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Speaker 1: This is Unbreakable with Jay Glacier, a mental health podcast

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Speaker 1: helping you out of the gray and into the blue.

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Speaker 1: Now here's Jay Glacier.

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Speaker 2: Welcome into Unbreakable, a mental health podcast with Jay Glazer.

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Speaker 2: I'm Jay Glazier, and today is a special show.

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Speaker 3: Sorry, Veterans Day week show.

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Speaker 2: You all know how invested I am into the military

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Speaker 2: and our veterans. And today is the best guests I've

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Speaker 2: ever had, Coolest guests I've ever had, most amazing story

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Speaker 2: I have ever heard in my life. And I do

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Speaker 2: have to get a little housekeeping out of the way

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Speaker 2: here first. If you're like many people, you will be

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Speaker 2: surprised to learn that one in five adults in this

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Speaker 2: country experienced mental illness last year. You get far too

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Speaker 2: many fail to receive the support they need. Carolin Behavioral

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Speaker 2: Health is doing something about it. They understand that behavioral

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Speaker 2: health is a key part of whole health, delivering compassionate

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Speaker 2: care that treats physical, mental, emotional, and social needs and

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Speaker 2: tandem Carolin behavioral health raising the quality of life through

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Speaker 2: empathy and action. All right, Welcome in again to Unbreakable,

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Speaker 2: mental health podcast with Jay Glazer.

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Speaker 3: Special Veterans Day Podcast.

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Speaker 2: I never get guests starstruck or words are hard to

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Speaker 2: come by in the last I don't know thirty years

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Speaker 2: of doing this and the career I've in except for

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Speaker 2: one time in my life.

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Speaker 3: That's the other time I've.

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Speaker 2: Met these two people and don't know what I'm going

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Speaker 2: to do injustice introducing them. But folks, you want to

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Speaker 2: be on this journey with us tonight because it's the

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Speaker 2: most incredible story of love, first, perseverance, courage, and so

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Speaker 2: many other adjectives that you all will come up with

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Speaker 2: along this journey.

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Speaker 3: I'm so grateful they're here with me. Let me lay

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Speaker 3: this out correctly.

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Speaker 2: Here. There's two guests, and we've never done this before,

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Speaker 2: all right, Sushana Johnson, who's the first African American female

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Speaker 2: POW that America has ever had, and the marine that

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Speaker 2: rescued her in Iraq.

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Speaker 3: Curnie Russell. Welcome both to Unbreakable. So there's so many

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Speaker 3: ways we could start.

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Speaker 2: I met you both on the Zoom for MVP charity

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Speaker 2: found Emerging vets and Players, and that's the first time

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Speaker 2: you had ever seen each other, right since Kearnie, you

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Speaker 2: guys rescued Shoshana.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, that was the first time it was. It's

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Speaker 4: kind of weird that being the first time. Actually, now

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Speaker 4: that I think about.

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Speaker 3: It, is this the second time? Did you choose to touch?

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Speaker 5: This is the second time?

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Speaker 3: Wow? Really?

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Speaker 5: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: So all right, first of all, let's go back, Shoshana,

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Speaker 2: because it's two different ways.

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Speaker 3: Shashana, I want you to tell me your.

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Speaker 2: Version of what had happened in those days that day

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Speaker 2: when Kearnie and his crew rescued you, and then I

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Speaker 2: want Kearnie for you to chime in, because you obviously

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Speaker 2: had a version from the outside.

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Speaker 3: A totally different way of seeing it. Shoshana, take it away.

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Speaker 6: I remember it was a Sunday morning.

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Speaker 7: I don't know if we're really keeping track or I remember,

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Speaker 7: or we figured out it was Sunday afterwards, and our

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Speaker 7: guards were given us breakfast.

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Speaker 3: How long have you been in captivity at that point?

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Speaker 6: Twenty two days?

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Speaker 3: Twenty two days? And how did you get captured in

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Speaker 3: the first place?

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Speaker 7: We were captured in the ambush in a Nazaria Iraq. Wow,

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Speaker 7: we lost eleven who was six of us captured that

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Speaker 7: survived the captivity? Lori am Pistolla was captured alive and

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Speaker 7: she died of her injuries.

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Speaker 6: Soderant. Donald Walters was captured and died of injuries.

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Speaker 3: Also, wow, So you get captured, and again, forgive me

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Speaker 3: because it's you know, I'm used to interview on football

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Speaker 3: players and fighters and all this, and you're.

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Speaker 2: A different type of fighter. So forgive me if I

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Speaker 2: have a question that's ignorant or anything like that. You

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Speaker 2: get captured, what's going for your mind?

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Speaker 6: First of all, you worry about the others. I mean,

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Speaker 6: I'm not in it by myself. There's my fellow soldiers

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Speaker 6: and so forth.

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Speaker 7: So you you wonder who else got injured, who's dead,

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Speaker 7: and so forth.

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Speaker 6: And then you start to wonder and are you going

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Speaker 6: to make it through this?

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Speaker 3: Keep you separated?

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Speaker 5: Yes.

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Speaker 7: Now, the way they have ambush happened. They broke down

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Speaker 7: our convoy into three parts. I was part of the

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Speaker 7: last part where we got captured. I don't know if

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Speaker 7: the rest of the convoy got out. I didn't find

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Speaker 7: that out until the day we were rescued and we

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Speaker 7: got to Doha and they broke down to us exactly

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Speaker 7: who died and who made it out. So part of

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Speaker 7: that we didn't know. For all of our captivity, we

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Speaker 7: knew about Lynch. We knew about LORII, but we didn't

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Speaker 7: know if they had survived or died or whatsoever. Especially Jessica.

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Speaker 7: I knew that she had been injured and taken to

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Speaker 7: the hospital in in Nazaria. I didn't know if she

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Speaker 7: had survived what happened, and I thought Lourie was dead.

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Speaker 3: Wow. So when they take where do they bring you

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Speaker 3: and put you in?

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Speaker 7: They actually took us to Baghdad. And you know, unfortunately,

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Speaker 7: with the stuff that recently happened in the Middle East,

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Speaker 7: a lot of that stuff brought up some really intense

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Speaker 7: memories because a lot of the videos where they would

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Speaker 7: take the hostages out and show them off, they did

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Speaker 7: the exact thing thing to us. Wow, they did the

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Speaker 7: exact same thing. I mean, we're in a vehicle. They

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Speaker 7: would stop in different cities and show us off. You know,

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Speaker 7: we got spit on, we got slapped, and so forth,

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Speaker 7: as they took us from a nazarea to Baghdad. So lately,

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Speaker 7: seeing a lot of those images brought back a whole

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Speaker 7: lot into my head about those days. Sometimes it's good

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Speaker 7: because it's nice to realize where you are right now

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Speaker 7: and how well you're doing, but it also brings up

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Speaker 7: stuff like, oh, my gosh, I had forgotten about that

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Speaker 7: particular incident or you know, stuff like that, and it

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Speaker 7: makes it very intense.

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Speaker 2: When it's happening. Are you trying to just reconcile like

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Speaker 2: it's going to take a while. Am I going to

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Speaker 2: live around?

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Speaker 3: I can die? How do I survive? Like? How are you?

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Speaker 3: What's your survival? I guess tactics between the years and

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Speaker 3: the early point of.

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Speaker 6: That you just hope, you know.

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Speaker 7: I mean, there's always a time, Oh, this is it,

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Speaker 7: I'm going to dine, and then you're like nope, nope.

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Speaker 7: I mean within a minute, you know, you go back

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Speaker 7: and forth and talking to yourself and within a minute

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Speaker 7: you're like, no, this is it, I'm going to dine.

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Speaker 7: Then you're like nope, nope, nope. I made it this far.

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Speaker 7: There's a reason, you know, and you just hold on

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Speaker 7: as best as you can, and that's all you can do.

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Speaker 7: I had no control over anything. I had no control

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Speaker 7: whether I went to the bathroom where you know, whether

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Speaker 7: you ate, whether you slept, you know, and stuff like that.

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Speaker 6: No control.

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Speaker 7: All you can do is hope, pray, I mean, if

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Speaker 7: you have a sense of faith or anything like that,

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Speaker 7: and hold on, you know, I remember I tell this

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Speaker 7: story all the time when I was younger, back in

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Speaker 7: the day. Kernie won't remember this because he too young.

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Speaker 7: They used to have TV movies, Movie of the Weeks

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Speaker 7: and stuff like that. You know now they have Netflix

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Speaker 7: and all. It was TV and movie Week and there

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Speaker 7: was a one called Showgun. It was a mini series

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Speaker 7: and stuff like that. Part of Showgun, there was a

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Speaker 7: point where a guy like literally got so preyed he

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Speaker 7: had a heart attack and dropped it. I remember asking

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Speaker 7: my mom, Oh my god, what happened mom? She was

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Speaker 7: he had a heart attack. He got so scared. As

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Speaker 7: life goes on, things happen and everything you watch the

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Speaker 7: Lifetime movies and these dramatic things happen to these women,

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Speaker 7: and I'm like, that's not me. If it came up

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Speaker 7: to me, I have a heart attack and die, just

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Speaker 7: like the dude and Showgun. So here I am in

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Speaker 7: the ambush. I'm waiting to have my heart attack and

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Speaker 7: die because I'm terrified. But the heart attack doesn't come.

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Speaker 7: So it's kind of realization. I got to lift through this.

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Speaker 7: I'm gonna have to, you know, go day by day,

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Speaker 7: minute by minute. And that's the realization and It also

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Speaker 7: teaches you you don't know how strong you are until

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Speaker 7: you have to be.

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Speaker 6: I sure thought I was going I was going ready

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Speaker 6: for my heart attack. I didn't think I was tough enough.

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Speaker 6: But here I am.

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Speaker 2: So when they brought you, I don't know where they

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Speaker 2: brought you. They bring you to one place and keep

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Speaker 2: you there for twenty two days. They move you around.

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Speaker 7: They moved us around, bag Dad. We were taking the

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Speaker 7: bag Dad. We were interrogated. Then we were put into

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Speaker 7: a cell. We were in a prison for a couple

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Speaker 7: of days, and we got moved seven times. Every time

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Speaker 7: the US got close. And we can hear it. We

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Speaker 7: can hear the bombings, we can hear them getting gunfire

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Speaker 7: and stuff like that. We were moved as the US

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Speaker 7: got close. Kearney and them found us in a house.

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Speaker 7: It was somebody's home.

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Speaker 3: Wow, did you know, Like were you blindfold the whole time?

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Speaker 3: Or you were aware?

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Speaker 2: Like okay, I'm in this now they're moving us here

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Speaker 2: they're moving is like how where were you?

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Speaker 3: What was happening?

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Speaker 6: They blindfold us when they moved us, right, we couldn't

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Speaker 6: see a thing. Lots of times they moved us at night.

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Speaker 7: We didn't know at the time we found out late

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Speaker 7: they were moving us in a red crescent van. There

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Speaker 7: was a couple of times there were firefights going on

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Speaker 7: and they're moving us in the middle of it, and

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Speaker 7: things like that.

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Speaker 3: How many other people were you with? And are you?

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Speaker 3: Are you in a room or you.

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Speaker 7: They kept me separate until the last two places. We're

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Speaker 7: all separate in the beginning. I think it was like

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Speaker 7: the third or fourth place where they started to put

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Speaker 7: the men together, and then I stayed by myself until

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Speaker 7: the last two houses.

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Speaker 6: And then they put me with the guys and it

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Speaker 6: was six guys and myself.

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Speaker 3: Now, Prennie, I want to bring you in here, right. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So in the days wading up and you know, Shashana said,

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Speaker 2: she's in the house. Tell us what you're told, tell

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Speaker 2: us how you guys are starting to form this mission

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Speaker 2: to go rescue Shoshana and the others.

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Speaker 5: Sort of backtrack a little.

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Speaker 4: Actually, she mentioned Nazarea, and my memory serves me correct.

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Speaker 4: We our battalion got ambushed in Nazarea. I think they

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Speaker 4: had dubbed that ambush alley shortly after we had gone

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Speaker 4: through there. Uh, you know, so it was it was

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Speaker 4: kind of a known area and I want to say

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Speaker 4: we had gone through there prior to Shoshana and her

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Speaker 4: unit moving through there, so it was kind of like

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Speaker 4: a known hot area to go through. So yeah, that

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Speaker 4: that was I remember that. I remember that night pretty

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Speaker 4: pretty vividly.

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Speaker 5: You know.

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Speaker 4: It was one of those things where we were rolling through,

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Speaker 4: you know, back going back to Nazaria, rolling through, and

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Speaker 4: then it just seemed like up to the front of

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Speaker 4: the convoy, all hell broke loose and it just trickled

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Speaker 4: all the way down and it was like, WHOA, what's

224
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Speaker 4: going on here? And I think that was like our

225
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Speaker 4: first actual real engagement, you know, none of like the

226
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Speaker 4: pop shots or anything like that. It was actual real

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Speaker 4: engagement with guys who wanted to fight back. So yeah, no,

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Speaker 4: I remember, I remember Nazarie, I remember rolling through there.

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Speaker 5: But so back to you.

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Speaker 4: Know, we were the whole goal for us, I guess

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Speaker 4: was just get to Baghdad, you know. I remember, you know,

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Speaker 4: talking with the guys and hey, you know, we've.

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Speaker 5: Got to get the bag Dad. Once we get to.

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Speaker 4: Bagdad, this war is over and all this stuff. And

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Speaker 4: we were making really good progress going up there.

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Speaker 5: Moving north.

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Speaker 4: I remember we had stopped kind of on the outskirts

238
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Speaker 4: and I want to say we'd formed Cask Force Tripoli.

239
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Speaker 4: Task Force Tripoli was like formed, like, hey, forget about Baghdad.

240
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Speaker 4: We want you guys past Bagdad. Let's go up to

241
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Speaker 4: Saddam's home count to Crit. Like let's get up there

242
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Speaker 4: and like let's show them we're up here. We're going

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Speaker 4: to fight our way all the way through. I remember

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Speaker 4: hearing some talkway we take any any you know, shots

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Speaker 4: in Baghdad. We just want to race straight through there.

246
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Speaker 4: We want to get to to Crit where that was

247
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Speaker 4: supposed to be the like the big fight was supposed

248
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Speaker 4: to be into Crit because he was, you know, Saddam

249
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Speaker 4: was supposed to have his uh things like the Revolution

250
00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:16,079
Speaker 4: the Revolution Guard or something like that, like that was

251
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Speaker 4: going to be their last stand. Like the big fight

252
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Speaker 4: was going to be into Crit. So like, hey, let's

253
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Speaker 4: get Task Force Tripoli up there as fast.

254
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Speaker 5: As we can.

255
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Speaker 4: And uh so, you know, we kind of just pushed

256
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Speaker 4: straight through Baghdad. And I want to say, like the

257
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Speaker 4: night prior, so there's all these rumors going around.

258
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Speaker 5: To like even you know, I've done.

259
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Speaker 4: You know, I went to Iraq another time after that,

260
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Speaker 4: in Afghanistan after that and there's always rumors that fly about,

261
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Speaker 4: you know, and one of the rumors was that I

262
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Speaker 4: think it was like the Army's third Infantry Division was

263
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Speaker 4: going to come leave us in place, Like once we

264
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Speaker 4: get up there, we're gonna you know, once we get

265
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Speaker 4: to to Crate, we'll fight, we'll do our thing. The

266
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Speaker 4: Army's third idea is going to come to leave us

267
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Speaker 4: and we're going home, you know. So it's like the

268
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Speaker 4: rumors are spreading and all that stuff. So we, uh,

269
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Speaker 4: we got outside of the city where where the uh

270
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Speaker 4: that rescue had gone down, and just prior to moving in,

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Speaker 4: a friend of ours, Elliott Ruiz, he had got injured,

272
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Speaker 4: you know, he got injured. I think it was like

273
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Speaker 4: a few days prior to that. And so we move

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Speaker 4: into I forget the name of the CID. Do you

275
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Speaker 4: remember the name of the city Shashana Tomorrow Samara, thank you.

276
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Speaker 5: Yeah, So we we moved.

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Speaker 4: We moved into Samara that night and I think it

278
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Speaker 4: was second platoon or something like that. They had taken

279
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Speaker 4: some you know, they taken some shots. They had some

280
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Speaker 4: action going on over by the area that they were

281
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Speaker 4: passed to secure.

282
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Speaker 5: My platoon. We had a bridge.

283
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Speaker 4: It was kind of quiet that night till the following morning. Uh,

284
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Speaker 4: you know, we're told, hey, stop every like high profile

285
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Speaker 4: car that's coming through, because that's going to be the

286
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Speaker 4: Those are like supposedly.

287
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Speaker 5: Like Saddam's guys.

288
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Speaker 4: You know, like if you see any high like, you know,

289
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Speaker 4: a nice looking, luxurious car, stop them. You know, we

290
00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:48,920
Speaker 4: got guys that need to talk to them. So we're

291
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Speaker 4: just doing that. It was kind of boring for us

292
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Speaker 4: that that morning, I remember. And then then then we

293
00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:56,079
Speaker 4: get told, hey, Battalian commander wants to talk to you guys.

294
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Speaker 4: So we're like, hey, the Army's third ideas here. We're

295
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Speaker 4: gonna be going home soon, you know. And Italian commander

296
00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:04,640
Speaker 4: came out and he's like, hey, look we got a

297
00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:06,440
Speaker 4: mission for you guys. You know, kind of in a nutshell,

298
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Speaker 4: Hey we got a mission. There's seven Americans in this

299
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Speaker 4: town and we're going to go get them, you know.

300
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Speaker 5: And it was like, whoa, So the Army's third idea

301
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Speaker 5: is not here, you know. So yeah, that's kind of

302
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Speaker 5: how it got got brief down to us.

303
00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:20,840
Speaker 4: And I remember hearing terms during that whole you know,

304
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Speaker 4: push up the bagdad and stuff. It was like, hey,

305
00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:25,160
Speaker 4: you guys are weapons free, you know, not out there

306
00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:27,640
Speaker 4: just lawless, you know, shooting and stuff like that, but

307
00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:31,000
Speaker 4: military age men that depose a threat. And that was

308
00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:32,520
Speaker 4: the first time that I heard, Hey, you guys are

309
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Speaker 4: gonna be weapons tight on this one, you know, so

310
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Speaker 4: like don't shoot unless you guys are getting shot at.

311
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Speaker 4: And it was like yeah, so I was kind of like,

312
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Speaker 4: oh wow. And then hey, by the way, Russell, you're

313
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Speaker 4: the point man, you know, and I'm like, all right,

314
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Speaker 4: you know this is this is gonna be great, you know.

315
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Speaker 4: So so yeah, that was like kind of leading up to.

316
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Speaker 3: It, how many how many other Marines are you with

317
00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:52,359
Speaker 3: leading this rescue?

318
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Speaker 4: So it was our platoon there would have been we

319
00:13:56,320 --> 00:13:58,200
Speaker 4: were light on that that deployment.

320
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Speaker 5: We were real light.

321
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Speaker 4: So we probably had on the ground maybe ten guys,

322
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Speaker 4: maybe ten guys on the ground, but.

323
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Speaker 5: We had Wow.

324
00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:07,760
Speaker 4: Yeah, then that was like, you know, we had we

325
00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:10,319
Speaker 4: plused up a little for that. I remember our our

326
00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:13,400
Speaker 4: company first sergeant came out with us, you know, maybe

327
00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:15,920
Speaker 4: one or two other people, but actually guys that I was.

328
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Speaker 5: With the whole time, there was probably like ten of us.

329
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Speaker 4: You know, we had vehicles in support. Don't get me wrong,

330
00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:22,840
Speaker 4: you know, we had our vehicles that brought us there.

331
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Speaker 4: The outer courdon was set with the know platoon of vehicles.

332
00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:28,640
Speaker 4: The intercurding was set with another platoon of vehicles. But

333
00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:31,600
Speaker 4: the actual rescue for us on the ground was was

334
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Speaker 4: kind of light.

335
00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:34,480
Speaker 3: And how did you know where to go? Where she was?

336
00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:34,640
Speaker 7: You?

337
00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:36,280
Speaker 3: When? When did that information?

338
00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:40,440
Speaker 4: That morning? Somebody that morning? Yeah, that morning, somebody had

339
00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:42,880
Speaker 4: came up. We didn't know they were there. I remember

340
00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:46,040
Speaker 4: I remember hearing that that that you know, some some

341
00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:48,680
Speaker 4: soldiers had got captured. We heard that, you know, we

342
00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:51,240
Speaker 4: heard that like, hey, some soldiers got captured. Guys like

343
00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:54,960
Speaker 4: you know, stick together type deal, you know, don't get separated.

344
00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:56,760
Speaker 5: You know this, that and the other. It's like all right,

345
00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:58,040
Speaker 5: So we had known that.

346
00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:01,680
Speaker 4: I knew that just the Lynch had got rescued as well,

347
00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:03,520
Speaker 4: Like we had heard that the seals had gone in

348
00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:07,120
Speaker 4: and rescued Jessica Lynch. So yeah, that morning, I think

349
00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:09,720
Speaker 4: somebody had walked up to like first or second platoon,

350
00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:11,960
Speaker 4: one of the guys like was like, hey, handed them

351
00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:12,760
Speaker 4: a piece of paper.

352
00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:16,200
Speaker 5: Basically, it kind of like how it was told to.

353
00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:19,280
Speaker 4: Us after was like that the people who had them captive,

354
00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:23,880
Speaker 4: like their people who were holding them got so scared because.

355
00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:26,080
Speaker 5: We were like task Force Tripoli was doing what we

356
00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:27,520
Speaker 5: were supposed to do and moving.

357
00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:29,920
Speaker 4: So fast that they were like whoa, like we don't

358
00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:31,520
Speaker 4: want them anymore type deal.

359
00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:32,160
Speaker 3: Wow.

360
00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:34,160
Speaker 4: So yeah, that's how it was told to us after

361
00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:36,400
Speaker 4: is like you know, they basically they got scared. They're like,

362
00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:38,800
Speaker 4: you know, we weren't supposed to be there that quick.

363
00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:40,800
Speaker 3: Okay. So now sh Sean, I'm to go back to

364
00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:41,120
Speaker 3: you here.

365
00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:46,520
Speaker 2: You get to this, so it's the day of Do

366
00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:49,200
Speaker 2: you think something's different? Do you are you starting to

367
00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:51,920
Speaker 2: feel that, man, there could be home inside here.

368
00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:55,320
Speaker 7: It was a little different because they used to keep

369
00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:57,600
Speaker 7: us in a room where we slept and all that

370
00:15:57,640 --> 00:15:59,400
Speaker 7: kind of stuff. That they brought us out to like

371
00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:02,000
Speaker 7: a living room kind of area, and they were giving

372
00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:05,680
Speaker 7: us breakfast, you know, which was tea and a little

373
00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:08,280
Speaker 7: you know, cake thing of a jig like that, and

374
00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:12,640
Speaker 7: I was like, okay, okay, you know, and the night

375
00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:16,520
Speaker 7: before I remember definitely the night before, they gave us

376
00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:19,880
Speaker 7: this big meal like a virgin of amberger with some rice,

377
00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:22,920
Speaker 7: and they gave us soda and chocolate and I was like,

378
00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:24,840
Speaker 7: oh yeah, And then I thought, oh, hell, this is

379
00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:25,640
Speaker 7: my last meal?

380
00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:26,440
Speaker 3: Wow?

381
00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:31,560
Speaker 7: You know, so I definitely was terrified, terrified, terrified.

382
00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:34,360
Speaker 4: Did you know we were there? Curious if you had

383
00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:36,800
Speaker 4: heard like that firefight that I think it was first

384
00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:38,560
Speaker 4: or second platoon had gotten into.

385
00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:41,160
Speaker 6: No, No, I didn't remember.

386
00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:44,400
Speaker 7: And that was kind of the scary stuff because before

387
00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:47,680
Speaker 7: we were hearing firefights, we were hearing you know, gunfire

388
00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:50,280
Speaker 7: and stuff. Once you moved to a house and you

389
00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:52,920
Speaker 7: don't hear none of that action, then how are you

390
00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:55,560
Speaker 7: going to get found? They can't come and look through

391
00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:58,920
Speaker 7: every house in Iraq, So once you start putting us

392
00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:00,840
Speaker 7: in houses, I really started to get scared.

393
00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:03,680
Speaker 6: I was like, they can't go through everybody's house. How

394
00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:04,680
Speaker 6: are they going to find us?

395
00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:05,639
Speaker 2: You know?

396
00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:08,080
Speaker 7: And then you know, then the last meal comes into

397
00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:10,639
Speaker 7: play and I'm like, oh shit is over? Well it

398
00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:13,920
Speaker 7: was over. You know, them guys came busting down the door.

399
00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:17,240
Speaker 7: I mean you're boom and then you're get down.

400
00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:17,600
Speaker 6: Get down?

401
00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:20,959
Speaker 3: And so where are you when this is going? When

402
00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:22,600
Speaker 3: dining room?

403
00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:24,920
Speaker 7: You know, we're all in the little dining room or

404
00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:27,600
Speaker 7: living room area. You know, everything's said, you know, you

405
00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:29,760
Speaker 7: sit on the floor and stuff like that and everything.

406
00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:31,959
Speaker 3: What kind of condition. Are you are you injured? Are

407
00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:33,080
Speaker 3: you anything?

408
00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:35,840
Speaker 6: I was shot in both legs doing the ambush.

409
00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:40,439
Speaker 4: Oh my god, but you know I was doing okay me.

410
00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:42,480
Speaker 6: I get up and I'm like, oh, they don't mean me.

411
00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:48,159
Speaker 6: I'm American. So I'm standing there and it was Gordon Miller,

412
00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:51,560
Speaker 6: he was the LT. Came up and like pushed me

413
00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:53,520
Speaker 6: to the ground and I'm like, what.

414
00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:55,119
Speaker 5: You know?

415
00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:57,000
Speaker 6: Basically they get everybody on the.

416
00:17:56,960 --> 00:17:59,480
Speaker 3: Ground back back. Are you blindfolder? You're not blackholed?

417
00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:02,080
Speaker 6: I'm not black Olvid Okay, we're giving us a breakfast.

418
00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:05,639
Speaker 2: So do you hear like boom boom? But do you

419
00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:08,720
Speaker 2: hear anything outside? You hear them creeping? Do you have

420
00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:10,520
Speaker 2: any idea or are you just shocked when this door

421
00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:12,320
Speaker 2: kicks open? But I think you also said there was

422
00:18:12,359 --> 00:18:13,800
Speaker 2: a couple you heard a couple of booms.

423
00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:14,600
Speaker 3: I think the last time we.

424
00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:17,240
Speaker 7: Hear I heard two big booms in the door coming

425
00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:21,440
Speaker 7: down right, okay, we're coming open. I was like, oh crap,

426
00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:24,000
Speaker 7: what the hell? And then you hear clear English there's

427
00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:26,719
Speaker 7: something I get down, get down and it's clear English.

428
00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:32,600
Speaker 7: It's not accented or anything. So I'm going home. How

429
00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:34,560
Speaker 7: quickly does that trigger with you like, this is it.

430
00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:35,399
Speaker 3: I'm getting rescued.

431
00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:37,879
Speaker 7: I mean by the time, get down, get down, And

432
00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:40,160
Speaker 7: I was like, oh my god, it's Americans.

433
00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:40,800
Speaker 6: I'm going home.

434
00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:41,640
Speaker 3: I'm going home.

435
00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:44,560
Speaker 2: Bring me inside your mind right there, when you realize

436
00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:46,720
Speaker 2: I'm not going to be left yard I am getting rescued,

437
00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:50,000
Speaker 2: I is just joy joy.

438
00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:53,840
Speaker 6: I mean, it's hard to explain or put that into words.

439
00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:57,960
Speaker 6: The way they came in. I mean, it's like a movie.

440
00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:00,439
Speaker 6: That's what I in my head. It's like a movie.

441
00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:01,240
Speaker 3: You know.

442
00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:03,439
Speaker 7: You see these guys coming in and breaking down the

443
00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:07,639
Speaker 7: door and literally pulling you out and rescuing you. This

444
00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:10,919
Speaker 7: is not something I mean, none of it was ever

445
00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:15,480
Speaker 7: anything I would ever thought i'd ever experience. But it's

446
00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:19,080
Speaker 7: still something I prayed for and hoped for. But then

447
00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:23,399
Speaker 7: to have it really happening is surreal, sur real. And

448
00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:26,280
Speaker 7: you know I say this. There was a twentieth anniversary

449
00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:28,240
Speaker 7: in Las Vegas. I was hoping to see Kearnie there

450
00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:30,480
Speaker 7: and he wasn't there. And I was able to tell

451
00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:32,560
Speaker 7: most a lot of them. I said, in my mind,

452
00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:36,159
Speaker 7: y'all are all six feet tall. Your shoulders are so

453
00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:38,480
Speaker 7: broad you had to turn sideways to get in the

454
00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:41,040
Speaker 7: room because you are heroes.

455
00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:41,959
Speaker 3: You know.

456
00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:46,200
Speaker 6: We see this stuff in TV and movies and we see.

457
00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:48,800
Speaker 7: These make believe but I got to experience it in

458
00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:49,399
Speaker 7: real life.

459
00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:50,639
Speaker 5: You know.

460
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:54,520
Speaker 7: I think America sees our men and women in uniform

461
00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,320
Speaker 7: as abstract, the sacrifices they make and what they do

462
00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:01,680
Speaker 7: for us. I get to see it and experience it

463
00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:02,959
Speaker 7: face to face.

464
00:20:03,359 --> 00:20:03,560
Speaker 5: You know.

465
00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:07,840
Speaker 7: In this moment, I saw these men come in to

466
00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:09,240
Speaker 7: pull me out at the.

467
00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:12,320
Speaker 6: Risk of their own lives. I experienced that.

468
00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:18,040
Speaker 7: So when people talk about, oh, you know, I appreciate

469
00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:20,040
Speaker 7: you know, the soldiers and marines, ILL was like, you

470
00:20:20,119 --> 00:20:24,119
Speaker 7: have no idea, you have no concept as a soldier

471
00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:26,359
Speaker 7: that went out and did and then you have no

472
00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:29,480
Speaker 7: concept of what they're really willing to do for you.

473
00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:35,119
Speaker 7: I understand because they got that intel. General well he

474
00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:37,959
Speaker 7: was Colonel Clarity at the time, sent those men in

475
00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:40,480
Speaker 7: and it could have all went to hell. It could

476
00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:43,439
Speaker 7: have all well went to hell, but they did it.

477
00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:47,360
Speaker 7: And here I am and to see my daughter grow up,

478
00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:49,840
Speaker 7: and she's a pain in my ass.

479
00:20:52,119 --> 00:20:54,800
Speaker 6: You know. I see my niece and a niece.

480
00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:56,720
Speaker 7: That I wouldn't have got to meet because my sister

481
00:20:56,800 --> 00:20:59,040
Speaker 7: was pregnant I have two nephews that I would have

482
00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:02,040
Speaker 7: never got to meet if they weren't willing to do

483
00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:03,639
Speaker 7: this for me, you know.

484
00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:06,320
Speaker 6: So it's humbling.

485
00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:10,840
Speaker 7: It's very humbling, what you know somebody's willing to do

486
00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:11,680
Speaker 7: for you.

487
00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:14,880
Speaker 2: So this is the third time you met Kearnie. When

488
00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:18,240
Speaker 2: you met him that day, what was Kurnie doing? And

489
00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:20,199
Speaker 2: then Curnie, I want you to piggyback off it and

490
00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:23,040
Speaker 2: tell us again, pick it up from your point of

491
00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:24,399
Speaker 2: view what happened right before that.

492
00:21:25,119 --> 00:21:26,719
Speaker 6: Weren't you the one that kicked down the door?

493
00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:30,080
Speaker 5: Yeah? No, that was me, And I always tell the story.

494
00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:33,080
Speaker 4: It's like, you know, you watch on TV and you

495
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:35,240
Speaker 4: just watch somebody walk up and kick a door and

496
00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:38,119
Speaker 4: it just flies open. So that was the first door

497
00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:41,879
Speaker 4: that I ever really kicked. It's not like the movie.

498
00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:44,240
Speaker 4: So the first two banks you heard that was my

499
00:21:44,359 --> 00:21:46,600
Speaker 4: failed attempt at trying to get that door open.

500
00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:49,680
Speaker 5: The third one is when it actually came open.

501
00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:52,440
Speaker 4: Yeah, we didn't have any reaching equipment at the time,

502
00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:54,600
Speaker 4: so I was the breacher for the door.

503
00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:58,480
Speaker 3: Oh my god. So that okay? But wait, oh my god.

504
00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:03,720
Speaker 2: So so you talk about stress and pressure, I can't

505
00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:06,959
Speaker 2: imagine what you must be thinking with those first two kicks,

506
00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:09,040
Speaker 2: because now the element of surprise is gone, and those

507
00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:10,840
Speaker 2: first two kicks aren't successful.

508
00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:14,120
Speaker 4: The element of surprise for us had was gone from

509
00:22:14,119 --> 00:22:18,040
Speaker 4: the beginning. Basically, somebody had walked up and handed handed

510
00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:19,639
Speaker 4: one of the guys on you know that was on

511
00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:22,040
Speaker 4: guard one of the like you know, a letter or

512
00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:25,119
Speaker 4: something like that with a makeshift map that was drawn

513
00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:27,000
Speaker 4: up with. I think they were staying in a house

514
00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:29,399
Speaker 4: number thirteen, if I'm not mistaken, and it's like the

515
00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:31,959
Speaker 4: way it's written in Arabic, it looks different, so we

516
00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:34,600
Speaker 4: it almost looks like a seven than like a squiggly

517
00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:37,520
Speaker 4: seven then a one or something like that. So when

518
00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:39,800
Speaker 4: we found out what we were going to do, we

519
00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:42,040
Speaker 4: go in and we're trying to you know, the the

520
00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:44,439
Speaker 4: vehicle commanders, guys driving, they're trying to get you know,

521
00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:46,960
Speaker 4: navigate off of that map that we're given and they're like,

522
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:48,920
Speaker 4: all right, cool, it should be right up there. That's

523
00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:51,760
Speaker 4: the house. So we're in this town, you know, the

524
00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:55,200
Speaker 4: city Samara, and we go up to this house. It's

525
00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:57,840
Speaker 4: the wrong house, you know, reading that map, and so

526
00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:00,199
Speaker 4: we figured out, oh, yeah, it's backwards, you know they

527
00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:01,800
Speaker 4: write they write backwards.

528
00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:02,680
Speaker 3: Oh my god.

529
00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:05,560
Speaker 4: Yeah, So we went to the wrong house at first,

530
00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:07,960
Speaker 4: and then uh, and then it was like, all right, hey,

531
00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:10,640
Speaker 4: so we're on foot. Now, you know, we had exited

532
00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:14,840
Speaker 4: the vehicle, went hit the wrong house, left that house. Really, hey,

533
00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:17,280
Speaker 4: there's nobody here, all right, So now we're on foot

534
00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:19,080
Speaker 4: and we're just trying to like think we were like

535
00:23:19,119 --> 00:23:21,120
Speaker 4: a few blocks away, so we had to move down

536
00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:24,800
Speaker 4: a few blocks. But uh, you know, everybody knows we're there,

537
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:27,680
Speaker 4: Like there's no element of surprise. And I remember telling

538
00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:30,720
Speaker 4: the story years ago. This was the only thing I

539
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:33,399
Speaker 4: could really compare it to is you start seeing people

540
00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:36,040
Speaker 4: come up on rooftops, Like the rooftops are just flooded

541
00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:39,119
Speaker 4: with people. People are coming out, and it just reminded me,

542
00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:40,679
Speaker 4: you know, I had seen you know, my senior year

543
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:42,040
Speaker 4: of high school. I think it was I went and

544
00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:44,120
Speaker 4: I saw black Hawk Down. And that was the only

545
00:23:44,119 --> 00:23:46,760
Speaker 4: thing I can compare it to. It was like, everybody's

546
00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:49,600
Speaker 4: on these rooftops. It's like reminds me like that movie

547
00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:51,280
Speaker 4: block black Hawk Down.

548
00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:52,280
Speaker 5: It's a setup.

549
00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:54,760
Speaker 4: We're going to get ambushed, you know, because we knew

550
00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:58,040
Speaker 4: that there was Americans that were still you know, being

551
00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:01,000
Speaker 4: held pow, but we didn't know where, you know, so

552
00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:03,240
Speaker 4: in my mind, I'm like, this is an ambush. And

553
00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:05,840
Speaker 4: then running, you know, a few blocks down with somehow

554
00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:08,840
Speaker 4: we get to that right house and uh, you know,

555
00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:11,600
Speaker 4: I remember being the point man going up to that door,

556
00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:14,080
Speaker 4: and I remember that house. It was kind of weird,

557
00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:16,200
Speaker 4: like there was actually two front doors. It was almost

558
00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:18,480
Speaker 4: looked like a duplex if I remember correctly, but you

559
00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:21,000
Speaker 4: know their style of house. So I went up to

560
00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:23,280
Speaker 4: the door on the right, just kind of you know,

561
00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:25,160
Speaker 4: running up to that door. I get on the door.

562
00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:28,320
Speaker 4: Two kicks, it doesn't open, third kick, it finally opens.

563
00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:30,560
Speaker 4: I think there was like the door that was on

564
00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:33,720
Speaker 4: the left was open and it connected to that house.

565
00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:36,440
Speaker 4: So as I'm coming up, there was a hallway. I

566
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:38,520
Speaker 4: remember as I was coming up the hallway, there's a

567
00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:40,680
Speaker 4: door to my left, and I looked to the left

568
00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,160
Speaker 4: and I saw somebody in there with a with a gun,

569
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:44,000
Speaker 4: you know, a rifle.

570
00:24:44,119 --> 00:24:45,280
Speaker 5: But it was one of our guys.

571
00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:47,560
Speaker 4: So like I went to turn real quick, and you know,

572
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:49,840
Speaker 4: the whole time, we're you know, yelling everybody, get down,

573
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:51,720
Speaker 4: get down, And I went to turn to tell that

574
00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:53,879
Speaker 4: guy to get down, but he was with me. He

575
00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:57,000
Speaker 4: just found that open door, you know. So I remember,

576
00:24:57,080 --> 00:24:59,520
Speaker 4: you know, we're going in and there was the first room.

577
00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:01,159
Speaker 5: On the right. They were all in, and you know,

578
00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:01,760
Speaker 5: we went.

579
00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:04,000
Speaker 4: In and you know, like she said telling everybody to

580
00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:07,000
Speaker 4: get down, get down, and uh, I remember somebody saying,

581
00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:09,040
Speaker 4: you know, she had you know, we told everybody to

582
00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:09,880
Speaker 4: get down, stand up.

583
00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:12,680
Speaker 5: If you're an American, and people.

584
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:15,240
Speaker 4: Started standing up, and I remember somebody said to Shoshana, like,

585
00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:17,360
Speaker 4: you know, get down, and I was like, no, she's

586
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:18,040
Speaker 4: an American.

587
00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:18,600
Speaker 5: You know.

588
00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,200
Speaker 4: Everybody else was lack lack of better terms, everybody else

589
00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:25,679
Speaker 4: was Caucasian. She didn't look Arabic. She looked like people

590
00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:28,720
Speaker 4: that I know, you know, so she didn't look Arabic,

591
00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:31,520
Speaker 4: and I knew, like she's like, she's an American, you know,

592
00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:35,000
Speaker 4: And yeah, it was you know, I tell the story,

593
00:25:35,119 --> 00:25:37,199
Speaker 4: you know, looking back after, you know, on it is

594
00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:39,840
Speaker 4: I think the people there were so scared.

595
00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:41,639
Speaker 5: It's like we could have went in there with m R.

596
00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:44,440
Speaker 4: Spoons and you got them out of there, like they

597
00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:47,040
Speaker 4: you know that people that were done.

598
00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:50,760
Speaker 3: This is not just count what you've done. This this

599
00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:52,439
Speaker 3: is again we see the movies and.

600
00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:55,920
Speaker 2: Superhero this is superhero stuff, and so don't discount it.

601
00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:57,399
Speaker 3: And that's what a lot of us tend to do.

602
00:25:57,440 --> 00:26:00,600
Speaker 3: We tend to say, oh no, no, no, yeah, but it.

603
00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:04,120
Speaker 2: Wasn't this, No, this was the greatest moment you could have,

604
00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:08,160
Speaker 2: in the biggest moment of your life and you stepping up.

605
00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:09,680
Speaker 3: So don't discount it at all.

606
00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:13,040
Speaker 5: Yeah no, yeah, right, So all right.

607
00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:18,720
Speaker 2: So now you see Sirshawn and them so YouTube. I

608
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:24,639
Speaker 2: guess it's your third meeting since or second meeting after that, Shirshanna.

609
00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:27,200
Speaker 2: Before we kind of get into how you guys get

610
00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:29,960
Speaker 2: out when you see Karnie here, Like, what kind of

611
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:32,159
Speaker 2: emotions is it to bring for you?

612
00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:34,720
Speaker 6: It's surreal. It's surreal.

613
00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:38,080
Speaker 7: First of all, I always comme in. I was like, oh,

614
00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:41,080
Speaker 7: he's a grown man now, because I remember the eighteen

615
00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:47,359
Speaker 7: year old. He was eighteen, right, yeah, yeah, And I

616
00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:50,680
Speaker 7: remember thinking at the time, because you know, at that time,

617
00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:54,520
Speaker 7: everybody who's dusty dirty, they looked a little older. Kearnie

618
00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:58,200
Speaker 7: went back to Doha with us my security blanket.

619
00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:00,600
Speaker 6: I had a grip on that boy's arm, so, you know,

620
00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:02,840
Speaker 6: because it made me feel safe, I was okay.

621
00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:05,760
Speaker 7: And then he went and cleaned up and everything, and

622
00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:07,160
Speaker 7: then I saw this babyface.

623
00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:10,479
Speaker 6: I was like, oh my god, this little boy. I

624
00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:12,720
Speaker 6: was thirty. I had twelve years on him. I saw

625
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:15,080
Speaker 6: this baby and I'm like, oh my god.

626
00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:17,200
Speaker 5: Yeah. If I remember correctly.

627
00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:19,119
Speaker 4: I think that's when somebody asked how old I was.

628
00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:21,760
Speaker 4: I was like, I'm eighteen and I was with Castro.

629
00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:24,880
Speaker 4: Castro I think was twenty one, you know, and they're like, what,

630
00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:27,760
Speaker 4: You're eighteen, Like, yeah.

631
00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:28,960
Speaker 6: Yes, it was.

632
00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:28,920
Speaker 5: It was.

633
00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:30,919
Speaker 6: It was like, oh my god.

634
00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:35,360
Speaker 5: By that point, jeez, I was so new. I was new.

635
00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:37,720
Speaker 5: So I had got to the unit.

636
00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:41,959
Speaker 4: I got to the unit in I think January of

637
00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:42,920
Speaker 4: two thousand and three.

638
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:46,680
Speaker 5: We check in and yeah, like so new.

639
00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:50,480
Speaker 4: Yeah, like you know, boot camp. I went to boot

640
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:54,359
Speaker 4: camp in June of two thousand and two, graduated boot camp, went.

641
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:55,800
Speaker 5: To school, and then checked in.

642
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:57,560
Speaker 4: So yeah, I had been in the Marine Corps I

643
00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:00,919
Speaker 4: think at that time for five months, you know, check in,

644
00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:05,719
Speaker 4: uh to the unit. And I remember our first company,

645
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:08,119
Speaker 4: first earned he's like the senior listed advisor to the

646
00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:11,800
Speaker 4: company commander, but he was he was a gunnery sergeant,

647
00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:14,320
Speaker 4: was his reign gunnar in Peterson. There's like seven of

648
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:17,080
Speaker 4: us checking in and He's like, you guys better learn

649
00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:19,160
Speaker 4: your job and learn it quick because we're going to war.

650
00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:21,879
Speaker 4: And I remember like, oh yeah, like eventually we'll go

651
00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:24,720
Speaker 4: to war, like someday. And it was probably ten days later.

652
00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:27,560
Speaker 4: I'm bringing my bag on ship. You know, we took

653
00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:29,720
Speaker 4: we took out, we took navy ships over there.

654
00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:32,080
Speaker 5: And yeah. So that's that's how long I had been in.

655
00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:35,560
Speaker 2: Okay, So you you go in, you grab Sehana and

656
00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:38,880
Speaker 2: Shaana grabs you. And there's a famous picture of you,

657
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:41,160
Speaker 2: you know, you guys running out away from there.

658
00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:44,680
Speaker 3: Tell me the process both of you go from there?

659
00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:46,840
Speaker 3: Where do you People just think, okay, you get Clayton.

660
00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:49,040
Speaker 2: Yeah in the movie, we see you next and you know,

661
00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:50,240
Speaker 2: somebody's getting metal and that's it.

662
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:54,400
Speaker 3: Tell us the journey from that moment on that picture.

663
00:28:55,040 --> 00:29:00,400
Speaker 6: This picture that's hours later. Yeah, that's hours later. They

664
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:02,920
Speaker 6: had to get us because let me tell you, I'm

665
00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:05,400
Speaker 6: gonna tell you this right now. And I've see in

666
00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:08,000
Speaker 6: general clarity. I just saw him a couple months ago

667
00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:11,120
Speaker 6: in stuff like that. I still keep in contact with him.

668
00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:14,960
Speaker 7: He was their battalion commander, they said, and some of

669
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:18,200
Speaker 7: the Hewitt guys, some of the Intael guys got some

670
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:20,719
Speaker 7: of that information, took it to him and said, you know,

671
00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:24,880
Speaker 7: this is what we got and they said that he said, okay,

672
00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:27,320
Speaker 7: let me go and call up. They said five minutes

673
00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:29,160
Speaker 7: later that man came back and said, we're going to

674
00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:29,480
Speaker 7: do it.

675
00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:33,640
Speaker 6: There's no way in hell. He got permission in five minutes.

676
00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:36,320
Speaker 6: No way in hell.

677
00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:39,480
Speaker 7: So when they rescued us, they had to wait to

678
00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:43,680
Speaker 7: call in air to pick us up, so they had

679
00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:46,880
Speaker 7: to secure an area. The area they had, they had

680
00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:51,120
Speaker 7: to secure it, and they had to guard us until

681
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:52,360
Speaker 7: that aircraft.

682
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:52,960
Speaker 6: Came and picked us up.

683
00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:56,240
Speaker 7: So it wasn't just the rescue they had to Once

684
00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:58,040
Speaker 7: that happened, they still had to keep

685
00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:00,959
Speaker 6: Us secure until we got picked up to take him

686
00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:01,240
Speaker 6: back