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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, welcome to the Buck Sexton Show. On this episode,

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Speaker 1: our friend Jake Beckett. He is a former NFL player,

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Speaker 1: former Army ranger, also was a Senate candidate in Arkansas,

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Speaker 1: and now is the host of the Jake Peckett Beckett Podcast,

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Speaker 1: which I think you should all check out. Jake, thanks

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Speaker 1: for making the time.

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Speaker 2: Man.

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Speaker 1: Good to see him.

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Speaker 2: Hey, great to be on with you.

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Speaker 1: So you know, I saw your governor, Governor Sanders Huckerbet

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Speaker 1: Sanders not long ago, and we talked a little bit

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Speaker 1: about what's going on in your state, because you would

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Speaker 1: think that given that Arkansas is pretty darn red, that

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Speaker 1: it'd be able to join in some of what we're

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Speaker 1: seeing obviously out of Florida. I'm a little biased about

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Speaker 1: the Florida thing these days, but you know, Texas is

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Speaker 1: doing some good things a lot of states, Oklahoma.

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Speaker 2: Of what's happening in Florida, you should be proud of that.

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Speaker 1: Thank you. I am now I'm a new Floridian, so

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Speaker 1: I'm excited about it. How are you guys doing in Arkansas?

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Speaker 1: Like like bring people into whether you know we've got

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Speaker 1: this red state blue state phenomenon playing out in a

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Speaker 1: way that we've never seen before. Right, people are fleeing

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Speaker 1: going to red, blue is getting blue, or red is

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Speaker 1: getting redder. How's Arkansas looking? You get a lot of

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Speaker 1: folks showing up from Los Angeles who are like, hey,

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Speaker 1: let's just do the lib thing here.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I truly believe that we are in the

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Speaker 2: midst of a massive self sorting that's going to happen

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Speaker 2: within this country. I think COVID only accelerated a trend

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Speaker 2: that was happening for a couple of decades prior to

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty, twenty twenty one. But I think it's only

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Speaker 2: going to continue and possibly accelerate as things further unravel

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Speaker 2: in blue states and blue cities, you know, even within

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Speaker 2: red states. And you know, I'm glad you brought up

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Speaker 2: red states because I mean, look, I'm I'm from Arkansas,

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Speaker 2: born and raised, I live in Arkansas, ran for state

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Speaker 2: White office here in Arkansas, and unfortunately, you know, we are,

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Speaker 2: you know, a state that is, you know, like many

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Speaker 2: other red states, particularly in the South. You know, we're

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Speaker 2: led by these just establishment rhino squishy hacks. And you know,

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Speaker 2: that's probably the most charitable way to describe most of them.

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Speaker 2: You know, these are people who you know, a lot

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Speaker 2: of the Republicans in these in these deep red southern states,

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Speaker 2: you know, they were they were a long time Democrats

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Speaker 2: who just kind of like saw which way the wind

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Speaker 2: was blowing and changed their party affiliation. Or they're just

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Speaker 2: people who are you know, they they saw what was

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Speaker 2: happening in twenty ten, the deep party wave, you know,

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Speaker 2: and they came in and so we had this big changeover.

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Speaker 2: And you know, unlike these battleground states that have competitive

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Speaker 2: primaries cycle in and cycle out, like Pennsylvania, like Arizona,

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Speaker 2: like Florida. Florida's probably the best example, you know, where

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Speaker 2: there's constant turnover and there's there's competitive primaries and the

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Speaker 2: cream rises to the top. You know, we don't have

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Speaker 2: that in these deep red states. You know, we have

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Speaker 2: these incumbents, you know, who have been in office for four, five,

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Speaker 2: six seven terms in the state legislature, in the House,

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Speaker 2: and the US Senate, and they're you know, it's almost

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Speaker 2: impossible to win a primary, you know, on the geop

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Speaker 2: side these days. Trust me, I can tell you all

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Speaker 2: about that. So without this what without the this purple

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Speaker 2: kind of competitive primary situation, you know, the the political

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Speaker 2: establishment just has the opportunity to ossify, to stabilize, and

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Speaker 2: there's without the outside competitive influences, you know that we

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Speaker 2: just kind of drift along. And so unfortunately with the

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Speaker 2: influences of the media, these these giant corporations, big tech,

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Speaker 2: you know, the culture, you know, the deterioration of of

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Speaker 2: the church, you know, all these factors. You know, these

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Speaker 2: these squishy, spineless rhinos, they're not able to combat that.

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Speaker 1: This is this is crazy? Can we just for a second,

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Speaker 1: so I don't, I don't. I've actually I've actually never

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Speaker 1: been to Arkansas, Jake. So maybe we're gonna have to

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Speaker 1: your Razorbacks. You know, my co host loves the the

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Speaker 1: big football games. Maybe what to come down and check

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Speaker 1: out the I'm just impressed with myself that I remember

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Speaker 1: that they're called the Razorbacks, right, that's the name of it.

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Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely, yeah, you got it.

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Speaker 1: So because I'll see, for example, I have spent time

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Speaker 1: out in Utah, great state. A lot of stuff about

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Speaker 1: Utah that I totally love. The governor's like a communist.

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Speaker 1: I mean, for a very red state, you get the

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Speaker 1: governor of Utah is really bad on a whole range

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Speaker 1: of issues. This is something that I feel like as

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Speaker 1: we're seeing the sorting happening with people leaving blue, going

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Speaker 1: to red, red getting redder, and also the role of

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Speaker 1: state governance post COVID, everyone realizes your state really does matter.

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Speaker 1: I think there for a while we started to thinking, oh,

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Speaker 1: it's the federal government, right, you're a state local, it's

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Speaker 1: kind of your state government matters a whole heck of

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Speaker 1: a lot. How is it that some of the red

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Speaker 1: es states give us some of the worst leadership? I mean,

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Speaker 1: is it just that they have no fear of the

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Speaker 1: Democrat side, so they get soft, lazy, and they start

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Speaker 1: to dissemble.

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Speaker 2: They know they'll never lose a primary, and that really

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Speaker 2: is the p problem. You don't have any open seats.

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Speaker 2: I mean, Arkansas has had the same congressional delegation, the

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Speaker 2: same four members of the House, the same two US

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Speaker 2: Senators for ten years now. I mean, it's amazing, like there,

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Speaker 2: it's been a it's been a whole decade, and we've

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Speaker 2: had zero turnover in our six member congressional delegation. But

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Speaker 2: you are right like, like I think, by and large,

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Speaker 2: you know the problems. I mean, this is a pretty

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Speaker 2: you know, deeper discussion. We can have a you know,

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Speaker 2: a podcast series on this. But you know, I think

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Speaker 2: what's happening at the federal level that's gonna be really

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Speaker 2: tough to fix, to put it lightly, but where we

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Speaker 2: actually have the opportunity to exercise power, you know, where

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Speaker 2: are where the the base, the citizenry still actually believes

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Speaker 2: what we believe and will grant Republicans the actual ability

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Speaker 2: to exercise our influence are in these red counties, uh,

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Speaker 2: in red states. And that's why it's so important for

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Speaker 2: you know, states like Florida. You know, now it's you

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Speaker 2: know it it was a purple state. You know, now

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Speaker 2: due to you know, Governor Desante's influence, it's become a

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Speaker 2: red state. You know, in some of the other states.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's it's getting better. You know, Governor DeSantis

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Speaker 2: has really led the way. You know, it's it's you know,

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Speaker 2: I I could go on forever about how important it's

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Speaker 2: been to have him done in Florida, leading the way

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Speaker 2: and setting the example because for so many years, I

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Speaker 2: mean for people on the right, we don't even know

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Speaker 2: what winning looks like. We have no idea what excellence,

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Speaker 2: what greatness, what victory even looks like. And so we

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Speaker 2: didn't really have a barometer. So we had Asa Hutchinson

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Speaker 2: here in Arkansas, who was the governor for eight years.

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Speaker 2: He was terrible, you know, obviously the governor out in Utah.

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Speaker 2: You know k Ivy, the governor of Alabama, she's terrible.

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Speaker 2: Tate Reeves Mississippi. I mean, they're all bad. But we

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Speaker 2: didn't even know it until Ron DeSantis came in there

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Speaker 2: and took a fifty to fifty red state and made

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Speaker 2: it a sixty to forty red state simply because of

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Speaker 2: the force of his policies and his leadership. Okay, like

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Speaker 2: he showed that, hey, we can have good thing. Okay,

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Speaker 2: like we can we can take on these wok corporations

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Speaker 2: like Disney. You know, we can remove Soros DA's when

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Speaker 2: they get out of line. We can take over higher education.

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Speaker 2: You know, we can actually move the needle and show

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Speaker 2: the rest of the country. And so, like, just as

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Speaker 2: any in business and sports and whatever, competition is a

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Speaker 2: good thing. And so Governor DeSantis has moved every other

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Speaker 2: red state governor to the right on the issues simply

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Speaker 2: because they've been humiliated by you know, the national news

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Speaker 2: and people in these red states like Arkansas looking like Hey,

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Speaker 2: like Asa Hutchinson, why aren't you doing what ron de

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Speaker 2: Santus is doing in Florida? And so obviously, like you know,

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Speaker 2: people's discussed with Asa Hutchinson. You know, he was the

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Speaker 2: guy who went on Tucker Carlson and was saying that,

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Speaker 2: you know, Ronald Reagan and William F. Buckley would have

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Speaker 2: agreed with, you know, transgender mutilation surgeries for children. Asa

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Speaker 2: Hudchson actually vetoed a bill in Arkansas that would have

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Speaker 2: made that illegal, and so and so we were fed

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Speaker 2: up with him, and we moved on to someone who's

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Speaker 2: definitely better than him, and Governor Sarah Sanders, and she's

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Speaker 2: implementing some good policies. But it really it started with

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Speaker 2: Governor Rondecantis in Florida. He has shown the way and

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Speaker 2: I can't emphasize enough how important that has been to

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Speaker 2: show the people on the right in this country that

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Speaker 2: winning is possible.

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Speaker 1: I think technically we have to say he is presidential

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Speaker 1: candidate Asa Hutchins, just to be clear. Just to be clear,

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Speaker 1: I think if he breaks one percent of the national vote,

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Speaker 1: you know, Jake, I'll next time that goes down.

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Speaker 2: I sincerely hope that he stays in the race through

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Speaker 2: the Arkansas Super Tuesday primary in twenty twenty four. I'm

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Speaker 2: genuinely curious to see what he will get in his

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Speaker 2: own home state. There's no way he lasts that long.

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Speaker 2: He'll probably drop out after Iowa forgetting you know, a

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Speaker 2: fraction of one percent. But I mean in Arkansas, he

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Speaker 2: wouldn't even get five percent of the vote in his

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Speaker 2: own home state, that's how reviled he is.

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Speaker 1: I want to come back and talk to you a

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Speaker 1: bit about, first of all, your story as it pertains

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Speaker 1: to your service in the Army Rangers, and then talk

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Speaker 1: a bit about Ukraine and some of what we've been

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Speaker 1: hearing recently about us role there, maybe a little more

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Speaker 1: substantial than is officially talked about. I mean I always

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Speaker 1: assume that the role is I've thought that all along,

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Speaker 1: but you know, secret squirrel stuff. We all know what

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Speaker 1: goes on. But we'll come back here in just a second,

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Speaker 1: because guys, you got to have life insurance. You know,

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Speaker 1: I just got married a few months ago, and it

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Speaker 1: is absolutely critical because the right insurance plan gives you

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Speaker 1: peace of mind if something were to happen to you,

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Speaker 1: you know, your family has that safety net to cover

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Speaker 1: mortgage payments, college costs, other expenses you've been providing for.

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Speaker 1: This is just a must do. You've got to have

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Speaker 1: not just a policy, but a policy that has enough,

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Speaker 1: or rather an additional policy possibly so Policy Genius is

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Speaker 1: first off, tell everybody what years, what years were you

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Speaker 1: in I just wanted to talk a little bit about

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Speaker 1: your military service where we talk about the national security

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Speaker 1: side of things right now. When did you first get

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Speaker 1: into the Army?

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Speaker 2: So I joined the Army in the summer of twenty seventeen.

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Speaker 2: You know, I played four years of professional football for

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Speaker 2: the New England Patriots. You know, won a Super Bowl

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Speaker 2: with those guys single handedly. You know, it wouldn't Brady,

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Speaker 2: wouldn't Belichick. It was all me. You know. After I

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Speaker 2: got done solidifying that dynasty, I went to law school.

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Speaker 2: You know, my my my intention wasn't to practice law.

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Speaker 2: You know, I was really hurt after I left the NFL,

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Speaker 2: so I went to law school to get healthy. And

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Speaker 2: when I was in d c H in law school,

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Speaker 2: I just, I really, you know, my ultimate plan was

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Speaker 2: was a serve in the military. And I didn't want

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Speaker 2: to be a jag and I was getting close to

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Speaker 2: the age limit, so you know, I just I decided

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Speaker 2: it was the best thing to do to to drop

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Speaker 2: out of law school and join the Army. And that's

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Speaker 2: what I did. I went through basic training Officer Canada school.

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Speaker 2: You know, went through the UH Infantry Officers course. I

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Speaker 2: went through ranger school.

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Speaker 1: I have questions. I have questions. Hold on, Yeah, like,

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Speaker 1: was there a point at which you were you were

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Speaker 1: in your let's say your first or second week of

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Speaker 1: basic training or something, and you're a little bit you

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Speaker 1: did you ever have the thought You're like, maybe, I don't

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Speaker 1: know about this decision. I'm just wondering. That's a big

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Speaker 1: move to drop out of law school right to serve.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's very honorable decision, it's great.

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Speaker 1: But did you did you know every day you were

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Speaker 1: going through it that this is what was for you?

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Speaker 2: You know, I did. I mean, I'm not gonna I'm

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Speaker 2: not gonna say it wasn't challenging, you know, but I

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Speaker 2: really I fully committed to making that decision. But yeah,

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Speaker 2: I mean there were some moments, you know, you're you know,

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Speaker 2: I went from having a really great apartment in downtown

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Speaker 2: Boston playing for the Patriots, you know, part of a

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Speaker 2: Super Bowl championship team, you know, to go into a

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Speaker 2: great apartment in Washington, d C. You know, go into Georgetown,

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Speaker 2: a great law school, to you know, being in a

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Speaker 2: in a sleeping bay of you know, sixty five eighteen

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Speaker 2: to twenty four year old Basic trainees. You know, just

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Speaker 2: kind of looking around at midnight, you know, man, Like, your.

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Speaker 1: Social options definitely decreased. Your service to the country increased dramatically, congratulations,

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Speaker 1: But your social options from being a NFL player in

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Speaker 1: Boston to being in Basic training, you know, not as

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Speaker 1: many cheerleads.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, no, exactly, you know, but I was. I

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Speaker 2: was fully committed to making that sacrifice. And you know,

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Speaker 2: at the end of the day, I realized that it

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Speaker 2: wasn't gonna be it was gonna be a temporary, you know,

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Speaker 2: temporarily a difficult situation to go through Basic and go

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Speaker 2: through o CS and Ranger school. But you know, I

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Speaker 2: never lost sight of that goal, which was to get

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Speaker 2: my ranger tab and you know lead a rifle platoon,

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Speaker 2: which I was very blessed to have the ability to do.

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Speaker 2: And you know.

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Speaker 1: I was a herd. What's the hardest part of Ranger

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Speaker 1: school for you? For what did you find the most

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Speaker 1: challenging part of it?

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Speaker 2: It was the starvation. I mean, like truly, like there's

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Speaker 2: I lost about forty pounds in Ranger school. I went

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Speaker 2: in weighed about two hundred and forty pounds, got out

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Speaker 2: weighing two hundred. I can show you some photos another time.

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Speaker 2: I mean I was like a stick figure coming out

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Speaker 2: of there. My mom cried when you saw me at

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Speaker 2: Ranger School graduation. I was so thin. But you know,

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Speaker 2: coming from a football background, you know, I like to eat,

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Speaker 2: so that was that was a huge challenge. But sleep

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Speaker 2: deprivation and food deprivation is a huge part of the school.

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Speaker 2: You know, you get pushed to your mental, physical, emotional,

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Speaker 2: spiritual limits, you know, but that's that's how you forage

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Speaker 2: great leaders, you know, over that sixty two day course,

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Speaker 2: and you know, I was able to finish it in

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Speaker 2: the in the shortest amount of time, thank goodness, and

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Speaker 2: and get out of there and get to my platoon.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, I would say that the sleep depth, you know,

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Speaker 2: forty five minutes of sleep per night for like ten

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Speaker 2: straight nights, is not not ideal when it comes to

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Speaker 2: you know, rest, recuperation and being in a prime mental state.

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Speaker 2: But you know, that's just part of the deal.

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Speaker 1: Where do you end up deploying Iraq?

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Speaker 2: So my my Brigade Combat Team with one hundred and

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Speaker 2: first Airborne we were stationed in uh northern Iraq, the

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Speaker 2: Kurdistan region.

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Speaker 1: Oh I ah, what were you're like in Suli or something?

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Speaker 1: I know, I know that area of the world pretty well.

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Speaker 2: We were we were between Mosul and our Biel.

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Speaker 1: Oh Moses, that place back in the day, my time

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Speaker 1: in Moses. And that was a spicy location, let me

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Speaker 1: tell you. But that was uh what when were you there?

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Speaker 1: If you don't mind about a deck about it. I

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Speaker 1: mean and I was in the region, I will say

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Speaker 1: about a decade about a decade before you I mean

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Speaker 1: basically yea.

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Speaker 2: Before before twenty fifteen, because obviously that was the capital

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Speaker 2: of the Califade. You know when when Isis had their

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Speaker 2: had their brief rreaker.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, no, no, yeah, well I was there again in

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Speaker 1: the vicinity and that too specific. I was there on

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Speaker 1: the vicinity, uh you know, doing my uh analyst uh

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Speaker 1: you know, dressed as like a guy on a camping

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Speaker 1: trip thing. Right after or pretty close to what happened

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Speaker 1: was like they kicked all the bad guys, I mean

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Speaker 1: not all of them, but they they cleared out Flujah

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Speaker 1: Ramadi and that had been this is like oh six

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Speaker 1: oh seven period that you know, those had been and

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Speaker 1: bar province was just the worst, right, the heaviest fighting.

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Speaker 1: The Marines had to go in their house to house

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Speaker 1: to all that stuff. But a lot of them, the

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Speaker 1: suicide bomber rat lines and the bad stuff switched up

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Speaker 1: north to Mosul coming in. So that was yep. So

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Speaker 1: I remember I remember going spending some time with some

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Speaker 1: of the SF teams out there and trying to see

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Speaker 1: what could be done to stock because these guys were

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Speaker 1: going into marketplaces with you know, suicide vest are actually

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Speaker 1: car bombs all the time, just you know, blow up

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Speaker 1: thirty fifty eighty people. Whatever it was. It was really

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Speaker 1: really awful stuff. But so when you were there, it's

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Speaker 1: fascinating actually because when I was there it was horrible,

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Speaker 1: and then when you were there it was horrible. It

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Speaker 1: was like the main spots. So what were you doing?

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Speaker 2: So it was a really interesting mission set. You know,

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Speaker 2: it was a combination of patrols. You know, we were

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Speaker 2: doing some diplomatic stuff, you know, meeting with the uh

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Speaker 2: you know, provincial governor you know this Ninila province, so

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Speaker 2: the provincial governor of the Iraqi. Yeah, the their version

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Speaker 2: of a core level commander was stationed with us, you know,

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Speaker 2: so we were coordinating air strikes. You know, we we

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Speaker 2: had some guys going out on target. So, I mean,

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Speaker 2: it was a it was a really interesting kind of

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Speaker 2: all encompassing mission set. It was great for for a

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Speaker 2: young lieutenant to get out there and kind of see

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Speaker 2: everything that was going down. And this was this was

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Speaker 2: a couple of years after you know, we had cleaned

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Speaker 2: out Isis, you know, but there were obviously still I mean,

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Speaker 2: as you know Mosl and Rbil, Curtis Dan. It's kind

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Speaker 2: of a confluence of a lot of different ethnicities. You know,

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Speaker 2: it was an old trading route historically, so there was

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Speaker 2: a there's a you know, a lot of a Sunni

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Speaker 2: Shia conflict happening in that part of the you know,

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Speaker 2: that part of the Middle East. And you know, obviously

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Speaker 2: in in the late twenty tens, that was when Iran

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Speaker 2: first really started to uh flex on that area. You know,

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Speaker 2: the Isis was was Sunni and so once Isis got

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Speaker 2: cleaned out, the Shia you know, came in and decided

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Speaker 2: they were in charge. Obviously, the these Shia backed or

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Speaker 2: these I Ran backed Chia militia groups, the SMGs, you know,

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Speaker 2: we're all over the place. It was a really fascinating

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Speaker 2: and and pretty intense mission set out there. But you know,

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Speaker 2: like I said, it was a it was a good experience.

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Speaker 2: It was a good deployment. I deployed with some great people, uh,

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Speaker 2: and not just army. You know, we had some you know,

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Speaker 2: we had some some Marsat guys, Marine raiders, we had

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Speaker 2: some Air Force j tax with us. You know, we

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Speaker 2: had some some guys from your with with you with

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Speaker 2: your training who were with us. So it was a

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Speaker 2: it was a really outstanding deployment.

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Speaker 1: So what I wanted to ask you, I wanted to

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Speaker 1: get that background. It's so interesting too, by the way.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I everyone that I talked to who deployed

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Speaker 1: your rocker Afghanistan before you, it was it's always roughly

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Speaker 1: my contemporaries, you know, other few years before, a few

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Speaker 1: years after being in that part of the world. But

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Speaker 1: you know, now, of course we have people that were

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Speaker 1: dealing with like you, dealing with the isis uh situation

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Speaker 1: uh up in up in a rock specifically obviously Afghanistan

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Speaker 1: kind of continued much much longer. If I if I

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Speaker 1: got to ask you something, I'd be curious if someone

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Speaker 1: told you that you could go and advise the Kurds

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Speaker 1: just theoretically, if this kind of thing we're happening, I

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Speaker 1: don't know, But if I told you that you could

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Speaker 1: go and advise the Kurds on the ground, I'm sorry

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Speaker 1: the Ukrainians. You already advise the Kurds, the Ukrainians on

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Speaker 1: the ground to help them against the Russians. I really

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Speaker 1: mean this honestly, Like, would you want any part of

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Speaker 1: that fight? Would you say, you know what, I want

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Speaker 1: to go and possibly, you know, take the risks of

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Speaker 1: we all know what can happen over there. How would

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Speaker 1: you feel about that?

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Speaker 2: I would advise the Ukrainians to make peace as quickly

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Speaker 2: as possible on the best possible terms they could get,

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Speaker 2: because I think that's that is the best possible outcome

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Speaker 2: for them right now. And that's that's not the narrative

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Speaker 2: that you get from the mainstream media. You know, obviously

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Speaker 2: they you know a lot of these people, these warhawks

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Speaker 2: and neocons and and you know, unfortunately lids now you know,

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Speaker 2: they're they're willing to fight to the last drop of

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Speaker 2: blood of someone else, you know, like namely the Ukrainian people.

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Speaker 2: You know in the alley, guys who are who are

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Speaker 2: helping them in that fight. But you know, I just

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Speaker 2: think that you know, I'm I'm not willing to go

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Speaker 2: over there or send someone that I love to go

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Speaker 2: fight for the territorial sovereignty of the frontiers of Eastern Europe,

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Speaker 2: especially when there's ethnic conflict there that you know, most people,

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Speaker 2: you know don't even have the beginnings of an understanding of.

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Speaker 2: And you know, especially when here in the United States

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Speaker 2: we don't have territorial sovereignty over our own country. You know,

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Speaker 2: let's just let's just be very blunt. I mean, we

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Speaker 2: we don't have a southern border. You know, I talk

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Speaker 2: to people who are with border patrol. There's actually kind

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Speaker 2: of a developing story that's you know, people who are

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Speaker 2: plugged in or following. Actually, our northern border is actually

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Speaker 2: becoming more and more of an issue. You know, these

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Speaker 2: these you know, these.

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Speaker 1: In the numbers are a lot smaller, but the percentage

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Speaker 1: increase is substantial.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, and and you know it makes sense because there's

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Speaker 2: not as much media attention on our northern border now,

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Speaker 2: and so you know, in the in the age of

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Speaker 2: globalization and transportation, people can get.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think that if if you can

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Speaker 1: get to Mexico your chance. Now, I've spent a fair

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Speaker 1: amount of time at the border and a bunch of

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Speaker 1: different locations right along sup border patrol, spending time with

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Speaker 1: those guys and gals. You know, I would I would

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Speaker 1: bet that. I mean, if you were telling me, never

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Speaker 1: mind getting getting myself into the country illegally, if I

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Speaker 1: chose to do that across the southern border, I'd give

430
00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:25,280
Speaker 1: ten to one odds that I'm able to get into

431
00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:25,800
Speaker 1: the country.

432
00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:27,040
Speaker 2: You know.

433
00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:30,560
Speaker 1: Now that's not including the idea of like surrendering, right,

434
00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:32,119
Speaker 1: I mean, because that's what a lot of the family

435
00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:33,920
Speaker 1: units and others have done. But if you're just saying

436
00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:35,840
Speaker 1: straight shot into America, I think ten to one I

437
00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:38,639
Speaker 1: can because I know the cartel games, I know.

438
00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:38,960
Speaker 2: What they do.

439
00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:40,800
Speaker 1: So if you just replicate that, you'll be able to

440
00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:43,280
Speaker 1: get in pretty easily. Put them at the northern border,

441
00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:47,040
Speaker 1: you know, I feel like that's wide open. That's got

442
00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:49,359
Speaker 1: to be super easy to get across. We have almost

443
00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:52,800
Speaker 1: no protection up there whatsoever. So if people figure out, well,

444
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:54,240
Speaker 1: if you can, you know, if you can fly to camp,

445
00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:57,760
Speaker 1: especially for the people that aren't coming via foot and train,

446
00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:01,760
Speaker 1: you know, from Central America, specifically in Northern Triangle countries.

447
00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:06,719
Speaker 1: People forget they're coming from Piland, They're coming from West Africa,

448
00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:10,239
Speaker 1: they're coming from China, from pakist all over the world right,

449
00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:14,360
Speaker 1: the illegal traffic across the border, so that means planes.

450
00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:16,800
Speaker 1: So at some point it is interesting to think about.

451
00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:18,879
Speaker 1: You know, I guess it depends on who you know,

452
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,480
Speaker 1: who's allowed into Canada, but it would be easier to

453
00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:22,159
Speaker 1: come across from.

454
00:22:23,359 --> 00:22:24,800
Speaker 2: You asked me a question, I mean, what's what's a

455
00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:28,159
Speaker 2: fight that I believe in? Securing America's borders as a

456
00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:30,000
Speaker 2: fight that I believe in. I mean, I made the

457
00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:33,000
Speaker 2: point on social media a couple of months ago. It's

458
00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:35,119
Speaker 2: it's always struck me as strange that, you know, you

459
00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:39,040
Speaker 2: have these these these warhawks and neocons and everyone, you know,

460
00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:42,960
Speaker 2: beating the war drums, you know, supporting literally every possible

461
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:47,480
Speaker 2: foreign intervention, you know. I mean, like they'll back any

462
00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:51,639
Speaker 2: proposed military action if it's done by NATO or the

463
00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:52,600
Speaker 2: United States.

464
00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:53,440
Speaker 1: Or the UN.

465
00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:56,720
Speaker 2: But you never hear them mention like destroying the Mexican

466
00:22:56,800 --> 00:23:00,720
Speaker 2: drug cartels or you know, utilizing America's armed forces to

467
00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:04,080
Speaker 2: supplement border patrol on the southern or northern border, and

468
00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:07,520
Speaker 2: like look, I'm I'm not someone who trusts the Pentagon,

469
00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:10,439
Speaker 2: the DD or our military establishment to do the right

470
00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:12,680
Speaker 2: thing at all times. But it's just curious to me

471
00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:15,919
Speaker 2: they've never never even floated that. You never hear Lindsey Graham,

472
00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:19,000
Speaker 2: you know, talking about like, you know, spinning up America's

473
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:21,399
Speaker 2: military to destroy the cartels. He may have jumped on

474
00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,600
Speaker 2: that bandwagon after people pointed that out, but I just

475
00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:26,600
Speaker 2: think that's strange. That's a fight that I believe in.

476
00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:29,080
Speaker 2: I mean, you want to solve America's recruiting crisis, and

477
00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:32,479
Speaker 2: when it comes to military personnel, you know, like actually

478
00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:35,399
Speaker 2: have a you know, a a dedicated campaign. I mean

479
00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:37,800
Speaker 2: like like Trump kind of dipped his toe in on

480
00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:40,560
Speaker 2: possibly using the military. I mean one of the one

481
00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:42,840
Speaker 2: of our sister brigades with one hundred and first Airborne

482
00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:45,440
Speaker 2: was you know quote deployed to Arizona and on the

483
00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:47,600
Speaker 2: southern border. They didn't really do anything. They didn't have

484
00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:51,000
Speaker 2: the authority to really interdict, you know, the illegals coming

485
00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:53,600
Speaker 2: across the border. But I mean I would love I mean,

486
00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:56,880
Speaker 2: like some of our best military, uh you know leaders.

487
00:23:57,280 --> 00:23:59,920
Speaker 2: I believe Douglas MacArthur, when he was a young Luke

488
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,600
Speaker 2: Tennant or captain. He was involved in the you know,

489
00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:06,639
Speaker 2: the Poncho Villa cross border raids. And I mean like like,

490
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:11,320
Speaker 2: using the military to secure our southern border has long

491
00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:14,680
Speaker 2: been well within the traditions of American foreign policy. So

492
00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:16,800
Speaker 2: I mean, that's a fight that I believe in.

493
00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:18,920
Speaker 1: Let's come back to that in a second. So when

494
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:20,359
Speaker 1: I ask you a question about how we should handle

495
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:23,800
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Speaker 1: you were you were up there in northern Iraq. You

520
00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:31,840
Speaker 1: saw the situation with ISIS, which was a there was

521
00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:35,200
Speaker 1: a little more conventional actually military fight than what I

522
00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:38,640
Speaker 1: had seen, which was a clearly a counterinsurgency.

523
00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:39,399
Speaker 2: You know.

524
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:41,879
Speaker 1: It was much more find the bad guys, kicking the

525
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:48,639
Speaker 1: doors and arrest them if possible. Often it wasn't possible, cartels,

526
00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:53,159
Speaker 1: fighting the cartels with the military, and obviously the intelligence

527
00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:56,239
Speaker 1: force intelligence community would be a big part of this too,

528
00:25:56,280 --> 00:25:58,080
Speaker 1: because it would be kind of like dealing with al Qaeda,

529
00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:00,960
Speaker 1: you know, looking for individuals and networks and things like that.

530
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:05,040
Speaker 1: Not you know, brigade versus brigade combat maneuvers. What do

531
00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:06,920
Speaker 1: you think of that idea? Did we send the military

532
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:08,280
Speaker 1: after the cartels in Mexico?

533
00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:12,879
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's a it's an all the above strategy.

534
00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:15,600
Speaker 2: I mean, you leverage intelligence, you leverage your power, and

535
00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:19,920
Speaker 2: obviously you leverage you know, conventional and special ground forces.

536
00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:23,000
Speaker 2: You know. But I'm just I'm tired of people who,

537
00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:25,639
Speaker 2: you know, you mentioned things like this and they just

538
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:27,760
Speaker 2: kind of scoff like it's not possible. I mean, you know,

539
00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:31,480
Speaker 2: look at what Naive Bucal is doing in El Salvador.

540
00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:33,400
Speaker 2: I mean, this is a guy who I mean, I'm

541
00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:35,040
Speaker 2: as high on this guy as a world leader as

542
00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:37,480
Speaker 2: I am on anyone. I mean, he's he's one of

543
00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:41,000
Speaker 2: these guys who's just who's showing He's showing the world

544
00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:45,720
Speaker 2: what's possible with genuine leadership. I mean El Salvador, you know,

545
00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:48,800
Speaker 2: had the the world's highest murder rate not too long ago,

546
00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:51,800
Speaker 2: and you know, it would it's laughable, it would have

547
00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:54,359
Speaker 2: been laughable to assume that, you know, someone could come

548
00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:58,080
Speaker 2: in there and neutralize these gangs that have been terrorizing

549
00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:01,320
Speaker 2: and ruining the country for generation. But he came in

550
00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:03,480
Speaker 2: and did that and it wasn't easy. And yeah, I

551
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:06,400
Speaker 2: mean that he was a mixture of you know, hard

552
00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:09,840
Speaker 2: and soft power. But it is possible, and you know,

553
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:12,680
Speaker 2: we just you know, I use bucal At as an example,

554
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:15,000
Speaker 2: you know, I use Governor Ron DeSantis as an example.

555
00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:17,119
Speaker 2: I mean, just people on the right in America, we

556
00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:19,880
Speaker 2: don't even know what excellence looks like. We don't even

557
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:23,040
Speaker 2: we don't have any conception about what is or is

558
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:25,639
Speaker 2: not great. And you know, we have these beacons. We

559
00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:28,000
Speaker 2: have people who are showing us, hey, if we just

560
00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:30,360
Speaker 2: have people, if we have leaders on our side who

561
00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:33,040
Speaker 2: have the will, who have the force of will to

562
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,480
Speaker 2: actually do this, who were going to pin their ears

563
00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:37,400
Speaker 2: back and just get it done, I mean like, yeah,

564
00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:39,480
Speaker 2: well you know, like you kind of you know, it's

565
00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:41,359
Speaker 2: it's as Coach Belichick would say, it's it's part of

566
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:44,200
Speaker 2: the process. You know, it's it's it's something that you know,

567
00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:46,879
Speaker 2: you you know, you adjust and things go wrong, you

568
00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:48,960
Speaker 2: fix them, and things you know, you you get it

569
00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:52,159
Speaker 2: done over time. But it starts with just having that

570
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:55,080
Speaker 2: iron will that you're not going to let anyone tell

571
00:27:55,119 --> 00:27:56,639
Speaker 2: you that it can't be done. You have an in

572
00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:00,200
Speaker 2: state in mind, and you know you're not gonna know

573
00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:02,760
Speaker 2: just one more thing about like about you know, this,

574
00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:06,639
Speaker 2: this this idea of leadership I'm sick of. You know,

575
00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:09,120
Speaker 2: for so many years people on the right were captive

576
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:12,000
Speaker 2: to people like Frank Luntz and you know, people who

577
00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:16,640
Speaker 2: like they think that leaders are supposed to follow public opinion.

578
00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:18,800
Speaker 2: You know, you know, one of the greatest things about

579
00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:22,080
Speaker 2: Governor DeSantis is he's very clear that he doesn't govern

580
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:26,320
Speaker 2: by following public opinion. He has the Steve Jobs model

581
00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:28,720
Speaker 2: of leadership in mind. And you know, Steve Jobs is famous.

582
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:31,119
Speaker 2: I think he borrowed this saying from Henry Ford. You

583
00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:33,800
Speaker 2: know I'm paraphrasing, but essentially he said, you know, people

584
00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:35,800
Speaker 2: don't know what they want. You have to show them

585
00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:38,720
Speaker 2: what they want and then they'll follow you. You know,

586
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:41,080
Speaker 2: like like, no one could have envisioned the iPhone. They

587
00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:43,760
Speaker 2: wouldn't have responded to a Frank Lunz poll and said

588
00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:47,120
Speaker 2: I want an iPhone. No, Steve Jobs showed them the iPhone,

589
00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:49,160
Speaker 2: and then of course now everyone has an iPhone. Same

590
00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:51,440
Speaker 2: thing with the vehicle, and the same thing with leaders

591
00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:54,760
Speaker 2: like Naive Bukele and Ron DeSantis. That's what leadership is

592
00:28:54,840 --> 00:28:58,040
Speaker 2: it's not following, you know, Frank Lunz's polls. It's actually

593
00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:01,200
Speaker 2: you know, like like having the will to solve a

594
00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:04,160
Speaker 2: problem and showing the people that it is possible. So

595
00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:06,320
Speaker 2: that's I mean, I want to see more people like

596
00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:09,240
Speaker 2: that rise in American politics or else. You know, we're

597
00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:10,400
Speaker 2: in We're in deep trouble.

598
00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:16,040
Speaker 1: It's fascinating that Bucule and El Salvador used prison labor

599
00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:19,680
Speaker 1: prisoners MS thirteen prisoners to destroy I'm sure you saw

600
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:24,400
Speaker 1: this the graves of MS thirteen gang members because they

601
00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:27,960
Speaker 1: were being used as gathering sites in the cemeteries. So

602
00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:31,680
Speaker 1: they just if your gravestone said anything about MS thirteen,

603
00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:34,840
Speaker 1: they just turned into rubble. Not allowed to have public

604
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:38,960
Speaker 1: displays of anything having to do with Mars Salvatrucia. He's

605
00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:41,560
Speaker 1: hardcore about it, man. He treats it like he says this.

606
00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:44,880
Speaker 1: I've heard him in an interview saying that he views

607
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:48,000
Speaker 1: the threat of MS thirteen the way that he thinks

608
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:50,960
Speaker 1: people in Germany should treat Nazism, which is that it

609
00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:54,960
Speaker 1: is a threat to the live, safety of lives and

610
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:56,520
Speaker 1: safety of the people, and also a threat to the

611
00:29:56,640 --> 00:30:00,400
Speaker 1: very integrity of the state. Itself, and for a small

612
00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:02,719
Speaker 1: country in Central America to take that approach and obviously

613
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:05,240
Speaker 1: have some results early on, I think is really interesting.

614
00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:08,280
Speaker 1: I've got a couple of NFL questions for you, and

615
00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:10,200
Speaker 1: we come back in a second here, So hold on

616
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643
00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:33,760
Speaker 1: really sleek, and gives you a super close shave. All right,

644
00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:38,680
Speaker 1: mister Beckett, First all, you mentioned Bill Belichick. I know

645
00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:40,200
Speaker 1: a million people have asked you, but I haven't.

646
00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:44,200
Speaker 2: What's you like? Well, he's a genius. He's one of

647
00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:47,320
Speaker 2: the greatest leaders I've ever been around in the civilian

648
00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:50,640
Speaker 2: world or the military. I did my last podcast actually

649
00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:54,520
Speaker 2: on the Patriots Dynasty in what we used to call

650
00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:58,640
Speaker 2: the Patriot Way, and you know, Coach Belichick had a

651
00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:02,280
Speaker 2: very simple set of rules for the team. You know,

652
00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:05,480
Speaker 2: do your job, work hard, be intentive put the team first.

653
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:07,960
Speaker 2: You know, those those were the four rules you know

654
00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:10,400
Speaker 2: that you had to abide by when you you know,

655
00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:12,320
Speaker 2: when you when you step into the Patriots facility, you know,

656
00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:14,760
Speaker 2: when you became a New England Patriot. And you know

657
00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:17,520
Speaker 2: he was he was able to push us very hard.

658
00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:20,120
Speaker 2: I mean, there were so many stories of other veterans

659
00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:22,520
Speaker 2: coming in from different teams, either by trades or free

660
00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:25,600
Speaker 2: agency or whatever, and after a week or so, you know,

661
00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:27,880
Speaker 2: they would just quit the team. I mean, like big

662
00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:31,840
Speaker 2: name guys like you know, Reggie Wayne, Robert Gallery, Kellen Winslow.

663
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:34,800
Speaker 2: I mean, like you know, brand name players. And I'm

664
00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:37,200
Speaker 2: not denigrating these guys, but you know they would come

665
00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:40,360
Speaker 2: in and after seven, seven or ten days of Patriots

666
00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:43,520
Speaker 2: training camp, they would go to Bill and just say, hey, coach,

667
00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:46,640
Speaker 2: you know this isn't for me. I'm gonna retire, and

668
00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:48,760
Speaker 2: like that's you know, other other players who came in

669
00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:51,800
Speaker 2: could not believe how hard you worked, how hard Bill

670
00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:54,640
Speaker 2: coached the players. You know, but we were all on

671
00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:56,440
Speaker 2: the same page, you know, we all marched and the

672
00:32:56,480 --> 00:32:59,400
Speaker 2: beat of the same drum. You know, Tom Brady was

673
00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:02,160
Speaker 2: a huge, huge reason for that. You know, I like

674
00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:05,720
Speaker 2: to tell the story of my first ever Patriots team meeting.

675
00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:07,680
Speaker 2: You know, I'm a brand new rookie coming in there

676
00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:11,560
Speaker 2: in May. It was like our first first spring mini

677
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:14,560
Speaker 2: camp team meeting that the team had just lost the

678
00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:16,280
Speaker 2: Super Bowl to the Giants the year before that. I

679
00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:18,400
Speaker 2: got there and you know, he was just kind of

680
00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:20,520
Speaker 2: the first team meeting, kind of a nothing meeting. Bill's

681
00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:22,720
Speaker 2: just kind of laying out his expectations for Mini camp

682
00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:25,840
Speaker 2: and Tom Brady comes in and he's sitting front row center.

683
00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:27,520
Speaker 2: You know, he didn't have to do that, but he

684
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:30,400
Speaker 2: sat front row center every single day, and in this

685
00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:33,160
Speaker 2: first ever team meeting, I'm sitting there, Brady's just he's

686
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:35,760
Speaker 2: got his notepad, He's sitting up and he's just scribbling

687
00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:38,840
Speaker 2: notes furiously. He's trying to soak in every bit of

688
00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:41,320
Speaker 2: knowledge that Bill was sharing with us. And he had

689
00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:44,280
Speaker 2: probably heard the same meeting ten or fifteen times, the

690
00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:47,560
Speaker 2: same spiel, but he was trying to glean that extra

691
00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:49,520
Speaker 2: bit of knowledge. But I think what he was really

692
00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:52,640
Speaker 2: doing he was setting the example for all the new guys.

693
00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:55,720
Speaker 2: He was he was setting the tone for everyone else

694
00:33:55,760 --> 00:33:58,600
Speaker 2: who was sitting right behind him in that team meeting. Room,

695
00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:00,880
Speaker 2: you know, in the rows above him, and you could

696
00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:04,840
Speaker 2: see Tom Brady just just so attentive in taking notes

697
00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:09,320
Speaker 2: and engage intellectually and mentally engaged. And you know that

698
00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:11,120
Speaker 2: was that was the kind of leadership we had from

699
00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:13,960
Speaker 2: the coaching staff, from the Marquee players, guys like like

700
00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:17,000
Speaker 2: Tom and Gronk and Vince will Fork and Matthew Slater

701
00:34:17,200 --> 00:34:19,600
Speaker 2: and so many others. You know, it was just an

702
00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:23,000
Speaker 2: absolute machine. And that I tell stories like that to

703
00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:25,920
Speaker 2: really explain what is the Patriot Way because it's not

704
00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:28,840
Speaker 2: just for football, you know, it's for any Any leader

705
00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:31,560
Speaker 2: can learn from the Patriot Way. You know, whether you're

706
00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:34,759
Speaker 2: in politics, or in business or in media, whatever it is.

707
00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:37,239
Speaker 2: You know, if you if you follow those rules and

708
00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:40,440
Speaker 2: you and you hold people accountable, do your job, be attentive,

709
00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:43,360
Speaker 2: work hard, put the team first, you're going to have success.

710
00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:46,840
Speaker 1: What was your favorite part of being an NFL What

711
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:48,680
Speaker 1: were you a linebacker? By the way, is that right?

712
00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:52,800
Speaker 2: I was a defensive end, tight end, special teams player,

713
00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:55,120
Speaker 2: I was. I was a utility guy. Okay, I kind

714
00:34:55,160 --> 00:34:55,720
Speaker 2: of did everything.

715
00:34:56,840 --> 00:34:59,959
Speaker 1: What was your favorite part of playing in the NFL

716
00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:03,959
Speaker 1: and what was the part that wasn't so great.

717
00:35:05,239 --> 00:35:07,960
Speaker 2: I mean, the best part was being around people who

718
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:10,719
Speaker 2: were the greatest at what they do. And you know

719
00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:14,759
Speaker 2: I was I was very you know, humbled to be

720
00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:17,800
Speaker 2: drafted by them in the third round and just I

721
00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:19,600
Speaker 2: didn't take it for granted to be around some of

722
00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:21,440
Speaker 2: the great the greatest coach of all time, the greatest

723
00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:23,239
Speaker 2: quarterback of all time, some of the greatest players in

724
00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:25,000
Speaker 2: the league. You know, I think Gronk was the best

725
00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:26,320
Speaker 2: tight end of all time. You know, I was in

726
00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:28,359
Speaker 2: the same tight end meeting room as him for two years.

727
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:30,120
Speaker 1: He seems like a fun guy, by the way, Is

728
00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:31,960
Speaker 1: he a fun guy? Is that? Is that real?

729
00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:36,480
Speaker 2: Gronk is exactly who you imagined him to be. I'll

730
00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:39,080
Speaker 2: tell you a Gronk story. So Gronk, you know, every

731
00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:41,400
Speaker 2: member of the Patriots players and coaches and staff, we

732
00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:43,880
Speaker 2: had these key fobs that gave us twenty four to

733
00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:47,080
Speaker 2: seven access to the facility, you know, at any time,

734
00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:49,040
Speaker 2: and like during the off season especially, guys come up

735
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:50,440
Speaker 2: there at night or early in the morning to get

736
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:53,279
Speaker 2: a work out in, getting the hot tub, col tub, whatever.

737
00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:55,880
Speaker 2: And you know Gronk, you know, during the off season,

738
00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:58,800
Speaker 2: he would, you know, he'd go out in Boston or

739
00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:01,799
Speaker 2: Providence or whatever. You have a great time, stay out

740
00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:03,919
Speaker 2: till two or three in the morning. And he would

741
00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:07,200
Speaker 2: have his buddies drop him off at the Patriots facility

742
00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:09,319
Speaker 2: at like three thirty in the morning. So he would

743
00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:12,920
Speaker 2: fob in and go straight to the training room and

744
00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:15,520
Speaker 2: he would find one of the training tables and just

745
00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:17,920
Speaker 2: like pass out, just stretch out and go to sleep.

746
00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:20,280
Speaker 2: And so when the trainers would come in in the morning,

747
00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:23,360
Speaker 2: they would see Gronk like still in his like you know,

748
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:27,160
Speaker 2: like night life clothes, just like sleeping there. They would

749
00:36:27,239 --> 00:36:29,640
Speaker 2: roll up his sleeve at stick an IV in his

750
00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:32,640
Speaker 2: arm and just kind of revive him and he would

751
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,080
Speaker 2: get up after a couple hours and just go be

752
00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:37,520
Speaker 2: like the dominant force that he was. It was about

753
00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:39,360
Speaker 2: that time that it was about that time that I

754
00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:42,759
Speaker 2: realized that, you know, some people are more talented than others,

755
00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:44,520
Speaker 2: that he had a pretty high ceiling like I was,

756
00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:47,000
Speaker 2: you know, I was getting plenty of sleep, do it

757
00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:49,719
Speaker 2: everything right, and like still, this guy was the greatest

758
00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:52,440
Speaker 2: tight end that I had ever seen, you know, but

759
00:36:52,600 --> 00:36:54,840
Speaker 2: he was. He was a great player, a great teammate,

760
00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:57,880
Speaker 2: you know, despite like having a good time on the weekends.

761
00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:00,239
Speaker 2: He worked his butt off when he was you know,

762
00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:02,759
Speaker 2: when it was time to do that, and he was

763
00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:04,440
Speaker 2: just a joy to be around. I mean, just a

764
00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:05,319
Speaker 2: hell of a great guy.

765
00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:08,719
Speaker 1: Was there anything, though? I mean just physical punishment to

766
00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:11,640
Speaker 1: your body or like, what was the what was the thing?

767
00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:12,960
Speaker 1: If you had to point to one thing. I mean,

768
00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:14,960
Speaker 1: you're playing in the NFL, right. I feel like when

769
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:17,520
Speaker 1: people get to that level of success and something that's

770
00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:20,920
Speaker 1: as heralded as that, there's a maybe for a lot

771
00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:22,839
Speaker 1: of folks, a public perception of like it just must

772
00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:25,480
Speaker 1: all be amazing. Nothing is all amazing, right, I mean

773
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:28,240
Speaker 1: we all know that. So what was either the challenge

774
00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:29,960
Speaker 1: or the thing you wish you could change, you know,

775
00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:31,799
Speaker 1: something that you're just like, ah, that part of it's

776
00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:33,959
Speaker 1: maybe it was a surprise. Maybe it wasn't.

777
00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:37,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, don't get me wrong, it wasn't easy. I mean

778
00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:39,800
Speaker 2: it was. I mean, I told you those stories of

779
00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:42,080
Speaker 2: some of the greatest NFL players of all time to

780
00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:44,680
Speaker 2: strip quitting because of how tough it was. And yeah,

781
00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:47,600
Speaker 2: there's a lot of physical punishment that goes into playing

782
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:50,160
Speaker 2: at that level. And you know, Bill's old school. He

783
00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:53,719
Speaker 2: came from the Bill Parcells school of coaching, and I

784
00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:57,160
Speaker 2: mean that was like full contact practices as much as possible,

785
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:00,000
Speaker 2: you know, all kinds of hitting. We probably did more

786
00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:02,400
Speaker 2: hitting in New England that we did, you know in

787
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:05,719
Speaker 2: my college days at the University of Arkansas. So you know,

788
00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:08,400
Speaker 2: it was a it was a huge you know, it

789
00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:11,279
Speaker 2: was very very tough on your body, you know, very

790
00:38:11,320 --> 00:38:15,200
Speaker 2: tough mentally to to to survive and thrive and that

791
00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:17,600
Speaker 2: and that tough of an environment. But you know, it

792
00:38:17,719 --> 00:38:19,840
Speaker 2: was a great preparation for what I was, you know,

793
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:22,640
Speaker 2: gonna do in the military and Rager school, and you know,

794
00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:24,400
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, you know, God had

795
00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:26,239
Speaker 2: a plan. I would have loved to have played for

796
00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:28,440
Speaker 2: a bit longer in the league, but you know, I

797
00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:30,840
Speaker 2: wouldn't change it, Like going back, I would not change

798
00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:31,560
Speaker 2: a single.

799
00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:38,040
Speaker 1: Thing institutionally getting a Patriots cheerleader frowned upon or encouraged

800
00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:38,680
Speaker 1: for players.

801
00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:44,320
Speaker 2: So, uh, they're actually I'm pretty sure it was actually

802
00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:46,520
Speaker 2: it was against their rules.

803
00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:49,960
Speaker 1: For from other another situation I keep going, which I

804
00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:51,480
Speaker 1: think obviously everybody.

805
00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:53,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there there is you know, there is

806
00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:57,360
Speaker 2: kind of a double standard there. It's from from what

807
00:38:57,520 --> 00:38:59,840
Speaker 2: I remember, it is true that I mean, there were

808
00:38:59,880 --> 00:39:01,959
Speaker 2: no restrictions on us. I mean, we coul date whoever wanted,

809
00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:05,560
Speaker 2: but for the Patriots cheerleaders, they would get fired if they,

810
00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:08,000
Speaker 2: you know, we were caught with one of the players.

811
00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:12,280
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure Gronk's longtime girlfriend is a former Patriots cheerleader,

812
00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:15,640
Speaker 2: and like that's that's what happened, is you know, they

813
00:39:15,719 --> 00:39:18,640
Speaker 2: got outed in their relationship and and she got canned

814
00:39:18,719 --> 00:39:20,920
Speaker 2: or maybe maybe like they went public after she was

815
00:39:20,960 --> 00:39:23,440
Speaker 2: done or something. But yeah, I'm pretty sure it's against

816
00:39:23,600 --> 00:39:27,239
Speaker 2: it's against their the cheerleader rules, you know, and that's you.

817
00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:29,719
Speaker 1: Know, hey that I think that's kind of ridiculous, the

818
00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:31,120
Speaker 1: cheerleader code of ethics.

819
00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:34,120
Speaker 2: I mean, come on, yeah, I mean I think that's

820
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:37,040
Speaker 2: that's kind of absurd. Like, I mean American, Like there's

821
00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:40,759
Speaker 2: an old Sports Illustrated cover of when when Miami won

822
00:39:40,840 --> 00:39:43,680
Speaker 2: one of their national championships, you know, the you there's

823
00:39:43,719 --> 00:39:46,080
Speaker 2: this famous you know photo of you know, one of

824
00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:47,800
Speaker 2: the players on the field aft of the game, you know,

825
00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:50,600
Speaker 2: kissing the cheerleader. I mean, like people love that. Like

826
00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:54,400
Speaker 2: what's wrong with that? I Mean, I I really don't see, uh,

827
00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:56,680
Speaker 2: you know, any problem. Maybe it's just me. I don't know,

828
00:39:56,680 --> 00:39:59,160
Speaker 2: maybe there's there's some other rationale that I'm not seeing,

829
00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:01,400
Speaker 2: but I I thought that was kind of a dumb policy.

830
00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:04,719
Speaker 2: And you know, I'm glad that Grant got his girl.

831
00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:06,840
Speaker 1: There we go. Yeah, I think I think all the

832
00:40:06,880 --> 00:40:08,680
Speaker 1: men of America are hitting your second and some of

833
00:40:08,719 --> 00:40:11,280
Speaker 1: the ladies. I'm sure tour segus. That's absurd, but anyway,

834
00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:15,239
Speaker 1: not an important topic, but I was curious. Anyway, Jake,

835
00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:17,160
Speaker 1: you're doing great work. Where should people go to listen

836
00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:17,760
Speaker 1: to your podcast?

837
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:23,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're on all platforms, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, the

838
00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:27,440
Speaker 2: Jake Beckett Show podcast like subscribe, leave a good review.

839
00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:31,040
Speaker 2: You know, it's been great. We're seven or eight episodes

840
00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:34,319
Speaker 2: in right now, and it's been a great project thus far.

841
00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:37,120
Speaker 2: So give us a give us a listen there, and

842
00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:39,319
Speaker 2: you can find me on social media on Twitter at

843
00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:43,000
Speaker 2: Jake Beckett ninety one. So yeah, that's that's where you

844
00:40:43,040 --> 00:40:43,440
Speaker 2: can find me.

845
00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:46,520
Speaker 1: Jake, thank you for your service and thank you for

846
00:40:46,560 --> 00:40:46,839
Speaker 1: your time.

847
00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:47,000
Speaker 2: Man.

848
00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:47,920
Speaker 1: I appreciate you being with us.

849
00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:49,320
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.

850
00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:49,560
Speaker 1: Buck