“Mercy!” - JSOC Tier 1 Operator: Taking a Life, Shadow Gov & Bin Laden Debate | Chad Robichaux • 412

0:10 You know, you and I were just talking off camera.

0:12 We've been having a nice conversation today.

0:15 Thank you so much for having me on your show, by the way.

0:17 That was pretty cool.

0:19 Yes.

0:18 I don't know if I've done where we both do

0:20 each other's shows the same day at the same time.

0:23 This is This might be a first, which is pretty cool.

0:26 pretty cool.

0:26 Thank you for doing that, by the way.

0:27 I mean, you know, we're definitely in in your in your footsteps trying to get

0:32 you build our audience up to where reach as many people as you're reaching.

0:35 Well, you're doing a great job.

0:36 And obviously, like the show took off pretty quickly

0:39 as well when you started a couple years ago.

0:41 I've been seeing you for a long time.

0:42 So, just keep doing what you're doing.

0:44 But, you know, we're going to get into your story today,

0:46 which I think is obviously really important for people to hear.

0:49 But, because of your background working so many years in the military,

0:53 going to some of the most dangerous places,

0:55 and being like a true blue American patriot

0:58 as I as I would certainly refer to you.

1:01 You know, we were just talking off air.

1:03 Do Do you ever wonder nowadays or did you

1:05 even wonder back in the day if it's like,

1:08 are we the good guys or are we the bad guys?

1:10 No, man.

1:11 I I I I mean, I I I come from a long history military in my family.

1:15 Like I'm from very southern Louisiana.

1:18 Super, you know, I I wouldn't even say blue blue collar is not the right word.

1:21 Like white rubber boots, like fishermen, shrimpers,

1:24 like I grew up hunting, fishing, and in the swamps of Louisiana.

1:28 And and but my family has always served not career military people,

1:31 but went and served their their time.

1:33 World War I, World War II, Korea.

1:35 My father's first Marine in our family served in Vietnam.

1:39 I was a I was a Marine.

1:40 And both my sons are Marines.

1:41 So, like just always had this real sense of patriotism.

1:44 So, when I joined the military at 17 years old in 1993, like like,

1:48 man, I I I I believe that I was signing up for something special.

1:51 And by the way, I I do believe it is still something something special.

1:55 But, I never understood geopolitics and and the intricate web of like corruption

2:01 and influence and and things that are done for with alternate agendas Yes.

2:06 that we that I've come to learn and it's was weird disturbing to me.

2:09 It makes me really I mean when I went to Afghanistan, you know,

2:13 I I was fortunately come back and then I ended up on a contract.

2:16 It was a contractor at on a JCSOC

2:18 task force and I went to Afghanistan eight times.

2:20 And my son went to Afghanistan after me in the same war.

2:23 But when I first went to Afghanistan I

2:25 believed that when those towers fell and President

2:30 George Bush uh made a vow to make that right that wrong to America right man,

2:35 I was all in like completely all in.

2:38 I never thought for a minute during my eight times in Afghanistan

2:41 or that I would ever question the intent of why we went there.

2:44 And if you had told me just two years ago when I seen

2:47 the stuff about the Twin Towers and the conspiracies and stuff I would have been

2:49 like these guys are freaking crazy like like we we were attacked on our own

2:54 soil and then that's what I spent my life I lost friends for this.

2:57 I would have never thought in a million

2:58 years that I would have I would question that.

3:00 And here we are sitting here today you know,

3:02 not far away from the where the Twin Towers fell.

3:04 Right.

3:05 And uh do you do I do I do

3:06 I believe that that jihadist terrorists were on those planes?

3:08 Yeah.

3:09 Do I believe that they would that they

3:12 is no way possible that there was complicity

3:14 in our own government or that we knew

3:15 things that we that we could have prevented it?

3:17 I can't say that anymore.

3:18 That's right.

3:19 And I never thought in a million years that I

3:20 would sit here especially on a podcast and admit

3:22 that I would not I would not admit that if

3:24 I didn't if I wasn't deeply disturbed by it.

3:26 What does that feel like to come to at least a realization

3:31 that you know what it's not what they told us it was when you

3:35 dedicated so many years of your life to fighting in the very theaters

3:38 that we got sent to after that and your own sons did Yeah.

3:42 as well.

3:43 Hey guys, three quick things.

3:44 Number one, if you haven't subscribed, please subscribe.

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4:04 It's a deep sense of betrayal.

4:05 Uh I I I don't feel like I don't what

4:09 I don't feel is like the American dream is lost, that it was all a lie,

4:13 that I I've I've my patriotism was fake and and that I don't believe that.

4:17 I still believe in America.

4:19 Good.

4:19 Uh I I I still am a extremely proud patriot.

4:22 I don't I'm still very proud of my service and I'm

4:25 proud of my son's service and proud of all my friends service,

4:28 proud of every the service of every man

4:29 and woman that's donned the uniform since 1775 and fought,

4:32 bled, and died for this country and are doing

4:33 it right now while we sit here over in Iran.

4:36 Regardless of what politician uh either made the right

4:40 choice or made the wrong choice or alternative reasons,

4:43 regardless of that, our men and women

4:45 in uniform all have and always and always will,

4:48 I believe, do the right thing for the defense of freedom,

4:51 for America, and defend people around the world who can't defend themselves.

4:54 So, I'll never let them take away that from me or from our our troops.

4:58 But, it it it stings to know that we are

5:03 we are used at times as pawns of a bigger things,

5:06 of political power, of of and and of just sheer greed and profit.

5:13 I mean, when you think about things like By the way,

5:15 you might hear me sometimes bash the military-industrial complex.

5:18 Mhm.

5:19 But, I am proud of our military-industrial complex

5:21 because I want America to have the biggest, baddest weapons on the planet.

5:25 That way, anybody that stamps up to us,

5:26 we have the ability to destroy destroy them.

5:28 So, the military-industrial complex is good,

5:30 but it also creates opportunity for misuse and abuse.

5:33 That's right.

5:33 And that military-industrial complex has been misused

5:36 and wars have been started over profiteering,

5:38 and Ukraine is the latest the latest example.

5:41 You know, Putin put 100,000 troops in the water.

5:43 He flexed uh and and President Biden made

5:45 the decision to remove our our US consulate, our embassy,

5:48 and our troops out of out of Ukraine,

5:50 which allowed for the Article 50 violation not to be there.

5:53 The rest of the Western world followed suit, and Putin came across the border,

5:57 and now hundreds of billions dollars have been spent on this war.

6:02 And hundreds of billions of dollars and and and millions of innocent civilians,

6:08 not politicians, not service members, innocent civilians have been killed.

6:12 I would say well over a million civilians have been killed.

6:14 I don't know the exact number now.

6:15 I can look it up, but I I don't think you're far off.

6:17 wouldn't be It probably wouldn't even be reported correctly.

6:20 But I've been to the front line

6:21 of Ukraine 10 times as a humanitarian and rescue.

6:23 I've seen the bodies.

6:24 I've seen mass graves or I leaked mass graves to

6:27 Wait, you've been to Ukraine 10 times?

6:29 10 times, yeah.

6:29 I was there the week after the invasion.

6:31 Whoa, what were you doing there a week after?

6:33 To pull Americans out after our White House abandoned Americans there.

6:37 And I mean, that's What did that look like, man?

6:40 Hold on.

6:40 I didn't know Of all everything I've seen in my life,

6:42 the worst thing that I've ever seen has been the atrocities of Ukraine.

6:47 That's why I'm so passionate about this because

6:49 I I looking at it from that side, from and most of my time I spent on the other

6:54 side of the Russian like in Russian occupied territory,

6:56 seeing the war, seeing the front line troops, and seeing the atrocities there.

7:00 So, I could say from that side and then this side being in DC,

7:04 that billions of dollars that we that we

7:05 spent those probably close to 300 billion dollars,

7:08 only 80% of it I mean, 80% of it stayed back here.

7:11 20% of it has went to Ukraine.

7:13 And so we talk about supporting Ukraine,

7:15 80% of it stays here for weapons manufacturing.

7:17 The people in DC that have the power and influence

7:20 in that war and and and when I say DC,

7:22 Zelenskyy, Biden, and now even this administration right

7:26 and I know President Trump has really pushed for this.

7:28 He's get credit to President Trump and J.D.

7:29 Vance for really pushing for peace on this.

7:32 But the people that pull those levers are the same ones making the profits

7:35 and and and staying in office because of those who are making profits,

7:39 because of the lobbying.

7:40 And so war is a business,

7:43 and and that business costs lives and I've gotten a lot of heat by the way

7:46 of cuz I run a Christian ministry and and the conservative Christians are like,

7:50 what are you doing like asking me, what are you doing in Ukraine?

7:52 Like we have you know, we have a border and we have all this stuff there

7:54 and and by the like I never went to Ukraine cuz you know,

7:59 they like Zelenskyy's corrupt and I'm like,

8:01 yeah, Zelenskyy's corrupt surprise the politician's corrupt, right?

8:03 Like read a history book, right?

8:05 And so it's so as people in Washington D.C.

8:06 but I would never go do something like

8:08 that because of Zelenskyy or Biden or whatever else.

8:10 I go to I go do these things for people.

8:12 People that can't help themselves and and if

8:14 as a conservative or as a Christian like me like if you ever let your politics

8:18 get in the way of your compassion for people,

8:19 you should probably change your politics.

8:21 Like we we went there to help people and we've you know,

8:24 my team and I could say right now like my buddy

8:26 Dennis Price uh Force Recon Marine runs He Who Rescues Humanity

8:30 like uh my buddy C-Spray all these guys are still out

8:33 there all the time like rescuing people and stuff like that.

8:36 In Ukraine?

8:36 In Ukraine, all over the world.

8:38 And and they don't they don't ever do it for none of them care

8:41 about the All these guys that I know that are in this space humanitarian risk,

8:44 they could care less about the politics of it.

8:46 They just care about humans.

8:47 Yes.

8:47 And uh and and uh yeah,

8:49 I probably care more about the politics of it than any any

8:50 of the guys I work with because I'm just kind of tapped into both worlds.

8:53 But those guys could care less like uh my buddy C-Spray I don't even

8:57 think he votes like I mean he probably should but I don't think he votes.

8:59 He just all he cares about is people and these guys risk

9:01 their lives every day for people and and uh and Ukraine man,

9:04 it was just it was just horrific because

9:06 you're not looking at in Ukraine you weren't

9:07 looking at I think all of us that had served have been used to third world,

9:11 Iraq Afghanistan, Africa.

9:14 We've seen that third world atrocities.

9:16 But when you roll across that border in Ukraine it's it's like here.

9:20 I mean Kyiv's not different much different than where we are right now.

9:23 It's a first world country.

9:24 Pizza parlors, ice cream shops, movie theaters plays,

9:29 daycares it's everyday it's people like us.

9:33 War.

9:34 Kinetic first world uniform military firing ballistic missiles

9:39 the size of telephone poles and apartment buildings.

9:41 That's what you see in in in I've stayed in I've stayed

9:45 overnight in the in the shelters with families that have lost everything.

9:49 Family members, their house, everything and they're just it's it's I wrote

9:53 a book about it called Mission Without Borders.

9:55 And it's because the book's kind of about me and my son

9:58 doing it together cuz my son Oh, he came with you?

10:00 He came with me.

10:01 So to take your son into a war like that is was a pretty crazy thing.

10:05 Wow.

10:04 Yeah.

10:05 But uh And you were there a week in.

10:08 So you're seeing it when Yeah.

10:09 Yeah.

10:10 We went We went there right cuz we knew it was going to happen.

10:12 I mean, we're watching it.

10:12 My buddy C-SPAN was on top of it the most.

10:14 He was there before.

10:15 He actually went there a few weeks before kind of staged.

10:18 Um and we're watching stage and like

10:21 Well, we he just like, "Okay, like the White House is starting to, you know,

10:24 close embas- embassy and and and they're moving troops out."

10:29 And you just got to know how this works, right?

10:30 I mean, Russia's not going to come across

10:32 and attack Ukraine while they have the Western, you know,

10:35 you and the United Nations there I mean,

10:38 not the United Nations the the NATO NATO there.

10:40 Yeah.

10:40 Because because of article article five violation.

10:44 And you know, they're not going to indiscriminately hit our US troops.

10:47 So when you move out start moving out the Western world,

10:51 you giving Putin a green light.

10:53 And and that and that's what we knew was happening.

10:56 But we were watching them do that just like

10:58 we watched we watched the Biden administration do several times.

11:00 They did it in Sudan.

11:01 They did it in Afghanistan obviously the Afghanistan

11:04 evacuation which I was heavily involved in.

11:06 Ukraine They move people out.

11:08 They move the the government people out

11:09 but they don't move the civilians out first.

11:11 And so now you're leaving Americans behind and you're going to you

11:14 know that border's going to be just like gridlocked to get out.

11:17 I never heard someone put it that way though and I don't you know,

11:20 you're just putting the visual on it but the context

11:23 and deeper meaning of what you just said is pretty wild.

11:26 Giving Putin the green light.

11:28 And it makes sense because if you're pulling out all your people,

11:32 you're pulling out other allied government people

11:35 who would be involved in protecting Ukraine,

11:37 you are essentially creating the inevitable instead of say leaving them there

11:42 and saying I dare you to attack while these people are here.

11:45 presence is always a deterrent around the world.

11:47 And so you you remove the consequence you remove the consequences from him.

11:51 Like you take away the consequences that he's going

11:53 to have and you give him the green light.

11:55 And I think that was very deliberate by the way.

11:57 I That's what I'm getting at.

11:59 That feels extremely Yeah.

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13:23 Oh, that feels well.

13:25 God, I see I'm looking at the world a whole different way these days,

13:28 if you know what I mean.

13:29 Well, I mean, you could That's one example,

13:31 but you could go around the world and look at scenarios like that.

13:34 Exactly.

13:34 Exactly.

13:35 And we know there's been corruption done

13:37 in these and in in in countries that people decide not to care about.

13:41 That's a really That's another you know Afghanistan's the same thing.

13:44 Yeah, it's an important thing.

13:46 Afghanistan, you know, the the White House is in the in the mainstream

13:48 media is giving this big narrative in 2020, 2021.

13:52 Our troops have been there 20 years, endless war.

13:54 By the way, President Trump made a mistake.

13:56 He should have declared the war was over in a victory in 2018 because he did.

14:00 He just didn't declare it.

14:01 He should have.

14:02 I mean, we went to we shifted in 2018 to support an advisory role,

14:05 and we didn't lose any more troops.

14:07 We were supporting and advising, and we was down at that little as 2,000 troops.

14:11 But then, President Trump didn't take that win.

14:13 He should have.

14:14 President Biden comes in, and he's going to he's going to take the win,

14:16 but what he says is we've had this endless war,

14:18 American sons and daughters are dying there.

14:20 We have 2,000 troops.

14:21 Bro, I can name 10 places around the world that we have 2,000 troops.

14:24 We still have 80,000 troops in Japan since World War II.

14:27 We have 40,000 troops in Germany since World War II.

14:29 We have 30,000 troops in South Korea.

14:31 Those numbers might not be exactly right since since the Korean War.

14:34 Like, our presence doesn't start wars.

14:36 It It prevents wars.

14:37 Right?

14:37 So, taking our troops out of the most strategic place

14:41 in the globe at Bagram Air Force Base between Iraq, Iran,

14:44 Russia, and China had no personal interest for us because there

14:47 was only two I ISIS training camps there at the time.

14:50 Now, there's probably about 60.

14:51 Uh and and you got Pakistan having to a war

14:55 this week has started there because because of that the the terrorist

14:59 training camps going on there and in in the jihad that's

15:01 going to launch out of there around the world include the West.

15:03 And and and why So, why would the US do that?

15:06 Well, why would be China.

15:09 China wanted to be able to move sanctioned oil

15:11 from Iran across the across Afghanistan that to China.

15:14 How could they do that with the US military there?

15:16 They can't.

15:16 So, you need the US military leave.

15:18 China wanted access to the mineral rights in the Hindu Kush Mountains.

15:22 lit, the lithium mineral rights is worth,

15:24 they say hundreds of trillions of dollars,

15:26 but probably infinite amount of money.

15:27 And and I got called a conspiracist when I said

15:29 it on Fox News like a week before the withdrawal,

15:32 but we left in we left in August 31st

15:35 and and by the first week of September China had the mineral rights.

15:39 Mineral rights for you.

15:39 You think we were given that you the conspiracy is that the bad forces,

15:44 evil forces in the US government were trying to give that to China.

15:47 I think they were.

15:48 I think I think I think they I think they Well,

15:50 I think it goes back I mean I think

15:51 it if my personal very speculative by the way,

15:54 I don't have any proof of this.

15:55 I think I think we owed we owed China a debt

15:59 to the Biden family for personal business and for the election.

16:02 I think they I think they're involved in

16:05 trillion dollars worth of lithium for a ten

16:08 million dollar debt maybe if that's what it was.

16:10 Yeah, or the you know, the election, right?

16:11 They helped they they probably helped with the election

16:13 interference and and and and uh in 2020.

16:17 The lith- the lithium that's a big jump.

16:20 alone.

16:19 The lithium's a big you I mean, we've seen people do less for having, you know,

16:24 pictures and videos of them kids with the Epstein files, you know what I mean?

16:28 It could It could have been business deals that they're keeping quiet, right?

16:31 And between the Biden family.

16:33 I Hunter and and and the big guy.

16:37 And you have and then you have that the oil from Iran to China.

16:41 You had the you had the lithium,

16:43 but you can't discount the military the strategic

16:45 military positioning of Bagram Air Force Base.

16:47 Who took over Bagram Air Force Base when we left?

16:49 Not the Taliban.

16:50 The Chinese did.

16:51 And we let we left, you know, upwards of that number is very contested,

16:55 but up to 80 billion dollars in US equipment and technology behind.

16:59 It was insane.

16:59 So I mean, the whole thing was just a complete mess.

17:02 But again, we left we took our we took out our military,

17:06 closed our bases before we moved out our US citizens.

17:09 Which was the Afghanistan withdrawal was from my civilian ass looking

17:14 in the worst executed and not the military's fault by the way,

17:19 the worst administratively executed thing I think I've ever

17:23 seen as it pertains to the United States military,

17:26 definitely in my lifetime, but probably ever.

17:29 I was very involved in it because you know,

17:30 I led the evacuation of I got my my old interpreter out

17:34 and then we my team stayed and we ended up getting 17,000 people out.

17:38 17,000?

17:39 Yeah, so How'd you do that?

17:41 It was it was very coordinated logistical operation

17:44 between multiple a number of NGOs and and efforts.

17:48 I mean honestly I can't take credit for it.

17:50 I think I think it was a modern day miracle by the grace of God to be

17:52 like to be complete frank cuz I'm not smart

17:54 enough or capable enough to pull off what happened.

17:56 But but originally I went to get my interpreter,

18:00 you know, Aziz was I wrote a book called Saving Aziz.

18:02 It's actually being made into a film right now.

18:04 What?

18:05 Um but but I mean Aziz was my I did eight deployments to Afghanistan with him.

18:10 He was my because I worked in like

18:11 this kind of undercover capacity as a singleton operator,

18:14 Aziz was my not only my interpreter but he was my teammate and friend.

18:17 And and I lived with him.

18:18 I I was there when I held his kids when they were born.

18:21 He saved my life multiple times and so um when the evacuation

18:27 the withdrawal was happening I I made a decision to go

18:30 back and get my my friend and and his wife

18:33 and his six kids and How did you get into the country?

18:35 Well, we had to get permission from the Joint

18:37 Chiefs which I'm not a big fan of General Milley.

18:41 But but we got permission from General Milley's office

18:43 so I got to give him credit for giving us permission to go there with only NGO

18:46 they allowed to go to Bagram Air Force Base.

18:48 Uh and then but then getting there was one thing.

18:50 Now I had to now I had to get I had to get the the base to allow

18:57 us to move people onto the onto the base

19:00 from outside the wire which I'll take a step back.

19:03 The neo the neo operation it's called the non-combatant evacuation operation.

19:08 That's typically run by the Department Department

19:10 of Defense so now the Department of War, right?

19:11 That's that's the non-combat evacuation operation.

19:13 Anytime something bad happens in a country and we have to evacuate civilians,

19:17 that is a duty of the Department of Defense.

19:19 The White House took it from the DOD

19:21 and gave it to Secretary Blinken and the State Department.

19:24 So, essentially, HCA, Hamid Karzai International Airport,

19:29 was treated like an embassy.

19:30 If you If you think how the State Department treats an embassy,

19:32 they use the military,

19:34 the Marines the Marine the the Marines they use they use them as security.

19:38 And so, that pretty much is how they ran that that that that facility,

19:43 which Hamid Karzai International Airport,

19:45 which we had already shut down Bagram Air Force Base,

19:47 which would have been the best place to do

19:48 evacuation from because it was a military base, to a to a they we gave up

19:53 that and shifted to a civilian airport run by the Afghans,

19:57 which is crazy to me, mind-blowing.

19:59 But, so we moved there and then

20:01 the State Department coordinates with the Taliban, our enemy of 20 years,

20:04 and gives them the outer perimeter of of of Kabul Airport.

20:09 So, now you have civilians trying to get You have our allies,

20:13 innocent women and children,

20:14 you have American civilian expats expats there trying to get to the base.

20:19 And the White House saying, "If you want to leave,

20:21 all you got to do is get to Hamid Karzai International Airport." Well,

20:23 the military wasn't allowed to go out and get them.

20:25 They formed this inner circle security.

20:27 They gave the outer security to the Taliban.

20:29 Now, the Taliban are literally executing people in the street.

20:32 That's not rumor, by the way.

20:33 They were executing people in the street.

20:35 So, some 20-year-old girl that came from here

20:37 in New Jersey that wants to go there

20:39 teaching English or working at eight medical aid

20:41 center or an orphanage or or Christian Christian Yeah,

20:44 she's supposed to go there and show her blue passport to the Taliban,

20:48 who she told that who that she needed to be

20:50 safe from all these times that she was there.

20:52 And and and the US military and international

20:54 security assistance forces were protecting her from.

20:56 Now, she's supposed to go and show her blue

20:57 passport to them while they're executing people in the street.

21:00 It was atrocious that the White House was given that that advice.

21:04 And then Why?

21:05 So, our mutual friend Sean Ryan has done a lot of work on the funding

21:10 that goes from America to the Taliban that's been going on for a while.

21:14 Still does.

21:15 Yeah.

21:16 And I remember when he was first looking at this, my reaction,

21:20 even with Shawn who's plugged in, was like, "No[ __] way." No way.

21:24 And then he proved it 40 million ways to Sunday that it's true.

21:28 It's had It's been brought up by some brave people

21:30 in Congress who have actually tried to help out now.

21:33 Yeah.

21:33 But Shawn But Shawn I interviewed him last week.

21:35 It's not out It's not out yet,

21:36 but that's one of the questions I asked him where we at with that.

21:38 Still not out.

21:39 Cuz he's working on it.

21:40 Yeah, so he's one name I've heard working on it.

21:42 But it's like I try to look at like the 6D

21:46 chest and I I know the world's a weird place.

21:51 But what the[ __] Why are What Why

21:54 Cuz it's been it's been all kinds of administrations,

21:56 by the way, left and right.

21:59 Why are what possible reason could they have for having any

22:06 business ties whatsoever in any way for anything to the Taliban?

22:11 So during the evacuation,

22:13 I had to move people across checkpoints and stuff like that, right?

22:15 We had to move people, Americans, allies, innocent people.

22:19 If I were to pay 500 US dollars

22:24 to to the Taliban to get them through a checkpoint, right?

22:28 I would I would have been I would be in prison right now.

22:30 The US The Department of Justice would prosecute me

22:33 for paying get paying to a terror a terrorist organization.

22:37 I'm not allowed to do that, even as a humanitarian.

22:40 But we could send them I couldn't do that to evacuate Americans,

22:43 but we could send them 80 million dollars a week

22:46 and have been doing it for for 3 years now.

22:49 More than that.

22:49 So, I'm going to really if you don't

22:51 know this, it's going to really piss you off.

22:53 That money, by the way, is is 40 million of it is is is for humanitarian aid.

23:00 So, they send 40 million dollars a week through to the Taliban,

23:04 and that money is supposed to be for them to to to distribute to NGOs.

23:08 But, just like in Africa, any any time someone's in a dictator position,

23:11 they use it that money and food and resources and medical aid as power.

23:16 How can you keep doing that when they're not even they a woman

23:19 can't even see a doctor cuz a woman can't be a doctor,

23:21 but a woman can't see a male doctor.

23:23 So, there's no women's health care.

23:25 Right?

23:25 Uh for anyone over the age of like 9 years old.

23:28 But, you're still giving them money.

23:30 How about put some rules on it if you're going to give it,

23:31 which by the way I don't believe you should give it,

23:32 but you you people are still starving to death.

23:35 People are still freezing to death,

23:36 but we're going to continue to give $40 million in any business world you're in.

23:40 If you don't deliver, you don't keep getting the funds.

23:42 The other $40 million is for get this.

23:46 The other $40 million is in cash.

23:48 And it's for counterterrorism.

23:50 That counterterrorism.

23:51 That cash is delivered to four locations.

23:54 In all four locations, the people that that run those four locations are

23:57 all on the FBI's top 10 most wanted list.

23:59 One of them has housed uh prison American prisoners the whole time.

24:04 And and one of them is is Bin Laden's Bin Laden's son.

24:08 That's where that cash is going.

24:09 $40 million cash a week.

24:11 When we first left, where we had two terrorist camps,

24:14 now we have 60 terrorist training camps.

24:17 But, we're giving them six $40 million a week in cash.

24:20 These guys are on the FBI's most wanted This is

24:23 this is not This is this is criminal activity.

24:26 I'm not saying I'm not saying it's like legitimately by the law.

24:30 Yeah.

24:30 The criminal activity for us to be giving this money to them,

24:32 but it's but it's happening every week.

24:33 So, Cong- Sean and I broke this a while back.

24:36 We put we did a had a signature campaign

24:39 to get this exposed and then cuz they were hiding it.

24:41 And and Congressman Burchett is one of the guys still pushing it.

24:45 But, he's fighting against people in Congress,

24:47 and he's fighting against people in the Senate

24:49 that is still want to keep this funded.

24:51 Uh and so, here here's here's the part that I

24:53 tell you that take you off cuz it cuz as me, it really takes me off,

24:56 and the American people should know this to know how bad it is.

24:59 Inside that money there's a Taliban martyr fund.

25:02 Martyr fund?

25:03 Martyr fund.

25:04 So, if any every Taliban member that was killed by US service member during

25:08 the war on terror is given is given a house property in a in a thousand

25:15 dollars of US dollars of tax US tax payer dollars a month as a martyr

25:18 fund because we killed their Taliban family member during the war on terror.

25:24 There's no Gold Star families in the United that gets that.

25:27 I mean, name a Gold Star family in the United States

25:29 that gets a house property and and a thousand dollars a month.

25:34 If if they are outside of the outside of Afghanistan that martyr fund is

25:39 assisted to move back and get a house property and a thousand dollars a month.

25:45 We're pay That's our US taxpayer dollar, by the way.

25:47 Oh, yeah.

25:48 That's a slap in the face to every service member,

25:50 every every Gold Star family that lost someone in combat.

25:53 And and that is that is not something that has happened,

25:55 it's something that's still happening today.

25:56 Where Chad?

26:01 Where does that How does something like that start?

26:06 Who has that idea?

26:08 Who sits in the room and says, "You know what?

26:10 Here's a good idea.

26:11 We're we're going to not only are we going to[ __] up

26:13 the whole 20-year war and ruin all the work that people gave

26:17 their lives for by pulling out and leaving all our tech behind

26:19 and letting China take over all the lithium and[ __] like that.

26:22 But on top of that, yo.

26:25 You know all those Gold Star families that we like

26:27 send a letter to, say thanks for your[ __] service,

26:30 and never pay attention to again while their kids can't[ __] pay for college?

26:34 We're going to keep doing that to them.

26:36 And the guys who did that to their family

26:39 so that they're dead and can't enjoy their husband,

26:41 father, brother, or anything anymore,

26:43 we're going to pay them what we would pay them.

26:47 Yeah.

26:47 Where like it make sense, right?

26:50 Make it make sense.

26:50 That's no, no.

26:51 It's not even make sense.

26:53 That's evil.

26:55 That is the definition of evil.

26:58 Where does that conversation start and how can

27:01 a head roll so that conversations like that don't happen?

27:06 What to me it's what we're doing right now is

27:08 the only solution because mainstream media is not going to expose it.

27:11 I I know because I've because I've I've shared this story

27:14 specific specifically with details to many

27:16 mainstream media outlets and they haven't.

27:18 All all sides, by the way.

27:20 Oh, yeah.

27:21 But but we we have to inform the public because the only reason these people sit

27:23 in power they have the power to do

27:24 that is because the constituencies allowed them to stay there.

27:27 Vote them there and allow them to stay there.

27:29 Yeah, we have to get these people out.

27:31 We have to continue to get these people out.

27:33 And and we the people But there's a lot of people,

27:37 by the way, that aren't voted who are running those conversations.

27:41 I agree.

27:41 I agree with People don't see, right?

27:42 I agree with that.

27:43 Yeah.

27:43 How do you get rid of that without burning the whole house down at once,

27:47 which would have catastrophic consequences in my opinion?

27:50 Yeah.

27:50 As fun as that is and as much as I want to do that Yeah.

27:52 I have to be I have to be like,

27:55 what's the best thing for America while we can root out evil, too,

27:59 and allow the system not the system as we have it,

28:02 but like the system of us having a[ __] functioning country on a day-to-day,

28:07 which somehow we still do slightly.

28:09 How do we keep that running while getting rid

28:12 of all the bad gears in in the wheel?

28:14 I I I I think one way is is guys like me and you and I've

28:17 been I've been a little bit more try

28:19 being a little bit more intentional about this.

28:20 We always We always bring the problems and not solutions.

28:24 And not solutions.

28:25 And we And we don't we don't cheer on the guys that are doing well cuz

28:29 we're so frustrated with the house and and our congressional

28:31 representatives and our senators and our politicians.

28:33 We're so frustrated.

28:34 It's so easy to just focus on the frustrations.

28:36 And that's why I made sure I said Merch

28:39 by Name because guys like him are going against the grain.

28:44 They're They know they're going to probably get pushed

28:46 out by their peers for doing the right thing, but they're doing it anyway.

28:49 So, when they when they do a good job

28:51 like this, when they put their career on the line,

28:53 when I say I hate to say career cuz political positions are not careers,

28:56 it should be a place to serve.

28:58 But, they put all of it on the line to do the right thing,

29:02 then we should put our energy behind championing them, too.

29:05 We got to get behind them and and say, "Hey, this is what we want." Like,

29:08 instead of just saying this is what we don't want with this guy,

29:10 we got to say when this when the guy does the right thing, this is what we want.

29:13 We want a guy like him that's going to push

29:14 the envelope and and and and fight against this stuff.

29:18 You remember John Runyan?

29:20 No.

29:21 He was a great football player.

29:22 He was the left tackle on well, first the Titans,

29:26 but then the Eagles for many years in the 2000s.

29:29 And great guy.

29:31 When he finished his career, a few years after his career,

29:35 he's like a he's living in South Jersey.

29:37 I guess he was bored.

29:38 And he's like a moderate Republican, I'd say.

29:41 He's like, "Yeah, I'm going to run for the house." So, he runs for Congress.

29:45 He goes to Congress.

29:47 I want to say, I don't have it in front of me,

29:49 he was there for either just a 2-year term or like he

29:52 started the second term or whatever cuz they run every 2 years.

29:56 And then he said, "Fuck this, I'm going home

29:58 and I'll drive some Ubers in my spare time."

30:01 And the reason I had a lot of respect

30:02 for it is because when people asked him why, he said he got there.

30:06 He ran on like whatever his platforms were and he's like,

30:09 "All right, this seems cool." Got funding from the GOP or whatever.

30:13 It was just a house race, it wasn't a Senate race or something like that.

30:15 He's like, "All right, maybe I can go there and make a difference." Goes down

30:18 to DC and within a few days, he was like, "Oh.

30:24 Oh, we can't do[ __] Oh, all right.

30:28 So, everything that I actually want to do, I No, no,

30:31 they're telling me I have to do Oh, this is bullshit." And then he was like,

30:35 "Fuck this, I'm leaving." And I I actually thought it

30:38 was an amazing example for people not to be like,

30:40 "Yo, take your ball and go home." But, to be someone

30:43 who also was a known name before he went in there,

30:46 did not have to do this job at all.

30:47 He's worth tens of millions of dollars.

30:50 And then, at least come out of it and say, "Hey, by the way,

30:52 people, you know how you think this whole thing's rigged?" It is.

30:55 It is, yeah.

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32:34 And and you You I love that cuz

32:35 he's probably uncorruptable because he didn't need the money.

32:37 Right.

32:38 Right.

32:38 And or the or the notoriety and fame.

32:40 He's not power He's not seeking a name or or reputation cuz he already has it.

32:44 Right.

32:44 I was just I just sat down and interviewed Eli Crane, Navy SEAL sniper.

32:48 He's in there right now.

32:49 there right now, yeah.

32:50 And we talked about this on on the podcast episode I did with him

32:53 on on on my show and and uh he gave a real good perspective.

32:57 I was particularly asking him about does he think it's a good idea

33:00 for veterans to take off the uniform and then go serve again in Congress?

33:03 And he and he brought up a really good point and and it

33:05 makes sense and I don't think this just applies to veterans.

33:07 A lot a lot of folks that go up there and serve is

33:10 you go in you you kind of fall in that rank and file.

33:12 And so there's a organizational hierarchy of the GOP and and and the house

33:17 where we fall in and you come in as a freshman.

33:19 And so now you especially military guys probably most sure you feel like, "Okay,

33:23 I'm the new guy." And whenever you're go to a new unit,

33:25 you're the new guy you got to re-earn your reputation.

33:27 Right.

33:27 You have to follow orders.

33:28 You have to And so you you go

33:30 in an environment you get injected in an environment

33:32 and and you just kind of forget like it

33:34 just clicks off that you don't work for them.

33:36 Yeah.

33:37 You work for your constituency back

33:39 in whatever state and district you come from.

33:40 That's who you work for.

33:41 But you spend all your time in DC.

33:43 That's how they set the system.

33:45 and and and I think people need to go

33:47 up there and realize before they go and recognize,

33:50 "I don't work for these people.

33:51 I don't care if they even like me.

33:52 I'm going to my my constituency from my district voted me there

33:56 to go represent them." That's why That's why it's called a representative.

33:58 I'm I'm a citizen, not a career politician,

34:01 I'm a citizen representative of my district

34:03 and I'm coming here to represent my district.

34:05 And I'm going to vote the way my district wants me to vote.

34:07 Maybe not even on my opinion.

34:09 Sometimes I mean, if you're really connected to your district you may say,

34:13 "I don't want to completely agree with this, but this is

34:15 what my district wants and I'm representing them.

34:17 I'm going to vote the way my constituents vote." That has been lost.

34:21 And our our founding fathers when they set up that system,

34:23 which we have a great system by the way,

34:25 it's not the system that's broken, it's it's the system that's been misused.

34:28 That system was set up where we were representatives that way.

34:32 We came from there was no career politicians in mind at all.

34:35 We came from being doctors and lawyers and school teachers

34:38 and and and construction workers to where our group appears from our community

34:44 selected us and say go to Washington DC and represent

34:47 us and then come back and then we'll send somebody else.

34:49 That's the way it's supposed to be but now it's like you go there,

34:53 you make friends, you rub elbows,

34:55 you become this elitist career politician career politician.

34:59 It was never meant to be that way.

35:01 And and one of the greatest things that this country could do

35:05 to fix 90 I believe it would fix 90% of the problems

35:08 that we have not just in our communities and our country

35:11 but globally that America has would be term limits on congressional members.

35:15 It would it would solve everything.

35:16 The problem is the only people that can

35:17 make that happen are the people that's there.

35:19 So Andy Bustamante, I'll never this is one of those stories you never forget.

35:23 When I had him on episode 107 the second time we talked,

35:26 he told me about when he left CIA big air

35:30 quotes there and went to graduate school during part of that.

35:35 He they had a guest lecture where the local congresswoman came in to speak

35:42 to them and at the end of the lecture she said, you know,

35:46 well all you guys are my constituents so might as well just put it out to you

35:50 now what types of things would you like

35:52 to see me take to Congress and present as bills.

35:54 I need some ideas.

35:57 __] Andy rates his hand and he goes, yeah.

35:59 I would like you to take up a bill

36:01 that says you should restrict congressmen and and women

36:05 and senators to term limits and then he defined whatever

36:08 the term limits he wanted were and she was like

36:25 She wanted to be a[ __] career politician.

36:27 She wanted the pension, she wanted the connections on K Street,

36:30 she wanted the things that come with that, the corruption and all that.

36:32 And when the system is incentivized so that the people

36:34 within it are not incentivized to vote against their own interest,

36:38 which would include things like term limits, it never gets done.

36:41 So, I agree I agree with you, Chad.

36:43 Bipartisan across the board, if you ask Americans,

36:45 I believe you'd be like probably 90% out

36:47 of vote that would be up for term limits.

36:49 Yes.

36:49 So, what how do we how do we fix that when,

36:52 you know, the five including senators and congressmen,

36:55 the 500 and some people in there are not

36:57 incentivized to get any kind of majority on this?

36:59 Our system isn't set up for us to have a voice to do that.

37:02 Unfortunately.

37:03 I mean, the the answer is there there is there is no how-to.

37:06 There's no answer to it because the system set up

37:07 for them to them to basically vote themselves out of a job.

37:10 And uh is how do you undo that?

37:14 It's hard, man.

37:15 Yeah, I don't know I I don't I don't know the answer how to undo that.

37:18 I think about this a lot.

37:19 And like this has been a great start to this conversation,

37:22 by the way, because you keep introducing as someone who's lived in these worlds,

37:26 too, which makes it even more special,

37:28 but like you keep introducing without trying

37:31 to all of these extreme slippery slopes that exist.

37:37 And there's one thing that's kind of been thematically time tied

37:41 to a lot of the things examples you've been bringing up,

37:43 which is something you said early on about the military industrial complex.

37:47 And I think you and I share an opinion on this.

37:49 You said, and I'm going to paraphrase here,

37:50 correct me if I'm wrong, but you said,

37:52 "I love the idea of the military industrial

37:54 complex in the sense that we get the biggest,

37:56 baddest, best[ __] and we get to have the most powerful military in the world

37:59 because that's important for deterrence and anytime

38:01 we have to call on it." Agree.

38:03 Hey guys, if you haven't already subscribed, please hit that subscribe button.

38:06 It's a huge huge help.

38:07 Thank you.

38:08 And then you said, "I hate the aspect of the military industrial complex

38:11 that is incentivized therefore to declare war and go to war as a business

38:15 all the time and do the world's bidding and bring other armies

38:19 in and get civilian casualties in the middle of it by the millions,

38:22 which by the way, you were correct on the Ukraine thing.

38:25 The casualties are up at 1.8 million

38:27 and the deaths are somewhere I was seeing different research.

38:30 It was like between 500,000 and a million.

38:32 So, you're like right there.

38:34 You know, And by the way, I want to say that.

38:36 How do we fix that by the way, Chad?

38:39 Like how do we fix cuz I agree.

38:41 I want to have a extremely powerful military that's

38:43 not underfunded so they can do all those great things.

38:47 And I don't mind putting my taxpayer dollars to that.

38:49 But then how do I make sure that the companies

38:51 that are given the money to create that military don't incentivize

38:56 our government and therefore our military at their beck and call

38:59 to go create wars around the world all the time?

39:01 Kill lobbying.

39:02 Kill lobbying.

39:04 That's it.

39:04 That's the answer.

39:06 That's it cuz the money makes its way back

39:07 to campaigns and politicians and politicians that vote on it.

39:10 Now, how do we do that?

39:12 I mean, again, you go back to Congress having to vote on that.

39:15 They vote themselves out of money and power

39:18 and and and campaigns that keep them in power.

39:22 Campaigns cost a lot of money.

39:23 Yes, they do.

39:24 And campaigns and I mean, you could you could buy elections in America.

39:28 You have enough money.

39:29 You have enough money to put behind a campaign.

39:31 You have enough friends and companies and and, you know, And so,

39:36 the military-industrial complex and the and the uh

39:41 petrol industry or in the pharmaceutical industry,

39:44 these are all the biggest funders of of of campaigns.

39:49 And so, By the way, I want to want to throw this number out there.

39:51 It's crazy.

39:52 Uh America's been We're celebrating our 250th year right now.

39:56 Mhm.

39:56 Uh do you know Can you take a guess how many years

39:58 I won't say how many years we've been in war in 250 years?

40:00 I'll ask you how many How many years have we been out of war?

40:03 Have not been in war?

40:04 16?

40:05 There you go.

40:05 Am I right?

40:06 You're right.

40:06 17.

40:07 did that come from?

40:08 Whoa.

40:08 It's It's I think it's I think the actual number 17.

40:10 Somebody fact-check us on it, but we're close.

40:13 Uh I mean, most people have no idea.

40:15 Like so, when you talk about war being profitable,

40:17 this is not just a new thing with Raytheon and late

40:20 Raytheon and Lockheed Martin and stuff like that, war's always been profitable.

40:23 That's right.

40:24 And uh and politicians in DC who have the ability

40:28 to to flip the levers say we're in or out of war,

40:31 uh unfortunately, their campaigns are paid

40:34 for by the people who profit off of war.

40:36 All right, so two things.

40:37 One point I don't want to lose cuz it was on what you were saying.

40:40 I just want to make sure I throw this one out to you.

40:43 You talk about getting lobbying out

40:45 of politics and then you unfortunately correctly say,

40:48 "But they're not incentivized to do that." I almost feel

40:50 like and this is not the way I want it done.

40:53 People are just putting visual on it.

40:55 I almost feel like the only way that could

40:56 ever possibly happen is if you got all 535 of them in a room with some spec ops

41:02 guy like you with a gun saying, "Listen, buddy,

41:06 y'all are going to go in there and vote on this[ __] right now

41:08 before any of your donors can talk about this about taking money out of politics

41:12 and therefore that means all of you will would have to lose the next

41:15 election and you won't cuz now they can't pay for you to lose." Right.

41:18 Like that feels like the only possible

41:20 and I'm not advocating for that, but you know.

41:22 Maybe.

41:23 I'm not.

41:23 But I'm just saying like that is not plausible.

41:27 It's not the the system's not set up to be in uh you know,

41:30 where you have where the and then if a president comes

41:32 in and uses executive authority to do it, he's a dictator.

41:36 He's a di- Right?

41:38 We've had a lot of those though.

41:40 we we we are a we're not a democracy, right?

41:43 We I know you know this, we're we're constitutional republic.

41:47 So I always disagree with everyone on this.

41:48 We're both.

41:49 We're both.

41:50 Okay.

41:50 We're both.

41:50 Can you I I Can you break that down for So we're a democracy in the sense

41:55 that the people do vote for their elected representatives

41:58 and also that separates and I'm looking at this 30,000 ft in the air right now.

42:02 People this really would require a full

42:04 podcast to give the proper details and evidence,

42:06 but we are able to have some separation of powers between uh,

42:10 state and federal and that is where it ties into like being a republic, right?

42:15 Right.

42:15 So, you have elected representatives who act on your own interest.

42:20 But, we are also a democracy in the sense that people can

42:24 put forth measures that then get elected that then get selected directly.

42:29 And I would say another republic aspect to it,

42:32 and this one I'm talking out of my ass on, so correct me on the on the comments.

42:36 But, when you look at the federal government and you have the executive,

42:39 the legislative, and the judicial, and ideally they're all separate,

42:44 that's more republic related because you are electing the people to two of them,

42:51 and then the judicial is selected based on the people that you elect,

42:55 which would be a more republic idea.

42:57 Yeah.

42:58 So, really, yeah.

42:59 I mean, cuz You have aspects of all all all three of them

43:01 are voted in the two in the two separate separations of power.

43:05 Right.

43:05 That yeah.

43:06 Right.

43:07 I'm sure I'm going to get lit up for going way too fast,

43:09 but But, you're actually right.

43:10 Yeah.

43:11 So, I would agree with everything you just said.

43:13 Yeah.

43:13 So, either way though, if you have all these if you have

43:18 all the lobbying money in Congress and in Senate,

43:23 and let's say you can't get rid of that.

43:25 Mhm.

43:26 And you're still going to have pharma.

43:27 You're still going to have bankers.

43:29 You're still going to have all this[ __] What can

43:32 you do with the system set up as it is,

43:34 corrupt as it may be, to at least get 20% of what we want fixed?

43:39 Yeah.

43:41 Man.

43:43 It's a hard question.

43:44 I'm sorry.

43:44 No, it's it's it's it's I mean, hard questions are good.

43:46 I I just I just I don't know.

43:49 I I spent my I asked you on on my episode with you, what keeps you up at night?

43:54 And and this is what keeps me up at night.

43:57 Mhm.

43:56 I love this country so much, man.

43:58 I really do.

43:59 I've been all over the world.

44:00 I've been to 60 countries.

44:01 60?

44:02 I've been to 60 countries, and and we we what we have here is exceptional.

44:07 And as bad as it is, it's still as bad as it is, still the best.

44:10 It's still the greatest country on the planet, period.

44:13 And uh and I believe in it.

44:16 And I and I and I believe in the our the way our government is set up.

44:20 It's special.

44:20 I believe in the way our government is set up.

44:22 But there are flaws in it that I don't think I I'll that our founding

44:26 fathers would have ever predicted that this level

44:28 of corruption would have come from within.

44:31 And so when when I ask you like what keeps you up at night,

44:34 what keeps me up at night is is is is how

44:36 do we how do we turn around save something that's been hijacked?

44:41 Hijacked?

44:42 Cuz it cuz it has been hijacked.

44:43 And and I Who hijacked it?

44:45 Or is it more incentives hijacked it?

44:47 I think it's incentive hijacked.

44:49 And it goes with that question other question I asked you,

44:51 who are the they, right?

44:52 Yeah.

44:52 And I I think America has so great has become so powerful

44:55 around the world that people want to use it and and for good.

45:00 I mean, they want to use our military,

45:02 which I think is what we're seeing right now and and Iran.

45:05 They want to use our military.

45:07 They want to use our economy and and all those benefits

45:11 that other country get off of of hijacking the they, right?

45:15 Whether it's globalist or or different countries

45:17 that have their their claws in America.

45:19 All the incentives they get from us, they have to do it through corrupting,

45:23 through establishing relationships through corruptible people Right.

45:26 that are in DC.

45:28 And uh and every administration, by the way, has been That's right.

45:32 has been part of this.

45:34 Uh and every party uh when I say every party,

45:36 both the Democrat and Republican are guilty of this.

45:39 I mean, there's corrupted people on both sides of the aisle.

45:41 And every every administration that's been that, you know,

45:43 from the White House from the White House down to local legislators.

45:48 Yeah.

45:48 And uh And so there's a lot of things that need to be exposed.

45:52 Um And and I think, you know,

45:55 I I think the exposure of some of these things are are

45:57 probably the only way to start exposing it and and calling I mean,

46:01 when you look at the trading Uh Oh.

46:03 I tell you, I was really happy at the State of the Union the other day.

46:06 President Trump called out insider trading.

46:07 The only one of the only things that Democrats

46:09 stood up for, which I couldn't believe it, was insider trading.

46:12 And then Trump took it Trump took a pretty good shot.

46:14 So, then all the Democrats stand up against insider trading even even

46:17 Elizabeth Warren or Pocahontas Pocahontas was

46:19 there like she's like, "That was good.

46:21 That was good." clapping.

46:22 And then and then while she while he wanted Elizabeth Warren over there she

46:25 is standing.

46:26 Yeah, he did.

46:27 But then he said, "Where's Nancy Pelosi?

46:29 I bet she wouldn't be standing." He had to take He had to take a shot.

46:32 I'm like he had his moment to where he had everybody together.

46:36 Couldn't do it.

46:37 He couldn't do it.

46:38 "Where was Nancy Pelosi?

46:39 I bet she wouldn't be standing and cheering." But yeah,

46:44 now you see stuff like that it's a little disheartening, right?

46:47 If it was that much.

46:48 you can't go into You can't legitimize going into a position

46:55 a job maybe have $50,000 in the bank, right?

46:59 Which is a lot of people.

47:00 And then and then you go in and the job pays

47:03 190,000 a year and you're not allowed to make more than 25,000.

47:07 You can You can write a book.

47:09 You can form and you can do if you're a doctor you can do that on the side.

47:12 That's it.

47:12 That's the three things you could do while you're in Congress.

47:15 Yeah, that's the only other ways you can make money.

47:16 And and by the way, I've written books.

47:18 Books are very hard to make money.

47:19 Yes.

47:20 Uh so And and now you go in you're

47:22 worth like 50 100 200,000 maybe have in bank account,

47:25 but in four years you're worth millions.

47:28 I think I think Ilhan Omar more right now is what is it 30 million?

47:32 That she is.

47:32 Yeah, and I I can't stand Ilhan Omar, but I'm pretty sure she married into it.

47:37 Her husband's worth a lot.

47:38 But it's under investigation right now, right?

47:40 Is is it she married into it?

47:41 Is it her Is it her brother that she married into it?

47:45 No, there were I saw some joke about

47:46 that, but I think she's married to a white guy.

47:48 Oh she did remarry, right?

47:50 Yeah, I I I didn't really get that one,

47:52 but there's other ones that are just prime examples

47:54 where it's like wait a minute they were worth

47:56 like a million and now they're worth[ __] 50

47:58 million 2 years later and they didn't marry into it.

48:01 Come on.

48:01 Yeah, yeah.

48:02 It's a I mean Elon's like a I know that's current investigation.

48:05 So I mean honestly like while I don't like her, I

48:08 would be happy to know that she married that that was legit.

48:11 It would make me happy to know.

48:12 yeah.

48:12 I'm never That's the thing.

48:14 I'm never rooting for the worst outcome.

48:16 You know what I mean?

48:17 Like I want to believe that something's not

48:20 as bad as it looks or something like that.

48:21 But investigate it and if it is, get them the[ __] out.

48:24 You know?

48:25 Yeah, I mean this is I mean look I mean

48:26 that's I mean right now you I mean Crenshaw like

48:29 he's he's he's under the Like so so it's I'm

48:34 using him to say it's it's on both sides now.

48:35 What do what do you what do you make of all that?

48:37 Cuz that's like you're in the military community.

48:39 There's a whole you know.

48:42 Yeah, I mean look at I'm I've had Eddie Gallagher

48:44 I can't I can't stand I'm friends with Eddie.

48:46 Real good friends with Eddie.

48:48 Eddie and Eddie by the way is one of the most incredible human beings I know.

48:51 I love Eddie.

48:52 Great dude.

48:53 So and and in full transparency, I'm I'm really close friends with Eddie.

48:59 And and I'm and the guy who's running against Crenshaw, Steve Toth,

49:05 led me to Christ and as a disciple of me and helped me start Mighty Oaks.

49:08 So when I say that so I say that to say there's bias there, right?

49:13 There's bias there.

49:15 But as a veteran, I was so happy everyone cheered

49:20 Crenshaw along to go into Congress because we wanted someone

49:23 to represent that come in the insider to represent

49:26 the the the the things that we want in the veteran community.

49:30 And he just hasn't done that.

49:31 It take away the, you know, accusations of insider trading and all that stuff.

49:35 The stuff with him and Shawn, I don't know.

49:37 And so I can't make those accusations against someone.

49:39 I wouldn't unless I really knew.

49:40 But I can't say he hasn't delivered

49:43 on the things that he his voting record hasn't

49:45 reflected what what what we we you know

49:48 we the veteran community got behind him for.

49:51 So a lot of you before, if I'm understanding this correctly,

49:54 cuz I'm I'm not familiar I'm not in the veteran community,

49:56 but guys that knew him or knew of him

49:58 from the veteran community before he got into office liked him.

50:02 Well, it's just I don't know if they liked him personally.

50:05 It was just like, "Hey,

50:06 we have a Navy SEAL who's a combat veteran who's wounded,

50:08 you know, gave his eye for our country,

50:11 is going to is going to represent us." I mean,

50:14 right away off this just on the surface,

50:15 like the the cover value, you're like, "I want to get behind that guy." Yeah.

50:19 I think the veteran community got behind him.

50:21 And then, you know, I mean, he's he's carried himself in a way that uh you know,

50:26 it's not very a good representation of the veteran community.

50:29 I've just I've got So,

50:29 I'm trying to be careful right now cuz one thing I can't stand,

50:32 cuz it's happened to me, is the hate on hate veteran thing.

50:34 Oh, yeah.

50:35 it's it's so toxic and so terrible.

50:37 I'll get it.

50:37 You'll You'll get some comments in the section of people that hate me.

50:40 I'll muster right out here.

50:42 But Yeah, it's terrible.

50:44 And I So, I don't want to jump into that.

50:46 But I But I will say, you know,

50:48 he hasn't I think Crenshaw just hasn't represented

50:51 the veteran community well with the way he carries himself.

50:52 He kind of lives the rockstar lifestyle.

50:54 And you know, he's he's interacted with the constituency in a pretty

50:57 arrogant way that that the constituents hadn't been happy with.

51:01 And then, uh you know,

51:03 there's some things that that could say that I won't because I don't want

51:05 to use the platform to bash him when I don't know things for sure.

51:08 But I But I will say the way he treated my friend Eddie Totally

51:11 was was was totally wrong.

51:12 And uh And And Eddie and his wife are just amazing human beings.

51:16 And uh And he hadn't voted.

51:17 I mean, to me, like all that aside, I I'm going to I'm going to vote for you

51:22 based on your voting record of how you represent Yeah,

51:25 he I'm I'm in his district.

51:26 I'm in Crenshaw's district.

51:28 So, I'm I'm his constituent.

51:29 That's a hell of a district, man.

51:30 You guys You guys drew that one pretty interesting.

51:33 drew They They drew that thing up for you.

51:36 That was That was a blind monkey drawing that thing.

51:38 Yeah, I'm sure there's some deliberateness in how they drew that thing.

51:40 Yeah.

51:41 That was That was like[ __] That wasn't a straight line.

51:43 I thought Nick Cage was trying to find

51:45 the Declaration of Independence watching that[ __] thing.

51:48 But yeah, you know, as I said to you, I had some guy I'm going to vote for you

51:50 of how you represent me on your voting and uh you know,

51:53 and so yeah, I had some disagreements there.

51:55 Remember when I had Mike Yegley in here for episodes 343 and 351?

51:59 And remember what he said he used to do

52:01 and allegedly does not still do these days when it comes to collecting your data

52:05 from the public forums and using it without you knowing?

52:07 And remember how we said there are data brokers

52:09 who make up one of the largest unseen industries

52:12 on Earth who are constantly doing this every day

52:15 with your data that you don't even know about?

52:17 Well, yeah, that's kind of a problem.

52:18 In Mike's case, he was looking at it from a national security perspective.

52:21 In your case, you're looking at it from a privacy perspective,

52:24 which is why you need to be using protectmydata.com

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53:24 Yeah, I I won't I had a chance to talk with Eddie off camera about that one,

53:29 so I assume all that's off record, so I won't go into that.

53:32 What I will say is just he wasn't Eddie was really nice about it, too.

53:37 He He really is.

53:38 He wasn't He wasn't a dick about it at all.

53:40 Like, and I wouldn't have blamed him to be.

53:42 But it just seemed like bad guy, you know?

53:46 Like just just like basic indecency as a person is how I'd describe it.

53:52 Yep.

53:51 I mean look it's like I said I could say some

53:53 things that that just it doesn't do anybody any good to say.

53:56 I'll just keep it off the record but I could say like like again Eddie's

54:00 like one of the greatest and Eddie could

54:01 be because of the way Eddie was treated,

54:03 he could be out there like throwing dirt and bashing

54:06 him and calling him a you know MF'er and stuff.

54:08 He doesn't do that.

54:09 He just kind of says what happened and he's just

54:11 very very straight up about it and and his wife too.

54:14 Oh yeah.

54:15 These These are some These are some amazing people man.

54:17 through a lot man.

54:18 through a lot.

54:18 Yeah.

54:18 I I really you know having him in here I did episode

54:22 256 with him and you know we talked for like 4 hours.

54:28 And I had been pretty clear on his story at that point before he came in here.

54:34 But I remember just passively reading

54:36 Eddie's story and emphasis on passively obviously.

54:40 Mhm.

54:40 In like maybe 2017, 2018 when it was all

54:43 going down and being like wow what a scumbag.

54:46 Yeah.

54:46 Something like that.

54:47 And then Shawn had him on early on and I saw that podcast

54:50 later and then had a chance to talk to Shawn about it as well.

54:54 And I was like wow I think I need to look at that more.

54:58 I think I have misjudged this guy.

55:00 And I knew before I came in here I had but then

55:02 I had a chance to literally really see it for myself up close

55:06 for 4 hours and at the end I was like listen man

55:08 I I got to you didn't know me but I got to apologize.

55:11 I I I jumped to conclusions

55:14 on that and that's not fair because especially especially like

55:16 for the guys that are like the tip of the spear and really give it all.

55:21 You know you want to get it's not to ex- when

55:23 people actually do things bad you don't excuse that but like

55:26 you want to give people you should give people the benefit

55:28 of the doubt innocent till proven guilty if you will.

55:30 And I he definitely didn't get that.

55:32 He didn't get it from me either.

55:33 And I think righteously so he's been incredibly vindicated and the people

55:38 people need to hear that cuz they need to hear what happens

55:42 sometimes when they make political football out of our guys that are

55:45 just following the orders to do their job at the highest level.

55:48 I have a real problem with that.

55:50 Yeah.

55:50 I mean, look the front line of combat like kinetic warfare like Eddie was,

55:57 you know, I You know,

55:59 I was I was fortunate guy and guy and I

56:01 transition over go contract and I did clandestinely just you know,

56:05 at the at the top level highest level and I I

56:08 seen a lot of horrible things but I being, you know,

56:11 I was never in a kinetic role like Eddie was on a very front line like like

56:14 doing that kind of fighting every day like I

56:17 mean like infantry Marines do and and but man,

56:19 they were getting Eddie and them were getting after it and and for like lawyers

56:25 and and and journalists to insert themselves after

56:29 the fact in those environments it just unfair.

56:33 It just and you know, never in history by the way have we ever had seen that.

56:38 War is ugly.

56:39 And I'm not saying we like we said in the beginning

56:42 we always got to remember we're the good guys, right?

56:43 And and uh and we always take the high ground

56:48 ethical high ground even even in intense moments of combat.

56:52 But but war is ugly and and for for people to come in after the fact

56:56 and dissect it that with lawyers and journalists

56:59 and stuff like that it's very unfair.

57:01 Yeah, I I agree but let's let's actually go back to I'm glad you brought it up.

57:05 Like the the good guys conversation.

57:07 Cuz we got off that.

57:08 I so just up front I wake up every day and I'm very grateful that I live here.

57:14 I think it's the best country in the world.

57:15 I think we got a lot of problems for sure

57:17 but like I want to help fix those problems.

57:19 I don't want to sit here and be like yo,[ __] this place.

57:21 Like it's it is a incredible 250 year

57:25 experiment we have pulled off to this point.

57:28 That said when when I say like are we the good guys?

57:32 I'm not referring to the whole country itself or something like that.

57:35 I'm asking that question about some of the people

57:38 who take power not by elections, by the way,

57:41 and including also people by elections in some

57:43 cases who just in the smallest corners

57:47 are able to kind of slip through the cracks and ruin it for everyone else.

57:51 So, when I ask you that question, if I could pose it to you again,

57:54 are we the good guys or {quote} {unquote} are we the bad guys?

57:57 If I asked you through the lens of like hey,

58:00 have we let too many of those rats just

58:03 on the ship a little bit too much to the point

58:05 that maybe sometimes we are doing things around the world

58:09 or within our own country where it is a bad guy thing,

58:12 would you agree with that on like that micro level?

58:15 If that makes sense.

58:16 do.

58:16 Sadly, I do.

58:17 Yeah.

58:18 Sadly, I do.

58:18 Yeah, we we're supposed to be the good guys.

58:20 I believe that wholeheartedly.

58:21 I believe that God the God sovereignly gave us uh this opportunity

58:27 250 years ago to do something great in this world with it.

58:30 And I think uh the the blessings that America has

58:33 has been misused uh more and more throughout the 250

58:36 years to the point to where now there are

58:38 things that we do that ethically questionable around the world.

58:41 As a as a as a entity, as a as a nation,

58:45 we do things that are questionably the the right thing to do around the world.

58:48 Uh Are there some that come to mind besides Afghanistan

58:52 and the pull out there and the money we're paying the Taliban?

58:55 Yeah, I mean uh I mean we uh like when you get the Clintons in Haiti,

59:06 like uh uh and we have a I think I think uh Gaddafi was a was a big one.

59:14 You know, we we had a US a sitting US Secretary of State, I I I I believe,

59:20 called for the assassination of Gaddafi,

59:23 had him killed, bragged about having him killed,

59:25 and uh and sent send country into turmoil Uh and uh and and then we had,

59:31 you know, our our ambassador and US service members killed there uh in Benghazi.

59:40 And uh you know, I think I think we were the I think America was

59:42 the bad guys in that and then maybe not maybe not the the troops on the ground.

59:47 Right, of course.

59:48 but but I mean the you know, America has a State Department, has a White House.

59:52 I think I think we made the wrong decisions and and uh

59:54 we overreached into somebody else's as it comes into regime change,

59:58 we try to change change the leaders of governments for whatever

1:00:01 political reasons or powers uh whatever whatever reason they're doing it,

1:00:05 whether it be economic or for selfish

1:00:06 reasons or whatever whatever's happening behind the curtain.

1:00:09 We overreach and do things like that.

1:00:10 So, that's probably one of the ones that sticks out to me.

1:00:13 I mean As you and I sit here talking today though,

1:00:15 they're beginning to wage a war in Iran and I think

1:00:18 it's it's a different situation than Libya in a lot of ways.

1:00:22 Yeah.

1:00:23 But if we just looked at it at the at the top of the spear,

1:00:25 there's there's comments we could agree on here.

1:00:28 Gaddafi was a bad guy.

1:00:30 Mhm.

1:00:30 He was a dictator.

1:00:31 Yep.

1:00:32 Hurt his own people.

1:00:32 I'd describe him as a sociopath.

1:00:34 Mhm.

1:00:35 Khamenei and members of the IRGC, same thing.

1:00:38 And yet we can look back on Libya and regime change and be like, well,

1:00:43 that was a[ __] mistake to say nothing of our own guys that died with that.

1:00:47 And now we're looking at a war with a country of 92 million people that sits

1:00:51 on a lot of oil and is allied with countries

1:00:53 like China and Russia at least to some degree.

1:00:56 And it's like is it the same thing or not?

1:00:59 Yeah.

1:01:00 Yeah, I mean so right now I've been spending the last

1:01:02 few days I've kind of avoided going on Fox because man,

1:01:04 I I get asked to go on Fox a lot and I I go I go when I can,

1:01:07 but I'm always careful with the I think guys like you and I get

1:01:12 asked to do things uh and we're expected to know everything all at once.

1:01:17 I mean, I expect and I just don't.

1:01:19 I'm I'm not any different than anyone else.

1:01:20 I'm I'm not a foreign policy expert.

1:01:23 But if I'm going to go on and talk about something,

1:01:25 I want to know at least what what I'm talking about.

1:01:27 I don't want to speak out of my butt because

1:01:29 it's dangerous and reckless and and too many people do that.

1:01:32 I don't need the clicks.

1:01:33 I don't care about it.

1:01:34 Um I I I I'm trying to gather the motivation

1:01:39 of why we just did what we did in Iran.

1:01:43 Because motivation to me, intent to me, matters.

1:01:46 There's a lot of reasons we could have done that done that in Iran.

1:01:49 And and and I and I know you and I may not agree on this uh

1:01:53 but Iran has been a number number one funder of terrorism around the world.

1:01:57 No, I do.

1:01:58 I agree with you on that.

1:01:59 But I but I but I also agree with you in the fact

1:02:01 that I think we have a pretty good handle on that.

1:02:03 Yeah.

1:02:03 I think we had a pretty good handle on that and and and having

1:02:05 to come do a complete regime change over

1:02:07 it maybe not maybe it wasn't the answer.

1:02:10 I don't know that that was the motive I don't know I don't

1:02:12 think that was probably the motivation that we went in and did it.

1:02:14 Do I think we did it to help uh the revolution

1:02:18 the the people uh take over uh revolt against the regime?

1:02:23 I don't think that's why we did it either.

1:02:25 So if we didn't do it for those two things then then what did we do it for?

1:02:29 Did we do it cuz Israel wanted us to?

1:02:32 Cuz Israel was was threatened?

1:02:33 Because I don't think we were threatened.

1:02:36 Um I agree.

1:02:37 Directly.

1:02:37 I don't I don't think I mean they don't have

1:02:39 ICBMs that could reach any of our assets and resources.

1:02:42 They could reach our military bases in the in the region but that's just

1:02:44 part of that's just part of geographically

1:02:47 positioning yourself in a place like that.

1:02:48 That's that's kind of part of the game.

1:02:51 Yes.

1:02:52 I I I uh and I and I have to I have to question

1:02:57 all the other things that what are all the other most motivations that could be?

1:03:00 Because as I assess this and try to put my head around it is it oil?

1:03:06 Uh cuz if it is oil, I'm not okay with that.

1:03:08 Mhm.

1:03:09 I'm not okay with that.

1:03:10 Uh even if it's strategically better for America, I'm still not okay with it.

1:03:14 Our guys going to die for oil?

1:03:16 Yeah.

1:03:16 For oil.

1:03:17 I'm not okay with that.

1:03:17 I never have been okay with that.

1:03:19 And by the way, President Trump wasn't okay

1:03:21 with that when you talked about Iraq, the Iraq war.

1:03:24 That's what I'm saying.

1:03:25 Yeah.

1:03:26 So so right now I'm still trying to to answer your question.

1:03:28 It's I'm not copping out.

1:03:29 I'm just I'm still I'm still trying to I'm

1:03:32 trying to grasp what the motivation is cuz right

1:03:34 now I don't see I don't see the where

1:03:38 the incentive is to be the best thing for America.

1:03:40 Yeah, you you say a lot there

1:03:43 that also under underscores another important point,

1:03:46 which is that you have the ability to hold multiple thoughts at the same time.

1:03:49 And you talk about, you know,

1:03:52 this idea that if you go on Fox or on mainstream media,

1:03:55 they need 3 minutes and they want you to know every[ __]

1:03:57 thing and they want you to have a clear place to stand.

1:03:59 Yeah.

1:04:00 These are complex things.

1:04:02 Very complex.

1:04:03 has incentivized a 280 character tweet or less.

1:04:07 And people listen to you and I.

1:04:08 So when you when you and I say something,

1:04:10 there's I have a responsibility in what I say.

1:04:13 Not cuz I want it, because it's just the nature of having built a platform.

1:04:17 And I don't want to mislead people because my opinion is is is premature.

1:04:21 Sure.

1:04:22 Yeah, and people got to let things play out for sure.

1:04:25 But like we're not We don't live in a world

1:04:28 where the things that go viral are things that say,

1:04:31 "Well, I see this, but I also see this.

1:04:32 Well, I see this, but I also see that." We live in a world where it says,

1:04:36 "This is what I see.

1:04:37 __] you.

1:04:37 Die if you disagree." And that means that if

1:04:40 you have one opinion on like a major thing,

1:04:43 there is therefore 100 other opinions that must orbit

1:04:46 that that you completely agree with or all the opposite.

1:04:50 And that's just not how the world works.

1:04:52 A team or B team.

1:04:53 Like pick a team.

1:04:53 I'm like, I can't I can't always do that.

1:04:55 Yeah.

1:04:56 And that was the thing that was fun about whether regardless of the politics,

1:05:00 when Trump was running in 2015 through up until

1:05:06 he became the nominee officially and it got real, right?

1:05:10 So we're talking all the way through like April, May 2016.

1:05:15 For a goddamn near a year there.

1:05:17 It was fun.

1:05:19 Watching a self-funded billionaire who had been inside these clubs Yep.

1:05:25 Hopefully not some of the ones we're talking about.

1:05:27 But had been inside these clubs, to quote Dave Chappelle,

1:05:30 walk outside and say, "Yo, I've been in there." Yep.

1:05:33 It's exactly what you think.

1:05:36 So, I'm a member of it.

1:05:38 I'm going to invite everyone up here to take a look with me.

1:05:41 And people were like, "Yes." Yes, yes.

1:05:42 That's right.

1:05:42 Because he would sit there on stage and be like,

1:05:44 "Mark he's funded by $20 million from Sheldon Adelson.

1:05:49 I fund my" and it it was like, "Oh my god,

1:05:51 he's funding himself." And then he got to such a big point that it

1:05:54 was impossible to fund himself because of how

1:05:56 much money goes into a presidential election.

1:05:58 And it's almost like looking back on it,

1:06:00 he got castrated in some ways when that happened because now you can't

1:06:04 just do absolutely whatever you want even

1:06:06 when it appears that's what he's doing.

1:06:08 Yeah, I I I mean I was moved by it, right?

1:06:11 A businessman from New York to go into Prescott,

1:06:14 Arizona like small town America and back country America and sell out a stadium.

1:06:19 Unreal.

1:06:20 I mean, it's unreal.

1:06:21 He has a finger in the pulse of what the American people want.

1:06:23 But I I believe somewhere along the way other people were

1:06:27 able to cast their voice into his world because he needs it.

1:06:31 He needs it to be in the White House.

1:06:32 And it's and and one of the the terrible things and I and I

1:06:36 I actually sympathize to President Trump and everybody who goes to DC over

1:06:38 this is they they at some point they get to they go there

1:06:42 with all the right intentions and they

1:06:43 have to come to this conclusion that, "Okay,

1:06:46 the greater good." And as soon as when you use when you

1:06:49 start trying to balance the greater good compromise comes with the greater good.

1:06:54 Mhm.

1:06:55 And that compromise is a what takes people off, you know, off the good

1:06:59 good I think also is where they subconsciously perhaps.

1:07:04 I could I could believe that not everyone's evil, right?

1:07:06 No, no.

1:07:07 Subconsciously they tell themselves the greater good for something.

1:07:13 But below that the greater good part

1:07:15 of the calculation of getting them to the point

1:07:17 where they have to say the greater

1:07:18 good to make a compromise involves money coming

1:07:21 from somewhere else that says they can't vote

1:07:23 on this even they want to even though they want to, but they can vote

1:07:26 on this because the money's not coming from there.

1:07:28 Therefore, that's the greater good.

1:07:30 Yeah.

1:07:30 And that And that greater good goes to those bills, right?

1:07:32 Those multi-layered bills that are that are, you know, thousands of pages thick.

1:07:36 And uh they're like, "Well, I don't believe in this, but this is this is

1:07:38 the greater good." And it's just these guys That's what I said.

1:07:42 I sympathize for them and I sympathize

1:07:44 for President Trump and everybody everyone that goes

1:07:45 up there because they're going to they

1:07:48 they they're all have get faced with that.

1:07:50 Yes.

1:07:50 I came here to do this.

1:07:51 What's But I have to make this decision.

1:07:53 I have to make this compromise for the greater good.

1:07:55 And I think most of the time they a lot of them,

1:07:57 at least in the beginning, think they're doing the right thing.

1:07:59 Yep.

1:08:00 I you know That's my side that I think I share with you.

1:08:03 I try to get people to benefit it out that I think they're good.

1:08:06 Yeah.

1:08:06 For sure.

1:08:06 I I I don't And and it's fun and easy,

1:08:09 I should say, to just assume all of them are evil.

1:08:11 And I will admit I tend to lean that way with politicians.

1:08:15 But I could see some of them actually being good and being[ __] by the system.

1:08:19 Mhm.

1:08:19 You know, but who am I to guess which are which?

1:08:23 That's what makes it hard.

1:08:23 So, I just kind of treat it with all the same energy.

1:08:25 But Yeah.

1:08:26 I can tell you guys that are

1:08:27 that are disruptors that probably won't stay there long.

1:08:29 You know, Derrick Van Orden, Latrell, Cory Mills, like Eli Crane.

1:08:35 Burrow Semberski, like these guys probably won't stay

1:08:37 there long because they they're not compromising or so.

1:08:40 At least at least for what I've seen there.

1:08:43 They're not They're not They're not compromising.

1:08:45 I talked to these guys regularly and And you think they're Yeah,

1:08:49 for the most part those guys have a they've

1:08:51 they voted they voted unpopular to the GOP Mhm.

1:08:55 a number of times.

1:08:56 And Massie's Massie's another one.

1:08:58 I mean I mean they they're like, "I'll go down on my shield to to do

1:09:02 the right thing." And that's what they're sending there.

1:09:04 That's why we send them there.

1:09:05 Right.

1:09:06 We send them there to do the right thing and represent us

1:09:07 well and And and so what so what if they can't stay?

1:09:10 Like, let's send let's send another another soldier right

1:09:13 behind him that's going to do the right thing.

1:09:14 Right.

1:09:16 You know, you talk about all the we're we're going through

1:09:18 all the different ways the money comes in and all that.

1:09:20 And one of the things that I just I don't know if I never wanted to believe it,

1:09:25 which if that's just what it was, then shame on me,

1:09:28 or if I just really didn't think the evidence

1:09:32 was there enough and it was just too easy

1:09:34 of a one-size-fits-all explanation was the idea that like

1:09:37 when we look at violence and conflict around the world,

1:09:40 they're all just bankers wars.

1:09:41 And I can remember all the way back in you know,

1:09:45 early 2021 in April talking with my friend Matt Kennard in in episode 43,

1:09:50 who I would describe as like an extremely intelligent,

1:09:54 cultured, conspiracy-minded individual,

1:09:57 which now to me is like grade A of people in society because he

1:10:02 actually brought receipts on things and didn't

1:10:05 just believe everything he wanted to believe.

1:10:07 He would have he would throw in thoughts like that about

1:10:10 and that I would kind of be like, "Okay, yeah,

1:10:12 whatever." And now I look at it and you

1:10:14 read these Epstein files and everything and you

1:10:16 see the people who are funding the people who

1:10:18 take care of the people from a fixing perspective,

1:10:20 like the rich Jeffrey Epsteins of the world, who actually run the world.

1:10:24 And you're like, "Oh my god,

1:10:25 maybe it is all banking and technocratic wars." Yeah.

1:10:28 Do you think that's real?

1:10:30 I I think it's real.

1:10:31 I think it's real.

1:10:32 By the way, I know I know you're interviewing me,

1:10:34 but I'm curious because you because you introduced this idea of the second tier.

1:10:38 Is is there any other ones out there you know

1:10:40 that are like Epstein and still out there floating around today?

1:10:44 Ooh, that's a great question.

1:10:45 I've been thinking about that a lot.

1:10:47 I'm still working on that.

1:10:49 I I want to see if I can find what we're

1:10:52 referring to cuz we had a conversation earlier on your show,

1:10:54 which will come out before mine,

1:10:56 was when we were talking about that super government

1:10:59 idea of Tucker Carlson where it's like leaders of state,

1:11:01 leaders of industry right here,

1:11:03 a fixer class that works for the class that actually runs society,

1:11:06 the bankers and the technocrats and stuff like that.

1:11:09 So, you're talking about other people on the fixer

1:11:11 class lane too are all generally very wealthy, powerful individuals.

1:11:15 I'm still working on that, but to answer your question broadly,

1:11:19 there's a lot more than just Jeffrey Epstein and it's not a pri- I mean,

1:11:23 I hope it's not just every time they're running pedo rings and sex trafficking,

1:11:26 but they're doing they're always doing s- Always is a strong word.

1:11:31 They are generally doing something, I'm sure,

1:11:34 that's objectively evil to get their means of helping

1:11:38 the people above them run society and I do think

1:11:41 we need to do more work as a society

1:11:44 to figure out who those people are as best we can.

1:11:47 Yeah.

1:11:47 Yeah.

1:11:48 Yeah.

1:11:48 I agree.

1:11:49 You were talking about the working with like intelligence-related stuff about

1:11:53 the use that intelligence gets out of fixers and stuff like that.

1:11:57 Meaning people you were referring to it in the context

1:12:00 of like people who don't exactly do good things,

1:12:02 but are useful because of the access they get.

1:12:05 And I understand the world's not perfect and I understand that sometimes there's

1:12:09 a calculation that goes into that and there's

1:12:11 things you're willing to live with.

1:12:12 But did you ever encounter a situation where

1:12:15 you were like that's crossing the line for me.

1:12:18 This guy is beyond repute or whatever you want to say.

1:12:22 Yeah, so I mean my job in Afghanistan

1:12:25 was doing clandestine logistics so advanced force operations.

1:12:28 So, essentially like if you imagine

1:12:31 a tier one special forces unit that's captured,

1:12:35 that's their task is to go capture kill

1:12:37 whoever the worst bad guys in the battlefield are.

1:12:39 Mo- Mainly those people are not in conventional areas.

1:12:42 They're going to be like in Afghanistan for example,

1:12:44 they were in a fatter the federal minister tribal area where conventional

1:12:46 military is not or across the border in a in a Pakistan.

1:12:50 And so, because conventional military didn't have

1:12:53 that reach to provide access and placement,

1:12:56 uh the advanced force operations like guys, the AFOs,

1:13:00 we go ahead of those units and create

1:13:02 a reason to be there in an undercover type capacity,

1:13:05 create businesses, whatever, create a reason to be there,

1:13:08 exist there in that environment,

1:13:10 live in that environment with a local national, for me it was Aziz,

1:13:13 and and then build all the clandestine logistical

1:13:15 infrastructure to get those assaulters on target to capture,

1:13:17 kill those bad guys and safely off

1:13:19 with all the contingencies and everything in place.

1:13:21 So, that's that's So, in order to do that, to work in that world separate,

1:13:25 you separate yourself from the US government and the military,

1:13:28 you're just totally kind of off doing your own thing there.

1:13:31 You have to interact with the local populace.

1:13:33 And in those Taliban villages,

1:13:35 the people that we interact with would be the Taliban.

1:13:38 And so, many tribal leaders, Taliban leaders, that I'm doing things with to make

1:13:44 those logistical put those logistical infrastructures in place.

1:13:47 And uh can't quite say how, you know,

1:13:50 kind of cover capacity I would have, but I had a reason to be there.

1:13:53 I created a very good reason to be there.

1:13:55 If they would allow me to be there,

1:13:56 if they would allow me allow me to stay alive,

1:13:58 they're I'm worth more alive to them than I am dead.

1:14:02 And so, that's my safety network, not just a a gun, right?

1:14:05 My my street smart and training ability,

1:14:08 tradecraft and ability to be able to function in that environment.

1:14:10 So, now I have a relationship with these people.

1:14:12 These aren't good people.

1:14:13 These are people that are killing US service members.

1:14:16 And if you've been around if you know much about Taliban culture,

1:14:19 sexual molestation of children, stuff like that.

1:14:22 So, I had to I had to I had to uh

1:14:24 kind of observe and watch this and know that a guy

1:14:26 I'm sitting across the table with having tea with probably was

1:14:30 just responsible for killing US service members and is a pedophile.

1:14:35 Either you're sleeping with little boys or little,

1:14:37 you know, raping little 9-year-old girls.

1:14:39 And and this is the person I have to deal with.

1:14:42 And uh And so, yeah, that was that was definitely a uh dilemma there for me.

1:14:48 And but my job wasn't to choose whether this guy was a a good

1:14:52 guy or bad guy and if I wanted to be his friend or not.

1:14:54 My job was to choose to say, "Hey,

1:14:56 we have a mission and that mission is to build

1:14:58 infrastructure for to get my assault force on target

1:15:01 to capture kill this bad guy." That was

1:15:02 my job and my opinion in that in my moral

1:15:07 my moral dilemma with working with this guy and not

1:15:09 reaching across the table and and ripping his throat

1:15:10 out of his neck like I had to put that aside and that was very hard for me.

1:15:15 Cuz I'm a I'm a person of like a lot of principle and conviction.

1:15:17 That was that was very hard for me but I had to do it and and and honestly

1:15:21 some of the things that bothered me most about

1:15:22 my time there is is is having to you know,

1:15:26 bite my tongue and be in those environments.

1:15:29 I appreciate I appreciate you sharing that and it's a it's a hard spot to be in.

1:15:34 So now here's a difficult question cuz that one you're there,

1:15:39 you know the stakes, you know all the variables,

1:15:42 you know who you're dealing with which you don't like

1:15:44 but you know what's on the other side of it.

1:15:47 With like the Epstein situation you're like me,

1:15:49 you're looking at it from the outside.

1:15:50 You weren't there.

1:15:51 You don't know who dealt with him.

1:15:52 Let's look at it from like CIA's complicity in it.

1:15:55 Obviously like that's in our government

1:15:57 as opposed to Mossad and their complicity.

1:16:00 What's the difference between what you did there

1:16:02 in Afghanistan with a guy who's who's probably

1:16:05 a pedophile and killing American service members

1:16:08 but you're working with him for a greater good.

1:16:10 What's the difference between that and someone at CIA sitting across

1:16:14 from Jeffrey Epstein who's a pedophile and killing people as well and working

1:16:18 for someone else probably against you in that way well definitely against you

1:16:22 in that way and deciding to work with him for a greater good.

1:16:26 Yeah, I mean it's it's a great it's a pretty it's a pretty gray area

1:16:29 and I look I mean um I think it always comes down to what's at stake.

1:16:34 What's what's the mission they're doing and but if they're

1:16:37 knowing that Jeffrey Epstein's job so like the Taliban's job

1:16:43 was to fight a war that they believe that they

1:16:45 believe on their end by the way was a just war.

1:16:47 Uh Mhm.

1:16:48 So their their jobs as as war fighters uh and they're fighting a war.

1:16:52 Agree with them or not, they're evil or not.

1:16:55 That they're they're war fighters, that's their job.

1:16:57 Jeffrey Epstein's job I I believe was

1:17:00 to extort politicians and and people of influence.

1:17:04 And he was and he was and and uh that's that's I believe his job was.

1:17:07 And uh What if he was doing that on the battlefield

1:17:10 of espionage primarily for another country to do it against our own?

1:17:13 And I believe he was.

1:17:15 Yeah, and I believe he was.

1:17:16 I believe he was even the CIA was working him as an asset.

1:17:21 Mhm.

1:17:22 His primary asset would have been for was for another country, I believe Israel.

1:17:25 I agree.

1:17:25 And uh and and uh and and so if he if he worked with us,

1:17:29 he was definitely working against us at the same time.

1:17:31 And so I believe you know a CIA agent working

1:17:34 working him as an asset is probably sitting down just

1:17:37 like I was across the Taliban guy sick to his stomach

1:17:41 trying to make a decision where whatever the mission was,

1:17:44 whatever they're using him for is it worth to to to do

1:17:49 it you know whatever deal they were going to do with this guy.

1:17:51 And I can't imagine that the disgust if if

1:17:54 they knew if they knew what we know now,

1:17:57 I couldn't imagine the disgust they they had to do that.

1:17:59 But it doesn't surprise me that from what I've been exposed to it doesn't

1:18:05 surprise me that I'm not shocked

1:18:08 that our government would have would engage in that.

1:18:11 Particularly if he was like not one of ours,

1:18:13 that didn't work for our government.

1:18:15 But I get someone out there already doing it and we

1:18:18 just like hey we're just going to capitalize on this.

1:18:19 We're going to take advantage of this.

1:18:21 They they have they're extorting,

1:18:24 you know the the prince of you know Saudi Arabia or who's the guy?

1:18:29 What's it was MBS.

1:18:30 Yeah, and so now we have something on him.

1:18:33 Right.

1:18:33 Like it wouldn't surprise me.

1:18:35 Uh and I and I and I man I I I empathize

1:18:39 for that agent that would have sit there and had to I mean,

1:18:41 if they're any kind of decent human being,

1:18:42 they would have just had a disgust in their stomach like I had.

1:18:45 I know what that feels like.

1:18:46 And and it sucks.

1:18:47 But they would have probably tried to make the decision if it's right or wrong.

1:18:49 And there is a line.

1:18:51 And I think that line's you know, is that line is just really blurred.

1:18:56 It's really gray.

1:18:58 And and only individual can make it in that moment.

1:19:00 And uh, for me, I I think back sometimes I like I think,

1:19:04 man, I can't believe like I had that moment.

1:19:06 I could have like This guy's probably still

1:19:08 alive right now and probably still raping children.

1:19:09 I could have like freaking just stuck my freaking

1:19:12 spider claw in the side of this guy's head.

1:19:14 Like that right I could have did that.

1:19:16 Did you ever tell them guys like that how you felt?

1:19:19 No.

1:19:20 Nope.

1:19:21 That's hard to hold.

1:19:21 That's hard.

1:19:23 Bro, I'm a I'm a very principled person.

1:19:25 Like especially when it comes to children.

1:19:26 Mhm.

1:19:27 And uh, that was This is I I never talk about that stuff,

1:19:31 so I'm glad you bring it up.

1:19:32 Like I never talk about that stuff.

1:19:33 Everybody talks about like you know,

1:19:35 everybody Everybody wants to know about a gun fight and stuff like that.

1:19:37 I've been in two gun fights in my life.

1:19:38 Like Everybody thinks, "Oh, you've been to Afghanistan.

1:19:40 You've probably been in like, you know,

1:19:41 tons of I've been two gun fights in my life.

1:19:43 I've never been I wasn't wasn't a kinetic guy.

1:19:45 That wasn't my job.

1:19:46 I trained for that before, but then I when I went to Yeah,

1:19:48 like you said, it's it's it's all getting it.

1:19:50 Yeah, it was my it was my job.

1:19:51 So, everybody expects that.

1:19:52 But those are the things that I have the hardest time with.

1:19:54 Like children.

1:19:55 For some reason, children, you know,

1:19:57 is is what bothered me most of the consequential the consequence of loss

1:20:01 of life of children in the battlefield with always had the Not just me.

1:20:05 Yeah, and it's just always been kind of the kind

1:20:08 of a thorn inside of me that's just really bugged me.

1:20:10 Cuz when you go out there in Afghanistan or now you know,

1:20:13 now Ukraine, you know, when me and me and my buddy C-Spray went out,

1:20:16 we identified these mass graves in Ukraine and seen these old women,

1:20:19 old children, 1,400 Mass graves.

1:20:22 Mass grave like 1,400 bodies.

1:20:23 found personally?

1:20:24 Yeah.

1:20:25 Yeah.

1:20:25 Jesus Christ.

1:20:26 How big were they?

1:20:27 Well, we were told 1,400.

1:20:29 And And just from my observation, it would probably been a good estimate.

1:20:32 When did you find a mass grave in Ukraine?

1:20:35 Uh it was about a year in.

1:20:38 Uh it was it So it would have If If you If you want an exact date,

1:20:42 I couldn't tell you exactly I have it written down.

1:20:43 I just don't know it offhand.

1:20:45 In my book, Mission Without Borders,

1:20:46 I have the date stamped because that was the day Izyum was liberated.

1:20:50 And so, if you don't know the the CIA uh when

1:20:55 the CIA has what's called a a solo special operations liaison officer,

1:20:59 that was kind of our liaison with the CIA at the time.

1:21:02 And uh and the White House is not allowing

1:21:04 the US military or the CIA to go into Ukraine.

1:21:07 And so, I was working with the solo in in Poland in Krakow,

1:21:10 Poland quite a bit as a surrogate.

1:21:12 So, he'd say, "Hey, we can't go do this, but while you're there in this area,

1:21:15 will you check this out for us?" And as as a patriot, you would do it.

1:21:19 Yeah.

1:21:19 And so,

1:21:20 So, where how did you come across it?

1:21:22 Well, we were going to this area.

1:21:23 C-Spray and I had heard of this Marine guy who was a Marine

1:21:26 who got shot in the gut and was captured by the Russians.

1:21:28 And so, we thought we had to go in there and move him.

1:21:31 Uh and so, we were going to actually try to extract that guy.

1:21:34 So, um our We had another team going to a place called Bakhmut uh

1:21:39 to bring some bring some supplies to some troops on the front lines in Bakhmut.

1:21:42 And C-Spray and I went off to Izyum to try to get recover this Marine.

1:21:46 And while we were there, the the guys we were keeping tabs

1:21:49 with the the solo special operations liaison officer.

1:21:52 And he said, "Hey, we just got word that the as as the Ukrainians retook Izyum,

1:21:58 they found a mass grave." And you got to think you got to understand like

1:22:02 they were the our government was worried

1:22:04 that false reports coming out to get more money.

1:22:07 Right?

1:22:07 Every time there's false report, you get more aid.

1:22:09 So, So, like, "Hey, can you just confirm

1:22:11 this is real because it's coming from Ukrainians?

1:22:13 We want to make sure it's real.

1:22:14 While you're there, we're just going to get

1:22:15 eyes on." That's all we were asked to do.

1:22:16 And so, we were like, "Yeah, absolutely." And so,

1:22:18 we went in we went into Izyum while it was like while it was being liberated.

1:22:23 And uh and got to see these mass graves and reported back.

1:22:25 And then we leaked it to the Fox News.

1:22:27 And uh What I mean, you come where was it?

1:22:31 Like where what's the take me to the place around it?

1:22:33 Like where was it?

1:22:35 Well, Izyum Izyum's like By the way, Ukraine's beautiful.

1:22:38 Izyum's is is like a national forest,

1:22:39 and it's it was in like this national forest,

1:22:41 these pine forest, and the Russians had dug in.

1:22:43 So, they went They were Russians they put a tank brigade there.

1:22:46 And so, they dug in in these pine trees.

1:22:47 It was really brilliantly done.

1:22:49 It was It's It's kind of neat to see cuz it was like trench warfare.

1:22:52 They had trenches dug in for fighting out of.

1:22:54 They had tanks that went down,

1:22:55 and you You're just looking at You're just looking at this natural pine forest.

1:22:58 And uh and and you would never known until you walked

1:23:01 in there that it was like freaking trenches everywhere, tanks dug in.

1:23:05 There was tons of a whole Russian brigade there.

1:23:07 It was just outside the outskirts of of Izyum.

1:23:09 Uh east of a little east of Izyum.

1:23:13 And uh and Russians had occupied that area for 6 months.

1:23:16 And so, all the guys that were that were

1:23:18 that were recapturing it were were troops from that area,

1:23:22 and their wives and children had been captured there.

1:23:25 And uh and so, when the Russians left there,

1:23:28 they tried to cover up the evidence,

1:23:30 and they pushed out They had these these graves that they

1:23:32 had just killed executed all these people and mainly women and children.

1:23:35 They were bound, and they pushed them in this hole.

1:23:37 They tried to pile up pile them up and burn them,

1:23:40 but the bodies are actually hard to burn without some kind of really accelerant.

1:23:45 So, the So, a lot of bodies were just partially burned.

1:23:48 And uh and yeah, so they took us in and and showed

1:23:51 us the grave This is grave and I the grave.

1:23:53 1,400 and Yeah, they they'd said 1,400.

1:23:56 And like I said, from what we'd seen it

1:23:57 was It was It was probably a good estimate.

1:23:59 I couldn't validate exactly 1,400.

1:24:01 I don't care how many battlefields you've seen or how hard a[ __] you are,

1:24:05 and there's no doubt you are,

1:24:06 and you've seen a lot of[ __] but you come upon a grave of 1,400 people,

1:24:10 mostly women and children.

1:24:11 It smelled too, bro.

1:24:12 Like it was I've been you know, around a lot of decaying bodies before,

1:24:16 and it it was you recognize it right away.

1:24:18 Like it smelled.

1:24:19 And And on the way there,

1:24:20 we had seen like tons of right cuz they

1:24:21 killed they they Ukrainians freaking slayed some bodies man.

1:24:26 They were like Russian by like I I stopped counting after I kind of I don't

1:24:30 know why I was counting at first and I

1:24:31 counted 80 and I stopped counting after 80.

1:24:33 But like Russian like and they were all freshly

1:24:35 killed like I'm still bleeding out in some of them.

1:24:37 Some of credit to the Ukrainians because that these were these were

1:24:41 Russians that had again killed their family

1:24:43 members and occupied their family members.

1:24:45 They were rendering aid.

1:24:47 I I observed that they were rendering aid.

1:24:49 They had one one guy is on guys who

1:24:50 may have executed a bunch of women and children.

1:24:52 Yeah, one of the guys one of the Russian kids

1:24:54 has arm blown off and Ukrainian troops are getting rendering aid.

1:24:58 And uh How do you You can't undownload the hard drive of forget the smell.

1:25:04 That's one thing.

1:25:05 Yeah.

1:25:05 But like seeing that.

1:25:07 It's it's I I I never I never seen anything like that.

1:25:09 I know I know plenty of our troops have seen stuff like

1:25:11 that and I never seen anything like that in Afghanistan or anything.

1:25:13 It was the most horrible I mean it's just the amount of bodies.

1:25:16 1400?

1:25:18 Uh and I mean and not even there like

1:25:20 just going on there amount of like troops in uniform.

1:25:22 I never seen like troops in uniform like like just laid on roadside

1:25:26 of them just laid all over the place like BMPs like T-54s

1:25:31 T-5 like tanks ZSUs like just hit with javelins burnt to the ground

1:25:35 with people still in them like It it was it was horrific man.

1:25:38 It's U- Ukraine the the front line of Ukraine is insane.

1:25:43 Like uh And so yeah, so we we By the way, we never got to that Marine.

1:25:47 We lost comms where that Marine went.

1:25:49 But uh but we did we did leak that information back to back

1:25:55 to uh Fox News for cuz we were asked to do that.

1:26:00 So.

1:26:01 Yeah, it's so many guys I've talked to who have been over

1:26:03 there just talk about what a stalemate war the Ukraine-Russia war is.

1:26:07 They They're like they'll fight they'll fight for 2 weeks over 14 yards.

1:26:12 Yeah, I mean it would and and they'll Ukrainians will recapture territory here.

1:26:17 Meanwhile, 10 miles north, the Russians recapture territory there.

1:26:21 It's like a trade they're trading.

1:26:23 And they're in all at the cost of I mean,

1:26:27 very young and very young men out there in the battlefield on both sides.

1:26:33 And most of them have either don't want to be there,

1:26:35 they're conscripted or or drafted or or taken.

1:26:38 On both sides, from their homes and put out there.

1:26:41 Yep.

1:26:41 Zelenskyy's doing it, Putin's doing it.

1:26:43 They're taking young boys and putting them forcing them out there to fight.

1:26:48 And pawns on the board, if you will.

1:26:50 Yeah.

1:26:51 That's just And you know what's crazy?

1:26:54 We like forget about that war now,

1:26:55 cuz all the other[ __] going on still happening right now.

1:26:57 it's happening while we're sitting here.

1:26:59 every single day.

1:27:00 Yeah.

1:27:02 How do you end that war?

1:27:04 What does it take to end that?

1:27:06 Well, I mean, I think credit to, you know, put uh to Trump and Pence, if they,

1:27:12 you know, they really I think they really have

1:27:13 tried to corner you you have to cut the funding.

1:27:16 You have you have to cut the funding completely.

1:27:18 And I know I know But why they pick it back up?

1:27:21 They cut it and then they picked it back up.

1:27:23 Yeah, that I think there's too much pressure in DC from the from the lobbying.

1:27:28 Uh because, I mean, to me like Why would Why would Zelenskyy,

1:27:35 who has the power to end the war?

1:27:36 I love that you call him Zelenskyy, by the way.

1:27:38 That's[ __] awesome.

1:27:40 He I'm not a fan, yeah, obviously.

1:27:44 Uh But I don't even think he's probably We we put him in power in 2014.

1:27:50 Yeah.

1:27:49 I mean I mean, why why would why would he end it?

1:27:54 He's become one of the wealthiest people in the world Mhm.

1:27:57 at the cost of lives of his own people.

1:27:59 Why would he end it when we're continuing to keep the money coming?

1:28:01 He's going around the world begging for money.

1:28:03 We're writing him checks.

1:28:04 Why would he end it?

1:28:05 The He's saying he don't want to give up territory.

1:28:09 That territory has been is is far-fetched.

1:28:11 The The people there don't even claim to be Ukrainian.

1:28:13 The people You're You're fighting for territory that people

1:28:15 don't even want to You're talking about like the Donbas?

1:28:18 Yeah.

1:28:18 east.

1:28:19 Yeah, like I mean, those people don't don't care.

1:28:21 They don't want it.

1:28:22 They just want the war to stop.

1:28:24 I mean, Trump said it perfectly in the campaign.

1:28:25 I just want people to stop dying.

1:28:27 Yeah.

1:28:28 And uh I I look, I get like as a world leader,

1:28:31 you don't want to give up land, but there has to be a compromise somewhere.

1:28:35 Like uh That's the word people don't want.

1:28:37 They don't want to hear it.

1:28:38 Yeah.

1:28:39 And uh I mean, you're going to lose

1:28:41 your whole country because Putin's not going to stop.

1:28:45 No.

1:28:46 He's not going to stop.

1:28:47 Like And uh but as long as we keep funding it,

1:28:51 he's going to Zelenskyy's going to keep He's going to keep

1:28:54 taking the money and keep getting rich off of these people.

1:28:56 And While people die.

1:28:56 And he doesn't have to have an election.

1:29:00 Right?

1:29:00 He has to get to stay in power.

1:29:02 He doesn't have to go back to being a a drag queen theater belly dancer.

1:29:07 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:29:08 It's the whole thing.

1:29:09 Yeah.

1:29:10 Yeah, I remember when he did like the Vogue cover

1:29:13 a few weeks or a few months into the war.

1:29:15 That was where I was like, oh, wait a minute.

1:29:18 He's an actor, man.

1:29:19 The whole green like, you know, attire like And And he's like[ __] 5'1.

1:29:26 He's a 5'1 actor and he talks like this.

1:29:29 There's no way this It's like the He's

1:29:31 like the Elizabeth Holmes of of[ __] dudes.

1:29:34 He's an actor.

1:29:34 Like there's no way.

1:29:36 He He doesn't look at his wife and say, "Hello, I had a great day at work."

1:29:40 He goes, "Hey, how you doing?" I'm sure.

1:29:41 Yeah.

1:29:41 But like he gets there and he starts talking like this.

1:29:44 He's like, "Shut the[ __] up, dude." And it's just, you know,

1:29:46 like you said, hundreds of billions of dollars from us going there.

1:29:50 And this is where, again,

1:29:52 people are like system's rigged cuz you see like BlackRock already

1:29:55 gets the contract early on to rebuild Ukraine when it's over.

1:29:59 And to say nothing of Ukraine was also like

1:30:04 the no man's land of corruption for Western nations as well.

1:30:08 It's where there was all kinds of[ __] going on.

1:30:11 So much so that the New York Times used to report on it all the time.

1:30:15 And then they they conveniently stopped when the war started.

1:30:17 They could do no wrong.

1:30:19 But it's like you know, human trafficking has happened there.

1:30:22 They There's been resources that have been exploited there.

1:30:25 I mean, the[ __] Burisma scandal was there.

1:30:28 Yeah.

1:30:28 You know.

1:30:29 Yeah.

1:30:29 Like what There's always another reason for it when they do it beyond

1:30:34 just the simple military-industrial complex like we

1:30:39 need population control or something like that.

1:30:41 There's always some other reasons to Yeah.

1:30:43 Yeah.

1:30:44 That makes me cynical.

1:30:45 But how did you So So you're from Louisiana?

1:30:47 From Louisiana.

1:30:48 And you come from a family that sounds like every generation's been serving.

1:30:52 Yeah.

1:30:52 Yeah, pretty much pretty much every generation has served and and like I said,

1:30:56 no we have no career military in our family.

1:30:58 It's just uh guys who, you know,

1:31:00 I think our our family is just real southern patriotic.

1:31:03 That's cool.

1:31:04 And everybody just uh you know,

1:31:05 raise their hand to go do their, you know, two or four years.

1:31:09 I think that's awesome.

1:31:10 That's awesome.

1:31:11 So, did you always want to do that as a kid?

1:31:13 Cuz Yeah.

1:31:13 I kind of wanted to do it honestly out of a I grew up

1:31:15 in a very broken dysfunctional home because

1:31:17 my father my father was Marine infantry Vietnam veteran.

1:31:21 A lot of physical abuse in my home.

1:31:23 Just a not a very happy household.

1:31:26 And uh so it's kind of like, "Hey man, what's your way out of a small town?"

1:31:31 Let's say a small town like backwoods Maxwelton, Louisiana.

1:31:34 You join the military and so my brother and I were uh we grew up together.

1:31:38 Anybody grows up in a dysfunctional home like that, you know,

1:31:40 siblings get really close and we'd always be talking and be

1:31:43 playing military out in the woods and talking about joining

1:31:45 the military and we're 13 and 14 years old and we

1:31:48 saw that old Navy SEAL video called Be Someone Special.

1:31:51 Mhm.

1:31:52 And this Navy SEAL was like you know,

1:31:54 coming out of the water with his face paint all green

1:31:56 and twin 80 scuba tanks on his back and a M4 rifle Oh,

1:31:59 not M4, M16 a back then and seaweed hanging

1:32:01 off him and we're like, I want to do that.

1:32:03 That's the job I want to do, but I don't want to be in the Navy.

1:32:06 I like I want to be in the Marine Corps cuz because my dad,

1:32:09 as dysfunctional as he was,

1:32:10 there was something that always that made my my dad proud,

1:32:12 the fact that he was a United States Marine.

1:32:14 And I'm like, if you make that miserable guy happy, like I want a piece of that.

1:32:17 And so Did you have, I don't know how I want to ask this.

1:32:23 Because you had an understanding that your dad had seen a lot

1:32:27 of[ __] and done a lot of[ __] in the worst kind of environment.

1:32:34 Did you have some empathy for obviously the serious flaws he had or

1:32:40 Ne- never until until I had it myself.

1:32:42 Mhm.

1:32:43 Yeah, I mean um in fact, like, you know,

1:32:45 after my brother and I made the decision,

1:32:47 we started running and swimming at that young

1:32:48 age and we trained for about a year, my brother was was shot and killed.

1:32:51 So, it's like a pretty devastating blow to our family.

1:32:54 My dad actually left.

1:32:56 He My stepmom couldn't couldn't handle the loss of a son,

1:33:00 so she went back to her parents.

1:33:01 My dad didn't he couldn't handle a grieving wife, he moved away.

1:33:04 So, at 15, I was living on my own with my sister who was in college.

1:33:08 And um and so hold on a minute.

1:33:10 Your he was your stepbrother?

1:33:12 He was my stepbrother, yeah.

1:33:13 Okay.

1:33:14 And he was shot like From like uh 6 and 7 years old.

1:33:17 So, from like And he got shot and killed in war when he was 11?

1:33:22 uh just a a a feud between another stepbrother on the other side of the family.

1:33:26 Uh this kid was only 11 years old and they were fighting and arguing

1:33:29 over something and then he picked up a shotgun and shot him in the chest.

1:33:32 An 11-year-old?

1:33:33 Yeah.

1:33:34 Yeah, so both of their lives were destroyed.

1:33:36 You know, over that.

1:33:37 The kid never recovered.

1:33:38 And then ended up being in and out of in and out

1:33:40 of drug rehabs and jail and and everything else.

1:33:44 Yeah.

1:33:45 Were you there for that?

1:33:46 I wasn't there.

1:33:47 I was I was with him a few hours before that and then uh and you know,

1:33:50 got and you know, found out right when it happened.

1:33:54 And he was And the up the way we grew up,

1:33:56 he was the closest person to me in my life at that time.

1:33:58 We were like really, really close.

1:33:59 We And uh you know, we were always either riding

1:34:01 dirt bikes out in the woods and hunting and fishing together.

1:34:04 We were kind of connected at the hip.

1:34:07 So

1:34:07 And you two had always talked about being in the military.

1:34:10 Yeah, we were going to We were I mean, we we made the commitment together.

1:34:12 We were going to We were going to We were going to uh you know,

1:34:16 try to be recon marines together.

1:34:18 And so that was a that was kind of my life goal.

1:34:21 And and that that actually put a flame under it, you know.

1:34:23 Right.

1:34:23 I was going to say, did that really push you to want to see that through?

1:34:26 want to see it through.

1:34:27 It was something that I started with him and and uh but when I was 17,

1:34:30 I I was I wasn't going to graduate high school.

1:34:32 I'm living on my own, trying to work, going to high school.

1:34:35 And so I went to this Marine Corps

1:34:36 recruiter and I'm like his name is Ronald Brown, Staff Sergeant Ronald Brown.

1:34:39 I remember his name.

1:34:39 I always joke that people remember their recruiter's name cuz they hate them.

1:34:43 Mine was the opposite.

1:34:44 I remember it cuz I just so thankful for this guy.

1:34:45 I just I just went in his office and told my told my story.

1:34:49 This is where I'm at.

1:34:50 This is what I always wanted to do.

1:34:51 Here's the situation I'm in.

1:34:52 I'm living on my own.

1:34:53 I'm working, like trying to make it out.

1:34:55 I'm not going to graduate high school and he'll be getting

1:34:57 in the Marine Corps with not even a high school diploma.

1:34:58 He definitely said stay right there, walked out, goes, "Got one." Got one.

1:35:02 Yo, yeah.

1:35:03 Infantry contract.

1:35:04 Easy.

1:35:04 Sign him up.

1:35:05 That's exactly He'll have to make that quota.

1:35:07 That's right.

1:35:08 Wow.

1:35:08 Yep.

1:35:09 And so That's really Yeah, but I I I really like

1:35:12 I see why you call it the Resilient Podcast.

1:35:14 Well, it's a it's a you know, it's a it's a I went in the Marine Corps.

1:35:19 I got my GED after infantry school.

1:35:21 All these years later, I got an MBA.

1:35:23 I'm I'm about one semester at from New York Tech.

1:35:26 Uh I'm working on my second master's right now.

1:35:29 I've been a about 2 years now,

1:35:30 I'm one class away from my second master's at Harvard at Harvard.

1:35:34 So uh That's awesome.

1:35:35 I keep saying that I'm not going to finish that last class cuz I

1:35:37 don't want to don't know if I want a degree from Harvard or not.

1:35:40 You still want to try to get it.

1:35:42 Yeah, but uh it's it's a it's My first

1:35:45 master's My first master's is from New York Tech,

1:35:47 it's an MBA, and this one's a master's of nonprofit management.

1:35:50 And uh yeah, just um I'm just thankful the Marine Corps gave

1:35:54 me that opportunity and everything I wanted to do being a Recon Marine.

1:35:57 I took a took a long route to be a Recon Marine.

1:35:58 I went through a BRC and uh and uh it just

1:36:01 recently came up that um uh I just brought this up recently,

1:36:05 but I end up going to BRC, whole dream, I make it there,

1:36:09 go through course, I'm passing everything and I I get caught talking

1:36:12 on land on the land nav course and got a no-go on land nav,

1:36:15 which is something I was really good at.

1:36:17 So, it was like super shameful.

1:36:18 I had to go back to my unit uh without graduating.

1:36:22 Passing everything, but without graduating.

1:36:24 Would you say you got caught what?

1:36:25 Talking on land nav.

1:36:27 Like we had a little sidebar class.

1:36:29 Yeah.

1:36:29 This was land nav course and students aren't supposed to talk to each other.

1:36:33 Oh.

1:36:32 And uh and I fell for it, right?

1:36:34 Everyone does it, right?

1:36:35 Helping each other, but but uh the captain was like,

1:36:37 "Hey, like devil dog like kind of pulled me in, right?

1:36:40 Integrity is a hallmark of all Marines." You're out.

1:36:42 Like you were talking and yeah.

1:36:43 So, now I got to get to stay,

1:36:45 I just couldn't couldn't graduate and uh and so I had to but my unit

1:36:49 kept me and I had to go back and do it over again.

1:36:51 And that's I take the long route, you know.

1:36:53 It's all about resilience.

1:36:54 Like I had to put my head down and take take take it

1:36:58 on the chin and cuz it was it really is cuz something I'm really good at.

1:37:01 And so, I was really proud of being good at it.

1:37:03 But uh you know, got my MOS, became a Recon Marine.

1:37:05 Uh and I got to go to all the schools and one of the things

1:37:08 I love most about being a Recon Marine being a military free fall parachutist.

1:37:11 I love you know, doing going to hail you know, hail Glad someone liked it.

1:37:15 Yeah.

1:37:15 It's not for me.

1:37:16 Like yeah, I got like 600 free free fall jumps and and uh but uh you know,

1:37:20 I trained all that time and doing all that job

1:37:23 and and then I went from active duty to the reserves,

1:37:25 went to Unicoi 3rd Force Recon and ran the training program there

1:37:28 and then uh and then it looked like when when 9/11 happened,

1:37:32 man, I was like I mean, when those planes hit the World Trade Center buildings,

1:37:36 you speak even being in the reserves at a at that type of unit,

1:37:38 a special operations unit, like my life just changed.

1:37:41 Like we're going to war.

1:37:42 But what what the military don't realize is that not everybody goes.

1:37:45 Like a small segment goes.

1:37:46 Not every even that every special operation unit right

1:37:48 is a certain people units going to get picked.

1:37:51 days.

1:37:51 Yeah.

1:37:52 Where are we at?

1:37:52 I mean yeah, I mean it's not a you know,

1:37:54 you got to keep contingencies in different places and you got to have

1:37:56 people on standby and so so we didn't go and I and so man,

1:37:59 I really want to go end up going to the federal air marshals actually.

1:38:02 To the what?

1:38:03 To the federal air marshals.

1:38:05 The federal air marshals?

1:38:07 Like up in the Yeah, in the airplanes, civilian planes.

1:38:10 So you were doing that?

1:38:11 Yeah, and and I'll tell you why it's

1:38:12 it's pretty brilliant plan at the time there was

1:38:15 only like I think the number is like I can't remember if it was 20 or 40.

1:38:18 It's slipping my mind right now.

1:38:20 Air marshals at the time.

1:38:21 And they were all like former special operations guys.

1:38:24 And so now they have to ramp up to like over 2,000 air marshals.

1:38:28 Right after 9/11.

1:38:29 do that, right?

1:38:30 How do you get top secret clearances?

1:38:31 The federal hiring process for a special agent is

1:38:33 like a year just to So they were it's brilliant.

1:38:36 They said let's go to the reserve special operations units.

1:38:39 They already have top secret clearances.

1:38:40 They already can shoot cuz the shooting standard is really high.

1:38:43 And recruit.

1:38:44 And that's what they did.

1:38:45 So they came to my unit and uh and uh and a couple

1:38:47 of us went to the I was the second class of federal air marshals.

1:38:50 undercover on planes shortly after 9/11.

1:38:53 Are you just like sensory overload?

1:38:57 Like oh, that guy's going to try to take that like Oh yeah,

1:38:59 the idea was so cool,

1:39:00 but that but then it ended up being I mean when you think of the idea

1:39:03 of being a federal air marshal on a plane

1:39:05 to prevent a hijacking and shoot the terrorist,

1:39:08 but it doesn't happen that often ever.

1:39:11 So it became the most boring job ever.

1:39:14 And uh and you know, and and and then Iraq war kicks off and now I

1:39:17 got buddies that are going to Afghanistan and Iraq invasion's happening.

1:39:20 Like I want to go.

1:39:22 All right, slow down.

1:39:23 Slow down.

1:39:23 Back up.

1:39:24 You just went through about 15 years in about 3 minutes.

1:39:27 I was letting you go for a while, but now you got to stop.

1:39:29 Okay, got you.

1:39:30 So cuz it it's interesting like how you got there and everything,

1:39:34 but you mentioned when your brother was tragically shot and killed,

1:39:38 your stepbrother, your dad and your stepmom broke up.

1:39:41 Yeah.

1:39:42 Was your real mom in your life at all?

1:39:44 She's been on and off in my life you know kind of a distance the whole time.

1:39:48 Yeah.

1:39:48 Even even this day.

1:39:50 To this day?

1:39:50 Yeah.

1:39:51 So was some of that because of the abuse she endured or are there other

1:39:56 I think so.

1:39:57 You know you know my mom I definitely think my mom

1:40:01 like has a huge heart and loves me and loves

1:40:02 my kids and stuff like that but she's always just kept

1:40:04 a good a good like safe distance from all of us Mhm.

1:40:07 uh through her life and I think maybe it's

1:40:09 you know she's been through a lot of a lot

1:40:10 of abuse and and so she just kind of always had kind of her not her thing.

1:40:15 What about your dad today?

1:40:17 Um my dad passed.

1:40:18 He passed away?

1:40:18 He passed several years back and it was

1:40:21 a lot of lot of hardship and resentment towards him

1:40:23 but in the end of his life like people have showed me showed me a lot of grace

1:40:26 and it was a moment that people had showed

1:40:27 me a tremendous amount of grace that he popped back

1:40:29 up in my life uh because the hospital had

1:40:32 called with him having a stroke and heart attack simultaneously.

1:40:35 Oh jeez.

1:40:36 And uh and I I was actually kind of mad.

1:40:38 I was like why would they call me?

1:40:39 Like he hadn't talked to me in 10 years.

1:40:40 Like why would they call me?

1:40:41 Like they call somebody else.

1:40:43 But then I I had recognized like man I was in a moment of life where people

1:40:47 had just showed me a tremendous amount of grace

1:40:49 and and that was a a redemptive um process

1:40:53 that had just took place in my life from both from God and from people and I was

1:40:56 like you know what like I have to I'm

1:41:00 I'm the only person in his life at this time.

1:41:02 He burned every bridge and so I went flew in and went over to uh

1:41:06 to sign some paperwork for him to get the care he needed and and then start

1:41:09 restarted a relationship with him and and uh the last few years of his life he

1:41:12 was uh he was in a pretty bad spot uh medically and then he disappeared again.

1:41:19 Uh some woman that he was with ended up taking him into a pretty

1:41:23 bad area and put him in a he was like literally parked

1:41:27 in a I found him when I looked for him cuz somebody called

1:41:30 me and said hey he's he's being like used for a social security check.

1:41:33 Oh jeez.

1:41:34 So uh so they they parked him in the back corner of his room with you know,

1:41:37 he had he didn't have underwear.

1:41:39 He didn't own anything.

1:41:40 And he had open open feeding tube in his body.

1:41:43 Uh and they were they just was like collecting.

1:41:45 So, I walked in this house.

1:41:46 I found where his out of run out, you know,

1:41:48 flew in to Oklahoma, uh rented a car, found them.

1:41:51 And when I got in this house, like a I think they thought I was the cops

1:41:54 cuz everybody scattered when I walked into the house.

1:41:57 And uh and I kind of like got frantic cuz he

1:42:00 had like long fingernails and feces under his nails and stuff.

1:42:02 So, I started cleaning up.

1:42:03 I called 911.

1:42:04 And uh and yeah, they were they were using him

1:42:06 for social security check and got him into a uh a home.

1:42:11 And uh got to I got to introduce him my relationship

1:42:14 with God and and uh and his and and uh so,

1:42:17 that was pretty cool at the end of his life and we

1:42:19 had this moment of like forgiveness and then he uh he passed.

1:42:22 I was going to ask you, did you forgive him for Absolutely.

1:42:25 That That's what to answer your first question, did I have compassion for him?

1:42:29 I never did before cuz I didn't know.

1:42:31 But from me and the things that I dealt

1:42:32 with post-Afghanistan and the things I seen my friends deal

1:42:34 with, now I knew what he had went through and I

1:42:38 I knew why his life was the way he was.

1:42:40 And so, I was able to because of my own experience,

1:42:42 I was able to have compassion for him.

1:42:44 And because of the grace people showed me,

1:42:46 I was able to pay that grace forward to my father.

1:42:49 And had that closure with him at the end of his life and uh you know,

1:42:51 at the very end of his life,

1:42:52 he had never told me he loved me or anything like that.

1:42:54 But at the very end of his life,

1:42:55 I had to keep him in Oklahoma cuz the way the Medicare thing set up,

1:42:57 I couldn't bring him to where I was.

1:43:00 And so, I got him, you know, everything he needed,

1:43:01 a TV and a phone and I prepaid his phone card and he would call me.

1:43:05 And he was starting to get dementia because of his condition

1:43:07 at the end and he would uh he would call me and just say,

1:43:09 "Hey Chad, this is your dad.

1:43:10 I love you." And he would never say I love you.

1:43:12 And then and then um and then I'd say, "Okay,

1:43:14 okay." And then he'd hang up and like 5 minutes later, he'd call me again.

1:43:17 "Hey Chad, this is your daddy.

1:43:18 I love you." And uh and then um and then I got a call

1:43:22 from I didn't get a call from the hos- the the God bless them,

1:43:25 I actually got a call from the funeral home.

1:43:27 They called me first.

1:43:28 Uh trying to do funeral arrangements.

1:43:30 And so, it was kind of weird way I found out.

1:43:32 But yeah, he passed and and man, he had burned so many bridges in his life I did

1:43:35 I never even had I couldn't have a funeral for him.

1:43:37 Not a brother a brother or a sister or a friend.

1:43:39 No one.

1:43:40 Uh But that's pretty special that like you

1:43:43 got to rekindle your own relationship with him.

1:43:46 Yeah, very thankful for that.

1:43:47 have some some grace with that, too.

1:43:51 Yeah, and I I believe that I got

1:43:52 to lead him to a relationship with with with Christ,

1:43:55 uh which has something that's been profound for me.

1:43:58 And so while we may not have had a good life in this life together,

1:44:01 I believe we'll have one later on.

1:44:03 So that's great, man.

1:44:04 Yeah.

1:44:04 And and it's it's also cuz like you strike me as a big family guy talking about

1:44:08 your kids and also you're someone who clearly

1:44:11 cares a lot about taking care of other people.

1:44:14 You go and risk your life as a private citizen now to war zones to help people.

1:44:19 So like you got a big heart and all that and it's always interesting

1:44:23 to me when I see people cuz I I came from a great home.

1:44:27 Like my parents have a great marriage and everything.

1:44:30 Everyone's got their faults, but I never you know, I got I had it really good.

1:44:34 And so when I see people like you who come

1:44:36 from just every possible challenge thrown your way from death

1:44:41 of a sibling that you're who's your best friend

1:44:44 to your mom not really being in your life to your dad

1:44:46 having all these problems and leaving your life

1:44:49 and then you're able to I guess take that pain

1:44:55 and those scars and the environmental troubles that you went

1:45:00 through and instead of giving in to that, if you will,

1:45:05 harness it into changing your own future reality for yourself and the people

1:45:09 that you love and the people that will come after you.

1:45:12 That's a really hard thing to do and I

1:45:15 think that's amazing that you've been able to do that.

1:45:17 I think we all have that choice no matter what where we

1:45:19 came from if we had it good or bad or you know,

1:45:22 if our dad was rich or poor or if we're black or white or you know,

1:45:25 lived in a trailer park or the projects or mansion like you know,

1:45:28 as we move into adulthood and we all have that choice to make of what we do

1:45:31 with our lives and we could let our past destroy

1:45:34 us or give us a platform to do good with.

1:45:37 Hell yeah, man.

1:45:38 And yeah, it's kind of I think life's a lot better if we choose the latter.

1:45:41 I agree.

1:45:43 And also what's really cool and comes through there is

1:45:45 that it's clear to me you don't you didn't hold grudges.

1:45:50 You may have been really angry at people, may have lasted a while too.

1:45:54 You may have been like, "What the fuck?" Yeah,

1:45:56 it's it's hard for me because like I said earlier

1:45:58 I'm a I'm a kind of principled person so and I'm

1:46:01 like a super loyal person so when I lose loyalty

1:46:03 towards me which has happened a lot in my life,

1:46:04 I have a very difficult time understanding it.

1:46:06 Mhm.

1:46:07 But I usually come around to to Be the bigger person.

1:46:11 Yeah, that comes through.

1:46:12 So man, that's really that's really really impressive, man.

1:46:17 I I can't the best I can do to process something like

1:46:21 that is when I hear a story like yours and someone's sitting there

1:46:23 or anywhere else not necessarily just the podcast studio can tell me

1:46:26 about their experience and I can try to conceive it but you know,

1:46:31 in some ways I'm glad I can't all the It's it's good.

1:46:33 I'm thankful for thankful for people that haven't had to endure.

1:46:35 Yeah.

1:46:36 Unfortunately, too many people have to endure stuff like that.

1:46:38 Yeah.

1:46:39 Yeah, but good on you.

1:46:41 So you end up in the military like you said, you go through the Marines.

1:46:44 By the way, just we've done this before cuz I've had on a Recon

1:46:47 Marine before but for people when they hear the term Recon Marine,

1:46:51 what specifically does that mean for people who don't know that?

1:46:54 Yeah, so Recon Marine is a it's it's special operations unit um but it's very

1:47:00 the Marine Corps is very unique in the fact that uh prior to I'd say 2000.

1:47:05 I'm I know the date's not exactly right.

1:47:06 This guy's going to eat me up on that but just just generally prior to 2000,

1:47:09 the Marine Corps had no participation

1:47:10 in SOCOM Special Operations Command or JSOC

1:47:13 and Marine Corps still doesn't have any

1:47:15 participation in JSOC Joint Special Operations Command.

1:47:18 But SOCOM uh Special Operations Command continued

1:47:20 to push the Marine Corps for a participation.

1:47:24 Mhm.

1:47:24 And but the Marine Corps didn't want to get rid of get want to get rid of recon.

1:47:29 So, they started unit called that one which is a detachment

1:47:33 to send a SOCOM to basically participate and show Marine Corps' capabilities.

1:47:38 And so, those were all recon Marines who did that.

1:47:40 Amazing guys who just represented the Marine Corps really well at that level.

1:47:45 And and you know, kind of uh terri Yeah,

1:47:49 it's when you do a good job of something,

1:47:51 you kind of put in a heavier demand for yourself.

1:47:53 So, the SOCOM came back and said the Marine Corps has to participate.

1:47:56 And so, uh instead of Marine Corps giving up recon,

1:47:59 they created a new unit called MARSOC, Marine Special Operations Command.

1:48:03 And so, Marine Corps' special operations contribution to SOCOM

1:48:06 is Marine Special Operations Command which gets funded by SOCOM.

1:48:09 They do a a pretty similar job to the Army Special Forces.

1:48:14 But the Marine Corps kept recon for itself.

1:48:16 And so, recon and force recon is internal to the Marine Corps.

1:48:20 Provides all the forward reconnaissance on the battlefield

1:48:22 uh at a from a division of a division asset level uh to the Marine Corps.

1:48:28 So, all the reconnaissance on the battlefield where they're going forward

1:48:31 and doing like uh uh route route revs or or or doing

1:48:37 set going ahead of the like the infantry battalion set up

1:48:39 helicopter landing zones or gathering up intelligence or doing site permissions.

1:48:44 All these different things they would be going forward of the Marine

1:48:46 Corps division or or in the battlefield space for the Marine Corps.

1:48:49 That's what that's what recon does.

1:48:50 And they do kind of the eyes and ears Right.

1:48:52 of the Marine Corps.

1:48:53 You're just you're laying the foundation.

1:48:55 Yeah, very small, you know, small team, six-man teams.

1:48:57 They can work as a platoon size element as well, but six-man teams.

1:49:00 And And over the years, you know, I'm I'm older guy,

1:49:02 so it's really progressed a lot since I've been out.

1:49:04 I mean, like a lot of times you hear guys that are like, "Oh,

1:49:07 back in my day." Well, back in my day it was nothing compared to now.

1:49:10 Like, these guys now they go through a year-long pipeline.

1:49:13 They leave their When they show up at the unit,

1:49:15 they're like jump, dive, free fall, sear school.

1:49:18 Like they everything's they show up ready to operate near

1:49:20 like basically like like professional level athletes with all these skills.

1:49:25 So really high high caliber training that they have today

1:49:29 with a lot of capabilities and the units are very funded well.

1:49:32 It's it's pretty amazing.

1:49:33 So the Marine Corps has a very kind of two two tiers of special operations.

1:49:38 One at SOCOM, one internal to the Marine Corps.

1:49:39 So recon and every every recon uh battalion has

1:49:44 a force recon force recon company which would be

1:49:46 the the more senior guys that have been around longer

1:49:49 and selected to be a force recon element inside it.

1:49:51 So that's it basically belongs internal to the Marine Corps.

1:49:55 And uh and it's it's amazing.

1:49:56 They don't get a lot of uh credit.

1:49:58 They uh they they stay stay pretty low profile.

1:50:01 And uh and and I think they're very proud of that.

1:50:04 I've gotten a lot of hate from that.

1:50:05 My my public pro profile being out there and and got guys that you

1:50:09 know the recon community doesn't like guys going out and writing books and So

1:50:13 but but it's it's amazing guys and the the recon community is just amazing

1:50:16 group of group of human beings and uh it's very special very special humans.

1:50:21 And so uh that's what I did.

1:50:24 That's what I did.

1:50:25 just to review the timeline you had been

1:50:27 going through there before I pulled you back.

1:50:29 You end up in the Marines and then you end up in the reserves.

1:50:33 Mhm.

1:50:33 And while you're in the reserves are you

1:50:36 doing any civilian jobs too or are you full-time?

1:50:39 Yeah, I'm a So I did my four years active Uh-huh.

1:50:42 and then I went to the reserves,

1:50:43 went to uh went to third force recon company in Mobile, Alabama.

1:50:47 Moved to Louisiana.

1:50:48 I was my job My idea was I'm going to go to college Mhm.

1:50:50 because no wars going on.

1:50:52 No.

1:50:52 I was 1997 when I got it when I got out of active duty it was 1997.

1:50:56 There was no war no wars going on.

1:50:57 I have a kind of hard to think uh that we had a time in our country like that.

1:51:01 And uh and I'm going to go to college and go back in as officer.

1:51:04 Didn't know what I was going to do for a job

1:51:05 while I was going to college but I already started a family.

1:51:07 So I had to have a job.

1:51:08 So I was police officer in New Orleans.

1:51:10 Oh, cool.

1:51:11 Uh and then I but I also didn't pay

1:51:13 much money to be a police officer in New Orleans,

1:51:14 so I was doing about 10 days a month in the reserve unit.

1:51:17 So, I was doing about 10 days as a Marine Corps reservist Mhm.

1:51:20 and about 20 days at at the police department Working.

1:51:23 working my butt off Working.

1:51:24 trying to you know not making any money on either side,

1:51:26 trying to go to college and and and get my family in a in a better position.

1:51:30 And so, that's I did that for like 4 years until 9/11.

1:51:34 When you by the way when you suddenly start

1:51:37 a family and everything cuz I haven't done that yet.

1:51:40 I really look forward to it.

1:51:41 But especially like when you're young and you're

1:51:44 in the workforce and you got to bring home the money,

1:51:46 did that just totally flip a switch in you like oh[ __] nothing else matters.

1:51:50 I got to figure out how there's a roof over the head all the time?

1:51:53 Yeah, well I mean I don't know cuz I got

1:51:56 married while I was you know freshly in the Marine Corps.

1:51:59 And uh you know one of the great things about being in the service

1:52:01 when you get married like you don't have to worry about anything.

1:52:04 I mean now now your pay goes up.

1:52:06 Like you you get married they got you

1:52:08 know base housing and you get you get money

1:52:11 for food and groceries and you get for being

1:52:13 married so you make you make more money Mhm.

1:52:15 and you have a place to stay.

1:52:16 It's just a lot of security in the military.

1:52:18 But transitioning That's what I'm saying.

1:52:21 right?

1:52:21 Like transitioning out to to the reserves like you lose all that.

1:52:26 Uh and you and you know it's just like now you have to figure it out.

1:52:30 And and that plan is to go to college but I

1:52:33 I didn't do like a me set program anything like like that.

1:52:35 I just got out and I'm going to go to college

1:52:37 and and so I had to figure out what to do.

1:52:39 And my initial thought was I'm going to do commercial diving cuz I love diving.

1:52:43 So, I I got a job at a commercial diving company and I