1 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:21,280 Speaker 1: If it doesn't work, you're just not using enough. You're 2 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: listening to Software Radio Special operations, military news and straight 3 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:41,840 Speaker 1: talk with the guys in the community. Hello and everyone, 4 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:45,080 Speaker 1: welcome back to Software Radio. I'm your host today, Steve 5 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:48,520 Speaker 1: bel Shurie. We have a great guest on the line 6 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:55,400 Speaker 1: with us, David Bull. Is it girl find or girlfriend? Girl? Fine? Girl? Fine, 7 00:00:55,440 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: that's what I thought. Yeah, Uh, folks, Uh. Dave is 8 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:04,679 Speaker 1: the former Marine lieutenant colonel with a couple of combat 9 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:10,680 Speaker 1: tours under his belt. He is the CEO of United 10 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:14,480 Speaker 1: American Patriots. And we're gonna get into all that and 11 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:18,520 Speaker 1: and all the great things that they do, um and 12 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:22,080 Speaker 1: who they're supporting, and I think all of our listeners 13 00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: will definitely want to tune into this and get involved 14 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 1: with what they're doing and donate. I think it's a 15 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:31,080 Speaker 1: great organization and we're gonna get into all that. But 16 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 1: before we get any further, um, you know, we want 17 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: to invite and uh welcome Bold to the podcast. Bold, 18 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:44,319 Speaker 1: thanks for taking the time with us this afternoon, and 19 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:48,680 Speaker 1: uh we uh we welcome you and we hope everything 20 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,000 Speaker 1: is going great today. Awesome, Steve, thank you so much. 21 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 1: I appreciate you having me on. No, it's it's a pleasure. Um. 22 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:59,040 Speaker 1: So let's talk a little bit about your military career 23 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: to start off with. I know that you enlisted in 24 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 1: the Marines at seventeen, but then you went to Avio 25 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:08,680 Speaker 1: was a Candida school, And talk us a little bit 26 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:13,160 Speaker 1: about your military career. Yeah, I enlisted I was seventeen 27 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: because I heard if you went to college you had 28 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:17,519 Speaker 1: to read books, and I wasn't planning on doing any 29 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 1: of that at the time. So, UH enlisted. Ended up 30 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 1: having a little battle with my dad over that, and 31 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: he allowed me to go in the Marine Corps reserves 32 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:28,200 Speaker 1: so long as I went to college, and that was 33 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:30,520 Speaker 1: kind of the trade off. So I went to UH 34 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:34,320 Speaker 1: boot Camp Parris Island, South Carolina, and then UH, after 35 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: finishing my training, went up to college. And so that 36 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: was kind of an interesting experience, going straight as a 37 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,160 Speaker 1: boot enlisted marine, drinking the kool aid up into to 38 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 1: a liberal college environment. So UH, definitely a unique experience. 39 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:50,840 Speaker 1: When I'm battling it out with our professors, some of 40 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:54,040 Speaker 1: whom said, yeah, I'm a communist and I think America 41 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:56,360 Speaker 1: is destroying the world. I'm like, excuse me, I'd like 42 00:02:56,400 --> 00:03:00,080 Speaker 1: to make a comment there, so needless to state it 43 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:03,359 Speaker 1: was an interesting time in college. UH then got commissioned 44 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: went on to become an infantry officer in the Marine Corps. 45 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 1: UH served twenty five years with multiple combat and operational 46 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:15,600 Speaker 1: tours from Panama, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 47 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:18,920 Speaker 1: and ran around to a few other places like Korea 48 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:21,919 Speaker 1: and down to Africa. And and I just had had 49 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 1: an awesome tour very uh, you know, very much operational 50 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:28,080 Speaker 1: and out. They're really getting to see, you know, the 51 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 1: best of the best, serving with amazing marines who trained me, 52 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:35,040 Speaker 1: educated me. And UH really couldn't have asked for a 53 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:38,280 Speaker 1: better tour. And UH and I just have to make 54 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: one correction since we are UH ten November's Marine Corps birthday, 55 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:44,080 Speaker 1: and UH, I just want to point out there are 56 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: no former marines. We are all marines. Once a marine, 57 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:48,840 Speaker 1: always a marine, So we just want to make sure 58 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 1: we keep that clear. And UH anyway, finished up my 59 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: tour up on Capitol Hill. UH wasn't intending to go 60 00:03:57,640 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: that way, but that was a part of helping us 61 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:03,400 Speaker 1: in up MARSK. Marine Special Operations commanded doing the planning 62 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: with that, and General Hale at times said hey bull, 63 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 1: great job. What do you want to do. I said, hey, boss, 64 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:10,440 Speaker 1: you know me, I want to lead these guys into 65 00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: the first fight to have. It was good, get up 66 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 1: on Capitol Hill and fight for money. SA. What bottom 67 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:19,839 Speaker 1: line is. I finished up on Capitol Hill representing MARSK 68 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: and Special Operations Command making sure that MARSK and now 69 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 1: the Raiders had all the funding necessary to resource all 70 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:34,239 Speaker 1: the missions that they're doing. So again, great career. Loved 71 00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:36,680 Speaker 1: it and the only reason I retired is because I 72 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 1: had a little girl on the way and decided to 73 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 1: be a dad instead of going back to Afghanistan. So 74 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: other than that, great tour and loved every minute of it. 75 00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: I've read in your bio you were din in Panama 76 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:54,000 Speaker 1: with that during just cards in the whole Noriaga mess. Yeah, 77 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:55,839 Speaker 1: it was leading up to it. We were one of 78 00:04:55,839 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 1: the infantry battalions down there that were setting the conditions 79 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: for just cause. It was a part of the early stages, 80 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:06,960 Speaker 1: and our job was to actually conduct security and operational 81 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:11,479 Speaker 1: patrols out and around a couple of key installations in 82 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,840 Speaker 1: Panama against Penmanian Defense Force who were being advised by 83 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:19,479 Speaker 1: the Cubans at the time. Yep, I was stationed down 84 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:23,280 Speaker 1: there at the same time, so uh yeah, And it's 85 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:25,720 Speaker 1: a small country, so we pro probably weren't very far 86 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:28,359 Speaker 1: apart from each other. I was stationed the third of 87 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:34,279 Speaker 1: the seventh over for Davis, Panama, so yeah, yeah, so yeah, 88 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:37,039 Speaker 1: we uh as you as you know, that's such a 89 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:39,919 Speaker 1: small place, so we couldn't have been too far apart. 90 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 1: And when I saw that, I just thought it was anting, 91 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:46,600 Speaker 1: but yeah, very interesting. Yeah, it was. It was a 92 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:50,200 Speaker 1: different time back then, wasn't it. I Mean a lot 93 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:54,600 Speaker 1: of things changed in the in the years after probably 94 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:58,320 Speaker 1: Desert Storm, which came the very next summer, you know, 95 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:01,200 Speaker 1: once all that kicked off, everything kind of changed. And 96 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:04,840 Speaker 1: the military that we have a lot better communications now 97 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:08,599 Speaker 1: than we did back then. Well that's that's definitely true. 98 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:12,600 Speaker 1: And I remember early on as a second lieutenant around 99 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:16,719 Speaker 1: I guess nine, you know, I started complaining to my 100 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:20,719 Speaker 1: company commander how I only had, you know, maybe about 101 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:25,600 Speaker 1: marines in my platoon and some of them were out 102 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:29,200 Speaker 1: doing various different Fleet assistant programs and all the rest, 103 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:32,560 Speaker 1: and these company commanders just laughed at me and said, hey. 104 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:35,800 Speaker 1: Before Reagan came around. You'd be lucky if you had 105 00:06:35,839 --> 00:06:38,479 Speaker 1: a squat, so just be happy with the Marines you have. 106 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 1: So it was definitely you know, turning point for the 107 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:44,160 Speaker 1: Marines leading up on and for all the armed forces 108 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:47,880 Speaker 1: leading up to the first call for war, without a doubt. Yeah, 109 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:51,480 Speaker 1: and things changed. I uh entered the military still into 110 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:56,160 Speaker 1: the Carter administration, So I'm dating myself there, but uh yeah, 111 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 1: then then the Reagan years came along, and you know, 112 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: I I became an officer myself in eighty nine, so 113 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 1: that's uh, you know. But anyway, um, now that's that's 114 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:10,840 Speaker 1: very interesting. So yeah, we we probably passed each other 115 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 1: on the highway a few times, no doubt. It was 116 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:20,240 Speaker 1: a great nice to be stationed. I have no complaints. Uh, 117 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:22,200 Speaker 1: there's a lot worse places in the world to be 118 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:26,520 Speaker 1: stationed in in Panama, so that's true. I wish we 119 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: still had our bases down there so away at the 120 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: time we were really allowed off base. We were brought 121 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 1: down there by the ambassador. He requested Marines coming down 122 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 1: there because unlike a lot of you guys were doing 123 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,720 Speaker 1: the training up in the Jungle Warfare Training Center, the 124 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:46,440 Speaker 1: rest of the soldiers were there with their their wives, 125 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:49,080 Speaker 1: their children, their cats, their dogs, in the whole nine yards. 126 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:52,400 Speaker 1: And Noriega felt there was no way the United States 127 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:56,000 Speaker 1: would get into a conflict with him down in Panama 128 00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 1: because he knew that he had the high ground around 129 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:00,440 Speaker 1: all these bases and would be able to take it. 130 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: Would you know, basically threatened to slaughter everybody had the 131 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:05,400 Speaker 1: US decided to come in. And that was a part 132 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:08,120 Speaker 1: of the reason the Marines were sent down there, was 133 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:11,160 Speaker 1: we went down there, you know, just fully combat loaded, 134 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:13,680 Speaker 1: without any attachments, and we were able to patrol the 135 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 1: jungles without having the concerns of having a family with 136 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 1: us down there. And so that was a part of 137 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:24,640 Speaker 1: setting the stage for operations with just cause. Yeah, a 138 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:27,080 Speaker 1: lot of our guys who had been there a couple 139 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:30,720 Speaker 1: of years had their wives and kids station down there, 140 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:33,600 Speaker 1: and then they stopped that around it must have been 141 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:36,959 Speaker 1: the end of eight I would think, yeah, and uh, 142 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:40,880 Speaker 1: and then of course some of them, a lot of 143 00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:44,599 Speaker 1: the families are still there. You know. It is what 144 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:47,560 Speaker 1: it is. So we all came through it and we're 145 00:08:47,559 --> 00:08:52,280 Speaker 1: all better for it. So absolutely, So let's talk a 146 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:57,000 Speaker 1: little bit after your military career. Um, I know you 147 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:00,760 Speaker 1: went into you work for some defense industries. Tell us 148 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:06,520 Speaker 1: how you came about with you American Patriot? YEA, So 149 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:10,520 Speaker 1: it was interesting. I was approached probably about six years 150 00:09:10,559 --> 00:09:15,400 Speaker 1: ago now by h my former battalion commander. He was 151 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:17,800 Speaker 1: an Italian commander when I was a second lieutenant, and 152 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 1: I had a tremendous a man of respect. Still do 153 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:22,520 Speaker 1: I have a tremendous man respect for this officer, Lieutenant 154 00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:25,800 Speaker 1: Colonel Bob Wyman. Uh. He's the chairman of United American 155 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:30,520 Speaker 1: Patriots and uh. He started talking to me about this organization, 156 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:34,800 Speaker 1: and literally I turned off when he was saying, these 157 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:39,559 Speaker 1: guys were convicted of war crimes and we're gonna sit 158 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:42,040 Speaker 1: here and fight for them. And as I just it 159 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:45,719 Speaker 1: didn't make sense that, you know, myself and he and 160 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:48,600 Speaker 1: many others had been to combat and none of our 161 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 1: marines had ever committed a war crime, much less been 162 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:54,400 Speaker 1: accused of murder. And here these were many of these 163 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:58,800 Speaker 1: individuals were accused of murder and were found guilty under 164 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:01,520 Speaker 1: the U c m J by a military court martial. 165 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:05,240 Speaker 1: And in my mind was, hey, you know, if they're guilty, 166 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:08,840 Speaker 1: they're guilty, let let them rot. And it actually took 167 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:11,760 Speaker 1: him three years to try and get me on board. 168 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:14,959 Speaker 1: And uh, it was only after I went up on 169 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:18,199 Speaker 1: Capitol Hill when they were putting on a presentation and 170 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:20,880 Speaker 1: I finally sat and listened to what was going on. 171 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:25,040 Speaker 1: And it wasn't a matter of guilt or innocence. It 172 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:27,880 Speaker 1: was a matter of individual warriors who were having their 173 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:31,760 Speaker 1: rights violated, and it was about being set up against 174 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:35,600 Speaker 1: very restrictive rules of engagement that put them in harm's way. 175 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:40,719 Speaker 1: It was a denial of the presumption of innocence. A 176 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:43,440 Speaker 1: lot of these cases that at the time were under 177 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:46,520 Speaker 1: the Obama administration where a lot of our warriors were 178 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:48,959 Speaker 1: pulled out of offensive missions and now we're in sort 179 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:52,280 Speaker 1: of these defensive positions where they were being accused of 180 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:55,920 Speaker 1: just about everything, and the US government was relying upon 181 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:59,520 Speaker 1: the Afghan government and basically just say, yeah, our guys 182 00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:02,920 Speaker 1: are guilty, without ever finding out any of the details. 183 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:07,040 Speaker 1: And we would see time and again prosecutorial misconduct, which 184 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:11,080 Speaker 1: is where, for example, a sculptory information which is information 185 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:14,120 Speaker 1: that shows that an accused did not commit a crime, 186 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:19,080 Speaker 1: was being hidden. We would see uh, investigator abuse where 187 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:23,000 Speaker 1: these investigators were trying to find a way to convict 188 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:27,240 Speaker 1: individuals and aligned with the prosecution as opposed to trying 189 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:30,480 Speaker 1: to find the truth and the facts. We would find 190 00:11:30,559 --> 00:11:36,360 Speaker 1: that there were other situations where unlawful command influence, where 191 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:38,640 Speaker 1: all of a sudden, the commands, whether it be at 192 00:11:38,679 --> 00:11:41,679 Speaker 1: the highest level of a civilian leadership or all the 193 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:45,559 Speaker 1: way down at military leadership, we're stacking the decks against 194 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:48,880 Speaker 1: these warriors. And after I finally heard this, you know, 195 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:50,719 Speaker 1: I got pretty upset, and I was asked if I 196 00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:52,640 Speaker 1: wanted to speak, and I did, and I don't know 197 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:54,640 Speaker 1: that I brought down fire and brimstone, but I was 198 00:11:54,679 --> 00:11:58,280 Speaker 1: definitely emotional. And then after that, I was asked to 199 00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:01,880 Speaker 1: be U a P. S CEO. And at the time, 200 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:05,000 Speaker 1: you know, my wife and I were looking at various 201 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:07,880 Speaker 1: different options in private industry that we're going to uh 202 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:13,040 Speaker 1: provide tremendous based salaries and equity and bonuses and all 203 00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:17,920 Speaker 1: the rest, all the financial trappings of a business career. 204 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:21,800 Speaker 1: And UH talked to my wife about it, and I said, hey, 205 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:24,280 Speaker 1: you know, what do you think about us just jumping 206 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:26,280 Speaker 1: on U a P for about six months or a year, 207 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:28,559 Speaker 1: just trying to help mount up from a business standpoint, 208 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:32,520 Speaker 1: And UH, she could see that she was concerned because 209 00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:34,440 Speaker 1: it wasn't quite what we had lined up at the time, 210 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:38,640 Speaker 1: and she thought about it, prayed about it, slept on it, 211 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:40,480 Speaker 1: and the next morning she goes, we have to do 212 00:12:40,679 --> 00:12:44,120 Speaker 1: u a p and her perspective was, you know what, 213 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:46,440 Speaker 1: we can always make money. We can. We're doing fine 214 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:49,800 Speaker 1: where we are right now, but now let's focus on 215 00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:53,520 Speaker 1: these warriors who are being unjustly accused of war crimes 216 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:57,400 Speaker 1: and let's take care of them. So it after about 217 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:00,560 Speaker 1: and that we we said this, it was only going 218 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:01,960 Speaker 1: to be a few months to a year, and now 219 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:04,400 Speaker 1: it's been nearly three years that we've been on board 220 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:09,760 Speaker 1: and it's uh, it's it's paid off. Just last year 221 00:13:10,559 --> 00:13:13,199 Speaker 1: we're able to see the president part in three of 222 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:17,760 Speaker 1: the warriors we've been supporting. We had two warriors UH 223 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:21,000 Speaker 1: paroled and got out of prison, and then we have 224 00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:25,120 Speaker 1: another another five where their cases were overturned. And we 225 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,120 Speaker 1: just keep fighting to make sure that our warriors rights 226 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:31,679 Speaker 1: are preserved. I know. And you know, it's funny you 227 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:34,640 Speaker 1: mentioned that because um, a lot of what you just 228 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:37,880 Speaker 1: said ran through with NEO. You know, we've all seen 229 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:41,560 Speaker 1: that the military justice system, when it comes to minor things, 230 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:44,800 Speaker 1: have made mistakes and we've seen that, but there was 231 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:48,480 Speaker 1: never any kind of I don't want to say like, uh, 232 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:53,160 Speaker 1: I guess I guess the correct word was of this 233 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:56,280 Speaker 1: kind of hope in magnitude where guys being convicted of 234 00:13:56,360 --> 00:14:00,400 Speaker 1: murder and uh, you know, I was kind of the 235 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:03,400 Speaker 1: same way. You know, you read about these guys, Oh 236 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:07,440 Speaker 1: he's he's facing the court martial for murder and Afghan 237 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:13,600 Speaker 1: civilian or after you know, Afghan civilian, and you automatically think, well, 238 00:14:13,679 --> 00:14:16,839 Speaker 1: they must have done it, you know. And then it 239 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:21,240 Speaker 1: wasn't until later on. Uh, I was emailing back and 240 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:25,600 Speaker 1: forth with the attorney for Clint Lauren through you guys 241 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:31,120 Speaker 1: were very very involved with his story, and then reading 242 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 1: the transcript of everything that happened just absolutely blew me away. 243 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:41,400 Speaker 1: How the government actually tried to railroad this kid, Well 244 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:44,520 Speaker 1: they did. They did railroad it, no doubt about it. 245 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:50,160 Speaker 1: They convicted him of murder. And here was a first 246 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:52,800 Speaker 1: lieutenant prior enlisted, so it wasn't just some you know, 247 00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:55,160 Speaker 1: blute lieutenant. He had experience. He was a staff in 248 00:14:55,240 --> 00:15:00,160 Speaker 1: SEO and uh he made a call in combat where uh, 249 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:04,760 Speaker 1: motorcycle with three Taliban we're heading towards his patrol and 250 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:07,760 Speaker 1: he told his soldiers to open up. They did, they 251 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:11,520 Speaker 1: killed two of three. His unit continued to be engaged. 252 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:14,360 Speaker 1: There wasn't a one time incident. It was there was 253 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:18,680 Speaker 1: actually a U. S. Army report, a SIGAC talking about 254 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:22,000 Speaker 1: how his unit was being set up for an ambush 255 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:26,160 Speaker 1: or an attack, and the government buried that. They didn't 256 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:30,360 Speaker 1: even introduce that as evidence. There was an aristatle operator 257 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:33,320 Speaker 1: I in the sky that was watching what was happening, 258 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:37,360 Speaker 1: and the operator even said he saw Taliban with a 259 00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:40,720 Speaker 1: K forty seven icon radios. He was very specific in 260 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:45,400 Speaker 1: what he saw that were shadowing Clinton Rance's patrol at 261 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:50,520 Speaker 1: the time. And uh And yet the government pressed to 262 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:53,720 Speaker 1: get a conviction and they did, and in the courtroom 263 00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:57,960 Speaker 1: they kept talking about how Clinton Rance killed civilians and 264 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:02,160 Speaker 1: he was found guilty. And when United American Patriots got involved, 265 00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:06,320 Speaker 1: and we had we were supporting the legal team of 266 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:10,320 Speaker 1: John Marr and his legal team and had investigators over 267 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:14,960 Speaker 1: in Afghanistan run the biometrics on these so called civilians 268 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:19,000 Speaker 1: and as it turns out, they weren't civilians at all. 269 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:23,720 Speaker 1: That their DNA, their fingerprints, and other biometrics were all 270 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:29,000 Speaker 1: matching up with previous attacks on US soldiers from improvised 271 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:33,240 Speaker 1: explosive devices. So these guys had either wounded or killed 272 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:36,840 Speaker 1: other U S servicemen and in Zari, Afghanistan, they were 273 00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:39,960 Speaker 1: taking tremendous casualties at the time. As a matter of fact, 274 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:43,360 Speaker 1: clint Rance took over a platoon that the platoona leader 275 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:46,960 Speaker 1: had actually been metavact with shrapnel wounds to his abdomen, 276 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:49,000 Speaker 1: face and eyes and that was just a couple of 277 00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:52,280 Speaker 1: days prior to him taking over. So this was, you know, 278 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:55,360 Speaker 1: a pretty bad area. Clint made the right call, brought 279 00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:58,440 Speaker 1: every one of his soldiers home alive, and the next 280 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:01,200 Speaker 1: thing you know, they just railroaded him. And if you 281 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:03,960 Speaker 1: look at the politics at the time, it was all 282 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:07,240 Speaker 1: because of the Obama administration trying to work with the 283 00:17:07,320 --> 00:17:11,280 Speaker 1: cars Ie administration to reduce what was being accused of 284 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:14,240 Speaker 1: too many civilian casualties, who was on the back to 285 00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:17,639 Speaker 1: back of multiple different incidents that were crazing creating a 286 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:22,639 Speaker 1: lot of political turmoil from US Marine snipers who had 287 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:25,040 Speaker 1: actually taken out the guys who had been harassing and 288 00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:28,040 Speaker 1: harmy Marines and then pissing on their dead bodies and 289 00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:32,760 Speaker 1: having that videotape that created an outrage. You had guards 290 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:37,719 Speaker 1: at Bobrom, Afghanistan taking away books that the inmates were 291 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:40,440 Speaker 1: writing notes in and passing around and burning them. And 292 00:17:41,119 --> 00:17:43,080 Speaker 1: it turns out there were all Kurans, and so all 293 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:47,600 Speaker 1: of a sudden, this looked like a horrible attack against Islam, 294 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:50,119 Speaker 1: and that created an uproar both in the United States 295 00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:54,280 Speaker 1: and Afghanistan. And then you had Bob Bale's where he 296 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:59,080 Speaker 1: he supposedly killed sixteen civilians and that that's a whole 297 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:04,080 Speaker 1: separate case we could talk about. And again, nobody's no evidence. 298 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:06,800 Speaker 1: It was all the Afghan word on what happened. And 299 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:09,560 Speaker 1: so it was one thing after another leading up to this, 300 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:12,480 Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden, Clint lawrants situation happened 301 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:15,000 Speaker 1: and they're like, you know what, we just have to 302 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:17,639 Speaker 1: settle this. And a lot of it was that they 303 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:20,680 Speaker 1: were not going to sign that Afghan government and the 304 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:24,800 Speaker 1: US we're not going to sign the Status of Forces Agreement, 305 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:28,600 Speaker 1: which is a major legal agreement between countries as to 306 00:18:28,720 --> 00:18:33,560 Speaker 1: who will handle who handle handle criminal cases should they 307 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:38,480 Speaker 1: occur with US military serving overseas, and that agreement was 308 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:42,679 Speaker 1: not signed until both Bob Bales and Clint Lawrants were 309 00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:45,520 Speaker 1: found guilty of murder and so there was a lot 310 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:49,240 Speaker 1: of political pressure there and it wasn't until all of 311 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:53,520 Speaker 1: this was brought up and briefed out to the President 312 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:56,720 Speaker 1: United States that he was able to see through what 313 00:18:56,960 --> 00:18:59,879 Speaker 1: was actually happening and it was really a political lynching 314 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:04,240 Speaker 1: and Clinton Rance received a pardon from the President. So, 315 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:06,639 Speaker 1: you know, these are the type of cases that that 316 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:10,280 Speaker 1: are shocking that you can't really believe that our US 317 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:13,040 Speaker 1: government would do this against our own U S. Servicemen, 318 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:17,000 Speaker 1: people who raise their hand to support and defend our rights, 319 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:21,159 Speaker 1: and yet they aren't getting the same rights as you know, 320 00:19:21,359 --> 00:19:24,320 Speaker 1: some some civilian that might go into a school and 321 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:27,280 Speaker 1: start gunning down children, that that individual will get more 322 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:30,959 Speaker 1: rights than the US military person. So that that's basically 323 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:34,040 Speaker 1: what U A. P stands for is defending the rights 324 00:19:34,119 --> 00:19:39,320 Speaker 1: of our defenders. Yeah, and you know again because we 325 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:41,720 Speaker 1: had him on the podcast as fall after, he was 326 00:19:41,880 --> 00:19:47,720 Speaker 1: hard and um, it was just absolutely I mean, it 327 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:52,159 Speaker 1: was mind boggling when you read about everything, like you 328 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:56,600 Speaker 1: you the sky they were you know, they were making 329 00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:59,639 Speaker 1: a report that this union is about, i mean, the 330 00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:03,160 Speaker 1: guy to what Taliban bombmakers, all of this information will 331 00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:07,520 Speaker 1: available in the prosecution and they wouldn't allow to be shared. 332 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:12,320 Speaker 1: It's exactly right, and not to mention that every one 333 00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:16,359 Speaker 1: of these soldiers in his unit were accused of murder. 334 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:19,200 Speaker 1: And then they came around and said, all right, look, 335 00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:22,320 Speaker 1: we'll give you all amnesty so long as and and 336 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:25,480 Speaker 1: then the commanding officer of the convening authority ordered them 337 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:30,080 Speaker 1: to testify against Clint Laurance. And you know, so it's 338 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:32,680 Speaker 1: there's a lot they went on here that is just 339 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:37,280 Speaker 1: really bind boggling. It's and and it's frustrating. There's there's 340 00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:40,000 Speaker 1: a lot of challenges with the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 341 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:43,000 Speaker 1: and you know, at the strategic level, there's a lot 342 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:45,320 Speaker 1: of things that need to be changed. But down at 343 00:20:45,359 --> 00:20:49,000 Speaker 1: the tactical level, we're seeing time and time again our 344 00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:54,200 Speaker 1: warriors are just not getting a fair shake, absolutely, and 345 00:20:54,359 --> 00:20:57,920 Speaker 1: there's too many of them. Because you're looking at your website, 346 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:00,360 Speaker 1: I mean you're looking at all the guys that you've 347 00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:05,040 Speaker 1: been working with. It's, uh, it is mind boggling, and 348 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:11,520 Speaker 1: it's awful. But so um, I know that you've had 349 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:14,879 Speaker 1: quite a few success stories and uh, you know, we 350 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:17,920 Speaker 1: thought we talked at the length about Clint, because you know, 351 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:22,760 Speaker 1: I had got personally interested in that case. Um has 352 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:26,960 Speaker 1: John hardly been released yet. I'm sorry I say that again, 353 00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:31,920 Speaker 1: John Hatley, Yeah, John Hatley. We were able to get 354 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:35,120 Speaker 1: him clemency. He was put away from murder as well. 355 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:39,160 Speaker 1: We got him clemency and then pardoned or supported him 356 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:43,639 Speaker 1: getting clemency and pardon, and he got out and I 357 00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:46,359 Speaker 1: think it's just been about a month ago now and 358 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:50,680 Speaker 1: it's back home with his family, got married, and he's 359 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:54,000 Speaker 1: doing well. And here's you know, here's here's a perfect situation. 360 00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:58,480 Speaker 1: Here's you know, not just some young PFC that gets 361 00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:01,760 Speaker 1: caught up in something. This is a first sergeant, highly 362 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:05,200 Speaker 1: decorated first sergeant. This guy was the guy who was 363 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:09,040 Speaker 1: out on multiple combat patrols, who was actually in hundreds 364 00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:12,359 Speaker 1: of firefights. And as a first sergeant, you know, we 365 00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:16,000 Speaker 1: all know those guys who are out there leading the fight, 366 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:17,680 Speaker 1: and then we know those who tend to sit back 367 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:21,680 Speaker 1: in the rear. This guy was out there with every patrol, 368 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:25,080 Speaker 1: leading the way. And whenever there was a young lieutenant 369 00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:27,760 Speaker 1: that would come into the command, you know, he would 370 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:30,000 Speaker 1: say to the battalion commander, hey, let me take him out. 371 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:32,479 Speaker 1: So he gets some experience before he goes down there 372 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:35,080 Speaker 1: with his soldiers, because you know, when I take him out, 373 00:22:35,359 --> 00:22:38,000 Speaker 1: we're going to get into a firefight and and share enough, 374 00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:40,280 Speaker 1: that's what would happen. And so he was he was 375 00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:43,320 Speaker 1: a warrior, you know, still is a warrior, but on 376 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:47,240 Speaker 1: the battlefield he was fearless. And what ended up happening 377 00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:53,440 Speaker 1: was he ended up getting convicted of murdering four detainees. 378 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:57,600 Speaker 1: And the crime was horrific where he grabbed these four 379 00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:00,159 Speaker 1: people out of the village, drove him down to to 380 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:02,720 Speaker 1: this farm by the side of a canal, and had 381 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:06,480 Speaker 1: his soldiers basically shoot them execution style, and then kicked 382 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:11,440 Speaker 1: them into the canal and took off. Horrific, horrific crime 383 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:16,480 Speaker 1: if it actually happened. And that's the problem is that 384 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:20,800 Speaker 1: in that situation they actually had c I d go 385 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:23,000 Speaker 1: out and talk to the guy who owned the farm 386 00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:25,399 Speaker 1: and said, to you, tell us about when these guys 387 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:28,480 Speaker 1: came onto your farm. And they said, nobody ever came 388 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:31,040 Speaker 1: onto my farm. And they're like, well, maybe they did. 389 00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:32,800 Speaker 1: You didn't know it. He goes, no, I would have known. 390 00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:34,640 Speaker 1: And they said, well, do you mind if we look 391 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:37,720 Speaker 1: around help yourself, and they went out and they looked 392 00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:41,639 Speaker 1: at the location where supposedly these four individuals were killed, 393 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:43,680 Speaker 1: you know, and they looked in the grass of the dirt, 394 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:46,800 Speaker 1: and they tried to find any sort of forensic evidence 395 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:52,639 Speaker 1: like maybe blood, spelladder, or bullets or shell casings or something. Nothing. Well, 396 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:54,200 Speaker 1: they figured, all right, well maybe it all, you know, 397 00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:56,679 Speaker 1: let's go get the bodies out of the canal. They 398 00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:00,960 Speaker 1: put divers into the canal and they they dredge that. 399 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:04,320 Speaker 1: They searched that thing and guess what not one body, 400 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:07,360 Speaker 1: not one bullet, not one casing, not one piece of clothing, 401 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:11,679 Speaker 1: not one bit of physical evidence. Well, he said, all right, well, 402 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:14,560 Speaker 1: let's go to the village then that apparently these civilians 403 00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:17,080 Speaker 1: were taken out of, or these detainees were taken out of, 404 00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:21,520 Speaker 1: and they said, is anybody missing? People said no, well 405 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:25,040 Speaker 1: did anybody get killed? No? Like, well, listen, we have 406 00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:27,440 Speaker 1: money here, you know, we we're gonna pay you if 407 00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:29,680 Speaker 1: your family members were killed, they said, when none of 408 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:33,240 Speaker 1: our family members were killed. So there was no physical 409 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:37,760 Speaker 1: evidence whatsoever. And yet they found him guilty all based 410 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:42,560 Speaker 1: upon testimony of another individual who is being held accountable 411 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:46,160 Speaker 1: for crimes, and just the crimes were not as as sexy, 412 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:51,080 Speaker 1: let's say, as murder and so at the prosecution and 413 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:55,160 Speaker 1: the c I D all focused on this, this horrific 414 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:58,920 Speaker 1: murder case instead of really focusing on the problem of 415 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:02,200 Speaker 1: this one individ to a line and they coerced other 416 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:07,480 Speaker 1: junior enlisted soldiers to testify, and they said this never happened. 417 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:11,560 Speaker 1: And they produced documents saying that the first sergeant said 418 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:13,920 Speaker 1: you did it, and here's his signature. They were all 419 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:20,399 Speaker 1: faked documents with forged signatures. And unfortunately, John Hatley, again, 420 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:25,880 Speaker 1: this highly decorative warrior, was put away from murder and uh, 421 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:29,639 Speaker 1: you know, to meet him, though his spirit is unbroken, 422 00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:32,840 Speaker 1: he still loves his country, still loves the army, doesn't 423 00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:35,000 Speaker 1: like what happened to him through the U C MJ. 424 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:39,280 Speaker 1: But he's never admitted guilt and he never will because 425 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:41,320 Speaker 1: you know, they kept trying to hold up said listen, 426 00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:43,399 Speaker 1: we're gonna shorten your sentence this and the other thing 427 00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:46,639 Speaker 1: if you admit guilty. Because I can't. I'm I'm a 428 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:48,800 Speaker 1: staff n seal in the United States Army. I can't 429 00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:52,840 Speaker 1: perjure my integrity for my own personal well being, so 430 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:54,680 Speaker 1: I can't make up a lie. I can't say I 431 00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:59,720 Speaker 1: did something I didn't and uh, fortunately we were able 432 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:01,680 Speaker 1: to get him out, but you know, he spent nearly 433 00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:05,320 Speaker 1: a dozen years in prison, and that these are the 434 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:08,400 Speaker 1: type of things that they're shocking when you get into 435 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:11,240 Speaker 1: the details. And we we were able to present this 436 00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:15,119 Speaker 1: to a bunch of congressmen who were shocked themselves. The 437 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:19,159 Speaker 1: you know where it gets worse, though, is that the U. S. 438 00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:22,120 Speaker 1: Army circles the wagons when all of a sudden they're challenged, 439 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:25,040 Speaker 1: as opposed to saying, hold on a second, let's let's 440 00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:29,199 Speaker 1: make sure we've got this right. And Congressman Flores Uh 441 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:31,800 Speaker 1: out of Texas, he was one of the key congressmen 442 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:35,840 Speaker 1: who really took up the battle early on, and the 443 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:38,520 Speaker 1: family of John Hatley said, you know, sir, will you 444 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:42,160 Speaker 1: please look into this, And being you know, very intelligent 445 00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:46,240 Speaker 1: and well read congressman, he said, all right, you know, certainly, 446 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:48,840 Speaker 1: I'll meet with you. But he did his due diligence first, 447 00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:50,480 Speaker 1: and he met with the army. He found out all 448 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:52,840 Speaker 1: the details, and when he met with the family, he 449 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:56,560 Speaker 1: found out there were two separate facts, if you will, 450 00:26:56,600 --> 00:27:02,480 Speaker 1: there was two separate realities, and it upset Congressman Flores 451 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:04,639 Speaker 1: because he saw that what the U. S. Army was 452 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:09,160 Speaker 1: telling him just wasn't true and the evidence just wasn't there. 453 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:12,280 Speaker 1: And he really led the fight, and we had Congressman 454 00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:15,840 Speaker 1: Gohmert got on board, and we now have what's called 455 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:19,280 Speaker 1: Justice for Warriors Caucus up on Capitol Hill with about 456 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:22,560 Speaker 1: a dozen congressmen who are really looking into all of 457 00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:26,359 Speaker 1: these injustices to make sure that our warriors when they enlist, 458 00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:29,840 Speaker 1: when they get commissioned, when they go into combat, they're 459 00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:34,320 Speaker 1: gonna have their rights preserved and that even if they 460 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:37,960 Speaker 1: do something wrong, they will have their rights preserved. And 461 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:42,080 Speaker 1: that's really the key here that I couldn't agree with 462 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:45,159 Speaker 1: you more there, because that's, uh, that's the most important thing. 463 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:49,040 Speaker 1: I mean, whether they're guilty or not, and the one 464 00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:52,879 Speaker 1: thing that our system always guarantees the right to a 465 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:58,440 Speaker 1: fair trial. And you know what I'm reading about a 466 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:04,080 Speaker 1: lot of these guys, and they catch exactly. And so 467 00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:09,640 Speaker 1: let me talk to you about your organization a little bit. Um. Now, 468 00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:15,200 Speaker 1: how how does the ua T go about helping these 469 00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:19,240 Speaker 1: guys that obviously need your help. I know your your 470 00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:22,639 Speaker 1: backgrounds the infantry officer, but do you have awful lawyers 471 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:26,600 Speaker 1: on board, you know. So it's interesting. So our mission 472 00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:29,920 Speaker 1: is to make sure that we inform the President, Congress, 473 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:34,119 Speaker 1: in the public that we fund the legal representation, and 474 00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:37,159 Speaker 1: then eventually we try to support the reintegration of our 475 00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:41,120 Speaker 1: warriors who were wrongfully accused and unjustly convicted war crimes. 476 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:45,640 Speaker 1: So we don't have any lawyers actually on board. And 477 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:49,120 Speaker 1: the reason that is is that our warriors we support 478 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:53,920 Speaker 1: them directly, but they can't afford civilian lawyers. They would 479 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:56,960 Speaker 1: have to mortgage their homes, they would have to you know, beg. Barnes, 480 00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:59,160 Speaker 1: steal from their family, they would have to do whatever 481 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:01,560 Speaker 1: it is and most of and they still would fall short. 482 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:05,960 Speaker 1: So we say, look, you can choose whichever attorney you want, 483 00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:09,760 Speaker 1: and then we will provide the financial support not just 484 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:14,480 Speaker 1: for that attorney, but for any investigative work, any reports, 485 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:17,800 Speaker 1: anything that goes into supporting your case. So that way 486 00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:21,280 Speaker 1: we don't interfere with the attorney client privilege. And yet 487 00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:24,400 Speaker 1: at the same time, we work very closely with the 488 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:27,600 Speaker 1: attorneys making sure that they're providing us information that we 489 00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:31,000 Speaker 1: can share with our elected representatives, and we also make 490 00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:33,560 Speaker 1: sure that as they're trying to do various different things. 491 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:36,080 Speaker 1: They're coordinating with us and say, look, we we need 492 00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:39,960 Speaker 1: you know, this sort of demonstrative report or demonstrate or 493 00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:43,000 Speaker 1: a graphic or whatever, and we try to figure out 494 00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:46,680 Speaker 1: how to support that. So our job really is, in 495 00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:49,640 Speaker 1: a sense of marketing arm trying to get this word 496 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:54,160 Speaker 1: out to the public, because we're all based on charitable donations, 497 00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:58,360 Speaker 1: and unlike some of the other organizations out there that 498 00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:03,080 Speaker 1: have multimillionaires and billionaires that throw in millions of dollars 499 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:07,000 Speaker 1: behind them, we're out there dealing with a grassroot movement 500 00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:10,720 Speaker 1: where you know, we we have hundreds of thousands of 501 00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:13,920 Speaker 1: individuals who are chipping in an average of about thirty 502 00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:17,600 Speaker 1: nine dollars apiece. And you know, quite frankly, you know, 503 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:20,480 Speaker 1: our our biggest supporters tend to be what I say 504 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:25,440 Speaker 1: is Grandmind Peoria, who's you know, these these patriotic people 505 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:27,680 Speaker 1: in the heartland who are just like you know, we're 506 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:30,240 Speaker 1: not going to allow this to happen to our warriors. 507 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:34,240 Speaker 1: And the more people find out, the more donations we 508 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,160 Speaker 1: get from across the board. Uh, you know, I think 509 00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:41,720 Speaker 1: our largest individual donation was for thirty thousand dollars, which 510 00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:45,360 Speaker 1: is tremendous but that's very rare. We've had, you know, 511 00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:48,080 Speaker 1: a couple of others that have provided ten thousand dollars 512 00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:52,080 Speaker 1: and other than that, though, really it's it's chips here 513 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:56,280 Speaker 1: and there, and part of that goes towards us, I said, 514 00:30:57,120 --> 00:31:01,600 Speaker 1: providing that legal representation, but also making sure we're communicating 515 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:05,280 Speaker 1: up on Capitol Hill and making sure our elected representatives 516 00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:10,480 Speaker 1: know what's going on. Yeah, and when you're dealing with investigations, 517 00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:14,600 Speaker 1: a lot of these cases are I mean, let's they're 518 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:18,840 Speaker 1: going to be in Afghanistan, Iraq or wherever. It's not 519 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:23,680 Speaker 1: going to be cheaper investigation because I'm sure and like 520 00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:26,960 Speaker 1: you mentioned earlier, the army kind of circles the wagons 521 00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:30,960 Speaker 1: that have they been cooperative the military and some of 522 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:34,760 Speaker 1: these investigations or is it kind of a yeah, I 523 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 1: wouldn't imagine. I wouldn't imagine they had been not at all. 524 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:41,200 Speaker 1: And and they, you know, they go out of the 525 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:47,560 Speaker 1: way to hinder investigations. We saw Army Special Forces Matt Goldstein, 526 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:52,880 Speaker 1: who you know, here here's another great warrior who was 527 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:55,239 Speaker 1: was doing everything he's supposed to be doing, and all 528 00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:58,720 Speaker 1: of a sudden they accused him of killing a detainee, 529 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:01,560 Speaker 1: which was not the case. And this case went on 530 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:06,400 Speaker 1: for years, and uh, it just the U. S. Government 531 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:08,520 Speaker 1: just said, we're gonna find more evidence. We're gonna find 532 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:14,680 Speaker 1: more evidence, and they sent an investigator over to Afghanistan 533 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:18,360 Speaker 1: to get more evidence. And I sat in on the 534 00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:22,960 Speaker 1: Motions hearing where this investigator he was being questioned, and uh, 535 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:26,360 Speaker 1: you know, they asked him like, so these individuals that 536 00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:30,080 Speaker 1: you that you questioned, like, yes, these were family members 537 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:33,160 Speaker 1: of the individual that met goals the quote unquote murdered 538 00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:37,760 Speaker 1: and uh they said he was not Taliban. And so 539 00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:41,120 Speaker 1: the question was, well, how did you know these were 540 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:44,920 Speaker 1: family members? They said, oh, well the locals told us 541 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:48,080 Speaker 1: that they were. Like okay, well the locals there are 542 00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:52,440 Speaker 1: all Taliban, so certainly you check their i D. And 543 00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:54,240 Speaker 1: they said, well no, they didn't have any I D. 544 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:57,080 Speaker 1: But wait a second. You brought them onto a U. S. 545 00:32:57,160 --> 00:32:59,320 Speaker 1: Military base. How could you do that. You can't bring 546 00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:02,040 Speaker 1: random people onto a US military base. And we have 547 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:06,440 Speaker 1: tremendous biometric databases to ensure that we're not bringing enemy 548 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:09,360 Speaker 1: combatants on the base. Well that's true, but they didn't 549 00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:11,400 Speaker 1: have ideas. We just brought them on. And then it 550 00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:14,200 Speaker 1: gets worse. Then they sat them in the same room 551 00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:18,360 Speaker 1: and they started questioning them. And the question to the investigators, 552 00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:20,680 Speaker 1: wait this secain, is that the best practice? Well, no, 553 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:24,720 Speaker 1: the best practices the interview and interrogate people individually. But 554 00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:26,640 Speaker 1: we we didn't have a lot of room at the time, 555 00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:28,080 Speaker 1: and we didn't have a lot of people that we 556 00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:31,400 Speaker 1: could use to separate them. Like, wait a second, this 557 00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:34,920 Speaker 1: is a capital murder case that you're running against one 558 00:33:34,960 --> 00:33:38,959 Speaker 1: of our most highly decorated special operators, and you couldn't 559 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:42,360 Speaker 1: find one other soldier to detain one of these quote 560 00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:46,160 Speaker 1: unquote witnesses while you interrogated one at a time. Well, 561 00:33:46,440 --> 00:33:48,840 Speaker 1: you know, it couldn't happen time that. It was every 562 00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:54,760 Speaker 1: excuse you could imagine. And so the defense was great, 563 00:33:55,040 --> 00:33:56,920 Speaker 1: now we want to go over there and and interview 564 00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:59,959 Speaker 1: these same people. We can't do that because of secure 565 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:03,040 Speaker 1: already in a million and one other reasons, and it's 566 00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:07,040 Speaker 1: just it's one of these things where they they have 567 00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:11,400 Speaker 1: all of the resources at their disposal, and only if 568 00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:15,480 Speaker 1: they want to share those resources will the defense get 569 00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:19,120 Speaker 1: the ability to go overseas, have the security and be 570 00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:22,520 Speaker 1: able to conduct interviews or investigations and all the rest. 571 00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:25,799 Speaker 1: So it's it's very challenging and we see it time 572 00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:30,080 Speaker 1: and again where you know, many cases there are no 573 00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:34,120 Speaker 1: bodies presented, so there's no forensics, so you can't really tell, 574 00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:37,719 Speaker 1: you know, how the individual died. We said a first 575 00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:41,840 Speaker 1: Lieutenant Michael Behenna, which was a unique case in that 576 00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:44,800 Speaker 1: in that case they actually did have the body and 577 00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:48,759 Speaker 1: they actually did conduct forensics. And Behenna was accused of 578 00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:52,239 Speaker 1: murdering this individual. And Behenna said, no, I acted in 579 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:56,720 Speaker 1: self defense. And so the prosecution hired a forensic expert, 580 00:34:57,160 --> 00:34:59,000 Speaker 1: one of the best in the country, and he went 581 00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:03,000 Speaker 1: and said, based upon the forensics, Michael Behanna is telling 582 00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:06,000 Speaker 1: the truth. It shows that the bullet wounds are consistent 583 00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:09,640 Speaker 1: with Michael Behenna acting in self defense. So what the 584 00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:14,520 Speaker 1: government do. They fired that expert and they buried that report, 585 00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:18,000 Speaker 1: and that report never came to trial, and it wasn't 586 00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:20,800 Speaker 1: until later on under appeal that all of this was 587 00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:26,480 Speaker 1: dug up. And you know, fortunately Michael Behanna, another great warrior, uh, 588 00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:30,040 Speaker 1: the President United States pardoned him because this is not 589 00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:35,280 Speaker 1: we we we we should not can be conducting kangaroo courts. 590 00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:39,720 Speaker 1: The rule of law must come paramount and basically the warriors, 591 00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:44,160 Speaker 1: though they actually fall under the laws of war, which 592 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:46,920 Speaker 1: are much different from even the rules of law. But 593 00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:50,120 Speaker 1: we see this time and again and it's and those 594 00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:52,600 Speaker 1: are the type of things where the government has to 595 00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:56,359 Speaker 1: know there's a watchdog that's gonna be checking everything that's 596 00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:59,280 Speaker 1: happening here, and that's United American Patriots and the hundreds 597 00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:02,200 Speaker 1: of thousands of people supporting us that are saying, look, 598 00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:04,680 Speaker 1: if you want to find someone guilty, that's fine, we 599 00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:09,399 Speaker 1: support that. We do not support you violating an individual's rights, 600 00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:14,120 Speaker 1: especially not a warrior's rights. And I wanted to ask 601 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:16,520 Speaker 1: you about there was one case that I had never 602 00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:20,080 Speaker 1: heard of before, and that was first Lieutenant Sean Blair. 603 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:24,680 Speaker 1: And uh, you know, reading through your website, I never 604 00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:28,880 Speaker 1: remember seeing this, uh in any of the stuff that 605 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:32,400 Speaker 1: you see on the news or in publications or wherever. 606 00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:34,600 Speaker 1: Can you fill us in a little bit about that, 607 00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:38,400 Speaker 1: you know? I apologize I can't really talk in detail 608 00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:41,399 Speaker 1: about Blair's case because that happened long before I came 609 00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:43,239 Speaker 1: on board, so I don't know the details, and I 610 00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:46,560 Speaker 1: don't want to screw that up. Okay, that's fine. That 611 00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:49,000 Speaker 1: was just the one that that stood out because I 612 00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:51,920 Speaker 1: had never heard of that, uh that case before, but 613 00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:56,279 Speaker 1: I know that they eventually got the charges dismissed, which 614 00:36:56,360 --> 00:37:01,840 Speaker 1: is a good thing. Um absolutely now uh u A 615 00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:05,120 Speaker 1: he started one back in two thousand five, and it 616 00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:08,359 Speaker 1: was a former Marine Corps officer that started it. Am 617 00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:14,800 Speaker 1: I right, that's true. It was actually uh Major Donahue 618 00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:19,120 Speaker 1: built Donna Hue. Uh. He was a Vietnam era marine, 619 00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:24,279 Speaker 1: multiple purple hearts, multiple decorations, Bronze Star, silver star. Uh. 620 00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:27,520 Speaker 1: Just a true warrior. Actually caught a round to the 621 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:30,839 Speaker 1: jaw as he was a doorgunner doing an extract one time. 622 00:37:30,920 --> 00:37:35,040 Speaker 1: And uh just an incredible individual who in two thousand 623 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:38,879 Speaker 1: and five he saw the Haditha and Hamdania Marines being 624 00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:42,520 Speaker 1: marched around at orange jumpsuits and shackles, and we had 625 00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:45,719 Speaker 1: congressmen calling them murderers, jack murder. But you know, he 626 00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:48,240 Speaker 1: was sitting here, you know, and he's a former marine. 627 00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:50,920 Speaker 1: He is one of the few former marines. Everybody else 628 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:53,160 Speaker 1: wants a marine, always marine. But a lot of people 629 00:37:53,239 --> 00:37:56,040 Speaker 1: feel he gave up his uh title once he started 630 00:37:56,040 --> 00:38:00,200 Speaker 1: calling people murderers before they had even had their rig 631 00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:02,800 Speaker 1: is pressed against them. This was all here saying a 632 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:05,560 Speaker 1: lot of stories at the time, and and that's, you know, 633 00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:10,640 Speaker 1: an example of the highest level of unlawful command influence. So, um, 634 00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:14,120 Speaker 1: what happened was Major Donohue came along and said, now 635 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:17,480 Speaker 1: that's not happening, and he actually mortgaged this house to 636 00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:21,799 Speaker 1: get this organization started. And uh, it took a long 637 00:38:21,920 --> 00:38:24,919 Speaker 1: time for it to start gaining momentum. But he's still 638 00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:27,200 Speaker 1: around and he's a great individual. And he and I 639 00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:30,200 Speaker 1: talked probably about once once a week or so, and 640 00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:33,440 Speaker 1: right now he's going he's got some medical challenges, but 641 00:38:34,239 --> 00:38:37,560 Speaker 1: he's a tough fighter and he's not going anywhere. It's 642 00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:41,239 Speaker 1: good to hear. And you know, it's amazing that we 643 00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:45,080 Speaker 1: have this many cases uh that's going on with our military. 644 00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:46,920 Speaker 1: And I know, you know, we've been in combat for 645 00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:49,879 Speaker 1: a very long time, but there shouldn't be this many 646 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:56,720 Speaker 1: cases that are out there's not having um the correct 647 00:38:57,160 --> 00:39:03,160 Speaker 1: amount of protection under our laws. Because that's the absolutely 648 00:39:04,680 --> 00:39:08,200 Speaker 1: explain to our listeners how they can go about and help, 649 00:39:08,520 --> 00:39:13,640 Speaker 1: how they can possibly volunteer if they want to get involved. Absolutely, so, 650 00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:18,080 Speaker 1: first of all, whenever we have, uh, anybody who wants 651 00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:20,640 Speaker 1: to get involved, and we get phone calls quite often 652 00:39:21,480 --> 00:39:24,799 Speaker 1: people who have interesting backgrounds, whether they be investigators, whether 653 00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:27,680 Speaker 1: they be people who have contacts a lot of times, 654 00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:30,320 Speaker 1: right now we're talking to some interesting people in Hollywood 655 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:33,280 Speaker 1: who are working on trying to do documentaries and actually 656 00:39:33,320 --> 00:39:35,520 Speaker 1: full feature films of some of the warriors that were 657 00:39:35,560 --> 00:39:38,759 Speaker 1: supporting and trying to get the word out there. Uh So, 658 00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:41,680 Speaker 1: any any time somebody has a connection or network that 659 00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:44,600 Speaker 1: might be beneficial where they can find people with influence 660 00:39:44,840 --> 00:39:48,520 Speaker 1: who can help out. Certainly, we we welcome people calling in. Uh. 661 00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:53,520 Speaker 1: Donations obviously are always appreciated. U AP dot org. That's 662 00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:57,319 Speaker 1: our website, you AP dot org, and it's it's very 663 00:39:57,400 --> 00:40:00,160 Speaker 1: easy to donate there. You can donate generally or can 664 00:40:00,239 --> 00:40:04,399 Speaker 1: donate to an individual group of warriors and uh it's 665 00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:07,080 Speaker 1: uh you know, we also have people you know that 666 00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:10,840 Speaker 1: are local in uh Northern Virginia that come in and 667 00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:15,320 Speaker 1: volunteer to help out with going through our mail, making 668 00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:18,760 Speaker 1: phone calls on our behalf and just trying to support 669 00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:23,120 Speaker 1: as best they can. So Bill tell us about some 670 00:40:23,239 --> 00:40:27,120 Speaker 1: of the other cases that are ongoing with the with 671 00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:30,799 Speaker 1: the U A P. And how our listeners can get 672 00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:34,640 Speaker 1: involved and let people know that they're supporting all of 673 00:40:34,760 --> 00:40:39,360 Speaker 1: our warriors that are out there. Certainly. So one of 674 00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:42,880 Speaker 1: the cases that's relatively unique to uh U a P 675 00:40:43,920 --> 00:40:47,520 Speaker 1: is the case in support of the MARSOC three. And 676 00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:51,120 Speaker 1: that's how we refer to them. It's two gunnery sergeants 677 00:40:51,320 --> 00:40:54,440 Speaker 1: and one Navy chief, all three who are raiders who 678 00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:58,600 Speaker 1: with the Marine Special Operations Command. And this is a 679 00:40:58,680 --> 00:41:02,319 Speaker 1: unique case in that, UH, they actually there was an 680 00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:05,719 Speaker 1: incident in which they had an aggressor going against them, 681 00:41:06,200 --> 00:41:10,279 Speaker 1: and UH alcohol was involved on the suggressor's part and 682 00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:13,800 Speaker 1: he was being a little bit too aggressive that the 683 00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:16,680 Speaker 1: instigator he was pulled out of the bar that they 684 00:41:16,719 --> 00:41:18,839 Speaker 1: were in. And it's all actually having an or beal 685 00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:23,160 Speaker 1: Iraq and UH it's uh strange that you know, here 686 00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:28,439 Speaker 1: in the Iraq, which is considered in essence of combat zone, 687 00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:32,200 Speaker 1: this was a relatively safe place and that UH soldiers 688 00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:35,479 Speaker 1: brains were allowed off base and this was New Year's 689 00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:37,719 Speaker 1: and they were allowed out for a bit and next 690 00:41:37,760 --> 00:41:42,759 Speaker 1: thing you know, incident happens. Navy Chief Gilman he was 691 00:41:43,280 --> 00:41:47,320 Speaker 1: being harassed by this civilian contractor who actually used to 692 00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:51,800 Speaker 1: be a former Army Special Forces and UH he was 693 00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:54,759 Speaker 1: escorted out of the bar, and next thing you know, 694 00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:57,840 Speaker 1: the the raiders were asked to hold and you know, 695 00:41:58,000 --> 00:41:59,960 Speaker 1: let him kind of take off so there wouldn't be 696 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:02,200 Speaker 1: the incident. They were kind of waiting outside for a fight, 697 00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:06,840 Speaker 1: and they finally walked away. And as there as the 698 00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:11,480 Speaker 1: raiders left, Chief Gilness telling Gunnery Satan, Danny drey Or 699 00:42:11,600 --> 00:42:15,440 Speaker 1: what happened and that some sort of a conflict was here. 700 00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:17,960 Speaker 1: You know, Gunnery Star and dre are been a good 701 00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:20,960 Speaker 1: senior staff an. CEO said all right, well, we can't 702 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:23,759 Speaker 1: have conflicts. We're all sitting out here working together for 703 00:42:23,840 --> 00:42:27,000 Speaker 1: the same mission against real bad guys. So he decides 704 00:42:27,040 --> 00:42:30,640 Speaker 1: to go over and talk to this contractor and basically say, hey, 705 00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:33,880 Speaker 1: you know what's going on, let's knock this off. And 706 00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:39,000 Speaker 1: the contractor didn't take kindly to it. Was very aggressive, 707 00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:41,879 Speaker 1: started poking Gunnery Start and Dreyer in the chest. It's 708 00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:44,239 Speaker 1: kind of yelling and spitting on him, and next thing 709 00:42:44,280 --> 00:42:46,640 Speaker 1: you know, he makes this aggressive move towards him. Danny 710 00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:49,759 Speaker 1: Dryer pushes him away and uh, next thing you know, 711 00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:53,040 Speaker 1: his contractor comes at Danny Dryer swings hits him twice, 712 00:42:53,600 --> 00:42:55,680 Speaker 1: and Danny's kind of shocked because he's like, you know, 713 00:42:55,760 --> 00:42:57,960 Speaker 1: what the hell is going on. One of the other 714 00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:02,640 Speaker 1: raiders Gunnery Start didn't have grown Josh the grown about 715 00:43:02,640 --> 00:43:05,120 Speaker 1: a hundred fifty five pounds, small guy, you know, half 716 00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:07,520 Speaker 1: the size of his contractor. And Danny heat steps in 717 00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:14,320 Speaker 1: this contractor. Once contractor goes down, and uh, basically the 718 00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:16,960 Speaker 1: you know, all the contractors friends, they kind of say 719 00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:18,799 Speaker 1: all right, well whatever, and they kind of walk off. 720 00:43:18,880 --> 00:43:21,080 Speaker 1: And yet you got these three raiders. You know, these 721 00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:23,120 Speaker 1: guys were born to serve. You know, these are some 722 00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:24,960 Speaker 1: of the best of the best, you know, and listening 723 00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:28,000 Speaker 1: to the Marines then we're forced reconnaissance Marines and then 724 00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:30,840 Speaker 1: went on to be raiders. I mean, there's some of 725 00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:33,920 Speaker 1: the best of the best we have. Uh. They they're like, 726 00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:35,640 Speaker 1: all right, we're not leaving this guy in the street, 727 00:43:35,760 --> 00:43:38,200 Speaker 1: you know, and inter rack. You know, even even if 728 00:43:38,360 --> 00:43:41,000 Speaker 1: you know he was intoxicated and was acting a little 729 00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:42,960 Speaker 1: bit too aggressive, you know, we're gonna take care of 730 00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:46,319 Speaker 1: this guy. They bring him back to their barracks there 731 00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:48,520 Speaker 1: and it wasn't barracks, I guess the garrison where they 732 00:43:48,560 --> 00:43:52,440 Speaker 1: were staying. And Chief Kilman, who was a senior medical 733 00:43:52,520 --> 00:43:55,440 Speaker 1: adviser at the time. You know, here's a special uh 734 00:43:56,160 --> 00:43:59,520 Speaker 1: independent duty corman, special operations independent duty corman. You know, 735 00:43:59,560 --> 00:44:02,040 Speaker 1: one of the again one of the best trained medical 736 00:44:02,120 --> 00:44:06,720 Speaker 1: advisors we have or practitioners, i should say. He assesses 737 00:44:06,800 --> 00:44:09,080 Speaker 1: him and says, look, all his vitals are good, everything's fine, 738 00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:11,239 Speaker 1: but just put him in the rack. Let's like, let's 739 00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:13,399 Speaker 1: watch him for a bit and make sure he's stabilized, 740 00:44:13,480 --> 00:44:17,200 Speaker 1: which he was, and then they advised one of the 741 00:44:17,280 --> 00:44:20,279 Speaker 1: other contractors keep an eye on him. And at a 742 00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:24,960 Speaker 1: certain point, apparently the contractors stopped breathing and the other 743 00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:27,560 Speaker 1: contractor grabbed Chief Gilman and the rest they came and 744 00:44:27,640 --> 00:44:30,080 Speaker 1: tried doing some heroic life savings steps on this guy 745 00:44:30,719 --> 00:44:32,719 Speaker 1: and they met of act him out. He end up 746 00:44:32,719 --> 00:44:35,640 Speaker 1: going to land Still, Germany, and unfortunately, four days later 747 00:44:35,760 --> 00:44:40,560 Speaker 1: he died and the determination was he asphyxiated. He grew 748 00:44:40,640 --> 00:44:43,640 Speaker 1: up and end up swallowing his own vomit into his 749 00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:50,120 Speaker 1: lungs and died. Horrific situation like this is not uh no, 750 00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:54,040 Speaker 1: nobody's celebrating, like, hey, the Marines beat up Special Forces guy, 751 00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:57,759 Speaker 1: Like not at all. This was a horrible situation. But 752 00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:01,799 Speaker 1: there was again a rush to judgment to where all 753 00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:06,600 Speaker 1: of a sudden, the commanding general of Marsock General you uh, he, 754 00:45:07,200 --> 00:45:10,440 Speaker 1: he's sitting here, you know, making condolences to the family, 755 00:45:10,560 --> 00:45:14,960 Speaker 1: goes to the funeral of this contractor, and the rumors 756 00:45:15,040 --> 00:45:19,400 Speaker 1: start spreading that these raiders basically had boot stomped this 757 00:45:20,120 --> 00:45:22,600 Speaker 1: contractor and three of them against one and they beat 758 00:45:22,640 --> 00:45:24,920 Speaker 1: him up and it was, you know, this drunken murder, 759 00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:28,839 Speaker 1: and it was just the stories were horrific, and yet 760 00:45:28,920 --> 00:45:33,800 Speaker 1: again there there was no assessment of what actually had happened. 761 00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:37,239 Speaker 1: Yet and before you know it, these three raiders they 762 00:45:37,320 --> 00:45:40,239 Speaker 1: lose their security clearances that pulled out of there there, 763 00:45:40,360 --> 00:45:41,920 Speaker 1: out of the line. So they're not even doing what 764 00:45:41,960 --> 00:45:44,319 Speaker 1: the supposed to be doing there, you know, basically working 765 00:45:44,360 --> 00:45:46,480 Speaker 1: in the barracks, work in the gym, working you know, 766 00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:52,680 Speaker 1: basically handing out crap in the hospital. And nobody had 767 00:45:52,719 --> 00:45:55,880 Speaker 1: actually even asked them what had happened. Again, it was 768 00:45:55,920 --> 00:45:59,040 Speaker 1: a presumption of guilt. And a lot of this goes 769 00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:03,640 Speaker 1: to the you know, sort of the misconception and the 770 00:46:03,800 --> 00:46:07,839 Speaker 1: prejudice against our special operators that you know, these guys 771 00:46:07,880 --> 00:46:10,840 Speaker 1: are cowboys and you know they don't abide by the rules. 772 00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:13,319 Speaker 1: We need to tighten them up, they need more discipline. 773 00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:16,000 Speaker 1: And you know, here's an example of you know, we're 774 00:46:16,040 --> 00:46:18,120 Speaker 1: going to make an example of these three guys, like 775 00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:20,200 Speaker 1: this is not what you do when you walk base. 776 00:46:20,239 --> 00:46:22,440 Speaker 1: You don't get into fights. You don't do it. But 777 00:46:23,239 --> 00:46:26,400 Speaker 1: they didn't start the fight, and they acted appropriately every 778 00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:29,040 Speaker 1: step of the way, trying to de escalate the situation 779 00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:32,160 Speaker 1: and even caring for this individual. Now, now, how do 780 00:46:32,239 --> 00:46:34,960 Speaker 1: we know that that's the case, because all of this 781 00:46:35,200 --> 00:46:39,040 Speaker 1: was captured on security cameras and you see step by 782 00:46:39,160 --> 00:46:42,560 Speaker 1: step that every step of the way, even inside the bar, 783 00:46:43,280 --> 00:46:46,960 Speaker 1: outside talking to them, that at every point of the 784 00:46:47,040 --> 00:46:50,200 Speaker 1: way they were trying to de escalate the situation. They 785 00:46:50,239 --> 00:46:52,440 Speaker 1: were not trying to create a fight. And yet the 786 00:46:52,520 --> 00:46:56,560 Speaker 1: prosecutors came in here, uh, they've charged these three with manslaughter, 787 00:46:57,280 --> 00:47:00,080 Speaker 1: and they're trying to hold them accountable, you know, and 788 00:47:01,200 --> 00:47:03,799 Speaker 1: the article thirty two here, and even the judge says, 789 00:47:03,960 --> 00:47:06,839 Speaker 1: you know, this looks like it might be a case 790 00:47:06,920 --> 00:47:10,960 Speaker 1: of self defense or defense of others, and yet they're 791 00:47:11,000 --> 00:47:14,680 Speaker 1: moving forward with a court martial. And you know, it's 792 00:47:14,719 --> 00:47:19,160 Speaker 1: one of these things where the presumption of guilt is 793 00:47:19,239 --> 00:47:21,919 Speaker 1: holding over these guys as opposed to the commanders saying 794 00:47:22,160 --> 00:47:24,440 Speaker 1: we're gonna go with the presumption of innocence. And a 795 00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:27,160 Speaker 1: part of that is the commanders could easily say, well, 796 00:47:27,880 --> 00:47:30,160 Speaker 1: you know what, I did, the right thing. I referred 797 00:47:30,160 --> 00:47:31,919 Speaker 1: to to court marshal. You know, well, it will allow 798 00:47:32,080 --> 00:47:35,759 Speaker 1: the facts to play out there, as opposed to saying, 799 00:47:35,800 --> 00:47:38,319 Speaker 1: you know what, from everything I see, I'm gonna make 800 00:47:38,360 --> 00:47:42,719 Speaker 1: a command decision because I am a commander who has 801 00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:45,160 Speaker 1: been put here supposedly because I know how to make 802 00:47:45,239 --> 00:47:49,480 Speaker 1: the right decisions. And yet when it comes to legal 803 00:47:49,600 --> 00:47:53,480 Speaker 1: matters or administrative matters, we defer to the courts. And unfortunately, 804 00:47:53,920 --> 00:47:56,960 Speaker 1: depending on you know, where you are, in various different conflicts, 805 00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:01,279 Speaker 1: we've seen up the condition rates court martials that the 806 00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:06,280 Speaker 1: system is so lopsided that you're basically condemning these guys. 807 00:48:06,600 --> 00:48:09,400 Speaker 1: You're you're not giving them a fair fight. And and 808 00:48:09,560 --> 00:48:12,120 Speaker 1: just to kind of go into why that is that 809 00:48:12,640 --> 00:48:17,800 Speaker 1: in cases where you've got court martials concerning murder that 810 00:48:18,040 --> 00:48:20,960 Speaker 1: you don't need a unanimous jury, you only need three 811 00:48:21,080 --> 00:48:23,920 Speaker 1: quarters of the jury, and other cases you only need 812 00:48:24,040 --> 00:48:27,839 Speaker 1: two thirds of the jury. And why is that really bad? 813 00:48:27,880 --> 00:48:30,680 Speaker 1: Because again, that's the presumption of guilt. You're not giving 814 00:48:30,719 --> 00:48:33,080 Speaker 1: these guys the benefit of the doubt that you don't 815 00:48:33,120 --> 00:48:35,800 Speaker 1: give them the present presumption of innocence as a civilian 816 00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:41,680 Speaker 1: court does. Secondly, where it's frustrating is that the convening authority, 817 00:48:42,080 --> 00:48:46,279 Speaker 1: the one who's calling this court martial, he presents the 818 00:48:46,440 --> 00:48:49,640 Speaker 1: soldiers or marines who are gonna be sitting on the 819 00:48:50,000 --> 00:48:53,680 Speaker 1: trials court martial in the jury and so the deck 820 00:48:53,840 --> 00:48:56,880 Speaker 1: is getting stacked to begin with. And why this is 821 00:48:57,360 --> 00:49:00,600 Speaker 1: really terrible as if you think about it, if you 822 00:49:00,680 --> 00:49:03,640 Speaker 1: know I as it, retired marine or any civilian gets 823 00:49:03,680 --> 00:49:06,800 Speaker 1: selected for jury duty out in the civilian world, we 824 00:49:06,920 --> 00:49:09,439 Speaker 1: will go, we'll sit there in the jury, will listen 825 00:49:09,480 --> 00:49:12,120 Speaker 1: to the facts, and we'll make a determination based upon 826 00:49:12,440 --> 00:49:16,160 Speaker 1: how we assess the facts and perhaps our own moral 827 00:49:16,280 --> 00:49:19,359 Speaker 1: or ethical convictions, and will come out and we'll say 828 00:49:20,200 --> 00:49:23,040 Speaker 1: it is it are guilty or guilty not guilty. But 829 00:49:23,200 --> 00:49:26,960 Speaker 1: that's not the case in the military because there's another 830 00:49:27,200 --> 00:49:30,960 Speaker 1: factor that comes into play, and that factor is how 831 00:49:31,040 --> 00:49:36,280 Speaker 1: will my decision impact my career? How will it impact 832 00:49:36,480 --> 00:49:40,280 Speaker 1: my personal life. Now, this is a very different situation 833 00:49:40,400 --> 00:49:43,919 Speaker 1: because that shouldn't come into play at all, but it does. 834 00:49:44,160 --> 00:49:47,520 Speaker 1: Because let's say you're one of the one third that 835 00:49:47,680 --> 00:49:52,080 Speaker 1: finds someone not guilty, and let's say your boss happens 836 00:49:52,080 --> 00:49:55,640 Speaker 1: to be sitting on that panel on that jury. Now, 837 00:49:55,719 --> 00:49:57,160 Speaker 1: all of a sudden, the boss is going to go 838 00:49:57,280 --> 00:50:01,560 Speaker 1: back to the convening authority and say, hey, just what, girlfriend, 839 00:50:01,760 --> 00:50:05,080 Speaker 1: I'm questioning his judgment. You know, he he thought they 840 00:50:05,120 --> 00:50:08,279 Speaker 1: were not guilty. Obviously, you commanding General thought they were 841 00:50:08,280 --> 00:50:11,680 Speaker 1: guilty because you referred them to court martial. I voted 842 00:50:11,719 --> 00:50:14,080 Speaker 1: for them to be guilty, and and they were found guilty. 843 00:50:14,520 --> 00:50:18,560 Speaker 1: But girlfriend, I'm not so sure about him. And to 844 00:50:18,719 --> 00:50:22,560 Speaker 1: think that that won't impact someone's career when it's within 845 00:50:22,680 --> 00:50:26,920 Speaker 1: the same command, especially in the tight enit special operations community, 846 00:50:27,239 --> 00:50:29,680 Speaker 1: that could be a kiss of death. So I'd like 847 00:50:29,840 --> 00:50:32,880 Speaker 1: to believe that any of our warriors that are sitting 848 00:50:33,400 --> 00:50:36,480 Speaker 1: on juries are going to make the right ethical decision, 849 00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:41,320 Speaker 1: regardless of how it would impact them personally. However, you 850 00:50:41,440 --> 00:50:43,600 Speaker 1: just don't know that to be true, and you just 851 00:50:43,719 --> 00:50:46,440 Speaker 1: don't realize that, you know what, somebody might have to 852 00:50:46,480 --> 00:50:49,400 Speaker 1: pay a mortgage and them losing their career. That might 853 00:50:49,520 --> 00:50:51,960 Speaker 1: hurt that. And so now they're thinking about their family, 854 00:50:52,040 --> 00:50:55,400 Speaker 1: their house, their dog, their cat. Again not none of 855 00:50:55,480 --> 00:50:59,400 Speaker 1: that should play into a decision that's going to determine 856 00:50:59,440 --> 00:51:04,160 Speaker 1: the fate of someone else's life. And this is really challenging. 857 00:51:04,760 --> 00:51:08,239 Speaker 1: And this kind of brings us to another case where, uh, 858 00:51:08,640 --> 00:51:11,920 Speaker 1: staffs aren't Gibbs. Right now, he's up for clemency. This 859 00:51:11,960 --> 00:51:17,160 Speaker 1: is an individual war fighter who was found guilty of murder. Again, 860 00:51:18,000 --> 00:51:22,440 Speaker 1: no hard evidence, uh, no bodies, no forensics, uh nothing. 861 00:51:22,520 --> 00:51:28,000 Speaker 1: It was purely based upon testimony by others that found 862 00:51:28,120 --> 00:51:30,320 Speaker 1: him guilty. And and it was others who are actually 863 00:51:30,360 --> 00:51:34,640 Speaker 1: looking out for their own well being, and uh, there 864 00:51:34,760 --> 00:51:37,560 Speaker 1: was enough to convict them, but would end up or 865 00:51:37,640 --> 00:51:41,120 Speaker 1: convict him. Staffs aren't Gibbs. And what's interesting is that 866 00:51:41,320 --> 00:51:43,760 Speaker 1: in staffs aren't Gibbs case. You know, here's an infantry 867 00:51:43,800 --> 00:51:48,120 Speaker 1: staff n CEO, and yet there was not one infantry 868 00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:51,359 Speaker 1: soldier sitting in the jury. As a matter of fact, 869 00:51:51,360 --> 00:51:54,320 Speaker 1: I believe they were all military policemen. And which is 870 00:51:54,520 --> 00:51:59,320 Speaker 1: bizarre because where this the court martial actually took place 871 00:51:59,760 --> 00:52:02,640 Speaker 1: is I see where the second Infantry Division is garrison. 872 00:52:03,040 --> 00:52:07,680 Speaker 1: So certainly they could have found at least one infantry 873 00:52:07,800 --> 00:52:10,279 Speaker 1: soldier that could have sat there on the jury, and 874 00:52:10,360 --> 00:52:13,520 Speaker 1: yet they didn't. They stacked it with military policemen that 875 00:52:13,600 --> 00:52:18,120 Speaker 1: have a different perspective from our infantry and should it 876 00:52:18,160 --> 00:52:21,520 Speaker 1: would be you know, imagine somebody going and uh, you know, 877 00:52:22,360 --> 00:52:26,520 Speaker 1: being accused of a crime and packing the uh, packing 878 00:52:26,560 --> 00:52:30,080 Speaker 1: the jury with police officers like you don't do that. 879 00:52:30,760 --> 00:52:34,200 Speaker 1: And that's exactly what happened here in Calvin's case. And 880 00:52:34,840 --> 00:52:38,680 Speaker 1: we've we saw in Calvin's case again the three individuals 881 00:52:38,760 --> 00:52:42,479 Speaker 1: that that testified against Calvin, not only were they looking 882 00:52:42,520 --> 00:52:44,800 Speaker 1: out for their own well being, but they were allowed 883 00:52:44,880 --> 00:52:48,839 Speaker 1: to talk amongst themselves actually while smoking Hashi's driving around 884 00:52:48,920 --> 00:52:53,120 Speaker 1: Candahart Air Course base and and corroborate their story to 885 00:52:53,320 --> 00:52:56,000 Speaker 1: make sure that they sold the squad leader, Calvin Gibbs, 886 00:52:56,080 --> 00:53:01,359 Speaker 1: down the down the road. And more over, in Gibbs case, 887 00:53:01,760 --> 00:53:04,960 Speaker 1: we saw that there are two material eyewitnesses who could 888 00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:08,680 Speaker 1: have come in and said, yeah, Calvin Gibbs did not 889 00:53:08,880 --> 00:53:12,319 Speaker 1: commit these crimes, did not commit murder, and yet they 890 00:53:12,400 --> 00:53:15,960 Speaker 1: were not brought in to testify. So these are the 891 00:53:16,000 --> 00:53:19,479 Speaker 1: type of things where you know, staff are gives, people 892 00:53:19,600 --> 00:53:21,480 Speaker 1: have raised other issues about some of the things he 893 00:53:21,520 --> 00:53:24,120 Speaker 1: did wrong. It's a great hold him accountable for that 894 00:53:24,280 --> 00:53:28,160 Speaker 1: which he did wrong. But you can't parlay that into oh, well, 895 00:53:28,239 --> 00:53:31,480 Speaker 1: he did these things wrong, so obviously he's a murderer. 896 00:53:31,800 --> 00:53:34,719 Speaker 1: That's not the way it works, because you have to 897 00:53:34,840 --> 00:53:38,080 Speaker 1: find hard evidence. And yet we see time and again 898 00:53:38,719 --> 00:53:43,280 Speaker 1: that even with evidence like the videotapes in the Marsoc 899 00:53:43,400 --> 00:53:45,719 Speaker 1: three case or in this case with sass Are and 900 00:53:45,760 --> 00:53:49,120 Speaker 1: Gibbs and others where you don't have hard evidence, that 901 00:53:49,280 --> 00:53:52,839 Speaker 1: guys are being found guilty and and again, hold people 902 00:53:52,880 --> 00:53:55,840 Speaker 1: accountable for what they did wrong, but do not trump 903 00:53:55,960 --> 00:53:59,239 Speaker 1: up charges. Don't get over zealous prosecutors who were trying 904 00:53:59,280 --> 00:54:04,279 Speaker 1: to get bigger hills, and and just people understand, I 905 00:54:04,360 --> 00:54:06,160 Speaker 1: get World War two. What we used to have court 906 00:54:06,239 --> 00:54:10,319 Speaker 1: martials that the way that would be done is they say, hey, 907 00:54:10,880 --> 00:54:13,880 Speaker 1: let's grab this infantry officer and this artillery officer and 908 00:54:14,080 --> 00:54:17,040 Speaker 1: you know, have them be the defense and have them 909 00:54:17,080 --> 00:54:20,640 Speaker 1: be the prosecution, and let's find out the truth in 910 00:54:20,760 --> 00:54:25,239 Speaker 1: this individual case. And that's not what's happening anymore. Now 911 00:54:25,320 --> 00:54:29,480 Speaker 1: we have professional attorneys. And these attorneys go from law school, 912 00:54:29,920 --> 00:54:32,200 Speaker 1: they go through sixteen weeks of training to figure out 913 00:54:32,239 --> 00:54:35,000 Speaker 1: how to put their uniform on and learn military jargon 914 00:54:35,600 --> 00:54:38,640 Speaker 1: and then the next thing, you know, their careers are 915 00:54:38,760 --> 00:54:44,120 Speaker 1: based upon their prosecutions, how successful are they in getting 916 00:54:44,239 --> 00:54:48,200 Speaker 1: quote unquote kills under their belt, which are fellow servicemen. 917 00:54:48,880 --> 00:54:52,680 Speaker 1: And so unlike the World War Two infantry officer artillery 918 00:54:52,760 --> 00:54:56,040 Speaker 1: officer that played attorney that then would go back to 919 00:54:56,120 --> 00:54:59,719 Speaker 1: their career and be assessed for promotion based upon, you know, 920 00:55:00,000 --> 00:55:03,080 Speaker 1: whether they were good infantry officers or artillery officers, these 921 00:55:03,160 --> 00:55:07,680 Speaker 1: attorneys are being held accountable as attorneys. So they've got 922 00:55:07,719 --> 00:55:11,440 Speaker 1: a very different mindset and and that's troubling when all 923 00:55:11,440 --> 00:55:15,520 Speaker 1: of a sudden you've got these professional attorneys that that 924 00:55:15,760 --> 00:55:20,080 Speaker 1: have an incentive within you armed forces, under the same 925 00:55:20,160 --> 00:55:24,480 Speaker 1: convening authority to try and find guilt, and it sets 926 00:55:24,560 --> 00:55:30,400 Speaker 1: them up for prosecutorial misconduct for hiding a sculpratory information, 927 00:55:30,719 --> 00:55:33,720 Speaker 1: for trying to get a bigger kill, like for somebody 928 00:55:33,760 --> 00:55:36,520 Speaker 1: to get a murder case or manslaughter case, instead of 929 00:55:36,880 --> 00:55:39,120 Speaker 1: you know, just saying well, okay that we don't see 930 00:55:39,160 --> 00:55:43,759 Speaker 1: it here. This it sents a very troubling precedent, especially 931 00:55:43,880 --> 00:55:48,959 Speaker 1: when we have never had one military prosecutor being held 932 00:55:49,040 --> 00:55:54,960 Speaker 1: accountable for prosecutorial misconduct a crime, never once like administratively. 933 00:55:55,080 --> 00:55:57,440 Speaker 1: Perhaps they may have been moved off a case or 934 00:55:57,520 --> 00:56:00,440 Speaker 1: something else, but they've never been held criminally accountable, and 935 00:56:00,520 --> 00:56:04,520 Speaker 1: they should. You know, we can talk about Eddie Gallagher's case, 936 00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:06,600 Speaker 1: where I know there's a lot of conflict, there's when 937 00:56:06,680 --> 00:56:09,040 Speaker 1: people you know, are concerned about how that whole case 938 00:56:09,120 --> 00:56:11,279 Speaker 1: played out. But at the end of the day, the 939 00:56:11,480 --> 00:56:17,160 Speaker 1: prosecutors spied on the attorney client privilege. They put spywear 940 00:56:17,320 --> 00:56:21,000 Speaker 1: on emails that they were sending to the defense attorney. 941 00:56:21,560 --> 00:56:25,600 Speaker 1: That is a criminal act. And what happens to that prosecute, Well, 942 00:56:25,640 --> 00:56:28,520 Speaker 1: they just moved him off the case. No, that's that's 943 00:56:28,560 --> 00:56:31,640 Speaker 1: a criminal act. Why wasn't he held accountable? And time 944 00:56:31,719 --> 00:56:35,480 Speaker 1: and again we see this happening, and for them, when 945 00:56:35,520 --> 00:56:37,560 Speaker 1: they look at the risk reward, it's like, well, if 946 00:56:37,600 --> 00:56:40,880 Speaker 1: I get a kill here, I get promoted. If I 947 00:56:41,120 --> 00:56:45,400 Speaker 1: get caught, well, no big deal. There's no real downside 948 00:56:45,480 --> 00:56:48,560 Speaker 1: for these guys. And and that's where we need to 949 00:56:48,600 --> 00:56:51,440 Speaker 1: start holding people accountable and making sure that the right 950 00:56:51,520 --> 00:56:54,640 Speaker 1: things are happening at the right time for the right reasons. Again, 951 00:56:55,200 --> 00:56:59,560 Speaker 1: we're not determining innocence or guilt, We're just preserving the 952 00:56:59,800 --> 00:57:03,640 Speaker 1: end individuals rights, And if I could just talk about 953 00:57:03,640 --> 00:57:09,360 Speaker 1: about one more piece, there are organizations out there like 954 00:57:09,480 --> 00:57:12,640 Speaker 1: the Innocence Project or the a c l U that 955 00:57:12,760 --> 00:57:16,640 Speaker 1: if they hear that there's an individual civilian sitting on 956 00:57:16,800 --> 00:57:21,880 Speaker 1: death row for committing some horrific crime, whatever it is, rape, 957 00:57:22,000 --> 00:57:24,880 Speaker 1: murdered you, whatever you want to imagine, the most horrific 958 00:57:24,920 --> 00:57:27,600 Speaker 1: crime you can imagine. And yet they find out that 959 00:57:27,760 --> 00:57:32,280 Speaker 1: guess what, that that individual's rights were violated, whether it's 960 00:57:32,400 --> 00:57:37,439 Speaker 1: unlawful search and seizure or inappropriate you know, the wrong 961 00:57:37,600 --> 00:57:42,360 Speaker 1: DNA was identified or or anything else, that individual, they 962 00:57:42,440 --> 00:57:44,480 Speaker 1: will fight as hard as they can to get that 963 00:57:44,640 --> 00:57:48,280 Speaker 1: individual off of death row. And quite frankly, that's the 964 00:57:48,440 --> 00:57:53,440 Speaker 1: right thing to do, because any individual's wrongdoing does not 965 00:57:53,720 --> 00:57:58,920 Speaker 1: outweigh all of our rights. Our rights must be preserved 966 00:57:59,520 --> 00:58:03,480 Speaker 1: and it we don't see these same organizations fighting for 967 00:58:03,600 --> 00:58:07,080 Speaker 1: our warriors when our warriors are having their rights preserved. 968 00:58:07,600 --> 00:58:09,840 Speaker 1: And as we all know, the only reason that we 969 00:58:10,000 --> 00:58:13,240 Speaker 1: have our rights is because we have individual warriors that 970 00:58:13,320 --> 00:58:16,200 Speaker 1: are willing to support and defend our constitution, which is 971 00:58:16,280 --> 00:58:21,200 Speaker 1: our rights. And those warriors don't get the same benefit 972 00:58:21,280 --> 00:58:23,880 Speaker 1: of the doubt. They don't get the presumption of innocence. 973 00:58:24,240 --> 00:58:27,520 Speaker 1: They don't get the same standards of a civilian court. 974 00:58:28,160 --> 00:58:30,760 Speaker 1: And so this is where you ap dot Org. We're 975 00:58:30,760 --> 00:58:33,520 Speaker 1: going to continue to fight to make sure that our 976 00:58:33,560 --> 00:58:41,080 Speaker 1: warriors are having at least equal justice. Uh. I think 977 00:58:41,160 --> 00:58:43,920 Speaker 1: that's fantastic, and you know, I think all of our 978 00:58:43,960 --> 00:58:48,320 Speaker 1: listeners fully support that. I mean, again, you talked about prosecutor, 979 00:58:49,560 --> 00:58:56,320 Speaker 1: you know, prosecutor prosecute misconduct. I'm getting all tongue tied. 980 00:58:56,400 --> 00:59:01,880 Speaker 1: This happen do yeah, And you know, the first thing 981 00:59:01,920 --> 00:59:04,520 Speaker 1: that came to mind was the Eddie Gallagher case and uh, 982 00:59:05,520 --> 00:59:09,120 Speaker 1: you know what happened there was just again mind boggling. 983 00:59:09,200 --> 00:59:11,680 Speaker 1: And then I, like I said, I was, you know, 984 00:59:12,280 --> 00:59:15,120 Speaker 1: heavily read in on what was going on with Clint Lawrence. 985 00:59:15,200 --> 00:59:17,840 Speaker 1: But there's many more cases that you guys have been 986 00:59:17,880 --> 00:59:23,400 Speaker 1: involved with, obviously, and it's just, um, it's it's shocking 987 00:59:23,560 --> 00:59:27,520 Speaker 1: because we don't usually equate that with the country that 988 00:59:27,680 --> 00:59:29,880 Speaker 1: we live in. We're supposed to be the people that 989 00:59:29,960 --> 00:59:33,080 Speaker 1: played by the rules and take care of everyone, and 990 00:59:33,160 --> 00:59:35,680 Speaker 1: we take care of our civilians for for the most 991 00:59:35,760 --> 00:59:39,480 Speaker 1: part in the civilian courts. But we're not doing a 992 00:59:39,560 --> 00:59:43,320 Speaker 1: good enough job when it comes to the military guys, Well, 993 00:59:43,440 --> 00:59:46,600 Speaker 1: that's definitely true. I mean, you know, here's another situation 994 00:59:46,800 --> 00:59:50,280 Speaker 1: is UH staffs are Bob Bales and this is you 995 00:59:50,360 --> 00:59:54,560 Speaker 1: know case the Canada har massacre and UH snaps are 996 00:59:54,640 --> 01:00:00,400 Speaker 1: Bails confessed the killing sixteen civilians and whether or not 997 01:00:00,640 --> 01:00:03,680 Speaker 1: he actually killed sixteen or as some would say, twenty, 998 01:00:04,080 --> 01:00:06,520 Speaker 1: and whether or not they were all civilians. We don't 999 01:00:06,640 --> 01:00:10,280 Speaker 1: know why because the US government never saw the bodies, 1000 01:00:10,520 --> 01:00:14,520 Speaker 1: never conducted forensics, never did autopsies. The Afghan government claimed 1001 01:00:14,720 --> 01:00:17,480 Speaker 1: that's what happened, and that was it. It wasn't until 1002 01:00:17,600 --> 01:00:20,480 Speaker 1: a month after when all the bodies have been buried, 1003 01:00:20,520 --> 01:00:23,160 Speaker 1: and well they were buried the next day that c 1004 01:00:23,320 --> 01:00:27,400 Speaker 1: i D actually went out and conducted a limited investigation 1005 01:00:27,440 --> 01:00:30,520 Speaker 1: because they told that it's too dangerous of an environment 1006 01:00:30,600 --> 01:00:32,160 Speaker 1: for them to be out there. But they conducted a 1007 01:00:32,240 --> 01:00:37,959 Speaker 1: very limited investigation, and they came back and they held 1008 01:00:38,440 --> 01:00:42,000 Speaker 1: Bob accountable for these crimes. And you know, here's an 1009 01:00:42,040 --> 01:00:45,960 Speaker 1: individual where you know, Bob was frustrated. He felt that 1010 01:00:46,440 --> 01:00:49,240 Speaker 1: again the defensive posture that was happening at the time 1011 01:00:49,360 --> 01:00:52,040 Speaker 1: was not conducive to how they should be prosecuting the 1012 01:00:52,120 --> 01:00:54,960 Speaker 1: war and he basically decided to take the warrant his 1013 01:00:55,040 --> 01:00:56,960 Speaker 1: own hands and step off base and go out with 1014 01:00:57,120 --> 01:01:01,600 Speaker 1: the intent to kill enemy combatants. And unfortunately he did 1015 01:01:01,760 --> 01:01:05,560 Speaker 1: kill civilians and he acknowledges that, and uh, that still 1016 01:01:05,680 --> 01:01:09,920 Speaker 1: haunts him. But what ends up happening is that when 1017 01:01:09,960 --> 01:01:13,080 Speaker 1: he came back that there was this rush to judgment. 1018 01:01:13,600 --> 01:01:16,640 Speaker 1: There was they immediately put the death penalty on the 1019 01:01:16,720 --> 01:01:21,400 Speaker 1: table and they said, look, sign this confession that you 1020 01:01:21,560 --> 01:01:24,080 Speaker 1: killed these sixties of Williams, or we're gonna hold you 1021 01:01:24,120 --> 01:01:26,240 Speaker 1: accountable for the death penalty and we're gonna take you 1022 01:01:26,720 --> 01:01:29,880 Speaker 1: to trial and we will find you guilty. And they 1023 01:01:30,000 --> 01:01:33,960 Speaker 1: pressured him. The prosecution pressured him. They had others were saying, look, 1024 01:01:33,960 --> 01:01:36,760 Speaker 1: Bob just signed this confession because there's so many people 1025 01:01:36,960 --> 01:01:39,560 Speaker 1: US troops that are now their lives are endangered because 1026 01:01:39,600 --> 01:01:42,400 Speaker 1: what you did. And then yet his defense attorney saying, 1027 01:01:42,440 --> 01:01:44,560 Speaker 1: Bob just signed this so they don't hold you accountable 1028 01:01:44,600 --> 01:01:47,520 Speaker 1: for the death penalty. And his own wife said said, Bob, 1029 01:01:47,600 --> 01:01:49,720 Speaker 1: please do whatever it takes so they don't kill you. 1030 01:01:50,040 --> 01:01:52,960 Speaker 1: We have two children, and Bob's an amazing family man. 1031 01:01:53,080 --> 01:01:55,800 Speaker 1: Even while he's been in prison, he does homework with 1032 01:01:55,840 --> 01:01:57,880 Speaker 1: his kids, his kids going to visit with him, or 1033 01:01:57,920 --> 01:02:00,640 Speaker 1: at least they did before the COVID lockdown. And and 1034 01:02:00,720 --> 01:02:02,880 Speaker 1: he's sitting here doing homework with his kids and talks 1035 01:02:02,920 --> 01:02:05,760 Speaker 1: to his kids all the time. His wife moved close 1036 01:02:05,840 --> 01:02:08,320 Speaker 1: to the prison so that they can maintain a relationship. 1037 01:02:08,560 --> 01:02:11,760 Speaker 1: I mean, this is not some you know, horrible, horrible, 1038 01:02:11,880 --> 01:02:14,920 Speaker 1: evil monster as they point him out to be. However, 1039 01:02:15,720 --> 01:02:20,320 Speaker 1: here's the thing. Even if Bob committed these horrific crimes 1040 01:02:20,680 --> 01:02:24,080 Speaker 1: and decide to walk off based by himself and do this, well, 1041 01:02:24,400 --> 01:02:28,920 Speaker 1: anybody who knows the facts of the case, they immediately say, wow, 1042 01:02:29,360 --> 01:02:32,480 Speaker 1: that's crazy. You know, him walking off by himself to 1043 01:02:32,640 --> 01:02:36,440 Speaker 1: engage the enemy. That's crazy. And yet he was never 1044 01:02:36,680 --> 01:02:41,120 Speaker 1: tested to see if in fact he was crazy. And 1045 01:02:41,240 --> 01:02:45,920 Speaker 1: in the again, in the civilian courts, if someone walked 1046 01:02:45,960 --> 01:02:49,160 Speaker 1: into a high school or a grade school or Sandy 1047 01:02:49,200 --> 01:02:52,480 Speaker 1: Hook or what have you and starts gunning down children, 1048 01:02:53,440 --> 01:02:56,200 Speaker 1: that after that individual has taken into custody and read 1049 01:02:56,280 --> 01:02:59,280 Speaker 1: his rights, the next thing that happens is before they 1050 01:02:59,320 --> 01:03:01,840 Speaker 1: go through a try, they actually test for what's called 1051 01:03:02,280 --> 01:03:05,920 Speaker 1: his men's raea. Did he have the mental capacity to 1052 01:03:06,160 --> 01:03:09,680 Speaker 1: understand that what he was doing was completely wrong that 1053 01:03:09,800 --> 01:03:13,000 Speaker 1: he didn't he was crazy in essence, and yet they 1054 01:03:13,080 --> 01:03:16,120 Speaker 1: never bought the test Bob for that. As a matter 1055 01:03:16,120 --> 01:03:19,400 Speaker 1: of fact, it gets worse because a lot of operators 1056 01:03:19,440 --> 01:03:21,000 Speaker 1: who I know, who are listening to this right now, 1057 01:03:21,120 --> 01:03:26,160 Speaker 1: will realize, like myself, we took larium or methyl quinn. 1058 01:03:26,480 --> 01:03:28,720 Speaker 1: This is an anti malaria drug. And I know in 1059 01:03:28,800 --> 01:03:31,400 Speaker 1: two thousand two when I took this that I started 1060 01:03:31,400 --> 01:03:34,000 Speaker 1: having weird hallucinations right after I took this fricking thing, 1061 01:03:34,040 --> 01:03:36,680 Speaker 1: and I stopped taking it. And we had three special 1062 01:03:36,760 --> 01:03:39,560 Speaker 1: operators that returned from Afghanistan at the time and they 1063 01:03:39,680 --> 01:03:42,680 Speaker 1: killed their wives. And it's been showing that this drug 1064 01:03:42,760 --> 01:03:47,120 Speaker 1: has been linked to really horrific nightmares and paranoia and 1065 01:03:47,240 --> 01:03:51,840 Speaker 1: all sorts of psychological problems, and yet the prosecution again 1066 01:03:52,040 --> 01:03:55,640 Speaker 1: did not even bring this into the case. Nobody even 1067 01:03:55,680 --> 01:03:59,040 Speaker 1: discussed the fact that Bob had taken larry um or 1068 01:03:59,120 --> 01:04:02,680 Speaker 1: methyl quinn, which could have altered his psyche In essence, 1069 01:04:02,880 --> 01:04:06,720 Speaker 1: he could have been crazy, and instead they pressured him 1070 01:04:07,200 --> 01:04:10,400 Speaker 1: to make a confession, and so he made this confession 1071 01:04:11,440 --> 01:04:14,040 Speaker 1: and the next thing they did, this is where it 1072 01:04:14,080 --> 01:04:18,920 Speaker 1: gets worse. They then went to the sentencing portion Now 1073 01:04:19,000 --> 01:04:21,800 Speaker 1: because he made a confession, they took the death sentence 1074 01:04:21,960 --> 01:04:24,400 Speaker 1: off the table, and they said, all right, well, we're 1075 01:04:24,400 --> 01:04:27,800 Speaker 1: gonna bring in what's called impact witnesses. So they decided 1076 01:04:27,880 --> 01:04:32,080 Speaker 1: to fly in what they said, we're Afghan farmers into 1077 01:04:32,120 --> 01:04:34,840 Speaker 1: the country and then put them on Delta airlines with 1078 01:04:34,960 --> 01:04:39,680 Speaker 1: other US citizens, flew them over to testify against Bob. 1079 01:04:39,960 --> 01:04:41,920 Speaker 1: And they all told these horrific stories and how it 1080 01:04:42,040 --> 01:04:44,439 Speaker 1: was horrible that family members were killed and all the rest, 1081 01:04:44,760 --> 01:04:47,080 Speaker 1: and and then the prosecution took them to see world 1082 01:04:47,120 --> 01:04:49,120 Speaker 1: and took him out the dinner and took care of them, 1083 01:04:49,160 --> 01:04:51,360 Speaker 1: and then flew them back to Afghanistan. And we know 1084 01:04:51,520 --> 01:04:53,440 Speaker 1: this for a fact because we have all the receipts 1085 01:04:53,680 --> 01:04:55,760 Speaker 1: and all the rest. But what was interesting is they 1086 01:04:55,840 --> 01:04:59,760 Speaker 1: brought them in under false names, with false passports. Now 1087 01:05:00,000 --> 01:05:03,240 Speaker 1: would they have done that, Well, when again you a 1088 01:05:03,440 --> 01:05:06,640 Speaker 1: p supported the attorneys and the investigators going doing the homework, 1089 01:05:06,680 --> 01:05:09,920 Speaker 1: they found out, wait a second, these guys might be 1090 01:05:10,080 --> 01:05:13,120 Speaker 1: farmers during the day, but at night, these guys are 1091 01:05:13,320 --> 01:05:16,920 Speaker 1: died in the wold Taliban. So while we're at war 1092 01:05:18,080 --> 01:05:23,520 Speaker 1: in Afghanistan, our country, our government flew in enemy combatants, 1093 01:05:24,040 --> 01:05:27,920 Speaker 1: not just some random civilian enemy combatants to come in 1094 01:05:28,160 --> 01:05:34,440 Speaker 1: and testify against a U. S. Serviceman. But that's the 1095 01:05:34,520 --> 01:05:37,640 Speaker 1: type of thing where that can't be tolerated. And so 1096 01:05:37,800 --> 01:05:42,400 Speaker 1: as horrific as Bob's crimes, maybe you can't allow this 1097 01:05:42,640 --> 01:05:46,320 Speaker 1: precedent to stand where our US government thinks it's okay 1098 01:05:46,480 --> 01:05:50,000 Speaker 1: to collaborate with the enemy to try and put someone 1099 01:05:50,080 --> 01:05:52,400 Speaker 1: away for life. And that's exactly what happened. Bob's been 1100 01:05:52,480 --> 01:05:55,680 Speaker 1: put away from life. So these are the type of 1101 01:05:55,800 --> 01:05:58,880 Speaker 1: things where, again, you know, people want to argue all 1102 01:05:58,880 --> 01:06:01,959 Speaker 1: the time, well, what Bob it was horrible? Okay, great, 1103 01:06:02,040 --> 01:06:03,760 Speaker 1: Bob will even tell you what he did was horrible, 1104 01:06:03,800 --> 01:06:06,000 Speaker 1: and he'll tell you that, you know what, I hold 1105 01:06:06,040 --> 01:06:08,160 Speaker 1: me accountable for what I did wrong. But at the 1106 01:06:08,240 --> 01:06:12,720 Speaker 1: same time, you can't take away an individual's rights. That's 1107 01:06:12,880 --> 01:06:16,480 Speaker 1: where the system has to be addressed, and we have 1108 01:06:16,680 --> 01:06:20,880 Speaker 1: to make sure we're fighting because quite frankly, maybe Bob's 1109 01:06:20,960 --> 01:06:24,439 Speaker 1: case is not peculiar to everyone else here, but any 1110 01:06:24,520 --> 01:06:26,960 Speaker 1: of our other warriors that are out there, when they 1111 01:06:27,040 --> 01:06:31,960 Speaker 1: pull the trigger, they've got to realize that, depending upon 1112 01:06:32,120 --> 01:06:35,560 Speaker 1: how that gets assessed, the next thing, you know, they 1113 01:06:35,600 --> 01:06:39,160 Speaker 1: could end up in a court martial and and we 1114 01:06:39,360 --> 01:06:42,200 Speaker 1: know we've seen this time and again that the enemy 1115 01:06:42,600 --> 01:06:46,040 Speaker 1: makes false claims against us all the time, the enemy 1116 01:06:46,120 --> 01:06:49,160 Speaker 1: puts civilians in harm's way, so that we get the 1117 01:06:49,280 --> 01:06:52,920 Speaker 1: media turning against the warriors all the time. They they 1118 01:06:53,080 --> 01:06:56,560 Speaker 1: understand and they're ruthless, and how they do it, how 1119 01:06:56,680 --> 01:06:59,720 Speaker 1: they play the propaganda gate and we, because we're a 1120 01:07:00,040 --> 01:07:03,440 Speaker 1: passionate country, we tend to fall for this, or at 1121 01:07:03,520 --> 01:07:07,720 Speaker 1: least we question our own troops first. And the first 1122 01:07:07,760 --> 01:07:10,040 Speaker 1: thing we should be doing is hold on a second, 1123 01:07:10,640 --> 01:07:14,320 Speaker 1: let's question the source. Let's find out what's going on here, 1124 01:07:14,720 --> 01:07:17,960 Speaker 1: and then let's make sure what we're giving our warriors 1125 01:07:18,560 --> 01:07:21,800 Speaker 1: the rights that they deserve, the rights that they fight for. 1126 01:07:22,480 --> 01:07:25,640 Speaker 1: And and again, if we find that these warriors are guilty, 1127 01:07:26,120 --> 01:07:29,360 Speaker 1: hold them accountable. That's what we do, but not with 1128 01:07:29,720 --> 01:07:34,680 Speaker 1: at not at the expense of destroying their rights. And 1129 01:07:35,280 --> 01:07:37,800 Speaker 1: I think that sums it up perfectly for what U 1130 01:07:37,880 --> 01:07:40,840 Speaker 1: a P. Does, what what you guys are, and who 1131 01:07:40,920 --> 01:07:44,760 Speaker 1: you're supporting. And we want to thank you for for 1132 01:07:45,160 --> 01:07:47,840 Speaker 1: doing what you do. And I know you said you 1133 01:07:47,920 --> 01:07:50,640 Speaker 1: planned on six months to a year. It doesn't sound 1134 01:07:50,680 --> 01:07:54,320 Speaker 1: like you're leaving anytime soon, does it No, I'm coming 1135 01:07:54,400 --> 01:07:57,200 Speaker 1: up on three you and we're gonna stick it through. 1136 01:07:57,240 --> 01:08:00,160 Speaker 1: We're gonna keep fighting and what one of the other 1137 01:08:00,240 --> 01:08:03,840 Speaker 1: areas since fortunately, you know, we're drawing down a lot 1138 01:08:03,880 --> 01:08:06,360 Speaker 1: of conflicts and so we don't receive a lot more 1139 01:08:06,440 --> 01:08:09,520 Speaker 1: war crimes coming in, which was really our niche we've 1140 01:08:09,520 --> 01:08:15,480 Speaker 1: actually we started focusing on UH unrecognized valor and one 1141 01:08:15,520 --> 01:08:17,560 Speaker 1: of the big cases we're looking at is actually a 1142 01:08:17,680 --> 01:08:23,559 Speaker 1: hero in the special operations community UH, Major Jim Caper's 1143 01:08:24,080 --> 01:08:27,840 Speaker 1: and Major Jim Caper's was one of the early fish 1144 01:08:27,880 --> 01:08:32,680 Speaker 1: reconnaissance marines in Vietnam who really set the standard for 1145 01:08:32,720 --> 01:08:35,120 Speaker 1: a lot of the tactics, techniques, and procedures that our 1146 01:08:35,160 --> 01:08:38,800 Speaker 1: fullsh reconnaissance marines and our raiders are using to this day. 1147 01:08:39,600 --> 01:08:45,000 Speaker 1: Absolute hero, unbelievable, like every every one of his his patrols, 1148 01:08:45,600 --> 01:08:50,320 Speaker 1: we're just like incredibly heroic in his leadership. He did 1149 01:08:50,600 --> 01:08:54,439 Speaker 1: SCOOPA missions in Vietnam, he did long range reconstance patrols, 1150 01:08:54,479 --> 01:08:56,840 Speaker 1: he did recovery patrols. He did a lot of black 1151 01:08:56,920 --> 01:08:59,560 Speaker 1: ops that still have not been uncovered, and yet the 1152 01:08:59,600 --> 01:09:03,600 Speaker 1: ones that have been uncovered really our representative of a 1153 01:09:03,720 --> 01:09:07,160 Speaker 1: warrior who's deserving of the Medal of Honor and yet 1154 01:09:07,479 --> 01:09:10,600 Speaker 1: at the same time, this warrior did not get the 1155 01:09:10,640 --> 01:09:13,800 Speaker 1: Medal of Honor and we're coming in to figure out 1156 01:09:14,200 --> 01:09:19,559 Speaker 1: what exactly happened. There's uh some administrative questions. There's been 1157 01:09:19,640 --> 01:09:23,120 Speaker 1: some some closed meetings that we're discussing this where we're 1158 01:09:23,160 --> 01:09:25,439 Speaker 1: gonna go forward. We're gonna do foyas to find out 1159 01:09:26,120 --> 01:09:29,040 Speaker 1: exactly what was discussed and why this warrior didn't get 1160 01:09:29,120 --> 01:09:31,960 Speaker 1: the Medal of Honor. There have been claims of racism. 1161 01:09:32,320 --> 01:09:36,200 Speaker 1: This is one of the first African American forcer Constance 1162 01:09:36,240 --> 01:09:39,360 Speaker 1: Marines who actually got a battlefield commission and kept his 1163 01:09:39,400 --> 01:09:43,840 Speaker 1: battlefield commission while he was in Vietnam and kept it 1164 01:09:43,880 --> 01:09:47,479 Speaker 1: when he came home. Uh. He actually Major Jim Capers 1165 01:09:47,560 --> 01:09:51,160 Speaker 1: was a poster child literally for the Marine Corps. One 1166 01:09:51,200 --> 01:09:55,560 Speaker 1: of the most successful at Marine Corps advertising campaigns was 1167 01:09:55,760 --> 01:09:59,120 Speaker 1: asked him Rene and it had his photograph in dress 1168 01:09:59,200 --> 01:10:02,800 Speaker 1: Blues was which was a highly successful campaign for the 1169 01:10:02,800 --> 01:10:07,719 Speaker 1: Marine Corps. So this is an absolute heroic warrior across 1170 01:10:07,800 --> 01:10:11,680 Speaker 1: the board who we're trying to figure out what went 1171 01:10:11,760 --> 01:10:14,960 Speaker 1: wrong and why this warrior didn't get the Medal of 1172 01:10:15,040 --> 01:10:18,000 Speaker 1: Honor and you know, we don't want to sit here 1173 01:10:18,040 --> 01:10:20,880 Speaker 1: and say, well, you know, it was race based. You know, 1174 01:10:21,080 --> 01:10:22,960 Speaker 1: we don't know that to be true. We know there's 1175 01:10:23,000 --> 01:10:25,880 Speaker 1: a lot of indicators that individuals didn't like him, and 1176 01:10:26,240 --> 01:10:29,160 Speaker 1: it seems like it was based upon race. But the 1177 01:10:29,880 --> 01:10:34,160 Speaker 1: facts remain that Major Jim Caper's he paid for this 1178 01:10:34,280 --> 01:10:38,439 Speaker 1: award with blood, sweat and tears, regardless of anything else. 1179 01:10:39,160 --> 01:10:42,760 Speaker 1: And the fact that the Marine Corps never had one 1180 01:10:43,120 --> 01:10:46,840 Speaker 1: African American Marine Corps officer who has ever received the 1181 01:10:46,880 --> 01:10:50,240 Speaker 1: Medal of Honor, that's a little bit surprising. But again, 1182 01:10:50,439 --> 01:10:52,400 Speaker 1: we would like to give the benefit of doubts to 1183 01:10:52,439 --> 01:10:56,439 Speaker 1: the Marine Corps that it's merit based. And so we're 1184 01:10:56,439 --> 01:10:58,120 Speaker 1: gonna look at this and we're gonna make sure that 1185 01:10:58,520 --> 01:11:00,960 Speaker 1: you know, all the teas across the eyes are dotted, 1186 01:11:01,479 --> 01:11:04,120 Speaker 1: and you know, here's a warrior who was just recognized 1187 01:11:04,520 --> 01:11:07,519 Speaker 1: by the Special Operations Command. He was put into the 1188 01:11:08,080 --> 01:11:12,080 Speaker 1: Hall of Honor down there in Tampa, and he was 1189 01:11:12,160 --> 01:11:15,240 Speaker 1: one of two Marines that were inducted. And so he's 1190 01:11:15,240 --> 01:11:17,640 Speaker 1: gone through a lot of scrutiny and a lot of 1191 01:11:18,080 --> 01:11:20,720 Speaker 1: background checks. So it's not just some random individual, but 1192 01:11:20,800 --> 01:11:22,960 Speaker 1: this is someone who has been recognized and has been 1193 01:11:23,479 --> 01:11:27,400 Speaker 1: his background has been looked at thoroughly, and uh, we're 1194 01:11:27,479 --> 01:11:30,560 Speaker 1: honored to actually be working with Major Jim Caper's and 1195 01:11:30,760 --> 01:11:34,400 Speaker 1: others to figure out exactly why he hasn't received this 1196 01:11:34,479 --> 01:11:36,639 Speaker 1: medal of honor. And we're gonna press to make sure 1197 01:11:36,720 --> 01:11:40,479 Speaker 1: that again the truth comes out like gets shined on it. 1198 01:11:40,640 --> 01:11:43,640 Speaker 1: And if the man's deserving the medal of Honor, then 1199 01:11:43,680 --> 01:11:45,400 Speaker 1: by God, we're gonna make sure that he gets that 1200 01:11:45,479 --> 01:11:50,080 Speaker 1: awarded to him. I've spoken to Jim Caper's on the 1201 01:11:50,120 --> 01:11:52,840 Speaker 1: phone for quite a couple uh, probably a couple of 1202 01:11:52,920 --> 01:11:57,479 Speaker 1: hours one afternoon. He's a tremendous individual and he's getting 1203 01:11:57,560 --> 01:11:59,160 Speaker 1: up there in the age a little bit now. But 1204 01:12:00,120 --> 01:12:03,360 Speaker 1: but you know, when you read his stories and you 1205 01:12:03,439 --> 01:12:06,840 Speaker 1: read the combat missions he was on, it reads like 1206 01:12:07,320 --> 01:12:10,559 Speaker 1: a pulp fiction book because you you think to yourself, 1207 01:12:10,920 --> 01:12:14,599 Speaker 1: how could anyone survive all this stuff? And he did. 1208 01:12:15,400 --> 01:12:19,200 Speaker 1: He's an amazing man. And uh, we we salute your 1209 01:12:19,680 --> 01:12:23,200 Speaker 1: efforts on that as well, because I think you know, 1210 01:12:23,320 --> 01:12:26,840 Speaker 1: when you talk about people that are deserving, uh, he 1211 01:12:26,920 --> 01:12:30,040 Speaker 1: should be at the top of the list. Absolutely. He 1212 01:12:30,160 --> 01:12:33,479 Speaker 1: he's a role model. Uh, he's a mentor he's still 1213 01:12:33,600 --> 01:12:37,719 Speaker 1: involved with Marsk and the Raiders. He still provides advice 1214 01:12:37,840 --> 01:12:40,360 Speaker 1: and guidance. And like you said, he's good enough there 1215 01:12:40,400 --> 01:12:42,240 Speaker 1: in years and he's, you know, in his mid eighties, 1216 01:12:42,360 --> 01:12:44,559 Speaker 1: and you know, he jokes me, He's like, I only 1217 01:12:44,640 --> 01:12:47,439 Speaker 1: got a few more years left. I'm like, you know, Jim, 1218 01:12:47,880 --> 01:12:49,880 Speaker 1: the only way you're leaving this plant is when you're 1219 01:12:49,920 --> 01:12:51,840 Speaker 1: ready to go, because ain't nobody gonna be able to 1220 01:12:51,840 --> 01:12:55,479 Speaker 1: take your life. So he cracks out. He still got 1221 01:12:55,560 --> 01:12:58,479 Speaker 1: a sense of humor um. And what's great about him 1222 01:12:58,960 --> 01:13:02,040 Speaker 1: he doesn't play the race card. He doesn't say, well, 1223 01:13:02,160 --> 01:13:04,080 Speaker 1: you know there was race that. He doesn't do that. 1224 01:13:04,479 --> 01:13:08,479 Speaker 1: He's he just wants to make sure that if he's deserving, 1225 01:13:08,560 --> 01:13:10,920 Speaker 1: that he gets awarded. But not even so much for him. 1226 01:13:11,520 --> 01:13:15,559 Speaker 1: It's more for recognition, recognition of those who served with him. 1227 01:13:15,920 --> 01:13:18,919 Speaker 1: And there are others that also did not receive awards 1228 01:13:19,000 --> 01:13:21,400 Speaker 1: that were deserving, and we're trying to make sure that 1229 01:13:21,600 --> 01:13:23,960 Speaker 1: all of those warriors that served with him in Vietnam 1230 01:13:24,479 --> 01:13:27,160 Speaker 1: that they are awarded the appropriate awards. And this is 1231 01:13:27,240 --> 01:13:31,200 Speaker 1: not something that just gets brushed under the carpet, because again, 1232 01:13:31,520 --> 01:13:35,040 Speaker 1: this is our legacy, this is what our warriors. We 1233 01:13:35,439 --> 01:13:39,920 Speaker 1: need heroes who are actually warriors and not have medals 1234 01:13:39,960 --> 01:13:42,360 Speaker 1: of honor given out just for people who you know, 1235 01:13:42,439 --> 01:13:45,040 Speaker 1: we're in defensive actions that you know we're doing some 1236 01:13:45,160 --> 01:13:48,519 Speaker 1: sort of humanitarian action, or you know, they received the 1237 01:13:48,560 --> 01:13:54,120 Speaker 1: war posthumously. Like our warriors locate close with and destroy 1238 01:13:54,360 --> 01:13:59,040 Speaker 1: the enemy with extreme prejudice. And we need the young 1239 01:13:59,520 --> 01:14:02,560 Speaker 1: warriors that are coming up behind them to realize like 1240 01:14:02,800 --> 01:14:05,840 Speaker 1: that is appropriate and that is what gets recognized for 1241 01:14:05,920 --> 01:14:09,240 Speaker 1: Balor and Jim Capers, by God, he took the fight 1242 01:14:09,320 --> 01:14:11,479 Speaker 1: to the enemy. He you know, he told me. He 1243 01:14:11,560 --> 01:14:14,200 Speaker 1: tells me stories, you know, one of which where he 1244 01:14:14,280 --> 01:14:17,759 Speaker 1: saw some a local village that had actually been terrorized 1245 01:14:17,800 --> 01:14:22,559 Speaker 1: by the Vietcong and the village elder. They cut him 1246 01:14:22,600 --> 01:14:25,880 Speaker 1: open and hung him up, and so his innerns were 1247 01:14:25,920 --> 01:14:29,120 Speaker 1: hanging out for the pigs to eat while he was alive. 1248 01:14:29,680 --> 01:14:33,400 Speaker 1: I mean, just a horrific, horrific way for somebody to die. 1249 01:14:33,560 --> 01:14:37,120 Speaker 1: And they did intentionally to terrorize anybody else who would 1250 01:14:37,360 --> 01:14:40,200 Speaker 1: interact with the U. S. Military. And Caper has had 1251 01:14:40,200 --> 01:14:43,080 Speaker 1: a relationship with this village and the village elder, and 1252 01:14:43,439 --> 01:14:46,680 Speaker 1: I'll tell you the story of how Jill Jim excuse me, 1253 01:14:46,840 --> 01:14:50,360 Speaker 1: how Jim went after these guys with a vengeance and 1254 01:14:50,479 --> 01:14:54,880 Speaker 1: he tracked them down, and like his tracking skills were phenomenal, 1255 01:14:54,960 --> 01:14:57,320 Speaker 1: and he was talking about the details, and he went 1256 01:14:57,400 --> 01:15:00,400 Speaker 1: after them and he took them out with extreme pre judice. 1257 01:15:00,880 --> 01:15:03,960 Speaker 1: And those are the type of actions that that's not 1258 01:15:04,080 --> 01:15:06,160 Speaker 1: even the ones that he that he's being looked at 1259 01:15:06,200 --> 01:15:08,240 Speaker 1: for the metal of honor, But those are the type 1260 01:15:08,240 --> 01:15:11,200 Speaker 1: of things where his warriors, they fought the right fight. 1261 01:15:11,800 --> 01:15:14,080 Speaker 1: And we hear too many stories that get blown out 1262 01:15:14,160 --> 01:15:17,320 Speaker 1: of proportion by the by the media about you know, 1263 01:15:17,439 --> 01:15:20,639 Speaker 1: the baby killers over in Vietnam, and everybody was smoking 1264 01:15:20,720 --> 01:15:23,320 Speaker 1: pot and committing crimes, and you know, that makes for 1265 01:15:23,360 --> 01:15:26,839 Speaker 1: a good movie, But that wasn't the majority of our warriors. 1266 01:15:27,320 --> 01:15:30,560 Speaker 1: And that's why when you find a true warrior like this, 1267 01:15:31,320 --> 01:15:35,160 Speaker 1: who's representative of all that is good and right about 1268 01:15:35,240 --> 01:15:39,479 Speaker 1: the warrior ethos about how they conducted operations in Vietnam, 1269 01:15:40,040 --> 01:15:42,640 Speaker 1: that story must be told, and it has to be 1270 01:15:42,760 --> 01:15:47,160 Speaker 1: told loudly and broadly so that America realizes that those 1271 01:15:47,280 --> 01:15:50,360 Speaker 1: warriors that served in Vietnam for the most part, were 1272 01:15:50,520 --> 01:15:55,120 Speaker 1: honorable warriors and they cannot be blackened by this disgrace 1273 01:15:55,320 --> 01:15:58,639 Speaker 1: of of marring them with the few incidents that really 1274 01:15:58,720 --> 01:16:02,880 Speaker 1: were horrible, but we're not indicative of how most of 1275 01:16:02,920 --> 01:16:07,920 Speaker 1: the warriors acted over Vietnam. So we're fighting for Jim 1276 01:16:08,000 --> 01:16:10,280 Speaker 1: Capers to make sure that he receives the recognition he 1277 01:16:10,400 --> 01:16:14,040 Speaker 1: deserves and that the story gets told across the nation 1278 01:16:14,200 --> 01:16:17,800 Speaker 1: and he gets heralded as the hero that others need 1279 01:16:17,880 --> 01:16:23,679 Speaker 1: to emulate. Well, I think that's again, you know, after 1280 01:16:23,760 --> 01:16:26,680 Speaker 1: speaking with Major Capers and and talking to him on 1281 01:16:26,800 --> 01:16:29,960 Speaker 1: the phone, he's such a uh, he's such a low 1282 01:16:30,080 --> 01:16:35,519 Speaker 1: key you know, he's not He's very humble and he's 1283 01:16:35,560 --> 01:16:38,519 Speaker 1: just a great man. And we wish you all the 1284 01:16:38,640 --> 01:16:42,519 Speaker 1: luck with that because I think again he's very very deserving. 1285 01:16:42,640 --> 01:16:45,120 Speaker 1: And sir, thank you for all you do for all 1286 01:16:45,160 --> 01:16:47,120 Speaker 1: our veterans that are out there that need your help. 1287 01:16:47,439 --> 01:16:50,840 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, you've explained to our listeners how 1288 01:16:50,920 --> 01:16:54,559 Speaker 1: they can go about volunteering or donating, and if they 1289 01:16:54,680 --> 01:16:58,120 Speaker 1: know anyone, they can contact your organization and and put 1290 01:16:58,200 --> 01:17:00,760 Speaker 1: them in touch with the people that can help. And 1291 01:17:01,680 --> 01:17:04,240 Speaker 1: I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that, 1292 01:17:04,400 --> 01:17:09,320 Speaker 1: on a personal note, I noticed that you prevented Jack 1293 01:17:09,439 --> 01:17:12,000 Speaker 1: Nicholson from beating Up Tom Cruise and a few good men. 1294 01:17:12,439 --> 01:17:16,400 Speaker 1: So we couldn't let you go without mentioning that it's 1295 01:17:16,439 --> 01:17:19,080 Speaker 1: probably some of our listeners that probably wish you had 1296 01:17:19,320 --> 01:17:23,040 Speaker 1: so we won't get into that too much. But um, yeah, 1297 01:17:23,600 --> 01:17:27,000 Speaker 1: you were in that film and uh that I guess 1298 01:17:27,560 --> 01:17:31,280 Speaker 1: we'll we'll leave that as it is today, but that's 1299 01:17:31,360 --> 01:17:37,639 Speaker 1: that's probably fought for another podcast maybe in the future. Yeah, Steve. 1300 01:17:37,720 --> 01:17:40,360 Speaker 1: All I could say about that is you can't handle 1301 01:17:40,439 --> 01:17:44,679 Speaker 1: the truth. There you go. It's like because you need 1302 01:17:44,760 --> 01:17:49,120 Speaker 1: me on that wall exactly, And that's the only thing 1303 01:17:49,160 --> 01:17:53,080 Speaker 1: anybody really cares about my military career. Nothing else matters, 1304 01:17:53,240 --> 01:17:58,040 Speaker 1: like oh the movie all right, yeah yeah, and again 1305 01:17:58,280 --> 01:18:01,280 Speaker 1: we'll talk about that on another podcasts some other time. 1306 01:18:01,680 --> 01:18:03,559 Speaker 1: But we really want to thank you for being here 1307 01:18:04,360 --> 01:18:07,439 Speaker 1: today and telling us all about you know, U A P. 1308 01:18:07,720 --> 01:18:09,920 Speaker 1: And what you guys are and who you are and 1309 01:18:10,080 --> 01:18:13,200 Speaker 1: who you're helping and all of us here at soft 1310 01:18:13,320 --> 01:18:15,880 Speaker 1: up appreciate that. But before we go, I need to 1311 01:18:16,000 --> 01:18:19,920 Speaker 1: read one little quick blurb to our listeners out there. 1312 01:18:20,200 --> 01:18:22,120 Speaker 1: If you want to get soft rep on your phone, 1313 01:18:22,240 --> 01:18:26,560 Speaker 1: download our free mobile app and get easy access to articles, podcasts, 1314 01:18:26,640 --> 01:18:31,439 Speaker 1: and great reviews, all perfectly formatted to your device. Please 1315 01:18:31,439 --> 01:18:34,599 Speaker 1: subscribe to softwarep dot com to get access to all 1316 01:18:34,640 --> 01:18:37,280 Speaker 1: our library of e books and our exclusive team room. 1317 01:18:37,360 --> 01:18:42,320 Speaker 1: Forms and content available on on all Apple and Android devices. 1318 01:18:58,479 --> 01:19:01,200 Speaker 1: Listening to self rep living you