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Speaker 1: M hm ah, beaute force. If it doesn't work, you're just not using enough. You're listening to software radio, special operations, military news and straight talk with the guys and the community, Army Ranger and Green Beret Jack Murphy. Good riddance, Asta Lasagna, don't get any on you. And now here's your civilian co host and producer of this operation, Ian Scott la and we are live. I was I was telling General Tata that, um, you know, with the live stream stuff, I've been making sure that we shared on all these platforms. So that's why it takes a while with it, get all this stuff done, and then I gotta turn that off, all right with that soft rap dot com on time on target, General Tony A. J. Tata in studio with me, And the cool thing I was gonna say is that you were one of our first guests in the in the newer studio, and you're one of the first signatures on there, as you can see behind here. And now these have been signed by all these different people from bred Thor to Chris barronto um Rob O'Neil. So it's cool, but you know, it's great to have you back on. Yeah, it's great to be back, and I was proud to be one of the first signers and proud to be up there with all those great names and greater Arikins and patriots that have come in here. You guys have really expanded and grown your media empire here and I think it's fantastic. Thank you. I I appreciate. So the main reason that General Tata is here, you know, first of all, you were pumping out books and like everything every six months. I'll tell you what, Yeah, it's it's been hectic pace, but I love it and I always wanted to be a fiction novelist. And here I'm This is my eighth book coming out direct Fire, and it's the fourth in the Jake Mohegan series from Kinsington Books, and it's a it's a great story about the really cyber warfare. And you know, Jake Mohegan are former Delta Force operative who is the protagonist in the in the story um and all the Mohegan novels in their standalone novels, he has to go find his captured JASK commander who has been kidnapped and uh being held somewhere in the western North Carolina and there's some cyber war going on with some hackers from Bulgary that were involved in uh Syrian part of the war, and and they were victims of arrant bombing run approved by Mohegan's old boss. So there's a lot of play here, and it's uh, it's getting getting great reviews from all the Publishers Weekly Booklist, all the standard review houses. So I look forward to, you know, reader feedback on it and Besieged the book appreciate was looking back the Besieged, I was like, did it come out late? Coming out so quick? And and uh, Publishers Weekly picked Besiege as a top ten thriller of mystry of so uh that that book did very well and and direct fires right on his heels. And I just turned in The Fire and the Fury, which will be in October release, So uh, staying busy with all of those. Yeah. The interesting thing I was gonna say is, um, Kensington has has few really cool military thrillers that come out. What I didn't realize until you know, I started to become more familiar with Kensington Publishing and we were at the party that they had here in New York earlier in the year. Great party is that you and Anderson Harp are kind of like on your own because there's a lot of romance you know, novels and that type of thing. And then you and Anderson and a few other guys Cameron Camera, the Tom Clancy's, and then you've got John Gilstrap that the rights the great uh um books that he writes, and and so you've got you've got a few really um you know, mainstream thriller authors that are have huge followings that Kensington is a great publisher, and and they they they put these books out and put a lot of support behind their authors. It is funny, though, just because I go to their Instagram and it's like a lot of these novels that appeal to like a female romance, you know, novel audience. But then you and Anderson and these other guys are putting out these really badass thriller books that appeal to the people who want to read Bradford stuff. I'll tell you my my demographic is about female because they love um Jaden Mohegan the six and off a tall Native American and they're all picturing the Rock or you know someone like that, as as Jake and and uh you know, kind of like you know Lee Child's following is that he's got the at least fifty female following because they all love Jack Reacher. I see some of that with what's happening with Jake Mohegan as well. Do you think that might be a response to We've talked about it in the podcast, this whole cracking down on masculinity and you know, toxic masculine energy and there are women who want to read about these badass guys who are heroes. Yeah, I think there's some of that. And also with Jake, if you get into his background and and his backstory, really the number one thing that sets him off is that when someone treats women badly, and so Jake, you know, he he has a hair trigger temper. Uh sometimes he'll just let loose on if he finds out that someone has treated someone he cares about badly. And is part of his backstory about how his mother was treated when by by a road crew when he was fourteen years old and comes home and finds his mom and this is I don't want to give away any part of any of the stories, but uh, he's uh, that's that's Jake's background, and so he has a duty one of his vigilante duty says to make sure women are okay and and protect them, not that they can't protect themselves, but if there's somebody that is uh, you know, doing something wrong to a to a woman, then then Jake, Jake tries to take care of the problem. Since since we're live streaming, I know a lot of people will be listening later on the podcast. Um, but since we're why've streaming this right now? You could follow General Tata at aj Tata dot com. You could follow on Twitter at aj Tata, on Instagram at aj Tata Underscore Author And to give you some background on General Tata, General Tata is a former Army brigadier general. And then you turn to becoming a military fiction writer, which I think is interesting because you're seeing so many of these guys putting out memoirs in that typew thing and you transition to doing the fiction thing. Was it inspired by guys like Brad thor Brad Meltzer. Well, you know, I've always wanted to be a fiction author as one of those dreams and I had as a kid. I'd come home from book fair day and have an armload of books and uh always get lost in the stories. And I got to wondering, and when I was a teenager, how how is this author capturing my attention and and writing the story and keeping me guessing and keeping me turning the pages? And so I started studying how to write. And I always wanted to write, and so well, I could certainly write a memoir and all of that, and it would be very interesting, I think. Right now, I'm I'm focused on fiction. I've got a couple more books to write, and you know, three or four more coming out, four more coming out from both Kensington and Saint Martin's Press that I co author with Nick Irving. So wish we will get into recently. And Nick is a friend of mine, friend of the shows. I've known him for years. At this point, you're still all around great guy and doing very positive things right now. He opened up on the podcast about you know, kind of turning his wife around in some ways, and uh, we'll get into that. But I was wondering, do you intend to keep the Jake Mohegan series going for several years as long as Kensington will keep signing me to contracts and the books books keep selling, well, I want to keep Jake Mohegan alive. You know, we've got as I mentioned, we've got Fire and Fury coming out in October November time frame of eighteen. And then uh, there's a book six beyond that, so that would be book five, Fire and Fury and book six seventy two hours as uh scheduled beyond that, So that would be six Mohegan books and that I'm under contract for. And then we'll see what happens after that. How do you get these out so quickly? Like how do you manage to first of all come up with the idea for the next book, you know, and and make it a good idea that you know people are gonna want to read, that's not going to be repetitive of the previous books. And then you know, writing a book like this, it's a hard job. Takes a long time. Well, you gotta produce. Uh, you know, nobody's uh, A ferry is not going to come down and write the book for you. And so you've got for some guys, that's right, that's right. Uh they call it button seat time, right, So you got to write. Uh, you know, for me, I got I need to be doing a thousand words a day. So if you think of the average fiction thriller about nine hundred thousand words, that's three ish four months where you've you've got a rough draft and then you take a couple of months to polish it and then you turn it in. That's that's kind of the grind that you're on. And and for me, the creative aspect when when I know, uh, when when it starts to jel For me, I'm I'm driving to act the Act one finish, Act two finish and then the finale and in transitioning between those acts and and trying to have good, exciting conflict intention in the book. And and to me, that's the fun part is is surprising myself even because you get inside the character's head Jake Mohegan or the antagonist or the love interest, and you try to get inside their head and they actually do things they tell you to do, things that you might not have thought of. And I know that sounds a little strange, but you're it's like acting. You're inside that person's head and you're saying, well, actually, Jake Mohegan would do this and he just drives the story. Or actually the bad guy in Besiege, Darius Mears would do this and and uh, you know there's some some great uh characters and direct fire as well. So for for me, it's a thousand words a day, and I've got a rough draft and where I get the ideas from. I spent a lifetime e and uh thinking about what's the worst thing the enemy can do to my soldiers? Lots of operational deployments, combat time, that kind of thing. And then I had to as a commander think creatively, how do I stop that from happening? How do I get on the offensive against the enemy, how do I protect my soldiers? And so now I do a lot of reading different you know, from Wired magazine, different you know, technology stuff. You know, people magot everything, and I think, I, you know, stumble across something and I'll say, autonomous cars, what's the worst thing that the enemy could do to us with autonomous cars? And that's kind of the Yeah, there's a lot and and that's part you know, a central plot of besiege for direct fire. You know, what's the worst thing that someone could do with uh, the technology and the hacking and the cyber capability. And did did you know that we we move of nuclear weapons around and mac trucks, Uh, and we so in those schedules are published somewhere on secure internet. But how secure is the internet nowadays? And so that's that's kind of a central theme of of direct fire. You of course have the army background, but do you ever meet with hackers to see how they you know, the language they use or anything like that, you know when you talk about that type of thing. Yeah, I've met with people who are very good at uh, moving around the Internet. I'm not sure they would appreciate being called hackers, but people that software who would you know, call themselves. Okay, we have hackers at the government, you know we need to Um, yes, I've met with them. Because what I was wondering is, you know, we had Brad Thorne here. Brad Thor is amazing at his craft, of course, not her friend, and does not have a military background, much like myself. Um. So he talked about he'll meet with Marcus Lattrelle and his brother and say like, hey, what a navy seal really say? This is his dialogue? Seem right? Um, just to make sure that what he's putting out is authentic. For you, I feel like it might be a little quicker because you have the Army background. But I was guessing there's probably some people you need to meet with to say, like, is Mohegan going to come off his authentic right? There's that And so I have lots of friends from the Jaysack community and and so I bounced ideas off of them, plus uh the you know, for example, and besieged uh. I there's one of the main characters points of view of the story as a love year old autistic girl who is a code writer hacker UM and her dad is the Internet um technology guy, information technology guy for the autonomous car company. And she sits in the basement. She can't really speak that well, but she's got this genius brain. And so I created the eleven year old hacker autistic girl. And I gave the draft copy of the book to the North Carolina Autism Society president and the Wake County which is basically Raleigh and eleven other cities and where I had been superintendent before, and they read the book and they said, you know, you've got her about right. I would do this, I would do this. So I always sort of factor particularly it was a leap for me. I did so much research on autism and that kind of thing, and I thought I got her about right, and and turns out I did, and in direct fire with the cyber warfare. You know, I talked to different cyber geniuses and and hackers and and uh, turns out, you know, you can do a lot. You know, you've heard stories about over the air, uh, all the Cherokees being doors unlocked, the and the the you know what happens there. Somebody can unlock the door of a hundred thousand Cherokee jeep vehicles and you know, your purses in there, your wallets in there, you know your credit cards are in there or whatever. And I was reading an article on this, and I said, well, what if they could actually plan a trojan remote access trojan in there and just make the car stop at a certain time. We we have a writer for the site, Corey Alanis, who probably would be able to get into some of that with you, because what I thought was interesting. I didn't realize until he was on that there's an annual. I mean, there's a there's a conference for everything in Vegas. You know, there's shot show coming up. There's like I didn't realize there was a hacking convention. There's a black hat and another one, and I remember as reading the articles on it, and they hacked a voting machine. That was like the big thing that he did at the hacking conference this year, which is pretty scary stuff to think, you know. So I'm sure there's so much that could be done with cars that you're researching in that right well. And and so that it's not only that, but the you know financial you know Bank of America, you know all the phishing scheme, not just Bank of Americas, several different banks generically, uh, and the the I call it United Bank of America. That's my fictional bank indirect fire. But you know, there's a hacking scheme going on there and and it's sort of this decapitation effort uh through the vehicles, through bank accounts, and just trying to basically impact the economy and create confusion. Because Mohegan has a saying and he figures it out. This is part of the mystery among many one and that's an old Crowton saying. And so if you want to create confusion and and do one thing, do a million things, and then do that one thing in the middle of the million things that you're doing, And that's that's exactly what's happening and direct fires that there's so much going on, but there's only one thing that the antagonists really want to happen, and and they're they're trying to make that happen, and they do. They're successful and making it happen. So this audience watching the live stream right now listening to the podcast loves Nick Irving. He's definitely one of the most popular guests on the show. Um and just an all around great guy. So Reaper Ghost Target, which you're co writing with him, comes out in May. Eighth. Protagonist of the book is Vic the Reaper Harwood, which Nick kind of hinted at that it might be loosely based off same nickname. And uh so this is the first time Nick is working on a fiction novel and he's working with you. Um. I heard a little bit from him his perspective on this, but I'd love to hear from you. How did you hook up with Nick and how did the idea come about? Well, we have the same agent, and so the agent said, why don't the General the sergeant write a book together, and why don't we do a fiction series spinoff? Because his autobiography was so well done, And uh, so popular. Yeah, yeah, right, his first autobiography and then The Way of the Reaper after that, and the first book, you know, spent four or five six weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. And and you know, people love Nick because he's got this great story and and he you know, fought for our country and he's he's an in the dirt sniper and he's a very humble man. And so the our agent connected us and Nick and I riffed for about two hours on ideas, and then we got to work and it was a very quick uh me listen to him, him listening to me, and a great teamwork. We jelled, we clicked right away. Just two guys that really love created creation. You know, he's an actor now and so yeah, yeah, he's doing a lot, Yeah he is, and uh, he's uh, he's a he's a creative though. He's he's got a creative mind. And yeah, and so Nick and and you know, I love Nick. He's such a good guy. And and we worked so closely on this book together and we came up with the you know this idea that uh, you know, the and the very opening scene of the of the book, he's in a sniper hide in Afghanistan, trying to get his nemesis, the real life in nemesis from his autobiography, the Chechen, And so I carried that over. We carried that over as as we were writing the book, and and we said, look, let's let's make the Chechen the antagonists in the first book. And that way people who have read the autobiography, well then well then see potentially also something could have played out, and and and we thought it was a great segue from the autobiography to to the fiction novel. And so there's there's a two book contract right now with St. Martin's and hopefully well we'll have you know, many many more. That's cool. Yeah, I was hinting at it before. Um, you know, if you guys haven't listened back to the latest episode with Nick Irving, very open guy, and and he was very candid about, you know, all these guys he's seen who are army rangers with soldiers, suicide and all this terrible stuff going on. And he said on the podcast the common thread between all of them was alcohol abuse. And he's like, I realized I had to get my wife in order. And I can tell you he's just at a really great place now. Has always been a great guy, but I think now he's like ready to take things to the next level, do new creative things. Um. And I think the fact that he's written to autobiographies he actually wrote more but two major published autobiographies, he wants to move on to something different and be creative, as you said, Yeah, and I think I think this is it for him and us, and I think we're a great team. And and uh, you know, hopefully there there's some Hollywood interest we know in this uh fiction series, so you never know what what can spin off out of that very first book that that he did, his autobiograph. Yeah, I mean there's Hollywood interested in that. He talked about that on the show. Originally was going to be a TV series on NBC UM, which was going to be produced by Jay Z. That's pretty damn cool. And now it's gonna be a major motion picture and I can't wait to see that. And you know, there's no one who deserves it more than him, right. Yeah, he's just a solid earth graade guy. And and you know, he's like so many of our soldiers. He he is just a humble public servant that wanted to defend our country and do his part. And and that's what Nick Irving is and and always will be. And and I'm proud to call him a friend and a and a co author. So what do you think is the difference for someone like Nick who is an experienced author at this point but now has to write fiction, even if it is based on him, it's a it's a different ballgame. I would assume, yeah, you know, you you wanna. The basic job now is to entertain, as opposed to with autobiography. What you're really doing is telling your personal story. And it may be entertaining, but it has to adhere to what this personal story is, and people will be the judge whether or not that's entertaining. It turns out that Nick's Nick's combat adventures were very, very entertaining for for people who enjoy reading that kind of um, you know, nonfiction. And so now fiction is purely in the entertainment business. And so people have a limited amount of entertainment dollars that they spend on movies or books or you know, whatever their choice of entertainment is. And so you've got to be their first choice for entertainment as a fiction author. And that's that's really what I've learned after eight books, is that you know, you've just got to continue to press ahead and provide the most entertainment, the most interesting, the most thrilling, the most action. If you're in this genre, That's what people want is action. They want attention, they want suspense, they want mystery, and they want to they want to be sweating as they're reading, and and they just you know, want to be up all night. You know, they don't want to be up all night, but they wind up all night, you know, because they don't want to put the book down. And that's that's the job of a fiction author. And Nick's learned that really well because the real book spy, who's uh the uh one of the leading authorities on thrillers and mysteries now has got an advanced reyar copy of Raper Ghost Target and really is uh saying it's one of the best books he's read for ever plus so so we're looking forward to that. And he gave rave reviews to direct Fire as well, so um, the you know, the reviews on direct Fire have been out of this world. And I'm excited about this and I'm excited about working with Nick. Also, our audience is gonna dig it. We're gonna get into some current affair stuff. But you know, as I said, I want to look at what you guys are asking. We're broadcasting on not just Facebook live stream, we are all we're also doing YouTube through the restream thing, and now we're doing Twitch, which I'm still learning about. Uh. You know, I'm trying to get a following on Twitch. So if you're on Twitch, get on there. I know it's mainly gamers, but we're trying to do something new and get a new audience. So I'm looking at the questions here. Grants here tends to be in our live streams a lot, which we appreciate. Good question from Grant watching on YouTube. Um, have you ever written content that featured experimental or wishful technology tactics or viewpoints that you threw at the wall to see what sticks or maybe for direct indirect feedback. Yeah, that's a great question. Way back in the previous series, I was writing the threat series road Threat, I was reading about nanotechnology swarming as through the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency and and and there was no such thing at the time. It was just this concept and it turns out that you know, besieged and even direct fire apply some of that because it's real, live technology today, and you know, some of some of the cyber warfare concepts and direct fire right now push the limits. But you know, all the quote unquote hackers that I talked to said this is entirely possible, and this could be done. And so as you think of it and you think, well, there's no way that that could possibly happen, then then all of a sudden you talk to an expert and they say, well, actually that's happening or that's about to happen. And and so it's you're the mind. If your mind is thinking of it, somebody somebody's thought of it, right, And no matter how creative you are, you know, there's a lot of people out there, a lot of smart people out there that are thinking their way through some of these things and and trying to figure out, you know, solutions to problems and trying to figure out how to exploit systems. And and that's why when we think we'll look at cyber warfare and direct fire and that kind of thing with China and even Iran, you know, who would have thought Iran was a leading cyber warfare expert and North Korea stealing you know, about fifty gigs of a war plan from South Korea. They did that, and so now that that's you know, about six months ago there was an assassination plan and all that that North Korea allegedly took from the South Korean servers, How are they getting into the some of these most secure servers and and so that's one of the areas that I push on in direct fire with cyber warfare and everything that is supposed to be secure. These you know, you know this and the hackers say, there's really nothing that you can't get into, and what's learning that every day? Which is pretty scary, right, Yeah, exactly, And you know that's actually a nice segue into a few different things. Um. Wiki weeks we heard about Juliana Sange being banned on Twitter. We'll get into that. Keep the questions coming, whether you're on Facebook or YouTube. We'll get to what we can. We have a lot of great feedback, but uh, there's many questions. So if you have any questions, just throw them out there. If they're good, we'll get to it. Um getting into some some current events though you were mentioning the North Korea stuff. What needs to be done with North Korea from your perspective, because some people are saying, we can no longer have diplomacy, but you know, we don't want to be thrown into a whole another war over this end um kind of a follow up, do you think North Korea is truly a threat to the United States or just a threat to our allies like Japan. I think they're a threat to the United States into our allies. That you have to look at both intent and capability. And let's take Pakistan for example. They have the capability of nuclear weapons, but they don't have a leader saying I'm gonna now the United States, Uh, India, same thing. And and to an extent, China and Russia they they have the weapons. Now you know, different scenario there because they have more and there's mutual shared destruction and and all that, which is what Korea wants. They want mutual shared destruction. They wanted that status and and so uh for for me, when I look at the situation with North Korea, I see the current administration effectively applying the elements of national power to address the issue that has been kicked down the road, and I think that we can no longer kick this down the road because President Obama's national security strategy said we wanted a rules based international order, which and also a UH, they wanted to stop nuclear proliferation, so that both pillars of that national security strategy. It's against the international law to create nuclear weapons if you're not a nuclear state. And so North Korea is violating international law, and they're also violating our precept of a UH stopping proliferation of weapons mass destruction. We didn't do anything out it. Then we didn't do anything about it on the Bush administration, and and then the Clinton Perry deal back in UH is just like the Iran deal that was done by the Obama administration. So we see where that got us with North Korea. So we can look twenty years down the road and see where we might be with Iran now haven't said all of that. There's diplomatic power, information power, military power, economic power. And so we just had a third fifteen OH vote for increased sanctions, and I think we're leaving ourselves with each set of sanctions, a little bit of runway to do a little bit more to keep the negotiations going. And I think that's a smart move. We're applying military power through shows of force what we call flexible response or deterrent options, where we fly some B one bombers, we do military exercise on the Korean peninsula. I've been involved in those exercises. I've been in the d m Z. I know how tense to sit suation is up there. I was in the DMC as a general, I was in the DMZ as a lieutenant and everything in between. And so uh and which is, by the way, I should for the audience that might not know it's demilitarized zone. We've talked about four because uh, our editor in chief, Jack Murphy has been there just as a journalist. But back to what you're saying, Yeah, so so there's that. But you've got Nicki Haley leading the diplomatic effort, and she's fifteen o three votes. When Russian China typically agree with us, they'll typically they don't typically agree with us, but when they when they do, they'll typically abstain, they won't vote yes. Here they voted yes three times. And and that's herculean work by this administration to get that kind of vote. Uh. And and so to me, that's that's a huge diplomatic coup. And when now, what is what are Russia and China doing on the ground. That's a whole different issue. A year ago January through March, first quarter of seventeen, China was a net had a net increase in trade with North Korea. Now, you know, supposedly they've torked that back, but Russia has been making up for a little bit. Now. These new sanctions go after oil ship to ship, oil transfers and and things that you know, we're sort of working around the coal transfers and all that, and and they crank down on that and so and and they make within two year period of time. So nothing's gonna happen right away. All the foreign workers must be out of North Korea, so that gives them in their families time to make other plans and get out. But that's you know, a tough set of sanctions. And they're even in Kim Jong un said it's an active war. Well, of course, it's an active war. We've been at at war, just not a hot war, not a shooting war. Really, I'm for several years. When they've got intent and capability, they say we are gonna nuke the United States. We're at war with the United States. I mean, I take them at their word. Why not, you know, never underestimate an enemy. And and so the diplomatic and the information elements of power. Uh, you know, Kim Jong un saying something and getting big, big splash in the press, then President Trump Trump tweeting, get something in the in the press. Uh. And and that's the information warfare, going back and forth, back and forth and and um. Then economic you know, taining down those sanctions. So that that's the four elements of power. And you know, the sun Sue and the clause Wits and all of them talk about the golden bridge. Never never corner the the opponent. It just always leave some golden bridge out and and so that they don't have to fight. And if we can build this thing such that we can uh crank down on the sanctions, we can keep them isolated. We can build that golden bridge, whatever that looks like for Kim Jong and maybe he stays in power but gives up nukes. Uh, but there's something's got to give. Because the new national security strategy with President Trump makes it very clear, as did President Obama's actually that we are not gonna tolerate uh A nuclear North Korea. We mentioned, um, the new UH I shouldn't say foreign policy strategy, national security, just in general strategy that they've laid out. We talked about it in the last show. Um, we actually talked about Army Ranger. Marty Scoveland went on our friend Andrew will Cow show and talked about it. Um. But I'm still a little in the dark of what what particular particulars are different about this current UM national defense strategy than what we've had in place. Yeah. I think the big difference in is that somebody actually didn't do a big cut and pace job from the ten previous national security strategies, because not much has change, um for this one. It's wholly different. And I actually UM sent hr McMaster of email saying this fantastic job, you know, um, because you know I thought they did. Yeah, oh yeah, I mean he's a great guy, great American. Couldn't have a better guy in there, and and uh, you know, the as I read through it, it not only you know, it talks about protecting the American people, and then it's got a whole um you know section on that, and it talks about the prosperity of the American people. So it wraps security in the economy together, um, and then it talks about peace through strength, and then it talks about pursuing adversaries to the source and whether or not that's you know, the transnational actor threat is a big threat. And in all of these areas, there are actually action items inside this National Secure any document that says, okay, action item number one must do X, Y and Z. Action item number two must do A, B and C. And it's their way, you know. And and knowing that we've got three army generals kind of you know, the General Kelly, General Maddis and General McMaster. You know, their action oriented and they're and if they're holding themselves accountable is a big deal. And if I could jump in here, I was just gonna say that there's there's widespart opinion throughout the military of and and our writers, I think our audience of if they think Trump is doing a good job, if they think the administration is doing a good job, there's always going to be debate on that type of thing. I've always said the military is not a model. If that's certainly something I've learned working on this podcast. However, General maddis, I have not heard a negative thing about the guy. And I think even if people are critical of Trump, they can say I like this guy and I trust his judgment that well, that's right. And and you know, you gotta you gotta give a nod to President Trump for picking a guy like Madison, a guy like Kelly, and a guy like McMaster to be in there and and uh, you know, working hard and doing the nation's bidding, and what you have with with them is not only a combined about twenty years of service and uniform, but a lot of combat time. And so they really know the cost of combat. They know that if we go to war in North Korea there there will be massive loss of life American, South Korean, North Korean, and who knows what else, depending upon the options that we employ. These are men who have been on the battlefield, have put soldiers, sailors, airmend marines and caskets and shipped them home, have knelt at memorial services and cried over lost men and women that they loved as soldier, sailors, airmen, and renes. And so nobody's taken this lightly at all. And I have the utmost respect for what this administration is trying to do because we can't also we cannot say it's too much of a problem and and you know, leave it for somebody else for eight years down the road. We've got to take care of this problem somehow, some way. Absolutely. Um, we were talking about Wiki weeks pretty briefly. I saw that, I think on Christmas Twitter band Juliana Sange would just like to hear your take on that. Yeah, you know Twitter. Twitter I think is you know, an arm of of uh, the the mainstream media almost where uh they'll they'll they'll give the tigers to the liberal and and uh, you know, not that Asans is liberal or conservative, but he's certainly done a lot of damage to liberal causes of late, and so that probably played a big factor into that. And I don't know if you saw the you know, Rosie O'Donnell um going nuts thing, offering what like two million dollars. Yeah, but she she said something obscene and then someone called her out on it, and it was like Ben Shapiro, Yeah, exactly, it was Shapiro, I think, but she think she offered two million dollars to senators to vote on what was it the healthcare bell she was Briban senators don't think that's gonna work on Twitter. On Twitter, um, it is interesting what they will go after and what they won't go after. Yeah, and there definitely is a bias there. I often said, you know, because Twitter is almost like a Drudge report in that it's a news aggregate. But as Drudges is definitely center right leaning, Twitter is definitely center left leaning. And when I say this to a lot of people, they say, well, just matters who you're following. I'm talking about when you go on Twitter and you go into that news feed part, it's always there's always stories with a major left wing bias, for sure. Noticed and um, they're covering people with more of a left wing bias. And I do think there has to be some um bias in banning Julian Sang because yes, he has been more favorable towards the right with with some of the stuff that he's putting out. He was more focused on what Hillary Clinton was doing than than other things. But this is well and it may be that there just wasn't as much that he could dig out on on the other campaign, and and so that's why he released all those Clinton documents. Who knows, I mean that the Clinton team, you know, when when you look at what was exposed, it's massive corruption that was exposed on the left, and it was just unbelievable some of the things that came out. And and to this day we're seeing with the FBI and and how you know, the lead investigator on the Clinton email scandal was a huge Clinton s order go figure and actually using his actual FBI email address to uh send supportive emails for Hillary Clinton, which is against the law. So um, I'm looking at at our live stream right now, a lot of great feedback coming in. Robert Burt Burt how hopefully pronouncing that right, says he pre ordered the book must be here tomorrow. Um, I was even seeing before I get to a question I saw here, Converge Sheaf on YouTube says this guy was my brigade commander. Nice guy. I'm happy he's doing well. Or it might be converged chef chef sheath a sheath. Converged Sheath means his artillery term where where uh um, converged chef would be, you know, cooking two eggs at once, But converge Sheath is is an artillery term for getting all the all the rounds right on one. I'm just wondering if you know who it is who says that he worked with you. But well, you know, I had four thousand troops and I'm glad there's a nar assault trooper from Strike Brigade. Um. Uh. And I hope he's doing well. And thanks for the comment. So the questions are coming in once again. Pick up direct fire today. UM, our favorite seller who he says, Uh, good morning, shipmates. I can't do Gene Fourns boys, but he always he sends us invoicte memos regularly. Great guy, um. He asks, please share your favorite duty station tour and why it was your favorite? Oh, you know, undoubtedly, um, eighty second Airborne Division, Fort Bragg. Uh. You know. And it's hard to do because hundred first tenth amount in all great units. And but I would say that when I first arrived at the eighty second Airborne Division, the the elon there, the acceptance, the culture, the jump master duties, the jumping out of an airplane, the history. Uh. And it was a part of it was the timing. I was there in the early nineties and we had all these World War two veterans every year coming back now an All American week and and meeting just really famous for jump uh you know the Sicily Salerno, Uh Saint Mary Guisee, uh France D Day and and uh Holland jumps. And you know these are legends in our time that we're still alive then that and now you know, twenty some years later there uh most of them have passed, but being able to talk to them and and just really live that. And I and I had a lot of this in the hundred first Airborne as well, and so it's really hard to distinguish between the two. But as a young officer, I came into the eighty second Airborne Division and it was just such a great experience that this was the real army. This was where I wanted to be. This is why I signed up. And and you have sergeants in charge of hundred paratroopers in the bat lack of an aircraft and and putting them out the door and the back door of an aircraft doesn't care if you're a private or a general. You better get out out of that door, right, you know, up six out thirty six and and uh, you know, get get into the slip stream and hold tight and count to four thousand and then you know, execute a proper parasite landing fall and and and and curse on here it sounds pretty awesome. Yeah, it is awesome. It is awesome, and and uh, you know, the the great thing about it was a non commissioned officer Corps was so is so strong and powerful because they're in charge every day of para troopers and the safety of para troopers and it's real life and death every day in the eighty second Airborne Division and and so that that was sort of my indoctrination into real special elite units with Elon and hundred first was great as well, you know, all the air assault power. You've got their tenth Mountain grade as well. And and what you saw was there was this rotation between those three units, so you kind of got to know everybody as you kept serving in one or the other. In the eighteenth Airborne Core and so I would say the eighteenth Airborne Corps because it's really one degree different between eightst tenth Mountain and and you were in the Rapid Reaction Corps and you were you were you know, at on two hour recall and you were ready to go, and and there was that sense of urgency and and that's why you know, I can I can talk about this all day because yeah, I guess me excited. Yeah, it sounds like it was just a huge rush to be a part of that. Yes, yes, um, alright, getting into other things. I thought this was interesting here, George talent Um. And this is a good question back to what we were just talking about before. Have sanctions ever really worked on these type of regimes like North Korea? Historically looking at Cuba, Iran, etcetera, sanctions do not appear to work. Are you optimistic with these new chefs sanctions against North Korea? You know, I'm I'm not optimistic that the sanctions will produce any kind of immediate effect. What I am optimistic about is that the sanctions mean that we are continuing to negotiate and and that that there must be something happening behind the scenes that is creating the need for more sanctions and not immediate military action. And so what what the sanctions mean to me? And that we haven't gone all the way because there there's more that we could do uh in a in a more meaningful way, and not that these aren't meaningful. They are, they're they're very harmful to North Korea, but there is more that we could do. And and so what that tells me is we're just you know, narrowing that zone of possible agreement, you know, and negotiations. You have what's called the Zone of possible agreement and the ZOPA, and and we're narrowing that down each time, you know, we're we're moving down toward you know, look, it's either gonna be you get out of here or you give up your nuclear weapons or both. And we'll give you an option. But uh, and and what what North Korea believes it has? Um and and rightfully? So, I mean they've got they've got an ace up their sleeve here with eight thousand artillery tubes you know near or on the d m Z in four thousand rocket launchers. So that's twelve thousand systems that can basically range about fifteen to twenty million people in Seul. Plus it's a one minute MiG flight from the demilitarized Zone to Soul. So that's even if we put a nuke down the smoke stack of pyeong Yang and you know, try to call it a day that's one poll of twelve thousand systems. Uh. And and and you're gonna have a lot of rocket fire and and artillery fire converged sheath on on uh saul. And there's about a quarter million Americans living in South Korea. Uh. There's a long history of uh, you know, American servicemen and women being there, and there's been a lot of marriages and families and that kind of thing, so that you know, Korea is very much a a ally and a friend and someone we that we have a huge interest in, a vital interest in, and and it's part of that first protection piece of the new set national security strategy. So am I confident that the sanctions of work. No, Am, I confident that this means that we're we're we've got some more runway to do some more talking before we go to war. Yes, good answer. Um. By the way, converge chief says he was in eighty one mm mortar. Yeah, anyone millimeter mortar, k Roger Yeah. Carry on, asks what is the level of Iranian support to North Korea? Yeah? I think that's a good question that works both ways. You could ask it, what's North Korea prime to proride and to Iran as well as far as transfer and trade. I'll tell you when I was in the Balkans way back in the mid nineteen nineties, I was involved in Bosnia and Coastvo Mastonian, all of the Croatia, all of that. We traced a lot of support for that to Iran, and then that lit up networks that went to North Korea. And I, you know, I need to be careful what I say here, but there there is Irani and support to North Korea, and there's a North Korean support to Iran, and that is on everybody's radar because those are the two countries that, if you remember, President Bush had the access of evil, right Iraq, Iran and North Korea. And so Iraq is is sort of okay right now, and but Iran and North Korea, surprise surprise, continue to be orange in our side. And and uh the trade and uh they're they're closed society, so that they're very problematic. They are closed societies. And they have a lot of ungoverned space, particularly in Iran, not not so much in North Korea. But the ungoverned space is an area particularly along the west eastern border with Afghanistan and Iran. That's where a lot of this poppy and and guns and and uh. You know, back when I was deputy commander in Afghanistan, we saw a lot of the explosively formed penetrators starting to come in that way, a lot of the the roadside bomb materials coming in from Iran because you know, the the Shia, we're totally interested in doing whatever they could to kill Mame her Americans. And so that has not changed. And there is support between North Korea and Iran, and it works both ways. Well said um, and I'm looking we have more questions coming in all uh, Adam case is Ian rocking the beard? Thank you? I uh the last time you see me, I didn't have the beard. You know. It's like it's a seasonal thing. I feel like, because in the winter it's good to have, right, Um, I will. I'll probably shave it off as it gets warm. But thank you Adam U Tara Gavin, I love your books. How much of your experience plays into Jake's journey. Writing is a very courageous profession and very personal. How do you deal with the global and the personal parts of your career? Um? And then she also added, I want to hear more about you as a writer. You're an amazing writing talent. So she's a big fan about Tara. Tara is an awesome lady and she's a you know, great, great book editor. And um so you know, for me, uh, the creative process. I think that's what Tera is getting out its creative process. It is a very personal thing and it does take courage. And I get a lot of people who um asked me about writing and they want to be writers. You know, so many people want to be writers, and so many people feel creative and want to be able to articulate that into a book. And it's a lot harder than Yeah, it is hard. And you know, Stephen King Tom Clancy both had sort of paraphrase advice that if you want to write them, be a writer. And so I've been a writer. I can remember even at West Point after lights out with my flashlight on and spiral bound notebook that I still have that some of the characters from my very first couple of novels. You know, I just started right out after reading about how to how to do writing and that kind of and you know, how to write a mystery or how to write a thriller, and and it was just intriguing to me because this has always been a goal of mine, to to be a fiction author. And but you know, it takes some courage to put your stuff out there and then people review it on Amazon, and you know, thankfully most of the people give my books, you know, good reviews, but I think all seen a five stars. Yeah right, right, And but there are a few people that you know, take a job, yeah right, There's always to be that. But that's you know, you take that personal. Like I put you know, so much blood, sweat and tears into this book and and now I put it out there. And that's I think that's what ter is talking about. It takes courage to sort of reveal yourself in a book and in my in my stories. You know a lot of people say, how much of you is Jake Mohegan, And I'm like, well, Jake Mhegan's a six and f a tall Native American. That's not me. But you know his thought process. So when I talked about me thinking through the the problem set as a commander, and what's the worst thing the enemy could do to my troops? And then how do I develop a course of action A B and C. There's probably some of that thought process. And Jake and I get a lot of good feedback in the form of emails and conversations that they love getting inside Jake's mind and seeing, Okay, if I do option A, this is potential. If I do Option B, this potential. If I do option see, this is a potential result. And and so there's some of the in Jake's thought process that I think, uh, you know, I take the reader into and show them, Okay, here's a here's a guy sort of using deductive reasoning and choosing the best action and he and he does it miraculously fast because he's a combat season veteran and and so he's able to look at one to three and then make a decision and in a second or two. And and so for for me, that's that's where the part that comes out from inside of me. And of course everything comes out for me as I sit down and write these books and and and I just really get into the head of the protagonist, the antagonists, the the you know, the love interest, all of that. They can put your kind of mind and said, what would this person think? I'm like an actor or an actress. I'm inside that person's mind, and I'm thinking, well, what what would the response be or what what would you know he or she say or do? And and then pretty soon as you as as you've written, as you're writing the book, they do become sort of live characters that take you in different directions. And it's a really fun, interesting process because you know, I'll have, um, you know, I don't do a whole lot of outlining. I do a little bit. I know where I want to go from, you know, start opening scene to act one, which is you know, about thirty thousand words, and Act one to Act two, and other thirty thousand words in act to the finale, which is about another thirty thousand words, you know, eighty two hundred thousand words as you're ever throw and but so I'll have those guide posts, but not a whole lot of content in between there. And then these characters actually provide that content for me as I as I'm writing. And that may sound strange, but it's just how I write. And I got it. Yeah, So I mean the way I could relate. I don't know if you've got a chance to see it. Um that documentary on Netflix Jim and Andy about Jim candy a Jim carry playing Andy Kaufman. I don't know if you saw it. It's uh, it's out there now though. Um, but yeah, Jim Carrey did not break character the entire man in the Moon movie. It's almost like what you're saying, you're getting in the head of these people. I could relate to what you're saying, though, with people saying I want to write a book, how do because I get the same thing with I want to do a podcast, I want to be a radio host. And it is it is not as easy as as people think, because a lot of people will say, you know, I'm funny, I'm this, I'm that, But that's not everything to it. Um. You know the beauty of of Howard Stern or even an Oprah Winfrey, they asked questions that allow these people to be candid. So I'm doing the same thing in some way. I'm thinking, what question could I ask General Tata that he's gonna have a lot of knowledge on. It's the same thing from what you're saying. They are all these different creative processes for different things. You're thinking, what position could I put Jake Mohegan in where he's really gonna shine and that people are gonna be excited to read it? Or what position could I put Jake Mohegan in where he hasn't no chance of survival and and was gonna get and how's he going to get out of it? And and that's that, that's that whole tension piece where you just want the reader needs how's he gonna how's how's he going to figure this out? That makes me wonder though, is there is there almost um, you know, people reading these books know that they're in the end, there is gonna be another Jake Mohegan novel? Is that almost a giveaway to the reader that he is going to survive somehow? They're always gonna say, you've said you plan on keeping these books gone, So Jake Mohegan dies no more Jake Mehegan novels. Yeah, well, um, you know, Kinson and will all ultimately determine whether or not Jake Mohegan lives or dies. But you know they're a great publisher and and um, the Jake Mohegan, uh, you know like Jack Reacher. You know, people there's what twenty two or so Jack Reacher books that leech Old has written in and yeah, you know the key for me is to get Mohegan in these situations. And it's not so much as he gonna live or die, but is the problem going to be solved? Is the conflict going to be resolved in a positive way? And for Jake, his his real conflict, his inner conflict, that sort of is his arc through every book, is he just wants to settle down and and find a good woman and have a family because he had that sort of taken away from him. And and so when he when he's in combat, and the and the very first Mohegan book, forn In Domestic, the very first chapter. So I'm not giveing anything away, uh, he he accidentally kills an enemy prisoner of war when that enemy prison war uses a serie voice command on his iPhone to detonate a bomb under his best friend's vehicle. The guy tries to escape, and he's trying to butt stroke him, just to knock him down. But he he we think in the book he accidentally kills him. But you know, he's got this fury and rage and and so forth, and and so just took some time off, and I've written a biography on Jake, so I read that before I start every book that's a you know, tip out to all the all the writers out there, so that I'm grounded in who Jake Mohegan is. And his real conflict is you know, he was trying to you know, he's lost his family of Delta Force and the Army and and he lost his family prior to that and and now um his his true family and and now he's he's looking for and he and you know, he meets a love interests, you know, every now and then, and and yeah, he's he's a good looking guy. Yeah, he's a good looking guy that protects women and and uh so he's uh but you know, at the end of the day, um, you know, duty calls or this this uh you know, desire to have a piece full life. And and he's he's got this code that he lives by, right and he's got to he's got a um, you know, return the call to duty, so to speak. And and that's that's really his conflict, and that he's torn between. And in the In Foreign and Domestic, the very first book, um in the series, I described it as sort of he's sitting there, haven't tried to escape from being involved in any kind of combat, warfare's in the outer banks of North Carolina. And and he finds himself sitting there with a pistol of rifle rope. He's had to knock a guy out because he's suddenly found out that the technology that was in the bomb uh that killed his best friend was actually American made and it was made in the outer banks of North Carolina. And um, he's there right where um it was being made. And he makes his discovery, and he's got these tools of war. And I'd say it's kind of like a boomerang that has come back down and in his lap. And and so that's that's Jake's inner conflict, and that's I think getting back to a little bit of what Terror was asking about. Absolutely, Um, we'll get to some more questions. I also know you want to sign some books, and we'll get to the meaning behind that. Um. But I do before we do all that, we want to get into this China story because I felt like this was just really interesting. Came out today. I mean, you're laughing, but for this guy, this is not exactly a laughing matter. Um. So this is from Reuter's China, hands down harshest sentence yet and crackdown on activists. Uh this is from Beijing. China sentenced a prominent rights activist to eight years in jail for subversion on Tuesday. His lawyer said the harshest sentence passed and a government crackdown on activism that began more than two years ago. In a separate case, a rights lawyer avoided criminal punishment despite being found guilty of its inciting subversion because admitted to his crimes. The Chinese court trying him, said Wugan, a blogger better known by his online name which I know you loved, super vulgar Butcher, plans to appeal against the eight years sentence handed down by the Tian t Engine and my saying that right, Tiana, all right? What's uh t A T I A n j I N so okay yeah, Municipalities number two Intermediate People's Court. His lawyer, Jan Zen told Reuters the harshness of the sentence prompted the German embassy in Beijing to issue a statement expressing disappointment. Will regularly champions sensitive cases of government abuse of power, both online and in street protests. He was detained in May of in charge with subversion. The activists criticized China's political system online and used performance art to create disturbances, as well as insulting people and spreading false information. According to a statement from the court posted on its website, he carried out a string of criminal actions to subvert state power and overthrow the socialist system and seriously harmed state security and social stability, the court said. Before his arrest, who used his platform to cast doubt on the official version of events in an incident in early May in which a police officer shot a petitioner and a train station UH in northern high How my pronunciation is gonna be wrong in this one high Long Jung province. Who has refused a little bit to bow to pressure or admit guilt likely explains his harsh sentence, said Kitchen Hong Kong based director of China Human Rights, the lawyer's concerned Group. There's more to this story, but you know, I'll end it there and you can check this out by Christian Shepherd on Reuter's But the main thing I got out of it, uh is that in these countries like China, you often hear a lot of criticism in America about speaking out against government. Um. But luckily we do have constitutional rights and these type of things. And when when terrible things happen, whether it is isolated incident of a police shooting gone wrong or something, there's gonna be protests. There's gonna be some type of action. And in China, I mean, just to put up bluntly, they really don't funk around if you if you have any criticism of their system of government. And I mean I would say this guy is a hero because it you know, yes, it takes rights to it takes guts. I should say to be a journalist in America and to write about things that are going on that you want to speak out against. But when you do that in China, the risks are huge. I mean, eight years in prison for basically just getting out information and doing performance art. As they said, it's crazy when you hear this, but it's not a surprise with what China does. The biggest thing I get out of that is um nip tera. Kevin is still listening, or if if Gary Goldstein, my editor from Kinsington, is listening, then super Vulgar Butcher needs to be the title of my next book, because I think Gary would love that. So um, super Vulgar butcher and and um, you know that Gary, Gary loves styling books, and and uh that's he always picks out a great title in conjunction with me. So let's let's put super Vulgar butcher On on the list. End Um. You know you're right. And the I hope that by now no one in the United States takes for granted there um liberties, uh First Amendment rights and and the Constitution in general, and the fact that we do have a free press. And and even if there's tension today between you know, the you know, quote unquote mainstream media and you know, the fake New US and and all that, I mean that that tension I think is healthy for democracy because you've got varying, different, varying viewpoints. Madison called it the violence of factions, and so you have different factions that come up with these, you know, different ideas and different interpretations, and you know, somebody somebody can look at, uh, you know, the same thing and and have a one a D viewpoint. And that's okay where America we can deal with that, and we have the institutions to deal with that. What's happening in China is not okay. And and you know, it's their government and they're so they're gonna do what they do. And this is why, in many respects, while China is to be feared, they have a massive army, they have a nuclear arsenal. Uh. Sometimes they have a hard time getting out of their way because they just they're more worried about internal control than they are about power projection and all that. They see themselves as the Middle Kingdom, and and they're they're there, you know, perfectly happy with where they are. They're doing great economic trade with the most of the world, to include the United States mostly, and and so they they try to have it and frankly do in many ways have it both ways. They have a terrible human rights record, but they have this very significant trade with US uh in in other countries. So it's, um, it's just one of those things that we're China, uh, you know, cracking down on somebody for criticizing the government. Think about that, I mean, you know, think about how many people would need to be cleaned up off of Twitter or you know, you know whatever, regardless twa if they're going to Facebook or you know whatever. I mean. There was criticism over the President blocking citizens in America on Twitter, which you know, we like regardless of who's president, whether it's President Trump, president Obama. You had people criticizing President Obama. You have people presic it's just President Trump. Think into perspective, right, I mean, think about it, and and so, you know, be like half the country because it's we're a very divided country right now. But we have these outlets where people can voice their opinions and and and can have these discussions. Sometimes. You know, I kind of cringe at the abuse of nature of the discussion because I'm a solutions oriented guy and and the the ideology always comes second to me, where the solution should come first. And and and I think that's that's the beauty of this website. We're the same way. We're not a right wing or a left wing website. Yeah, I agree, I agree. I think that's why you have such great followership and and so many people just you know, a lot of people like the noise, but most people don't like the noise. People want to hear about solutions. They want to hear real answers to real questions and from experts like yourself to think there. I mean, because we just had Jack Divine on the podcast former CIA was there since the sixties, and it's like to hear him give his take for an hour the same way you are. You don't get to hear that in the mainstream media. I mean, I know you're on CNN and Fox today, but you'll be on there for a quick five minute hit. It's like, we don't get to hear you can to giving your take on all this stuff. And unfortunately on all these new stations, I'm not singling out any of them. Sometimes the people who are giving their perspective on foreign policy, you know, are lawyers or just random commentators with no experience. I want to hear from a guy who was a brigadier general about what should be done with North Korea, and we don't hear enough of that. And I actually do think that's why people are going to alternative media to hear this type of thing. I agree with you, because you know, even as as great as Fox and CNN are, you know, they you know, you've got basically four to six minutes too maybe well or to get your viewpoint out there. Not you know, because I do a lot of that, and it's not you know, ninety percent of the time, it's not about the book, it's about it, about the topic and and so uh to try to explain things in a very three to five minute period of time where it's cut in half because you know, the anchor's getting her his point of view in there, which is great for the discourse, but I mean that's you know, you're you're basically talking about sound bites. Well, I mean, I've mentioned this a few times on the podcast, so part me if you've heard me tell this story before, but you know, I will relate it to you because you're working with the guy. I remember Hannity did one of these panel shows where they've got all these different people on almost bleachers answering all different stuff, and our friend Nick Irving was on there. They're asking all different types of stuff and then they go into topics about isis and some lawyer is running his mouth for like five minutes, and I'm you know, I don't you rarely get excited with this about this type of thing. But I'm looking at the TV, like, go to Nick Irving. You know he's actually been there, he knows what goes on with that. I don't care what some lawyer has to say. And it frustrated me because I think the only time Nick talked was Sean said something the effect of, uh, I'd love to go shooting with you sometimes. You know Nick Irving Rangers Sniper, and he was like, any time, but I would have loved to have heard his take on all the ices stuff. So it's just that that's the thing with the podcast. I think that people lobous that we get to go so in depth, and uh, yeah, it's great. Um. Antonio Montana was asking will this book be in Barnes and Noble. Of course it will everywhere books are sold, and and and I'm signing yes everywhere. It's everywhere books are sold. And I'm I'm actually going to sign the stock at the Barnes and Noble on the fifth Avenue here at one pm. And one of the things we're doing you can go to my website aj tata dot com and these books I got stacked up here are just symbolic of we're we're sending books over the troops and Bogerman. I've got the pet Tillman Center USO UM address on on on my website A J tata dot com And uh, what you can do is you can go to that and go I a copy of direct fire and just send it to the USO and and and the pet Tilman Center and Bagram and and the addresses on my website, which is a J tata dot com And and so I'm I'm sending a bunch of books over there that I'm going to sign and box him up. Today's boxing day, so we figured we'd do boxing day, uh signing for the troops in Afghanistan. My good friend, General mc nicholson is uh, General John nicholson. Somebody correct, I was on CNN talking to somebody tweeted, hey, you know act like you know, you need to correct yourself. He goes by Mick, all right, and they thought I was calling him mc nicholson. And but Mick is, uh the commander over there, the fourth star commander, and uh he's a great guy. And you know, we got about twelve thousand troops over there. And I'll tell you, I started a lot of my authors that I like to read, just from picking up a free book that's somewhere in in uh you know, the headquarters is at Bagram or in Kanadahart or Kastvo or you know wherever I've served and been in combat. And so we're gonna ship a bunch of these over and I welcome all your listeners to go to my website and uh donate a book to the troops. And and uh certainly um, I know that it's appreciated during the holidays to receive you know anything, you know, if you don't feel like donating a book, right a too any soldier letter, I can tell you I took those out to the to the border um Forward operating bases along the Pakistan border. And and they just make a difference that troops will smell them, they'll they'll read them, and they'll be written by you know, just everybody from you know, adults to children, and and they'll pin them up in their hooch and and and it's just it makes a difference. So whether it's a book or or a card during this time uh and and uh, you know there are people leaders in Afghanistan or Syria or Iraq wherever our troops are niger UM that will get these things to the troops and and they'll they'll bag them up and they'll they'll fly him in a helicopter out and do it dump and and you know, I'm sending a whole bunch of direct fires over there. That's awesome. Yeah, I'll break the fourth wall, as they say. And and you know, we plan this interview like months ahead of time. And I remember originally we're gonna have some man of your boxing up books to send over to troops. And it's awesome to hear you're giving back. I was just like, this place is pretty small, as you can kind of see the ups guys right outside. Yeah, I was, I don't know what we can pull this off. But yeah, these books, as you said, will be signed going out, hundreds more going out. I know that you're someone who's all about giving back. Um, if you want to sign the yeah, I'm gonna sign them right now while we're live on air, go for it. And UM and go to go to a j tata dot com. As you said, if you so, people could send them to to um guys that they know men and women stationed over Yeah, so it's they could. But you know, if it goes to the USO, the us O will just distribute them, uh and and get them out to the troops everywhere. And and the pet Tillman Center is the the address and it's on my ajata dot com website. So if you want to give back, that's the way to do it. A J dot com. Uh, you know, and these guys will really appreciate it. And you should say these men and women of course, right, the men and women. And and if you just go there, you get that address and you go to Barnes and Noble dot com or you know any of the other retailers, or you go to bookstore, go to your local bookstore and and ship a book. Uh. But you know, the shipping if you're Barnes and Noble dot com member, the shipping is free to an ap oh address, which is the USO center. Is so Amazon Prime problem Amazon Prime with ship you can send them to any other address if you're a Prime that that's right, that's right. And so you can just gift a book and um, you know the troops. I get a lot of email from downrange overseas. The troops love these books and and I love sending them over there. And and we do every every book that comes out. I choose something a little bit different. Last last book, Besiege, back in March, we sent a bunch of books the v A hospitals. I signed them and we sent them to VA hospitals around the country and and so I just try to do something different. It's part of my social mission to do that. That's great. Yeah. Um, one last question. As I said that, we're on Twitch, so we actually do have questions coming in on Twitch, which, like I said, is a little newer. But we're trying to you know, go into every avenue where people do these live streams, and we're getting great feedback. Um, and I know you gotta go. You got other stuff going on, so we'll get to this one last one. Uh the donut Goon, which I do love the name. As a commander of troops in combat, what was one of your proudest moments while we eating troops? Great questions? Well, yeah, so so many of those. Um, I I would have to say, um that Uh, a young captain I I had been uh telling so this segways perfectly. I had been telling him that. There was two thousand six December Afghanistan. I was in bog Room. I was the deputy command in general there and we had the Corn and Goall outpost. Many of you probably watched the movie Corn Goall and that was the unit that followed the Tenth Mountain. I was in the tenth Mountain Division at the time, and and you know we had about troops in Afghanistan and the the I've been telling this captain, Jimmy McKnight, that I would come out to his corn and Goll outpost. And I was bringing bags of too many soldier letters and boxes and everything, and so I told my aid just bag everything up. And so I said, I'll come spend the night with you, um Christmas eve. Uh And that's what every captain wants, right as a general, to spend the night in their in their base camp. And you know usually they like a fifteen minute visit and get get out of there. But uh so snowy, foggy, everything can't fly. And it's about a two hour helicopter flight. Is right along the Pakstan border, about a few miles in and right on that rat line that that this is. This is the area where Lone Survivor happened. And everybody's watching the Loan Survivor movie or read that book. This is the exact same area where all that happened. And we did a big air asault when we first got there and took command of that area and killed or captured about two hundred taliban um and and al Qaeda that we're operating that area. And we came in about six months after the lone survivor incident had had occurred, so uh that that was important to us to sort of, um, you know, stand up for the men that had fallen there. And and so we did that. And and so about a year later, December of oh six, Um, I'm coming in on my helicopter and it's up pretty well. Uh so Christmas Eve didn't happen. I said, all right, New Year's even, well, the same thing. And so I told my first fliable day and uh we we um are January five, two thousand seven, Um, so ten years ago on my eleven years ago. Now, uh, come flying in and there's one of those things where you you just know something's wrong you're and it was there's been a lot of combat that morning in that general area we're flying in. You see holes appearing in the side of the helicopter and you know you're not popping rivets, and and the left engine catches on fire and we do what the pilots call a hard landing, and the base camp there um because it's less paperwork and uh than calling it a crash and and Jimmy McKnight comes up to me and we're piling out of the helicopter and he grabs me by I love this. He grabs me by the body armor and he's a sort of last thing I need is a dead general in my base camp. And I said, you know, Jimmy, I'll try to make you a happy man today. And you know, there's uh wearing a three sided ambush. There's machine gun fire RPGs flying everywhere. The crew chief got out of the helicopter to you know, open the door and the left engines on fire in the in the pilots power up and they ripped the I C. S cord, you know, like like this thing out of his helmet and he's left standing there. As you know, they shut down the left engine and power up with the right engine and bail and we have an apache gunship there. Jimmy McKnight stood there and and right next to us a sergeant vile gets shot and and he gets shot in the arm. And we're moving to the to the headquarters the the you know, he had a dugout down there and the little command post bunker and this sergeant was bleeding hard. He tied off his own turn turn a kit and uh he's working on the mortar ballistic computer. So the you know, converge sheaf the eighty one millimeter mortar. Guy, we had a we had a mortar out there, four deuce mortar and uh the are they they did? I was part of that team by that time. We were in combat return fire and all that, and uh the the uh he's he's got his arm held like this, he's dripping blood on the floor and and he's absolutely going into shock. And I turned to the medic and I say, you might want to look at this guy me while I'm calling Bogram to get air of support, and um, you know, Jimmy is commanding and controlling his troops, and Sergeant vile Um pushes, uh, the medic away and says, I'll let you know when you can work on me. And he keeps working on his mortar ballistic computer. He keeps shaking because he's going into shock, and he's still bleeding on the floor, and I'm like, where do we get these guys? You know? And and he has taken calls from the forward observer and uh, you know, the medic comes over there on his own accord uh, you know, a few minutes later and he says, get away from me. That's not exactly what he said, but you can well, you know, and he said get away from me. And then shortly thereafter you hear the mortar go off and it's a first round hit. He had done his job so well that he had inputted the data so well. He'd in and he calculated the machine gun, the main machine gun that was putting bullets through the roof of the command post stopped and I and then he put he takes the mortar ballistic computer, pushes it. This is a sergeant, pushes it to a private who's his assistant. He turns the medic he says, you can work on me. Now. That's my proudest moment, probably in all of my career, is to think about this young man is wounded. So we met a vat him out there. They sent another helicopter that night and you know, we you know, we left about ten hours later, and you know, it's about a ninety minute to our firefight. And uh we I pin his purple heart on the next morning and and then they fly him to launch Stool and in Germany, the hospital there. Then they spend two months in Walter read two months having his arm reconstructed. And that's that's how severe that was. You know, he was hit with a diska machine gun round and which you know, tore bone and flesh apart. This kid, this soldier, this man did his mission before he let the medic work on him. And I get emotional about it. So of course, I mean, these guys are we've talked about on the show before. They're they're not truly these superhumans. They fear like everybody else, but in those moments they just go. Yeah, his adrenaline kept going. His adrenaline sort of you know, made it so that he could focus on in his task versus that you know, I have no idea what was going on in his mind. All I know is he did exactly what he was supposed to do as a mortibility computer UM fire direction officer, and he did that. Yeah, that's truly heroic. Guys. Where else are you gonna hear these stories besides softwarep Radio from General A J Ted wrapping things up here as a reminder for all those who are listening, For a limited time, you can receive a fifty percent discounted membership to Soft rep TV, our channel that offers the most exclusive shows, documentaries and interviews covering the most exciting military content today. Softwarep TVs premier show Training Self follows former Special Operations forces as they participate in the most advanced training in the country, everything from shooting schools, defensive driving, jungle and winter warfare, climbing, and much more. Again, you can watch this content by subscribing to soft rept V that's a softwarep TV dot us and take advantage of a limited time offer of fifty off your membership that's only four a month. And then also, of course Create Club. If you haven't gotten a chance to check out the Soft rep Crate Club, you're definitely gonna want to do that asap. It's a subscription to get a box of badass tactical and survival gear delivered to your door every month. Here's the kicker. All of the gear is handpicked and tested by former Special Ops guys, so you know you're gonna get quality gear that's gonna work when you needed to. Creates we've set in the past have included gear like custom knives, multi tools, fire starters, a d C medkits. I'm always carrying stuff like from Create Club. Like, I even have the in my wallet. The old multi tool that we have. This was like the earliest crate club. To have this in your wallet at all times is pretty damn cool. I guess they should put it up to the screen and others that away on Facebook and if you're listening to the podcast, the visual isn't really working. But uh, this thing is amazing to have. Um. You know, it's like a bottle openers as a um, you know, like a saw if you needed to, and then as as a weapon on the fly. They're just always putting out awesome stuff. And I don't have it on today, but the Survival belt. We have a belt that has an L E ed white. It's got a pocket knife in there. And the thing that I've said is that no one is It's like very discreet. Look. No one would know that you're bringing that into anywhere. So it's just so cool to have that. We have all this great stuff. Um. So to subscribe and start getting your gear, visit great Club dot us. We also gift options available. That's great Club dot us. Of course, you can check out a j Tata on Facebook, uh and also a ja dot com at a J Tata on Twitter. That's you're right there, this happened less? Is this the tradition that every time you're in here you do still cover? You want some of my water here and go for it? Oh yeah, you can take whatever you what. You're welcome. I did three TV shows and now I've talked for an hour. I just think it's funny that this has happened, and it happened at the end both times you've been on, so you you have to do it a third time. It's you're cue that like, I gotta get out of here. So yeah, at And it's a J A T A t A on Twitter A j Ta to underscore author on Instagram direct Fire. The fourth and the Jim Jake Mohegan series is out today. Pick it up everywhere books are sold. And then of course we're looking forward to May eight or Reaper Ghost Target, the first of another series, the Bick Harwood series is going to come out with our friend Nick the Reaper Irving. Um, if you could talk any last words, Hey, thanks to everybody. Thanks Ian, you're you're great, and uh, I think your listeners are great. And and I am completely talked out because I did three TV shows one in an hour here, so over an hour here, I think we went. I think we went. Let's see, um we went over we went just about an hour and a half. So this is excellent. UM covered a real wide array of subjects, everything from North Korea to Iran to the book. Yeah. Good session, and I'm headed over to Barnes and Noble. If you can talk, well, I'm not doing a rading, thank you, thank god. So but I'll be signing books on the fifth Avenue Barns and awesome. Thanks so much for tuning in, guys. We've got some great feedback on this one, UM, and we'll have another episode up for you guys on Friday. Jack Murphy is going to be back next month, which our editor in chief just shot a show on Discovery Channel about the mysterious death of Nicola Tesla, so that should be pretty interesting. Um As always leave a review on Apple Podcast, follow us on Twitter and Instagram at SOFTWAREP Radio, and we're out. Thanks so much, everybody's guys, you've been listening to soff rep Radio. New episodes up every Wednesday and Friday for all of the great content from our best and journalists. Join us and become a team Room member today at soft rep dot com, follow the show on Instagram and Twitter at soft rep Radio, and be sure to also check out the Power of Thought podcast, hosted by Hurricane Group CEO and Navy Seal Sniper instructor Brandon Webb, m