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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, Welcome to Battleground Podcast. This week is a

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Speaker 1: very special and patriotic week. Obviously, the fourth of July

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Speaker 1: was yesterday. I'm hoping that you're still in a patriotic mood.

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Speaker 1: And this week we have a very very special guest.

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Speaker 1: It's a guy that I served with named Robert Pinholt.

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Speaker 1: Rob was one of my soldiers in out Loblatoon. I

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Speaker 1: voluntold him to be my radio telephone operator, which means

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Speaker 1: that he was basically he managed all of my radios

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Speaker 1: and he was basically with me everywhere I went in Afghanistan,

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Speaker 1: whether it's in my truck or in the midst of

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Speaker 1: a firefight, Rob was always there. So he has I

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Speaker 1: think a very unique perspective as to what happened on

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Speaker 1: that sixteen month hellish combat deployment. But Rob is a

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Speaker 1: fairly incredible guy. You know, he rose to be a

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Speaker 1: leader in out Loblatoon. He's somebody that I still can

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Speaker 1: that are a dear friend today. And Rob is still

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Speaker 1: surprisingly which is the case with so many of the

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Speaker 1: men and women who serve this country in uniform in combat.

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Speaker 1: Rob is still serving his community and his country in

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Speaker 1: so many awesome ways.

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Speaker 2: And we're going to get into it.

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Speaker 1: If you like what you're hearing, like, please subscribe to

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Speaker 1: wherever you listen to podcasts, go to our Rumble channel

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Speaker 1: subscribe there for the video version of this podcast, which

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Speaker 1: is posted every Wednesday at the exact same time the

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Speaker 1: audio version is. Leave reviews and comment on social media.

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Speaker 1: Like and comment on all the posts, whether it's on

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts or on the Rumble channel. That all helps

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Speaker 1: us with all this algorithm stuff that I don't really

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Speaker 1: understand anyway, So please please do that. Subscribe to Battleground

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Speaker 1: podcast like it helps us a lot.

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Speaker 2: This show is for.

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Speaker 1: You, and we're just trying to improve every single week.

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Speaker 1: Without further ado, I want to introduce my good friend

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Speaker 1: and former soldier Rob Pinholt to the show. Rob, thank

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Speaker 1: you for coming on. How's it going, brother, It's going great.

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Speaker 3: Thanks for having me on, Sean, I appreciate the opportunity

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Speaker 3: to have a scussion with you.

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Speaker 1: Oh well, me too, And we've had many, many, many discussions.

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Speaker 1: I feel like you and I have talked about so

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Speaker 1: many things where we're just spending hour upon hour upon

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Speaker 1: hour together in our in our truck or laying in

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Speaker 1: an observation post in eastern Afghanistan. We talked about a

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Speaker 1: lot of things, but the first thing I want to

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Speaker 1: jump right into is after September eleventh you joined the military, Rob,

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Speaker 1: So I mean I joined the military because of September

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Speaker 1: eleventh as well. Really again, and I say this often,

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Speaker 1: I don't come from, like, you know, a legacy military

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Speaker 1: family with every generation serving or a father or grandfather

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Speaker 1: who served. It was nine to eleven that was the

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Speaker 1: catalyst for me. And I know, I don't know how

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Speaker 1: that play into your decision, Rob, but what I find

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Speaker 1: remarkable about you and so many of the men and

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Speaker 1: women who served after nine to eleven is that you

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Speaker 1: had to know you were going to war when you

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Speaker 1: volunteered to serve, right.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure. Yeah, in nine to eleven, I was

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Speaker 3: a junior in high school, I think, and so you know,

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Speaker 3: it's likely the rest of us just kind of you

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Speaker 3: have to figure it out what's going on as it occurs,

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Speaker 3: and it's it was a you know, very surreal event.

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Speaker 3: And for me a senior in high school, that was

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Speaker 3: about when we invaded Iraq, and you know, it was

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Speaker 3: two two thousand and three, and so me and my

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Speaker 3: buddies watching on the news. They had live feed of

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Speaker 3: guys fighting over there, and and you know, when you

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Speaker 3: turn eighteen, you have to register for a selective service,

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Speaker 3: and so you register and think, Okay, well these guys

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Speaker 3: are that are fighting, they're no different from us. They're

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Speaker 3: about the same age and and you know, so you

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Speaker 3: can do that kind of comparison thing where thinking why

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Speaker 3: are they there? Why am I here? And uh? And

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Speaker 3: for me, it was it felt like something that was

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Speaker 3: it was a duty to me.

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Speaker 1: So you were in eleventh grade when September eleventh happened, Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Eleventh grade or tenth grade, maybe it was tenth grade.

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Speaker 1: So what were you doing, Like, tell tell me exactly

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Speaker 1: where you were and what you were doing in that moment,

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Speaker 1: because something tells me that you remember it vividly.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. I had just gotten to school because it was

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Speaker 3: what ten something. I think I might have had a

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Speaker 3: off period the first period, something like that, and so

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Speaker 3: when I got to school, they had TVs on. Everybody

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Speaker 3: was gathered around and watching and it was just I

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Speaker 3: think one of the towers had or one of the

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Speaker 3: towers had a plane strike it and not the other

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Speaker 3: one yet, and so it looked like it was some

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Speaker 3: kind of an accident maybe, and obviously that it turned

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Speaker 3: out to not be an accident at all, and every

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Speaker 3: was just transfixed to the to the TV and just

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Speaker 3: kind of watching it unfold. And you know, I think

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Speaker 3: everybody had different things going through their minds, and for me,

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Speaker 3: certainly anger was one of them. And and and you know,

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Speaker 3: you never knew where it was going to stop, because

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Speaker 3: it was you know, disattack and then that attack, and

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Speaker 3: then the Pentagon and then you know, who knew who

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Speaker 3: knew where it was going to stop.

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Speaker 1: It's so it's so crazy that that you say that,

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Speaker 1: because I remember that as well.

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Speaker 2: You know, we thought, especially.

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Speaker 1: Thinking back to that day and and what it was like,

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Speaker 1: to what it was like to live through that, we

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Speaker 1: thought that it was just the beginning or opening salvo

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Speaker 1: of what was a much larger attack.

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Speaker 3: You know, yeah, absolutely, and and that's you know, there's

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Speaker 3: a lot of ramifications to come with that. At the time, well,

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Speaker 3: it had been a while vin since a Gulf War

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Speaker 3: really that we were in a lot of open conflict.

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Speaker 3: We I think there we had engagements in Somalia and

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Speaker 3: Bosnia and so forth, but that level of conflict was

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Speaker 3: something that was relatively foreign to most of us, you know,

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Speaker 3: I was pretty young. We go for it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean like this, so we were just like.

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Speaker 1: I grew up in the eighties and the nineties, and

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Speaker 1: by and large, that was a time of peace in

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Speaker 1: this country. And it was like a couple days before

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Speaker 1: September eleventh, where I was sitting down talking with all

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Speaker 1: of my college roommates, who were all great guys, about

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Speaker 1: how we like, we didn't really have a moment in

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Speaker 1: our upbringing that really drove us to serve anything greater

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Speaker 1: than ourselves. And so we had thrown ourselves into sports

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Speaker 1: or team sports and committing to a team because that's similar.

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Speaker 1: But it was it's there's nothing quite like, you know,

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Speaker 1: serving in the military, and we just didn't have anything

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Speaker 1: like that to rally around. And then no joke, like

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Speaker 1: two days later, September eleventh happened, and you know, like

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Speaker 1: you I was, I mean, my focus was how can

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Speaker 1: I get in the fight as soon as possible. But

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Speaker 1: for you, when you're sitting there trying to process this

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Speaker 1: as a as a junior, you know how many people

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Speaker 1: in your class volunteered to serve after nine to eleven,

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Speaker 1: if you know, like just off the top of your head.

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Speaker 1: Do you know how many people in your high school

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Speaker 1: class served?

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Speaker 3: Maybe a handful. It wasn't a lot from my school.

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Speaker 3: And I'm not sure what the difference is to one

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Speaker 3: school and another, but it wasn't a lot, I would say,

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Speaker 3: so select a handful.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So what why? Why are you different? Why did

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Speaker 2: you use that?

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Speaker 1: Was?

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Speaker 3: That was the question that I asked, because because I

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Speaker 3: had wanted to go to university and do that whole thing,

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Speaker 3: and honestly, I was a terrible student, and so I

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Speaker 3: actually I did a semester at a school here locally

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Speaker 3: and didn't really it wasn't really driven to go to class.

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Speaker 3: And I found something that I did. I don't think

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Speaker 3: I fully understood it time, and I learned it better

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Speaker 3: after I got out of the military. That go to school.

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Speaker 3: It affects me and only me, at least on the

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Speaker 3: short term. When I go to school, I get grades,

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Speaker 3: and those are my grades, and everything that we do

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Speaker 3: in school, that's me, and it's a reflection of me.

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Speaker 3: And that doesn't drive me. I'm somebody who's driven by

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Speaker 3: being a part of a team, being a I feel

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Speaker 3: like I am. I motivated to be a contributor to

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Speaker 3: a team, and that wasn't occurring in a university, so

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Speaker 3: I wanted to join the team.

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Speaker 1: So tell me what that was like. You know, how

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Speaker 1: soon after September eleventh? How soon after September eleventh did

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Speaker 1: you join?

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Speaker 3: So September eleventh. I went in in March two thousand

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Speaker 3: and four, So that been a couple of years. Wasn't

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Speaker 3: immediately after, Like I said, I was, I was sixteen

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Speaker 3: I think at the time nine to eleven, and so

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Speaker 3: it took a little bit of time. But it was

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Speaker 3: just to me, it was just a matter of seeing

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Speaker 3: that seeing that there was a duty to be done,

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Speaker 3: and then thinking it through about where where is my

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Speaker 3: role with that duty? And then and then it was

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Speaker 3: just it was no question at that point once I

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Speaker 3: once I realized that it was, it was a duty

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Speaker 3: that I owed.

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Speaker 2: So you felt you felt like it was a duty

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Speaker 2: that you owed.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean it's it's like, uh, you know,

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Speaker 3: you go through life and and you're you're part of society,

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Speaker 3: and and you everybody has to chip in, just like

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Speaker 3: anything else. I see a lot of people that don't

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Speaker 3: that you know, throw trash on the on the ground,

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Speaker 3: or they don't they don't take any kind of sense

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Speaker 3: of common ownership of things. And for whatever reason I was,

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Speaker 3: I was driven to, you know, not to toot my

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Speaker 3: own horn or anything, but I was just driven to

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Speaker 3: do my part. And I didn't feel like I didn't

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Speaker 3: feel like it would have been right to have not

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Speaker 3: done my part.

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Speaker 2: Well, where do you think that came from?

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Speaker 3: I don't know, Uh, I don't know. I think I

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Speaker 3: think that I I think I've always been influenced by

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Speaker 3: I'm not somebody who's easily influenced by others, but there

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Speaker 3: are a few people that I've admired and I've been

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Speaker 3: influenced by them. One was a guy named John Neerman.

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Speaker 3: He was one of the elders of my church growing up,

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Speaker 3: and he he uh wasn't He was an usher many

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Speaker 3: many days. Was a small church and so everybody kind

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Speaker 3: of had to pitch in and do their their roles.

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Speaker 3: And one day my uh my dad saw him and

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Speaker 3: the guy was in his seventies. My dad saw him

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Speaker 3: doing some clean up stuff after after service and and

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Speaker 3: said you should go help him, And so I helped him.

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Speaker 3: And next thing I knew I was I was helping

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Speaker 3: him usher every Sunday, and I just I don't know.

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Speaker 3: I just love kind of being a part of how

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Speaker 3: things work, and uh, just watching him and how he

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Speaker 3: just he not only was he a servant and that

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Speaker 3: he was doing his part to make our worship services

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Speaker 3: go well, but he was somebody who did so gladly,

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Speaker 3: and that it was that that spirit of glad, of

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Speaker 3: glad contribution that just was attractive to me. I just

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Speaker 3: felt like, that's kind of who I wanted to be.

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Speaker 3: And ever since then, I've just been fortunate to encounter

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Speaker 3: one person after another whom I would have admired that

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Speaker 3: had a similar sort of sense of duty and glad service.

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Speaker 1: I mean, did you find I mean, well, I guess,

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Speaker 1: I guess. I mean my question was going to be

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Speaker 1: did you find that in the military, And it seems

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Speaker 1: like you did at some level.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so. One of the things that you

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Speaker 3: that you had mentioned while we were in was that

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Speaker 3: you had you had played on different sports teams things

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Speaker 3: like that, and you've been on a championship team or two,

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Speaker 3: and and you frequently reminded us that this was a

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Speaker 3: championship team. And maybe we don't see it right away

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Speaker 3: but know in the moment, but uh, you don't get

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Speaker 3: that many opportunities to be part of a team like that,

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Speaker 3: and and that was definitely that opportunity. And I got

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Speaker 3: to tell you that, and this is this is you know,

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Speaker 3: maybe a little bit naive on my part, but at

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Speaker 3: the time, I I there was a part of me

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Speaker 3: that didn't believe it. I didn't. I kind of felt

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Speaker 3: like we were I felt like we were not. I

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Speaker 3: kind of felt like we were the underdogs. We were

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Speaker 3: kind of the dark backs, you know what I mean,

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Speaker 3: Like I mean, and I couldn't see how good we were.

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Speaker 3: And then once I got out of the military, I

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Speaker 3: went into the National Guard and worked with some guys

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Speaker 3: who had been from other active military units who had

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Speaker 3: also deployed Iraq and Afghanistan, and quickly realized that I

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Speaker 3: actually knew a lot about what we were doing. I

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Speaker 3: had a lot of knowledge and experience that other guys

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Speaker 3: didn't have, even though they had been in combat. We

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Speaker 3: just had we had really performed very well. And I

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Speaker 3: didn't realize that until until that point.

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Speaker 2: I mean, it's it's it's interesting.

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Speaker 1: I hadn't thought about that in a while, but I

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Speaker 1: I did believe that when we were at our platoon

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Speaker 1: together that it just felt like, I mean, it didn't

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Speaker 1: maybe didn't feel like this at first, but as we

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Speaker 1: went through our training, it felt like we were a

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Speaker 1: very well, you know, well oiled machine. It felt like

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Speaker 1: we just were clicking. And I don't know, I mean,

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Speaker 1: because there were many moments you're right, like in training

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Speaker 1: where like we would do these live fire exercises and

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Speaker 1: we were just recocked over and over and over again

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Speaker 1: because we weren't meeting the standard. And as frustrating as

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Speaker 1: that was at the time, I do think that it

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Speaker 1: made us better and we didn't blame one another.

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Speaker 2: For those for those failures.

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Speaker 1: We just wanted to get better and I think ultimately

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Speaker 1: that that paid off for us in the long run.

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Speaker 1: But I did feel and was just a feeling, even

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Speaker 1: when we were sort of like the bad news bears

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Speaker 1: of second Battalion eighty seventh Inforture Regiment, at least in training,

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Speaker 1: I still felt like out Leblatoon was special in some

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Speaker 1: way and I did liken it too. Playing on a

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Speaker 1: championship sports team and looking back on my life, I

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Speaker 1: was on very very few championship sports teams and I'll

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Speaker 1: and and thinking back even now because again I hadn't

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Speaker 1: thought about what you just said in a long long time.

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Speaker 1: But looking back even now, that feeling was there as well,

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Speaker 1: and it's not something that you can put your finger

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Speaker 1: on right away, you know, It's just just a feeling

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Speaker 1: that you have. And that feeling is really, really, really rare,

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Speaker 1: and I think it's part of like I'm with a

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Speaker 1: group of very special people right now who all want

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Speaker 1: the same thing that I do. And and frankly, in

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Speaker 1: out Lebatune, I don't really know what that was. Probably

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Speaker 1: just to survive when we found ourselves in combat, but

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Speaker 1: a fear of letting each other down. But also it

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Speaker 1: was about the right group of people. And again these

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Speaker 1: people from all different types of backgrounds who just wanted

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Speaker 1: to who just wanted to win as well. And so

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Speaker 1: I don't albtune was rare in that regard, and looking

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Speaker 1: back on it, those moments in my life where I've

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Speaker 1: had that intangible feeling in my soul, I feel like

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Speaker 1: those moments are rare. And what I always wanted for

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Speaker 1: you guys was the recognition that, hey, maybe maybe this

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Speaker 1: is kind of a special thing and real because I

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Speaker 1: always anytime I played a sport rob I always wanted

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Speaker 1: to know looking back, I wish I would have recognized

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Speaker 1: how special that was in the moment so I could

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Speaker 1: soak it up, you know.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you got to You gotta stop and smell

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Speaker 3: the roses and to have that perspective. It's difficult sometimes

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Speaker 3: when you're in the moment to have that perspective for yourself.

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Speaker 3: Sometimes it makes it takes an outside, outside perspective to

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Speaker 3: help you recognize it. But you definitely want to appreciate

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Speaker 3: it because it's easy to. You know, every day you

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Speaker 3: got you got little things that frustrate you. Your feet

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Speaker 3: are at your cold, you're hungry, whatever are the things

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Speaker 3: that are very unpleasant being and infantrymen, certainly, and just

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Speaker 3: to have the perspective to stop and smell the roses,

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Speaker 3: to say, you know what, this is something that I'm

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Speaker 3: going to remember positively in the future. It may not

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Speaker 3: feel that way right now, but down the road, this

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Speaker 3: is going to be something that I'm going to want

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Speaker 3: to have appreciated more than I do in the moment.

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Speaker 1: Today, I want to talk about something that's been on

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Speaker 1: the minds of many Americans lately, energy independence. With rising

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Speaker 1: energy prices and geopolitical tensions, it's more important than ever

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Speaker 1: for our country to be self sufficient when it comes

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Speaker 1: to our energy needs, and that's where Deep Well Services

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Speaker 1: comes in. They're a company that's not only dedicated to

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Speaker 1: delivering top notch services to the oil and gas industry,

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Speaker 1: but they're also committed to the goal of American energy independence.

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Speaker 1: With their cutting edge technology and e spurt team of professionals,

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Speaker 1: they're helping to unlock new sources of domestic energy and

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Speaker 1: reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

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Speaker 2: But that's not all.

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Speaker 1: Deep Well Services is also a great American company that's

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Speaker 1: hiring like crazy right now, and they're not just looking

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Speaker 1: for anyone if they're seeking out talented and hardworking individuals

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Speaker 1: who want to join their team and make a difference.

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Speaker 1: And with competitive salaries and benefits, it's a great opportunity

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Speaker 1: to not only work for a patriotic company, but also

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Speaker 1: build a rewarding career in the energy sector. So if

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Speaker 1: you're looking for a job with purpose and meaning, or

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Speaker 1: if you're simply passionate about American energy independence, then you

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Speaker 1: should definitely check out Deep Well Services. Visit their website

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Speaker 1: at Deepwellservices dot com to learn more about their company

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Speaker 1: and career opportunities. Man that's powerful because you know, in

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Speaker 1: another thing is like taking a stop to smell the roses.

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Speaker 1: But sometimes I feel like it just takes time. You know,

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Speaker 1: I don't know about you. I mean a lot of

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Speaker 1: the guys that I've talked to in our in our

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Speaker 1: platoon years after the deployment, you know, I feel that

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Speaker 1: many of them are just starting to come around to

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Speaker 1: how special our platoon really was.

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Speaker 3: That's absolutely the case.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And I don't know what that is or why

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Speaker 1: life is like that sometimes. Why does it take such

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Speaker 1: a long time sometimes to gain that positive perspective on

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Speaker 1: something that was positive in the moment.

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Speaker 2: Does that make sense?

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Speaker 3: It does? It does? And I think I think it's

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Speaker 3: you just you know, most of us go through life

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Speaker 3: trying to get through today, and you know, the challenges

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Speaker 3: that each day presents itself can be overwhelming. And to

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Speaker 3: see the big picture of the forest for the trees,

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Speaker 3: so to speak, is uh is it's a challenge, and

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Speaker 3: I think it's it's a worthwhile challenge. I think it's

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Speaker 3: something that it's it's it's worthy use of attention and energy.

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Speaker 3: But it doesn't come easy. But I would say that

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Speaker 3: there were guys, you know, so sometimes you have an

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Speaker 3: intuition for these things. I feel like you kind of did.

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Speaker 3: And there were guys who even in our our train

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Speaker 3: up phase before we went to Afghanistan, there were guys

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Speaker 3: who were plucked up because they were very good at

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Speaker 3: what they did. They were plucked up for you know,

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Speaker 3: special units that had whatever, for whatever reason, they were

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Speaker 3: able to hand pick guys. And so they were picking

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Speaker 3: these guys up and pulling them out of our opplatoon.

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Speaker 3: And there was a resistance to that. They did not

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Speaker 3: want to do that. We had some guys went to

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Speaker 3: scouts and they didn't want to go, and they tried

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Speaker 3: to fight it. And you know, and even though on

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Speaker 3: a day to day basis, we might complain about this

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Speaker 3: or that, or you know, this leader or that, that situation,

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Speaker 3: that that training model, whatever it is, but then when

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Speaker 3: the time comes that you got to leave, you guys

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Speaker 3: don't want to leave. And I think that's I think

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Speaker 3: that's kind of an intuition maybe, mhmm.

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Speaker 1: So take me back to your first days in the military.

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Speaker 1: What basic training was like for you? Did you so

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Speaker 1: you you went to basic training at Fort Benning, right

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Speaker 1: because you wanted to be in the infantry.

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Speaker 3: I did, Yeah, Yeah, tell me, tell me what.

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Speaker 1: Tell me what that first DAID basic training was like.

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Speaker 1: And did you did you have a moment where you

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Speaker 1: were like, I immediately regret this decision or what did

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Speaker 1: I get myself into?

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Speaker 3: I know, I never regretted it. What I it was

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Speaker 3: just really surreal and and from day one, Uh, it

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Speaker 3: was it was one thing after another that I just

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Speaker 3: would never have expected. You know, these guys come in

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Speaker 3: with so much baggage. Some guys it was like somebody

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Speaker 3: had told them they go to the army or they

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Speaker 3: go to jail. You know, I didn't I didn't even

390
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Speaker 3: realize we were still doing that. That was that was awakening.

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Speaker 3: And you know, even before anybody was really yelling at us,

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Speaker 3: there were guys that were like distraught and and you know, struggling,

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Speaker 3: and uh, it was just really really weird. I I

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Speaker 3: guess I had a picture of you know, you watch

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Speaker 3: these movies black Hawk Down. That was like ninety percent

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Speaker 3: of my Basic training platoon. If you ask them why

397
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Speaker 3: they came into the Army, it was Blackhawk Down. So

398
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Speaker 3: that that's some kind of a like a tremendous recruiting

399
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Speaker 3: coup for the army there. But you know these guys

400
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Speaker 3: is like they're portrayed in the movie Is is very elite,

401
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Speaker 3: and you get there and it's like these like scrawny,

402
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Speaker 3: nerdy guys and just you know, it seems like they've

403
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Speaker 3: been scraped from the bottom of the barrel. It kind

404
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Speaker 3: of like that scene in Platoon where Charlie Sheen talks

405
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Speaker 3: about the grunt, the guy that's that's kind of the

406
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Speaker 3: refuse of every community, and but he's the guy that

407
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Speaker 3: can take it. They can take whatever's dished out, and so,

408
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Speaker 3: you know, it was just a very surreal experience. And

409
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Speaker 3: then and I'm somebody who's always studied history to some degree,

410
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Speaker 3: and so I have some realization of the gravity of

411
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Speaker 3: such a situation of going into the military, what it

412
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Speaker 3: means to wear the uniform. And so the first day

413
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Speaker 3: putting the uniform on, it was it was like an

414
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Speaker 3: imposter syndrome, you know, where you feel like you're not

415
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Speaker 3: up to it. I kind of I kind of felt

416
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Speaker 3: like that. And obviously, you know, day one to basic

417
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Speaker 3: training or whatever it's, you're kind of not but it's

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Speaker 3: just it was just a really wild, surreal experience for me.

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Speaker 2: When you put the uniform on for the first time.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, well, because first off, you're trying to make

421
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Speaker 3: sure you do it right because it's you know, it's

422
00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:22,080
Speaker 3: not always that obvious. You know, where to what do

423
00:22:22,119 --> 00:22:24,440
Speaker 3: you do? The little strings that hang down from the

424
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Speaker 3: from the bottom of your pants and you know, your

425
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Speaker 3: your boots, everything, everything is just you want to get

426
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Speaker 3: it right and you want to present yourself the right way,

427
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Speaker 3: and so you're thinking about that. But also how many

428
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Speaker 3: how many people came before you that wore that uniform,

429
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Speaker 3: who've done great legendary things, and that that was not

430
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Speaker 3: lost on me.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it had to be a special feeling when I

432
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Speaker 1: go to these military academies and I meet with these cadets,

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Speaker 1: it had to be a special feeling, you know, putting

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Speaker 1: that I I guess what I'm trying to say is

435
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Speaker 1: I always wish that I understood in the moment that

436
00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:08,480
Speaker 1: I was really standing on the shoulders of giants. I

437
00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:10,679
Speaker 1: when I went in the military, rob I wanted to

438
00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:14,439
Speaker 1: do all the cool sexy stuff. I mean probably you know,

439
00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:17,119
Speaker 1: even myself, because you know, you see the challenge that

440
00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:18,880
Speaker 1: was set out before you in a movie like Black

441
00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:21,760
Speaker 1: Hawk Down, and you half wonder could I survive that?

442
00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:25,440
Speaker 1: Could I do that when the when when it's hitting

443
00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:28,000
Speaker 1: the fan and bullets are cracking by my head, am

444
00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:29,600
Speaker 1: I going to have the wherewithal to be able to

445
00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:32,159
Speaker 1: make decisions to get my people out of there or

446
00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:37,080
Speaker 1: fight through to the bitter end? Or you know, you know,

447
00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:40,960
Speaker 1: say but also believe the ranger creed and fighting onto

448
00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:43,680
Speaker 1: the ranger objective. Though I be the lone survivor, am

449
00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:46,000
Speaker 1: I up to that task? And I think that's what

450
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:48,760
Speaker 1: you know, a movie like Black Hawk Down. I mean,

451
00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:51,639
Speaker 1: that wasn't the sole reason why I joined, but that

452
00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:55,080
Speaker 1: was I feel like that movie was woven into the

453
00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:57,919
Speaker 1: fabric of our generation. Even though I'm a little bit

454
00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:00,520
Speaker 1: older than you. Even people who use said, we're in

455
00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:04,720
Speaker 1: your basic training class. It was oh wow, black Hawk Down? Well,

456
00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,360
Speaker 1: black Hawk Down really is even though it was about rangers,

457
00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:16,120
Speaker 1: it really is a quintessential infantry story, you know. And

458
00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:19,959
Speaker 1: I just wish I felt the same way that you

459
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:23,360
Speaker 1: did and had that perspective of man, this uniform, this

460
00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:28,560
Speaker 1: uniform means something, you know. Yeah, these these BDUs as camouflage,

461
00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:31,240
Speaker 1: and people bled in these before and they sacrificed for

462
00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:35,080
Speaker 1: this country. And you talked about that sense of duty

463
00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:38,280
Speaker 1: that you had prior to nine to eleven, Rob, I

464
00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:40,240
Speaker 1: guess what I'm getting to is that you didn't have

465
00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:42,520
Speaker 1: any Did you have anybody in your life that taught

466
00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:43,080
Speaker 1: you about that.

467
00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:49,720
Speaker 3: Well, my grandfather, my maternal grandfather, had fought in World

468
00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:52,040
Speaker 3: War Two. He was an infantryman. He fought with the

469
00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:57,919
Speaker 3: first Infantry Division in Sicily, and and he was in

470
00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:00,480
Speaker 3: the in the Normandy invasion on the first and he

471
00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:04,320
Speaker 3: was fought through France into into Germany, fought in the

472
00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:08,040
Speaker 3: Battle of Hrtgan Forest, and he was a legend and

473
00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:13,280
Speaker 3: and and he had these great accomplishments as a soldier.

474
00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:15,639
Speaker 3: He was captured at one point by Germans and the

475
00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:19,439
Speaker 3: and then he talked them into surrendering. So you know,

476
00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:22,520
Speaker 3: he he had these great accomplishments and and and you know,

477
00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:25,920
Speaker 3: incredible experiences as a soldier, the good and the bad.

478
00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:30,280
Speaker 3: But he was also somebody as a person who had

479
00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:33,440
Speaker 3: just tremendous character. And uh, he was somebody that I'm

480
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:35,840
Speaker 3: pretty sure everybody in my family has looked up to.

481
00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:40,840
Speaker 3: And so, you know, knowing about him, and he didn't

482
00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:43,000
Speaker 3: talk that much about these things, but you could you

483
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:44,919
Speaker 3: could learn, you know, kind of what's what to some

484
00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:50,960
Speaker 3: degree just from knowing what his unit did. Just having

485
00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:55,560
Speaker 3: somebody like that, that is an example, let's say, really

486
00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:57,800
Speaker 3: made an impact on me, and I think made me

487
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:01,040
Speaker 3: made me want to to, you know, learn if I

488
00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:03,600
Speaker 3: was if I was capable, if I was up to

489
00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:07,200
Speaker 3: the task, like what you said, And that's I think.

490
00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:09,919
Speaker 3: I think there's a right of passage that is in

491
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:14,320
Speaker 3: most most societies around the world where you you become

492
00:26:14,359 --> 00:26:16,800
Speaker 3: an adult, and I think this is especially important for men.

493
00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:20,400
Speaker 3: We've got to figure out what we're meant to do,

494
00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:23,720
Speaker 3: what we're capable. Uh, you know what what it is

495
00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:26,480
Speaker 3: that we're are? We are we equal to the task

496
00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:29,200
Speaker 3: that is put before us, that that so many people

497
00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:31,080
Speaker 3: before us, so many men before us have have been

498
00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:34,280
Speaker 3: able to do. And uh and to me, that was

499
00:26:34,359 --> 00:26:35,720
Speaker 3: that was a lot of it was. It was that

500
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:38,560
Speaker 3: kind of right of passage. And I think sadly, I

501
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:41,720
Speaker 3: think that with so few men going into the military

502
00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:44,480
Speaker 3: these days, I think that we are society is lacking

503
00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:47,040
Speaker 3: that right of passage and it's it's problematic.

504
00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:50,840
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, well, I well, I definitely want to ask

505
00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:53,480
Speaker 1: you questions about you know, where we are as a

506
00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,320
Speaker 1: military today. A little bit later, So let's put a

507
00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:59,640
Speaker 1: pin in that for just a second. But you got

508
00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:01,520
Speaker 1: to tell me, do you know anything else about how

509
00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:05,560
Speaker 1: your grandfather convinced a bunch of Germans to surrender after

510
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:07,840
Speaker 1: he was captured? Did he ever tell you that story?

511
00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:12,280
Speaker 3: He didn't, but there was a newspaper article about it,

512
00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:14,800
Speaker 3: and so he was he was interviewed, you know, and

513
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,359
Speaker 3: he's got it's got one of those classic photos of

514
00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:19,320
Speaker 3: him pointing at the map. You know, this is where

515
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:20,080
Speaker 3: it happened.

516
00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:22,320
Speaker 2: That it was.

517
00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:24,440
Speaker 3: It was a local newspaper. He came from a very

518
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:28,359
Speaker 3: very small town in upstate New York and and you know,

519
00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:31,840
Speaker 3: so everybody knew him and and and to to see

520
00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:35,280
Speaker 3: this story was obviously incredible for anybody. But uh so,

521
00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:37,320
Speaker 3: I think he had been He was a he was

522
00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:40,200
Speaker 3: a medic and in those days it was infantrymen in

523
00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:42,200
Speaker 3: medic where it was medic was kind of a specialty

524
00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:45,240
Speaker 3: within the infantry and like a grenadier or something like

525
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:50,960
Speaker 3: that today and he, uh he, they they were back

526
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:53,680
Speaker 3: and forth. This is an Hurkin forest, I believe, near

527
00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:56,800
Speaker 3: Auchen in the on the border of Germany, and the

528
00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:00,199
Speaker 3: Germans were preparing for the Battle of the Bulge. They

529
00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:02,120
Speaker 3: did not want the Americans to be able to push

530
00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:06,320
Speaker 3: into their staging area essentially near Auckenen. So they were

531
00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:09,879
Speaker 3: fighting to the last man essentially, and this is often

532
00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:13,719
Speaker 3: called the Western Front's meat grinder. They're just we were

533
00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:16,840
Speaker 3: just throwing guy, wave after wave of guys to go

534
00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:20,200
Speaker 3: in this fight. And you know, coming back where there

535
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:22,919
Speaker 3: was there was one soldier left in the company. Everyone

536
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:25,840
Speaker 3: else had died. And so then that soldiers promoted, you know,

537
00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:28,560
Speaker 3: to to a leadership so that they can refill the

538
00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:30,480
Speaker 3: company and send them back in an hour, you know

539
00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:33,800
Speaker 3: that kind of thing. And and so it was in

540
00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:35,960
Speaker 3: this back and forth fighting and he had he had

541
00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:38,720
Speaker 3: his men had pushed forward, and then they were they

542
00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:42,640
Speaker 3: were retreating back from the Germans, and he stopped to

543
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,960
Speaker 3: treat some wounded and the Germans basically overtook his position

544
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:47,920
Speaker 3: while he was while he was treating these wounded guys,

545
00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:51,280
Speaker 3: and the Germans at this point kind of knew that

546
00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:53,160
Speaker 3: the war was over and the last thing they wanted

547
00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:55,320
Speaker 3: to do was have to surrender to the Soviets. And

548
00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:59,040
Speaker 3: so he knew just enough German and had just enough

549
00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:02,479
Speaker 3: cigarettes to to apply them to say, you know, hey, whenever,

550
00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:05,120
Speaker 3: whenever the Americans come back, this way which they will

551
00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:07,800
Speaker 3: just turn yourself over. I think they were like eleven

552
00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:09,880
Speaker 3: of them or something like that. And so he came

553
00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:13,280
Speaker 3: marching out with a squad of Germans with their hands up,

554
00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:16,040
Speaker 3: you know, and turn them over to the American authorities.

555
00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:20,080
Speaker 3: And it's just it's just one of those incredible stories

556
00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:22,920
Speaker 3: that you know that it's it's hard to imagine yourself

557
00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:25,360
Speaker 3: and those shoes, and but he was that kind.

558
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:28,400
Speaker 2: Of person, you know, after everything that we've been through

559
00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:30,480
Speaker 2: in combat, and I feel like we've been through pretty

560
00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:35,040
Speaker 2: much pretty much everything, we haven't been through anything like that.

561
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:37,720
Speaker 1: That's like, that's like, that's like a World War Two.

562
00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:40,720
Speaker 1: This the crazy stuff happened in World War Two. Stories

563
00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:45,440
Speaker 1: like that, you know, of men truly trapped behind enemy lines,

564
00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:49,000
Speaker 1: or like their glider got shot down over over Normandy

565
00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:51,480
Speaker 1: and they had to fight back for football fields to

566
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:54,760
Speaker 1: get with their unit. I mean, these are like some

567
00:29:54,800 --> 00:30:00,280
Speaker 1: of the craziest stories imaginable. And in fact, I just saw,

568
00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:03,880
Speaker 1: like my dad and I were talking about a story

569
00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:06,840
Speaker 1: that he read or a tweet that he saw or something,

570
00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:09,160
Speaker 1: and it was a picture of Ted Williams and Yogi

571
00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:11,400
Speaker 1: Berra and it said, you know, just a picture of

572
00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:15,560
Speaker 1: you know, a pilot in World War two flu combat

573
00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:19,200
Speaker 1: missions and a machine gunner on the beaches of Normandy

574
00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:22,720
Speaker 1: and Yogi Berra. Obviously, the famous New York Yankee I

575
00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:24,280
Speaker 1: think Ted Williams was as well. I think he was

576
00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:28,200
Speaker 1: a Yankee as well. But professional baseball players signed up

577
00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:30,840
Speaker 1: to go fight, not just like be a part of

578
00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:34,600
Speaker 1: like the pr you know, or sell war bonds to

579
00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:37,480
Speaker 1: the American people. These were guys on the front lines,

580
00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:41,800
Speaker 1: doing flying combat missions or toting a machine gun. I mean,

581
00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:46,320
Speaker 1: isn't that just do you are there differences? Do you

582
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:51,000
Speaker 1: see differences between you know, our generation who served and

583
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:53,960
Speaker 1: people who rose up to serve after Pearl Harbor was

584
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:55,680
Speaker 1: attacked for World War Two?

585
00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:59,200
Speaker 3: Well, that's a good question. But I think that fundamentally, no,

586
00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:01,280
Speaker 3: I don't. I don't think we're all that different. I

587
00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:04,719
Speaker 3: think that I think there are societal influences that are different.

588
00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:08,520
Speaker 3: There's a there's a great Silent era movie called The General,

589
00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:13,160
Speaker 3: and the General is in reference to a Confederate train

590
00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:18,160
Speaker 3: and there was the guy who's a Buster Keaton movie.

591
00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:21,560
Speaker 3: And so Buster Keaton was an engineer or conductor or

592
00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:24,920
Speaker 3: something like that on this on this train, and and

593
00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:27,640
Speaker 3: so the war starts, and all the men in his

594
00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:33,680
Speaker 3: little town, Confederate town, all the men start to enlist

595
00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:36,280
Speaker 3: to go in in the army and fight because of

596
00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:38,000
Speaker 3: that sense of duty. And I don't think that's very

597
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:41,200
Speaker 3: different from us. And he tries to get in, they

598
00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:43,880
Speaker 3: won't let him because he's so valuable working on the

599
00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:46,880
Speaker 3: trains are needed for transporting you know, supplies and things

600
00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:48,840
Speaker 3: like that for the war, So they wouldn't let him in.

601
00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:52,960
Speaker 3: And and the woman that he was trying to court

602
00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:55,120
Speaker 3: wouldn't have anything to do with him because he wasn't

603
00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:56,720
Speaker 3: aware in a uniform. She said, come back to me

604
00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:00,600
Speaker 3: whenever you've got the uniform on. And I think, I

605
00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:04,440
Speaker 3: think there are still plenty of people who have that

606
00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:08,080
Speaker 3: hunger to serve, but I think that there are enough

607
00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:10,200
Speaker 3: who don't, and there are enough who don't understand it,

608
00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:14,040
Speaker 3: that don't within our society where we don't have that

609
00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:19,760
Speaker 3: mutual understanding of what duty is that, I think that's

610
00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:22,280
Speaker 3: where it looks different. We've kind of got this separate

611
00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:25,479
Speaker 3: class of military people that you know, maybe often they

612
00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:29,120
Speaker 3: are it's a family tradition of military service, but sometimes not.

613
00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:32,680
Speaker 3: And I think that we've created a separate class these

614
00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:34,440
Speaker 3: are the people who go and fight for us, and

615
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:37,480
Speaker 3: we just treat them separately. And I think that's a

616
00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:40,880
Speaker 3: I think that's a big flaw. So so whereas I

617
00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:44,200
Speaker 3: don't think the individual soldier has that different of a drive,

618
00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:50,520
Speaker 3: I think our society looks at it in a different way. Man.

619
00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:53,720
Speaker 1: That's a great answer, and it's and it's actually got

620
00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:57,400
Speaker 1: me thinking. It's like so much of of who we

621
00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:00,440
Speaker 1: are today and what our society is all about, even

622
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:03,040
Speaker 1: even news culture, celebrity culture, the people that we look

623
00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:05,600
Speaker 1: at in the news media every day, or celebrities in

624
00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:09,440
Speaker 1: our country, it all tends to be about immediate gratification

625
00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:13,280
Speaker 1: and building your own platform and making your own money.

626
00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:19,040
Speaker 1: And you know, I just feel like, does that play

627
00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:21,280
Speaker 1: into it? Is that what you're talking about when you

628
00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:25,960
Speaker 1: refer to different cultural influences that drive us today versus

629
00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:27,400
Speaker 1: back during World War Two?

630
00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:30,560
Speaker 3: I think that's a lot of it. Yeah. I think

631
00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:33,880
Speaker 3: that that if you grow up you know, let's say,

632
00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:38,400
Speaker 3: more of agrarian society in the nineteenth century, If you

633
00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:42,480
Speaker 3: grew up in that and what you know is your

634
00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:45,080
Speaker 3: local town, the people around you, I think that you

635
00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:48,840
Speaker 3: admire people who work hard and who have that strong

636
00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:52,120
Speaker 3: sense of duty to themselves and to others, to their families,

637
00:33:53,080 --> 00:33:56,920
Speaker 3: Whereas now when we have information about anybody around the

638
00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:59,680
Speaker 3: world essentially at any time, I think then you start

639
00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:02,760
Speaker 3: to I are these these celebrities like you said, or

640
00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:05,680
Speaker 3: even even fictional superheroes, you know, you you view them

641
00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:08,840
Speaker 3: as as something that's that you could never be, but

642
00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:11,439
Speaker 3: it's fun to watch them on the screen. I don't

643
00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:14,279
Speaker 3: I think that we lose that sense of of of

644
00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:18,480
Speaker 3: where we fit within the the greater the greater picture.

645
00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:23,880
Speaker 3: And yeah, I think I think that's that's really a

646
00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:26,680
Speaker 3: lot of where that comes from is is just losing

647
00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:29,200
Speaker 3: that kind of local perspective where do where do I fit?

648
00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:31,840
Speaker 3: And and is a hero? Does a hero have to

649
00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:34,960
Speaker 3: be somebody who does something that puts them in in

650
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:38,520
Speaker 3: the you know Wikipedia today, let's say, uh, or can

651
00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:41,200
Speaker 3: it be somebody who is a mother that just pours

652
00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:46,040
Speaker 3: everything that she hasn't caring for her kids, or you

653
00:34:46,080 --> 00:34:49,279
Speaker 3: know a father who works every day to make sure

654
00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:52,760
Speaker 3: that his family is provided for, or you know somebody

655
00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:55,479
Speaker 3: who who is a fireman and and when when there's

656
00:34:55,680 --> 00:34:59,560
Speaker 3: a building that's that's a blaze, that will run in

657
00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:02,320
Speaker 3: too to do his duty. And that's those are the

658
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:04,360
Speaker 3: people that I think are most worth admiring.

659
00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:08,839
Speaker 1: I do think the discussion of what's a hero is

660
00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:13,359
Speaker 1: so important and we need to have it because it's

661
00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:16,200
Speaker 1: a term that I think is just so overused in

662
00:35:16,239 --> 00:35:20,640
Speaker 1: our society. And you know, for me, and this is

663
00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:23,200
Speaker 1: just you know, I felt this way for a long time.

664
00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:26,680
Speaker 1: But as you said, everybody that you just outlined to me,

665
00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:29,640
Speaker 1: it would would be somebody that I consider a hero.

666
00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:32,600
Speaker 1: But many of those people aren't the ones that are

667
00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:36,840
Speaker 1: on your TV every day. And are we celebrating the

668
00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:39,359
Speaker 1: wrong types of heroes in this country?

669
00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:42,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think for sure. I think that's the case.

670
00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:44,719
Speaker 3: And some of it I think also comes from a

671
00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:49,480
Speaker 3: misunderstanding about the need, you know, and we've got some

672
00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:55,399
Speaker 3: really fancy building processes now where houses don't catch fire

673
00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:57,480
Speaker 3: as easily as they once did. You know, we're a

674
00:35:57,520 --> 00:36:00,160
Speaker 3: whole town had burned down, or even on the on

675
00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:02,680
Speaker 3: the military perspective, there are many people who do not

676
00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:05,960
Speaker 3: think that there is a wolf at the door. They

677
00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:09,200
Speaker 3: do not think that our military is necessary to uh

678
00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:12,600
Speaker 3: to keep the danger away. Uh. They've just been so

679
00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:15,680
Speaker 3: removed from it because of ironically enough, it's because of

680
00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:19,160
Speaker 3: those heroes of our past who have who have eliminated

681
00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:23,360
Speaker 3: that danger from from our immediate uh you know vision

682
00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:26,880
Speaker 3: uh that so many people don't realize just how necessary

683
00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:30,640
Speaker 3: that is and just how fragile our peace and our

684
00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:35,120
Speaker 3: prosperity is. I think there are some who do, and

685
00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:37,879
Speaker 3: those are often the ones who are called to serve, uh,

686
00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:40,359
Speaker 3: and the others, I think just just see it as

687
00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:43,799
Speaker 3: you know, our profession. I think that's not to get

688
00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:46,440
Speaker 3: into politics, but that's often where a lot of the

689
00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:48,959
Speaker 3: the political changes in the military have come from lately,

690
00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:52,880
Speaker 3: where it's you know, it's it's all training about equity

691
00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:55,560
Speaker 3: and you know, these things that were that you would

692
00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:59,400
Speaker 3: never you would never include those things in the military training.

693
00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:04,000
Speaker 3: Uh uh procedures without and understand if you have if

694
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:06,120
Speaker 3: you understand that this is life or death. This is

695
00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:10,040
Speaker 3: we're talking about existential threats. And I think because we

696
00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:12,200
Speaker 3: because so many people don't see those threats. You know,

697
00:37:12,239 --> 00:37:15,800
Speaker 3: it's the it's the what's the expression that the the

698
00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:18,600
Speaker 3: the sheep dog doesn't concern himself with the opinions of

699
00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:21,200
Speaker 3: the sheep. You know, the sheep often are not aware

700
00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:24,640
Speaker 3: of the of the danger. And and on the one hand,

701
00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:27,920
Speaker 3: you want people to not, you know, be frightened every

702
00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:30,360
Speaker 3: day that the hunt is is coming through your village.

703
00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:33,799
Speaker 3: But on the other hand, I think we've removed ourselves

704
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:36,720
Speaker 3: from the reality of the situation, which is that indeed

705
00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:39,080
Speaker 3: what we have is very fragile, and we need people

706
00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:42,080
Speaker 3: who are willing to go and to to you know,

707
00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:46,680
Speaker 3: to assault the breach, to to keep keep us safe.

708
00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:49,280
Speaker 1: You know, when you're as you were talking, I couldn't

709
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:51,440
Speaker 1: help but think of Jack and Jack Nicholson from a

710
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:53,600
Speaker 1: few good men, Like when he's sitting on the bench,

711
00:37:53,640 --> 00:37:56,239
Speaker 1: He's like, you want me on that wall, you need

712
00:37:56,320 --> 00:37:58,720
Speaker 1: me on that wall, but you don't want to sully

713
00:37:58,719 --> 00:38:00,759
Speaker 1: your hands with any of the actual work that it

714
00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:04,239
Speaker 1: takes to defend this country. And it is actually a

715
00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:09,800
Speaker 1: really interesting point that you make, Rod, because I always

716
00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:12,800
Speaker 1: refer to this as the double ed sword of living

717
00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:16,640
Speaker 1: in a very free and prosperous society where the mission

718
00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:19,680
Speaker 1: of parents like me or one generation to the next

719
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:23,840
Speaker 1: is like I mean, almost every fiber of my being

720
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:26,799
Speaker 1: I ask myself, I asked myself with every fiber of

721
00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:29,160
Speaker 1: my being every day of what can I do to

722
00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:31,880
Speaker 1: make sure that my kids inherit a better easier life

723
00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:35,399
Speaker 1: than me. I mean, isn't that the duty essentially? Maybe

724
00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:37,520
Speaker 1: not an easier life, but you want your kids to

725
00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:39,799
Speaker 1: live in a country that was better than the one

726
00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:40,319
Speaker 1: that you had.

727
00:38:40,520 --> 00:38:41,440
Speaker 2: I mean, nobody.

728
00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:44,719
Speaker 1: Raises kids and says, I hope these I hope these

729
00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:48,719
Speaker 1: kids inherit a country that's complete crap. No one says that.

730
00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:52,200
Speaker 1: So from from World War Two. These guys sacrifice so much,

731
00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:54,360
Speaker 1: I mean, to any conflict that America had prior to

732
00:38:54,400 --> 00:38:56,600
Speaker 1: World War Two. It's not simply not relegating it to

733
00:38:56,640 --> 00:38:59,879
Speaker 1: World War Two. But even like every generation since then,

734
00:39:00,520 --> 00:39:03,640
Speaker 1: parents have asked that question of the next generation, and

735
00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:06,520
Speaker 1: I think by and large they've accomplished that mission. I

736
00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:09,080
Speaker 1: mean not I mean, obviously there were some valleys along

737
00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:11,879
Speaker 1: the way, but we've always I feel like we as

738
00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:15,440
Speaker 1: Americans have the next generation. Has it just a little

739
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:19,480
Speaker 1: bit easier? And are we at a point now in

740
00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:23,720
Speaker 1: our country rob where I mean, I know I felt

741
00:39:23,760 --> 00:39:27,120
Speaker 1: like this, but where people just don't know what the

742
00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:30,120
Speaker 1: truth that where we really even live in a free country.

743
00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:33,040
Speaker 1: They think that this that what we have here is everywhere.

744
00:39:33,320 --> 00:39:36,480
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, Ronald, I think of Ronald

745
00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:39,000
Speaker 1: Reagan and what he said often that the last bashion

746
00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:41,640
Speaker 1: of freedom in the world is the United States of America.

747
00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:45,319
Speaker 1: There is nowhere else, And he's right, you know, he's right.

748
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:50,920
Speaker 1: You can't go to Australia or Europe, or essentially anywhere

749
00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:55,239
Speaker 1: in China or the Middle East, Russia obviously, but America

750
00:39:55,320 --> 00:39:58,680
Speaker 1: is it where you can go from a kid that

751
00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:01,719
Speaker 1: grew up in a a middle income family like me,

752
00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:05,040
Speaker 1: to being wounded in combat having nothing when you come out,

753
00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:07,200
Speaker 1: to getting calls from the President of the United States.

754
00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:11,480
Speaker 1: That's my personal story. But this country affords us unlimited

755
00:40:11,719 --> 00:40:14,840
Speaker 1: opportunity if you're just willing to see it and seize

756
00:40:14,880 --> 00:40:18,120
Speaker 1: upon it. It doesn't mean it does not mean that

757
00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:20,680
Speaker 1: you'll be successful. And I've certainly failed a hell of

758
00:40:20,719 --> 00:40:22,719
Speaker 1: a lot more than I've succeeded in this life. But

759
00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:26,440
Speaker 1: I like having the freedom to take the shot. And

760
00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:28,880
Speaker 1: are we just at a point now in our country

761
00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:34,080
Speaker 1: where people just don't recognize it because they've inherited such

762
00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:36,560
Speaker 1: a free, prosperous and easy life.

763
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:40,440
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I definitely believe that. And if you look at

764
00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:44,640
Speaker 3: the Old Testament in the Bible, there's so many instances

765
00:40:44,680 --> 00:40:47,279
Speaker 3: where people have become complacent or whatever you want to

766
00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:50,400
Speaker 3: call it. You know, the Israelites were freed from bondage

767
00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:54,200
Speaker 3: in Egypt, and they immediately wanted to go back. You know,

768
00:40:54,280 --> 00:41:00,279
Speaker 3: they couldn't handle the difficulties of the wilderness. You know.

769
00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:05,080
Speaker 3: And I think when people people want to have a king,

770
00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:08,160
Speaker 3: they want to have somebody who just makes things better

771
00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:10,520
Speaker 3: for them. They don't want to do because of the

772
00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:14,480
Speaker 3: kind of liberty you're talking about comes with responsibility. They

773
00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:17,279
Speaker 3: go hand in hand. And uh. And so we've had

774
00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:20,480
Speaker 3: this tremendous amount of liberty in the United States. Uh.

775
00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:23,960
Speaker 3: And now as as that liberty has has created prosperity,

776
00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:26,520
Speaker 3: I think people they want to give up their liberty

777
00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:29,640
Speaker 3: in order to just be comfortable. And you know, it

778
00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:32,319
Speaker 3: was a little bit of a shock to me to

779
00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:36,320
Speaker 3: see during the COVID lockdowns and to see that I

780
00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:38,759
Speaker 3: think it was Sweden that didn't didn't do any kind

781
00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:42,359
Speaker 3: of the draconian lockdown stuff that we did. And and

782
00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:44,920
Speaker 3: to compare us to Sweden, to Sweden would be more

783
00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:47,640
Speaker 3: free than us. It's just it's really quite a shock,

784
00:41:47,719 --> 00:41:50,120
Speaker 3: I have to say. But you know, I think that

785
00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:53,160
Speaker 3: I think that we do have institutions that can help

786
00:41:53,239 --> 00:41:58,440
Speaker 3: us to recover some of the sense of personal responsibility

787
00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:01,960
Speaker 3: that we maybe once had as a society. Our military

788
00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:05,839
Speaker 3: is the only institution in the US that that has

789
00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:09,560
Speaker 3: for hundreds of years been built on a chain of

790
00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:13,759
Speaker 3: successes and failures on the battlefield, so that you know,

791
00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:16,239
Speaker 3: when you were being trained, you were being trained by

792
00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:18,680
Speaker 3: guys who probably had fought in Vietnam, or or at

793
00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:21,040
Speaker 3: least had been trained by guys who had fought in Vietnam.

794
00:42:21,320 --> 00:42:23,719
Speaker 3: And then those guys have been trained by soldiers who

795
00:42:23,719 --> 00:42:26,320
Speaker 3: had fought in the Korean conflict, and so forth and

796
00:42:26,360 --> 00:42:28,360
Speaker 3: so on, going all the way back. That chain is

797
00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:32,200
Speaker 3: an unbroken chain of success and failure for hundreds of years,

798
00:42:32,440 --> 00:42:35,040
Speaker 3: and there's nothing else. There's no private company that's been

799
00:42:35,120 --> 00:42:37,280
Speaker 3: like that. There's no there's there is no other institution,

800
00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:40,600
Speaker 3: maybe outside of the church, that has that kind of history.

801
00:42:40,600 --> 00:42:44,480
Speaker 3: And so we have an opportunity, I feel, with with

802
00:42:44,800 --> 00:42:47,080
Speaker 3: by by taking some of the lessons from that institution

803
00:42:47,200 --> 00:42:50,640
Speaker 3: to see that to have the perspective to see that

804
00:42:50,640 --> 00:42:53,920
Speaker 3: that it is fragile, and that that our liberty is

805
00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:55,600
Speaker 3: worth the hardships that come with them.

806
00:42:56,480 --> 00:42:58,880
Speaker 1: I mean, but are we living up to it? Rob

807
00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:02,680
Speaker 1: I mean, I I have by the way if you

808
00:43:02,680 --> 00:43:05,080
Speaker 1: you know, if you've watched the podcast, I don't give

809
00:43:05,120 --> 00:43:06,719
Speaker 1: a shit about getting into politics.

810
00:43:06,719 --> 00:43:07,960
Speaker 2: We can do that all day time.

811
00:43:08,080 --> 00:43:11,719
Speaker 1: I mean, but I initially intended to to talk more

812
00:43:11,719 --> 00:43:14,600
Speaker 1: deeply about your story. But the conversation is going where

813
00:43:14,600 --> 00:43:16,520
Speaker 1: it's going, so let's just keep going with it. But

814
00:43:16,719 --> 00:43:20,919
Speaker 1: I feel like the Pentagon, you know, a few years ago,

815
00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:25,800
Speaker 1: had a study about the type of person that serves,

816
00:43:26,160 --> 00:43:29,080
Speaker 1: like where are we drawing this this bucket of people

817
00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:31,840
Speaker 1: from in the country, And one of the one of

818
00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:36,839
Speaker 1: the most telling elements of the study was that the military,

819
00:43:36,920 --> 00:43:40,560
Speaker 1: buy and large, is a legacy organization, the all volunteer force.

820
00:43:40,680 --> 00:43:45,920
Speaker 1: Like people joined the military because a parent had joined

821
00:43:46,040 --> 00:43:48,760
Speaker 1: or a grandparent and they were they saw that service,

822
00:43:49,400 --> 00:43:52,560
Speaker 1: not dissimilar to your life experience, but they saw that

823
00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:56,240
Speaker 1: service and they joined themselves. And what we're seeing today

824
00:43:56,760 --> 00:43:59,920
Speaker 1: for the first time in American history, and it's different

825
00:44:00,120 --> 00:44:02,640
Speaker 1: than what it was in the Vietnam War because there

826
00:44:02,640 --> 00:44:06,560
Speaker 1: were there were recruiting challenges after the Vietnam War, because

827
00:44:06,600 --> 00:44:09,880
Speaker 1: of course there was. But what we're seeing today is

828
00:44:10,000 --> 00:44:14,240
Speaker 1: veterans by and large who fought for twenty years Iraq, Afghanistan,

829
00:44:14,719 --> 00:44:20,120
Speaker 1: other contingency operations elsewhere their kids are, you know, coming

830
00:44:20,120 --> 00:44:23,160
Speaker 1: of age fourteen fifteen years old. I've experienced this with

831
00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:26,239
Speaker 1: my own with my own children, and where they ask,

832
00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:29,600
Speaker 1: what do you think about me serving? And my response

833
00:44:29,719 --> 00:44:34,480
Speaker 1: is no, no, yeah. And by the way, I'll tell

834
00:44:34,560 --> 00:44:38,680
Speaker 1: everybody that's watching or listening, ultimately it's their decision, and

835
00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:42,200
Speaker 1: I mean I will one hundred percent support whatever they

836
00:44:42,280 --> 00:44:46,359
Speaker 1: decide to do. But I see what's happening to our

837
00:44:46,400 --> 00:44:49,759
Speaker 1: military every day, and even even all the challenges that

838
00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:53,319
Speaker 1: are military faced after the Vietnam War and that and

839
00:44:53,360 --> 00:44:56,920
Speaker 1: how just political that war was, and how the politicians

840
00:44:57,080 --> 00:45:01,600
Speaker 1: lost the Vietnam War despite Americans winning every ground battle

841
00:45:01,680 --> 00:45:05,000
Speaker 1: in that war. Politicians are the ones that lost it. Obviously,

842
00:45:05,120 --> 00:45:09,280
Speaker 1: Vietnam was a hyper political environment. But what I'm seeing today,

843
00:45:09,320 --> 00:45:12,279
Speaker 1: the concerns the all out of me is the military

844
00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:19,239
Speaker 1: becoming a political entity. And a good example of this is,

845
00:45:19,520 --> 00:45:22,520
Speaker 1: you know, when they had a vaccine mandate in the

846
00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:25,480
Speaker 1: military for the COVID vaccine. Now, by the way, you know,

847
00:45:26,080 --> 00:45:28,640
Speaker 1: I might have a perspective that surprises some people on

848
00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:31,680
Speaker 1: vaccine mandates in the military. I mean, do you remember

849
00:45:31,719 --> 00:45:34,600
Speaker 1: how they mandate a smallpox vaccine for US. I still

850
00:45:34,600 --> 00:45:36,480
Speaker 1: have the scar on my shoulder for small box. They

851
00:45:36,520 --> 00:45:39,279
Speaker 1: were trying to mandate the anthrax vaccine. Did you get

852
00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:41,320
Speaker 1: the anthrax vaccine? You probably didn't.

853
00:45:42,719 --> 00:45:43,600
Speaker 2: Well, that's exactly right.

854
00:45:43,640 --> 00:45:45,920
Speaker 1: Like they mandate these crazy vaccines for you, and like

855
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:48,000
Speaker 1: you don't have to say because you're just a GI

856
00:45:48,440 --> 00:45:51,840
Speaker 1: and a GI means government issues, so you're you're owned

857
00:45:51,840 --> 00:45:58,279
Speaker 1: by the government. So but nevertheless, you I couldn't help

858
00:45:58,320 --> 00:46:01,839
Speaker 1: but feel just because the this is how cultural Marxists

859
00:46:02,040 --> 00:46:07,120
Speaker 1: think that by imposing a draconian vaccine mandate on our

860
00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:11,000
Speaker 1: troops and even removing all religious exemptions from that, because

861
00:46:11,080 --> 00:46:15,480
Speaker 1: we've we saw that you were weeding out the more

862
00:46:15,520 --> 00:46:20,480
Speaker 1: conservative service members who can think for themselves, and you know,

863
00:46:20,680 --> 00:46:27,319
Speaker 1: having basically what was left a far left military force

864
00:46:27,360 --> 00:46:31,920
Speaker 1: that was more ideologically similar to you know, Joe Biden's politics,

865
00:46:32,120 --> 00:46:34,360
Speaker 1: that concerns the hell out of me, that worries the

866
00:46:34,400 --> 00:46:37,239
Speaker 1: hell out of me. And I think you're seeing, you know,

867
00:46:37,320 --> 00:46:39,680
Speaker 1: after that, Rob, you know, all this stuff that you

868
00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:41,799
Speaker 1: just talked about, all this woke bullshit that they're that

869
00:46:41,840 --> 00:46:45,120
Speaker 1: they're weaving in our military. They're talking about diversity, equity

870
00:46:45,160 --> 00:46:49,280
Speaker 1: and inclusion. And you know, the Secretary of Defense Austin

871
00:46:49,400 --> 00:46:51,400
Speaker 1: just came out and you know, talked about trans people

872
00:46:51,400 --> 00:46:52,320
Speaker 1: being in the military.

873
00:46:52,360 --> 00:46:53,520
Speaker 2: And what I always say.

874
00:46:53,400 --> 00:46:56,439
Speaker 1: To this this rob is that like, if you're there,

875
00:46:57,080 --> 00:46:59,600
Speaker 1: you're serving, You're in a trench, you're in combat with

876
00:46:59,600 --> 00:47:03,799
Speaker 1: with you know, without lovelatune. I did not care what

877
00:47:03,880 --> 00:47:07,320
Speaker 1: your politics were. I did not care what God you worshiped,

878
00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:09,160
Speaker 1: or what color your skin was, or whether you were

879
00:47:09,200 --> 00:47:12,960
Speaker 1: gay as straight. None of that mattered at all. But

880
00:47:13,560 --> 00:47:18,080
Speaker 1: it was because we were trained to be a collective

881
00:47:18,200 --> 00:47:22,360
Speaker 1: unit together that we weren't that we weren't to focus

882
00:47:22,480 --> 00:47:25,320
Speaker 1: on our differences, you know, of which there were many.

883
00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:28,759
Speaker 1: But it was the unity beyond those many differences that

884
00:47:28,920 --> 00:47:33,399
Speaker 1: really made us a lethal fighting force. And so I'm

885
00:47:33,480 --> 00:47:39,480
Speaker 1: concerned today that our military is just like everyone's focused,

886
00:47:39,520 --> 00:47:42,879
Speaker 1: like on their differences. Like you see these people out

887
00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:46,239
Speaker 1: there filming these selfie videos about how like you know,

888
00:47:46,440 --> 00:47:51,839
Speaker 1: I I'm you know, LGBTQ elementop community and like we're

889
00:47:51,840 --> 00:47:54,080
Speaker 1: proud to serve. Like that's fine, Like I don't care.

890
00:47:54,120 --> 00:47:57,120
Speaker 1: You're over eighteen. You you're entitled to live the life

891
00:47:57,160 --> 00:47:59,480
Speaker 1: that you want. But that's not what our military is

892
00:47:59,520 --> 00:48:05,560
Speaker 1: about and our leadership like the question through which they

893
00:48:05,560 --> 00:48:10,080
Speaker 1: should make decisions on whether or not we pursue diversity,

894
00:48:10,120 --> 00:48:13,680
Speaker 1: equity inclusion programs. Things like that should be does this

895
00:48:13,880 --> 00:48:17,960
Speaker 1: make our military more lethal or not? Will this help

896
00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:19,120
Speaker 1: us accomplish the mission?

897
00:48:19,239 --> 00:48:19,799
Speaker 2: First of all?

898
00:48:20,560 --> 00:48:22,480
Speaker 1: But then you take a step back and you think

899
00:48:22,480 --> 00:48:25,759
Speaker 1: about rob even from there, Well, the left they like

900
00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:28,520
Speaker 1: twist words. So what they'll do with something like that

901
00:48:28,680 --> 00:48:34,040
Speaker 1: was to say, well, of course, being more diverse and

902
00:48:34,360 --> 00:48:39,480
Speaker 1: you know, embracing LGBTQ elementop the community makes us a

903
00:48:39,520 --> 00:48:42,720
Speaker 1: more lethal fighting force. But you know it doesn't because

904
00:48:42,760 --> 00:48:45,359
Speaker 1: that's not what our mission is, that's not what we do.

905
00:48:45,680 --> 00:48:48,880
Speaker 2: That's not what makes our military strong. So it's the

906
00:48:48,960 --> 00:48:51,840
Speaker 2: unity beyond like, it's the unity beyond all that that

907
00:48:51,960 --> 00:48:52,640
Speaker 2: makes us strong.

908
00:48:52,719 --> 00:48:55,480
Speaker 1: So I I could go on for what do you

909
00:48:55,520 --> 00:48:56,319
Speaker 1: think about all this?

910
00:48:57,120 --> 00:48:59,480
Speaker 3: Well, I think it's not a coincidence that these kinds

911
00:48:59,520 --> 00:49:02,040
Speaker 3: of division and and they're very obvious. Anybody who's paying

912
00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:05,160
Speaker 3: attention can see that. There are people who exactly out

913
00:49:05,160 --> 00:49:06,719
Speaker 3: of the military, who've been in for a long time.

914
00:49:06,800 --> 00:49:08,440
Speaker 3: They say, it's just not the way it was, and

915
00:49:08,520 --> 00:49:11,440
Speaker 3: everybody every generation does that. By the way, every generation says,

916
00:49:11,480 --> 00:49:13,719
Speaker 3: you know, it's not the way it was when I

917
00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:15,719
Speaker 3: was a boy, you know, as they get older. But

918
00:49:16,040 --> 00:49:18,600
Speaker 3: this is not that this is this is a very

919
00:49:18,719 --> 00:49:21,080
Speaker 3: rapid change. And it's not a coincidence that these things

920
00:49:21,120 --> 00:49:23,440
Speaker 3: are occurring in the military at the same time that

921
00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:25,799
Speaker 3: you're seeing protests in the NFL and things like that,

922
00:49:25,800 --> 00:49:28,399
Speaker 3: where these these players are being there. You know, it's

923
00:49:28,400 --> 00:49:30,400
Speaker 3: like you're with us or against us kind of stuff,

924
00:49:30,760 --> 00:49:34,040
Speaker 3: and and that kind of division is very deliberate. It's

925
00:49:34,080 --> 00:49:38,040
Speaker 3: it's it's obviously there are examples of this and the

926
00:49:38,080 --> 00:49:43,200
Speaker 3: Bolshevik Revolution and other communist movements around the world throughout history,

927
00:49:43,239 --> 00:49:47,040
Speaker 3: and fascists. This is this is how you weed out

928
00:49:47,080 --> 00:49:50,759
Speaker 3: the people that don't meet your ideology. And you know,

929
00:49:51,320 --> 00:49:54,280
Speaker 3: it's it's a very rapid change. It's very real change.

930
00:49:54,480 --> 00:49:57,200
Speaker 3: And I but I but you know, I still see

931
00:49:57,239 --> 00:50:00,239
Speaker 3: these guys who are going in that they're just they're

932
00:50:00,280 --> 00:50:03,759
Speaker 3: exactly the kinds of people you would want in the military,

933
00:50:03,840 --> 00:50:07,480
Speaker 3: and they're they're so driven by a sense of duty

934
00:50:07,520 --> 00:50:10,279
Speaker 3: and sense of patriotism. There you know, I meet guys

935
00:50:10,280 --> 00:50:12,960
Speaker 3: who have read your book at Wappatoon and uh, and

936
00:50:13,040 --> 00:50:15,080
Speaker 3: they're just they're so fired up about it that they,

937
00:50:16,040 --> 00:50:18,360
Speaker 3: you know, get me to a recruiter as soon as possible.

938
00:50:18,400 --> 00:50:19,680
Speaker 3: They just want they want to go in and they

939
00:50:19,680 --> 00:50:22,040
Speaker 3: want to do their part. And they're still out there,

940
00:50:22,040 --> 00:50:23,360
Speaker 3: and there are a lot of them. There are a

941
00:50:23,400 --> 00:50:26,920
Speaker 3: lot of them, and I think that I think that

942
00:50:27,120 --> 00:50:29,879
Speaker 3: we have to we have to keep our eyes on

943
00:50:30,040 --> 00:50:33,359
Speaker 3: those types. And you know, if if, if things are

944
00:50:33,360 --> 00:50:37,000
Speaker 3: being done right, I think you would see uh, senior uh,

945
00:50:37,239 --> 00:50:40,839
Speaker 3: you know, general officers dropping like flies because they because

946
00:50:40,880 --> 00:50:42,600
Speaker 3: they refuse to be a part of this stuff, because

947
00:50:42,640 --> 00:50:45,600
Speaker 3: they know that they're they're actually putting men into into danger.

948
00:50:45,640 --> 00:50:48,440
Speaker 3: But I think that we've got a really really weak

949
00:50:48,560 --> 00:50:52,680
Speaker 3: senior leadership and all of our military branches and they

950
00:50:52,760 --> 00:50:55,239
Speaker 3: just they go along to get along, and that that

951
00:50:55,320 --> 00:50:59,319
Speaker 3: will never ever serve someone in a life or death

952
00:50:59,360 --> 00:51:03,120
Speaker 3: situation to get along, you know, abandoning your principles just

953
00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:06,520
Speaker 3: to get the next rank or whatever it is. It's

954
00:51:06,560 --> 00:51:08,120
Speaker 3: not it's not a winning solution.

955
00:51:08,760 --> 00:51:11,399
Speaker 1: You are so right, And you and I talked about

956
00:51:11,400 --> 00:51:14,759
Speaker 1: this a lot when we were in right, do you

957
00:51:14,760 --> 00:51:16,640
Speaker 1: remember how often I was getting in trouble.

958
00:51:17,320 --> 00:51:19,040
Speaker 2: As a platoon leader. Do you remember that?

959
00:51:19,680 --> 00:51:23,719
Speaker 1: And you said something you said something to me as

960
00:51:24,360 --> 00:51:26,239
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know you were I think when

961
00:51:26,280 --> 00:51:28,320
Speaker 1: I got to the unit you were a PFC or

962
00:51:28,360 --> 00:51:29,600
Speaker 1: I don't know, were you a PFC?

963
00:51:29,800 --> 00:51:32,000
Speaker 2: And yeah, I promote you to specialist. I don't I don't.

964
00:51:31,800 --> 00:51:33,319
Speaker 3: Remember you did, that's right.

965
00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:36,080
Speaker 1: And then and then you became a corporal, noncommission officer,

966
00:51:36,080 --> 00:51:38,040
Speaker 1: young non commission officer and team leader. Did you ever

967
00:51:38,040 --> 00:51:40,040
Speaker 1: make E five when you were in with me or not?

968
00:51:40,920 --> 00:51:43,600
Speaker 3: No? And I'll tell you why, said, here's my bitterness

969
00:51:43,600 --> 00:51:44,120
Speaker 3: to come.

970
00:51:44,000 --> 00:51:47,960
Speaker 2: Out, Okay that it was.

971
00:51:48,080 --> 00:51:49,839
Speaker 3: That was the retention move at the time. I don't

972
00:51:49,840 --> 00:51:50,480
Speaker 3: know if you remember that.

973
00:51:50,800 --> 00:51:52,279
Speaker 2: I remember, yes, of course.

974
00:51:52,719 --> 00:51:54,960
Speaker 3: Yeah. So I had about a year after in the

975
00:51:55,160 --> 00:51:57,800
Speaker 3: army and it was promoted to corporal. But they wouldn't

976
00:51:57,840 --> 00:52:00,160
Speaker 3: they wouldn't give me an E five promotion unless I

977
00:52:00,160 --> 00:52:03,839
Speaker 3: re enlisted, and they were. They were very specific about that,

978
00:52:03,960 --> 00:52:07,399
Speaker 3: you reenlist, will promote you to E five. They even

979
00:52:07,440 --> 00:52:09,160
Speaker 3: did with one of the guys I won't mention his name.

980
00:52:09,239 --> 00:52:11,880
Speaker 3: They he was a E five serving in a squad

981
00:52:11,960 --> 00:52:14,120
Speaker 3: leader role. So he was serving as an E six,

982
00:52:14,320 --> 00:52:17,400
Speaker 3: a staff sergeant and uh, and they we did a

983
00:52:17,440 --> 00:52:20,160
Speaker 3: whole ceremony to promote him, they penned it on and

984
00:52:20,200 --> 00:52:23,080
Speaker 3: then right after the first argeant said hey, so you're

985
00:52:23,080 --> 00:52:25,480
Speaker 3: gonna reenlist now, right he said no, first sergeant, he said, well,

986
00:52:25,560 --> 00:52:27,279
Speaker 3: you can't keep that rank because you don't have enough

987
00:52:27,280 --> 00:52:30,759
Speaker 3: timeline service. And so they demoted him. And and that's

988
00:52:30,840 --> 00:52:33,400
Speaker 3: you know, I have a lot more respect for the

989
00:52:33,440 --> 00:52:35,719
Speaker 3: first sergeant now than I did as a young soldier,

990
00:52:35,760 --> 00:52:37,879
Speaker 3: because the soldiers just complained about everything, and I see

991
00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:40,080
Speaker 3: a lot of the word the first sergeant was very,

992
00:52:40,680 --> 00:52:43,319
Speaker 3: very wise and uh, but that was that was not

993
00:52:43,360 --> 00:52:46,480
Speaker 3: a good move, and you know, and so for me

994
00:52:46,520 --> 00:52:48,279
Speaker 3: as a corporal, that was I was just stuck as

995
00:52:48,280 --> 00:52:51,080
Speaker 3: a corporal for a year and then uh, and then

996
00:52:51,120 --> 00:52:53,000
Speaker 3: I went to the National Guard for two years after

997
00:52:53,000 --> 00:52:55,799
Speaker 3: I got out of the army. Their line was two

998
00:52:55,880 --> 00:52:58,399
Speaker 3: years for retention. Well I had two years, like from day one.

999
00:52:58,920 --> 00:53:00,960
Speaker 3: So they're like, you gotta read and last will promote you.

1000
00:53:01,040 --> 00:53:02,920
Speaker 3: And I said, I'm not gonna rein last. I'm not

1001
00:53:02,960 --> 00:53:05,399
Speaker 3: doing it. I'm not playing. I'm not playing that game.

1002
00:53:05,600 --> 00:53:09,800
Speaker 3: Did you ever did you ever see the movie uh,

1003
00:53:10,239 --> 00:53:14,800
Speaker 3: No Country for Old Men? Yes, yes, So for anybody listening,

1004
00:53:14,840 --> 00:53:16,480
Speaker 3: if you haven't seen it, it might be a spoiler

1005
00:53:16,520 --> 00:53:21,480
Speaker 3: here coming, so maybe skip it. But the there's a

1006
00:53:21,680 --> 00:53:26,360
Speaker 3: there's a hit man that is is essentially a serial

1007
00:53:26,440 --> 00:53:28,839
Speaker 3: killer for hire, and one of the things he does

1008
00:53:28,920 --> 00:53:32,600
Speaker 3: is he flips a coin before he kills somebody and

1009
00:53:32,840 --> 00:53:34,640
Speaker 3: then they they're supposed to call it and then, you know,

1010
00:53:34,800 --> 00:53:36,560
Speaker 3: depend on how it comes up. He kills them where

1011
00:53:36,600 --> 00:53:39,480
Speaker 3: he doesn't kill them. And at the end of the movie,

1012
00:53:39,840 --> 00:53:43,320
Speaker 3: uh one of one of there's a woman who basically

1013
00:53:43,360 --> 00:53:45,479
Speaker 3: refuses to call it. She's like, there is no coin.

1014
00:53:45,520 --> 00:53:48,080
Speaker 3: It's just you, you make the choice. There is no coin.

1015
00:53:48,600 --> 00:53:50,839
Speaker 3: Uh So she refuses to play a stupid game. And

1016
00:53:50,880 --> 00:53:52,919
Speaker 3: that's that's how I view it. Man. It's like, I'm

1017
00:53:52,920 --> 00:53:55,880
Speaker 3: not playing their stupid not playing their stupid political games.

1018
00:53:55,960 --> 00:53:57,680
Speaker 3: Not not that, and that's just kind of a stupid

1019
00:53:57,680 --> 00:54:00,560
Speaker 3: little army thing. But I won't play of their their

1020
00:54:00,560 --> 00:54:03,200
Speaker 3: games with the COVID stuff, the vaccines, that any of

1021
00:54:03,200 --> 00:54:06,080
Speaker 3: that stuff. It's a game that they're playing. They have

1022
00:54:06,160 --> 00:54:08,760
Speaker 3: this specific language, and if you pay very close attention,

1023
00:54:08,800 --> 00:54:11,440
Speaker 3: there are words that are being used now that weren't

1024
00:54:11,480 --> 00:54:15,440
Speaker 3: used before. Climate change would be one of them. You know,

1025
00:54:15,480 --> 00:54:17,440
Speaker 3: it's called global warming before, and then they call it

1026
00:54:17,440 --> 00:54:19,600
Speaker 3: climate change, because who could be against you know, because

1027
00:54:20,239 --> 00:54:23,400
Speaker 3: climate change is you know, is inevitable. So that's the

1028
00:54:23,440 --> 00:54:24,759
Speaker 3: game they play. And I don't I won't say it.

1029
00:54:24,800 --> 00:54:26,359
Speaker 3: I won't use their language.

1030
00:54:27,160 --> 00:54:30,319
Speaker 1: Sorry, you are no, you're not on a tangent. This

1031
00:54:30,440 --> 00:54:33,560
Speaker 1: is why I love you, man, you are You're one

1032
00:54:33,560 --> 00:54:35,640
Speaker 1: of a kind. I mean, it's true, and I agree

1033
00:54:35,640 --> 00:54:40,440
Speaker 1: with everything that you're saying. I and yeah, so in

1034
00:54:40,480 --> 00:54:45,960
Speaker 1: your comparison, the army is the serial killer.

1035
00:54:46,360 --> 00:54:50,279
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, And they said, yeah, exactly, they stay call

1036
00:54:50,360 --> 00:54:52,800
Speaker 3: in the air and if you if you re enlist,

1037
00:54:52,880 --> 00:54:54,960
Speaker 3: then then we'll promote kids.

1038
00:54:55,040 --> 00:54:59,759
Speaker 2: The Army is great, you know, but really.

1039
00:54:59,480 --> 00:55:03,000
Speaker 3: Though, I mean, it's it is a unique institution. Like

1040
00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:05,040
Speaker 3: I said, I see guys every day going into the

1041
00:55:05,080 --> 00:55:07,200
Speaker 3: military who are exactly the kinds of guys you would

1042
00:55:07,200 --> 00:55:10,120
Speaker 3: want next to you in a fighting position. And and

1043
00:55:10,160 --> 00:55:12,080
Speaker 3: there's a lot of them, and there's a lot of them,

1044
00:55:12,160 --> 00:55:15,960
Speaker 3: and and uh, I think that, you know, I don't.

1045
00:55:15,960 --> 00:55:17,880
Speaker 3: I don't know that there's the easy solution, but I

1046
00:55:17,920 --> 00:55:19,799
Speaker 3: think that as long as we can encourage those and

1047
00:55:19,800 --> 00:55:21,719
Speaker 3: then give them a platform. And that's kind of something

1048
00:55:21,719 --> 00:55:23,640
Speaker 3: that I that I try to do in my own

1049
00:55:23,680 --> 00:55:26,239
Speaker 3: life now is to give a platform to those kinds

1050
00:55:26,280 --> 00:55:28,480
Speaker 3: of guys, the ones that are exactly the ones you

1051
00:55:28,520 --> 00:55:31,040
Speaker 3: want to be leaders, who won't cave on their principles,

1052
00:55:31,040 --> 00:55:34,400
Speaker 3: who who are committed to duty, who are committed to

1053
00:55:34,960 --> 00:55:37,320
Speaker 3: doing the right thing, and to give them a platform

1054
00:55:37,360 --> 00:55:40,200
Speaker 3: so that they they don't think of themselves as you know,

1055
00:55:40,320 --> 00:55:43,440
Speaker 3: part of a ragtag group of whatever you want to

1056
00:55:43,480 --> 00:55:45,440
Speaker 3: call it, but that they that they see that they

1057
00:55:45,520 --> 00:55:48,480
Speaker 3: have so much to offer and that their military experience

1058
00:55:48,560 --> 00:55:50,920
Speaker 3: is valuable and that there's there's some new purpose for

1059
00:55:50,960 --> 00:55:52,160
Speaker 3: them after they leave service.

1060
00:55:53,000 --> 00:55:54,880
Speaker 1: Well, and I mean really, I mean, I was joking

1061
00:55:54,920 --> 00:55:57,080
Speaker 1: around with you about the army being a serial killer,

1062
00:55:57,120 --> 00:55:59,800
Speaker 1: but your but your point, your point is well taken,

1063
00:55:59,880 --> 00:56:03,160
Speaker 1: and that you if the the soldier that you were

1064
00:56:03,160 --> 00:56:05,400
Speaker 1: talking about, that that we promoted the E six and

1065
00:56:05,400 --> 00:56:07,560
Speaker 1: then we took the rank because you wouldn't re enlist.

1066
00:56:09,320 --> 00:56:13,680
Speaker 1: What you're saying is the Army should recognize my leadership

1067
00:56:13,800 --> 00:56:18,200
Speaker 1: and promote me regardless and hope that because they see

1068
00:56:18,760 --> 00:56:21,440
Speaker 1: a leader in me, that I will make the choice

1069
00:56:21,480 --> 00:56:24,960
Speaker 1: to stay on my own. It's not like it's it's like,

1070
00:56:25,040 --> 00:56:28,160
Speaker 1: if you see leadership potential in me, then why not

1071
00:56:28,280 --> 00:56:32,680
Speaker 1: just promote me based on merit. Why manipulate the system

1072
00:56:32,719 --> 00:56:35,840
Speaker 1: and say we'll promote you, you know, because maybe we

1073
00:56:35,880 --> 00:56:38,040
Speaker 1: see leadership and you maybe we don't. But we'll promote

1074
00:56:38,080 --> 00:56:40,239
Speaker 1: you if you just stay in and sign on the

1075
00:56:40,239 --> 00:56:45,640
Speaker 1: dotted line for another four. That doesn't seem that means

1076
00:56:45,800 --> 00:56:46,440
Speaker 1: ver ingenuous.

1077
00:56:46,840 --> 00:56:50,759
Speaker 3: Yeah, it'senuousness adversarial. It's us versus you. And and if

1078
00:56:50,760 --> 00:56:52,719
Speaker 3: we can trick you into to stay, and then you're

1079
00:56:52,760 --> 00:56:54,879
Speaker 3: going to stay. But who who wants somebody to stay

1080
00:56:54,880 --> 00:56:56,440
Speaker 3: that you had to trick into staying, or that you

1081
00:56:56,480 --> 00:56:58,640
Speaker 3: had to you had to manipulate them in some way

1082
00:56:58,719 --> 00:57:01,200
Speaker 3: to stay. Wow, you want them to stay? Why not?

1083
00:57:01,320 --> 00:57:02,880
Speaker 3: Like you said on the on the merits of the

1084
00:57:02,880 --> 00:57:06,799
Speaker 3: thing itself? Why not sell exactly what it is? And

1085
00:57:06,800 --> 00:57:10,560
Speaker 3: and you know, to have them there willingly because they

1086
00:57:10,600 --> 00:57:11,560
Speaker 3: want to be part of the team.

1087
00:57:12,400 --> 00:57:14,680
Speaker 2: Do you think people would choose to stay on their own?

1088
00:57:16,960 --> 00:57:19,400
Speaker 3: People do it. They do it. They do it every day.

1089
00:57:19,840 --> 00:57:22,360
Speaker 3: And you know the way the military is now, and

1090
00:57:22,520 --> 00:57:25,080
Speaker 3: I don't I'm speaking from a position of ignorance, but

1091
00:57:25,200 --> 00:57:29,960
Speaker 3: they've they've eliminated the pension, which was a big factor

1092
00:57:30,000 --> 00:57:31,520
Speaker 3: that kept a lot of guys. They wanted to stay

1093
00:57:31,560 --> 00:57:33,920
Speaker 3: for a pension. Uh, So I guess we're going to see.

1094
00:57:33,960 --> 00:57:35,720
Speaker 3: I guess we're gonna see who's gonna stay because I

1095
00:57:35,720 --> 00:57:37,880
Speaker 3: don't know where they're going to get these senior ranks filled.

1096
00:57:38,640 --> 00:57:40,680
Speaker 2: Wait, they eliminated the pension. What do you mean they

1097
00:57:40,720 --> 00:57:41,560
Speaker 2: eliminated the pension.

1098
00:57:41,600 --> 00:57:43,560
Speaker 1: If you get retired, you don't get you don't get

1099
00:57:44,360 --> 00:57:46,240
Speaker 1: you do your twenty, you don't get retirement pay.

1100
00:57:46,760 --> 00:57:49,600
Speaker 3: No, it's something more akin to a four oh one K. Now,

1101
00:57:49,840 --> 00:57:52,760
Speaker 3: so there is no They had a guys who were

1102
00:57:52,760 --> 00:57:55,320
Speaker 3: grandfathered in. So so the guys we know who are

1103
00:57:55,360 --> 00:57:57,840
Speaker 3: still in there there, they'll still get their pension, but

1104
00:57:57,880 --> 00:58:00,480
Speaker 3: after a certain year if they had if they join

1105
00:58:00,520 --> 00:58:04,080
Speaker 3: the military after a certain year they don't, they won't

1106
00:58:04,080 --> 00:58:06,080
Speaker 3: get a pension. So I don't know how they're going

1107
00:58:06,120 --> 00:58:07,400
Speaker 3: to I don't know how they're going to retain guys

1108
00:58:07,400 --> 00:58:09,680
Speaker 3: for the long term. But I mean we're going to see.

1109
00:58:10,920 --> 00:58:13,840
Speaker 1: You know, I did not know this. I mean that

1110
00:58:13,920 --> 00:58:20,200
Speaker 1: strikes me. That's very very concerning to me because a

1111
00:58:20,240 --> 00:58:22,160
Speaker 1: lot of guys will get in. I mean they get

1112
00:58:22,200 --> 00:58:25,200
Speaker 1: in because they're in a recruiter's officer, they're in the RTC,

1113
00:58:25,360 --> 00:58:28,200
Speaker 1: program because they feel a sense of duty and they're

1114
00:58:28,200 --> 00:58:31,200
Speaker 1: there because they want to be there. But if you're looking,

1115
00:58:31,240 --> 00:58:33,960
Speaker 1: if you're a twenty something kid and you're looking to

1116
00:58:34,040 --> 00:58:37,000
Speaker 1: join the military, one of the things that you look

1117
00:58:37,040 --> 00:58:39,080
Speaker 1: at is that, Okay, if I do my twenty I'll

1118
00:58:39,080 --> 00:58:42,360
Speaker 1: be thirty eight, thirty nine, forty and have the option

1119
00:58:42,480 --> 00:58:45,800
Speaker 1: to retire and have that pension and then go work

1120
00:58:45,920 --> 00:58:50,120
Speaker 1: another job. And the reason why that's important is because

1121
00:58:50,640 --> 00:58:52,520
Speaker 1: you know, when I was a young lieutenant, I had

1122
00:58:52,560 --> 00:58:56,560
Speaker 1: a ton of responsibility, forty infantry soldiers underneath me, which

1123
00:58:56,600 --> 00:59:00,120
Speaker 1: is basically the size of a mid sized business, and

1124
00:59:00,160 --> 00:59:04,080
Speaker 1: you're the CEO of that company, and I was making

1125
00:59:04,160 --> 00:59:07,880
Speaker 1: like forty grand a year, and privates make half of that,

1126
00:59:08,320 --> 00:59:11,080
Speaker 1: you know, eighteen grand. So there you're spending twenty years

1127
00:59:11,120 --> 00:59:14,840
Speaker 1: of your life and really not making a wage that

1128
00:59:14,880 --> 00:59:17,920
Speaker 1: can sustain a family until if you're an officer, probably

1129
00:59:17,960 --> 00:59:21,840
Speaker 1: an O three if you're enlisted, I don't know. E six,

1130
00:59:21,960 --> 00:59:24,880
Speaker 1: E seven is where you're actually making money that is

1131
00:59:26,080 --> 00:59:29,200
Speaker 1: commensurate with your rank and your authority. But even then

1132
00:59:29,240 --> 00:59:33,040
Speaker 1: you're not making a ton. And so my point is,

1133
00:59:33,960 --> 00:59:35,760
Speaker 1: and this is why you know, the VA a lot

1134
00:59:35,800 --> 00:59:37,959
Speaker 1: of people don't even understand why we get VA loans,

1135
00:59:37,960 --> 00:59:43,160
Speaker 1: which is zero a guaranteed loan of a guaranteed UH mortgage,

1136
00:59:43,960 --> 00:59:46,160
Speaker 1: because we spent twenty years of our life serving our

1137
00:59:46,160 --> 00:59:49,160
Speaker 1: country making almost nothing, you know, and so where everybody

1138
00:59:49,160 --> 00:59:52,680
Speaker 1: else who decided not to serve, you know, they're out

1139
00:59:52,840 --> 00:59:55,480
Speaker 1: moving and shaking and hustling if they're doing it right,

1140
00:59:55,800 --> 00:59:58,160
Speaker 1: and climbing a corporate ladder and making a ton of

1141
00:59:58,200 --> 01:00:00,520
Speaker 1: money and investing in places we You don't have that

1142
01:00:00,600 --> 01:00:03,280
Speaker 1: option when you're in the military because the operational tempo

1143
01:00:03,720 --> 01:00:06,120
Speaker 1: is so high. When we were in, we were deploying

1144
01:00:06,240 --> 01:00:08,320
Speaker 1: year on year off, year on year off. I mean,

1145
01:00:08,360 --> 01:00:11,400
Speaker 1: how much how much investing can you do? How much

1146
01:00:11,720 --> 01:00:14,160
Speaker 1: saving can you do? You can you really raise a

1147
01:00:14,200 --> 01:00:16,640
Speaker 1: family effectively? You put all of that on hold, and

1148
01:00:16,720 --> 01:00:18,520
Speaker 1: if you do your twenty you'll get your pension and

1149
01:00:18,560 --> 01:00:20,400
Speaker 1: then you can start doing all that. But when you

1150
01:00:20,400 --> 01:00:22,960
Speaker 1: get out when you're thirty eight, you're way behind the

1151
01:00:23,000 --> 01:00:25,280
Speaker 1: people who join when they were twenty something.

1152
01:00:25,680 --> 01:00:28,840
Speaker 2: And so if you remove that, what are you going

1153
01:00:28,880 --> 01:00:30,040
Speaker 2: to get a bunch of kids?

1154
01:00:30,240 --> 01:00:32,040
Speaker 1: A bunch of kids and young officers who stay in

1155
01:00:32,080 --> 01:00:35,080
Speaker 1: for four and get out Because there's no reason to

1156
01:00:35,160 --> 01:00:39,080
Speaker 1: sacrifice twenty years of your life and be behind your

1157
01:00:39,080 --> 01:00:41,640
Speaker 1: peers by twenty years, and there's no reason to do it.

1158
01:00:42,120 --> 01:00:47,160
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, well, I mean, and there's also physical considerations.

1159
01:00:47,200 --> 01:00:49,240
Speaker 3: You saw guys that have been in for twenty years

1160
01:00:49,240 --> 01:00:51,800
Speaker 3: in the infantry and their agent and dog years.

1161
01:00:51,800 --> 01:00:54,120
Speaker 2: You know, it's like, it's so true.

1162
01:00:54,280 --> 01:00:59,440
Speaker 3: It's a beating And I can't even imagine what kind

1163
01:00:59,440 --> 01:01:05,040
Speaker 3: of specimen and could could stay for twenty thirty years

1164
01:01:06,520 --> 01:01:11,640
Speaker 3: without without sustaining injuries that are seriously debilitating injuries. And

1165
01:01:11,880 --> 01:01:14,160
Speaker 3: when you when you don't have a pension to look

1166
01:01:14,200 --> 01:01:16,480
Speaker 3: forward to to be able to retire and rest your

1167
01:01:16,480 --> 01:01:18,640
Speaker 3: weary bones, I don't know. I don't know how that's

1168
01:01:18,640 --> 01:01:19,120
Speaker 3: going to look.

1169
01:01:19,680 --> 01:01:23,280
Speaker 1: I mean, that's another great point, another great consideration, And yeah,

1170
01:01:23,360 --> 01:01:27,280
Speaker 1: that that concerns me. So you have, you know, legacy

1171
01:01:27,320 --> 01:01:31,560
Speaker 1: military families who aren't joining, kids aren't joining today for

1172
01:01:31,600 --> 01:01:35,160
Speaker 1: the first time ever. And you have this woke ideology

1173
01:01:35,200 --> 01:01:37,240
Speaker 1: which I don't really like using the term woke because

1174
01:01:37,240 --> 01:01:40,720
Speaker 1: it's too vague. But you have this which seems to

1175
01:01:40,760 --> 01:01:44,640
Speaker 1: be a pervasive, what is clearly a political ideology woven

1176
01:01:44,680 --> 01:01:46,600
Speaker 1: into the fabric of many of the policies of the

1177
01:01:46,600 --> 01:01:50,080
Speaker 1: military moving forward, and then you have something like this,

1178
01:01:50,280 --> 01:01:53,760
Speaker 1: which is really like a pragmatic thing for you know,

1179
01:01:55,000 --> 01:01:58,400
Speaker 1: a pillar of the decision making process of of why

1180
01:01:58,520 --> 01:02:01,080
Speaker 1: someone who would want to join they that you remove that,

1181
01:02:01,840 --> 01:02:06,480
Speaker 1: and the military wonders why they're having why there's this

1182
01:02:06,680 --> 01:02:11,280
Speaker 1: massive crisis right now of being able to recruit. I

1183
01:02:11,320 --> 01:02:14,680
Speaker 1: mean this, this is a grave national security threat, especially

1184
01:02:14,760 --> 01:02:16,600
Speaker 1: on the heels of the conversation that we just had

1185
01:02:16,960 --> 01:02:18,800
Speaker 1: the fact that the wolf is at the door all

1186
01:02:18,880 --> 01:02:21,200
Speaker 1: the time, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.

1187
01:02:21,520 --> 01:02:24,240
Speaker 1: You know, this country faces threats and if we don't

1188
01:02:24,280 --> 01:02:27,320
Speaker 1: have the biggest, baddest military on the block, how do

1189
01:02:27,360 --> 01:02:29,120
Speaker 1: we protect and defend against those threats?

1190
01:02:29,760 --> 01:02:33,920
Speaker 3: Right? Right? Absolutely? Yeah, And it's it's it's hard to

1191
01:02:33,920 --> 01:02:39,120
Speaker 3: not feel like it's deliberate sometimes, but I feel like

1192
01:02:39,120 --> 01:02:40,440
Speaker 3: in many ways we're going arong direction.

1193
01:02:41,440 --> 01:02:42,640
Speaker 2: So we've already done an hour.

1194
01:02:42,800 --> 01:02:44,640
Speaker 1: I So what I'd like to do, Rob, if you're

1195
01:02:44,680 --> 01:02:46,760
Speaker 1: cool with it, is bring you back for part two,

1196
01:02:47,640 --> 01:02:50,600
Speaker 1: and that time I really really want to focus on yours.

1197
01:02:50,600 --> 01:02:52,960
Speaker 1: So you've put your you put that uniform on in

1198
01:02:53,040 --> 01:02:55,439
Speaker 1: bas of training for the first time, and I want

1199
01:02:55,440 --> 01:02:58,240
Speaker 1: to talk about you know, your your training, what you

1200
01:02:58,360 --> 01:03:00,240
Speaker 1: learned as a young leader, and I want to talk

1201
01:03:00,280 --> 01:03:03,000
Speaker 1: about your experience in combat and how that shaped you.

1202
01:03:03,640 --> 01:03:05,680
Speaker 1: And I also want to talk about on part two

1203
01:03:05,720 --> 01:03:06,600
Speaker 1: and where you are now.

1204
01:03:06,680 --> 01:03:08,240
Speaker 2: Is that okay with you? Can I bring you back

1205
01:03:08,520 --> 01:03:11,720
Speaker 2: to recording a part two? All right?

1206
01:03:11,800 --> 01:03:15,000
Speaker 1: So stand by for just a second. Everybody else is

1207
01:03:15,040 --> 01:03:15,520
Speaker 1: just watching.

1208
01:03:15,640 --> 01:03:18,040
Speaker 2: You just heard it. We're gonna have a part two again.

1209
01:03:18,520 --> 01:03:22,120
Speaker 1: Rob Pinholt is an amazing guy with tons of great

1210
01:03:22,160 --> 01:03:24,160
Speaker 1: life lessons that you can learn for just by watching

1211
01:03:24,160 --> 01:03:27,720
Speaker 1: and listening to the guy. He's experienced just so much

1212
01:03:27,720 --> 01:03:30,200
Speaker 1: in his young life. But stand by for part two.

1213
01:03:30,360 --> 01:03:32,960
Speaker 1: As always, thank you for watching, Thank you for listening.

1214
01:03:34,160 --> 01:03:37,480
Speaker 1: Never quit, never surrender. That's what this podcast is all about.

1215
01:03:38,360 --> 01:03:41,240
Speaker 1: Subscribe to it wherever you listen to podcasts, subscribe to

1216
01:03:41,280 --> 01:03:42,120
Speaker 1: my rumble channel.

1217
01:03:42,240 --> 01:03:43,760
Speaker 2: We need your help as always.

1218
01:03:43,800 --> 01:03:46,320
Speaker 1: God bless you all, and God bless this amazing country

1219
01:03:46,320 --> 01:03:46,840
Speaker 1: that we live in.

1220
01:03:46,960 --> 01:03:48,520
Speaker 2: See you for Part two. Take care,