Speaker 1: Up next out WOUD with Gianno called part of the
Speaker 1: gig which switch SI. Imagine you're a marine deployed to Afghanistan.
Speaker 1: Your job is to find and dispose of enemy bombs.
Speaker 1: One day, you're out there with your team. During your duty,
Speaker 1: you pause for a few minutes to take a breather
Speaker 1: and readjust your gear. But then you take one step
Speaker 1: to the right and directly onto an I E. D.
Speaker 1: The explosion changes your life forever. Today we'll hear this
Speaker 1: very story from the man who lived it. This is
Speaker 1: out Allowed with Gianno called well. Welcome back to Allow
Speaker 1: with Giano called well. I'm Gianno called well. And on
Speaker 1: this week's show, we're talking about the military, overcoming adversity
Speaker 1: and helping others. My guest today know something about all three.
Speaker 1: He's Johnny Joey Jones, a retired U. S Marine who
Speaker 1: served two combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan in eight
Speaker 1: years of active service in the Marine Corps. In twenty ten,
Speaker 1: Joey suffered a life change and injury while deployed in
Speaker 1: Afghanistan as an explosive ordinance disposal technician after stepping on
Speaker 1: an improvised expulsive device placed by the enemy. He lost
Speaker 1: both his legs above the knee and suffered severe damage
Speaker 1: to his right forearm and both wrists. Since recovering, Joey
Speaker 1: has dedicated his work to help veterans and their families.
Speaker 1: In twenty nineteen, Joey became a Fox News contributor and
Speaker 1: now he currently hosts Fox Nation Outdoors and Fox Proud
Speaker 1: American Podcast. Today, we're going to discuss his life story,
Speaker 1: all things military, and what drives him to devote so
Speaker 1: much of his life to help veterans. And with all
Speaker 1: of that, I welcome Joey Jones to the show. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for coming on out lot with Gianno Caldwell. Well,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me on. Man. When you when you
Speaker 1: hit me up about this, I was really excited. I
Speaker 1: love these long form conversations. No, I'm excited myself now.
Speaker 1: I want to just go right into it because you've
Speaker 1: achieved great success in your life and you have so
Speaker 1: much going on professionally. But I want to begin this
Speaker 1: conversation by going back before all of that, even before
Speaker 1: the military. I know you come from humble beginnings. You
Speaker 1: were the first in your family to graduate high school.
Speaker 1: Big deal. Yeah, No, sincerely, I'm telling you it's someone
Speaker 1: who's coming from these kind of environments too. I know
Speaker 1: how big of a deal that is. And at one
Speaker 1: point you worked as a forklift operator at a flooring manufacturer.
Speaker 1: Can you talk a bit about how you grew up
Speaker 1: and the values that were instilled in you at a
Speaker 1: very young age. Yeah, you know, I mean that kind
Speaker 1: of says it, all right. The first one in my
Speaker 1: family to graduate high school, to walk across the stage.
Speaker 1: And it's not for lack of intelligence, it was for
Speaker 1: lack of opportunity because you had other responsibilities. My dad
Speaker 1: had two brothers, my mom had four siblings herself, and
Speaker 1: they were both born for the purpose of being a
Speaker 1: part of the family farm kind of thing, like you
Speaker 1: needed all hands on deck. That's why you had children.
Speaker 1: And I kid all the time and tell people like
Speaker 1: my dad's experience went from like nineteen fifty nine to
Speaker 1: two thousand, and he didn't really catch all that that
Speaker 1: happened in between, because it was like he stayed in
Speaker 1: this kind of no technology, you worked hard and and
Speaker 1: take care of your family mentality up until he was
Speaker 1: sixty and had no choice but to have a smartphone
Speaker 1: to talk to me and Uh. And so all that
Speaker 1: time in between, things were pretty pretty much. You know,
Speaker 1: you're a lot on your family and your you. You
Speaker 1: owe what you owe to your family and they owe
Speaker 1: it to you. And there were a lot of hiccups
Speaker 1: and a lot of problems, a lot of adversity. But
Speaker 1: to have that coming out and going into the world. UM,
Speaker 1: any success I've had, it's because I had that foundation.
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm. Now you just mentioned something that I want
Speaker 1: to dig into more. You said that there was a
Speaker 1: lot of problems and a lot of adversity. You mind
Speaker 1: talking about that a little bit? No, not at all.
Speaker 1: And I talked about this fairly freely. My dad was
Speaker 1: an alcoholic and my mom suffered from her own problems. Uh.
Speaker 1: I think her diagnosis is manic. Um, I get him
Speaker 1: mixed up like mannic or bipolar or something. She has
Speaker 1: really high highs, really low lows and doesn't trust anybody.
Speaker 1: And when she's in her lows, she thinks everybody's legit
Speaker 1: at me, trying to undermine her, hurt her. And it's
Speaker 1: because she was, um, you know, abused in a lot
Speaker 1: of ways growing up and um like, for example, my
Speaker 1: mom was woken up at fifteen and said, hey, you're
Speaker 1: gonna go with this man and you're gonna marry him.
Speaker 1: And it's because he had traded her dad basically his
Speaker 1: truck and um, and that's in South Alabama, you know.
Speaker 1: And so not not to paint everyone that from her
Speaker 1: side of the family is bad, but that was the
Speaker 1: experience they had. So my mom, you know, lost her
Speaker 1: virginity and and got pregnant on her wedding night, and
Speaker 1: my sister was born. She was was sixteen, seventeen years
Speaker 1: older my sister, and so and my sister's early years,
Speaker 1: my mom was figuring it out. She went through a
Speaker 1: lot of depression and drug addiction, and when she found
Speaker 1: my dad, she also kind of found redemption. And he
Speaker 1: had had his own struggles through his first wife and
Speaker 1: and they were kind of each other's saving grace at
Speaker 1: that time in their life. And from it came me,
Speaker 1: and then a few years after that came a marriage.
Speaker 1: So I mean, if you can talk about as as
Speaker 1: redneck and hill bill as it, yes, that was it.
Speaker 1: But from that adversity came a lot of things that
Speaker 1: they were never able to overcome, but always had the
Speaker 1: heart and the mindset to overcome it, you know, they,
Speaker 1: more than anybody I've ever known, focused on making life
Speaker 1: better for their kids than what they had had. And
Speaker 1: my dad's family was very positive. I mean they were
Speaker 1: solid of the earth. I mean not as not as
Speaker 1: maybe parody backwards, but very much likely the clamp its
Speaker 1: from Beverly Hillbillies. Like they just everything was about the family.
Speaker 1: My dad had two brothers, his mom and dad. My
Speaker 1: grandparents on my dad's side was the epitome of what
Speaker 1: a love should be for two people. And so when
Speaker 1: my safe for example, like my dad always wanted me
Speaker 1: to play football, but he only ever came to two
Speaker 1: football games because he couldn't drink there. But I had
Speaker 1: a grandfather and two uncles that were there, So if
Speaker 1: you put all four of them together, I had all
Speaker 1: the right positive experiences for a father and um and
Speaker 1: I was a lucky in that, you know, and we
Speaker 1: talk all the time about like a nuclear family and
Speaker 1: how important the father is. Well you know what aunts
Speaker 1: and uncles and grandparents are important to like it does
Speaker 1: take a village and um, and I just wish people
Speaker 1: would understand the honor and importance it is to be
Speaker 1: in a child's life, regardless of kind of where what
Speaker 1: position you hold by title. Because it took my aunts
Speaker 1: and my uncles and my grandparents and my older sister
Speaker 1: um and they all invested in me, and man, then
Speaker 1: I just owe it to them to go out and
Speaker 1: get it done. Wow that man, you know as you talk,
Speaker 1: it's so much reminds me of my own life, although
Speaker 1: the circumstances were a bit different. My mom was addicted
Speaker 1: to crack cocaine and my dad was in my life.
Speaker 1: I saw him on the weekends, my grandfather's small business,
Speaker 1: plumbing construction business, if you take me with them on
Speaker 1: the weekends. But things were really rough during the week
Speaker 1: at home and the things that I saw, and it
Speaker 1: reminds me so much of my own upbringing. And I
Speaker 1: know that even years after being removed from that environment
Speaker 1: because I'm thirty four years old now, moved out of
Speaker 1: the house when I was nineteen years old, those issues
Speaker 1: from way back when still impact me today. And you
Speaker 1: think about the reality of how you think right now,
Speaker 1: how you move, you know, when people say things to you,
Speaker 1: how it makes you feel. How is that impacting you today?
Speaker 1: You know this, And what I love about this is
Speaker 1: we're so different yet so alike and that's that's what
Speaker 1: cause the human conditions consistent. Right, Like more than likely
Speaker 1: you and I were exposed to the type of trauma
Speaker 1: and had the just the good luck or good influence
Speaker 1: respond to it in a way that it ultimately became
Speaker 1: a positive thing for us because when we started to
Speaker 1: experience trauma as adults, we had tools to deal with
Speaker 1: it and it didn't just wreck us because hey, we've
Speaker 1: been there, We've done that, and we figured it out
Speaker 1: through God's grace, good luck and maybe some good people.
Speaker 1: And so not to jump over away from your your
Speaker 1: question to begin with, but today, when I experienced trauma,
Speaker 1: like for example, getting blown up in Afghanistan, I've got
Speaker 1: a basis of knowledge, Like I've been through the valley
Speaker 1: and I know that I'm gonna make it to the mountaintop,
Speaker 1: like I've done that before. I mean, I've I sit
Speaker 1: there and watch my dad get mad about things and
Speaker 1: throw the refrigerator out the back door and my mom
Speaker 1: just crying, and it's like, man, it can't get worse
Speaker 1: than this. And then we wake up the next morning
Speaker 1: and he takes us to breakfast, and he owns up
Speaker 1: to what he did wrong, and he explains himself when
Speaker 1: we go on about our lives. And it's not because
Speaker 1: that will never happen again, but it's because he doesn't
Speaker 1: never want it to happen again. Right, And so, like
Speaker 1: humans make mistakes and keep making them. But if you
Speaker 1: can survive that as a child and come out in
Speaker 1: a positive way, come out knowing these people loves you,
Speaker 1: even if they hurt you sometimes and not on purpose,
Speaker 1: and and we're remorseful, and you can learn to forgive
Speaker 1: them and see something in them that's better than your
Speaker 1: than their worst moment. Then when you go through trauma
Speaker 1: of your own as an adult, one you know whatever
Speaker 1: that is, you're gonna survive it. Two, when you do
Speaker 1: make mistakes, you know there's redemption there for it. And
Speaker 1: three you see that love is complex and it's not
Speaker 1: black and white. It's not a m calm. It comes
Speaker 1: with its own skeletons, but it also comes with the
Speaker 1: sunshine too. And and so that's kind of with the
Speaker 1: way I process things. And and it's been very helpful,
Speaker 1: Like it you and your words said, I'm very successful,
Speaker 1: and I think I am, but I'm successful because I
Speaker 1: have two kids and I love them and they know it,
Speaker 1: and I just don't know that there's more success than that. Man,
Speaker 1: I mean, you're just dropping jewels. Is what you're saying
Speaker 1: is very profound, and I think for a lot of
Speaker 1: people who are listening right now, they can just apply
Speaker 1: some of these principles to their own lives, no matter
Speaker 1: if they came from a wealthy family, no matter if
Speaker 1: they came from a poor family, whatever the set of
Speaker 1: circumstances were. They can take exactly what you're saying and
Speaker 1: just reevaluate their lives based on that and say, man,
Speaker 1: I can do battert what do you say with the
Speaker 1: grace of God, um, good luck and some good people.
Speaker 1: I think that's just I think that's really amazing. Thank
Speaker 1: you for sharing that. Joey No, you mentioned Afghanistan and
Speaker 1: you joined the military when you were eighteen years old.
Speaker 1: Why did you join the military at a you know,
Speaker 1: what was your experience like during the first few years
Speaker 1: in the military, including your deployment in Iraq? You know
Speaker 1: why during the military is you know, I'm a product
Speaker 1: of that nine eleven generation, right. It affected all of
Speaker 1: us and we all found different ways to respond to it.
Speaker 1: But I don't believe any of us did not have
Speaker 1: the trajectory of our lives changed if we were adolescent
Speaker 1: preteen or teen and watched those towers fall and what
Speaker 1: happened to our country afterwards. For me, the military was
Speaker 1: just the avenue, like I remember, um, you know a
Speaker 1: lot of people remember the towers falling. I saw that,
Speaker 1: but it didn't have an immediate impact because growing up
Speaker 1: in North Georgia with not a lot of money, never
Speaker 1: been on an airplane or even a bus. New York
Speaker 1: was as far away as Tel Aviv, Like, it just
Speaker 1: was not even it didn't even register. So I didn't
Speaker 1: have that immediate impact of hey, they attacked us on
Speaker 1: our home school. But what I did have was a
Speaker 1: few years later when a guy that was on my
Speaker 1: football team and upper classmen deployed and came back and
Speaker 1: just the changes in him he had seen ward. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it also boys become men and women or girls
Speaker 1: become women, and like he had seen a new team
Speaker 1: in a brotherhood, and and just you could see that's
Speaker 1: what came from it, not just the war. And I thought, man,
Speaker 1: how how cool to be to have some of that
Speaker 1: in my life. So when I graduated high school, that
Speaker 1: was the accomplishment. There was no expectation beyond that for
Speaker 1: my parents, who had never seen that, that was the accomplishment,
Speaker 1: even in two thousand four when college was more mainstream.
Speaker 1: So for me it was like, well, I didn't have
Speaker 1: the financial support or really the attention span to go
Speaker 1: into college. Laying brick and block was not easy. So
Speaker 1: I joined the industry in my town, which was to
Speaker 1: make carpet and didn't really like that a whole lot,
Speaker 1: and it just needed to be something more. And I
Speaker 1: just remember the day I woke up and realized my
Speaker 1: mom cleans houses and my dad builds them. They provide
Speaker 1: services for other people, and they do it with hard work.
Speaker 1: What can I do? Like, how do I honor that?
Speaker 1: How do I honor everything they give up to give
Speaker 1: me decent clothes to go to school in in a
Speaker 1: vehicle to drive things they didn't get? How do I
Speaker 1: honor that? And the military just was the most obvious
Speaker 1: thing for me. So in short, because nothing I say
Speaker 1: short kind that's okay. I kind of went for selfish
Speaker 1: reasons because it was about me in my life, but
Speaker 1: it was also for others in the sense that I'll
Speaker 1: put three this way. I joined the Marine Corps eighteen
Speaker 1: and that was all about me, but by the time
Speaker 1: I was twenty, it was all about being something, a
Speaker 1: part of something bigger than myself and and serving it.
Speaker 1: Really did everything they preached. Man, I just soaked it
Speaker 1: up and it made sense to me more with Joey
Speaker 1: jem was right after this. How old are you? Joey,
Speaker 1: I'm thirty four for about three more weeks, so I'm
Speaker 1: I'm hanging in there. Wow, bro, I'm thirty four two. Okay,
Speaker 1: so you're a little older, been than me by what
Speaker 1: five months or so? So now that that's great to know.
Speaker 1: I didn't really realize that. Now you were deployed in Afghanistan.
Speaker 1: It's a technician, and I mean there was a life
Speaker 1: event that pretty much changed your entire existence. Now, it
Speaker 1: was a day that you stepped on you improvised explosive
Speaker 1: device i e. D and lost both your legs. Can
Speaker 1: you take us back to that day? Can you describe
Speaker 1: what happened? Yeah? Unfortunately or unfortunately one of the big
Speaker 1: mixed numbers and movies are probably to blame for this,
Speaker 1: but also just trauma in general. Like people think when
Speaker 1: you get hit by a bomb, you're knocked out and
Speaker 1: you wake up in the hospital, And the truth is,
Speaker 1: unless your head gets hit, you don't go unconscious. A
Speaker 1: matter of fact, you're going through shock, which means in
Speaker 1: some ways you're way more alert than you probably want
Speaker 1: to be. So my job as an e O D.
Speaker 1: Explosive ordnance disposal or bomb technician, it's kind of like
Speaker 1: the movie hurt Locker, although the movie doesn't really show
Speaker 1: the job correctly in in reality. By two thousand ten,
Speaker 1: in Afghanistan, we didn't wear bomb suits, and we worked
Speaker 1: on two man teams, not three men teams. And we
Speaker 1: were walking on foot with a patrol. We weren't in
Speaker 1: a vehicle with robots, and the majority of the work
Speaker 1: we did was by hand. Um. We tried to use
Speaker 1: robots when we could, but in Afghanistan the bombs were
Speaker 1: placed in in so remote places we couldn't get the
Speaker 1: equipment there. And so my number one tool for taking
Speaker 1: a part of bomb was a pair of trauma shares
Speaker 1: um and like a little hook with some cord on
Speaker 1: it so I could get some distance when I needed
Speaker 1: to black tape and in another explosive charge, I've had
Speaker 1: to blow it in place. And it was all by hand.
Speaker 1: And so I say that because a lot of people
Speaker 1: don't understand that, and so how did this for six
Speaker 1: months on that deployment, and then on the sixth morning
Speaker 1: of an operation it was August six. We started it
Speaker 1: on August one. The job was to go in and
Speaker 1: clear out a town called Safar Bazar. You can look
Speaker 1: it up and google it. We have our little Wikipedia page.
Speaker 1: It was Operation Roadhouse too, and we took a couple
Speaker 1: hundred marines in six bomb texts, and those six bomb
Speaker 1: texts were three teams of two men each, and each
Speaker 1: team had its own responsibility, and my team mate and
Speaker 1: I had the responsibility of being with the main effort,
Speaker 1: so clearing the main path ahead of us. And so
Speaker 1: for five days we cleared city blocks, street by street,
Speaker 1: and then on the sixth day we started clearing the buildings,
Speaker 1: and the town was pretty much a ghost town. Because
Speaker 1: our respect for collateral damage in civilian life means we're
Speaker 1: gonna let them know we're coming. And this town was
Speaker 1: known for stockpiling the bomb parts that they would send
Speaker 1: up to other places. So when we told him we
Speaker 1: were coming in order to keep the civilians safe, the
Speaker 1: bad guys took all those bomb parts and put them
Speaker 1: in the ground and made a mind filled out of
Speaker 1: the town. But we had to go in and clear
Speaker 1: to the town because they were using it basically as
Speaker 1: a as an enemy base. And so for five days
Speaker 1: we were very successful. I worked thirty eight eight s
Speaker 1: and five days, and UM on the sixth morning, Basically
Speaker 1: what happens. I stepped on an idea I didn't know
Speaker 1: it was there, and that happens. It's kind of ironic,
Speaker 1: considering I had knelt down and touched a hundred of
Speaker 1: them with my hands, and it was the one I
Speaker 1: didn't even know it was there that got me UM.
Speaker 1: And the unfortunate part about that day is that a
Speaker 1: marine engineer, Corporal Daniel Greer from Knoxville, Tennessee, UM lost
Speaker 1: his life to the same bomb. And that's really the
Speaker 1: irony war I stepped on it. He was twenty ft
Speaker 1: away a piece of a wall, a big rock hit
Speaker 1: him in the head. Traumatic brain injury took his life.
Speaker 1: And of course I lost my legs, but man, you know,
Speaker 1: it would be very selfish to me to complain about
Speaker 1: losing my legs when that could have taken my life.
Speaker 1: And so really what that was, if anything, was just
Speaker 1: a wake up call. It kind of kind of reset
Speaker 1: my compass a little bit. As I began to recover,
Speaker 1: a lot of other things changed in my life and
Speaker 1: and I had a chance to just kind of refocus.
Speaker 1: And my recovery was an opportunity, to to say the least.
Speaker 1: And it's you know, I tell people all the time,
Speaker 1: let today be the last worst day of your life,
Speaker 1: which means you can change your perspective and make every
Speaker 1: day after a tragic event better. Um, and that's what
Speaker 1: I chose to do. Did you have children at that point?
Speaker 1: I had a son, And you know, I told you
Speaker 1: before we got started. I love these kind of conversations,
Speaker 1: get a chance to kind of let it go. And
Speaker 1: uh So the whole story of my son is I
Speaker 1: was very single and very much a marine and in
Speaker 1: very good shape and enjoyed to meet new people, to
Speaker 1: include ladies. And so I had a son from a
Speaker 1: one night stand and I just found out about him
Speaker 1: right before I deployed. He had made it to about
Speaker 1: five months old before I met him. And uh I
Speaker 1: like to say I did the right thing, but I
Speaker 1: just did the the only option I had, which was
Speaker 1: I was ecstatic I had a child. I gave him
Speaker 1: my name. His mom and I worked together to figure
Speaker 1: it out and do all the legal stuff. We we
Speaker 1: didn't get together, but we decided to raise this sun
Speaker 1: as two parents that love him. And so when I
Speaker 1: got hurt, I'd only spent two or three days with him.
Speaker 1: And by the time I got hurt and made it home,
Speaker 1: he was a year old. Um. And so I tell people,
Speaker 1: you know, we learned to walk together and uh. And
Speaker 1: that's how we became friends and and the father and
Speaker 1: the son, and he's been here with me ever since.
Speaker 1: Now I've got a little daughter. M h. That's a
Speaker 1: that's a man. I tell you, that's one of the
Speaker 1: more interesting stories, especially when you know that life isn't
Speaker 1: all about you anymore. And you had this experience that
Speaker 1: you just mentioned was from a one night's thing. You
Speaker 1: didn't know that you had a child out there, but
Speaker 1: you find out right before you go. And I'm imagining
Speaker 1: as you have this experience, because you talk about a
Speaker 1: bit about the recovery, but as you have this experience, mentally,
Speaker 1: I just wonder what was going on with you at
Speaker 1: that time you got you got a child. Now you're like, okay,
Speaker 1: how you know, how are they gonna look at me.
Speaker 1: I didn't spend much time with them. Your family, I'm
Speaker 1: sure probably was, you know, all concerned about what was
Speaker 1: going to happen, what life was gonna be like for you,
Speaker 1: And I know you were wondering what life was gonna
Speaker 1: be like for you, you know, one of the I
Speaker 1: guess unfortunate blessings of my job and there when I
Speaker 1: joined the Marine e O. D. Field And and what's
Speaker 1: different about the Marine Corps than the other services. Has
Speaker 1: to become a bomb tech. You volunteered into it, but
Speaker 1: you have to have served for a certain amount of
Speaker 1: years and reach a certain rank before you can do it.
Speaker 1: And they really want anybody that goes through that training
Speaker 1: to be dedicated to it and know really what they're
Speaker 1: getting into. And so just to join the Marine Corps
Speaker 1: e O. D. Field, Man, I had seen it happen.
Speaker 1: I'd had Buddy's deployed come back without legs. I kind
Speaker 1: of knew the process. And then even on that deployment,
Speaker 1: I've seen it happen a half a dozen times, either
Speaker 1: right in front of me or showed up immediately after
Speaker 1: and help clean it up. So when I lost my
Speaker 1: legs and went through the recovery, it was more about
Speaker 1: just kind of uh, setting a goal and checking it off.
Speaker 1: Setting a goal and checking it off. I can't say
Speaker 1: that I was prepared for it, but it didn't hit
Speaker 1: me by surprise either. If your job to take bombs apart,
Speaker 1: you better be mantally prepared for the probabilities, if not,
Speaker 1: if not, the possibilities and uh and so for me, like,
Speaker 1: for example, man, I got a picture of the first
Speaker 1: time I pete standing up, and it's kind of funny,
Speaker 1: but it was also a goal I set, like, Hey,
Speaker 1: that's something I used to do without thinking twice. I
Speaker 1: can't do that anymore. I need help to go to
Speaker 1: the bathroom when I'm walking enough that I can take
Speaker 1: myself to the bathroom and stand up and urinate like
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take a picture of it. Mark that a
Speaker 1: And I did that with every goal. And as far
Speaker 1: as my son goes, I mean, I often say he
Speaker 1: kind of saved my life because I never wanted for motivation.
Speaker 1: Nothing motivates you like responsibility, and I had his responsibility
Speaker 1: to be a father. And you can't do that laying
Speaker 1: in the hospital bed worried about what you lost. You
Speaker 1: gotta be able to appreciate what you have and do
Speaker 1: the right thing. And so for me, it was like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I've got learned how to throw a
Speaker 1: baseball without legs. I've got to learn how to teach
Speaker 1: this kid to drive. I've got to learn how to
Speaker 1: take him to a restaurant. I gotta learn how to
Speaker 1: discipline him and work him like my dad did me. Um,
Speaker 1: and these legs can't be the reason why I don't
Speaker 1: do that. He deserves more than that, you know, Joey,
Speaker 1: thank you for sharing that story. But I'm reminded of
Speaker 1: how we first met, and I believe, if I'm correct,
Speaker 1: the first time we met was in a Fox Nation
Speaker 1: studio and we were on a panel together, and I
Speaker 1: just remember thinking and seeing you and wondering, how the
Speaker 1: hell does this guy have such a a great attitude?
Speaker 1: You were just and every time I've seen you since
Speaker 1: we were just hosting a show together on Fox News Channel,
Speaker 1: maybe you were three weeks ago or so, and you're
Speaker 1: just always in good spirits. I text you your good spirits?
Speaker 1: How do you have such a good disposition after all
Speaker 1: that has happened um to you, and and and and
Speaker 1: certainly with your family, how do you continue, You're happier,
Speaker 1: seemingly to me than people who have had everything good
Speaker 1: go for their lives. And I get it. Not everyone's
Speaker 1: had everything good going for the lives, but certainly they
Speaker 1: got all kind of things to call for money, success
Speaker 1: and all these other things. You're more happy than they are.
Speaker 1: How is that possible, Joey? You know, you see these
Speaker 1: movies and you have these full brass and are always
Speaker 1: complaining because they've never they've never needed to want for something,
Speaker 1: and they had created this false expectation that everything's supposed
Speaker 1: to happen and happens when they wanted to. That is
Speaker 1: never a factor in my life. I'm not saying that
Speaker 1: I wasn't taken care of, but it was never presented
Speaker 1: to me that things will go the way I wanted
Speaker 1: them to, or even in my favorite was presented to
Speaker 1: me that things got to get done towards gotta get
Speaker 1: done work. It's gotta get done and you've gotta be
Speaker 1: the one doing it. And so I just have a
Speaker 1: gratitude for the positive things that happened in my life,
Speaker 1: and it's hard for me not to focus on them
Speaker 1: about it. You know, there's some people that are really
Speaker 1: good at sports, are really good at dancing and seeing it.
Speaker 1: I don't have any of those gifts, but life has
Speaker 1: a way of working out for the for the positive
Speaker 1: things I want in my life, and I'm always grateful
Speaker 1: for that. That's a blessing. And I mean, I wish
Speaker 1: I had a better answer, because I know, I know
Speaker 1: how difficult it is for some people. Um, but I just,
Speaker 1: you know, something clicks for me a long time ago
Speaker 1: that made me just incredibly grateful to still be alive,
Speaker 1: but also to still have these blessings in my life.
Speaker 1: And I've never felt like they were supposed to happen.
Speaker 1: I've never felt like I was oathed them. I never
Speaker 1: felt like they were gonna happen no matter what. And
Speaker 1: so when you're raised to work for it and then
Speaker 1: things happen and you don't feel like you've even worked
Speaker 1: that hard for like you're like, it's hard to explain,
Speaker 1: but it's like I didn't do anything for my daughter
Speaker 1: to love me but make her, but she loves me unconditionally.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's such a blessing that I wake
Speaker 1: up happy. Like when I wake up and I hear
Speaker 1: her say Daddy, It's like, why in the world would
Speaker 1: would she be so happy to see me like that?
Speaker 1: Those things happen every day. And if you're not grateful
Speaker 1: for that, if it doesn't make you happy, like I
Speaker 1: don't know you can be happy? And I worry for you. Man,
Speaker 1: this is your an adultes is so inspiring. Now, let
Speaker 1: me ask you this question, what role does guy play
Speaker 1: in your life? Because I hear a lot of tones
Speaker 1: and what you say and everything you say, and you've've
Speaker 1: seen it on air. What role do this guy really
Speaker 1: ultimately play in your life? All the roles and none
Speaker 1: of them are defined. Like I was raised in church
Speaker 1: and I don't go to church now, um, but I
Speaker 1: don't have anything against it, just isn't um the experience
Speaker 1: I'm looking for. I have a very spiritual experience. I
Speaker 1: pray and talk to out a lot and um, but
Speaker 1: I don't want to limit God. And so my experience
Speaker 1: is that the difference between faith and religion is religion
Speaker 1: as we as people trying to figure it out, and
Speaker 1: faith is just feeling it. And so I've leaned into
Speaker 1: faith and a and I'm worried that if I ascribe
Speaker 1: to a specific um dogma, I guess I would be
Speaker 1: limiting God's ability to play a role in my life.
Speaker 1: If I if I put rules on God, then perhaps
Speaker 1: I limit God. And so I believe in faith, and
Speaker 1: I believe in things of that nature. Um, and I
Speaker 1: don't I don't corner it, so I don't stop it
Speaker 1: from from working the way it's supposed to. I don't
Speaker 1: think any human being makes it through most of life's
Speaker 1: adversity for any of us, by ourselves. And if it's
Speaker 1: through the works of a deity or other people, um,
Speaker 1: I call that God and I give it credit. And
Speaker 1: it doesn't have to be one to fine thing for
Speaker 1: me to believe in it. Now, thank you for sharing
Speaker 1: your perspective on that. Now you have to retire ring
Speaker 1: from the military. You want on to graduate from Georgetown
Speaker 1: University in teen with a degree in liberal studies and
Speaker 1: social and public policy. And you often went to Capitol
Speaker 1: Hill to introduce yourself to politicians there. What were you
Speaker 1: thinking at that time? You know what I was thinking.
Speaker 1: I was thinking, every one of these dudes and ladies
Speaker 1: up here are gonna want to take a picture with
Speaker 1: me because I'm a shandy object. Right, I'm a warder
Speaker 1: and uniform that lost his legs. But what they don't
Speaker 1: know is I'm smarter than they think, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: sneak up on them what's something I care about and
Speaker 1: make them care about it too. And so that's kind
Speaker 1: of how I handled that. I um, I kinda it's
Speaker 1: a crazy story, and if I don't have enough time
Speaker 1: to say it, But basically, when I was recovering, I
Speaker 1: recovered pretty quickly and the paperwork couldn't keep up with
Speaker 1: my pace. UM I got injured August six, two thousand
Speaker 1: and ten. I was walking and by all accounts, fully
Speaker 1: recovered by February two thou eleven. And it takes about
Speaker 1: two years just for the retirement process to happen. And
Speaker 1: usually in those two years, you go to college or
Speaker 1: you do Paralympics, and they kind of keep you busy
Speaker 1: E up in d C back in during this time.
Speaker 1: But I wanted something more than that. I knew I
Speaker 1: wasn't gonna lay breaking block for a living. I knew
Speaker 1: I probably wasn't gonna earn my living as a marine
Speaker 1: for the rest of my career. So what can I do.
Speaker 1: I can go educate myself. And so I started college
Speaker 1: with a community college on campus October. So I got
Speaker 1: injured in August. I started doing classes in October, and
Speaker 1: as soon as I was independent could leave campus, which
Speaker 1: was around February. I had rolled at Georgetown and started
Speaker 1: school there, and in doing school while I became interested
Speaker 1: in policy because I was at Georgetown and we were
Speaker 1: learning kind of how policy started for mankind. And so
Speaker 1: I had an opportunity to go up to Capitol Hill
Speaker 1: and meet Chairman Jeff Miller. Actually I met him over
Speaker 1: at Eighth and N if you're familiar with d C
Speaker 1: over at the Marine Corps barracks. And I rolled up
Speaker 1: to Chairman Miller, who's the chairman of the Veterans Affairs
Speaker 1: Committee at the time for the Republicans who were in charge.
Speaker 1: But more importantly, he represented the first District of Florida,
Speaker 1: where the e O D School is and a lot
Speaker 1: of EO D retire. And I said, Mr Chairman, I
Speaker 1: know all your constituents and they think you should give
Speaker 1: me a job, which was a very ignorant thing to say,
Speaker 1: but it worked. No, it wasn't. It wasn't ignorant, so
Speaker 1: it was naive maybe, and uh it was attention. He
Speaker 1: thought I was retired. He didn't know all his active
Speaker 1: duty and had a daily commitment to the hospital and
Speaker 1: was living right beside it. So that was on a Friday.
Speaker 1: On Monday, they're like, hey, will you come up and
Speaker 1: submit a resume where we'd like to look at hiring
Speaker 1: you for a fellowship or an internship unpaid. So I
Speaker 1: went and bought a suit. I typed up probably the
Speaker 1: worst resume that has ever made its way to Capitol
Speaker 1: Hill and was successful, set in front of him, did
Speaker 1: an interview, and they're like, yeah, next week to lot four,
Speaker 1: but the Monday after that would love for you to
Speaker 1: start coming in And I did a fellowship, So I
Speaker 1: went and worked out with my therapist from seven and nine.
Speaker 1: I was at Capitol Hill by ten, and then I
Speaker 1: left at three or six, depending on the day, at
Speaker 1: three two to three days a week to go to
Speaker 1: college that night. And that was kind of my routine
Speaker 1: until the Marine Corps found out out that they had
Speaker 1: some realgunded warrior working up on Capitol Hill and they're like, listen,
Speaker 1: you gotta have ethics training and it's got to be approved.
Speaker 1: And by that point, I've been there so long that
Speaker 1: like they didn't have a choice but to leave me there,
Speaker 1: and so I ended up having a pretty good impact
Speaker 1: on some policy and just really have been involved in
Speaker 1: some way with it ever since. So that's interesting. And
Speaker 1: you were in in d C the same period I
Speaker 1: was there. I was there from twelve seventeen, so we
Speaker 1: we might have even ran into each other, maybe the
Speaker 1: r n C or something like that, who knows, but
Speaker 1: I would have remembered you, for sure. I would have
Speaker 1: some I'm thinking probably not, but we were in the
Speaker 1: same place. So you go from Capitol Hill, you had
Speaker 1: some good impact on policy. I'm interested real quick, what
Speaker 1: was that policy? And I want to I want to
Speaker 1: get to your started Fox News. Yeah, so what the
Speaker 1: big things at the time was right before I started
Speaker 1: working for Age fact, John Baynard being the Speaker of
Speaker 1: the House and put some kind of a hiring freeze
Speaker 1: and so like. Basically it was all about the fiscal
Speaker 1: responsibility side of being a Republican. They weren't letting Congress
Speaker 1: just hire and fill all the seats and jobs that
Speaker 1: the Democrats had held before him, and it was kind
Speaker 1: of more of a we're gonna show you all that
Speaker 1: it can be done fiscally responsible. It's what that meant was.
Speaker 1: I didn't even havev into college education. And I was
Speaker 1: working as the only other staff member in the Disability
Speaker 1: Assistance and Momoral Affairs Office of the House Winners Affairs Committee,
Speaker 1: And so I set across the table from veteran service
Speaker 1: organizations lobbying for different things to be done. But I
Speaker 1: had a little bit of a card that I could
Speaker 1: pull because they were used to sitting that across the
Speaker 1: table from civilian Harvard grads, not guys and gals that
Speaker 1: actually been through the system. And so there was something
Speaker 1: called the improvised or the it's called the I D
Speaker 1: E S. I can't remember what the eye stands for,
Speaker 1: but it's the disability evaluation system, and so used to
Speaker 1: when you got injured like me catastrophically, you were completely
Speaker 1: evaluated by the D O D. They finished their evaluation,
Speaker 1: then you got a rating from them, and then you
Speaker 1: started from scratch with the v A and then a
Speaker 1: full evaluation with them, and you got your pension. And
Speaker 1: we were able to combine that into one process and
Speaker 1: UM and they really looked to me to give the
Speaker 1: user experience side of it. And then there were other
Speaker 1: things where people were just lobbying for random things, and
Speaker 1: I could really sniff the bull crab, this podcast the
Speaker 1: bullshit and uh and and let the decision makers know, hey,
Speaker 1: this is not something that this has not helped the
Speaker 1: veteran community, or this is not what it looks like. Um.
Speaker 1: And so those were two of the places. I mean. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: even back then, getting substantive bills passed was not easy,
Speaker 1: but just having that type of influence on policymakers was
Speaker 1: a lot of fun. We're talking to Fox Nation hosts
Speaker 1: and retired US marine Joey Jones. You got so much
Speaker 1: more with him right at their kid break. How did
Speaker 1: you go? You? You talked about your background, family background,
Speaker 1: and you talked about going into the military. What happened there?
Speaker 1: And then you just happened to go up to someone
Speaker 1: to say your constituents, I know a lot of your constituents,
Speaker 1: give me a job. How did you from all of
Speaker 1: that experience, how did you end up on TV? Where
Speaker 1: did Fox News come and play with all of this? Well,
Speaker 1: basically what happened is in all of that, I really
Speaker 1: got a lot of assistance from military nonprofits, and I
Speaker 1: felt guilty about it early on, like, hey, yeah, well
Speaker 1: doing way too much for me. How can I help you? Like,
Speaker 1: obviously I'm a communicator. I like to talk. Maybe I've
Speaker 1: got a gift for it. Can I lend my voice
Speaker 1: and communication experience to you. One of those nonprofits was
Speaker 1: out of d C, and of the many things they did,
Speaker 1: they took monded veterans to NASCAR races and did some
Speaker 1: fun stuff. And I ended up meeting this lady, Jen
Speaker 1: Williams while I was volunteering for that, which was about
Speaker 1: the same time I worked on the Hill and went
Speaker 1: to Georgetown and most of my voluntering town was on
Speaker 1: the weekends, and um Jen Williams had been a Fox
Speaker 1: and Friends producer and left to be freelance and she
Speaker 1: was working on a project with a NASCAR and I
Speaker 1: met her that way and we became friends. A few
Speaker 1: years later in Kyle Carpenter, who had taken my fellowship
Speaker 1: that I created and took it after me was about
Speaker 1: to get awarded the Medal of Honor I had recovered
Speaker 1: with him and and Gay and told them, Hey, this
Speaker 1: is the guy you want working on the Hill. So
Speaker 1: she asked me to come on and talk about him
Speaker 1: during Gression Carlson's show at the time because it was
Speaker 1: called The Real Story. So I go and a mike
Speaker 1: up and it's my first time doing live TV and
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna talk about my buddy Kyle, and President
Speaker 1: Obama interrupts and does the speech and he's like, hey,
Speaker 1: there's a scroup called ISIS and we're probably gonna have
Speaker 1: to go to war with him. And she's like, Hey,
Speaker 1: since you already miked up, do you mind to just
Speaker 1: talk about it? What was an important enough speech and
Speaker 1: lasted long enough that everybody had tuned in, So if
Speaker 1: you were tuned into Fox News watching President Obama when
Speaker 1: it cut away, there was Joey Jones giving you given
Speaker 1: Obama the what for on this and UM, and that
Speaker 1: was my introduction to television news. And from there, I've
Speaker 1: had a really a fast success on Twitter. And Greg
Speaker 1: gutt Felt and Mike Huckabee saw me on Twitter, didn't
Speaker 1: even know I had been on each invited me onto
Speaker 1: their new shows, respectively, and the rest kind of went
Speaker 1: from there. What what did you say about Obama at
Speaker 1: that time? UM? I don't remember. You know, I was
Speaker 1: still in uniforms UM up until twelve, so at that
Speaker 1: time I was recently retired and I just didn't um.
Speaker 1: You know, here's the best story I can get. For
Speaker 1: President Obama. I went to the White House and had
Speaker 1: dinner with him with a bunch of four star generals,
Speaker 1: and while I was having dinner, he kind of looks
Speaker 1: at me, goes, Johnny, if you were back in the
Speaker 1: same place doing the same thing, how would you do
Speaker 1: it differently? And I said, well, Mr President, I'd step left,
Speaker 1: and like you know, Maddess started laughing, but none of
Speaker 1: the other ones got it. And what it was is like,
Speaker 1: you know, when I stepped right and step on a bomb.
Speaker 1: But the bigger point there was, hey, man, that's for
Speaker 1: you to figure out. Like my job was to do
Speaker 1: what was in front of me, the big stuff up
Speaker 1: to you, like figure it out. And um, so that's
Speaker 1: how I've treated all politicians. Like I tell you, he's
Speaker 1: very charismatic and very good at his words, but I never,
Speaker 1: really it always felt like he was on. I mean
Speaker 1: in actually a handful of times, and it it always felt
Speaker 1: he was performing. And I can't be insincere because I
Speaker 1: haven't met another sitting president. I met Trump before he
Speaker 1: was president, I met Bush after. But I can imagine
Speaker 1: it may be that they're all kind of feeling like
Speaker 1: they're performing at all time. So I was never overly
Speaker 1: harsh of President Obama. But I've always called balls and
Speaker 1: strikes with any of the presidents. That's just who I
Speaker 1: am speaking of. I would like for you to put
Speaker 1: on your Fox News Fox Nation hat for a minute
Speaker 1: before we close out this show. First, you're a veteran
Speaker 1: of war in Afghanistan. I just read on Fox News
Speaker 1: dot Com that all US forces have been removed from
Speaker 1: the Bagram Airfield, the largest military base in Afghanistan. We're
Speaker 1: going to be completely out of Aghanist Afghanistan by September eleven,
Speaker 1: according to the Biden administration. A lot of Americans want
Speaker 1: out of the longest war in American history. But we
Speaker 1: also see now that we're leaving the Taliban taking over
Speaker 1: district after district from the Afghan government. It looks like
Speaker 1: the Taliban could very well take over the country in
Speaker 1: a matter of months. And of course, the Taliban is
Speaker 1: aligned with al Qaeda. So with all that in mind,
Speaker 1: what's your opinion of America's policy towards Afghanistan as it
Speaker 1: stands today. You know, I'm glad you're talking about wrapping
Speaker 1: it up with this this most important policy thing we'll
Speaker 1: talk about right rest of us just Joey's story. And
Speaker 1: so now we talk about some business. Um, here's the deal.
Speaker 1: I don't think we've been in the twenty year war.
Speaker 1: I think we've been intend to year wars because in
Speaker 1: America we hold our politicians accountable and sometimes that's even
Speaker 1: to our own detriment. And what I mean by that
Speaker 1: is politicians have a way of of crafting their foreign
Speaker 1: policy to reflect what the ballot box has in mind.
Speaker 1: So if it becomes populars and not want troops to Afghanistan,
Speaker 1: then they'll change their mind. And if if it becomes
Speaker 1: posular to go attack, um isist, and they'll do that.
Speaker 1: And and a lot of times it feels like it's
Speaker 1: not really about what makes us safer as much as
Speaker 1: what gets us to vote. And so the really I
Speaker 1: don't have an opinion as much as questions, which is
Speaker 1: the problem, right Like I lost my legs in Afghanistan
Speaker 1: and I've got more questions than than definitive opinions on it.
Speaker 1: And that's the problem right there. But if I were
Speaker 1: talking to the President Biden, I would say, you know,
Speaker 1: in two thousand and ten and eleven, you were the
Speaker 1: second person in charge. It was it was the Obama
Speaker 1: Biden administration that believed in this war and the victory
Speaker 1: of it enough to send forty troops to Afghanistan and
Speaker 1: me being one of them, and to let my buddies
Speaker 1: die and me lose my legs. That's how much you
Speaker 1: believed in it. Now you're president and you're unconditionally withdrawing,
Speaker 1: which means you don't ask for anything in return, You're
Speaker 1: just bring everybody home. What changed? What changed for you?
Speaker 1: Why did you go from believing in it enough to
Speaker 1: let me die for it to not believing in it
Speaker 1: enough to have anything to show for it? And that
Speaker 1: would be my question if he answered it correctly, I
Speaker 1: you know, if he answered it genuinely and understood, maybe
Speaker 1: I'd accept it. But right now, that's my question. Are
Speaker 1: you optimistic about the future of America? Always? Eternally? Look, man,
Speaker 1: there was a time where we were at war with
Speaker 1: half the western world out the eastern Western world, right
Speaker 1: and and our grandparents, I mean, your grandparents didn't have
Speaker 1: rights that mine had at that time. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: just insane to me that even though the world existed
Speaker 1: that way, but all of our grandparents were turning in
Speaker 1: still for the cause right and get and standing in
Speaker 1: the government cheese line because we have a rash in
Speaker 1: our food. All of that just for fight for our survival,
Speaker 1: and now we fight over how we feel. And so
Speaker 1: we've advanced a long way, and we've been through tougher times,
Speaker 1: and I just believe that it's in our in our
Speaker 1: blood that we will when we're backed against the wall, honestly,
Speaker 1: we'll survive and do the right thing. We just unfortunately,
Speaker 1: even with nine eleven in my war, maybe we haven't
Speaker 1: been backed against the wall and we've been left to
Speaker 1: our own devices a little too much. Now, my last
Speaker 1: question before we get into projects you may have coming
Speaker 1: up in your Fox Nation show and all that good
Speaker 1: stuff you said before you were raised the Republican and
Speaker 1: still hold many of those beliefs, but are still critical
Speaker 1: of the right these days looking at the GEO p
Speaker 1: and the right more broadly, do you think conservatives are
Speaker 1: going in the right direction? You know, it's fun as
Speaker 1: raised as a conservative, but back then that was a
Speaker 1: blue dog Democrat, right like, because we were poor, So
Speaker 1: you couldn't be poor and be a Republican back in
Speaker 1: the eighties and early nineties, and so the conservative idea
Speaker 1: of personal responsibility and respecting someone else's ability to live
Speaker 1: their life and doing it without the government growing to
Speaker 1: the point that it becomes just arbitrary authority. That's never
Speaker 1: changed in me, it's just who represents that from one
Speaker 1: moment to the other, or if anybody does it all
Speaker 1: changes depending on who the politicians are. And so for me,
Speaker 1: like I'm more critical of the people on the right
Speaker 1: because they're the ones that are supposed to represent my ideas,
Speaker 1: and when they mess it up, it matters the people
Speaker 1: on the left that I don't always fully understand their ideas,
Speaker 1: so it's hard to be critical of it because I
Speaker 1: don't agree with it. So I can't tell you how
Speaker 1: to do it better. I can just say I don't
Speaker 1: like it. But if you're on the right and I
Speaker 1: feel like you are taking advantage of our passion for
Speaker 1: the opportunity get elected, then I'm definitely coming after you
Speaker 1: or at least asking you to explain yourself. And that's
Speaker 1: kind of position I've holden. And as far as um
Speaker 1: you know where we are now with politics. If you've
Speaker 1: got a team mentality, you know, the Georgia football fan.
Speaker 1: If I've got the ninth best quarterback in the SEC.
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you a full throated argument on
Speaker 1: why it's really the third best because that's my team,
Speaker 1: right And we can't do that with our politicians. We
Speaker 1: can't make excuses for them. We can't make a reality
Speaker 1: that isn't true. We've gotta be able to be honest
Speaker 1: about it, and sometimes that means critiquing the politicians are
Speaker 1: supposed to be on our side. I love that we
Speaker 1: share that. I absolutely appreciate that. I'm gonna start calling
Speaker 1: you common sense joe common sense Joey, you're you're up
Speaker 1: now before we go, Do you have any big projects
Speaker 1: coming up at the folks at home so you know
Speaker 1: about and what can people find you on social media
Speaker 1: and elsewhere? Yeah? On social media Twitter and Instagram is permotional.
Speaker 1: I think I'm active on that's Johnny j o h
Speaker 1: N and why Underscore Joey j o e Y same
Speaker 1: handle as far is what I'm involved in. You know,
Speaker 1: I have I have my own little podcast called Proud
Speaker 1: American on Fox News Radio. You can get it wherever
Speaker 1: podcasts are and we'll have you on there soon, I'm
Speaker 1: sure and thank you absolutely. And then on Fox Nation,
Speaker 1: have a couple of different projects. I've done two seasons
Speaker 1: of Fox Nation Outdoors is really cool. It's a hunting show,
Speaker 1: but it's really about learning the country abroad. Um. And
Speaker 1: then I have a couple of projects. One it's called
Speaker 1: USA Inc. That tells the history of tattoos in America
Speaker 1: and all the military involved. And I've got a project
Speaker 1: that's dropping July four, um, and I don't know, you
Speaker 1: know kind of when people will access this, Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: the day after. It's July five, So you get you
Speaker 1: had a project that came out yesterday. Basically we're recording
Speaker 1: on the Friday before. Guy, So I gotta I got
Speaker 1: a really cool thing that should be available on Fox
Speaker 1: Nation around the Monday after the fourth of July. They
Speaker 1: haven't told me, but I sit down with four veterans
Speaker 1: from Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq, and Afghanistan and talk to
Speaker 1: them about why they're proud Americans and where they see
Speaker 1: the country today. It's pretty amazing, yo. I just want
Speaker 1: to thank you for joining me, Joey Jones, And it's
Speaker 1: so wonderful actually to know even more about your story
Speaker 1: and know how we really are connected. I want to
Speaker 1: consider you my new brother. Because there's so much connectivity
Speaker 1: there and I look forward to being in touch with
Speaker 1: you and building a stronger brotherly bond with you. So
Speaker 1: thank you for joining me here on out Loud with
Speaker 1: Gianno Caldwell. And I'm sure you're gonna get a lot
Speaker 1: of new followers who are going to be interested in
Speaker 1: your story because it's one that's amazing. I hope that
Speaker 1: you've got a book that you're working on because you're
Speaker 1: hill billy. Elgie was a great book, but yours would
Speaker 1: be much more powerful and profound. That's my opinion. I
Speaker 1: appreciate it, man, I appreciate you and all you do,
Speaker 1: and I look forward to working with you more. M
Speaker 1: I want to thank Joey Jones a good for a
Speaker 1: great interview. If you're joining show, wease leave us a
Speaker 1: review us the Five Stars on Apple podcast. If you
Speaker 1: have any questions for me, please email me at out
Speaker 1: Loud at Gingerishtree sixty dot com and I'll try to
Speaker 1: answer them in our future episodes. And please sign up
Speaker 1: for my monthly newsletter at ginglish Street sixty dot com
Speaker 1: Slash out loud. You can also follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,
Speaker 1: and parlor at Giano Caldwell, and if you're interested in
Speaker 1: learning more about my story, please pick up a copy
Speaker 1: of my best selling book titled Taken for Granted, How
Speaker 1: Conservatism Can win back to the Americans that liberalism failed.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to our producer John Cassio, researcher Aaron Klingman,
Speaker 1: and executive producers Debbie Myers and speaker New Gingridge, part
Speaker 1: of the Ginglish Street sixty Networks