 00:46:17.480 --> 00:46:20.880 like they were good with time, because I think for 1084 00:46:21.119 --> 00:46:23.840 people who didn't have to deal with that aspect of 1085 00:46:24.239 --> 00:46:27.920 you know, Afghans or Iraqis or whatever, that when you 1086 00:46:28.360 --> 00:46:33.079 are dealing with like an shah alah, you know the culture, you. 1087 00:46:32.960 --> 00:46:38.159 Know that maybe today, maybe tomorrow, next week. It like 1088 00:46:38.280 --> 00:46:41.199 time isn't always does matter. It doesn't matter for the 1089 00:46:41.199 --> 00:46:41.599 most part. 1090 00:46:41.800 --> 00:46:45.000 And and so to find, you know, people in those 1091 00:46:45.039 --> 00:46:49.639 cultures that can kind of stick to those operational requirements, 1092 00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:51.119 it's not easy to do. 1093 00:46:51.400 --> 00:46:53.960 No, it's not, it's just not part of their culture. 1094 00:46:54.119 --> 00:46:56.000 So we had to really assess for that, and we 1095 00:46:56.119 --> 00:46:58.480 really harped on it. We put them through a selection 1096 00:46:58.800 --> 00:47:01.880 and an OTC pipe line too, and we harped on 1097 00:47:02.079 --> 00:47:05.280 that being timely and being reliable and being predictable and 1098 00:47:05.280 --> 00:47:05.960 stuff like that. 1099 00:47:06.239 --> 00:47:07.719 But you're right, I mean we lost a lot. 1100 00:47:07.639 --> 00:47:09.880 Of guys because they just didn't you pull the candidates 1101 00:47:09.920 --> 00:47:12.079 out of the KKA or the kandat commandos. 1102 00:47:12.280 --> 00:47:14.119 Yeah, they Yeah, that's where most of them came up. 1103 00:47:14.519 --> 00:47:17.119 They were either yeah, the KK or the commandos, and 1104 00:47:17.199 --> 00:47:19.400 so they were already elite trained dudes that were trained 1105 00:47:19.440 --> 00:47:22.679 by Special Force to shoot, yeah, or or they were 1106 00:47:22.719 --> 00:47:25.239 trained like the KK trained by Rangers and Sealed Team 1107 00:47:25.280 --> 00:47:28.239 six dudes and Aultaforce guys. But then yeah, we would 1108 00:47:28.239 --> 00:47:30.079 select from those dudes and then that was the cream 1109 00:47:30.079 --> 00:47:30.559 of the crop. 1110 00:47:30.599 --> 00:47:32.960 We would put them through a whole other selection OTC. Yeah. 1111 00:47:33.079 --> 00:47:36.000 The other interesting thing about the whole ARU program is 1112 00:47:36.000 --> 00:47:39.320 that it's not something that most people associate with rangers, 1113 00:47:39.360 --> 00:47:41.239 Like your dad said, rangers or the brawn. 1114 00:47:41.440 --> 00:47:43.880 Yeah, they're not the guys. This isn't a ranger thing. 1115 00:47:43.960 --> 00:47:46.079 And I'm just curious if you had any sort of 1116 00:47:46.159 --> 00:47:48.519 insight into like how that program came about, Like whose 1117 00:47:48.559 --> 00:47:51.840 brainchild was that where the requirement came from. It was 1118 00:47:51.920 --> 00:47:54.719 very interesting. I mean, obviously you guys did it very well. 1119 00:47:54.760 --> 00:47:57.880 But yeah, thinking about that, I know, so there were 1120 00:47:57.880 --> 00:47:59.000 some dudes senior. 1121 00:47:58.719 --> 00:48:01.119 To me and the company that were involved in the 1122 00:48:01.199 --> 00:48:03.039 setting up and creating of that stuff. So I don't 1123 00:48:03.039 --> 00:48:05.559 know exactly where the who the brainchild was. It might 1124 00:48:05.599 --> 00:48:09.800 have come from within the unit. I'm sure there was 1125 00:48:09.800 --> 00:48:11.840 probably some direction from Jaysuk as well. 1126 00:48:12.920 --> 00:48:14.519 But yeah, we were good at it. I mean, it's 1127 00:48:14.639 --> 00:48:17.079 it's not that rocket science, you know what I mean. 1128 00:48:17.480 --> 00:48:18.920 We just had to teach. You just have to be 1129 00:48:18.920 --> 00:48:19.480 a good teacher. 1130 00:48:19.519 --> 00:48:22.440 I mean, most guys in you know, a leadership position 1131 00:48:23.079 --> 00:48:24.840 and the NCO in the military should be a good teacher, 1132 00:48:25.159 --> 00:48:27.480 you know. Yeah, and that's all it is. You're we 1133 00:48:27.480 --> 00:48:29.480 were teaching them to do what we do, you know, 1134 00:48:29.519 --> 00:48:31.760 That's all we did. We taught them to do what 1135 00:48:31.840 --> 00:48:36.639 we did because in that realm we couldn't actually do 1136 00:48:37.079 --> 00:48:39.920 that as well, because you just stick out like that's 1137 00:48:39.960 --> 00:48:44.079 that country. It's like it's like if you take you know, 1138 00:48:44.119 --> 00:48:48.639 your average never been in the military, New Yorker and 1139 00:48:48.800 --> 00:48:51.159 drop them in Southeast Alabama where I live, they're gonna 1140 00:48:51.199 --> 00:48:52.840 stick out like a sort of right, you know what 1141 00:48:52.840 --> 00:48:55.000 I mean. The way they talk, the way they look 1142 00:48:55.119 --> 00:48:58.679 the way they walk, and it's even more of a star. Contrast, 1143 00:48:58.719 --> 00:49:01.559 in Afghanistan, you took a six foot two white American 1144 00:49:01.639 --> 00:49:03.960 dude and drop them off. Now that the white skin 1145 00:49:04.039 --> 00:49:05.519 color is not the biggesting because there's a lot of 1146 00:49:05.519 --> 00:49:07.639 white skin, but like the. 1147 00:49:07.599 --> 00:49:09.800 Way we walk, the way we carry ourselves, the way 1148 00:49:09.840 --> 00:49:10.320 we talk well. 1149 00:49:10.320 --> 00:49:12.480 And also when you get into like cover for status, 1150 00:49:12.519 --> 00:49:15.360 cover for action type things, like they because of the 1151 00:49:15.400 --> 00:49:17.920 culture and because of how they know the culture, like 1152 00:49:18.000 --> 00:49:20.639 there are things that they can come up with that 1153 00:49:20.719 --> 00:49:24.119 Americans would never even think of, Like you know, in 1154 00:49:24.400 --> 00:49:26.039 the sense of a lot of these villages are a 1155 00:49:26.039 --> 00:49:29.920 lot of these places they were surveilling. We're very small. 1156 00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:32.440 Everybody knows everybody else. They know you don't belong to 1157 00:49:32.480 --> 00:49:35.880 the tribe there. And so if they get like pulled 1158 00:49:35.920 --> 00:49:37.960 over and it's like, what are you guys doing here, 1159 00:49:38.000 --> 00:49:41.960 and they say, oh, my sister. You know, my sister 1160 00:49:42.199 --> 00:49:45.079 was supposed to get married and she ran away and 1161 00:49:45.119 --> 00:49:47.239 we're looking for her, they can play that off. They 1162 00:49:47.280 --> 00:49:49.400 can play that off, and they know that, and that's 1163 00:49:49.400 --> 00:49:54.239 a perfectly valid excuse for them to be like trolling 1164 00:49:54.239 --> 00:49:58.599 these neighborhoods, like exactly Where's where's this wayward sister? We 1165 00:49:58.679 --> 00:50:02.320 have to a kidnap and take her back to so 1166 00:50:02.360 --> 00:50:04.679 we could beat her with ye and make her marry 1167 00:50:04.719 --> 00:50:05.039 this guy. 1168 00:50:05.119 --> 00:50:06.880 Yeah, yeah, no, you're exactly right. 1169 00:50:06.960 --> 00:50:09.400 And and that's why we had to use those guys 1170 00:50:09.440 --> 00:50:12.920 as our proxies. We could do certain things, but for 1171 00:50:12.960 --> 00:50:14.920 the most part, we used them and we just trained 1172 00:50:14.920 --> 00:50:16.719 them and use them, you know, And we would sometimes 1173 00:50:16.719 --> 00:50:18.920 tag along with them on certain things. We'd go out 1174 00:50:19.280 --> 00:50:21.719 and we would be out, like a lot of times. 1175 00:50:21.760 --> 00:50:24.320 We would also task them with training missions because you know, 1176 00:50:24.360 --> 00:50:27.320 the missions weren't always as busy for them as we 1177 00:50:27.360 --> 00:50:30.119 would necessarily want it to be sometimes, so to keep 1178 00:50:30.159 --> 00:50:31.880 them from being lazy, because you know, a lot of 1179 00:50:31.920 --> 00:50:35.719 them just happened to just kind of default into doing 1180 00:50:35.760 --> 00:50:37.519 whatever they're doing, and they just kind of forget about 1181 00:50:37.519 --> 00:50:39.360 the military, especially when they're living out there like that. 1182 00:50:40.239 --> 00:50:42.079 So we would bring them in and task them with 1183 00:50:42.159 --> 00:50:43.000 training targets. 1184 00:50:43.039 --> 00:50:45.719 Yeah, and I would have them reky something and I'd 1185 00:50:45.719 --> 00:50:48.239 be out in town doing counter surveillance on them, just 1186 00:50:48.239 --> 00:50:49.960 to see if they were actually trying to be sneaky 1187 00:50:50.079 --> 00:50:51.920 or if they're just like, hey, what's up right? Standing 1188 00:50:52.159 --> 00:50:53.840 on the street, take a picture, thinking they can get 1189 00:50:53.840 --> 00:50:54.280 away with it. 1190 00:50:54.280 --> 00:50:57.280 You know, now, how tough was it for you guys 1191 00:50:57.280 --> 00:51:00.760 providing bona fides for these guys when it was their 1192 00:51:00.840 --> 00:51:03.800 intel that might be launching a raid, putting American lives 1193 00:51:03.840 --> 00:51:07.880 at risk, you know, like like validating their intel to 1194 00:51:09.159 --> 00:51:13.199 the battlespace commander or you know whomever. 1195 00:51:14.320 --> 00:51:17.119 Yeah, Typically their intel was just confirmation. 1196 00:51:17.320 --> 00:51:20.000 Okay, so there was already something else like singing or 1197 00:51:20.039 --> 00:51:23.320 whatever that we would have, but then we may just 1198 00:51:23.360 --> 00:51:25.199 need to develop this target a little bit more. So 1199 00:51:25.280 --> 00:51:27.519 our guys their intel a lot of times just confirmation. 1200 00:51:28.519 --> 00:51:30.519 Sometimes they would just build power in a life. So 1201 00:51:30.559 --> 00:51:32.000 we knew that there was a dude in and around 1202 00:51:32.000 --> 00:51:34.400 this area, then they would just refine the powern of life. 1203 00:51:34.239 --> 00:51:36.360 Or do it doing the close end wreki that you 1204 00:51:36.360 --> 00:51:38.079 wouldn't send an American to do. I take it. 1205 00:51:38.239 --> 00:51:41.039 Yeah, exactly, like getting facial recognition photos of this dude 1206 00:51:41.079 --> 00:51:43.400 at this house. Yeah, I mean, so we have this 1207 00:51:43.719 --> 00:51:45.960 blorry crappy picture that you know is on your little 1208 00:51:46.000 --> 00:51:48.079 cards that you got, and we're like, is that really him? 1209 00:51:48.400 --> 00:51:50.119 And then we send the dudes out to mingle around 1210 00:51:50.119 --> 00:51:51.280 and they get a no joke picture. 1211 00:51:51.320 --> 00:51:53.719 Now we can update that picture, like, yeah, that was him, 1212 00:51:53.760 --> 00:51:55.880 but here's a better picture. Yeah, you know, so stuff 1213 00:51:55.920 --> 00:51:58.440 like that. Yeah, whatever the task force needed, that's what 1214 00:51:58.480 --> 00:51:59.360 we tried to provide. 1215 00:51:59.440 --> 00:51:59.880 Yeah. 1216 00:52:00.679 --> 00:52:02.679 Yeah, and how was it? 1217 00:52:02.679 --> 00:52:03.880 It could? You know? 1218 00:52:03.960 --> 00:52:05.719 One of the things that was always challenging in those 1219 00:52:05.719 --> 00:52:08.320 countries was like teaching people how to read maps, teach 1220 00:52:08.360 --> 00:52:11.519 them how to look at look at imagery and understand 1221 00:52:11.559 --> 00:52:13.639 it from a top down perspective because they just don't 1222 00:52:13.679 --> 00:52:15.239 have that perspective. 1223 00:52:15.280 --> 00:52:17.320 How how challenging was that for you guys. 1224 00:52:17.320 --> 00:52:19.719 That that definitely was challenging at times. But you know, 1225 00:52:19.800 --> 00:52:22.599 our guys, we we we just it was part of 1226 00:52:22.599 --> 00:52:24.639 the training pipeline and they just picked it up after 1227 00:52:24.639 --> 00:52:26.960 a while, and a lot of these guys just got 1228 00:52:26.960 --> 00:52:29.079 better as time went. So they would graduate at a 1229 00:52:29.079 --> 00:52:32.199 certain standard which would be good enough, but a lot 1230 00:52:32.239 --> 00:52:32.559 of them. 1231 00:52:32.480 --> 00:52:34.679 Would speak a little bit of English. 1232 00:52:34.760 --> 00:52:37.320 But then after like years of that program running, some 1233 00:52:37.360 --> 00:52:39.719 of these guys were sending me PowerPoint. I mean, they 1234 00:52:39.719 --> 00:52:42.480 could do PowerPoint by the end of their OTC, but 1235 00:52:42.960 --> 00:52:44.840 after like a couple of years, these dudes were sending 1236 00:52:44.840 --> 00:52:46.400 me PowerPoint in English. 1237 00:52:46.960 --> 00:52:48.639 So I mean it was impressive. 1238 00:52:48.719 --> 00:52:50.840 I mean some of the guys really wanted to do 1239 00:52:50.920 --> 00:52:53.800 good and they tried to impress up press us and 1240 00:52:53.840 --> 00:52:57.039 it was impressive. They were doing that stuff in English. 1241 00:52:57.079 --> 00:52:59.599 They were encrypting stuff and send it to us encrypted 1242 00:53:00.039 --> 00:53:02.159 because everything that we did with them was. 1243 00:53:02.159 --> 00:53:03.559 Not associated with the military. 1244 00:53:03.679 --> 00:53:06.239 Yeah, so, I mean even the computers that we communicated 1245 00:53:06.239 --> 00:53:08.320 with them on were not associated to the military. So 1246 00:53:08.400 --> 00:53:10.960 we didn't want it to any way tie these guys 1247 00:53:10.960 --> 00:53:13.119 to us if for some reason they got busted, you. 1248 00:53:13.079 --> 00:53:16.199 Know, Yeah, how was that for you and for the 1249 00:53:16.239 --> 00:53:17.599 other guys in our city? 1250 00:53:17.639 --> 00:53:20.360 Because you obviously you have this job. 1251 00:53:20.559 --> 00:53:24.519 You're in a way action heroes, right, Like, you've been 1252 00:53:24.559 --> 00:53:26.800 through all this training, You're out there to be on 1253 00:53:26.880 --> 00:53:29.920 the pointy edge, and now you're working through proxies. 1254 00:53:30.280 --> 00:53:33.880 Was it frustrating? Was it gratifying? It was I'd say 1255 00:53:33.880 --> 00:53:36.880 a little bit of both. Some guys hated it. 1256 00:53:36.960 --> 00:53:39.960 I mean, there were guys that hated it, but I 1257 00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:41.840 think you just have to look at what you're doing 1258 00:53:41.920 --> 00:53:44.039 and just you know, find the good. 1259 00:53:43.880 --> 00:53:44.800 Part of it. 1260 00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:47.199 I actually thought I was gonna hate it, but I 1261 00:53:47.239 --> 00:53:49.719 really enjoyed it. Yeah, I really did enjoy it, because 1262 00:53:49.760 --> 00:53:51.440 I mean, we still got to do cool stuff, man, 1263 00:53:51.480 --> 00:53:52.199 we still got to go. 1264 00:53:52.559 --> 00:53:54.159 It was like the best of both worlds. 1265 00:53:54.199 --> 00:53:55.599 When I was up in Condi's the last time we 1266 00:53:55.639 --> 00:53:58.480 had a Delta Force troop there hitting targets every night 1267 00:53:59.119 --> 00:54:01.800 and arrangeable too, and they're hitting targets every night. So 1268 00:54:02.000 --> 00:54:04.920 during the daytime, I was going out loviz, linking up 1269 00:54:04.960 --> 00:54:07.119 with my dudes, doing dead drops and stuff like that, 1270 00:54:07.519 --> 00:54:09.360 or maybe going and picking them up, bringing them back, 1271 00:54:09.360 --> 00:54:11.800 debriefing them or whatever. Or maybe I would be going 1272 00:54:11.840 --> 00:54:14.280 out with some dudes wreckying routes during the daytime, like 1273 00:54:14.280 --> 00:54:17.000 we would wrecky some of our own routes in and 1274 00:54:17.039 --> 00:54:20.599 off of the plateau there, excuse me. But then at 1275 00:54:20.679 --> 00:54:23.039 night I was going out kicking indoors with the Rangers 1276 00:54:23.119 --> 00:54:25.320 or the Deltafest dudes every single night. So I got 1277 00:54:25.440 --> 00:54:27.480 the best of both worlds. I thought it was great. Yeah, 1278 00:54:27.480 --> 00:54:29.079 I get to do a lot of this cool stuff 1279 00:54:29.360 --> 00:54:32.559 that's lo viz, you know, clandestine stuff, and then at 1280 00:54:32.639 --> 00:54:34.440 night I'm going out and doing what Rangers and Delta 1281 00:54:34.440 --> 00:54:36.480 Force dudes do, you know, kicking indoors and killing bad 1282 00:54:36.519 --> 00:54:38.000 guys just as much as they. 1283 00:54:37.840 --> 00:54:38.199 Were, you know. 1284 00:54:38.280 --> 00:54:41.320 Yeah, So I enjoyed it, but it was so that 1285 00:54:41.440 --> 00:54:46.480 dynamic was unique not just for me, but I coming 1286 00:54:46.480 --> 00:54:50.119 from Third Ranger Battalion, I had rapport with Rangers and 1287 00:54:50.119 --> 00:54:52.519 with Delta Fores s dudes. There were dudes that had 1288 00:54:52.559 --> 00:54:56.000 come from the big Army to RC that didn't know 1289 00:54:56.039 --> 00:54:58.039 these dudes, so they wouldn't get they didn't get to 1290 00:54:58.079 --> 00:54:59.840 go out on missions with them, right, So they were 1291 00:54:59.880 --> 00:55:02.519 just stuck doing the low viz stuff. When they did it, 1292 00:55:02.559 --> 00:55:05.400 and depending on where they were at, it may have 1293 00:55:05.480 --> 00:55:08.519 been less eventful even And so a lot of those guys, 1294 00:55:08.519 --> 00:55:10.039 I think that's why they didn't like it, because they 1295 00:55:10.079 --> 00:55:11.239 didn't get the best of both worlds. 1296 00:55:11.239 --> 00:55:13.360 Where it's like me, I knew dudes in the battalions. 1297 00:55:13.400 --> 00:55:15.159 I new dudes at Deltamores because I've been working with 1298 00:55:15.239 --> 00:55:15.840 my whole career. 1299 00:55:16.239 --> 00:55:18.519 So I'd just be like, hey, you guys need anybody actually, yeah, sure, 1300 00:55:18.719 --> 00:55:21.239 we need an extra sniper, we need an extra battlefield interrogator. 1301 00:55:21.400 --> 00:55:22.599 And so I'd go out and do that a lot 1302 00:55:22.599 --> 00:55:25.960 of bit TQ is what I did. I thought that 1303 00:55:26.079 --> 00:55:27.840 was where I was most valuable. They got all the 1304 00:55:27.880 --> 00:55:29.800 shooters they need. They don't even know the shooter, right, 1305 00:55:29.880 --> 00:55:32.760 but they're squad leaders of tarrogating dudes who are here. 1306 00:55:32.800 --> 00:55:34.960 I'm a master sergeant, you know, I've got more experience 1307 00:55:35.039 --> 00:55:37.119 doing it leaves him to doing his squad leader stuff. 1308 00:55:37.280 --> 00:55:39.679 So I did a lot of that stuff. Yeah, that's cool. 1309 00:55:39.719 --> 00:55:41.679 I mean it's also like the total integration of the 1310 00:55:41.679 --> 00:55:43.199 intelligence piece into the ops. 1311 00:55:43.280 --> 00:55:45.039 It really is. Yeah. Yeah, and that's kind of the 1312 00:55:45.039 --> 00:55:45.760 way I looked at it. 1313 00:55:45.760 --> 00:55:50.960 And I had my interpreter teaching me Dary so by 1314 00:55:51.199 --> 00:55:54.079 I did like I think, three trips to Kandu's, and 1315 00:55:54.119 --> 00:55:57.360 by like the third trip to Kandu's, I was able 1316 00:55:57.440 --> 00:56:01.639 to do battlefield interrogation without an in Dari. 1317 00:56:01.760 --> 00:56:01.960 Yeah. 1318 00:56:01.960 --> 00:56:04.280 I mean, now it was mission specific stuff, like I 1319 00:56:04.320 --> 00:56:07.159 knew pretty much anything they had to do with bombs, explosives, guns, 1320 00:56:07.159 --> 00:56:08.920 Who this guy is, where are the mosques? 1321 00:56:09.239 --> 00:56:10.440 Where are the schools? You know? 1322 00:56:10.480 --> 00:56:13.400 How many people are here? North, south, east, west? Like 1323 00:56:13.440 --> 00:56:14.280 what kind of vegetables? 1324 00:56:14.320 --> 00:56:14.440 You know? 1325 00:56:14.559 --> 00:56:16.760 Like I knew I had a good grasp with the 1326 00:56:17.199 --> 00:56:21.360 language by no means fluent, but target related I could do. 1327 00:56:21.400 --> 00:56:23.239 And I could also talk my way through checkpoints and 1328 00:56:23.239 --> 00:56:24.079 stuff like that too. 1329 00:56:24.360 --> 00:56:25.519 I learned that much. 1330 00:56:26.199 --> 00:56:30.440 So, like you said, you went and became did language stuff. Yeah, 1331 00:56:30.519 --> 00:56:33.079 I never was interested in it until I got to RRC, 1332 00:56:33.199 --> 00:56:35.760 and I was like, this is beneficial, Like if I 1333 00:56:35.840 --> 00:56:37.800 can prove to the chain of command that I can 1334 00:56:37.960 --> 00:56:41.039 speak good enough to do this, maybe they'll let me 1335 00:56:41.159 --> 00:56:44.000 go do more. Right, because there were things that we 1336 00:56:44.039 --> 00:56:48.320 wanted to do as Americans out that I felt confident doing, 1337 00:56:48.599 --> 00:56:50.960 but the chain of command didn't see it that way. So, 1338 00:56:51.639 --> 00:56:54.039 you know, being able to speak the language and stuff 1339 00:56:54.039 --> 00:56:56.000 like that adds another layer to where they would probably 1340 00:56:56.039 --> 00:56:56.519 accept it. 1341 00:56:56.760 --> 00:56:58.639 And it goes beyond the piece of like I speak 1342 00:56:58.679 --> 00:57:00.159 five five six and seven six two. 1343 00:57:00.280 --> 00:57:00.920 You know, like it. 1344 00:57:02.320 --> 00:57:04.880 Yeah, it opens up a whole new world of interaction 1345 00:57:05.119 --> 00:57:06.199 with the local populace. 1346 00:57:06.320 --> 00:57:09.920 Yeah, you know, especially when when the raids. 1347 00:57:10.159 --> 00:57:12.719 You know, the intelligence isn't always accurate, like you need 1348 00:57:12.719 --> 00:57:15.360 to find out what's going on target or like you said, 1349 00:57:15.400 --> 00:57:17.480 like all the operations that you guys do a lot 1350 00:57:17.519 --> 00:57:20.360 of those ops come from resets. 1351 00:57:20.400 --> 00:57:20.559 You know. 1352 00:57:20.639 --> 00:57:24.599 You do your OT Yeah, your battlefield interrogators you know, 1353 00:57:24.800 --> 00:57:29.400 and your exploitation guys get information and it's like, okay, 1354 00:57:29.719 --> 00:57:32.239 let's go hit this target now, so that these guys 1355 00:57:32.280 --> 00:57:34.039 don't go to ground when they find out they rolled 1356 00:57:34.079 --> 00:57:34.559 up this guy. 1357 00:57:34.719 --> 00:57:37.159 Yep, Yeah, a lot of our missions were like that. 1358 00:57:37.199 --> 00:57:39.960 I mean, not so much like our cee. We were 1359 00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:41.559 always playing a piece in that, but in the line 1360 00:57:41.639 --> 00:57:43.239 range of times, dude, it was like boom boom, boom, 1361 00:57:43.239 --> 00:57:45.639 boom boom, Like you said, probably a thousand missions on 1362 00:57:45.679 --> 00:57:48.199 that one the climate like three months because we're back 1363 00:57:48.239 --> 00:57:50.800 to back to back. They could never react because we're 1364 00:57:50.840 --> 00:57:51.440 slamming them. 1365 00:57:51.400 --> 00:57:53.760 Right, And a lot of those a lot of those 1366 00:57:53.880 --> 00:57:57.519 raids are sort of self propagating, where one raid leads 1367 00:57:57.559 --> 00:57:59.840 to another one based on the intel you got off 1368 00:57:59.840 --> 00:58:00.599 that initial rate. 1369 00:58:00.679 --> 00:58:00.840 Yeah. 1370 00:58:00.840 --> 00:58:03.000 We would hit targets in Iraq back in the day, 1371 00:58:03.320 --> 00:58:06.280 and literally the pl would be with this little laptop 1372 00:58:06.400 --> 00:58:08.760 like this on the back of the striker, planning out 1373 00:58:08.760 --> 00:58:10.639 the grids for the next target because we took intel 1374 00:58:10.679 --> 00:58:12.480 from that target to go hit the very next target. 1375 00:58:12.559 --> 00:58:16.519 Yeah, literally planning them on the fly. Yeah yeah, yeah. 1376 00:58:16.559 --> 00:58:18.840 And well, I mean that led to the whole debate 1377 00:58:18.880 --> 00:58:22.480 to operations drive intelligence or does intelligence drive operations? But 1378 00:58:22.559 --> 00:58:25.239 what you're talking about with the ARU program, that's definitely 1379 00:58:25.320 --> 00:58:26.840 intelligence driving operations. 1380 00:58:27.440 --> 00:58:30.239 Yeah. It was a good program, you know. 1381 00:58:30.519 --> 00:58:33.000 One of the things, you know, we were talked about 1382 00:58:33.000 --> 00:58:36.199 it beforehand and that's where I met Well, I met 1383 00:58:36.239 --> 00:58:38.960 Adam from having done the podcast. He reached out to 1384 00:58:39.000 --> 00:58:43.360 me before and then he and his good buddy Brian 1385 00:58:43.440 --> 00:58:48.039 Fitzgibbons came in with me to Project Exodus Relief, which 1386 00:58:48.079 --> 00:58:52.280 is a nonprofit that I created myself. Rodney Brown, one 1387 00:58:52.280 --> 00:58:55.000 of my Seal buddies that I was tied in with 1388 00:58:55.480 --> 00:58:57.199 a lot of us, got asked to like try to 1389 00:58:57.239 --> 00:59:01.039 help people with Afghanistan, and I was like, I'll help 1390 00:59:01.039 --> 00:59:03.559 wherever I can. But then come to find out there 1391 00:59:03.639 --> 00:59:05.679 was you know a lot of these dudes were reaching 1392 00:59:05.679 --> 00:59:07.519 out to me, like people were giving these guys my 1393 00:59:07.599 --> 00:59:11.280 number and actually a nut your podcast set all this 1394 00:59:11.320 --> 00:59:11.880 stuff up. 1395 00:59:12.159 --> 00:59:14.559 There was like a gamhouse bump it did. It really did. 1396 00:59:14.840 --> 00:59:19.239 Like the thing like what I do now all really 1397 00:59:19.280 --> 00:59:21.320 came from the team House because I did the Teamhouse. 1398 00:59:21.360 --> 00:59:25.320 A dude from Alabama saw me on the Teamhouse and 1399 00:59:25.400 --> 00:59:27.559 he reached out to me because I gave my email 1400 00:59:27.639 --> 00:59:30.559 up that time and he was like, hey, brother, I 1401 00:59:30.559 --> 00:59:32.960 know you don't know me from Jack, but he's like, 1402 00:59:33.119 --> 00:59:35.000 I was in the Army, did this, that and the other. 1403 00:59:35.079 --> 00:59:36.679 He's like I worked with some of the ARU guys. 1404 00:59:36.679 --> 00:59:38.320 He worked with him as a contractor when he was 1405 00:59:38.360 --> 00:59:40.519 working as a civilian. After he got out, he was like, 1406 00:59:41.000 --> 00:59:43.840 not Blackwater, but one of those other contract companies. And 1407 00:59:43.880 --> 00:59:45.480 he's like, these dudes are asking me to help him 1408 00:59:45.480 --> 00:59:47.559 in Afghanistan and I have no clue what to do. 1409 00:59:47.760 --> 00:59:50.800 So he reached out to me. That's how I got involved. 1410 00:59:51.480 --> 00:59:54.000 Brought this ad hoc group of guys that we were 1411 00:59:54.000 --> 00:59:56.360 just communicating with on signal chats, you know, like talking 1412 00:59:56.400 --> 00:59:58.679 about like Sharon Intel, like where the Taliban are looking 1413 00:59:58.719 --> 01:00:02.199 for these guys and stuff like that. And then all 1414 01:00:02.199 --> 01:00:04.079 of a sudden, I'm like, dude, we need these groups 1415 01:00:04.119 --> 01:00:07.199 talking together. This this is we're military dudes. This needs 1416 01:00:07.239 --> 01:00:09.559 to be a military cohesive unit. So I started reaching 1417 01:00:09.599 --> 01:00:14.320 out to Task Force Pineapple with Scott Man super good dude. Yeah, 1418 01:00:15.039 --> 01:00:17.760 I love Scott reached out to some of his guys. 1419 01:00:17.760 --> 01:00:19.480 I didn't know him at first, but I was reaching 1420 01:00:19.519 --> 01:00:22.480 out into his organization, trying to like, hey, who's the leader, 1421 01:00:22.559 --> 01:00:25.559 Let's let's sync this thing up. Reaching out to Task 1422 01:00:25.559 --> 01:00:33.840 Force Argo flanders Fields is another group, Task Force Freedom Birds, like, 1423 01:00:33.880 --> 01:00:36.159 there's tons of other groups out there, and I was 1424 01:00:36.159 --> 01:00:37.760 reaching out to him. I was like, let's put this together, 1425 01:00:37.800 --> 01:00:40.280 and nobody seemed to want to like really work together 1426 01:00:40.480 --> 01:00:42.880 at first. So then I just brought all these guys 1427 01:00:42.880 --> 01:00:45.679 together that I had We called a project Exodus Relief, 1428 01:00:46.559 --> 01:00:48.800 and then, like I said, I met Adam, Adam was 1429 01:00:48.800 --> 01:00:51.840 on the podcast, reached out to me. He ended up 1430 01:00:51.920 --> 01:00:54.079 coming on board with us helping out. He brought on 1431 01:00:54.119 --> 01:00:57.800 his best buddy, Brian Fitzgibbons, who's an amazing dude. I 1432 01:00:57.880 --> 01:01:01.519 work with him now with USPA Nation Wided Toecurity and 1433 01:01:01.599 --> 01:01:03.559 you know, we can get into that stuff later, but 1434 01:01:03.599 --> 01:01:06.119 that's you know, it all came about trying to advocate 1435 01:01:06.119 --> 01:01:08.599 for these guys, these Afghan Special Ops guys that we trained, 1436 01:01:08.920 --> 01:01:11.440 some of the best out of the Afghans, the most 1437 01:01:11.480 --> 01:01:15.239 loyal guys out there, and nobody was advocating for them, 1438 01:01:15.280 --> 01:01:16.360 Nobody cared about them. 1439 01:01:16.440 --> 01:01:17.679 These guys are just left flapping. 1440 01:01:17.800 --> 01:01:20.639 Yeah, could you give us a little update on where 1441 01:01:20.679 --> 01:01:25.519 that project is now? You know, after the Afghan the 1442 01:01:25.559 --> 01:01:28.760 evacuation as it were, and all these guys that got 1443 01:01:28.840 --> 01:01:31.280 left behind, and I mean we've We've had Scott Man 1444 01:01:31.320 --> 01:01:33.199 on the show to talk about it. I'd be interested 1445 01:01:33.239 --> 01:01:37.840 to hear your perspective of like where that Mick, and 1446 01:01:38.639 --> 01:01:40.599 I'd be interested to hear like your perspective of like 1447 01:01:40.599 --> 01:01:42.159 where that effort is at today. 1448 01:01:42.679 --> 01:01:44.199 It's really stagnated. 1449 01:01:45.400 --> 01:01:47.960 We we you know, I've talked to politicians all over 1450 01:01:48.000 --> 01:01:50.480 the place. I've I spoke at the AI World Forum 1451 01:01:50.639 --> 01:01:55.400 on the Afghan panel, myself and Mike Waltz, the Republicans 1452 01:01:55.719 --> 01:01:59.440 politicians from Florida, Me and him and uh, what's his 1453 01:01:59.519 --> 01:02:01.559 name is? I think y'all might have had him on 1454 01:02:01.639 --> 01:02:05.079 here too, But anyway, we spoke on that panel, and 1455 01:02:05.320 --> 01:02:07.039 there's a lot of people that seem to be concerned 1456 01:02:07.079 --> 01:02:09.079 about it, but nothing ever happens, right, you know a 1457 01:02:09.119 --> 01:02:11.559 lot of these politicians were like, hey, yeah, yeah, man, 1458 01:02:11.599 --> 01:02:15.400 we got your back, you know, you know, Democrat and 1459 01:02:15.519 --> 01:02:18.079 Republican would act like they wanted to help, but nothing 1460 01:02:18.079 --> 01:02:21.760 ever really happened. We have guys that, you know, legitimately 1461 01:02:22.199 --> 01:02:25.679 legit creds have been verified by the Ranger Regiment worked 1462 01:02:25.679 --> 01:02:30.920 for the program that we've literally taken their documents, handed 1463 01:02:30.960 --> 01:02:33.519 it to the House of Representatives and like, can you 1464 01:02:33.639 --> 01:02:36.199 help us get this guy's SIV approved. 1465 01:02:36.760 --> 01:02:39.000 Never happens, man, It just literally never happens. 1466 01:02:39.039 --> 01:02:41.840 So where we're at with Project Exodus is we've been 1467 01:02:42.599 --> 01:02:45.440 we raised some money through some of the public speaking 1468 01:02:45.480 --> 01:02:47.679 events that I've gone to and some other things that 1469 01:02:47.719 --> 01:02:51.440 we've run, and we've been we've successfully through through my 1470 01:02:51.840 --> 01:02:55.159 one of my guys, Dean, who's run our ground operations 1471 01:02:55.199 --> 01:02:58.119 program super great Dude, former Ranger, former one some five 1472 01:02:58.199 --> 01:03:02.079 dude Delta for Scott. He runs our ground operations stuff 1473 01:03:02.119 --> 01:03:05.920 and he's been running a food network where we've been 1474 01:03:05.960 --> 01:03:09.280 feeding two thousand ARU dudes in their families. 1475 01:03:09.440 --> 01:03:12.440 So there's not that many ARU dudes, but. 1476 01:03:11.719 --> 01:03:14.960 There's probably I don't know, probably still alive one hundred 1477 01:03:15.159 --> 01:03:18.599 ar you guys, maybe less out there, but a lot 1478 01:03:18.599 --> 01:03:22.840 of these guys are the basically the secret Service of 1479 01:03:22.880 --> 01:03:27.880 Afghanistan that my guy Dean trained his guys and we've 1480 01:03:27.880 --> 01:03:30.239 been feeding them in their families for the last two 1481 01:03:30.440 --> 01:03:32.679 and a half years. I got like about two years now, 1482 01:03:33.440 --> 01:03:35.960 but we just pretty much ran out of money this month. 1483 01:03:36.079 --> 01:03:38.719 So wait, is there is there some places people can 1484 01:03:38.760 --> 01:03:39.880 go to donate money for that? 1485 01:03:40.199 --> 01:03:42.280 Yeah, if if they want to go to blog dot 1486 01:03:42.360 --> 01:03:44.880 pro Exodus Relief dot com, they can go there and 1487 01:03:44.960 --> 01:03:47.320 check out our website. There's also links to donate at 1488 01:03:47.320 --> 01:03:49.119 the website too, So if people want to do that. 1489 01:03:51.280 --> 01:03:53.840 It's it's it's a good cause man, Like right now, 1490 01:03:53.920 --> 01:03:55.440 I still advocate for these guys. 1491 01:03:55.519 --> 01:03:56.679 I've been talking to lawyers. 1492 01:03:56.719 --> 01:03:59.239 There have been some guys who've trickled their way into 1493 01:03:59.239 --> 01:04:01.760 the United States through our help, Like we've tried to 1494 01:04:01.760 --> 01:04:04.280 avocate for them, but we didn't specifically get them here. 1495 01:04:05.199 --> 01:04:07.599 But I've written letters of recommendation for some of these 1496 01:04:07.599 --> 01:04:10.000 guys and it's come back to me through Like I've 1497 01:04:10.000 --> 01:04:11.840 got a lawyer that reached out to me that's helping 1498 01:04:12.559 --> 01:04:14.400 advocate for one of our guys, helping him get his 1499 01:04:14.480 --> 01:04:15.000 like SIV. 1500 01:04:15.639 --> 01:04:16.960 And so it's been good. 1501 01:04:17.039 --> 01:04:20.159 Have they have a lot of these guys managed to 1502 01:04:20.199 --> 01:04:23.480 get out of Afghanistan and now are in like refugee 1503 01:04:23.480 --> 01:04:26.239 camps in other countries or they still stuck in Afghanistan. 1504 01:04:26.400 --> 01:04:28.960 Most are still stuff stuck in Afghanistan. There's there's been 1505 01:04:29.000 --> 01:04:31.519 a handful of that a flee to Iran. There's some 1506 01:04:31.599 --> 01:04:33.440 that have. I've had one of my guys go through 1507 01:04:33.480 --> 01:04:35.480 Iran all the way to Iraq, then he went back 1508 01:04:35.519 --> 01:04:38.519 and I was back in Afghanistan. Just they can't find 1509 01:04:38.559 --> 01:04:42.840 employment like Afghans. I didn't realize that in Iran they're 1510 01:04:42.880 --> 01:04:46.719 looked down upon and they won't employ them there. So 1511 01:04:46.760 --> 01:04:48.880 these guys are in Iran hanging out and couldn't get 1512 01:04:49.679 --> 01:04:52.960 a decent job. Or I had one guy that was 1513 01:04:53.039 --> 01:04:56.400 in with a Christian group that was trying to get 1514 01:04:56.440 --> 01:04:59.119 him in. Sad story, but he was in with a 1515 01:04:59.599 --> 01:05:02.679 so Christian group that was trying to move him through 1516 01:05:02.760 --> 01:05:05.320 into Iraq and the Turkey and stuff like that, and 1517 01:05:05.360 --> 01:05:07.840 he was end and up like he was. 1518 01:05:07.880 --> 01:05:11.800 Trafficked, man, Like people were trafficking. This Christian group is 1519 01:05:11.920 --> 01:05:18.119 trafficking human beings and guns and narcotics. Yeah, so they're 1520 01:05:18.159 --> 01:05:20.760 they're Yeah, it's kind of a lot of corruption out there, man, 1521 01:05:20.800 --> 01:05:22.639 A lot of these groups that you think are gonna 1522 01:05:22.679 --> 01:05:23.920 be good and helpful, Like this guy. 1523 01:05:23.960 --> 01:05:25.920 I was like, I don't know this group. Yeah, I 1524 01:05:25.960 --> 01:05:27.719 don't want to have anything to do with it. I said, 1525 01:05:27.719 --> 01:05:29.800 if you, I said, you're the grown man, man, you 1526 01:05:30.199 --> 01:05:33.599 run your household. I can't personally help you. So I said, 1527 01:05:33.639 --> 01:05:36.119 if you trust these people, I support you all the 1528 01:05:36.159 --> 01:05:39.199 way and I'll help you however I can. And the 1529 01:05:39.280 --> 01:05:42.159 dude ended up getting all of his documents taken. He's 1530 01:05:42.199 --> 01:05:45.320 trying to get him back. Yeah, some of these guys 1531 01:05:45.960 --> 01:05:48.280 ended up getting beat up and robbed and mugged by 1532 01:05:48.320 --> 01:05:51.880 these people. But yeah, Christian groups out there like mugging people, 1533 01:05:52.000 --> 01:05:54.599 trafficking drugs, trafficking narcotics, all in the underground. 1534 01:05:54.639 --> 01:05:57.440 Man, it's all over the place out there. Yeah, it's 1535 01:05:57.800 --> 01:05:59.480 groups that you think would help. It's so sad. 1536 01:05:59.559 --> 01:06:03.000 I mean, you know, like immigration is is you know, 1537 01:06:03.280 --> 01:06:05.559 a heated top of the United States, you know, and 1538 01:06:05.800 --> 01:06:09.440 people take very firm sides, but it's but it's wild 1539 01:06:09.480 --> 01:06:11.960 that it was the same thing in Vietnam, where it 1540 01:06:12.039 --> 01:06:14.760 was the effort of like the Special Forces guys and 1541 01:06:14.760 --> 01:06:16.960 what tell the Mons Yards they help, the Monton Yards 1542 01:06:16.960 --> 01:06:20.599 and the Mong and everybody who worked with us, and 1543 01:06:20.599 --> 01:06:25.119 and and now we can even help these people who 1544 01:06:25.960 --> 01:06:29.800 you know, who worked very hard, who shed you know, blood, 1545 01:06:29.800 --> 01:06:32.039 sweat and tears alongside of us. 1546 01:06:32.119 --> 01:06:34.800 It's because our government literally doesn't want it to happen. 1547 01:06:35.079 --> 01:06:39.320 You know, I don't know why exactly, but I don't 1548 01:06:39.360 --> 01:06:41.440 know if Scott men said the same thing. But that's 1549 01:06:41.480 --> 01:06:44.679 our biggest hurdles that we've run into, is our government. 1550 01:06:44.880 --> 01:06:47.159 Nobody everybody they'll say they want to help, but nobody 1551 01:06:47.159 --> 01:06:50.360 does anything. Literally, whether it's at the highest level. I 1552 01:06:50.400 --> 01:06:53.039 don't know where it is, but nobody can make anything happen. 1553 01:06:53.280 --> 01:06:55.000 I mean, there's all these bills. They try to push 1554 01:06:55.039 --> 01:06:57.920 these bills up, the Afghan Adjustment Act and stuff like that, 1555 01:06:58.159 --> 01:06:59.639 and I don't even really follow that stuff that much 1556 01:06:59.639 --> 01:07:02.440 anymore because it's just frustrating. Yeah, like I said, we 1557 01:07:02.559 --> 01:07:05.480 just have been focusing on using our funds to the 1558 01:07:05.480 --> 01:07:07.679 best that we can. We can't move people anymore, so 1559 01:07:07.719 --> 01:07:09.320 we've been using it to feed people. You know, the 1560 01:07:09.320 --> 01:07:12.159 ones that are stuck hiding from the Taliban er they 1561 01:07:12.159 --> 01:07:13.840 don't feel safe, they can get out and work, I 1562 01:07:13.840 --> 01:07:15.039 can't get a meaningful job. 1563 01:07:15.039 --> 01:07:17.280 We've been feeding them, you know, supplemental food. 1564 01:07:17.480 --> 01:07:20.039 We try to let them be like really needy before 1565 01:07:20.039 --> 01:07:21.639 they come to us so that we use the funds 1566 01:07:23.079 --> 01:07:24.239 and the best manner possible. 1567 01:07:24.239 --> 01:07:26.360 We don't want to just be like making these people rich, 1568 01:07:26.440 --> 01:07:27.719 you know what I mean, right, So. 1569 01:07:28.159 --> 01:07:30.960 Yeah, we feed the average family about once every three months. 1570 01:07:31.039 --> 01:07:33.920 They'll come back to us for some supplemental food. Yeah. 1571 01:07:34.679 --> 01:07:37.239 Yeah, if you could just go and get them to chili, 1572 01:07:37.280 --> 01:07:38.800 then they can get in no problem. 1573 01:07:38.840 --> 01:07:43.760 I know, I know, it's crazy. The southern borders wide 1574 01:07:43.760 --> 01:07:46.239 slap open. We got terrorists. We had Isis, we got 1575 01:07:46.360 --> 01:07:50.039 Palestinians coming through the southern border like crazy, both our Afghans. 1576 01:07:50.039 --> 01:07:52.679 We actually had some Afghans that figured their way on 1577 01:07:52.719 --> 01:07:55.280 their own. You get to Brazil came up through it, and 1578 01:07:55.239 --> 01:07:59.000 that's another interesting thing. Afghans special ops guys caught at 1579 01:07:59.000 --> 01:08:01.440 the border are reported never to return again. 1580 01:08:01.559 --> 01:08:02.639 Jesus, yeah, they are. 1581 01:08:02.760 --> 01:08:04.960 I mean, there's been multiple guys that it's been in 1582 01:08:04.960 --> 01:08:06.920 the news. We've like, I helped advocate for some of 1583 01:08:06.960 --> 01:08:10.079 these guys. One of them was a commando guy. I'm 1584 01:08:10.119 --> 01:08:13.000 trying to think. I think Flanders Fields was helping that 1585 01:08:13.039 --> 01:08:15.800 guy and he got hung at the border. I called 1586 01:08:15.840 --> 01:08:17.520 some border patrol guys that I knew that tried to 1587 01:08:17.560 --> 01:08:20.119 help him out. And one of my border patrol buddies 1588 01:08:20.119 --> 01:08:22.039 told me straight up, he's like, if I even look 1589 01:08:22.159 --> 01:08:24.359 into this, dude, it's gonna spike on the radar. And 1590 01:08:24.399 --> 01:08:27.600 I was like, really, He's like, any Afghan special ops 1591 01:08:27.640 --> 01:08:31.760 guy that comes through the border is immediately deported, never. 1592 01:08:31.640 --> 01:08:34.720 To return again. I'm like, but we're letting everybody else 1593 01:08:34.760 --> 01:08:36.760 through the border. It makes no sense. Man. 1594 01:08:37.399 --> 01:08:41.520 It's been a frustrating battle, but it has been one 1595 01:08:41.560 --> 01:08:44.079 of the most frustrating things I've ever done in my life, 1596 01:08:44.199 --> 01:08:46.680 yet also the most rewarded, you know, I mean, because 1597 01:08:46.680 --> 01:08:48.920 we're helping people out, really helping people out. 1598 01:08:49.239 --> 01:08:52.079 Yeah. Yeah, I was really. 1599 01:08:52.760 --> 01:08:56.079 Very disappointed, like in the American population left, right whatever, 1600 01:08:56.279 --> 01:08:58.960 when you know, when we were getting all these you know, 1601 01:08:59.319 --> 01:09:03.079 uh and these Afghans in Bere, like, well, we don't 1602 01:09:03.119 --> 01:09:04.720 even know who they are. And it's like a lot 1603 01:09:04.720 --> 01:09:07.279 of research has been done into you know, like the 1604 01:09:07.319 --> 01:09:10.479 Afghans who are being brought in, like people are voluting 1605 01:09:10.600 --> 01:09:11.039 for them. 1606 01:09:11.239 --> 01:09:12.760 I mean, if they were our guys, like we have 1607 01:09:12.800 --> 01:09:14.279 their biometrics exactly. 1608 01:09:14.640 --> 01:09:18.119 Yea, you know, they're they're a known entity, you know 1609 01:09:18.159 --> 01:09:19.680 what I mean, very well man, Like a lot of 1610 01:09:19.680 --> 01:09:23.319 these guys had Polly's and tons of background checks essentially 1611 01:09:23.319 --> 01:09:25.319 some type of security class you know, not really but 1612 01:09:25.479 --> 01:09:26.720 kind of. Yeah. 1613 01:09:26.800 --> 01:09:29.880 And a lot of them have fought and died next 1614 01:09:30.079 --> 01:09:31.800 to Americans. 1615 01:09:31.640 --> 01:09:36.079 And they still remain loyal to this day. Yeah, you know. Yeah, sad. 1616 01:09:36.560 --> 01:09:38.960 It's very sad. It's up, is what it is. Yeah, yeah, 1617 01:09:39.279 --> 01:09:40.119 it really is. Yeah. 1618 01:09:40.159 --> 01:09:42.800 It really contributes to and and you know we've talked 1619 01:09:42.840 --> 01:09:45.920 about this before on the show. Is the moral injury 1620 01:09:46.319 --> 01:09:49.399 that it creates in the sense of, you know, veterans 1621 01:09:49.479 --> 01:09:53.760 who who because not all veterans were very involved with 1622 01:09:54.359 --> 01:09:58.439 Afghans or Iraqis, you know they you know, but others were, 1623 01:09:59.119 --> 01:10:01.720 and there's that moral injury that happens that you know 1624 01:10:01.800 --> 01:10:06.640 that we just leave these people that we know, we've 1625 01:10:06.720 --> 01:10:08.800 kind of left them to the wolves. 1626 01:10:08.840 --> 01:10:09.359 Basically. 1627 01:10:09.880 --> 01:10:13.159 Well, there's an organization that like I was kind of 1628 01:10:13.199 --> 01:10:15.680 the beginnings of helping stand that thing up to along 1629 01:10:15.720 --> 01:10:19.760 with another guy named Travis Peterson, called the Moral Compass Federation, 1630 01:10:19.920 --> 01:10:21.760 And that's where we kind of finally got all these 1631 01:10:21.800 --> 01:10:24.439 groups together with Tasor's Pineapple, Scott Man and those guys 1632 01:10:24.960 --> 01:10:28.439 and started working as a group of advocacy. And that 1633 01:10:28.479 --> 01:10:30.840 group is still doing a lot of good stuff, advocating 1634 01:10:30.840 --> 01:10:33.760 on the hill and stuff like that. Progress is still, 1635 01:10:33.760 --> 01:10:38.680 like I said, non existent pretty much, but there, Yeah, 1636 01:10:38.680 --> 01:10:40.640 that came up big time. A lot of guys there 1637 01:10:40.680 --> 01:10:43.359 were having really big issues because when it was in 1638 01:10:43.359 --> 01:10:46.520 the heyday, like the first six months after the collapse 1639 01:10:46.560 --> 01:10:49.960 of Afghanistan, like I personally was working eighteen hours a day, 1640 01:10:50.039 --> 01:10:52.239 I was on my phone eighteen hours a day, texting, 1641 01:10:52.319 --> 01:10:56.239 coordinating logistics, making phone calls on meetings vtc's. I mean 1642 01:10:56.279 --> 01:10:58.960 it was like running. It was like being the battalion 1643 01:10:59.000 --> 01:11:01.439 commander of a battalion sized element. Like we had a 1644 01:11:01.560 --> 01:11:04.920 fifty man intel sell at one point in time that 1645 01:11:05.039 --> 01:11:07.199 dudes were pumping me intel. Like it got to the 1646 01:11:07.199 --> 01:11:08.880 point where I had to have like dudes that just 1647 01:11:08.880 --> 01:11:10.960 handled the intel because I couldn't handle it all. We 1648 01:11:11.039 --> 01:11:13.359 had dudes that were just handling the ground, the ground stuff. 1649 01:11:13.359 --> 01:11:15.560 We had dudes that were just handling air operations, trying 1650 01:11:15.560 --> 01:11:19.199 to get guys manifested. But after that all fizzled out. 1651 01:11:19.960 --> 01:11:22.159 It got to the point where like the onset finally 1652 01:11:22.239 --> 01:11:24.800 kicked in with like, hey, these dudes are screwed man, yeah, 1653 01:11:24.800 --> 01:11:26.920 and we can't and we're just watching them get killed 1654 01:11:26.920 --> 01:11:28.159 by the Taliban and. 1655 01:11:28.119 --> 01:11:28.880 There's nothing we can do. 1656 01:11:28.960 --> 01:11:30.960 So the moral injury thing became a real thing at 1657 01:11:30.960 --> 01:11:33.039 that point in time, and it's really bothering a lot 1658 01:11:33.039 --> 01:11:33.479 of those guys. 1659 01:11:33.680 --> 01:11:36.760 Yeah, and especially you know, depending on whether it's this 1660 01:11:36.880 --> 01:11:40.039 government for us or the next any government you know, 1661 01:11:40.479 --> 01:11:43.640 after this withdrawal, how they deal with the Taliban government 1662 01:11:44.319 --> 01:11:45.960 is just sort of salt. 1663 01:11:45.720 --> 01:11:46.239 In the wound. 1664 01:11:46.640 --> 01:11:50.279 Oh yeah, Yeah, And you know, there's there. There were 1665 01:11:50.600 --> 01:11:54.159 entities from our government liaising with the Taliban this entire time. 1666 01:11:55.359 --> 01:11:57.000 One of the things that I found out, too, is 1667 01:11:57.000 --> 01:11:59.439 that the US State Department was flying one hundred Taliban 1668 01:11:59.479 --> 01:12:02.279 out on US State Department funded aircraft, yet we couldn't 1669 01:12:02.319 --> 01:12:03.319 get our Afghans on there. 1670 01:12:03.560 --> 01:12:06.920 Taliban, dude, they were flying them out on US State 1671 01:12:06.960 --> 01:12:12.640 Department aircraft like crazy. And this was around about like 1672 01:12:12.720 --> 01:12:14.479 what the year what was the fall? Was it twenty 1673 01:12:14.520 --> 01:12:16.520 twenty or twenty twenty one? I get it all mixed 1674 01:12:16.560 --> 01:12:17.840 up now. 1675 01:12:17.720 --> 01:12:20.520 Twenty twenty one, So it was like around December twenty 1676 01:12:20.560 --> 01:12:23.279 twenty one January twenty twenty one when this was happening. 1677 01:12:23.479 --> 01:12:25.479 I think I went on news Max or somewhere talking 1678 01:12:25.520 --> 01:12:28.680 about that, and it was reported all over the place, 1679 01:12:28.720 --> 01:12:31.560 but like nothing ever happened, Like why are we flying Taliban? Oh, 1680 01:12:31.560 --> 01:12:33.720 we're It was one of the things that they said, 1681 01:12:33.800 --> 01:12:37.319 we're flying the Taliban out so that they'll let us 1682 01:12:37.399 --> 01:12:39.840 fly aircraft in and out, like really one hundred a 1683 01:12:39.880 --> 01:12:41.920 week to the United States. 1684 01:12:42.039 --> 01:12:43.800 Yeah, come on, man, what's up of that? 1685 01:12:44.720 --> 01:12:47.119 So, and it's frustrating when you got these Afghan special 1686 01:12:47.119 --> 01:12:49.880 ops guys that should be able to get on those 1687 01:12:49.880 --> 01:12:52.840 planes in but they don't have the right credentials, they 1688 01:12:52.880 --> 01:12:55.880 don't have an SIV completed, they can't fly. But a 1689 01:12:55.920 --> 01:12:58.000 Taliban dud that has nothing can fly here coming right. 1690 01:12:59.159 --> 01:13:01.279 It's a kick to the you know what I mean. Yeah, 1691 01:13:01.840 --> 01:13:04.279 so that adds that moral injury. A lot of guys 1692 01:13:04.319 --> 01:13:06.800 just like just like me, saw this happening, and we're like, 1693 01:13:06.840 --> 01:13:08.239 how is this even possible? 1694 01:13:08.319 --> 01:13:10.840 You know, it's frustrating. 1695 01:13:11.079 --> 01:13:13.600 Yeah, yeah, But the way I can look back on 1696 01:13:13.680 --> 01:13:15.840 it is that we did the best that we could, right, 1697 01:13:15.880 --> 01:13:16.319 and we're. 1698 01:13:16.159 --> 01:13:17.600 Still trying to do the best that we can for 1699 01:13:17.640 --> 01:13:20.399 these guys, and we're feed them. You know, we're there. 1700 01:13:20.439 --> 01:13:23.279 There have been guys who their lives have been made 1701 01:13:23.359 --> 01:13:26.039 better because of the efforts that we've all done collectively, 1702 01:13:26.079 --> 01:13:28.880 not just me, these guys helping out to the other guys, 1703 01:13:28.960 --> 01:13:30.640 the Moral Compass Federation and groups like that. 1704 01:13:30.880 --> 01:13:35.359 Yeah, how are like, are a lot of those A 1705 01:13:35.399 --> 01:13:37.439 lot of those dudes, like for the Aru, aren't like 1706 01:13:37.520 --> 01:13:40.640 are they in hiding basically in Afghanistan? 1707 01:13:40.960 --> 01:13:41.399 Are they? 1708 01:13:41.960 --> 01:13:42.039 Like? 1709 01:13:42.159 --> 01:13:44.640 Do the Talban know who they are? They targeting them 1710 01:13:44.680 --> 01:13:45.479 their families? 1711 01:13:45.960 --> 01:13:49.680 Yeah? I Well, to take it back, I believe it 1712 01:13:49.800 --> 01:13:52.199 was worse than we I believe we thought it was 1713 01:13:52.199 --> 01:13:54.800 worse than it actually was. Okay, So in the beginning we. 1714 01:13:54.760 --> 01:13:56.920 Were like, oh, man, they were killing some dudes, but 1715 01:13:57.000 --> 01:13:59.560 they they were beating a lot of dudes. 1716 01:13:59.600 --> 01:14:00.520 And actually one of my. 1717 01:14:00.520 --> 01:14:03.720 Guys I had an after, one of my ARU dudes 1718 01:14:05.119 --> 01:14:08.680 that had a source within the Taliban leadership and due 1719 01:14:08.680 --> 01:14:11.479 to the safe ouls that he was in, so I 1720 01:14:11.600 --> 01:14:13.840 found out that I was able to get a lot 1721 01:14:13.880 --> 01:14:14.520 of guys released. 1722 01:14:14.560 --> 01:14:15.640 I had a lot of guys released. 1723 01:14:15.720 --> 01:14:18.119 I'd call my guy, I'm like, hey, can you check 1724 01:14:18.159 --> 01:14:20.479 with with the general that's what we called the guy, 1725 01:14:21.119 --> 01:14:23.239 and like, can you check with the general and see 1726 01:14:23.279 --> 01:14:25.560 if they have this guy in custody. If so, he's 1727 01:14:25.600 --> 01:14:27.640 one of our guys, Man can have them released every 1728 01:14:27.680 --> 01:14:28.359 single time. 1729 01:14:28.159 --> 01:14:28.920 They release him. 1730 01:14:29.279 --> 01:14:33.479 So the Taliban would actually release guys through my proxy, 1731 01:14:33.560 --> 01:14:36.079 Like my source had that much influence with them and 1732 01:14:36.119 --> 01:14:37.960 this so I found out. 1733 01:14:37.960 --> 01:14:39.560 I don't think it was as bad as we thought. 1734 01:14:39.680 --> 01:14:41.840 I don't know why they were detaining these guys, roughing 1735 01:14:41.880 --> 01:14:44.840 them up, making it look rough, but I don't think they. 1736 01:14:44.680 --> 01:14:47.399 Were killing them in the numbers that we thought they 1737 01:14:47.399 --> 01:14:48.079 were at first. 1738 01:14:49.600 --> 01:14:51.239 I don't know why it seemed like it was a 1739 01:14:51.239 --> 01:14:53.359 fear campaign to make them scared, to make them hide 1740 01:14:53.399 --> 01:14:55.000 at first, But now a lot of them have kind 1741 01:14:55.039 --> 01:14:57.039 of kind of let up, you know, they're kind of. 1742 01:14:56.960 --> 01:15:00.479 Going out and doing their normal stuff into society. Now 1743 01:15:00.560 --> 01:15:01.840 are we Are we worried? 1744 01:15:01.960 --> 01:15:05.039 Has there been in the indication of the Taliban basically 1745 01:15:06.439 --> 01:15:09.880 recruiting these guys in the sense of obviously these guys 1746 01:15:10.039 --> 01:15:12.720 fought against the Taliban and they're not for the Taliban, 1747 01:15:12.760 --> 01:15:18.039 but also human nature is just to make life easier 1748 01:15:18.039 --> 01:15:18.359 for you. 1749 01:15:18.399 --> 01:15:19.119 And your family. 1750 01:15:19.720 --> 01:15:23.159 So now we have not just the Aru, but you know, 1751 01:15:23.239 --> 01:15:27.600 we have you know, the conduct we have cptt ccpts, 1752 01:15:27.640 --> 01:15:31.239 we have, we have all these forces that were trained 1753 01:15:31.239 --> 01:15:33.319 and I think a lot of the CTPT got out, 1754 01:15:33.479 --> 01:15:35.760 but we have these forces that have been trained by 1755 01:15:36.000 --> 01:15:37.520 American Special Operations. 1756 01:15:37.920 --> 01:15:40.279 We didn't do right by them? Or are we? 1757 01:15:40.720 --> 01:15:43.159 Are we concerned? Has there been any concern. 1758 01:15:43.239 --> 01:15:45.560 That they're going to the other side? 1759 01:15:45.680 --> 01:15:48.279 Yeah, there has been concern and there has been some 1760 01:15:48.359 --> 01:15:52.520 of that happening, not not so much with the AARU. 1761 01:15:52.520 --> 01:15:54.439 I haven't heard of any Aru doing that. I'm sure 1762 01:15:54.439 --> 01:15:56.640 there probably have been, but not that I've heard of. 1763 01:15:57.479 --> 01:15:59.840 And the more smaller, more elite units, not so much 1764 01:16:00.159 --> 01:16:04.680 have heard of like rare occurrences of like Commando's doing that, 1765 01:16:05.000 --> 01:16:06.800 And I think it was more of like other different 1766 01:16:06.800 --> 01:16:09.000 forces out there that we're doing, but it has happened. 1767 01:16:09.520 --> 01:16:11.880 But a lot of them, a lot of the KKA 1768 01:16:11.960 --> 01:16:17.600 actually joined the National Resistance Front with was Akman Masud 1769 01:16:17.920 --> 01:16:21.119 uh leading that effort? Am I mixing him up with 1770 01:16:21.239 --> 01:16:24.279 his father? I can't remember Akaman Masud. I think it's 1771 01:16:24.319 --> 01:16:26.880 Okama Masud the son that's leading the national results. 1772 01:16:26.880 --> 01:16:29.439 I can't remember which is the son and the father. Baby, Yeah, 1773 01:16:29.439 --> 01:16:31.600 I'm pretty sure it's Yeah, I don't know why. I'm 1774 01:16:31.640 --> 01:16:35.399 having a brain fun at the time. But our guy, 1775 01:16:35.479 --> 01:16:37.439 A lot of the KKA guys were linking up with 1776 01:16:37.479 --> 01:16:39.680 those guys and they were taking it to the Taliban 1777 01:16:39.760 --> 01:16:42.600 at first, like they were literally they almost pushed the Taliban. 1778 01:16:42.880 --> 01:16:44.760 The Taliban were pushing up in the the. 1779 01:16:46.920 --> 01:16:50.560 Uh Ha, the pan Shure up in that area, and 1780 01:16:50.720 --> 01:16:52.560 these guys were pushing them all the way back, had 1781 01:16:52.560 --> 01:16:55.760 pushed them all the way back almost to Cobble. Then 1782 01:16:56.000 --> 01:16:59.880 Pakistan sent over some drones and did drone strikes on them. Yeah, 1783 01:17:00.159 --> 01:17:02.399 and killed a bunch of them. And kind of thwarted 1784 01:17:02.399 --> 01:17:04.840 that whole thing and stifled it. But they were, they 1785 01:17:04.880 --> 01:17:08.960 were this close to taking taking couple back. We were 1786 01:17:09.039 --> 01:17:11.079 cheering them on. We're like, yes, yes, let's do this. 1787 01:17:11.640 --> 01:17:16.000 And then Pakistan sent over some some aircraft and some drones. 1788 01:17:15.720 --> 01:17:18.000 And did strikes them and pushed them all back, kind 1789 01:17:18.000 --> 01:17:19.039 of killed that whole effort. 1790 01:17:20.279 --> 01:17:22.640 It's so weird to me because it never goes well 1791 01:17:22.680 --> 01:17:26.279 for Pakistan when they like, like they've always supported the 1792 01:17:26.279 --> 01:17:29.560 Taliban and AQ and whatnot, but it doesn't go well 1793 01:17:29.640 --> 01:17:31.840 for them. I think that they just want the problem 1794 01:17:31.880 --> 01:17:33.560 to be in Afghanistan and. 1795 01:17:34.119 --> 01:17:36.520 Now they got to live with their creation. Yeah yeah, 1796 01:17:36.640 --> 01:17:40.199 right next door. Yeah yeah, Yeah. 1797 01:17:40.199 --> 01:17:41.640 A lot of these guys, like I said, they went 1798 01:17:41.680 --> 01:17:44.600 to the good what I considered the good side, but 1799 01:17:45.000 --> 01:17:47.560 they've kind of I don't that effort's kind of stifled 1800 01:17:47.560 --> 01:17:50.439 now too, but they're there. Definitely have been something that's 1801 01:17:50.439 --> 01:17:52.439 gone to the bad side, confirmed that I know of. 1802 01:17:52.520 --> 01:17:55.159 Yeah, but not as big as you not as much 1803 01:17:55.159 --> 01:17:55.760 as you would. 1804 01:17:55.600 --> 01:17:58.319 Think, right, And and I imagine for a lot of them, 1805 01:17:58.359 --> 01:18:02.439 it's not that they're going to the the only thing 1806 01:18:02.439 --> 01:18:03.680 they got, Yeah, it's not that. 1807 01:18:05.319 --> 01:18:08.239 Yeah, it's literally survival mechanism for them. I mean, and 1808 01:18:08.279 --> 01:18:11.159 I don't blame on one bit. It's just like when 1809 01:18:11.640 --> 01:18:16.159 when Russia started recruiting them for for it's the name 1810 01:18:16.199 --> 01:18:22.760 of that group, uh, the Russian contractor Wagner, Yeah, Warner 1811 01:18:22.800 --> 01:18:26.800 group or Yeah, they were recruiting those guys, and I 1812 01:18:26.840 --> 01:18:28.840 was like, Hey, I don't blame them. You know, if 1813 01:18:28.920 --> 01:18:30.800 if you're getting out of here, you know, and they're 1814 01:18:30.840 --> 01:18:33.359 gonna put you up and give you nice accommodations and 1815 01:18:33.399 --> 01:18:35.880 treat you like one of their civilians, you know, I 1816 01:18:35.880 --> 01:18:36.760 don't blame them. 1817 01:18:36.840 --> 01:18:38.840 It's not what I would do. But it's not that 1818 01:18:38.920 --> 01:18:39.439 I would blame we. 1819 01:18:39.479 --> 01:18:41.319 Actually we had huge efforts to try to get them 1820 01:18:41.319 --> 01:18:43.279 to Ukraine too, Like with this whole event going on 1821 01:18:43.279 --> 01:18:46.039 in Ukraine, like, hey, these dudes right here will come 1822 01:18:46.039 --> 01:18:48.600 fight with you. Just hit them out. Yeah, nobody, nobody 1823 01:18:48.640 --> 01:18:50.279 would touch it. Nobody would touch it with a ten 1824 01:18:50.319 --> 01:18:53.920 foot pole. Like I talked to people in Parliament and Ukraine. 1825 01:18:54.199 --> 01:18:56.279 I've talked to people here in the United States advocating 1826 01:18:56.319 --> 01:18:58.079 for it. 1827 01:18:58.079 --> 01:18:59.840 It's crazy, the dynamic this thing is. 1828 01:19:00.000 --> 01:19:03.800 I'll turn I actually met with a donor and another 1829 01:19:03.840 --> 01:19:06.720 interesting thing tying to the Wagner Group was there was 1830 01:19:07.479 --> 01:19:09.840 this donor that we were told about that that he 1831 01:19:10.039 --> 01:19:13.600 had helicopters fixed wing. He was moving dudes currently out 1832 01:19:13.640 --> 01:19:16.560 of Afghanistan. We're like, dang, this is like the golden ticket. 1833 01:19:16.800 --> 01:19:19.960 Like if we can convince him that Project Exodus has 1834 01:19:20.000 --> 01:19:22.079 the capabilities that we have and we have the quality 1835 01:19:22.119 --> 01:19:25.000 of dudes that he wants, maybe he'll get him out. 1836 01:19:25.039 --> 01:19:26.680 Because we didn't know why he was trying to help 1837 01:19:26.720 --> 01:19:28.239 at the time, we were like, we set up a meeting. 1838 01:19:28.439 --> 01:19:30.720 So we set up a meeting with this dude, and 1839 01:19:31.039 --> 01:19:33.520 you know, just like a Google meet. He comes on, 1840 01:19:33.760 --> 01:19:35.680 his chief of staff comes on. Mind you, this dude's 1841 01:19:35.720 --> 01:19:40.319 a billionaire. He's a mega billionaire. I can't remember his name, 1842 01:19:40.399 --> 01:19:42.199 like Garrity or something like that was his last name. 1843 01:19:43.000 --> 01:19:45.279 This guy supposed we spoke at Sea Pack. He's like 1844 01:19:45.359 --> 01:19:50.279 big tight end on the conservative political side. Well, he 1845 01:19:50.680 --> 01:19:51.239 he came on. 1846 01:19:51.199 --> 01:19:52.960 To our meeting. We were talking about different things. 1847 01:19:53.000 --> 01:19:55.319 We're briefing on all operations we had going on the 1848 01:19:55.359 --> 01:19:57.279 food program and this stuff, this, that and the other. 1849 01:19:57.800 --> 01:20:00.479 One of my guys was like, hey, we to caution 1850 01:20:00.600 --> 01:20:03.760 our guys to stay away from Wagner Group and we 1851 01:20:03.840 --> 01:20:05.319 just need to make sure that they're not doing that 1852 01:20:05.359 --> 01:20:06.800 because it's just going to look bad in the as 1853 01:20:06.840 --> 01:20:09.680 the United States, so we can't support it. Then boom, 1854 01:20:09.720 --> 01:20:11.840 this dude and his chief of staff popped off the call. 1855 01:20:11.920 --> 01:20:13.520 We're like, what the heck, man, this dude just ditched 1856 01:20:13.520 --> 01:20:15.479 the car. We're like maybe they lost connection. So we're 1857 01:20:15.520 --> 01:20:17.319 like texting on the background, like, Hey, what happened? What 1858 01:20:17.399 --> 01:20:19.439 did the guy drop off? Come to find out, the 1859 01:20:19.479 --> 01:20:22.000 DUDEHS are a recruiter for Wagner Group. The US dude 1860 01:20:22.079 --> 01:20:26.479 tied into what states? Yeah, I have pushed the dude 1861 01:20:26.520 --> 01:20:29.479 as a ghost on the internet though literally he's a 1862 01:20:29.479 --> 01:20:32.359 ghost on the Internet. I've pushed everything I can to 1863 01:20:32.399 --> 01:20:34.000 other people. I'm like, dig into this dude. This is 1864 01:20:34.000 --> 01:20:36.600 an American citizen. I passed it to the agency. I 1865 01:20:36.680 --> 01:20:39.039 passed the FBI, and they're like, we can't do anything. 1866 01:20:39.079 --> 01:20:41.840 He's an American citizen. I'm like, he's an American citizen, 1867 01:20:41.840 --> 01:20:45.800 but he's also got British citizenship as well, and he's 1868 01:20:45.840 --> 01:20:48.920 super wealthy, and he's tied into the political sphere here 1869 01:20:48.960 --> 01:20:51.239 in the United States. But he was recruiting for Wagner Group. 1870 01:20:51.399 --> 01:20:53.800 That's who he's moving people for too, he admitted he 1871 01:20:53.840 --> 01:20:55.880 told that to our people who got this guy on 1872 01:20:55.920 --> 01:20:57.239 the call. Isn't that crazy? 1873 01:20:57.479 --> 01:20:59.960 So we're like, what kind of tail spin is this 1874 01:21:00.159 --> 01:21:00.840 going to take next? 1875 01:21:00.880 --> 01:21:01.039 You know? 1876 01:21:01.399 --> 01:21:03.359 I mean I can see the CIA saying we can't 1877 01:21:03.439 --> 01:21:05.680 like he's an American cityst and what the FBI like, 1878 01:21:05.680 --> 01:21:09.119 I'm pretty sure the FBI can process. That's their yeah, think, yeah, 1879 01:21:09.159 --> 01:21:12.600 that's their perview. Yeah, but well Treasury too, right if 1880 01:21:12.600 --> 01:21:17.760 you're breaking uh finance laws, Yeah. 1881 01:21:17.479 --> 01:21:21.039 Yeah, that's I really would like to find out what 1882 01:21:21.159 --> 01:21:22.960 the truth is behind that guy. Like I said, all 1883 01:21:23.000 --> 01:21:25.439 I know is what I was told. I was told 1884 01:21:25.479 --> 01:21:28.760 that he's he spoke at c PACK. Somebody sent me 1885 01:21:28.800 --> 01:21:32.880 like a Twitter clip of him speaking there, uh tied 1886 01:21:32.920 --> 01:21:36.680 in with a lot of big conservative politicians. 1887 01:21:36.720 --> 01:21:38.960 And I was like, huh interesting, you know what I mean? 1888 01:21:39.119 --> 01:21:41.720 Yeah, my thought when a lot of that stuff was 1889 01:21:41.760 --> 01:21:44.159 going down and what I thought the missed opportunity was. 1890 01:21:44.600 --> 01:21:47.439 And it's not my job, but my thought is like, 1891 01:21:47.520 --> 01:21:49.680 we have all these guys we trained up in the KKA, 1892 01:21:49.800 --> 01:21:53.640 the a r U, the CTPTS, why are we not 1893 01:21:53.720 --> 01:21:56.720 evacuating them to a third country, not America, but a 1894 01:21:56.720 --> 01:21:59.359 third country. That did happen, But I mean, why isn't 1895 01:21:59.359 --> 01:22:02.439 the agents moving them to a third country and you 1896 01:22:02.479 --> 01:22:06.279 have an element that you can use for completely deniable operations. 1897 01:22:06.279 --> 01:22:08.600 Oh absolutely, dude. I've been trying to pitch. 1898 01:22:08.359 --> 01:22:10.439 That to the agency for the last year and a half, 1899 01:22:10.840 --> 01:22:13.039 Like I've literally have a guy that I've been talking 1900 01:22:13.039 --> 01:22:15.319 to and I'm like, hey, this is the capabilities we 1901 01:22:15.319 --> 01:22:18.159 can bring. We actually had like a covert medical program 1902 01:22:18.199 --> 01:22:20.680 we were going to use. We had everything, we just 1903 01:22:20.720 --> 01:22:22.600 needed a little bit more funding. I was like, you guys, 1904 01:22:22.680 --> 01:22:23.119 fund it. 1905 01:22:23.359 --> 01:22:23.520 Now. 1906 01:22:23.560 --> 01:22:27.119 You have an ambulance company in Kabul, Afghanistan that has 1907 01:22:27.159 --> 01:22:30.159 access everywhere. We were going to build false bottoms in 1908 01:22:30.199 --> 01:22:33.199 these vehicles so we could transport people and supplies. We 1909 01:22:33.199 --> 01:22:35.800 were literally trying to build packages to sell to them, 1910 01:22:35.800 --> 01:22:37.119 Like hey, here's a capability. 1911 01:22:37.279 --> 01:22:38.479 Nobody wants it. Yeah, I yah. 1912 01:22:38.680 --> 01:22:41.920 You'd have a group of Afghans who are well versed 1913 01:22:41.960 --> 01:22:43.720 in putting, you know, a suppress twenty two to the 1914 01:22:43.720 --> 01:22:48.399 back of somebody's head. Sounds like maybe something somebody could use. Yeah, absolutely, yeah, 1915 01:22:48.439 --> 01:22:49.640 I don't. I don't you would think. 1916 01:22:49.640 --> 01:22:52.560 That the agency will touch like medical stuff. Well that 1917 01:22:52.640 --> 01:22:53.720 was just one aspect to it. 1918 01:22:53.800 --> 01:22:56.800 Yeah, but we were trying to think of ways to 1919 01:22:56.960 --> 01:22:59.920 have better the ability. So one of the things that 1920 01:23:00.159 --> 01:23:03.199 was people were having issues with moving people around. We're like, 1921 01:23:03.239 --> 01:23:06.119 we'll create a medical company because there are medical issues 1922 01:23:06.159 --> 01:23:07.920 that are poppling up right right right, So we were 1923 01:23:07.920 --> 01:23:09.760 going to treat it was gonna be a real medical 1924 01:23:09.960 --> 01:23:13.319 agency or ambulance company for the la lack of a 1925 01:23:13.359 --> 01:23:15.399 better term, but we were going to also be able 1926 01:23:15.439 --> 01:23:19.359 to use it to smuggle people and or supplies under 1927 01:23:19.359 --> 01:23:22.399 the nose of the talent as a you know, ambulance 1928 01:23:23.479 --> 01:23:26.760 we had. I mean, we got a pretty good intel 1929 01:23:26.800 --> 01:23:28.680 network still over there. We've kind of kind of let 1930 01:23:28.680 --> 01:23:31.039 it go because we it's no no need to pimp 1931 01:23:31.119 --> 01:23:32.840 these guys for information all the time, and we can't 1932 01:23:32.840 --> 01:23:33.840 give them anything in return. 1933 01:23:33.960 --> 01:23:35.640 I can't get you out, man, right right. 1934 01:23:36.000 --> 01:23:38.479 Let's talk a little bit about the further adventures of 1935 01:23:38.520 --> 01:23:42.960 Mike Edwards. Uh, your life after service after all this stuff, 1936 01:23:43.000 --> 01:23:45.640 going to work with us p A and others. 1937 01:23:46.600 --> 01:23:49.880 I know you have some interesting stories there. Yeah. 1938 01:23:50.000 --> 01:23:53.119 Like I said, the whole it stemmed from your podcast, 1939 01:23:53.159 --> 01:23:55.680 you know, people reaching out. We started Project Exodus, I 1940 01:23:55.800 --> 01:24:02.119 met Adam and uh then Brian Gibbons, and then you know, 1941 01:24:02.239 --> 01:24:04.439 I did some work with those guys. Well, then I 1942 01:24:04.520 --> 01:24:06.960 ended up I had a job that I had as 1943 01:24:07.000 --> 01:24:09.680 a government contractor for a while, ended up losing that job, 1944 01:24:10.840 --> 01:24:15.039 do various things, and then I saw his jobless for 1945 01:24:15.039 --> 01:24:18.640 about a year. USPA Brian hit me up. Brian Fitzgibbons 1946 01:24:18.680 --> 01:24:21.359 hit me up and he said, hey, would you like 1947 01:24:21.399 --> 01:24:23.239 to work with us for this contract? And this was 1948 01:24:23.359 --> 01:24:26.279 last December, and I said, yeah, sure, it's like we're 1949 01:24:26.319 --> 01:24:28.880 going down to Miami. I'll bring you down there. It's 1950 01:24:28.920 --> 01:24:31.640 just like an executive protection gig. Didn't really know what it 1951 01:24:31.720 --> 01:24:33.159 was about him, like, yeah, sure. He bought me a 1952 01:24:33.159 --> 01:24:35.399 plane ticket. I was on a plane, flew down there 1953 01:24:35.920 --> 01:24:39.239 and ended up me and Rodney Brown, one of my 1954 01:24:39.640 --> 01:24:43.479 seal buddies who was with Project Excess. They contracted him too. 1955 01:24:44.119 --> 01:24:47.439 Adam was there running the static security. So we had 1956 01:24:47.439 --> 01:24:51.720 like tons of like fifty guards guarding this art exhibit 1957 01:24:51.760 --> 01:24:54.720 for Madonna. It was at like Eve Saint Laurent is 1958 01:24:54.760 --> 01:24:59.279 what it was called. So Madonna had this sex art 1959 01:24:59.319 --> 01:25:01.920 show that she had of like pictures of herself naked 1960 01:25:01.960 --> 01:25:05.079 all over the place inside there. Yeah, and all these celebrities, 1961 01:25:05.239 --> 01:25:06.680 like a list celebrities. 1962 01:25:06.680 --> 01:25:08.680 I don't remember the names of any of them. You know, 1963 01:25:08.720 --> 01:25:10.079 Adam were better than me. 1964 01:25:10.159 --> 01:25:13.119 But Madonna was the key want the head won, right, 1965 01:25:13.920 --> 01:25:15.439 So she did that and then had like a big 1966 01:25:15.479 --> 01:25:20.000 after party. So me and Ridney Brown were her personal 1967 01:25:20.039 --> 01:25:23.960 bodyguards for that event. So it's kind of interesting. Yeah, 1968 01:25:24.000 --> 01:25:26.840 we were the muscle really just blocking her from the paparazzi. 1969 01:25:28.000 --> 01:25:30.399 But we did that manage the security event for that 1970 01:25:31.760 --> 01:25:35.720 we do for the most part, we do nationwide, even 1971 01:25:35.760 --> 01:25:41.600 international armed executive protection security, bodyguard work and firewatch. Firewatch 1972 01:25:41.680 --> 01:25:44.000 is a big thing that we do where for example, 1973 01:25:44.000 --> 01:25:46.479 if you're building is under construction, they may have to 1974 01:25:46.479 --> 01:25:49.039 shut down the fire sprinkler systems and you don't want 1975 01:25:49.079 --> 01:25:51.560 to shut the business down. So by law most places 1976 01:25:51.560 --> 01:25:54.000 you have to have basically like boot camp firewatch guy 1977 01:25:54.279 --> 01:25:56.840 in there paid and so we do that a lot. 1978 01:25:56.880 --> 01:25:59.920 We provide that service all over the country. But the 1979 01:26:00.399 --> 01:26:03.760 key thing with that is, uh, fifty percent of all 1980 01:26:03.840 --> 01:26:07.279 the earnings from USPA goes into the Kingsman program. The 1981 01:26:07.399 --> 01:26:11.680 Kingsman is the nonprofit arm of USPA. Mike Evans, the 1982 01:26:11.720 --> 01:26:13.920 owner of the company, Such a nice guy, such a 1983 01:26:13.920 --> 01:26:17.359 big hearted guy and and Dan Manning the CEO like 1984 01:26:17.439 --> 01:26:22.199 they you know, will accept these different missing persons cases 1985 01:26:22.319 --> 01:26:26.600 or traffic children or for example, battered women cases will 1986 01:26:26.600 --> 01:26:28.479 come in and that's part of one of the things 1987 01:26:28.479 --> 01:26:30.319 I'm paid to do to his advice on that stuff. 1988 01:26:30.359 --> 01:26:34.600 So we'll we'll get cases like there there was a girl, 1989 01:26:34.680 --> 01:26:39.920 Ashland gill Up in Massachusetts, wasn't Massachusetts that went uh, 1990 01:26:40.079 --> 01:26:42.039 went missing in the cops we're looking for for like 1991 01:26:42.039 --> 01:26:42.920 thirty something days. 1992 01:26:43.319 --> 01:26:43.479 Uh. 1993 01:26:43.520 --> 01:26:45.760 We got on the case and found her within three 1994 01:26:45.840 --> 01:26:47.560 days and had her back to her family. 1995 01:26:47.720 --> 01:26:49.159 Wow. Uh. There was another one. 1996 01:26:49.600 --> 01:26:51.800 I won't say the name, but it was an adult 1997 01:26:51.840 --> 01:26:54.720 girl down in Florida who was tied in with a 1998 01:26:56.399 --> 01:27:00.920 basically international convent, the stude Ha con Any women like 1999 01:27:01.039 --> 01:27:02.439 good looking younger girls. 2000 01:27:02.479 --> 01:27:04.439 He was probably like about my age. 2001 01:27:04.600 --> 01:27:07.680 And then he was getting not as handsome, yeah, definitely 2002 01:27:07.720 --> 01:27:11.079 not as handsome, and getting these younger twenty something to 2003 01:27:11.119 --> 01:27:13.880 thirty year old girls to spend all their money, literally 2004 01:27:14.279 --> 01:27:16.800 millions of dollars he sucked out of these girls just 2005 01:27:16.840 --> 01:27:20.159 traveling around. And I reached out some of my network 2006 01:27:20.159 --> 01:27:22.079 that came from the Project Exodus stuff, some of that 2007 01:27:22.119 --> 01:27:24.359 stuff that I was tied in there was able to 2008 01:27:24.359 --> 01:27:27.520 bring in a guy that can dig on people's phones 2009 01:27:27.600 --> 01:27:30.720 and basically sigate type stuff and find where these people 2010 01:27:30.760 --> 01:27:33.159 are at. So we used him to find where these 2011 01:27:33.199 --> 01:27:35.880 people are at and ended up handing off the locations 2012 01:27:35.880 --> 01:27:41.359 to the FBI and to the sheriff detective down in 2013 01:27:41.359 --> 01:27:43.600 Florida who actually was in third range of re time 2014 01:27:43.680 --> 01:27:46.600 with us in the same platoon actually for a little bit. 2015 01:27:46.600 --> 01:27:48.359 So it was interesting bumping into that guy. But we 2016 01:27:48.439 --> 01:27:53.520 helped federal law enforcement and local law enforcement apprehend this basically, 2017 01:27:53.560 --> 01:27:56.560 like I said, international command and freed this girl up 2018 01:27:56.640 --> 01:27:57.840 so that she'd go back to her family. 2019 01:27:58.319 --> 01:28:00.800 She was willingly with him. I only asked us to 2020 01:28:00.840 --> 01:28:04.000 help her, but we couldn't force her to leave. She's like, 2021 01:28:04.000 --> 01:28:05.640 it's more like a deprogramming in a. 2022 01:28:05.640 --> 01:28:07.520 Way, right, Yeah, And that's what we're going to try 2023 01:28:07.560 --> 01:28:10.840 to do, is kind of call her out, deprogram hers 2024 01:28:10.960 --> 01:28:13.239 our ability. Yeah, but what we figured out the most 2025 01:28:13.359 --> 01:28:16.199 viable route was to just help the cops detain him. 2026 01:28:16.279 --> 01:28:18.119 Now he's out of the picture and she's free, right, 2027 01:28:18.359 --> 01:28:20.920 So that's what happened. Yeah, Well, we do a lot 2028 01:28:20.920 --> 01:28:23.960 of that stuff. Man cases that pop up. We try 2029 01:28:24.000 --> 01:28:25.720 to help people as much as possible. Like I said 2030 01:28:26.119 --> 01:28:28.600 the Kingsman, fifty percent of our earnings goes to that, 2031 01:28:28.800 --> 01:28:30.199 to funding these different programs. 2032 01:28:30.279 --> 01:28:34.640 Yeah, and those programs are expensive. I mean with the surveillance, 2033 01:28:34.720 --> 01:28:40.239 the tech, you know, if it's like recovery, uh you know, 2034 01:28:41.000 --> 01:28:43.000 you know, and I don't know if you guys, because 2035 01:28:43.000 --> 01:28:44.520 you said internationally, right or. 2036 01:28:45.479 --> 01:28:47.279 Well, most of the recovery stuff we do here in 2037 01:28:47.319 --> 01:28:51.239 the States. Yeah, we could. We have done some internationally 2038 01:28:51.239 --> 01:28:52.840 as well, but most of us here in the States. 2039 01:28:52.840 --> 01:28:56.960 But international is like the security stuff, executive protection stuff. 2040 01:28:56.720 --> 01:28:59.000 Yeah, all over the place. Yeah. 2041 01:29:00.560 --> 01:29:02.920 Yeah, And how are you enjoying that? Like how is 2042 01:29:02.960 --> 01:29:06.760 that back to your Rekie days? Yeah, you know because 2043 01:29:07.079 --> 01:29:10.159 one of the things one of the things we talked about, 2044 01:29:09.479 --> 01:29:12.279 uh uh, I can't remember if it was your first 2045 01:29:12.279 --> 01:29:14.319 time on, your second time on, was like the post 2046 01:29:14.319 --> 01:29:17.520 traumatic stress and like the like pulling people out of 2047 01:29:17.560 --> 01:29:22.039 cars isn't like necessarily like normal behavior, right, Yeah, And 2048 01:29:22.199 --> 01:29:27.199 and I and I identify with that one, like you 2049 01:29:27.239 --> 01:29:30.079 know where sometimes my girlfriend's like let this go, and. 2050 01:29:30.199 --> 01:29:33.640 Like, yeah, it's hard to de escalate some times. 2051 01:29:33.720 --> 01:29:39.479 Yeah, how like how has it been for you not 2052 01:29:39.520 --> 01:29:42.000 only with like the postmatic stress going back sort of 2053 01:29:42.039 --> 01:29:45.800 into this world, but also the sense of mission, the 2054 01:29:45.880 --> 01:29:49.800 sense of purpose that you had and then you're and 2055 01:29:49.840 --> 01:29:52.560 then then you're looking for does this kind of fulfill that. 2056 01:29:52.600 --> 01:29:55.159 Role for you? Yeah? I think you know. That's one 2057 01:29:55.199 --> 01:29:57.279 of the things when when USPA. 2058 01:29:56.920 --> 01:29:59.600 I asked I wanted to come on full time working 2059 01:29:59.640 --> 01:30:02.199 with them, I was like, man, I'm so happy that 2060 01:30:02.239 --> 01:30:04.119 you all asked me, because this is something that can 2061 01:30:04.159 --> 01:30:06.520 definitely get behind because I knew what they were doing 2062 01:30:06.520 --> 01:30:07.960 because I kind of helped a little bit on the 2063 01:30:08.000 --> 01:30:08.600 side with that. 2064 01:30:09.439 --> 01:30:12.119 But you're right, I've never had PTSD, I guess per se. 2065 01:30:12.239 --> 01:30:12.920 I don't know why. 2066 01:30:13.239 --> 01:30:16.840 But I did have other issues right that I that 2067 01:30:16.920 --> 01:30:19.199 I had, and we can speak on that stuff if 2068 01:30:19.199 --> 01:30:19.880 you guys have time. 2069 01:30:19.880 --> 01:30:23.600 I want to. But I never had PTSD. But yeah, 2070 01:30:23.680 --> 01:30:24.880 it is right, It is good. You know. 2071 01:30:25.239 --> 01:30:28.159 Whenever I retired, I was doing the free fall stuff. 2072 01:30:28.199 --> 01:30:29.920 There was a lot of free fall contracts. I was 2073 01:30:29.960 --> 01:30:32.680 teaching wrecky courses and long range shooting cosses and stuff 2074 01:30:32.680 --> 01:30:35.840 to different guys, and I enjoyed that You're still with 2075 01:30:35.880 --> 01:30:38.840 the boys, still walking in the mountains, still doing military 2076 01:30:38.880 --> 01:30:41.920 type stuff. When you completely pull away from that. It 2077 01:30:42.000 --> 01:30:43.800 kind of it's like a sever that you can feel, 2078 01:30:43.840 --> 01:30:46.439 you know, it just doesn't feel right. So I pulled 2079 01:30:46.479 --> 01:30:49.199 away from that for a little bit. But this definitely 2080 01:30:49.279 --> 01:30:52.119 fulfills It fills that niche you. 2081 01:30:52.199 --> 01:30:55.960 Yeah, am, I I'm sorry my memory is horrible, but 2082 01:30:56.039 --> 01:31:00.439 I was it was Was it not you? We were 2083 01:31:00.439 --> 01:31:02.960 talking about, like getting angry on the on the road and. 2084 01:31:02.920 --> 01:31:07.319 Roadbrange I did. I Yeah, I used to get like that. Yeah. Yeah, 2085 01:31:07.359 --> 01:31:10.880 that was a period of time for a while. I 2086 01:31:10.920 --> 01:31:12.279 was just angry at the world. Man. 2087 01:31:12.319 --> 01:31:14.119 I don't know why it was, but I was. I 2088 01:31:14.159 --> 01:31:15.840 was angry, dude. I mean, you know, a lot of 2089 01:31:15.840 --> 01:31:19.000 guys are scared to talk about this stuff. Yeah, but 2090 01:31:19.119 --> 01:31:20.920 you know, suicide is a big deal. Like we've had 2091 01:31:20.960 --> 01:31:22.119 friends that died from that. 2092 01:31:22.239 --> 01:31:22.399 Yeah. 2093 01:31:22.439 --> 01:31:24.359 Due to be honest with you, I've had a pistol 2094 01:31:24.399 --> 01:31:26.600 to my head snatching the slack out of a trigger before. 2095 01:31:26.800 --> 01:31:29.000 I'm not scared to tell people about that because that 2096 01:31:29.119 --> 01:31:32.520 was a weakness that I was at it. I'll never 2097 01:31:32.600 --> 01:31:36.119 be back there again, do that now. But at the time, man, 2098 01:31:36.159 --> 01:31:39.359 I was being haunted. I don't know why or what 2099 01:31:39.399 --> 01:31:41.359 it was called. None of this ever happened while I 2100 01:31:41.359 --> 01:31:42.039 was in the military. 2101 01:31:42.159 --> 01:31:42.880 Right. It was. 2102 01:31:42.920 --> 01:31:44.920 Once I was out of the military and I was 2103 01:31:44.960 --> 01:31:47.560 just at home with my wife and kid. I was 2104 01:31:47.720 --> 01:31:51.359 drinking a lot to like kind of mitigate pain and 2105 01:31:51.399 --> 01:31:55.079 stress and stuff like that, taking like pain pills and 2106 01:31:55.560 --> 01:31:59.319 ambient and all that kind of crap, met self medicating. 2107 01:31:59.720 --> 01:32:01.640 I don't know why I was doing it. I felt 2108 01:32:01.640 --> 01:32:03.239 like I needed it to sleep. I felt like I 2109 01:32:03.279 --> 01:32:07.800 needed it to be RESTful. But dude, I would lose control. Man, 2110 01:32:07.960 --> 01:32:11.199 Like I was angry. I was. I was so mean 2111 01:32:11.640 --> 01:32:14.199 to my wife. You know, Thank God I've got a 2112 01:32:14.199 --> 01:32:16.520 good Christian wife. And my wife was praying for me 2113 01:32:16.560 --> 01:32:18.560 all the time, Like I call her, I tell her, 2114 01:32:18.560 --> 01:32:20.039 I think I said that on the second one. She's 2115 01:32:20.079 --> 01:32:23.680 the most valorous soldier that I know because I was 2116 01:32:23.800 --> 01:32:27.079 her worst enemy. I was attacking her left and right, 2117 01:32:27.319 --> 01:32:29.720 and she just prayed for me and prayed for me 2118 01:32:29.880 --> 01:32:33.560 and prayed for me. And then boom, I'm completely changed. 2119 01:32:33.600 --> 01:32:36.399 I'm not even close to the same guy I was 2120 01:32:36.439 --> 01:32:38.000 the last time I was on this podcast. 2121 01:32:38.039 --> 01:32:38.279 Man. 2122 01:32:39.039 --> 01:32:41.000 You know that goes into my new passion is like 2123 01:32:41.039 --> 01:32:44.760 studying the Bible, like I have studied the Bible for 2124 01:32:44.800 --> 01:32:45.880 the last four years now. 2125 01:32:45.920 --> 01:32:47.359 And at first I was telling you I would chuck 2126 01:32:47.439 --> 01:32:49.199 that thing across the room. I'd get pissed off. 2127 01:32:49.239 --> 01:32:51.840 I'm like, this book is stupid, it's trash. Who could 2128 01:32:51.840 --> 01:32:56.640 even understand this thing? But now I've studied it so 2129 01:32:56.840 --> 01:32:59.359 much that I do understand it. Now, I do understand 2130 01:32:59.359 --> 01:33:03.520 it clearly, and I teach people on the side. I 2131 01:33:03.560 --> 01:33:05.920 put together Bible studies and lead groups of Bible studies 2132 01:33:05.920 --> 01:33:08.399 for this, and there's a lot of people coming around 2133 01:33:08.479 --> 01:33:10.640 to the truth with this now one of the most 2134 01:33:10.680 --> 01:33:11.399 shocking things. 2135 01:33:11.399 --> 01:33:13.479 A lot of people don't like to accept it. But 2136 01:33:14.119 --> 01:33:17.439 I mean, the Bible predicted this. The Bible predicted that 2137 01:33:17.479 --> 01:33:20.800 in the end times, the entire church, the entire church 2138 01:33:20.800 --> 01:33:25.159 would be apostate, meaning that it's completely against God. Right, Yeah, 2139 01:33:25.199 --> 01:33:27.199 that's exactly where we are. We are. It says, you know, 2140 01:33:27.600 --> 01:33:30.319 the ministers of Satan would become the ministers of righteousness. 2141 01:33:30.640 --> 01:33:33.199 That's what's going on. Like it literally says false apostles 2142 01:33:33.199 --> 01:33:36.119 as the apostles of Christ. So all of this, the 2143 01:33:36.159 --> 01:33:39.520 Bible told us that in the end times, Satan's ministers 2144 01:33:39.560 --> 01:33:42.399 would be in the church teaching false doctrine. But a 2145 01:33:42.399 --> 01:33:44.680 lot of people have too much pride to. 2146 01:33:46.159 --> 01:33:48.880 Look at the Bible and be like, this teaches totally 2147 01:33:48.880 --> 01:33:51.359 different than what my preacher said. A lot of times 2148 01:33:51.359 --> 01:33:53.880 it hits them deep and they just refuse it. They 2149 01:33:53.920 --> 01:33:56.239 refuse it, and like the Bible says, they harden their 2150 01:33:56.239 --> 01:33:58.159 hearts against it because of pride. 2151 01:33:58.359 --> 01:34:01.119 It's interesting, like from what you've described, it sounds like 2152 01:34:01.159 --> 01:34:03.039 you're kind of like self taught, like you didn't really 2153 01:34:03.039 --> 01:34:05.279 go to church so much as as much as you 2154 01:34:05.359 --> 01:34:07.159 like force your way through the. 2155 01:34:07.159 --> 01:34:09.279 Bible initially, like line by line. 2156 01:34:09.720 --> 01:34:11.560 You know, even I think you said you didn't really 2157 01:34:12.119 --> 01:34:13.920 take to it, you didn't really understand it, but you 2158 01:34:14.000 --> 01:34:16.600 ken't add it until it started to make sense to you. 2159 01:34:16.840 --> 01:34:18.159 Yeah, I really did. 2160 01:34:18.239 --> 01:34:21.279 Like a lot of the seminary schools that are out 2161 01:34:21.319 --> 01:34:25.319 there teach, they teach this corrupted doctrine that's out there. 2162 01:34:25.920 --> 01:34:26.880 It's anti biblical. 2163 01:34:26.920 --> 01:34:29.520 Man, If you really do take a forensic study of 2164 01:34:29.520 --> 01:34:32.119 the Bible itself, it takes immense amounts of hours, Like 2165 01:34:32.239 --> 01:34:34.800 I mean, I have thousands and thousands of hours of 2166 01:34:34.880 --> 01:34:39.359 studying to this, and then you start unlocking pieces because 2167 01:34:39.359 --> 01:34:43.319 there's like you know, Jesus spoken different parables and things 2168 01:34:43.359 --> 01:34:45.439 like that. A lot of those parables, you think there's 2169 01:34:45.439 --> 01:34:48.479 a surface layer understanding to it, but when you understand 2170 01:34:48.479 --> 01:34:51.479 more depth of the scriptures, it unlocks the parable's true 2171 01:34:51.479 --> 01:34:53.600 meaning and a lot of that stuff. It doesn't come 2172 01:34:53.680 --> 01:34:57.680 alive until you've really studied in depth. And you're right, 2173 01:34:57.760 --> 01:35:00.079 I studied on my own, and I believe that's a 2174 01:35:00.119 --> 01:35:03.000 purest form. And the Bible says that that we're not 2175 01:35:03.039 --> 01:35:04.680 supposed to have anyone else. 2176 01:35:04.520 --> 01:35:07.079 Interpret the scriptures for us. We're supposed to individually between 2177 01:35:07.119 --> 01:35:09.399 you and the scripture, but it's between us and God. 2178 01:35:09.439 --> 01:35:12.479 He interprets it for us, and it actually interprets itself too, 2179 01:35:12.920 --> 01:35:15.880 So I mean we're not really like a religious podcast 2180 01:35:15.920 --> 01:35:18.239 per se. But since this is like something that like 2181 01:35:18.680 --> 01:35:21.119 means something to you and has been like beneficial for you, 2182 01:35:21.199 --> 01:35:23.560 I would like to ask, like in your own words, 2183 01:35:23.600 --> 01:35:25.800 then what is the Bible to you? What? What? 2184 01:35:26.239 --> 01:35:28.039 What? What did you take out of it? What are 2185 01:35:28.039 --> 01:35:30.800 like the big threads that changed you? 2186 01:35:31.640 --> 01:35:31.800 Well? 2187 01:35:31.840 --> 01:35:38.159 I think the Bible is the manifestation of God himself, 2188 01:35:38.239 --> 01:35:40.239 you know what I mean? Like it does say in 2189 01:35:40.279 --> 01:35:41.880 the beginning was the word, the word was God, and 2190 01:35:41.880 --> 01:35:42.720 the word was with God. 2191 01:35:42.760 --> 01:35:45.640 The word became flesh and wealth among us. So there's 2192 01:35:45.760 --> 01:35:46.800 codes in that. Right. 2193 01:35:46.880 --> 01:35:49.399 The word is the scriptures, and it's saying that the 2194 01:35:49.439 --> 01:35:51.720 word was God and is God, and so like I 2195 01:35:51.840 --> 01:35:56.680 believe that studying those scriptures it cleanses you. It says 2196 01:35:56.720 --> 01:35:58.640 that it does, and it has cleansed to me. You know, 2197 01:35:58.640 --> 01:36:00.439 my wife don't fight, but we used to. I don't 2198 01:36:00.840 --> 01:36:03.319 drink like I used to drink every single night all 2199 01:36:03.319 --> 01:36:05.399 the time. Now I'll have an occasional drink here and there, 2200 01:36:05.760 --> 01:36:08.640 never get drunk. I don't take any of the pills 2201 01:36:08.640 --> 01:36:11.840 that I used to take. I've cleaned up my language, 2202 01:36:11.880 --> 01:36:14.119 you know what I mean, my acts, my cloture. It's 2203 01:36:14.159 --> 01:36:16.119 just and I didn't try to do this. It did 2204 01:36:16.159 --> 01:36:17.720 it for me, right, you know, it was just like 2205 01:36:17.760 --> 01:36:19.279 it just naturally happens. 2206 01:36:19.000 --> 01:36:21.199 Do you You. 2207 01:36:19.960 --> 01:36:23.000 Know, because you talk about this anger and you know, 2208 01:36:23.000 --> 01:36:24.760 and I think that a lot of veterans, you talk 2209 01:36:24.800 --> 01:36:26.399 about suicide and things like that, and I think a 2210 01:36:26.399 --> 01:36:29.199 lot of veterans, especially a lot of special operations veterans 2211 01:36:29.199 --> 01:36:33.560 for whatever reason, where this you know, there's this blanket 2212 01:36:33.680 --> 01:36:37.239 sort of idea of post traumatic stress. But you know, 2213 01:36:37.319 --> 01:36:40.119 as we've talked about on the show before, there's also 2214 01:36:40.760 --> 01:36:44.720 blast injuries and TBI. They get meshed in with that 2215 01:36:44.800 --> 01:36:48.920 because we've we've we've all stood way too close to 2216 01:36:48.960 --> 01:36:54.279 way too many breaches. Yeah, and you know, and then 2217 01:36:54.319 --> 01:37:00.640 there's also going from sixty miles an hour to zero. 2218 01:37:00.399 --> 01:37:01.199 Miles an hour. 2219 01:37:01.359 --> 01:37:02.479 I think that has a lot to do with it. 2220 01:37:02.560 --> 01:37:07.960 Where you have this purpose. You are an elite, you know, 2221 01:37:08.199 --> 01:37:11.319 you're you're an elite in the world. You're like a 2222 01:37:11.439 --> 01:37:16.720 child actor whose time ends right and you're at the top. 2223 01:37:18.479 --> 01:37:22.600 You're at the top of your game with purpose, with 2224 01:37:22.640 --> 01:37:25.800 a fulfilling mission. And then you're back out in the 2225 01:37:25.800 --> 01:37:29.239 sibilian world where there's none of the camaraderie, none of 2226 01:37:29.279 --> 01:37:33.239 the purpose, none of that. And so that with the 2227 01:37:33.279 --> 01:37:36.359 pro dramatic stress that may or may not be there, 2228 01:37:36.520 --> 01:37:41.000 with the blast injuries and TBIs, it all blends together to. 2229 01:37:41.840 --> 01:37:46.520 This catraphic situation. Yeah, exactly, it really does. And I 2230 01:37:46.560 --> 01:37:50.159 think it's easy to be overtaken by that. 2231 01:37:50.319 --> 01:37:51.359 It's really easy. 2232 01:37:51.439 --> 01:37:53.640 I mean, I'm telling you, I've been like with a 2233 01:37:53.720 --> 01:37:56.680 block snatching the slack out of the trigger, like I 2234 01:37:56.760 --> 01:37:58.680 was lucky at a overpull that thing. I could have 2235 01:37:58.800 --> 01:38:01.479 easily been one of those statistics and like who knows 2236 01:38:01.479 --> 01:38:03.760 if those guys are doing the same thing, never intended 2237 01:38:03.760 --> 01:38:07.119 on killing themselves, but just so angry. They're just like 2238 01:38:07.159 --> 01:38:08.960 you will you don't think I'll do this, you know 2239 01:38:09.000 --> 01:38:10.119 what I mean at your wife, you know. 2240 01:38:10.239 --> 01:38:11.479 And it's very momentary. 2241 01:38:11.560 --> 01:38:13.920 I mean I have very momentary I've kicked in a 2242 01:38:13.960 --> 01:38:16.760 door and taken a pistol out of friend's hand before. 2243 01:38:17.000 --> 01:38:24.439 And and he's no longer like it was a momentary thing. Yeah, 2244 01:38:24.720 --> 01:38:30.039 and and and he's not at risk anymore, thank god. 2245 01:38:30.079 --> 01:38:33.199 But the thing is is that it's such an insidious 2246 01:38:33.239 --> 01:38:36.399 spiral that that we don't we don't see it for 2247 01:38:36.439 --> 01:38:37.600 ourselves when we're in it. 2248 01:38:38.159 --> 01:38:39.479 You're right, You're exactly right. 2249 01:38:39.800 --> 01:38:42.000 It's like, you know, I preached to my buddies all 2250 01:38:42.039 --> 01:38:45.239 the time, and like I got like Rodney Brown, you know, 2251 01:38:45.319 --> 01:38:47.239 he he always tells me, he's like, hey, bro, if 2252 01:38:47.279 --> 01:38:50.119 you ever need me, call me, like, and he's specifically 2253 01:38:50.119 --> 01:38:52.439 talking about that. Not because at the time when he 2254 01:38:52.439 --> 01:38:54.039 would say that to me, it's not because he knew 2255 01:38:54.079 --> 01:38:56.119 that I had had these events, because I definitely didn't 2256 01:38:56.159 --> 01:38:58.039 tell him, right, you know, because like i'd like I'll 2257 01:38:58.039 --> 01:38:59.399 talk about the stuff out in the open. I'll tell 2258 01:38:59.399 --> 01:39:01.399 it to anybody, because it's an issue that does need 2259 01:39:01.479 --> 01:39:03.560 to be talked about because we all deal with it, 2260 01:39:03.760 --> 01:39:05.039 you know what I mean, We all deal with it 2261 01:39:05.039 --> 01:39:07.520 at some level, maybe not as bad as that or 2262 01:39:07.560 --> 01:39:09.880 like to the point we actually do it, but we 2263 01:39:09.920 --> 01:39:12.319 all deal with it at some level. And it just 2264 01:39:12.319 --> 01:39:14.880 depends on how far the control it gets. But yeah, 2265 01:39:14.880 --> 01:39:18.279 I wouldn't call them when those times, right, you know 2266 01:39:18.319 --> 01:39:20.159 what I mean. It's one of those things You're right, 2267 01:39:20.319 --> 01:39:23.279 you have to. It's hard to get out of It's 2268 01:39:23.279 --> 01:39:27.800 hard to overcome that weakness and admit that you're weak, right, 2269 01:39:27.760 --> 01:39:28.760 you see what I'm saying. 2270 01:39:28.600 --> 01:39:32.119 Right, right, And and yeah, and it's one of those 2271 01:39:32.159 --> 01:39:35.000 things where issue You're right, like people don't reach out 2272 01:39:35.039 --> 01:39:39.159 like people who expect like veterans or probably anybody in 2273 01:39:39.159 --> 01:39:41.960 this situe, not just veterans, but people who expect people 2274 01:39:41.960 --> 01:39:44.399 to reach out to a professional or even a friend, 2275 01:39:44.960 --> 01:39:47.560 it's not going to happen. That's when you have to 2276 01:39:48.279 --> 01:39:51.520 like do those buddy checks and like like you just 2277 01:39:51.560 --> 01:39:55.520 go in and assume going like an assault team basically. Yeah, 2278 01:39:55.560 --> 01:39:59.359 and and you know, give the knife hand and. 2279 01:39:59.479 --> 01:39:59.960 You get luck. 2280 01:40:00.319 --> 01:40:04.560 Like there's there's people that I've worked with that I 2281 01:40:04.760 --> 01:40:07.079 was lucky to get on the phone with and talk them. 2282 01:40:07.119 --> 01:40:10.159 I fell off of it. Guys that worked for me 2283 01:40:10.640 --> 01:40:13.800 called me one time and was like, Hey, there's this 2284 01:40:13.840 --> 01:40:15.760 one guy and that used to be in our in 2285 01:40:15.840 --> 01:40:18.640 our group, in our platoon, and he's struggling right now. 2286 01:40:18.720 --> 01:40:20.800 We think he's gonna kill himself. And they're like call him, 2287 01:40:20.840 --> 01:40:22.720 and I'm like, please, God, let's do answer to the phone. 2288 01:40:22.760 --> 01:40:23.079 I called. 2289 01:40:23.119 --> 01:40:25.359 He answered the phone, and I don't know if I 2290 01:40:25.439 --> 01:40:28.039 helped him. Maybe I got to intervene at that right time. 2291 01:40:28.039 --> 01:40:29.960 But that's why, like you said, this buddy checks doing 2292 01:40:29.960 --> 01:40:33.359 them routinely, because that dude's not gonna call you. 2293 01:40:33.359 --> 01:40:33.560 You know. 2294 01:40:33.960 --> 01:40:37.359 Luckily, somebody saw triggers from that guy on like maybe 2295 01:40:37.399 --> 01:40:40.000 social media, right, and then they started alerting people that 2296 01:40:40.159 --> 01:40:43.560 network worked for that guy. But it doesn't always work, man, 2297 01:40:43.920 --> 01:40:45.560 And that's why I think being honest about it, Like 2298 01:40:45.600 --> 01:40:48.479 that's why, Like I saw one of my buddies, DJ Shipley, 2299 01:40:49.039 --> 01:40:52.560 who was made him did some free fall contract stuff together. 2300 01:40:53.279 --> 01:40:55.800 I watched the podcast he did on Sean Ryan and 2301 01:40:56.319 --> 01:40:58.279 he talked He talked very open about that, and I 2302 01:40:58.319 --> 01:41:01.319 was like, dude, like I can't believe, like like I'm like, 2303 01:41:01.399 --> 01:41:02.600 if he he's talking about that. 2304 01:41:02.560 --> 01:41:04.439 I should be able to talk about that stuff. Yeah. 2305 01:41:04.479 --> 01:41:06.680 So I'm like that that like changed me right there. 2306 01:41:06.680 --> 01:41:10.199 I was like, dude, that is awesome on him to 2307 01:41:10.279 --> 01:41:13.000 have spoken out about his weaknesses. You know, Steal Team 2308 01:41:13.039 --> 01:41:16.880 six operator like admitted his weaknesses. Man, more people need 2309 01:41:16.920 --> 01:41:18.319 to hear that stuff. So when I heard that from him, 2310 01:41:18.359 --> 01:41:19.479 I was like, dude, I need to do the same 2311 01:41:19.520 --> 01:41:22.079 thing if I ever get the opportunity, be honest about it, 2312 01:41:22.079 --> 01:41:25.079 because you know, people will realize because we're bad at 2313 01:41:25.079 --> 01:41:27.680 the one special ops guys, right, we can't be weak. 2314 01:41:28.199 --> 01:41:30.319 But in that situation, you have to admit when you're weak. 2315 01:41:30.399 --> 01:41:34.239 What was the turning point for you? 2316 01:41:34.239 --> 01:41:38.119 You know, I really don't know it just it kind 2317 01:41:38.119 --> 01:41:42.359 of like slowly happened with my Bible study stuff. Like 2318 01:41:42.399 --> 01:41:44.279 I said, I just stuck with it and stuck with it. 2319 01:41:44.279 --> 01:41:46.720 It's like God just took it from me. Man, he 2320 01:41:46.800 --> 01:41:49.000 took the anger away for a while. He took the like, 2321 01:41:49.600 --> 01:41:52.439 the the want to to do that stuff. I don't 2322 01:41:52.439 --> 01:41:54.159 get angry, Like the things in my wife used to 2323 01:41:54.199 --> 01:41:56.039 do that made me angry don't make me angry anymore. 2324 01:41:56.119 --> 01:41:57.920 I don't make her angry like I used to, because 2325 01:41:57.960 --> 01:42:00.399 she's changed too. She's in the same boat me but 2326 01:42:00.439 --> 01:42:02.960 on the other side now. So our whole family has 2327 01:42:03.079 --> 01:42:07.359 changed because of that stuff. I just I can't explain it, man, Yeah, 2328 01:42:07.359 --> 01:42:10.000 I can't explain it. But it's definitely for the better. No, 2329 01:42:10.119 --> 01:42:11.000 that's fantastic. 2330 01:42:11.359 --> 01:42:13.560 I mean it really is. And and it's you know, 2331 01:42:13.760 --> 01:42:15.960 definitely a topic that definitely needs to be talked about 2332 01:42:16.039 --> 01:42:16.760 man more often. 2333 01:42:16.800 --> 01:42:19.600 Well, and and you know, we've we've had people on 2334 01:42:19.720 --> 01:42:21.920 who have who have been through this and who have 2335 01:42:21.960 --> 01:42:30.119 been through uh, psychotropical medicines you know, uh stelly ganglion 2336 01:42:30.159 --> 01:42:37.319 blocks you know, uh yeah, fourty with like the breathing 2337 01:42:37.399 --> 01:42:39.880 and things like that, like all these different things. But 2338 01:42:40.479 --> 01:42:44.000 you know, you're bringing something that that hasn't really been 2339 01:42:44.039 --> 01:42:46.079 talked about on the show before, which is is just 2340 01:42:46.159 --> 01:42:47.439 faith true. 2341 01:42:47.760 --> 01:42:51.039 I do believe with everything in my entire being that 2342 01:42:51.039 --> 01:42:53.439 that is the ticket. It's not the easy ticket though. 2343 01:42:53.880 --> 01:42:57.279 It comes with like like the scripture says, those who 2344 01:42:57.319 --> 01:43:00.680 diligently seek him, he will manifest himself to you. So 2345 01:43:00.920 --> 01:43:03.600 you can't just do it at a surfarate la surface layer. 2346 01:43:03.600 --> 01:43:05.079 You can't just half asset you know what I mean, 2347 01:43:05.079 --> 01:43:06.760 you got to go into full bore. And that's the 2348 01:43:06.760 --> 01:43:08.920 way I looked at him. I was like, I'm gonna 2349 01:43:08.960 --> 01:43:12.840 prove that this is either a legitimate, divinely inspired book 2350 01:43:13.119 --> 01:43:15.000 or I'm gonna prove it's trash one of the two. 2351 01:43:15.279 --> 01:43:17.319 And I went at it myself tearing. It was such 2352 01:43:17.319 --> 01:43:20.399 a typical Ranger there's no right right, It's either good 2353 01:43:21.680 --> 01:43:24.600 all the way in. But it definitely I believe that's 2354 01:43:24.640 --> 01:43:29.039 the ticket because I've tried the the different stuff out there. 2355 01:43:29.279 --> 01:43:35.159 We've got a ranger buddy grant them, Miles grant them. Yea. 2356 01:43:36.039 --> 01:43:39.199 He travels around and helps guys with this, with the 2357 01:43:39.239 --> 01:43:42.159 toad stuff. Right, And he came and like, and I 2358 01:43:42.199 --> 01:43:44.680 don't want to say too many details, but he put 2359 01:43:44.720 --> 01:43:47.319 me through one of those toads. 2360 01:43:47.319 --> 01:43:51.399 I've interviewed him about it before, about hyahuasca and stuff 2361 01:43:51.439 --> 01:43:53.720 like that. So me and Miles were in the same platoon. 2362 01:43:53.760 --> 01:43:55.600 We were both in snipers together. Yeah, I knew you 2363 01:43:55.600 --> 01:43:58.359 were and uh, and then we reconnected. We stayed in 2364 01:43:58.399 --> 01:43:59.920 touch after we got out of the military. 2365 01:44:00.039 --> 01:44:02.520 We used to have dinner once in a while, and 2366 01:44:02.800 --> 01:44:04.560 he lived up here in New York, and yeah, he's 2367 01:44:04.600 --> 01:44:07.359 doing executive protection stuff. Oh that's right, and for better 2368 01:44:07.439 --> 01:44:07.760 or worse. 2369 01:44:07.800 --> 01:44:09.880 I convinced him he should go to Columbia, he should 2370 01:44:09.920 --> 01:44:12.920 go enroll up there, and he majored in political science 2371 01:44:13.000 --> 01:44:15.279 or no, he majored in computer science. And then he 2372 01:44:15.319 --> 01:44:18.800 got on board with all the hyahuasca stuff and it 2373 01:44:18.880 --> 01:44:21.000 did him. I mean he's talked about it publicly before. 2374 01:44:21.039 --> 01:44:22.880 I mean it's done him a world of good, and 2375 01:44:22.960 --> 01:44:24.800 like you said, now, he goes around helping other guys 2376 01:44:24.840 --> 01:44:25.159 with it. 2377 01:44:25.319 --> 01:44:27.119 He called me like he was hitting me up. He 2378 01:44:27.159 --> 01:44:28.640 was like, dude, you need to do this stuff. You 2379 01:44:28.640 --> 01:44:30.279 need to do this stuff. I'm like, man, I just 2380 01:44:30.319 --> 01:44:32.319 didn't want to because I was working and I was 2381 01:44:32.359 --> 01:44:35.840 afraid i'd be like hungover weird afterwards. A lot of 2382 01:44:35.840 --> 01:44:37.520 the times he was trying to catch me, you know 2383 01:44:37.720 --> 01:44:42.119 places you know out west, and I'm like, I just can't. 2384 01:44:41.920 --> 01:44:43.399 Do this in the middle of the work trip. 2385 01:44:43.439 --> 01:44:45.880 It's just I just don't feel right about it. He's like, 2386 01:44:46.039 --> 01:44:48.600 it's over with like super fast. So then he finally 2387 01:44:48.680 --> 01:44:49.239 hmmed me up. 2388 01:44:49.279 --> 01:44:51.560 And everything was so bad with my wife at the 2389 01:44:51.600 --> 01:44:54.439 time to where she was like, I don't care. She 2390 01:44:54.479 --> 01:44:55.279 was totally against it. 2391 01:44:55.319 --> 01:44:57.159 She's like that's stuff satanic, you know what I mean. 2392 01:44:57.399 --> 01:45:00.720 And she's like totally against it. But then she's like, 2393 01:45:00.760 --> 01:45:03.039 I don't care if it'll save our marriage, just do it. 2394 01:45:03.119 --> 01:45:04.479 I said, all right, So I hit him up and 2395 01:45:04.520 --> 01:45:06.239 I said, yeah, I'm good if you want to do it. 2396 01:45:06.239 --> 01:45:10.680 So he literally personally did one for me and a 2397 01:45:10.720 --> 01:45:13.159 couple other guys, another Ranger body, and then an SF 2398 01:45:13.239 --> 01:45:17.000 dude that I met at Walter Reid came down and 2399 01:45:17.680 --> 01:45:20.279 did it for me in my backyard man and it 2400 01:45:20.439 --> 01:45:22.920 was it was the most amazing thing. 2401 01:45:23.640 --> 01:45:26.319 But I don't think that's what fixed me. I didn't. 2402 01:45:26.399 --> 01:45:29.359 I still had issues, significant issues after that. I do 2403 01:45:29.479 --> 01:45:31.439 know that there are guys that do it. The state's 2404 01:45:32.319 --> 01:45:32.920 life changing. 2405 01:45:33.439 --> 01:45:36.960 Do you think it gave you space to like examine 2406 01:45:37.439 --> 01:45:40.319 the rest of it, Like if it didn't change everything 2407 01:45:40.319 --> 01:45:42.520 immediately for you, do you feel like it created a 2408 01:45:42.600 --> 01:45:45.119 space for you to do that, to like examine things. 2409 01:45:45.159 --> 01:45:47.119 I believe so, because I do believe. 2410 01:45:47.319 --> 01:45:49.399 This is what I try to tell people, Like my 2411 01:45:49.479 --> 01:45:52.000 wife was against it all, but I was like, God 2412 01:45:52.159 --> 01:45:55.439 created those things for a reason, right, you know, if 2413 01:45:55.479 --> 01:45:57.680 there's God and he's real, he created these plants and 2414 01:45:57.720 --> 01:45:59.520 these things for medicine. I believe it's for guys like 2415 01:45:59.560 --> 01:46:02.600 us who are too hard to break through to that 2416 01:46:02.720 --> 01:46:06.800 spiritual peace, you know. Like so I think I think 2417 01:46:06.880 --> 01:46:09.399 what that did do for me is it showed me 2418 01:46:09.640 --> 01:46:12.359 because you you go and meet God when you do 2419 01:46:12.359 --> 01:46:14.239 that stuff, that's what it does. It takes you into 2420 01:46:14.319 --> 01:46:15.720 what they call the spirit realm. 2421 01:46:16.119 --> 01:46:17.680 Like that's little. I mean, that's what they talked about. 2422 01:46:17.680 --> 01:46:20.159 You're going into the spirit world and that's where you 2423 01:46:20.199 --> 01:46:23.520 go with hyahuasca and the toad medicine is even more potent. 2424 01:46:24.279 --> 01:46:26.800 And that's the stuff that I did, And I think 2425 01:46:26.880 --> 01:46:30.279 it showed to me that God is real and he's 2426 01:46:30.319 --> 01:46:32.800 out there. So then that kind of intrigued me because 2427 01:46:32.800 --> 01:46:34.840 it was about after, right about after that when. 2428 01:46:34.720 --> 01:46:36.000 I really started studying the Bible. 2429 01:46:36.039 --> 01:46:38.640 So maybe it did kind of catalyst it in because 2430 01:46:38.640 --> 01:46:41.720 I'm like, you know, God's real for sure. Now this 2431 01:46:41.920 --> 01:46:43.239 book's better be real or wrong. 2432 01:46:43.279 --> 01:46:44.119 It starts started digging in. 2433 01:46:44.239 --> 01:46:47.319 I think Jim Morris, you know, had like a really 2434 01:46:47.359 --> 01:46:51.000 interesting comment like after Vietnam he started experimenting with LSD 2435 01:46:51.479 --> 01:46:51.920 back when. 2436 01:46:51.840 --> 01:46:52.520 No one knew about that. 2437 01:46:52.640 --> 01:46:58.439 Jim Morrison from George Special Forces in Vietnam, and he 2438 01:46:58.760 --> 01:47:02.600 said that, you know, the the psychedelics can get you 2439 01:47:02.640 --> 01:47:04.920 out of the box you're in into like the room 2440 01:47:04.960 --> 01:47:06.520 of the house, but as far as like if you 2441 01:47:06.520 --> 01:47:08.159 want to explore the rest of the house, you kind 2442 01:47:08.159 --> 01:47:08.399 of have. 2443 01:47:08.359 --> 01:47:10.159 To do that on your own. That's a good point. 2444 01:47:10.199 --> 01:47:12.840 I think he's right about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 2445 01:47:12.840 --> 01:47:16.399 Yeah, because it did because you know, thinking back on it, 2446 01:47:16.439 --> 01:47:18.800 maybe it was the catalyst that pushed me into the 2447 01:47:18.800 --> 01:47:22.279 realm that I'm at now, because yeah, it kind of 2448 01:47:22.319 --> 01:47:25.399 breaks down like I think, you know, like how older 2449 01:47:25.439 --> 01:47:27.840 people get to where you know, they're stuck in their 2450 01:47:27.880 --> 01:47:30.319 old wage can't take teaching old dog new tricks. We 2451 01:47:30.399 --> 01:47:33.119 tend to compartmentalize ourselves in our brains or what the 2452 01:47:33.159 --> 01:47:36.359 norm is, right, and that thing, I do believe it 2453 01:47:36.399 --> 01:47:39.640 helps step you outside of that box of the norm 2454 01:47:40.039 --> 01:47:42.039 to where you're like, well this exists. 2455 01:47:42.359 --> 01:47:43.920 Let me get busy with that, you know what I mean. 2456 01:47:44.640 --> 01:47:50.399 So, yeah, no, it's it's fascinating. You know, I've talked, 2457 01:47:50.479 --> 01:47:52.720 well we've talked to people. I've talked to people personally 2458 01:47:53.039 --> 01:47:56.960 about the ayahuasca, the ibu gain, you know, the different 2459 01:47:57.000 --> 01:48:00.479 types of plant based medicines that are out there, and 2460 01:48:00.520 --> 01:48:03.000 what's really interesting because you even mentioned LSD and we 2461 01:48:03.039 --> 01:48:05.920 can talk about like h d MT and and uh 2462 01:48:06.840 --> 01:48:10.920 and uh molly or uh. You know, like these were 2463 01:48:10.960 --> 01:48:12.960 all being researched heavily, like in the fifties or a 2464 01:48:13.000 --> 01:48:15.840 lot of these were, yeah, in sixties and then when 2465 01:48:15.840 --> 01:48:17.680 they broke out of a lab and became part of 2466 01:48:17.720 --> 01:48:20.279 the counterculture, was all shut down. But but it but 2467 01:48:20.640 --> 01:48:24.279 there was already efficacy being shown, yeah, like. 2468 01:48:26.079 --> 01:48:28.920 Decades ago. Yeah, for sure with these things. 2469 01:48:29.279 --> 01:48:31.199 And it's you know, all coming back around now, like 2470 01:48:31.239 --> 01:48:32.960 and I think you have to be careful with it. 2471 01:48:33.000 --> 01:48:35.960 But I haven't seen any special operations guys that have 2472 01:48:36.000 --> 01:48:38.199 done it that have had bad negative effect. 2473 01:48:38.279 --> 01:48:39.960 I've never had one of them come back to me 2474 01:48:40.000 --> 01:48:42.920 and say like they got a bad experience. But like 2475 01:48:43.520 --> 01:48:47.960 another one of my buddies from the Ranger Regiment just 2476 01:48:48.079 --> 01:48:49.479 did it. And I won't say his name. I don't 2477 01:48:49.479 --> 01:48:50.479 know if he won't start out. 2478 01:48:50.359 --> 01:48:54.079 But he's just like he's like me now, like he's 2479 01:48:54.119 --> 01:48:57.680 studying the Bible, like he's digging in hardcore. This is 2480 01:48:57.720 --> 01:49:02.720 a retired sarm major, you know, he's he's like no joke, 2481 01:49:02.840 --> 01:49:05.760 Like he did the ayahuasca and I think the IBI 2482 01:49:05.800 --> 01:49:07.359 gain I think the toad he did like a big 2483 01:49:07.439 --> 01:49:10.439 thing down in Central or South America where it's like 2484 01:49:10.479 --> 01:49:12.399 totally legalized, so like they were able to do a 2485 01:49:12.439 --> 01:49:14.960 longer treatment. Yeah, and he was like, man, it changed 2486 01:49:15.000 --> 01:49:16.920 his life, and yeah, it has. I see it in him. 2487 01:49:16.960 --> 01:49:18.479 I look at that guy like he's talking to me 2488 01:49:18.479 --> 01:49:21.159 about the Bible now, I'm like, what it's like, me 2489 01:49:21.319 --> 01:49:23.439 talking about the Bible, like a couple of years ago, 2490 01:49:23.640 --> 01:49:25.159 be the last thing you hear me talking about. 2491 01:49:25.199 --> 01:49:27.279 But that guy's talking about it now. Yeah, I'm like, man, 2492 01:49:27.439 --> 01:49:28.880 And I've seen that from a lot of the guys 2493 01:49:28.920 --> 01:49:30.119 that do it. 2494 01:49:29.680 --> 01:49:32.680 It's really interesting to see, Like, and I've seen it 2495 01:49:32.720 --> 01:49:34.560 a lot because I've been out of the military for 2496 01:49:34.600 --> 01:49:37.720 what like twelve thirteen years now, so I've gotten to 2497 01:49:37.720 --> 01:49:40.279 see a lot of guys get out of the military 2498 01:49:40.359 --> 01:49:45.039 and they have their post military journey transitioning out, and 2499 01:49:45.600 --> 01:49:47.600 for a lot of them, it is a rough ride. 2500 01:49:47.600 --> 01:49:49.680 I mean I had something of a rough ride too, 2501 01:49:50.039 --> 01:49:52.840 the transition out for a lot of guys, the substance 2502 01:49:52.880 --> 01:49:53.319 abuse to. 2503 01:49:53.359 --> 01:49:54.680 Anger, like a lot of anger. 2504 01:49:54.800 --> 01:49:58.319 Yeah, and then find something And then we've talked about 2505 01:49:58.319 --> 01:50:00.399 a bunch of different things. People find different things in 2506 01:50:00.399 --> 01:50:03.920 different ways. For some people it's more traditional therapy whatever 2507 01:50:04.039 --> 01:50:06.359 that happens to be, and then they sort of like 2508 01:50:07.159 --> 01:50:09.960 even out and find the next thing in their life. 2509 01:50:10.000 --> 01:50:13.880 It's just very interesting and I find it very i 2510 01:50:13.920 --> 01:50:15.960 don't know, like gratifying in a way to watch these 2511 01:50:15.960 --> 01:50:19.640 guys sort of evolve, you know. And unfortunately, the unfortunate thing, 2512 01:50:19.680 --> 01:50:22.039 of course that we've talked about too, some don't make it. 2513 01:50:22.159 --> 01:50:25.680 Yeah, yeah, thankfully there are some that are making it. 2514 01:50:25.800 --> 01:50:29.119 And and to know what the solution to that is, 2515 01:50:29.399 --> 01:50:30.119 I don't know. 2516 01:50:30.159 --> 01:50:30.399 I do. 2517 01:50:30.520 --> 01:50:32.520 I do believe that, you know, the whole faith thing, 2518 01:50:32.640 --> 01:50:36.079 I do believe that's the key. I just don't know, 2519 01:50:36.159 --> 01:50:37.680 Like I said, even in my own process, I don't 2520 01:50:37.680 --> 01:50:39.199 know how that came about necessarily. 2521 01:50:39.439 --> 01:50:39.600 Well. 2522 01:50:39.760 --> 01:50:42.479 What's interesting, though, is the faith thing isn't even it's 2523 01:50:42.479 --> 01:50:47.119 not new like alcoholics. Anonymous was sort of based around faith, 2524 01:50:47.319 --> 01:50:50.199 you know, not necessarily Christianity, but a higher power and 2525 01:50:50.520 --> 01:50:54.079 giving getting over to that higher power. You know, how 2526 01:50:54.239 --> 01:51:00.520 a person recognize it. It's it's just that you know, 2527 01:51:00.560 --> 01:51:03.239 we often you know, we're a secular country at this 2528 01:51:03.319 --> 01:51:07.199 point in a lot of ways, and and we we. 2529 01:51:08.560 --> 01:51:10.720 Stray away from faith. 2530 01:51:12.079 --> 01:51:15.399 We also have people who like push the faith a little, 2531 01:51:15.520 --> 01:51:16.279 you know, too much. 2532 01:51:16.479 --> 01:51:19.960 Yeah, and they're pushing it the wrong ways honestly. Yeah. Yeah, 2533 01:51:19.960 --> 01:51:21.079 there's more too than that. 2534 01:51:21.199 --> 01:51:23.720 Yeah, And they make it like very they make it 2535 01:51:23.760 --> 01:51:26.359 like a very scary, judgmental like thing. 2536 01:51:26.399 --> 01:51:28.359 It's like a social club. Yeah, I mean, it's really 2537 01:51:28.359 --> 01:51:30.199 like a social club. Like you just do this thing 2538 01:51:30.239 --> 01:51:31.920 and hang out here and at like I act and 2539 01:51:32.000 --> 01:51:35.800 you're cool. But they're they're just as loss as anybody else, honestly. 2540 01:51:35.960 --> 01:51:38.039 Yeah, when you dig into the Bible about it. 2541 01:51:38.319 --> 01:51:42.640 But but you're right, man, it definitely it's it's something 2542 01:51:42.680 --> 01:51:45.880 that has gone away because I think, you know, in America, 2543 01:51:45.960 --> 01:51:48.600 we're all about making money, making money, making money, and 2544 01:51:48.640 --> 01:51:50.960 even you're working hard, you're making tons of money, you 2545 01:51:50.960 --> 01:51:53.079 have more incentive to work even more hours. But then 2546 01:51:53.119 --> 01:51:56.000 there's the people that are poor as well. They're working 2547 01:51:56.000 --> 01:51:59.520 two jobs, three jobs just to keep afloat. Right on 2548 01:51:59.560 --> 01:52:01.880 top of that, you got your children in sports, gymnastics, 2549 01:52:01.880 --> 01:52:03.039 piano lessons, all these things. 2550 01:52:03.359 --> 01:52:06.359 It occupies all your time. You cannot you do not 2551 01:52:06.560 --> 01:52:08.520 have the time that I have to read the Bible, 2552 01:52:08.760 --> 01:52:10.840 like I was unemployed for an entire year. 2553 01:52:11.239 --> 01:52:15.039 Yeah, that's really what COVID year. Yeah, Yeah, I was 2554 01:52:15.119 --> 01:52:16.760 unemployed for an entire year. 2555 01:52:17.239 --> 01:52:20.279 And that entire year, I spent a lot of time 2556 01:52:20.439 --> 01:52:23.159 in the Bible itself, and I and I found out 2557 01:52:23.199 --> 01:52:27.119 that that thing is true, and I feel pity for people. 2558 01:52:27.119 --> 01:52:28.920 I'm like, I just wish everybody had that. 2559 01:52:28.920 --> 01:52:31.439 Time, and and I wish something would urge them to 2560 01:52:31.520 --> 01:52:34.800 do it because it is life changing. But bottom line is, 2561 01:52:34.800 --> 01:52:37.199 in this world, we just everything is out there to 2562 01:52:37.239 --> 01:52:39.199 take you away from that instead. 2563 01:52:39.039 --> 01:52:39.199 You know. 2564 01:52:39.479 --> 01:52:44.600 Yeah, so Less said that, Uh, there used to be 2565 01:52:44.640 --> 01:52:48.159 a trouggle and that worked at the PX across from 2566 01:52:48.159 --> 01:52:52.159 the Workla and Mike went into purchase DIP and she 2567 01:52:52.159 --> 01:52:54.880 would not allow him to even though he was in uniform. 2568 01:52:55.000 --> 01:52:58.720 Oh, because I didn't have my ID card. I remember 2569 01:52:58.760 --> 01:53:00.760 that I went over there to buy my DIP. I 2570 01:53:00.800 --> 01:53:04.960 literally walked across the street, so like I forgot left 2571 01:53:04.960 --> 01:53:07.279 my ID card or something like that. I'm in uniform, 2572 01:53:07.720 --> 01:53:11.600 master sergeant, right, so I'm like, obviously I'm. 2573 01:53:11.479 --> 01:53:13.960 Probably older eighteen, you know what I mean. 2574 01:53:14.479 --> 01:53:16.239 And she would not sell it to me. I got 2575 01:53:16.239 --> 01:53:20.880 soaked people a gun on her. Probably should have dude. 2576 01:53:20.920 --> 01:53:22.000 That lady was mean. 2577 01:53:23.039 --> 01:53:25.760 God I had I had one of my privates uh 2578 01:53:26.000 --> 01:53:29.039 in handcuffs at the p X because he uh went 2579 01:53:29.079 --> 01:53:31.960 to go buy a pack of smokes forgot to pay 2580 01:53:32.000 --> 01:53:34.680 for it and walked out the door. Dang yeah, man, 2581 01:53:34.760 --> 01:53:38.359 the the NPS came and slapped handcuffs on. First sergeant 2582 01:53:38.399 --> 01:53:41.199 had to come down. Oh yeah, dang yeah, people with 2583 01:53:41.279 --> 01:53:42.359 the PX can be dicks. 2584 01:53:42.439 --> 01:53:45.760 Man. Yeah, I had. I'm trying to remember. I don't 2585 01:53:45.760 --> 01:53:47.600 even want to tell that story. It'll get down a 2586 01:53:47.640 --> 01:53:50.880 whole nother rabbit hole. That was at the clothing and 2587 01:53:50.960 --> 01:53:53.760 sales one time. Not a good situation at for Betting. 2588 01:53:53.800 --> 01:53:56.199 A lot of those ladies that worked on places on 2589 01:53:56.239 --> 01:53:58.880 for Benning were not nice, have their own they had 2590 01:53:59.319 --> 01:54:00.439 yeah yeah. 2591 01:54:00.520 --> 01:54:03.800 Well, and the thing is is that they could take 2592 01:54:03.840 --> 01:54:07.279 it out on Joe's right, like privates. Yeah, what's a 2593 01:54:07.359 --> 01:54:09.520 private gonna do to somebody who works at the PX 2594 01:54:10.199 --> 01:54:11.279 A little bit of power? 2595 01:54:11.359 --> 01:54:14.039 Yeah, yeah, you mouth off? All they got to do 2596 01:54:14.119 --> 01:54:16.319 is call your boss and you're straight done. Yeah you 2597 01:54:16.319 --> 01:54:18.760 know what I mean at that point? Yes, rude. Yeah, 2598 01:54:19.159 --> 01:54:21.800 they do have power. I mean, and they oh, they 2599 01:54:21.800 --> 01:54:23.399 abuse the crap out of it. 2600 01:54:24.119 --> 01:54:28.159 Yeah, we have any questions for Mike, we do, let 2601 01:54:28.159 --> 01:54:29.520 me uh let me get into them. 2602 01:54:29.520 --> 01:54:29.680 Now. 2603 01:54:29.760 --> 01:54:34.199 I'm going to uh preface these questions by saying I 2604 01:54:34.640 --> 01:54:35.000 saw a. 2605 01:54:35.000 --> 01:54:35.920 Couple of them go by. 2606 01:54:36.359 --> 01:54:39.520 There might be no no, no, but there might be 2607 01:54:39.600 --> 01:54:43.720 like some there might be like some t TP type 2608 01:54:43.840 --> 01:54:49.479 questions going on, and I will I will ask Mike 2609 01:54:49.600 --> 01:54:51.000 the questions you guys asked. 2610 01:54:51.039 --> 01:54:52.000 But understand that. 2611 01:54:54.560 --> 01:54:59.159 Understand that, uh give us the nuclear launch codes broke. 2612 01:54:59.279 --> 01:55:02.760 Yeah, oh you know you like we don't we don't 2613 01:55:02.840 --> 01:55:05.600 like got your questions on this channel and whatnot. But 2614 01:55:05.600 --> 01:55:07.439 we're gonna we're gonna lay one out. You talked about 2615 01:55:07.479 --> 01:55:10.479 getting read onto all these programs. Tell us about the aliens, 2616 01:55:10.520 --> 01:55:14.399 man tell us about Area fifty one and what she 2617 01:55:14.600 --> 01:55:15.319 was read onto. 2618 01:55:15.760 --> 01:55:17.680 Oh I wish, I wish I knew. 2619 01:55:18.520 --> 01:55:23.439 Although oh yeah, that's I really wasn't read onto any 2620 01:55:23.479 --> 01:55:26.840 of that stuff. Although there's a guy that has a 2621 01:55:26.840 --> 01:55:30.760 biblical perspective on that that that ties cauns. 2622 01:55:30.760 --> 01:55:31.319 Think about it. 2623 01:55:31.840 --> 01:55:34.760 You know New Jerusalem, which is like Heaven comes down 2624 01:55:35.279 --> 01:55:37.920 from Heaven. It's gonna what is it gonna look like? 2625 01:55:38.199 --> 01:55:40.800 It's gonna be like twelve thousand prolongs with twelve thousand prolongs, 2626 01:55:40.800 --> 01:55:44.119 that's huge. It's gonna be like a massive spaceship probably 2627 01:55:44.560 --> 01:55:47.479 And this one dude's perspective on it. I don't know 2628 01:55:47.520 --> 01:55:49.319 a hundred percent on it, but he believes it could 2629 01:55:49.359 --> 01:55:51.039 be a deception, you know what I mean to like 2630 01:55:51.399 --> 01:55:55.279 lure people into the false Scott who knows the UFO cult? Yeah? Yeah, 2631 01:55:55.279 --> 01:55:57.439 who knows? 2632 01:55:57.960 --> 01:56:03.359 Let's see he uh so. Brian Fitzgibbons, thank you very much, friend. 2633 01:56:04.079 --> 01:56:06.880 Mike Edwards and Adam White, two of the greatest of 2634 01:56:06.960 --> 01:56:07.520 all time. 2635 01:56:07.880 --> 01:56:09.800 I love you too. Adam, come over here and sit. 2636 01:56:09.680 --> 01:56:13.079 Down, man, come come saying yeah, if you guys have 2637 01:56:13.119 --> 01:56:17.359 not watched Mike's previous two shows and Adam's previous show 2638 01:56:17.439 --> 01:56:21.920 like you Gotta Jackson, thank you very much. People have 2639 01:56:22.000 --> 01:56:25.479 said r C prepares guys best for Delta selection given 2640 01:56:25.600 --> 01:56:28.760 RC selection process and mission. How true is that in 2641 01:56:28.800 --> 01:56:32.000 your opinion? Also, what's the working relationship with Delta. 2642 01:56:33.520 --> 01:56:35.640 Yeah, we worked directly with him, just like anybody else 2643 01:56:35.760 --> 01:56:40.079 does within the community. And I would say, yeah, if 2644 01:56:40.079 --> 01:56:42.079 you wanted to go to Delta for selection and you've 2645 01:56:42.119 --> 01:56:45.640 been to r C selection, more likely to be successful 2646 01:56:46.359 --> 01:56:49.720 because they're very similar and vice versa. Guys that go 2647 01:56:49.760 --> 01:56:52.199 to Dealtimore selection would be more likely to be successful 2648 01:56:52.199 --> 01:56:56.600 in RC because they're the selections are very very similar. 2649 01:56:57.640 --> 01:57:00.640 If I can't say exact, but sure pretty close. 2650 01:57:00.840 --> 01:57:03.920 But would it be similar to going from like like 2651 01:57:04.439 --> 01:57:09.039 Apple to IBM that that you're that people aren't going 2652 01:57:09.039 --> 01:57:11.920 to r RC to prep for Delta. It's not like 2653 01:57:12.199 --> 01:57:14.840 deltas you're wasting your time. Delta's not like the next 2654 01:57:14.840 --> 01:57:18.439 step up because they're they're very they're like equal, they 2655 01:57:18.479 --> 01:57:19.479 just do different things. 2656 01:57:19.680 --> 01:57:22.119 Yeah, it's it's not like, yeah, you're not gonna go 2657 01:57:22.359 --> 01:57:23.760 to one of those to go to the other one 2658 01:57:23.840 --> 01:57:27.239 because you're going through this arduous, arduous program to then 2659 01:57:27.279 --> 01:57:29.039 go to another arduous, arderiss program. 2660 01:57:29.079 --> 01:57:30.319 I just think that's ridiculous. 2661 01:57:30.359 --> 01:57:31.920 Now I've seen guys that have tried every one of 2662 01:57:31.960 --> 01:57:33.760 them and then finally get to one of them. Yeah, 2663 01:57:33.800 --> 01:57:36.079 you're like, you went through all of that, but it's 2664 01:57:36.159 --> 01:57:37.399 not the best route. 2665 01:57:37.439 --> 01:57:37.880 But you're right. 2666 01:57:37.960 --> 01:57:40.399 So if you go to r C, it's because you're 2667 01:57:40.399 --> 01:57:43.159 interested in more of the Reki piece, or if you're 2668 01:57:43.199 --> 01:57:45.680 going into Delta fores, sure you're more gonna be interested 2669 01:57:45.680 --> 01:57:47.960 in the dapece like they kicking indoors kind of stuff. 2670 01:57:48.079 --> 01:57:50.159 So the way I like to explain it, is delta force. 2671 01:57:51.600 --> 01:57:54.640 They do a higher level of CQB like Range of 2672 01:57:54.640 --> 01:57:56.760 Battalion does a ton of it, but those dudes do 2673 01:57:56.800 --> 01:57:59.800 it at the highest, highest, most precision. 2674 01:57:59.359 --> 01:58:06.680 Level, right you know, Joe's gotcha, Thank you very much. 2675 01:58:07.319 --> 01:58:14.039 Uh yeah, so this very yeah so so uh so 2676 01:58:14.119 --> 01:58:16.760 this is one of those questions. Uh, did r C 2677 01:58:16.960 --> 01:58:19.479 have in how singan capabilities when you were there or 2678 01:58:19.520 --> 01:58:22.520 did they have to rely on sod a's or TFO 2679 01:58:22.640 --> 01:58:23.439 to fill that role? 2680 01:58:23.840 --> 01:58:25.439 No worries if you can't comment. 2681 01:58:26.359 --> 01:58:29.239 Yeah, we have our own and you know abilities within 2682 01:58:29.279 --> 01:58:31.520 the regiment. You know, the regiment's pretty robust, so yeah, 2683 01:58:31.520 --> 01:58:33.000 we have our own capabilities within that. 2684 01:58:34.439 --> 01:58:37.159 Jackson, thank you very much. How much shooting CQB REC 2685 01:58:37.239 --> 01:58:39.880 training did you do as an RC operator compared to 2686 01:58:39.920 --> 01:58:43.439 your time as a ranger in alignment? Also, how often 2687 01:58:43.479 --> 01:58:46.079 do you see green berets or seals or Marst guys 2688 01:58:46.119 --> 01:58:47.039 at our r scene. 2689 01:58:48.439 --> 01:58:50.880 We did a lot of shooting, a lot of a lot. 2690 01:58:50.920 --> 01:58:52.159 Like I said, we got a lot more to the 2691 01:58:52.159 --> 01:58:56.279 pistol shooting piece because it's the concealed carry aspect of it. 2692 01:58:56.319 --> 01:58:57.239 We need that a lot. 2693 01:58:58.079 --> 01:59:00.760 So we've shot a lot more pistol and RC than 2694 01:59:00.760 --> 01:59:03.920 we did in the Ranger Betines. As far as rifle shooting, 2695 01:59:03.920 --> 01:59:06.079 we probably shot about the same amount, although we probably 2696 01:59:06.119 --> 01:59:09.640 shot sniper rifles more in RC. As far as like 2697 01:59:09.720 --> 01:59:12.319 dealing with special forces in MARSOK and guys like that, 2698 01:59:13.840 --> 01:59:17.079 I never really worked with special forces. Are MARSOC dudes 2699 01:59:17.159 --> 01:59:20.600 oversees that much. I would occasionally see them. But when 2700 01:59:20.600 --> 01:59:22.319 I worked at the free Fall school, I worked with 2701 01:59:22.319 --> 01:59:24.760 those guys and I helped that. If that person doesn't know, 2702 01:59:24.760 --> 01:59:26.800 I helped, you know, with my buddy might helped create 2703 01:59:26.840 --> 01:59:30.039 marsk's free fall program. What we stood up the first 2704 01:59:30.119 --> 01:59:32.800 couple of courses, and I helped work all those courses 2705 01:59:33.000 --> 01:59:34.960 and helped build a lot of the TTPs for it. 2706 01:59:35.039 --> 01:59:43.319 So uh ntat channel, thank you very much. Greeting as gentlemen, 2707 01:59:43.399 --> 01:59:47.439 listening in and being an artilleryman, that's a task in itself. 2708 01:59:47.920 --> 01:59:51.000 Suns out, guns out, That's true. Artillery and mortars are 2709 01:59:51.039 --> 01:59:51.800 tough jobs both. 2710 01:59:51.880 --> 01:59:55.119 Yeah, they are, dude, and that goes Leslie Sandusky and 2711 01:59:55.159 --> 01:59:58.079 all the other mortar guys that were in my platoon 2712 01:59:58.119 --> 01:59:59.960 back in the day. I was super impressed with those guys. 2713 02:00:00.000 --> 02:00:01.279 I'll still keep in touch with a lot of those 2714 02:00:01.279 --> 02:00:01.800 guys still to. 2715 02:00:01.800 --> 02:00:05.680 This day, they're a whole other level of Ranger. I mean, 2716 02:00:05.720 --> 02:00:08.840 no joke, they're so underappreciated. Those guys are some of 2717 02:00:08.840 --> 02:00:12.479 the smartest guys in the Ranger regiment and so underappreciated too, 2718 02:00:12.560 --> 02:00:12.760 you know. 2719 02:00:12.960 --> 02:00:17.680 Yeah. Yeah, And it's like they carry like, no matter 2720 02:00:17.720 --> 02:00:20.960 what everybody's carrying, they're carrying even more. Yeah, for sure. 2721 02:00:21.239 --> 02:00:24.079 That's another good point. They're carrying the heaviest loads by far. 2722 02:00:24.439 --> 02:00:26.760 Like you never want those guys coming down the fast 2723 02:00:26.840 --> 02:00:31.680 rope after you, no, because it's a really fast rope 2724 02:00:32.000 --> 02:00:33.039 when they're coming down. 2725 02:00:33.399 --> 02:00:37.520 Yeah, grease that rope. Yeah. 2726 02:00:37.720 --> 02:00:40.520 USBA National Security thank you very much for the very 2727 02:00:40.520 --> 02:00:41.319 generous donation. 2728 02:00:41.800 --> 02:00:45.720 Cheers. Oh nice, awesome, Thanks guys. 2729 02:00:46.520 --> 02:00:49.319 DJ Snead, thank you very much. How does RRC different 2730 02:00:49.319 --> 02:00:54.800 from Force recomp an Air Force Special Reconnaissance? Is it 2731 02:00:54.880 --> 02:00:58.039 the customer or capability is omega like a f and 2732 02:00:58.159 --> 02:00:59.399 AFO team are better. 2733 02:01:00.199 --> 02:01:01.520 There's like a good question in there. 2734 02:01:01.600 --> 02:01:04.479 I'm speaking to Adam's Mike about a lot of people 2735 02:01:04.520 --> 02:01:07.399 wonder about like the difference between reconnaissance units. 2736 02:01:07.399 --> 02:01:10.000 There's like G Squadron, Black squadron. Everyone has their own 2737 02:01:10.039 --> 02:01:12.680 recon element. You want to talk a little bit about that. 2738 02:01:12.800 --> 02:01:15.640 Yeah, So, uh, like the the G Squadron and Black 2739 02:01:15.680 --> 02:01:16.279 Squadron guys. 2740 02:01:16.319 --> 02:01:17.720 We worked with those guys a lot too. 2741 02:01:17.760 --> 02:01:22.079 They're more I'd say they probably delve into slightly different 2742 02:01:22.079 --> 02:01:24.319 things that we did in r r C, but we 2743 02:01:24.399 --> 02:01:26.840 had a lot of overlap of capabilities, just like the 2744 02:01:26.880 --> 02:01:30.399 guys up at in Virginia as well, a lot of 2745 02:01:30.399 --> 02:01:35.840 overlapping capabilities there. Now, the Force recon guys, I would say, like, 2746 02:01:35.880 --> 02:01:39.640 they're super solid dudes, some of the best guys. Like, dude, 2747 02:01:39.640 --> 02:01:42.239 I love marines period. There's a lot of great marines 2748 02:01:42.279 --> 02:01:46.000 out there, especially in that realm. But they're their capabilities 2749 02:01:46.000 --> 02:01:48.880 and their assets weren't just weren't near what we had, 2750 02:01:49.199 --> 02:01:53.039 Like we just had immense funding and uh in who 2751 02:01:53.079 --> 02:01:55.239 else was it that they compared it to, Like, uh, 2752 02:01:56.159 --> 02:02:00.640 Air Force Air Force SRR guys, The Air Force Special 2753 02:02:00.680 --> 02:02:03.560 Reconnaissance start off as like the Air Force weather guys. 2754 02:02:03.600 --> 02:02:05.840 I actually trained a bunch of those guys last time, 2755 02:02:06.520 --> 02:02:11.079 and they're just their focus is more on the Air 2756 02:02:11.119 --> 02:02:13.479 Force aspect of it. So, and I don't want to 2757 02:02:13.479 --> 02:02:14.800 get into a who lot of the details on that 2758 02:02:14.800 --> 02:02:16.000 because a lot of their stuff that they do is 2759 02:02:16.039 --> 02:02:20.840 pretty classified as well airfields. Yeah, and and like enabling 2760 02:02:21.199 --> 02:02:23.640 fast movers to do their job. So it's like different 2761 02:02:23.680 --> 02:02:28.920 than us defeating those types of targets. But yeah, it's cool. 2762 02:02:28.920 --> 02:02:30.960 It's a cool thing, but it's all needed out there. 2763 02:02:31.000 --> 02:02:33.279 Like you can't just like R so you could probably 2764 02:02:33.279 --> 02:02:36.399 do all that different stuff and vice versa. 2765 02:02:37.239 --> 02:02:39.119 But we all have our little niche that we. 2766 02:02:39.199 --> 02:02:41.520 Really specialized in, and ours was broad, like Recky, the 2767 02:02:41.560 --> 02:02:44.640 WRECKI niche is pretty broad, yeah, and ours was pretty broad. 2768 02:02:44.640 --> 02:02:46.239 But a lot of those guys, like the S the 2769 02:02:46.279 --> 02:02:49.359 special reconnaissance guys, there's a little bit more focus in 2770 02:02:49.359 --> 02:02:51.680 this area versus these other guys a little more focused here, 2771 02:02:52.479 --> 02:02:55.760 the the reforce recon guys, more of the tactical RECKI 2772 02:02:55.840 --> 02:02:59.920 focus from what I've seen, totally capable unit though, I. 2773 02:02:59.840 --> 02:03:02.760 Mean, and eventually it probably comes down to in a bar, 2774 02:03:02.960 --> 02:03:05.479 how much do you have to explain your job versus 2775 02:03:05.479 --> 02:03:08.039 how much do people already know your job? 2776 02:03:08.199 --> 02:03:09.640 Right? And that's the thing with RC. 2777 02:03:09.880 --> 02:03:12.560 Nobody knows about it, literally nobody knows about it, like 2778 02:03:12.760 --> 02:03:14.560 it's all people. A lot of times I was in 2779 02:03:14.760 --> 02:03:17.560 probably one of the smallest, you know, little secretive units 2780 02:03:17.560 --> 02:03:18.840 that you've never heard of you know what I mean. 2781 02:03:18.720 --> 02:03:21.119 Because you probably haven't heard of it. Yeah, that's what's 2782 02:03:21.159 --> 02:03:21.760 cool about it. 2783 02:03:22.159 --> 02:03:24.520 Yeah, can you get a chick by just saying what 2784 02:03:24.600 --> 02:03:25.079 you did? 2785 02:03:25.239 --> 02:03:28.319 If not, then nobody knows about it. Only if you're 2786 02:03:28.319 --> 02:03:31.039 a Navy seal, right, only if you're you gotta do 2787 02:03:31.079 --> 02:03:33.840 is Bavy seal? Boom? Yeah, you got chicks, you got jobs, 2788 02:03:33.880 --> 02:03:36.960 you got everything, books, books anymore. 2789 02:03:40.439 --> 02:03:42.399 I don't know that people know about it though, like, 2790 02:03:42.680 --> 02:03:44.640 like you know about it, but I don't think people 2791 02:03:44.680 --> 02:03:45.279 know about it. 2792 02:03:45.479 --> 02:03:48.800 I I literally knew about it because Jack Murphy posted 2793 02:03:48.880 --> 02:03:51.600 on the team house like r RC like I I mean, 2794 02:03:51.680 --> 02:03:56.079 like we won't see the numbers. It is fucking remarkably small. 2795 02:03:56.560 --> 02:03:58.920 We were talking before, like like. 2796 02:03:58.920 --> 02:04:02.600 I was number seventy nine. I think you said seventy eight. 2797 02:04:02.600 --> 02:04:04.399 I don't remember. I got the coin much. 2798 02:04:04.279 --> 02:04:09.159 Later, seventy eight or seventy nine memory, I remember, Okay, 2799 02:04:09.159 --> 02:04:12.800 seventy eight. I'll take your number. Seventy eight that ever. 2800 02:04:12.720 --> 02:04:15.159 Graduated through the pipeline as of when I graduated in 2801 02:04:15.159 --> 02:04:16.279 two thousand and eight or whatever. 2802 02:04:16.439 --> 02:04:18.560 Yeah, yeah, two thousand and eight, two thousand yeaes some 2803 02:04:18.760 --> 02:04:19.399 aroun there. Yeah. 2804 02:04:20.199 --> 02:04:23.159 Uh Baker Hitch, thank you very much. Tell us your 2805 02:04:23.359 --> 02:04:24.479 UFO stories. 2806 02:04:25.439 --> 02:04:27.640 Oh, I will tell you a really cool one, actually 2807 02:04:28.439 --> 02:04:30.920 very recent. I don't know what this thing was, but 2808 02:04:30.960 --> 02:04:32.640 I reached out to a pilot body of mine who 2809 02:04:32.640 --> 02:04:35.520 works for skunk Works now and he was like, yeah, 2810 02:04:35.560 --> 02:04:38.800 we have this capabilities in the US military. I was 2811 02:04:39.000 --> 02:04:43.640 teaching special recallaissance dudes from the two four STS guys 2812 02:04:43.640 --> 02:04:45.079 and their OTC pipeline. 2813 02:04:46.039 --> 02:04:48.439 We were out out in the desert out west. 2814 02:04:48.439 --> 02:04:50.640 I want to say anything specific, because you know, dudes 2815 02:04:50.640 --> 02:04:54.399 want to keep theirself secret too. But we were out 2816 02:04:54.399 --> 02:04:58.359 there just doing just some basic patrolling techniques, right. We're 2817 02:04:58.399 --> 02:05:00.399 like doing it at night with night vision stand off 2818 02:05:00.439 --> 02:05:03.079 there with our thirty one's on. I'm looking up and 2819 02:05:03.199 --> 02:05:05.039 I look at the dude that was with me. It's 2820 02:05:05.079 --> 02:05:07.520 a Delta Force dude that was, you know, teaching the 2821 02:05:07.560 --> 02:05:08.119 course with me. 2822 02:05:08.560 --> 02:05:11.039 And I look up. In my holy crap, look at that. 2823 02:05:11.399 --> 02:05:14.840 We look up. There's this thing that looks like a boat. 2824 02:05:15.079 --> 02:05:18.640 It's like ripping across the sky, but it's leaving like 2825 02:05:18.680 --> 02:05:21.239 a wake behind it. I'm talking, it covered from one 2826 02:05:21.680 --> 02:05:24.279 horizon all the way to the other horizon a matter 2827 02:05:24.319 --> 02:05:27.159 of seconds, but it was way up there. You couldn't 2828 02:05:27.159 --> 02:05:30.880 tell what it was. You couldn't hear anything, there's no sound. 2829 02:05:31.439 --> 02:05:33.720 It was not as fast as like a shooting star, 2830 02:05:34.319 --> 02:05:36.319 but near as fast, but it had a wake. 2831 02:05:36.159 --> 02:05:39.640 Coming off of it the whole time and then just disappeared. Yeah, 2832 02:05:39.680 --> 02:05:42.039 it was like some sort of hypersonic aircraft. And I 2833 02:05:42.680 --> 02:05:44.520 told my buddy about it, explained it to him. He 2834 02:05:44.600 --> 02:05:47.000 was like, yeah, he's like, we have aircraft like that 2835 02:05:47.079 --> 02:05:49.119 in the US that are hypersonic. 2836 02:05:49.159 --> 02:05:50.800 And I was like, holy crap, hypersonic. 2837 02:05:50.840 --> 02:05:52.439 I think it's like seven times the speed of sound 2838 02:05:53.039 --> 02:05:54.880 because I looked it up something like that. 2839 02:05:54.960 --> 02:05:56.560 I was like, what, Like, if you ever want to 2840 02:05:56.600 --> 02:06:00.239 like talk to somebody who will geek out of about 2841 02:06:00.279 --> 02:06:02.319 this stuff and knows their shit and is just a 2842 02:06:02.359 --> 02:06:05.119 blast to talk to, talk to Alex Hangings, just get 2843 02:06:05.439 --> 02:06:08.159 just get him on a call sometime and just talk 2844 02:06:08.199 --> 02:06:11.359 with him because he knows so much and he's so 2845 02:06:11.520 --> 02:06:15.439 fun to talk to because he just loves it so much. 2846 02:06:15.800 --> 02:06:19.079 But he'll talk about hypersonics and like newest developments and 2847 02:06:19.119 --> 02:06:20.479 all that stuff all day long. 2848 02:06:20.760 --> 02:06:23.159 Well, I mean, somebody came out recently with the UFO 2849 02:06:23.239 --> 02:06:27.000 stuff and said that that we have like the UFOs there, 2850 02:06:27.039 --> 02:06:29.720 like we have the capability in the US Arsenal, the 2851 02:06:29.880 --> 02:06:31.920 crafts that are capable of that kind of stuff you've seen, 2852 02:06:32.880 --> 02:06:35.359 So I'm like, dang, I wouldn't be surprised. 2853 02:06:35.760 --> 02:06:37.760 There's some there's some weird stuff out there. 2854 02:06:37.800 --> 02:06:39.920 I have no idea for sure what it is, but 2855 02:06:40.680 --> 02:06:43.159 I mean what the SR seventy one was developed back 2856 02:06:43.159 --> 02:06:44.760 in like the sixties. 2857 02:06:44.399 --> 02:06:46.840 So I mean the stuff that I knew we could 2858 02:06:46.880 --> 02:06:50.039 do in two thousand and six, like it's yeah reason 2859 02:06:50.319 --> 02:06:50.720 and for. 2860 02:06:50.640 --> 02:06:54.520 The viewers out there, if we were read onto it, it 2861 02:06:54.600 --> 02:06:57.439 was probably just this very just the edge of it. 2862 02:06:57.800 --> 02:07:00.600 There's this much more that was out there, Like everything's 2863 02:07:00.640 --> 02:07:03.680 so compartmentalized, like you have to have a need to know, 2864 02:07:03.720 --> 02:07:04.760 and if you don't have a need to know, you're 2865 02:07:04.760 --> 02:07:07.119 not knowing about it. Yeah, I guarantee you we have 2866 02:07:07.279 --> 02:07:09.479 stuff that we couldn't even fathom out there. 2867 02:07:09.640 --> 02:07:12.680 Yeah. Yeah, I mean think about this. I went to 2868 02:07:12.760 --> 02:07:16.199 Disney about two years ago. The new Star Wars ride 2869 02:07:16.279 --> 02:07:19.119 was out there. If anybody's ever been to that, it's 2870 02:07:19.239 --> 02:07:22.399 mind boggling like that. I saw stuff happen in that 2871 02:07:22.520 --> 02:07:24.880 ride that I'm like, how is this even possible. Like 2872 02:07:24.880 --> 02:07:26.840 there was this wall that I was leaning up against. 2873 02:07:27.000 --> 02:07:29.159 All of a sudden, it just literally melted. You could 2874 02:07:29.159 --> 02:07:30.800 feel the heat coming off of like someone cut it 2875 02:07:30.880 --> 02:07:33.199 up with a laser beam. We walked through it. 2876 02:07:33.199 --> 02:07:35.479 And like we were on this ride getting escaped through 2877 02:07:35.520 --> 02:07:37.840 like these drones were shooting at us, lasers were flying over, 2878 02:07:37.880 --> 02:07:38.920 burning up the bulkheads. 2879 02:07:39.000 --> 02:07:40.520 It was like being in a movie. 2880 02:07:40.880 --> 02:07:43.119 And the technology that we used for that, I guarantee 2881 02:07:43.119 --> 02:07:45.119 you can make cloaking devices if you can make a 2882 02:07:45.199 --> 02:07:48.439 laser like the whole bulkhead look like a laser beams 2883 02:07:48.439 --> 02:07:50.760 flying over, yeah, and feel the heat from it as 2884 02:07:50.760 --> 02:07:51.600 it flies over. 2885 02:07:51.680 --> 02:07:52.119 Yeah, dude. 2886 02:07:52.159 --> 02:07:53.680 It was the most realistic thing I've ever seen. What 2887 02:07:53.880 --> 02:07:56.159 I think they just I don't. I didn't do any 2888 02:07:56.159 --> 02:07:59.039 research in this video, so you know, I saw it 2889 02:07:59.079 --> 02:08:02.279 and I didn't really care. But there was a video 2890 02:08:02.279 --> 02:08:04.319 that I just saw that they said was in a 2891 02:08:04.399 --> 02:08:07.479 Chinese theater and it looked like flames were coming out 2892 02:08:07.479 --> 02:08:09.079 of the screen and across the top. 2893 02:08:09.600 --> 02:08:14.119 Well, I don't know if it was philosophical argument of 2894 02:08:14.239 --> 02:08:17.000 why we're in the matrix, because like you start with 2895 02:08:17.119 --> 02:08:19.960 like okay Atari video games were like this, right, and 2896 02:08:20.000 --> 02:08:22.159 then video games got better and then they got better, 2897 02:08:22.199 --> 02:08:25.560 and like, philosophically, if you can concede those points, that's 2898 02:08:25.680 --> 02:08:29.199 the argument that we're all in this like matrix matrix, 2899 02:08:29.239 --> 02:08:32.119 like video game. I'm still a philosophical argument. 2900 02:08:32.199 --> 02:08:35.720 I'm still waiting for the virtual reality deep Dive mm 2901 02:08:35.920 --> 02:08:39.079 RPG that I can just plug my brain into and 2902 02:08:39.359 --> 02:08:45.319 like live there, you know, gain levels exactly exactly. My 2903 02:08:45.439 --> 02:08:46.760 video game is pretty dope. 2904 02:08:48.399 --> 02:08:50.159 Brian Fitzgibbons, Thank you. 2905 02:08:50.760 --> 02:08:53.840 Someone called Adam White and from behind the curtain, Well 2906 02:08:53.840 --> 02:08:58.159 we got him. Yeah. Danny Roberts, thank you very much. 2907 02:08:59.359 --> 02:09:00.600 What was MEGA? 2908 02:09:00.840 --> 02:09:00.920 Like? 2909 02:09:01.119 --> 02:09:03.960 How are the team roles or how are they made up? 2910 02:09:04.199 --> 02:09:05.520 Great interview? Thank you guys. 2911 02:09:06.920 --> 02:09:10.960 So MEGA is not like anything like crazy, spooky secret 2912 02:09:11.000 --> 02:09:11.720 or anything like that. 2913 02:09:11.760 --> 02:09:14.000 I don't. I don't think it's a tactical element. 2914 02:09:14.439 --> 02:09:17.800 You have, you know CIA dudes that are contractors like 2915 02:09:17.800 --> 02:09:19.760 you were you know running or were you you were 2916 02:09:19.760 --> 02:09:25.880 a contract or your blue badge guy. Oh no, but anyway, uh, 2917 02:09:26.199 --> 02:09:30.520 they uh doing contract work over there. They're actually controlling 2918 02:09:30.560 --> 02:09:35.479 the endage, running around orchestrating what's going on target. And 2919 02:09:35.560 --> 02:09:39.000 for us, as the military aspect of it, we were 2920 02:09:39.239 --> 02:09:42.159 the uh We were basically like the command control right, 2921 02:09:42.239 --> 02:09:44.720 we were the tie to Jaysock, So Jaysuck could bring 2922 02:09:44.800 --> 02:09:48.600 in the close air support fires, assets, We could bring 2923 02:09:48.600 --> 02:09:50.560 in the helicopters and things like that. 2924 02:09:50.560 --> 02:09:52.960 Because we were there. So we were just a force multiplier. 2925 02:09:52.960 --> 02:09:56.159 They had their dage, the ground branch guys controlled them 2926 02:09:56.159 --> 02:09:59.199 and handled them there, and then we just. 2927 02:09:59.159 --> 02:10:01.680 Were forcedmultiply the fires and the assets. 2928 02:10:02.039 --> 02:10:05.279 And you guys had all the authorities that US military had, 2929 02:10:05.399 --> 02:10:05.800 we could. 2930 02:10:05.640 --> 02:10:06.760 Take custody of them. 2931 02:10:07.000 --> 02:10:08.880 It was just like, I mean, they're over there just 2932 02:10:08.960 --> 02:10:11.520 kind of helping out the fight and we bring what 2933 02:10:11.560 --> 02:10:12.800 we can bring to the table to you. 2934 02:10:13.079 --> 02:10:14.159 Yeah. Yeah. 2935 02:10:15.359 --> 02:10:18.239 One thing tying back into Exodus that the audience like 2936 02:10:18.479 --> 02:10:23.600 it deserves mentioned again is that by design, these guys 2937 02:10:23.640 --> 02:10:28.439 did not have affiliation or paperwork uh with the Afghan government. 2938 02:10:28.800 --> 02:10:31.119 So when the team, when the time come came to 2939 02:10:31.199 --> 02:10:33.199 like try and bring them to the United States. Like 2940 02:10:33.279 --> 02:10:36.399 the frustrating part was by design, they were literally I 2941 02:10:36.479 --> 02:10:38.439 mean it sounds ridiculous in the bar, but they were 2942 02:10:38.520 --> 02:10:41.840 quite literally part of such a top secret program that 2943 02:10:41.880 --> 02:10:44.279 they didn't have any of the affiliations. A lot of 2944 02:10:44.279 --> 02:10:47.399 it was like mind blowing and it's strict irony. 2945 02:10:47.479 --> 02:10:52.880 That was like guys soul, but they were quite literally 2946 02:10:53.560 --> 02:10:54.079 hard for them. 2947 02:10:54.840 --> 02:10:57.680 It was like the but it made me think of 2948 02:10:57.720 --> 02:10:59.640 the Omega program in the air, you guys. 2949 02:10:59.439 --> 02:11:01.479 You know yeah, and their guys are probably similar to 2950 02:11:01.479 --> 02:11:03.840 that too, I mean, if not exactly like that, but 2951 02:11:03.880 --> 02:11:05.920 I know that's one of the frustrating things we're trying 2952 02:11:05.960 --> 02:11:08.680 to get those guys out is because there's not the 2953 02:11:08.680 --> 02:11:10.239 best documentation kept on them. 2954 02:11:10.239 --> 02:11:13.680 I will say, quit quite literally by design, you know 2955 02:11:14.439 --> 02:11:18.479 this literally mind blowing frustrating things like no, these guys 2956 02:11:18.479 --> 02:11:25.039 are yeah, the Exodus thing was you know, yeah, yeah, 2957 02:11:25.239 --> 02:11:30.920 it was like, you know, I cannot explain to you 2958 02:11:30.920 --> 02:11:34.960 the frustration of like, like, these guys are so special 2959 02:11:35.399 --> 02:11:37.920 that there's literally nothing for me to prove. 2960 02:11:37.840 --> 02:11:43.720 Right, but you have people vouching for them America. But 2961 02:11:45.039 --> 02:11:47.079 from the eyes of like from the State Department, they're 2962 02:11:47.159 --> 02:11:48.479 just hillbillies. 2963 02:11:47.880 --> 02:11:52.159 From fucking right right right right, you. 2964 02:11:52.079 --> 02:11:54.079 Know what I mean, Like you heard it here first 2965 02:11:54.119 --> 02:11:56.279 the State Department hates hillbilly No. 2966 02:11:56.319 --> 02:12:06.239 But it was like a crazy yeah Americans exactly, Uh. 2967 02:12:07.560 --> 02:12:12.119 Let's see here, body, ah, thank you very much. 2968 02:12:12.279 --> 02:12:15.039 What does marcellis wass look like? 2969 02:12:17.119 --> 02:12:20.000 Isn't that he's got afro? 2970 02:12:20.079 --> 02:12:29.680 Does uh any huge difference between G Squadron and kg Reki, 2971 02:12:29.840 --> 02:12:31.199 And again that's. 2972 02:12:32.199 --> 02:12:34.479 It's a little different. I mean, that's not my purview 2973 02:12:34.520 --> 02:12:36.119 to talk about. But like you know, I've worked with 2974 02:12:36.119 --> 02:12:38.399 those guys before and I couldn't really speak on to 2975 02:12:38.479 --> 02:12:41.680 that accurately. But you know, I think, you know, the 2976 02:12:41.760 --> 02:12:44.119 different aspects like the juice smokings are probably more on 2977 02:12:44.199 --> 02:12:45.960 like the stuff that we did kind of stuff you 2978 02:12:45.960 --> 02:12:49.439 know we're focused was the wreck. You guys are more 2979 02:12:49.439 --> 02:12:51.680 like snipers from what I saw, you know. 2980 02:12:52.159 --> 02:12:52.840 Yeah. 2981 02:12:52.960 --> 02:12:54.680 Did you know if we have anything from Patron? 2982 02:12:57.039 --> 02:13:03.680 So nothing right now. All we we have we have 2983 02:13:03.760 --> 02:13:04.119 one of. 2984 02:13:04.079 --> 02:13:07.720 Our our Patreon get our Patreon members in studio tonight, 2985 02:13:07.880 --> 02:13:10.359 like Breathing in the Excellence. 2986 02:13:12.840 --> 02:13:14.760 We got a few from Isaac. I'm just gonna ask one. 2987 02:13:14.800 --> 02:13:16.560 Did you work with I s A? I mean obviously 2988 02:13:16.640 --> 02:13:19.159 you did. You were in Jayson, Yeah, yeah, I worked 2989 02:13:19.199 --> 02:13:20.159 with those guys. 2990 02:13:24.079 --> 02:13:24.520 Yeah. 2991 02:13:24.560 --> 02:13:28.880 So so where can people find you now if they 2992 02:13:28.920 --> 02:13:32.800 want to? You know, we've we've talked about us p 2993 02:13:32.960 --> 02:13:34.840 A nationwide security. 2994 02:13:34.960 --> 02:13:36.680 Yeah, dot com That's where I'm at. 2995 02:13:36.720 --> 02:13:40.880 I'm like the director of VIP security for us PA 2996 02:13:41.000 --> 02:13:44.640 Nationwide Security. Yeah, do that from day to day, selling 2997 02:13:44.720 --> 02:13:46.840 security contracts and working that stuff. And then when we 2998 02:13:46.880 --> 02:13:50.479 have big events, I'll travel and help manage those events, 2999 02:13:50.680 --> 02:13:53.680 uh with with our buddy Brian Fitzgibbons and and Dan 3000 02:13:53.760 --> 02:13:57.119 Manning the CEO. And then you know, Mike Evans, the 3001 02:13:57.159 --> 02:13:59.239 owner of the company, is such a great, great gracious 3002 02:13:59.279 --> 02:14:02.439 guy to bring me on too. I really appreciate everything 3003 02:14:02.439 --> 02:14:04.359 those guys have done for me. It's it's literally the 3004 02:14:04.359 --> 02:14:06.319 best company you could ever dream of working for. 3005 02:14:06.439 --> 02:14:08.760 I mean, in my opinion, yeah, I've only worked for 3006 02:14:08.800 --> 02:14:10.439 a few, but I couldn't imagine anything better. 3007 02:14:10.840 --> 02:14:15.319 Fast you mentioned like Mission earlier. It's it's like far 3008 02:14:15.319 --> 02:14:17.199 from the flagpole for us. Like we you know, we 3009 02:14:17.600 --> 02:14:20.920 bullshit chat. It's like it gives us like it's like 3010 02:14:20.960 --> 02:14:24.600 an Avengers kind of group, like and you know, we. 3011 02:14:24.920 --> 02:14:28.840 Do real stuff. Man. But yeah, it's it's been great. 3012 02:14:28.840 --> 02:14:31.520 I mean to be distance teammate and friend like he's 3013 02:14:31.560 --> 02:14:33.079 Mike Edwards with Mike Edwards, you know. 3014 02:14:34.319 --> 02:14:39.000 But yeah, it's uh love you man, Cameras. 3015 02:14:39.159 --> 02:14:45.520 I didn't expect what happened to you. What happened a lot? Man? 3016 02:14:45.960 --> 02:14:50.560 Yeah, yeah, uh yeah, a lot the Hawthorne effect. 3017 02:14:51.239 --> 02:14:53.279 And I appreciate Adam for letting me stay with him 3018 02:14:53.680 --> 02:14:55.600 last night and he's. 3019 02:14:55.560 --> 02:14:56.399 Last night it was leter. 3020 02:14:56.520 --> 02:14:58.840 So we just lit a fire, listen to the Last 3021 02:14:58.840 --> 02:15:02.840 Time He Can soundtrack, had Tito's and gatorade and ice 3022 02:15:02.880 --> 02:15:05.880 cream sandwiches. Yeah, and talked about like the Bible and 3023 02:15:05.880 --> 02:15:06.479 everything else. 3024 02:15:06.640 --> 02:15:09.920 Yeah, it was a good time. The fire was perfect. Yeah. No, 3025 02:15:09.960 --> 02:15:12.800 it's a it's a it's a wait tinos and gatory. 3026 02:15:12.880 --> 02:15:14.039 What what is that called? 3027 02:15:15.079 --> 02:15:21.880 I don't know, tatrade, I don't know you guys shirtless 3028 02:15:21.920 --> 02:15:23.840 when No. 3029 02:15:24.159 --> 02:15:29.119 Well, Last Mohicans was I mean, it's what. 3030 02:15:29.119 --> 02:15:31.279 We were talking about it last time we were together. 3031 02:15:31.439 --> 02:15:34.000 We were in a hotel in Miami and I pulled 3032 02:15:34.000 --> 02:15:36.279 my hair back to like the Daniel da Lewis Last 3033 02:15:36.319 --> 02:15:39.159 of the Mohicans look, and that's what we were talking about. 3034 02:15:39.159 --> 02:15:41.279 And then he put on the music. Yeah, no, I 3035 02:15:41.319 --> 02:15:45.199 have like the physical CD. Uh. Yeah, it was awesome. 3036 02:15:45.720 --> 02:15:46.319 Nothing all that. 3037 02:15:46.359 --> 02:15:48.039 It's one of the finest movies with one of the 3038 02:15:48.079 --> 02:15:49.760 finest that was it. 3039 02:15:49.920 --> 02:15:54.800 Uh. It was a good movie. Yeah. But the scene 3040 02:15:54.800 --> 02:15:58.319 where he takes out like scene yeah with a hatchet. 3041 02:15:58.359 --> 02:16:03.520 Yeah, yeah, every Warriors dream, Yeah, exactly one of the 3042 02:16:03.560 --> 02:16:06.079 reasons I carried a hatchet for a while, never got 3043 02:16:06.119 --> 02:16:08.800 a kill and realized how absolutely uncomfortable it was. 3044 02:16:09.119 --> 02:16:11.720 Yeah, but a gaudy thing to be carrying. Yeah, but 3045 02:16:11.760 --> 02:16:13.720 if it ever came up, if it ever came up, 3046 02:16:13.960 --> 02:16:16.319 it would have been amazing. It would have been amazing 3047 02:16:18.119 --> 02:16:21.760 your training and like what sort of capabilities you guys 3048 02:16:21.760 --> 02:16:23.399 were if you can talk about it, like what sort 3049 02:16:23.399 --> 02:16:25.880 of training you guys are doing? You know, like, how 3050 02:16:25.920 --> 02:16:28.399 did that go? That's a good question. Yeah, I really 3051 02:16:28.479 --> 02:16:31.279 loved that we did. We did a lot of jumps 3052 02:16:31.279 --> 02:16:32.079 in r see. 3053 02:16:31.880 --> 02:16:34.559 We a lot of people consider us being one of 3054 02:16:34.559 --> 02:16:37.879 the more proficient jump elements out there. But we would 3055 02:16:37.959 --> 02:16:40.079 jump as high as it go, as high as thirty 3056 02:16:40.079 --> 02:16:44.639 five thousand feet pre breathing oxygen jumping out. Most of 3057 02:16:44.680 --> 02:16:47.079 what our capabilities we trained around a lot was high 3058 02:16:47.120 --> 02:16:49.879 to high opening so jumping. The highest you can open 3059 02:16:49.879 --> 02:16:52.520 a canopy via like us Army rags is twenty five 3060 02:16:52.559 --> 02:16:54.879 thousand feet. Wow, So we jump out at twenty You 3061 02:16:54.920 --> 02:16:57.239 can jump higher than that, you can't open it, right, 3062 02:16:57.840 --> 02:16:59.520 So we jump out at twenty. 3063 02:16:59.239 --> 02:17:01.520 Five thousand feet right off the ramp, deploy right off 3064 02:17:01.559 --> 02:17:01.959 the ramp. 3065 02:17:02.319 --> 02:17:05.520 You're under canopy at like twenty four five hundred feet 3066 02:17:05.959 --> 02:17:09.600 under oxygen, nav boards down with like GPS and like 3067 02:17:09.719 --> 02:17:12.079 modern day like GPS and stuff like that, and we 3068 02:17:12.120 --> 02:17:15.520 can literally fly like different distances depending on the winds, 3069 02:17:15.559 --> 02:17:16.719 like thirty forty kilometers. 3070 02:17:17.000 --> 02:17:21.520 That's amazing. So the glad ratio of the ones we 3071 02:17:21.520 --> 02:17:23.319 were jumping at, most of them are about four to one. 3072 02:17:23.479 --> 02:17:24.120 It depends. 3073 02:17:24.280 --> 02:17:26.520 There's some out there that are pushing close to five 3074 02:17:26.600 --> 02:17:30.360 to one different types of canopies. The ones that most 3075 02:17:30.479 --> 02:17:33.200 you guys use are four to one, So when you're. 3076 02:17:33.040 --> 02:17:34.879 Talking about a glad ratio, you're talking about the amount 3077 02:17:35.000 --> 02:17:36.360 you can afford. 3078 02:17:36.000 --> 02:17:39.719 Four feet to drive to then, and it depends on 3079 02:17:39.760 --> 02:17:41.799 the wind too, so we're always going to jump typically 3080 02:17:41.879 --> 02:17:44.360 up win so we're running with the wind, so it 3081 02:17:44.440 --> 02:17:47.040 magnifies that so we can cover a lot of distance. 3082 02:17:47.040 --> 02:17:50.079 But yeah, we could jump anywhere land pretty much anywhere 3083 02:17:50.200 --> 02:17:52.319 at any time, in pretty much any environment. 3084 02:17:52.399 --> 02:17:53.799 Like clouds kind of limit us. 3085 02:17:53.799 --> 02:17:57.079 We can still jump through them, but it's super dangerous 3086 02:17:57.120 --> 02:18:00.600 and a lot of planning considerations. But I loved it, man, 3087 02:18:00.799 --> 02:18:02.280 I did it. Taught it out the free fall School, 3088 02:18:02.360 --> 02:18:05.319 taught it as a contractor. For a while, I really 3089 02:18:05.440 --> 02:18:08.680 enjoyed flying the canopy piece of it, teaching the body flight, 3090 02:18:09.639 --> 02:18:11.079 but my body was just tired of it. 3091 02:18:11.120 --> 02:18:12.520 So when I took the break, it was like, Eh, 3092 02:18:12.559 --> 02:18:13.479 I guess I'm done with it. 3093 02:18:13.600 --> 02:18:17.719 Yeah, what makes a cloud or jumping through a cloud dangerous? 3094 02:18:18.040 --> 02:18:22.399 You can't see, especially at night time, it's just hard 3095 02:18:22.440 --> 02:18:24.239 to see. And if you can't it's hard to see 3096 02:18:24.280 --> 02:18:26.639 guys anyway, Like when I used to jump with students, 3097 02:18:27.559 --> 02:18:29.399 like with the Marsak guys, I would be like, stay 3098 02:18:29.559 --> 02:18:33.239 tight going out because the plane's traveling at one hundred 3099 02:18:33.280 --> 02:18:34.879 and thirty knots across the ground. 3100 02:18:35.159 --> 02:18:36.680 So as every dude goes. 3101 02:18:36.479 --> 02:18:39.840 Out, they're getting spread out by hundreds of meters. So 3102 02:18:39.879 --> 02:18:43.079 you got a twelve man team, special forces team, whatever 3103 02:18:43.079 --> 02:18:44.879 going out. By the time I'm the last cout, the 3104 02:18:44.920 --> 02:18:48.360 other dudes over a kilometer away from me. So at 3105 02:18:48.440 --> 02:18:50.520 night time picking that dude up, especially when you have 3106 02:18:50.559 --> 02:18:53.520 city lights in the background and they're all sparkling, you're 3107 02:18:53.559 --> 02:18:55.840 like looking through night vision. It's really hard to tell 3108 02:18:55.879 --> 02:18:58.120 where your dudes are, where the strobe is versus the 3109 02:18:58.120 --> 02:18:59.399 background city lights. 3110 02:18:59.879 --> 02:19:02.120 So being accurate with everything you do, like I used 3111 02:19:02.120 --> 02:19:02.559 to harp on. 3112 02:19:02.639 --> 02:19:05.879 Dudes, get out, fly your body, deploy, keep your canopy 3113 02:19:05.920 --> 02:19:08.280 on heading, and steer it to the direction we need 3114 02:19:08.280 --> 02:19:10.159 to go to the drop someone. Because one dude could 3115 02:19:10.200 --> 02:19:13.120 turn the wrong way for ten seconds. He's a half 3116 02:19:13.159 --> 02:19:15.920 a kilometer in the wrong direction right, and trying to 3117 02:19:16.280 --> 02:19:18.280 round that dude up is just challenging. So there's a 3118 02:19:18.319 --> 02:19:21.719 lot of precision that's involved, and doing that very well, 3119 02:19:21.760 --> 02:19:23.840 accurately and like repeatable that. 3120 02:19:24.120 --> 02:19:26.879 Like the most amazing though through the clouds like that. 3121 02:19:27.319 --> 02:19:30.840 Yeah, yeah, oh dude, yeah, you'll you'll see and full 3122 02:19:30.879 --> 02:19:33.600 disclosure at night. I can't imagine I've done I've done 3123 02:19:33.680 --> 02:19:35.559 jumps before where I didn't see another dude because we 3124 02:19:35.600 --> 02:19:38.040 were in clouds for ten thousand feet wow, and then 3125 02:19:38.040 --> 02:19:40.280 we popped out of the clouds and like, oh, where's everybody. Oh, 3126 02:19:40.319 --> 02:19:42.600 everybody's kind of close by. Thank god we didn't collide 3127 02:19:42.600 --> 02:19:44.920 with each other. You can entangle canopies. I mean you 3128 02:19:44.920 --> 02:19:47.120 could run into another dude's canopy and entangle and you 3129 02:19:47.120 --> 02:19:49.000 wouldn't know it, so it's already happened. 3130 02:19:49.120 --> 02:19:54.600 Yeah. Why is the seven still your favorite gun? 3131 02:19:55.079 --> 02:19:59.639 I wouldn't say necessarily it's my favorite gun, but It's 3132 02:20:00.040 --> 02:20:02.719 definitely my favorite Lovaz gun at the time. There's probably 3133 02:20:02.760 --> 02:20:05.360 better stuff out there now, who knows, but it was 3134 02:20:05.399 --> 02:20:08.479 my favorite gun for Lovaz stuff. Like I you know, 3135 02:20:08.520 --> 02:20:10.799 if you're if I'm going into kick indoors and kill 3136 02:20:10.879 --> 02:20:12.959 bad guys, I'm still gonna prefer to have like an 3137 02:20:13.120 --> 02:20:15.559 AR fifteen or something and some some sort of caliber. 3138 02:20:16.600 --> 02:20:19.959 But for like Loviz stuff, that was my favorite gun 3139 02:20:20.399 --> 02:20:23.559 because it was small kind of at the time, it 3140 02:20:23.600 --> 02:20:27.959 was pretty modular and compact, and then it had that 3141 02:20:27.959 --> 02:20:30.440 suppressor on it that made it, you know, pretty quiet too. 3142 02:20:31.760 --> 02:20:33.680 But yeah, it was it was a unique gun. Yeah, 3143 02:20:33.840 --> 02:20:34.479 I liked it a lot. 3144 02:20:35.600 --> 02:20:38.440 So I have a question because, like, as an old 3145 02:20:38.440 --> 02:20:42.479 school ranger who fielded like the first round of SR 3146 02:20:42.520 --> 02:20:45.040 twenty five that did not have a ford assist, And 3147 02:20:45.120 --> 02:20:47.479 let me tell you, not having a forward assist on 3148 02:20:47.520 --> 02:20:51.559 an AR fucking built like gun gun was horrible when 3149 02:20:51.559 --> 02:20:53.840 you're trying to be stealthy because you're trying to seat 3150 02:20:53.879 --> 02:20:56.840 the round, sometimes dropping it hard. 3151 02:20:56.879 --> 02:20:59.600 It took the forward assist off the one ten which 3152 02:20:59.680 --> 02:20:59.959 I had. 3153 02:21:00.239 --> 02:21:02.559 Did they ever put an afford assist on an SR 3154 02:21:02.600 --> 02:21:03.120 twenty five. 3155 02:21:04.000 --> 02:21:06.520 I believe they, I thought they did, But I may 3156 02:21:06.559 --> 02:21:10.399 be wrong. I think they did. I'd have to, you know. 3157 02:21:10.840 --> 02:21:12.920 It was so horrible, like if you would like because 3158 02:21:12.959 --> 02:21:16.159 obviously I only use it on training exercises, but like 3159 02:21:16.239 --> 02:21:18.319 you get sand in or whatever and then you sit 3160 02:21:18.360 --> 02:21:19.799 there and try and seat the round and bab. 3161 02:21:21.479 --> 02:21:26.920 Jumps. Yeah yeah, you know. You saying that they didn't 3162 02:21:26.959 --> 02:21:29.000 have a Ford assist gets me thinking now because if 3163 02:21:29.000 --> 02:21:30.920 you were to just ask me, hey, does an SR 3164 02:21:30.920 --> 02:21:33.920 twenty five before, I would have been like it, absolutely. 3165 02:21:33.520 --> 02:21:36.399 Guys, the gun nuts are for melting down right now. 3166 02:21:37.959 --> 02:21:40.559 They're melting since I've seen it SR twenty five. 3167 02:21:41.280 --> 02:21:44.959 Yeah. I mean they weren't cool because they were like, 3168 02:21:44.959 --> 02:21:46.879 like you said, they. 3169 02:21:46.280 --> 02:21:49.319 Were based on the AR they had a suppressor, like 3170 02:21:49.360 --> 02:21:51.520 they were so bad ass, but they didn't have a 3171 02:21:51.600 --> 02:21:53.680 Ford assist, which made it horrible. 3172 02:21:53.799 --> 02:21:58.360 That's crazy. I thought they did. So yeah, all right, 3173 02:21:59.040 --> 02:22:02.479 Uh if they're that's it. 3174 02:22:03.000 --> 02:22:07.440 Uh So, next week we're gonna have Yayainusi is gonna 3175 02:22:07.440 --> 02:22:08.079 be on the show. 3176 02:22:08.159 --> 02:22:11.399 He was a CIA analyst. Dave's gonna be out. 3177 02:22:11.719 --> 02:22:14.360 Uh So we're gonna have a special guest host, James 3178 02:22:14.399 --> 02:22:15.440 Powell coming back. 3179 02:22:15.600 --> 02:22:20.520 Nice, He's gonna be doing the interview with me. Uh. 3180 02:22:20.559 --> 02:22:24.479 And I also want to shout out to Costa Cigars 3181 02:22:24.959 --> 02:22:28.399 uh providing the cigars for this show, good friend of mine. 3182 02:22:29.120 --> 02:22:32.200 These are the don Nello Torpedoes that he gave us. 3183 02:22:32.360 --> 02:22:36.360 Awesome cigars. I hope you guys will go check them out. 3184 02:22:36.440 --> 02:22:38.280 I want to give a shout out to Jack you 3185 02:22:38.399 --> 02:22:41.959 love the Shadow and the old timey radio shows. 3186 02:22:42.319 --> 02:22:45.920 A buddy of mine put together a cole c O. L. E. 3187 02:22:46.159 --> 02:22:49.200 Steele s T E E l E. It's an old 3188 02:22:49.239 --> 02:22:53.479 timey style radio show on all the podcast platforms. It's 3189 02:22:53.479 --> 02:22:58.120 a comedy, but it's based off the old pulp show. Yeah, 3190 02:22:58.319 --> 02:23:02.079 exactly all the old pulp like radio shows. But check 3191 02:23:02.120 --> 02:23:05.079 it out on Spotify, Apple or iTunes, everything else. 3192 02:23:05.520 --> 02:23:09.479 So, Mike Adam, any final thoughts before we roll out tonight. 3193 02:23:10.360 --> 02:23:12.200 Thank you all for bringing me back for a third time. 3194 02:23:12.200 --> 02:23:14.280 I appreciate it and good to see you in person again. 3195 02:23:15.000 --> 02:23:17.600 While you guys are welcome back on anytime man, I 3196 02:23:17.680 --> 02:23:20.000 really really appreciate you coming all the way out here. 3197 02:23:20.280 --> 02:23:22.680 Shoot. Yeah, I enjoyed it anytime man. 3198 02:23:23.079 --> 02:23:26.200 Both video Yeah, I mean I'm just happy to be 3199 02:23:26.239 --> 02:23:30.000 here real. Yeah, Like my life is a movie, like 3200 02:23:30.159 --> 02:23:31.479 fucking friends of you guys. 3201 02:23:31.959 --> 02:23:35.719 Yeah all right, so yeah, I will see you guys 3202 02:23:35.760 --> 02:23:38.840 next Friday with mister Powell and that's awesome.