WEBVTT - The Tudor Dixon Podcast: Supporting Our Military with Will Dirkse 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:04.320 Welcome to the Tutor Dixon Podcast. We have a really 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:09.160 special podcast for you today because my guest actually is 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:13.360 a gentleman who I met at one of my daughter's 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:16.720 Halloween parties. She was over at a friend's house and 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:20.240 we were sitting around the bonfire in the back and 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:23.440 Will was there and he started talking about he's a veteran. 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:25.840 He started talking about his service, and I just thought 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:29.160 it was so fascinating that I really felt like his 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:32.720 perspective and his take on this should be shared with people, 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:36.479 because I'm somebody who I think you all know. I 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:39.400 was not in the service, and I don't have a 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:41.760 lot of friends that are veterans. So it's nice for 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:44.600 me to be able to sit with someone and kind 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:48.519 of see what it's like to go to be deployed 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:53.160 to serve and come back home and what that whole 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:57.040 experience is. And Will was willing to share that with us, 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:00.560 so I wanted to bring willan Will Dirk's thank you 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:04.320 so much for joining me on the podcast today. And 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:06.440 it was a pleasure meeting you. So I'm so glad 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:08.720 that you decided to agree to come on and talk 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:09.480 about this stuff. 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:12.319 Well, thank you, Tutor. It was a pleasure to meet 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:15.720 you also, and glad to be here and to share 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:16.759 my experience. 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:20.160 So one of the things I was just telling you, 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:22.080 one of the things that struck me is that you 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:25.280 and your wife are both deployed together, and that's how 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:27.920 you met. And you were both sitting there the other 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:30.640 night when we were chatting, or a few months ago 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:33.920 when we were chatting, and you were talking about your 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:36.840 experiences when you were deployed, and she was like, you know, 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:40.400 it's funny we were together and we have totally different memories. 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:42.200 A lot of these things that I just don't even 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:47.360 remember happened. And I thought that was fascinating because we 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:50.080 always think that, you know, everybody kind of experienced the 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:53.280 same thing. But I think one of the things that 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:56.320 we don't realize as civilians is that everyone comes back 0:01:56.400 --> 0:02:00.760 with different experiences and different scars when they've served. 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:04.840 Yeah, that's true. Yeah, my wife, she doesn't remember a 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:10.560 lot of the statistics and what we did there all 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:15.080 the time. My mind, I just absorbed all of it 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:19.480 when I was over there. When we left on September nineteenth, 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:24.799 after the twin Towers were hit. When we got over 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:27.400 there and we launched our first planes in at night. 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:31.160 I remembered standing up on the island of the aircraft 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:35.720 carrier and just watching those planes take off and the 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:41.040 sense of pride you have going and you know, going 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:45.799 into war to defend our country and for who attacked us. 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:50.160 And I remember that, and she really doesn't remember all 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:55.120 of those details, but yeah, that was something that I 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:59.000 will never forget, is seeing those planes take off at 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:04.520 night for their first bombing runs into Afghanistan. And that 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:08.960 hits you pretty hard as a nineteen year old kid. Yeah, 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:11.960 to see that happen and to know what's going to 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:16.240 be happening from here on forward as we were over there, 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:22.080 and knowing that those planes were going off to protect 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:27.160 our guys on the ground and that you know, we're 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:30.160 going to lose people, and that's that was hard to 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:37.160 take in too. It's just something that you can't really 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:41.960 comprehend until you go through it. And it was a 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:48.040 good experience, and yeah, it was. It was something else 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:48.600 over there. 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:53.080 And just for those that are listening, like I said, 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:56.240 this was a Halloween party. And so we were just 0:03:56.320 --> 0:04:01.000 a few weeks away out from the October seventh attack 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:04.600 on Israel, and I was asking you about that and 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:07.680 I'm just wondering from your perspective that night. I mean, 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:11.040 even now, what kind of memories does that bring up? 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:16.760 Because everybody's calling it Israel September eleventh, and that was 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:20.760 really I mean that impacted all of us. Obviously, you 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:23.480 went and served in like I mean that experience that 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:26.839 you just talked about, going there knowing that you were 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:30.440 fighting against someone who had just attacked us. When you 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:34.480 see this attack on Israel, what is your What kind 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:35.840 of emotions does that bring up? 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:41.440 It brings up stirs up a lot, because when, of course, 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:43.839 when we were attacked, you just want to go out 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:45.760 and you want to take care of business. You want 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:49.640 to take care of who who attacked you and hurt you. 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:51.839 You don't think of anything else. You just think of 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:56.479 taking care of business. And that's how I feel. Israel 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:59.560 felt like they were attacked and they're not going to 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:03.840 let that happened to their people. And so I feel, 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:09.200 you know, I understand that what they went through, and 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:11.520 how you just it's you got to try and take 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:13.320 them out. You got to try and get people that 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:16.839 attacked you and hurt you and killed your people. 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:22.240 So as you watch some of these college students and 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:25.479 knowing that when you were nineteen you were going over 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:28.120 there to fight. And you see some of these college 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:32.640 students at some of our most elite colleges talking about 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:36.240 a ceasefire and saying that Israel has no right to 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:38.880 fight for themselves. What is your reaction to that. 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:47.640 It's with not experiencing with not those kids not experiencing 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:52.279 that and being attacked to say, seize fire and don't 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:55.480 go after those people that hurt you. 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:56.160 No one. 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:58.640 It's hard to get the terrorists because they blend in 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:03.800 with the civilians, so it's hard to You have to 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:06.960 go right into the heart of them in order to 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:10.880 get it. And there there's going to be civilian civilian casualties, 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:13.680 which is sad, but it's part of every war we've 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:19.760 ever been in. It it happens. So I just I 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:22.599 think that you just have that Israel hassages go in 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:26.320 and do what they're doing. Yeah, it's sad to see 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:32.880 civilians killed, but the terrorists used the civilians as shields. 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:36.360 So that was something that struck me when we talked 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:40.159 that evening was I asked you about this and you said, 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:44.599 I mean, you can't really fight terror and you got 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.240 into that in a way that, like I said, as 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:50.040 a civilian, I never thought about because I think from 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:53.640 the outside perspective, we look at war and we're like, Okay, 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:56.800 these good, good guys go here, the bad guys are here, 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:58.880 and it's pretty cut and dry, and there are rules 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:01.600 to war, and we all know and we know there 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:03.679 are rules, but those of us who have not engaged, 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:05.720 I don't think we really get what the rules are. 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:08.839 So you hear people constantly like they're breaking the rules, 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:11.600 and you're like, do you really know what the rules are? 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:14.280 But you actually went through that with me and you 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:17.160 were like, look, you guys don't get what we're dealing 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:19.680 with on the ground when you fight terror. And you 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:22.600 went there to fight terror. I mean, these have been 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:25.000 this has been the war on terror for years. So 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:27.440 explain a little bit about how the rules of engagement 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.360 are different for you than they are for terrorists. 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:34.440 So terrorists they don't follow, you know, like we have. 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:39.760 You can't fire until fired upon terrorists, they just they'll 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:42.800 just start firing. They'll set up they'll use children, of 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:48.680 course as a weapon, they'll use any roadside bomb, They'll 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:52.080 just use whatever they can to disguise it. So we 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:55.280 can't see it. There's just no They just don't follow 0:07:55.520 --> 0:08:01.320 any rules of any sorts. Where we have rules we 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:06.600 follow with engaging the enemy, you know, sometimes it has 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:10.880 to be cleared to engage if we're using mortars or whatever. 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:14.280 Like I said, my buddy was a marine and he 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:17.040 was telling me some of these things too, where they 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:18.760 had to have it clear to make sure there's no 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:24.400 shoppers or jets in the airspace. And so those rules 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:27.920 that we have to follow really restrict when you're fighting 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:34.400 terrorism a group of people who don't follow rules. It 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:36.680 makes us it's like tying your hands behind your back 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:40.280 and trying to fight, which makes it tough on our 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:44.800 men and women on the ground to take care of terrorists. 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:48.120 And they're hard to see, right. They blend in with 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:53.280 the civilians. They're not wearing a military uniform, and that 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:55.320 makes it hard to fight them too, because they'll be 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:58.120 your friend during the day when you're in their village, 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:01.120 and at night there they're trying to kill you. 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:04.160 Let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next on 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:10.400 the Tutor Dixon Podcast. What do you say to people 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:14.720 who are saying, well, then you can't fight them because 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:17.520 you can't take the chance of hurting kids, and you 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:20.440 can't allow you can't allow any of that to happen. 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:23.280 So just let it stay there, because I mean, if 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:25.920 you don't fight it, isn't this going to fester and 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:28.120 become a much bigger terror problem. 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:31.680 It will, It will keep growing more and more. So 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:34.760 in order to fight it, Yeah, you have to get 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:38.040 in and get in there and dig them out. And 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:42.880 in the process, civilians do get killed or injured, and 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:46.440 you try to do your best for that not to happen, 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:50.120 but it does. But the problem is with social media 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:53.520 and our news, they're always over there and reporting back. 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:57.079 So that's another that's tough for our men and women 0:09:57.120 --> 0:09:59.600 too to do their job because they're always getting reported 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:05.880 on and people back home see what we're doing over there. 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:09.080 And sometimes war it's not pretty. It never will be. 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:12.000 It's so funny because we were I was on news 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:15.839 Nation last week and the guy that I was on 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:21.599 with was really very very much against any war overseas 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:25.280 and the war in Israel especially, and he was talking 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:28.280 about we were talking about, well, you've got to understand 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:32.319 that right now. If you look at the numbers, seventy 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:35.600 five percent of these people in Gaza are supportive of 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:39.199 Hamas and they are supportive of what happened on October seventh, 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:43.160 and so you're really in an ugly situation because unless 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:46.520 you take Hamas out of there, unless you can remove 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:51.160 this government that is manipulating people, manipulating their minds, how 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:54.760 do you have any type of living condition over there? 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:59.520 And he said, well, you're saying seventy twenty five percent, 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:02.319 don't just to die. And I think it was interesting 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:04.920 because Dan Abrams kind of stepped in and he was like, 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:09.360 hey man, this is war. And that's the thing that 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:12.960 I think I've seen so much on social media is 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:16.080 that people are like, let's just not do this. But 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:19.040 it's the good guys that would then be not doing 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:23.120 this since stepping back. They did this on October seven. 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:27.040 Nobody did this but them's there's no coming back from that. 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:30.240 Now they still have hostages. I mean, my goodness, they 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:35.280 took hostages and we gave them that the Israelis negotiated 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:38.280 out fifty of the two hundred and forty and gave 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:41.600 them three times as many criminals. Yep. 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:44.360 Yeah, they can't get away with that. You have to 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:47.160 stop them. You have to go in like Israel said, 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:49.600 We're not going to let this ever happen again. Well, 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:51.120 in order to do that, you have to go in 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:53.640 and wipe them out. You have to take them out. 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:57.800 So as Israel's going in and going house to house 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:01.960 and finding tunnels and you know, taking them out, that's 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:04.360 how you do it. I mean, they're they're getting the 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:07.600 civilians out the best they can, but it's a war zone. 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:10.120 It's not going to be easy to get the people out. 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:13.240 You mentioned your friend who is a marine, and when 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:16.120 we talked that night, you were talking about how there 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:20.400 were techniques that they used to get these terrorists to 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:23.240 come out, and that was a lot of times playing 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:27.280 babies crying, like loud babies crying, playing over and over 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:29.920 and they would sit there and they would then also 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:33.400 be listening to this or listening to loud music. And 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:37.520 now those noises, these guys, these men and women have 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:42.200 come back. And for as much as that was to 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:45.320 get out these terrorists, get them out into clear sight, 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:48.839 that is also pretty triggering for these guys because they 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:53.000 went through trauma when they're over there. So explain a 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:56.120 little bit about what that was like for your friend 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:57.439 and what that's like now. 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:02.280 So yeah, he being over there. He served a year 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:06.000 in Iraq, and yeah, he would say, they played loud 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:11.040 babies crying and loud music, rock music just to drive 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.120 to the terrorists crazy to where they'd come out and 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:18.400 then they could engage them in combat. And so now 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:22.640 he's at home or at work or wherever, he'll hear 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:26.160 these sounds, but there's nothing playing sometimes in it. He 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:29.960 loses a lot of sleep over it, and it's hard 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:34.880 for him sometimes to listen to certain music. He says, Yeah, 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:37.240 there's certain times I don't. I don't really listen to 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:40.640 certain songs anymore. I can't. I can't listen to him 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:44.720 or even hear them because they'll trigger memories from from 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:48.640 the war. So it's hard on him. It's there's times 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:53.440 where he doesn't sleep much at all and shares that 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:55.560 with me, which is nice. He can get that off 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:59.640 his chest and help him get through through it to 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:03.800 where maybe one day he will be able to get 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:07.199 a full night dress and listen to that music again, 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:08.760 but it will take a lot of time. 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:12.559 And one of the things that you were talking about, 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:17.520 when they're out there and these guys are not abiding 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:21.760 by the rules of engagement, you could be as a marine. 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:25.520 You could be stationed on a hill where you can 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:30.040 see them planting bombs, roadside bombs, and if they're not 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:33.560 engaging you, there is nothing you can do. But you 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:36.080 can see them doing this. And this is going to 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:42.360 affect people in our military. How is it possible that 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:46.160 that you can't do anything? That seems crazy? 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:50.840 That would be where they wouldn't get permission to mortar 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:54.560 them because of there could be choppers in the area 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:57.880 or jets in the area, and so he said they 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:01.960 wouldn't be able to get permission to take out the 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:04.040 terrorists while they were doing that, and they would just 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:07.200 have to sit and watch and then watch the convoy 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:09.920 come up the next day or so and get hit. 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:13.320 So that was hard to do because they could have 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:18.080 prevented that. And he said, well, you don't hear anything 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:21.240 flying through the air. You don't see anything. He's like, 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:23.640 we could have just quickly launched a few mortars and 0:15:23.720 --> 0:15:27.080 taken them right out, but the rules won't allow them to. 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:29.920 So that was tough on them too. 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:36.040 So for all this grief that our service members get 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:40.160 during wartime, I mean, this is what you're dealing with 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:43.320 on the ground. These are hard decisions. You're watching really 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:48.200 horrific things happen, and that was obviously a war on terror. 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:52.400 We see this now in Israel. But as someone who 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:57.200 was over there and engaged yourself, when you saw the 0:15:57.360 --> 0:16:00.560 pull out from Afghanistan, what did you think of that? 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:07.640 I had mixed feelings about that. One. I felt all 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:11.400 the sacrifice that our military put in, all the men 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:15.160 and women, all those years that we put in there, 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:18.440 and the people that we were able to help and 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.440 we're able to live a good life just went right 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:25.240 down the drain and they just went right back to 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:29.320 the old ways that it was. And that just broke 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:33.360 my heart from me because we made progress and then it 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:37.600 was all gone. And to me, I thought, well why then, 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:42.920 why why do you even try to do anything? And 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:45.480 then the other part of me was like, well, you 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:51.080 have to do something And it wasn't my decision to 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:56.680 pull them out. Is it a good thing that they're home, Yes, 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:00.840 but all the progress we made was lost. And that's 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:04.080 what the tough thing is to fight terrorism. You can't 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:08.240 gain when you're trying to fight terrorism unless you stay 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:11.879 the course the whole way. But then you would have 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:15.120 to constantly be in Afghanistan and keep pushing them back 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:17.960 because terrorism. I don't think we'll go away. 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:20.960 Let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next on 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:27.520 the Tutor Dixon Podcast. So what is the answer to 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:30.840 fighting terrorism? I mean, it's funny because I was talking 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:34.240 to my pastor about this and he's like, this is 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:37.399 these are wars that have gone on for thousands of years, 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:41.000 and it's kind of funny when you hear like the 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:45.439 the pundit or the social media influencer who comes out 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:47.640 and it's like, I've got the solution for this. We're 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:50.040 just going to sit down and have these two groups 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:53.440 talk and we're not gonna have any dangerous killing or anything. 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:59.800 I mean, what happened on October seventh was incomprehensible. I 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:03.679 think because it was incomprehensible, that's where so many people 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:06.199 have been like, hey, let's just not do anything. You know, 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:10.200 it stopped. Now it's over, and they can't really fully 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:15.760 comprehend what these people in Israel have experienced, what they 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:18.720 have suffered, what they've lost, but what also they have seen. 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:22.280 And so we look at this and we go, okay, well, 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:26.760 this war on terror is extending now to Israel. But 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:30.680 This war between Israel and Hamas has been going on 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:35.200 for years and years and years. So is your opinion 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:38.840 that it is possible to wipe out Jimas. 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:44.000 I think you can, and to an extent, I think 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:46.480 you can push them way back, but I think they'll 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:49.880 always be there. I think they're always the terrorists are 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:53.239 always going to be somewhere. You may be able to 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:55.639 push them back and shrink it way down, but I 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:58.760 don't think you'll ever eradicate them off the face of 0:18:58.800 --> 0:18:59.240 this earth. 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:01.640 What do you think the best way is for us 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:05.879 to support our men and women who are serving and 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:07.800 those who come home, Because I know you and I 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:11.080 have talked about this as well. Folks that are coming 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:16.000 home are feeling lost, and there's this in many cases 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:19.159 we have, I mean we have what twenty two veteran 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:23.359 suicides every single day. Yeah, this is something that it 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:26.320 seems like it's not happening through the VA, It's not 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:31.560 happening through government programs. Are there programs that are supporting 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:34.240 our men and women that you would say, hey, if 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:37.680 you have the ability to support these programs, put your 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:40.440 money there, put your volunteer time there. 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:46.320 Yeah. If there are private ones, yes, absolutely, I think 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:50.960 the VA and the government could step up, step up 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:54.800 a little more and offer more things to our veterans, 0:19:55.040 --> 0:20:00.760 maybe even direct them to private places, private organanizations if 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:05.239 they can, and help them get to that place they 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:08.679 need assistance. I think, I think our country always it 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:13.080 to them to give them assistance to either travel to 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:17.560 get to the place, financial something to help them out, 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:19.399 whatever they can do to step up. 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:23.160 I mean, we hear so much about trying to make 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:26.679 sure people can get their healthcare in other ways, you know, 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:29.280 we hear about we're going to pay for the private 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:31.880 jet to take you to get your personal health care. 0:20:31.920 --> 0:20:35.080 We're going to make sure that this you have access 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:37.160 to this or that if you fall into this category 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:40.199 or that category. Why do you think that there is 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:43.879 not a greater push for this for our veterans. Do 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:47.760 you think that this falls on politicians? Because I mean, 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:52.800 it should be something the government is providing, and yet 0:20:53.200 --> 0:20:56.040 this is not really a top conversation when it comes 0:20:56.080 --> 0:20:57.080 time for an election. 0:20:57.960 --> 0:21:02.680 No, and I agree. I I feel that yes, it's 0:21:02.720 --> 0:21:07.160 a volunteer. We sign up. We know that we could 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:10.240 be going to combat, we could be going into harm's way, 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:15.200 but there's no training to prepare to prepare you for 0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:20.160 what you'll see, what you'll do. So when we come home, 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:23.040 I think it would be on the best interest of 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:26.879 the government to make sure that the person they just 0:21:26.960 --> 0:21:30.600 sent to war is taken care of and can come 0:21:30.640 --> 0:21:34.919 back into civilian life, because it's it's not as easy 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:40.600 as just you're discharged, now go get a job. I 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:43.639 was listening to the radio the other day and there 0:21:43.680 --> 0:21:46.560 was a marine on there saying, when you're in the military, 0:21:46.600 --> 0:21:48.760 you have a purpose. You put your uniform on, you 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:52.760 know what you're doing every day. When you get out, 0:21:53.160 --> 0:21:56.480 you don't have that uniform on anymore, you feel lost. 0:21:57.200 --> 0:21:58.280 What am I supposed to do? 0:21:58.359 --> 0:21:58.600 Now? 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:04.440 You know you have in the military, it's very regimented. 0:22:04.520 --> 0:22:07.080 You have this to do, this job, this task, this mission. 0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:09.920 When you get out, if you don't have that anymore 0:22:10.240 --> 0:22:12.880 and you've been doing it for some time, it's hard 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:19.320 to adjust back into that civilian life. So that you know, 0:22:19.359 --> 0:22:22.199 I don't know if there's I don't know how to 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:22.639 fix that. 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:27.080 Well, I think there are organizations. Before I let you go, 0:22:27.119 --> 0:22:30.080 I want to ask you there's this new trend on TikTok. 0:22:30.240 --> 0:22:33.240 I don't know if you've seen this. It is service 0:22:33.320 --> 0:22:38.960 members who are currently in active duty somewhere, whether they're 0:22:38.960 --> 0:22:44.359 in training or they're over deployed, they are currently service 0:22:44.400 --> 0:22:48.640 members and they are filming videos of five reasons why 0:22:48.680 --> 0:22:52.879 you should never join the military. We already have recruitment 0:22:52.920 --> 0:22:56.080 that is way down, and I think that these trends 0:22:56.119 --> 0:22:58.639 on social media, I mean, we see these trends in 0:22:58.680 --> 0:23:03.400 every other area. How devastating is it to see And 0:23:02.680 --> 0:23:07.439 what would you share from your experience to tell people 0:23:07.600 --> 0:23:09.240 that they should join the military. 0:23:10.359 --> 0:23:15.639 From my experience, the military was a great experience for me. 0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:20.119 It helped me grow as a as a person. It 0:23:20.240 --> 0:23:25.639 helped me to have that drive to enjoy everything I 0:23:25.680 --> 0:23:28.760 have in my country that I have here, all the 0:23:28.800 --> 0:23:32.960 freedoms we have, and just knowing that those freedoms could 0:23:32.960 --> 0:23:37.080 go away at any time. If someone doesn't step up 0:23:37.119 --> 0:23:43.359 to protect them, then we could lose them. One thing 0:23:43.960 --> 0:23:46.399 I can say is, yeah, is it always fun? No, 0:23:46.840 --> 0:23:48.520 it's tough times in there. I had a lot of 0:23:48.560 --> 0:23:52.600 tough times. So it helps you grow and helps you realize, Hey, 0:23:52.840 --> 0:23:55.679 the country we live in and what I did or 0:23:56.200 --> 0:23:59.000 the people next to me, did you know we have 0:23:59.000 --> 0:24:01.320 the freedom to do, have freedom of speech and do 0:24:01.359 --> 0:24:05.240 what we want so and it gives you that sense 0:24:05.280 --> 0:24:09.439 of a pride where you live, knowing that you stood 0:24:09.480 --> 0:24:12.399 up and said I'll defend it to the best of 0:24:12.440 --> 0:24:15.480 my ability, all the way up to death. So for 0:24:15.680 --> 0:24:20.119 people you know out there who are protesting against the military, 0:24:21.520 --> 0:24:24.280 I don't think that's something that should be done. You 0:24:24.280 --> 0:24:29.639