WEBVTT - What is Exercise Flintlock? 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:04.760 From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:09.200 riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:12.200 learn this stuff they don't want you to know. A 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:13.960 production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:26.400 Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt, 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:27.560 my name is Noel. 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:30.600 They called me Ben. We're joined as always with our 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:35.040 super producer Paul Mission controlled Decant. Most importantly, you are you. 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:38.560 You are here. That makes this the stuff they don't 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:41.680 want you to know. You guys, ever heard the uh? 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:43.800 I was thinking, what's a good way to get into this? 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:47.159 Have you guys ever heard the phrase the United States 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:48.360 as the World's police. 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:56.080 Sure? Yeah, in that uh South Park movie for Team 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:58.600 America World Police, Right, that was the whole joke about 0:00:58.640 --> 0:00:59.280 behind that movie. 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:02.920 Well, yeah, simply because we go around setting up military 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:03.880 bases in. 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:06.960 A lot of places willy and or nilly mm hmm. 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:07.560 Yeah. 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:11.160 And look, obviously Americans in the audience tonight are going 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:14.240 to be the first to point out this country has 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:18.720 serious problems if we're going to be diplomatic about it. 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:23.520 Also diplomacy that comes into play. But the facts on 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:29.200 the ground are the following. The United States, despite its shenanigans, 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:34.399 and despite some unethical actions, it has also maintained rule 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:38.080 of law. It is stabilized global trade. Right now, the 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:42.360 United States is helping fight pirates. That's right, folks. Pirates 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:45.760 are a thing again. And it turns out if if 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:49.920 he digs your vibe, Uncle Sam can and will provide 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:54.880 endless benefits to your government and military and military. Well, 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:57.920 first your military, and then maybe your military becomes your government, 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:00.880 as they say in the musical Hamilton, and it must 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:04.120 be nice. It must be nice to have Washington on 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:06.920 your side. This is the story of one such program, 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:10.600 a traveling show, if you will, called exercise flint Lock. 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:11.120 What is it? 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:14.760 Why do critics deem it controversial? Here are the facts. 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:18.000 Uncle Sam is a he's a busy boy. He's a busy, 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:19.720 busy boy. Just get out of the way so I 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:23.040 don't say it later. Whenever I see flint lock, I 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:25.680 think of flint stones and bedrock. 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:27.200 Just putting that out there. 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:31.760 Yeah, yeah, I think about starting fires, don't you? That 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:36.400 is huh a little flint Yeah. So this this episode 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:39.919 is kind of like a what a breakoff from our 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:43.000 other places you Can't Go episode that we recently did, 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:46.920 just because we were looking at what was going on 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:50.600 in Africa and why there were so many coups going 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:55.560 on there pretty recently. And uh m, I don't want 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:58.480 to spoil it too much, but that's we're looking at 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:02.920 this specific thing called exercise Flintlock. That reminds me a 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:06.400 lot of our previous episodes we've done on large scale 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:11.880 military drills and almost like get togethers I guess that 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:13.760 have occurred like jade Helm in the. 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:16.840 Past, picnics, you know that kind of stuff. 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.440 Yeah, a little bit of fellowship, you know, a little 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:24.359 bit of common interest shared, some light target practice, perhaps 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:26.240 some some ops. 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:28.800 Yeah, but in like jade Helm that we've covered in 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:30.520 the past, Like I said, you can find an episode 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:36.360 on it that was it's almost more of private military 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:40.600 contractors and companies that produce military gear kind of getting 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:44.240 together and showing off what's available right right, and then. 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:46.680 Like a trade show almost it is like comic Con 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:47.760 with a. 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:52.560 With a mixed in like urban battleground exercise kind of 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:53.520 thrown in there. You know. 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:55.920 What was the one that the conspiracy theory was that 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:58.760 they did it at Walmart or something, or they jade home. 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:01.680 That was the one, Yeah, that ended up being bunk, 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:04.400 but it was. It was believable for a second. 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:08.560 It was. I think it was due to concerns about FEMA, 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:13.120 because there were many pre made containers that were arriving 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:16.599 via rail. There was also a helicopter we talked about 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:19.400 that that was in a disused Walmart. 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:23.480 They ended up being storage for some official use. They 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:26.440 were just using that or they're releasing that property for 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:27.800 official storage use. 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:31.760 And you know, most people in the United States are 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:36.560 i would say, vaguely aware that Uncle Sam gets up 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:40.400 to some stuff abroad, except this as a known fact, 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:45.360 and don't often dig deeper into the specifics of these activities, 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:49.040 much less the economic forces at play unless they are 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:54.080 pointed toward exploration of these via you know, your favorite 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:57.799 media of choice. And it's true. The US has committed 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:03.400 numerous horrifically illegal as on foreign soil and spoiler on 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:05.839 its own people on its own soil in the past. 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:11.000 These acts continue in some version in the modern day 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:15.200 according to critics, and yes, the US economy makes a 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:18.640 great deal of profit from these activities year over year. 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:20.680 I was hoping, if it's okay with you guys, we 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:25.559 could throw to just one little, little juicy nugget from 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:29.720 old President Eisenhower, which our pal Rob Reiner also pointed 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:30.600 to you earlier. 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:33.200 It's not a dinosaur shape because it might be a 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.880 dangerous nugget if that's the case. The thing you just said, 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:40.279 Ben about the horrific acts, illegal acts, it kind of 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:42.960 feels like one of those things where the sentiment is, well, 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:46.599 if we do it, it's not illegal. M you know, 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:49.839 I mean, you know, because we never make it to 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:53.839 any kind of criminal you know, like international court to 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:54.840 be judged. 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:57.920 Well, unless you throw a little party like the Church Committee. 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:00.080 Again we just talked about with mister Ryan. 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:05.200 And the United States does not respect the jurisdiction of 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:11.120 the ICC, the International Criminal Court. So former President Eisenhower 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:13.800 on his way out of office, this is something we 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:18.200 talked with our pal Rob about. He warned the United 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:22.280 States and indeed the world, that he was worried a 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:26.240 certain industry might take over what he saws the otherwise 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:30.120 noble mission of being the global police. Here's a short 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:32.279 clip from his farewell address. 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:36.800 And the Councils of Government, we must guard against the 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:41.520 acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:43.560 military industrial complex. 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:49.279 Fun fact about that speech. He did write it himself, 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:52.960 and before he went to air with this farewell address, 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:58.240 he was calling it the military industrial Congressional complex. 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:03.760 That it, Yeah, we wouldn't not have been considered a 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:06.320 dig on Congress, and so they thought it was too 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:06.920 much or what. 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:11.200 Well, somebody has got to authorize the war and the 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:14.800 you know the military actions. You know. 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:17.200 Yeah, I just mean it got cut because it maybe 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:20.240 was considered a little too pointed, perhaps, right. 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:23.800 Yeah hashtag Smedley Butler was right. Uh. There There is 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:27.720 another factor in this, which is that, in the process 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:33.200 of pursuing hegemonic power and year over year profits for 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:37.840 different connected companies, the United States does also ensure a 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:43.200 degree of when things work, stability, continuity, and safety. Depends 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:47.400 on your perspective, though, because a significant amount of US 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:51.320 military activity on foreign soil, it centers on what we 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:56.239 would call facilitation. We're not going to wage the war, 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:59.400 but we're going to teach you how wars are waged. 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:01.760 We'll give you a little nudge, maybe a little help, 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:05.160 perhaps some armaments interested shout out. 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:09.840 School of the Americas recently rewatched our old video on 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:13.800 the School of Americas and it holds up located for 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:15.800 a time in Fort Benning, Georgia. 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:19.280 Yeah, do we say what flintlock is exactly? I know, 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:23.320 I've kind of like vaguely talked about stuff that's like it. 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:25.200 But do we say exactly what it is yet? 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:28.560 Flintlock is, Well, it depends on who you ask, right, 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:31.640 That's what we're saying because flintlock is one of those 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:37.840 facilitational activities. In its most recent iteration, it's two weeks 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:42.720 per year, right, and that started in two thousand and five. 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:45.960 But there's a long history to it because started around 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:48.720 the end of World War Two, the United States earned 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:53.559 a bit of a street rep for overthrowing unfriendly governments, 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:57.920 often through unethical means. We're talking propping up student movements, 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:02.200 quote unquote, arming secession groups like you pointed out, even 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:09.640 assassinating elected leaders couptata as functional policy. And for critics, 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:17.160 exercises like flintlock are a direct descendant of ethically questionable behavior. 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:22.440 But for supporters this is necessary. This is holding the 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:24.400 line from chaos. 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:27.800 What makes it an exercise versus an operation? 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:30.240 Okay, So I think that's what I want to get to. 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:34.160 I actually define it, so it is a special operations 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:38.760 counter terrorism exercise where there are all kinds of different 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:46.720 drills and training scenarios that the DoD often in the 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:50.800 US Army calls them regional forces, but it's really just 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:54.360 a bunch of different militaries and paramilitary groups that are 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:58.319 from what they call their African partners again, the d 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:01.480 D and the US Army, and it's a bunch of 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:05.480 partner nations within Africa that work together with the US 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:09.600 and with a couple other European countries to basically train 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:12.640 their militaries in their troops or you know, small groups 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:17.679 of their militaries in these counter terrorism special operations tactics. 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:23.880 Police forces as well to militarize those Further, again, this 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:28.880 was not happening, is not happening in a vacuum. During 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:32.920 the Cold War, the USSR was doing very similar things, 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:35.920 we have to remember, and terrorist groups are doing similar 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:41.080 things now. Rival states are using proxies like Wagner, like 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:45.040 hiss Bolah and so on. We have to remember these things, 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:50.920 these tactics, this practice of facilitated learning. They are used 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:55.120 because they work. They are effective the way firearms are effective. 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:59.440 Their success is a matter of operational rather than moral 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:03.920 or ethical efficacy. So it doesn't matter to the gun 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:06.760 who get shot. It matters to the gun that the 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:10.920 gun works. And in the wake of Iraq and it sequels, 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:14.560 and notably the terrorist attacks of September eleventh, two thousand 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:19.720 and one, the US military industrial complex that Eisenhower warned 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:24.120 us about found an opportunity to normalize and mainstream a 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:28.200 never ending war. This comes in the wake of when 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:31.040 the US figured out, hey, what if we wage wars 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:34.520 on ideas? Right, there's the war on drugs drugs won. 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:37.600 There's a war on poverty that was very short lived 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:40.000 because it didn't do well in the polls. And then 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:44.880 of course there are culture wars. So this larger milieu, 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:50.280 this context is mission critical for US to understand. There 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:54.920 is an active war on terrorism. What is terrorism depends 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:58.720 on who you ask. It's definitely non state actors are 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:02.400 those are like? That's one of the big differences. What 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:05.360 makes a war on terror different from a war on 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:06.240 a state power. 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:08.800 It's about optics, right, I mean, it's say one we 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:11.960 always say one person's freedom fighter is another person's terrorists 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:14.720 and all depending on how you label the terrorists, it 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:19.000 can be a convenient tool to making them an enemy 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:22.160 that you then need to eradicate and it you know, 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:24.480 you wage a certain amount of the war in the 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:27.000 war of public opinion. You know, nobody wants to think 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:29.360 that you're going after good guys who are trying to 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:31.760 liberate you know, their people. You have to be fighting 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:32.320 a bad guy. 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:36.920 Yeah, And it's really interesting because another aspect of flintlock 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:41.559 is to have these the individual countries and militaries not 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:45.720 only you know, fighting against terrorism with the within their 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:49.120 own territory, but to train them to share that information 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:54.080 right and to encourage the sharing of information across borders because, 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:57.920 as you said, been like terrorism, if you're fighting that 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:03.640 rather than a neighboring country, that thing could exist on 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:06.640 your land, right outside your land, deep in you know, 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:10.960 a couple of neighbors overs land. So it's interesting to 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:13.480 think about there needing to be some kind of united 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:18.800 front to really combat a concept like that. That could 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:23.880 be it could represent any number of different cells or organizations. 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:28.480 Which are often fluid and decentralized. Three key differences between 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:31.800 a war on capital t terror versus the war on 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:36.720 a conventional state power traditional agreements like the Geneva Convention. 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:42.480 Those agreements erode those ideas about you know, the red Cross, 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:45.880 about journalism, et cetera. They fall to the wayside quite quickly. 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:51.480 And second, the opponent, the whatever represents capital t terror 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:57.960 has no limiting factors in terms of legality. The concept 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:00.880 of war crime is not a concept practiced by a 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:04.920 terrorist group. And they're the third. And it sounds like 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:07.719 a small detail, but I think it speaks directly to 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:10.240 some of the points we're bringing up. There's no clear 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:16.120 representative leadership, meaning there's often no single authoritative source to 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:20.520 declare victory or defeat altogether. That means you could be 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:24.200 fighting a war that does not end, it simply transforms. 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:28.240 This is true. Look at Boko Haram, look at isl Isis, 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:35.600 look at al Qaeda. These groups can function at an advantage. 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:40.560 A powerful state actor, yes, can become economically addicted to war, 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:44.040 and arguably the US and several European countries are in 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:48.440 that situation. However, a powerful enough non state actor can 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:54.320 leverage existing tensions and conflicts. Right, you know, Saudi Arabia 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:57.520 and Iran don't get along, So which one of them 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:00.560 is going to fund your newest project? And what do 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:05.720 they want? This means that these groups can at times 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:09.760 enjoy the advantage of power, state level power with very 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:12.760 few constraints that that power typically entails. 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:13.600 I think the. 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.240 Part about a lot of this that really I learned 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:19.760 this phrase recently Bakes my Noodle, is that there really 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:23.720 is no moral high ground. It's all just deal making. 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:27.360 It's like, who is going to benefit us in the 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:29.960 long term? How can we you know, whatever, in some 0:15:30.000 --> 0:15:32.880 way walk away from it with some kind of upside. 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:36.400 But it's not about saving the world. It's not about 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:40.000 protecting innocence. It's really about my feelings. 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:43.240 It's about saving a version of the world there probably is. 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:47.000 People don't agree on which version, right. I mean, that's 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:49.560 and I love Bake my Noodle. That's a great one. 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:53.360 So well. Just something to bring up in here is 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.120 that you're talking about who's going to fund it and 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:58.520 the I get we'll get deep into this, but in 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.080 the case of this giant excerpt size flintlock that we're 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:03.640 going to be talking about, it's not just the US 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:07.440 military and the partners, like the European partners coming in 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:09.880 with a bunch of money and saying, hey have some 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:14.920 free training. Right. This is the US and these contractors 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:18.200 and everybody that's working with them for this training, getting 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:22.600 these African countries to pay to be a part of it, 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:25.480 but then funds the entire thing, right, it's not just 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:28.760 some party that they're going to have. It gets funded 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:32.200 by the members the partners that are selected from the 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:33.040 African countries. 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:36.360 And as long as you don't look too deep into 0:16:36.440 --> 0:16:39.640 the forensic accounting of where the money to fund that 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:43.640 stuff comes from, then it's all well and good. There 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:48.040 are clear good and bad guys. The United States encountered 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:52.720 a renaissance of training and facilitation across South America, Asia, 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:56.840 parts of Europe, the continent of Africa. Uncle Sam started growing, 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:01.240 training and guiding militaries in a conflict it characterized as 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:06.400 a borderless conflict. The idea at first blush. Obviously, it's utopian. 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:11.000 Could we stop wars before they began? If we could, 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:14.800 then we would necessarily have to. It would be the 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:19.159 ethical thing to do. Flintlock grew from this milieu, and 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:20.960 that's part of why it continues today. 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:26.680 It's like green War, you know, like you know, it's gosh, 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:30.120 it's just it's packaging this idea of a war without borders. 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.600 It's not possible. That's not how wars work. But it's 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:36.879 all about this kind of like pr line, It's sorry, 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:39.120 it's making me very very depressed. 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:44.440 Well, this is this is us giving you some context. 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:48.159 This is us giving a little bit of a dance 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:51.199 in the shallow pool. Let's pause for a word from 0:17:51.280 --> 0:18:01.160 our sponsors and dive into the deep water. Here's where 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:05.160 it gets crazy. All right, what is Flintlock? What is Flintlock? 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:08.960 Well, first, flintlock is kind of an umbrella term that 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:11.399 describes a series of different, like you said, mad different 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:17.280 training programs. Again, sort of like exporting American tactics and 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:20.639 possibly a little bit of ideology, but definitely training and 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:24.479 hardware to other countries. So let's go to the United 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:29.840 States Africa Command street name AFRICOM, which is that makes sense. 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:36.240 It's a nice portmanteau. Here's how they describe this ongoing program. Flintlock, 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:41.160 US Africa Command's premier and largest annual special operations exercise, 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:45.399 has taken place annually since two thousand and five across 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:49.080 the Sahel region of Africa among nations participating in the 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:53.600 Trans Sahara counter Terrorism Partnership and are planned by African 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:58.520 partner nations Special Operations Forces, Special Operations Command Africa and 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:02.080 the US. I'm in a state to develop the capacity 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:08.480 of and collaboration among African security forces to protect civilian populations. 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:14.040 Great ten ten, No notes, right, there's a lot of 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:17.000 somewhat vague language there. 0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:17.560 Right. 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:22.439 The Trans Sahara counter Terrorism Partnership is something that a 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:25.439 lot of people in the West probably haven't heard of, 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:28.199 because why would you know about this if you weren't 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:33.639 looking this statement the REDNAL. It's from twenty twenty three. However, Flintlock, 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:37.679 going to your earlier point about an umbrella term, flintlock 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:41.240 is much older as an idea. It dates back to 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:45.920 the nineteen sixties when Special Forces Group, it was a 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:51.000 tenth Special Forces Group where they were attempting to fight 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:56.560 against communism. They were training to they were training forces 0:19:56.640 --> 0:20:00.560 in Denmark and Germany West Germany of course, and Spain 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:05.400 and Greece. Yeah, in an attempt to prevent the spread 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:09.360 of fascism. There were bulwarks against the Domino theory, which 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:12.040 we talked about a little bit earlier, and it continued 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:12.960 after that and. 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:15.680 With Rob Reiner, if I'm not mistaken right, the Domino theory, 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:18.840 we talked about communism as kind of this ghoul that 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:20.840 had to be dealt with and sort of justified a 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:22.680 lot of ends. 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:28.760 Specifically Vietnam, Southeast Asian theater. And we have to remember 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:31.160 that on the other side of the Cold War equation, 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:36.480 the USSR was looking at capitalism in much the same 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:40.160 way Exercise Flintlock. This is a cool little bit of history. 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:44.119 It continued some version of it. And we know that 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:47.600 the Road Show moved to the United Kingdom in the 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:50.719 nineteen eighties, and we know part of this due to 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:56.440 extremely unfortunate death. Sergeant first class, a guy named Clifford 0:20:56.520 --> 0:21:02.280 Strickland died testing something that is super cool. It's the 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:06.120 Skyhook system. Remember that from Christopher Nolan's Batman. 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:11.040 Oh yeah's immediately what came to mind. Yeah, wait, I 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:13.840 don't know that is what is that skyhook. 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:17.040 Was Remember of the scene where he gets extracted with 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:19.960 like a like a harness and then like basically. 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:23.320 He takes the accountant out. Yeah, eval accountant. 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:27.160 Uh, he's in Tokyo or something like. He's definitely out 0:21:27.160 --> 0:21:29.240 of the country and it's meant to be like a 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:31.000 military level extraction kind of. 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:34.159 I believe he's in Hong Kong because the government of 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:38.680 China will not uh extradite one of their own. That's 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:42.359 the line there, right, and so so anyway, the flintlock 0:21:44.040 --> 0:21:48.480 also has this experimental aspect to it, right. There's a 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:51.520 lot of tried and true training and tactics, and then 0:21:52.119 --> 0:21:54.560 at least in the nineteen eighties there were a couple 0:21:54.680 --> 0:21:59.440 of more innovative things that went spectacularly wrong. And when 0:21:59.480 --> 0:22:02.960 people talk about flint lock now, they're not really talking 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:06.120 about that stuff from decades ago. They're referring to the 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:11.040 ongoing training program via AFRICAM and It's Partners that began 0:22:11.160 --> 0:22:16.000 in two thousand and five. The less sexy, less cool 0:22:16.080 --> 0:22:20.119 name for this kind of stuff is JCEE T joint 0:22:20.200 --> 0:22:24.440 Combined Exchange training. Stabbing the fingers to wake up anybody 0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:25.840 who fell asleep hearing that. 0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:32.200 Oh no, you're a chicken again. Oh sorry about that time. 0:22:32.480 --> 0:22:36.920 The worst thing you could possibly see. Please don't chase 0:22:36.960 --> 0:22:39.639 me around a campfire, tiny dinosaur. 0:22:39.720 --> 0:22:48.320 Sorry, Well, just this exercise is so complicated and weird, 0:22:48.359 --> 0:22:50.320 and it's got such a history, Ben, thank you for 0:22:50.359 --> 0:22:52.160 finding all this stuff in the history is it's it's 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:56.000 so nuts, but it's it's weird to think that it's 0:22:56.040 --> 0:23:01.040 not just US military. It's not just United Kingdom military 0:23:01.200 --> 0:23:06.480 and those two Western forces and their interests and what 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:09.640 training that's being provided, right, the tactics that those two 0:23:09.760 --> 0:23:12.920 countries have, they're bringing in all kinds of other partners. 0:23:13.960 --> 0:23:16.479 I think Germany has been a part of it for 0:23:16.560 --> 0:23:18.639 quite a while. They're they're a major part of AFRICAM 0:23:18.760 --> 0:23:24.560 in general. But and it's not just US military training. 0:23:24.600 --> 0:23:28.960 It's also like US intelligence from the FBI that gets 0:23:29.000 --> 0:23:31.840 involved to share tactics for policing. As you said, there 0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:35.960 these these exercises get involved with the local police forces 0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:39.920 as well as the Department of Justice to help out 0:23:39.920 --> 0:23:42.800 with you know, how to actually bring justice to the 0:23:42.840 --> 0:23:44.879 bad guys once you get a hold of them, or 0:23:44.880 --> 0:23:48.480 how to pursue those things. And even the State Department 0:23:49.119 --> 0:23:51.479 of the United States when it comes to those anti 0:23:51.560 --> 0:23:57.560 terrorism activities and how to track down basically how to investigate, 0:23:57.640 --> 0:24:02.159 track down and then in a weird way question like 0:24:02.400 --> 0:24:06.080 local civilians of residence, like just of a residential area 0:24:06.080 --> 0:24:09.040 where maybe something has gone down, you're tracking leads, how 0:24:09.119 --> 0:24:15.359 to interrogate people. It's really crazy how just multifaceted this 0:24:15.520 --> 0:24:17.240 series of exercises. 0:24:16.600 --> 0:24:22.640 Is another important point there in terms of the intelligence 0:24:22.720 --> 0:24:27.240 stuff and the State Department stuff. From my understanding, there's 0:24:27.280 --> 0:24:30.640 a significant amount of instruction put into what we will 0:24:30.680 --> 0:24:34.199 call hearts and minds projects like not only how do 0:24:34.280 --> 0:24:37.920 we find the people were calling the bad guys this decade, 0:24:38.280 --> 0:24:43.800 but how do we also persuade civilians in rural areas 0:24:44.200 --> 0:24:46.919 that we are, in fact the good guys. How do 0:24:46.960 --> 0:24:49.240 we frame and guide their perspective? 0:24:49.720 --> 0:24:51.400 Well, yeah, how do we get those people to raise 0:24:51.400 --> 0:24:54.720 a hand right the whole see something, say something? Kind 0:24:54.760 --> 0:24:58.520 of mentality? You can see that getting injected into this. 0:24:59.040 --> 0:25:02.639 Hey I'm a strange or from Langley, snitch on your 0:25:02.680 --> 0:25:06.680 cousin for me. What's gonna happen? He's probably gonna die, 0:25:07.200 --> 0:25:10.000 you know. But well you gotta tell you that up front. 0:25:10.480 --> 0:25:12.920