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Speaker 1: As America continues to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion, we've

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Speaker 1: seen the death of meritocracy and in exchange, the checking

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Speaker 1: of boxes.

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Speaker 2: The result of all of that is a country.

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Speaker 1: Falling apart, things not functioning as well as they used to.

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Speaker 1: So how has that impacted the military. We're going to

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Speaker 1: talk to a friend of mine, Amber Smith. She's out

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Speaker 1: with a new book called Unfit the Fight, How woke

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Speaker 1: policies are destroying our military. She served as an Army

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Speaker 1: combat helicopter pilot an air mission commander in the one

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Speaker 1: hundred and first Airborne Division. She flew two combat tours

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Speaker 1: in Iraq and Afghanistan. She also spent time working at

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Speaker 1: the Department of Defense, so she's seen both sides of

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Speaker 1: the military from boots on the ground and then also

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Speaker 1: in a leadership position working at the Department of Defense.

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Speaker 1: So we're going to get her take on how woke

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Speaker 1: policies are destroying the military? Are we ready for a

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Speaker 1: big war? Why are those recruitment numbers so down? And

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Speaker 1: what role did the vaccine the COVID vaccine mandate have

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Speaker 1: on morel and on recruitment. We're going to get into

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Speaker 1: all of it is shocking important stuff. I was proud

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Speaker 1: to write an endorsement of this book as well. So

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Speaker 1: stay tuned for my friend Amber Smith with a really

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Speaker 1: important book, Unfit the Fight, How woke policies are destroying

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Speaker 1: our military.

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Speaker 2: Well, Amber, it's so great to have you on the show.

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Speaker 1: I'm so proud of you out with this new book.

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Speaker 1: I can't wait to get into it. I'm just so

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Speaker 1: happy for you and proud of you.

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Speaker 3: Thank you. It's great to be with you. Looking forward

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Speaker 3: to that.

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Speaker 1: Well, So this book comes at a good time because,

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Speaker 1: I mean, the world's a mess.

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Speaker 2: I mean we've got, you know, war in Europe, war.

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Speaker 1: In the Middle East, and then we have a military

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Speaker 1: that doesn't seem up to the task.

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Speaker 2: I guess, why did you decide to write this book?

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Speaker 3: So I served in the military as a Kiowa Warrior

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Speaker 3: helicopter pilot in both Iraq and Afghanistan. And then I

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Speaker 3: also fast forward a decade plus later, I served as

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Speaker 3: the deputy assistant to the Secretary of Defense in the

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Speaker 3: Trump administration, and so I got to see sort of

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Speaker 3: the inner workings of you know, things at the top,

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Speaker 3: inside the eg ring of the Pentagon, and sort of

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Speaker 3: the priorities that were happening with leadership there, and so

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Speaker 3: I took sort of both of those experience were the

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Speaker 3: exact opposite, you know, ins one operational military experience and

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Speaker 3: one more of like leadership and policy. And then in

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty two, the Chief of Staff of the Army

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Speaker 3: went and testified on Capitol Hill, and he was testifying

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Speaker 3: about the Army missing their recruitment by twenty five percent.

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Speaker 3: And I listened to him give every single excuse accept

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Speaker 3: reality of why people weren't joining the military. And this case,

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Speaker 3: you know, this was right in the middle of the

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Speaker 3: COVID vaccine mandates, and this was after the horrific fall

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Speaker 3: of Afghanistan and the evacuation from Kabul. And so he

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Speaker 3: sat up there and he talked about how it was

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Speaker 3: obesity and mental and physical limitations that exclude people from

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Speaker 3: military service, which those do exclude people from military service,

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Speaker 3: but those have also been a problem for decades now,

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Speaker 3: and so and the military, you know, for the most part,

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Speaker 3: was able to meet their numbers. And so instead of

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Speaker 3: talking about the reason why the Army wasn't able to

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Speaker 3: get their numbers from the percentage they are able to

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Speaker 3: recruit from, he chose to just you know, throw some

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Speaker 3: talking points out there that we see generals use in

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Speaker 3: every war, every issue with the military, and I was

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Speaker 3: just like, I think the American people need to know

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Speaker 3: the truth about what's going on in the military right now.

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Speaker 3: So I decided to write my book on Fit to Fight.

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Speaker 1: You know, why do you think because I've had I've

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Speaker 1: interviewed a bunch of you know, veterans, and you know,

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Speaker 1: there's always this frustration with leadership. So why do you

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Speaker 1: think there's such a disconnect between you know, boots on

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Speaker 1: the ground versus the people in Washington and leadership.

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Speaker 3: So there is a drastic disconnect. You hit the nail

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Speaker 3: on the head between what operationally like people who are

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Speaker 3: there on the ground, the reality that is there, and

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Speaker 3: then the Washington d C air conditioned PowerPoint fancy offices

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Speaker 3: at the Pentagon. So it's it's a massive cultural difference.

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Speaker 3: When people work their way up in the ranks, then

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Speaker 3: they get to DC and the culture that has been facilitated,

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Speaker 3: it has turned senior military leaders into yes men if

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Speaker 3: you look at and then in doing so, when they

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Speaker 3: stand by being yes men, they then realize that you

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Speaker 3: can fail up because we're seeing you know, good qualified

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Speaker 3: people who don't want to play this game are just

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Speaker 3: like I'm going to get out, and so that limits

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Speaker 3: the pool for promotion even less. But if you look

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Speaker 3: back to World War Two, generals, you know, military officers

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Speaker 3: were given a certain amount of months in combat to

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Speaker 3: go win battles. If they couldn't do it, if they

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Speaker 3: weren't effective leaders in combat, then they got fired and

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Speaker 3: they got replaced by someone that could. Fast forward to Vietnam,

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Speaker 3: you see this massive change happen where if a general

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Speaker 3: was fired, the Department of Defense suddenly viewed that as

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Speaker 3: a black eye on the department as a whole, instead

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Speaker 3: of as a failure of that individual officer. And so

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Speaker 3: what did they do. They instead circled the wagons and

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Speaker 3: they stopped firing people, and they just you know, maybe

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Speaker 3: they moved a job position, but they didn't want what

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Speaker 3: they saw as a very negative pr move when they

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Speaker 3: would fire people. So that led to a culture of

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Speaker 3: no accountability. It led to, you know, not the right

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Speaker 3: people getting promoted with the right experience, and it created

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Speaker 3: this culture where you very rarely in today's military see

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Speaker 3: a general officer getting fired for performance. You may see

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Speaker 3: them getting fired for conduct. Personal conduct, but not for

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Speaker 3: performance in terms of the way they're actually able to

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Speaker 3: do their job. So all of that has led to

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Speaker 3: sort of this terrible leadership crisis in the military right

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Speaker 3: now with as you mentioned, we're you know, on the

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Speaker 3: brink of World War three. It seems like every other

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Speaker 3: week we need some good, strong leadership, which is what

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Speaker 3: is lacking in the military right now.

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Speaker 1: I guess how ready are we right now to fight

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Speaker 1: potentially a big war.

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Speaker 3: Well, we aren't in terms of for strength. Our numbers

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Speaker 3: aren't there for years now. The military continues to in

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Speaker 3: most of the branches. The Marines still are able to

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Speaker 3: get their numbers, but the Air Force, the Navy, and

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Speaker 3: the Army especially is hurting. And you see them do

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Speaker 3: different programs in terms of trying to meet those numbers

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Speaker 3: and get them up, but usually it results. Usually the

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Speaker 3: result is lowering the standard, which is not helpful when

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Speaker 3: it comes to readiness. We have the technology, we have

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Speaker 3: the experience, but what is missing is a sort of

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Speaker 3: the purpose, the focus on what the mission is. So

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Speaker 3: when I served in the military, it was every single

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Speaker 3: training exercise we did was to make us better, to

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Speaker 3: ensure that we had the tools, the equipment, the experience,

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Speaker 3: and education to succeed at accomplishing the mission. It was

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Speaker 3: very straightforward. That's what we did. We trained to ensure

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Speaker 3: that we could fight and win wars. Fast forward to

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Speaker 3: today and you're seeing the priority which I get into

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Speaker 3: a lot with my book being shifted from focusing on

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Speaker 3: the mission and now it's focused on DEI diversity, equity

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Speaker 3: and inclusion, and climate change and how it can be

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Speaker 3: a greener force and and stand down days for Secretary

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Speaker 3: of Austin saying that white extremeism is the biggest internal

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Speaker 3: threat that the military faces, and unconscious bias training and

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Speaker 3: you know, making sure that you're using the proper pronouns,

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Speaker 3: and transgenders are getting the healthcare that they want, and

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Speaker 3: so all of that that I just listed is a

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Speaker 3: distraction from the military or a distraction from the mission.

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Speaker 3: You don't see Russia and China and Iran focusing on

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Speaker 3: all those things they just listed. Instead, their military is

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Speaker 3: focused on how are we going to fight and defeat

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Speaker 3: our enemy? That's what their focus is on. And so

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Speaker 3: we have I do think it's some significant complacency, not

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Speaker 3: only in the Biden administration itself, but the leadership at

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Speaker 3: the Department of Defense.

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Speaker 1: You have to take a quick break more on how

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Speaker 1: woke policies are destroying our military. You know, before we

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Speaker 1: want to to dig in further into you know, how

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Speaker 1: woke the military has gotten. But before we do, you

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Speaker 1: said something that has stayed in my mind that the

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Speaker 1: Marines have been able to meet their numbers, but the

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Speaker 1: others have not. Why do you think the Marines have

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Speaker 1: been able to keep their numbers and others have struggled?

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Speaker 2: What do you think is behind that?

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Speaker 3: So the Marine Corps is a smaller branch, and they

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Speaker 3: have always been focused on the way that they recruit

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Speaker 3: and the way that they sell the Marine Corps image.

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Speaker 3: They're tough, they're hard, they get dirty, they shoot guns,

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Speaker 3: but they're a team. They have, you know, a joint

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Speaker 3: purpose and they do it together. And that's what when

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Speaker 3: the seventeen year old or even younger than that, when

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Speaker 3: twelve year old boys are you know, playing army outside

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Speaker 3: or playing soldier outside, they want to go shoot guns,

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Speaker 3: they want to get dirty in the mud, they want

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Speaker 3: to rough and tough, you know, living outside, going to

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Speaker 3: the field. That's why the Marine Corps cells to this day.

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Speaker 3: If you compare an army recruitment video versus a Marine

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Speaker 3: Corps video. You know, the Army pushes these like super

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Speaker 3: soft like technical side of things, like you know, go

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Speaker 3: work on a computer all day long, and the Marine

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Speaker 3: Corps videos are like a guy climbing a mountain, rock climbing,

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Speaker 3: you know, a mountain and then fighting a dragon on

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Speaker 3: the top with the sword. Like that's what people like

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Speaker 3: young men want to go do. And so it's I

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Speaker 3: think the results are glaringly obvious. People want to go.

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Speaker 3: Young men want to go join a service where they

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Speaker 3: get to be patriotic and they get to go do

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Speaker 3: hard things and learn from it and be a part

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Speaker 3: of a team that loves America. And sadly, when people

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Speaker 3: are joining the other branches, they're you know, that's not

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Speaker 3: what they're getting today.

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Speaker 2: Why did you decide to enlist?

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Speaker 3: I uh watched nine to eleven happen while I was

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Speaker 3: in college, and I grew up in a very patriotic family.

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Speaker 3: I loved America. I knew I was taught just how

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Speaker 3: important our freedoms are and why they're worth preserving. So

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Speaker 3: I loved America. I loved everything, you know, the freedoms

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Speaker 3: and liberties that we got to enjoy every day. And

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Speaker 3: I had traveled and I knew that America was different.

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Speaker 3: It's you know, not there's nowhere else on the planet

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Speaker 3: like America. And so when we got attacked on nine

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Speaker 3: to eleven and I watched it unfold, I knew that

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Speaker 3: I wanted to serve my country and I loved flying,

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Speaker 3: and I when and I talked to all the different

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Speaker 3: military branches, and the Army happened to have the helicopter

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Speaker 3: program that was a good fit for me. So that's

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Speaker 3: the branch that I pursued. But you know that post

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Speaker 3: nine to eleven patriotism that we saw, that bump and

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Speaker 3: recruitment where the country was united there for a short

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Speaker 3: while after nine to eleven, that's gone. Unfortunately, the youth today,

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Speaker 3: after you know, growing up in the public school system

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Speaker 3: which is teaching alternative history and talking about how America

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Speaker 3: is an oppressor and the system is rigged against them.

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Speaker 3: That you know, young Americans are saying, why do I

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Speaker 3: want to serve for that? And so it's changed fairly

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Speaker 3: rapidly in terms of the generational differences between the post

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Speaker 3: nine to eleven wars and the people who are wanting

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Speaker 3: to step up and defend and fight America, fight for America,

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Speaker 3: and now what we're seeing it's actually people should be

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Speaker 3: very concerned about that because the all volunteer force has

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Speaker 3: been effective since the end of Vietnam, but it is

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Speaker 3: not a guarantee. And I think people, I think society

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Speaker 3: has become complacent with an all volunteer force.

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Speaker 1: Well, there does seem to be you know, the lack

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Speaker 1: of patriotism in the country. Do you think sort of

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Speaker 1: that lack of purpose as a country and lack of

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Speaker 1: unity has played into these low recruitment numbers.

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Speaker 3: Well, I think that it's sort of the I think

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Speaker 3: it is a lack of patriotism being taught at a

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Speaker 3: very young age, and I think that you know, parents

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Speaker 3: get used to a certain lifestyle in America and it

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Speaker 3: being comfortable and it being easy, and so that history

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Speaker 3: and being taught that you know, freedom isn't a guarantee,

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Speaker 3: isn't happening in households as much as it used to be,

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Speaker 3: And so I don't know you attach that to an

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Speaker 3: economy where people are able to get jobs. You do

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Speaker 3: see your recruitment numbers kind of come and go when

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Speaker 3: the economy is great and there's other options but it honestly,

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Speaker 3: it's not like this massive difference. That's another thing the

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Speaker 3: military sometimes wants to blame it on is the economy,

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Speaker 3: but I think it's more of we live in the

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Speaker 3: age of social media, the age where communication is instantaneous,

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Speaker 3: and people are seeing grievances from service members. They're seeing

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Speaker 3: sort of the leadership failures. People are posting about it online.

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Speaker 3: They're seeing the mold infested barracks that they have to

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Speaker 3: live in. They're seeing the fall of Afghanistan and the

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Speaker 3: twenty years that service members sacrifice for in that war

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Speaker 3: and were essentially lied to for years and years and

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Speaker 3: years from leadership than just be thrown away, you know.

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Speaker 3: They're interpreters that they worked with get left behind to

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Speaker 3: the Taliban. You know. So people are seeing some of that,

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Speaker 3: and I think that they're saying, that's not what I want.

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Speaker 3: Why would I go do that? Why would I not

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Speaker 3: go pursue something in the civilian world. And even I

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Speaker 3: even like the recruitment usually comes like at least people

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Speaker 3: think from majority red states, so they're like, oh, these

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Speaker 3: patriotic people who want to serve and their conservative that's

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Speaker 3: not in That's not today's military anymore. These yes, these

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Speaker 3: patriotic individuals who may want to serve, are seeing some

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Speaker 3: of these problems in real time, and they're just they're

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Speaker 3: saying in their families included, are saying, maybe it's time

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Speaker 3: to pursue something different, Maybe you should pursue a different

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Speaker 3: career path, even if military service would have been something

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Speaker 3: that they pursued. Another big problem is the military has

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Speaker 3: relied heavily on the veteran population, being sort of an

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Speaker 3: organic recruiter, and in the last couple of decades, military

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Speaker 3: service has almost become a family business where if your

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Speaker 3: parents or grandparents served, you know your children and their

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Speaker 3: children are much more likely to serve. But that's it's

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Speaker 3: down significantly in terms of who is willing to promote

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Speaker 3: military service from a veteran family to their kids. And

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Speaker 3: it's because of some of those problems myself included, like

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Speaker 3: the military that we served in doesn't exist anymore, and

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Speaker 3: so it's like, do you want your kids to go

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Speaker 3: do that? It used to be like, yeah, everybody knows

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Speaker 3: the military is hard and adversity is good for you,

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Speaker 3: like it teaches you many life lessons. But the positives

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Speaker 3: used to sort of outweigh the negatives, and I don't

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Speaker 3: know from the people that I talk to the research

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Speaker 3: I've done for my book, that isn't the case anymore.

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Speaker 3: Of every single person that I interviewed for my book,

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Speaker 3: that dozens and does of active duty service members and

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Speaker 3: then recent veterans, so people who have just gotten out

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Speaker 3: in the last year, two years or so or retired.

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Speaker 3: They I asked the same question at the end of

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Speaker 3: every single interview, and it was, would you recommend military

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Speaker 3: service to your children or you know, children in your

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Speaker 3: sphere of influence your community, And every single person, without hesitation,

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Speaker 3: said no. One person said maybe the Air National Guard.

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Speaker 3: But that right there should terrify every single American that

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Speaker 3: the military, the Department of Defense has lost its veterans.

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Speaker 3: And that is absolutely crazy that that is where we

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Speaker 3: are are, that that is where we are today, that

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Speaker 3: veterans aren't recommending service.

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Speaker 2: It's you can't what reasons did they give you?

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Speaker 3: So the COVID vaccine man really pulled back the curtain

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Speaker 3: for a lot of people serving, and they saw an

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Speaker 3: institution that they many had devoted their lives to. They

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Speaker 3: believed in the system, they believed in what they were doing,

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Speaker 3: they believed in their leaders and their commanders above them

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Speaker 3: so much that you know, you follow them into battle,

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Speaker 3: you do what you're told, You charge a hilltop with

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Speaker 3: you know, bullets flying at you because your commander tells

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Speaker 3: you that that's what you have to go do and

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Speaker 3: have that trust. When the COVID mandate came down, that

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Speaker 3: severely severed that trust. That is I don't think it

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Speaker 3: can be repaired with this generation that experienced that, and

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Speaker 3: because they saw, you know, your oath is to uphold

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Speaker 3: lawful orders, not to uphold unlawful orders. And that's exactly

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Speaker 3: what we saw with the COVID mandate. So that was

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Speaker 3: a significant part of it. And then it destroyed a

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Speaker 3: lot of fantastic service members, Like it's it's actually heartbreaking

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Speaker 3: what the military did to those service members and then

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Speaker 3: and those what's like crazy is that those are the people,

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Speaker 3: those are the leaders that the military needs right now,

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Speaker 3: and instead they just kicked them out to the curb.

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Speaker 3: So it's that combined with like the leadership issues that

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Speaker 3: I told you out of Washington, like the double standard,

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Speaker 3: the two tier justice system. Secretary Austin, you know, like

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Speaker 3: look at what look at what happened with him with

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Speaker 3: his recent medical issues where he just went a well

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Speaker 3: for a week, didn't tell even his deputy to you know,

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Speaker 3: take assumption of command while he was under anesthesia. It's

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Speaker 3: just like if a private did that. If a private

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Speaker 3: had a cancer diagnosis and didn't tell his commander and

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Speaker 3: went and got treatment for it, like he would, he

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Speaker 3: would get charged with a crime and face. You see him,

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Speaker 3: Jay Action and Secretary, our Secretary Austin goes to Capitol Hill,

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Speaker 3: you know, gets asked the same question by members of

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Speaker 3: Congress and he just sits there with his smirk and

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Speaker 3: is like, no, nothing's going to happen to me. And

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Speaker 3: I know nothing's going to happen to me, which is

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Speaker 3: why I get away with everything that you know he does.

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Speaker 3: So that type of like leadership failures. That's not the

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Speaker 3: way the military used used to be when with leadership,

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Speaker 3: Like leadership used to be you lead by example, and

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Speaker 3: that's not that's not the leadership that they're getting.

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Speaker 1: I could see how that would be, you know, really frustrating.

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Speaker 1: You know, you sign up to serve your country and

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Speaker 1: one you're not treated well and then to you just

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Speaker 1: the the overt double standard. Got to take a quick

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Speaker 1: commercial break more with Amber Smith on the other side.

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Speaker 1: But first, it's been over six months since the brutal

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Speaker 1: attack by Hamas and our brothers and sisters in Israel.

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Speaker 1: Since then, the attacks in Israel have increased, with Iran

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Speaker 1: and its proxies launching an attack of hundreds of drones

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Speaker 1: and missiles. The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is

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Speaker 1: on the ground now addressing all urgent needs, and that's

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Speaker 1: why I'm partnering with IFCJ today. Your life saving donation

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Speaker 1: today can help provide security needs like placing bomb shelters

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Speaker 1: and communities in Israel that need it the most. When

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Speaker 1: the siren goes off, people have fifteen seconds or less

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Speaker 1: to get to safety. IFCJ has helped renovate and install

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Speaker 1: nearly three thousand bomb shelters today. As Israel and our

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Speaker 1: people live with the harsh reality of terror every single day,

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Speaker 1: your support will help address emergency security needs such as

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Speaker 1: food and utility, equipment for bomb shelters, flack jackets, and

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Speaker 1: other essentials for the people of Israel. We're asking listeners

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Speaker 1: to give fifty dollars or any amount to help provide

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Speaker 2: You're a mom, would you want your kids to serve?

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Speaker 3: So this was hard for me to, you know, come

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Speaker 3: to the position that I'm in that I do have now,

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Speaker 3: and because I love my military service, the military gave

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Speaker 3: me so much. I learned, So I learned, like everything

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Speaker 3: that I learned in the military, you know, has helped

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Speaker 3: shape who I am today. And I'm grateful for my

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Speaker 3: service and the opportunities that I was given. But like

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Speaker 3: I say, like the military that I knew and served

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Speaker 3: in is no more and so no, my answer is no.

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Speaker 3: Until the military can fix itself and get itself right

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Speaker 3: where it's a meritocracy again and it's focused on accomplishing

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Speaker 3: the mission, then no. I hope at some day in

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Speaker 3: the future my mind can be changed back. But in

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Speaker 3: today's military the way that it is, No.

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Speaker 1: I guess when did this breakdown, you know, begin where

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Speaker 1: you sort of where the meritocracy and the military started

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Speaker 1: to erode.

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Speaker 2: Like what what could you date that back to?

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Speaker 3: So the policy changes really sort of happened or started

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Speaker 3: to happen in the Obama administration, and it was it

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Speaker 3: sort of like happened under the radar though, because you

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Speaker 3: saw sort of some of the woke ideology like happening

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Speaker 3: in different facets of society, like the public education system,

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Speaker 3: maybe the medical system. But no one really paid attention

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Speaker 3: to the military because, like I said, most of the

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Speaker 3: recruitment comes from Red states. You think of the military,

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Speaker 3: you think of patriotism, you think of the military historically,

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Speaker 3: and so you're like, that's never going to happen in

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Speaker 3: the military. It's just not what they're about. They fight

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Speaker 3: and win wars. Why do they Why would any of

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Speaker 3: this apply to them? And so I don't think anybody

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Speaker 3: really paid attention and so, which is actually bad, very

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Speaker 3: bad news, because it allowed it to sort of evolved

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Speaker 3: culturally without anybody paying attention, including Congress. And so you

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Speaker 3: had some of the policy changes under the Obama administration

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Speaker 3: were transgender policy, openly allowing transgenders to serve, and then

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Speaker 3: also a big one was removing the ban on women

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Speaker 3: in combat positions and in special operations. And as with

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Speaker 3: any sort of policy that comes out of Washington, DC,

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Speaker 3: you know, you write a two page paper on it

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Speaker 3: about how it'll be done and the expectations around the

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Speaker 3: policy change, and it sounds like Okay, that makes sense

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Speaker 3: on paper. The implementation are two different things, and they

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Speaker 3: go south quickly. And you saw then when Trump came

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Speaker 3: into office he reversed the transgender policy. There was this

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Speaker 3: massive outroar within the Department of Defense and you know,

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Speaker 3: within the media and Washington DC politics. And then when

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Speaker 3: Biden took came into office, that is when it was

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Speaker 3: just like the floodgates were opened in terms of these changes,

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Speaker 3: the executive orders that came down, forcing priorities in DEI,

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Speaker 3: critical race theory being taught at the service academies, the

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Speaker 3: transgender policies that were even more significant than they were

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Speaker 3: under the Obama administration, and focusing on climate change, as

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Speaker 3: you know, the number one national security threat. And so

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Speaker 3: it happened fairly quickly once Biden took office. It was

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Speaker 3: they wasted no time whatsoever. And it's done considerable amount

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Speaker 3: of damage that even if the administration changes in twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty five, you will be able to reverse some of

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Speaker 3: the policy changes, but the like culturally, the damage that

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Speaker 3: has been done is going to take a generation, you.

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Speaker 1: Know, and you mentioned under Obama, you know, in twenty

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Speaker 1: thirteen women achieved full status in the military when they

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Speaker 1: were granted the right to sort of and direct ground

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Speaker 1: combat roles. Of course, you were a combat helicopter pilot.

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Speaker 2: How does sort of that.

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Speaker 1: Direct ground combat roles, allowing women to be in that role,

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Speaker 1: How does that sort of change things? So how did

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Speaker 1: it change things? Rather since it's you know, we're talking

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Speaker 1: past tense here.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, when you look at when Secretary Carter changed reversed

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Speaker 3: the ban on women serving in these ground combat positions

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Speaker 3: that women had been excluded from, actually except aviation, aviation

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Speaker 3: was the only combat position where women were allowed. It

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Speaker 3: did change some things, but for the purpose of the change,

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Speaker 3: they said that people would be put in these ground

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Speaker 3: positions based on merit. If a female was not up

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Speaker 3: to standard, there would be no quotas. There would be

437
00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:26,840
Speaker 3: no battle buddies having to Like, if one female was

438
00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:29,240
Speaker 3: good enough to be in the infantry and she could

439
00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:34,119
Speaker 3: pass everything, all the standards and be there because she

440
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:37,560
Speaker 3: wanted to, you know, be in the infantry, you know,

441
00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:40,000
Speaker 3: there would be no battle buddy where the second female

442
00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:43,240
Speaker 3: couldn't pass those standards, but the female that did make

443
00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:45,440
Speaker 3: it needed a battle buddy to be with her, Like,

444
00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:46,960
Speaker 3: there was going to be none of that. It would

445
00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:49,560
Speaker 3: be standard based, it would be merit, there would be

446
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:52,920
Speaker 3: no special treatment, and so on paper, you're like, okay,

447
00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:57,400
Speaker 3: that makes sense, like equal opportunity, no, you know, guarantee

448
00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:01,360
Speaker 3: of outcome, but you're allowed to and I think most

449
00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:04,240
Speaker 3: people agreed with that. I think where the issue came

450
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:13,240
Speaker 3: up was especially when women started in Ranger school and

451
00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:21,920
Speaker 3: there was lots of accusations of the trainers and the

452
00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:26,040
Speaker 3: course instructors that were claiming special treatment for these women

453
00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:29,680
Speaker 3: and that they were being given such an upper hand

454
00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:33,600
Speaker 3: to men in terms of nutrition training and physical training

455
00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:38,600
Speaker 3: and being walked along the course prior to the event,

456
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:41,480
Speaker 3: which men have never been allowed to do or have.

457
00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:46,960
Speaker 3: Also where like men, you know, had to pass a

458
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:51,600
Speaker 3: certain test prior to, women were allowed to stay in

459
00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:55,160
Speaker 3: this sort of like pre build up phase prior to

460
00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:58,240
Speaker 3: and they got to stay in there until they passed,

461
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:01,840
Speaker 3: where if men didn't then they went home. And so

462
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:05,920
Speaker 3: there was sort of this accusation of command influence of

463
00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:12,160
Speaker 3: special treatment from a general and where women weren't passing.

464
00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:14,360
Speaker 3: And then suddenly he went down onto the course and

465
00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:18,400
Speaker 3: you know, it appears that he wanted to be the

466
00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:21,480
Speaker 3: guy who got to put on his officer evaluation report

467
00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:25,440
Speaker 3: that he was the commander that had the first female

468
00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:30,200
Speaker 3: rangers graduate from Ranger school. And there was a congressman

469
00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:32,959
Speaker 3: who actually did an investigation to look into this, and

470
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:36,200
Speaker 3: believe it or not, when he asked for the records,

471
00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:40,480
Speaker 3: the army first of all ignored him for months, and

472
00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:42,400
Speaker 3: then second of all, when they finally did get back

473
00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:46,040
Speaker 3: to him, they said all records had been destroyed, so

474
00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:52,240
Speaker 3: stuff like that was a problem. And then so they

475
00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:54,760
Speaker 3: haven't stuck to the to the merit base. And I

476
00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:57,640
Speaker 3: say this as a female who served in the military.

477
00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:01,680
Speaker 3: That's bad for women. Women want to be judged and

478
00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:08,120
Speaker 3: scored on merit and you know, like succeed because they

479
00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:10,360
Speaker 3: were the best person for the job. They don't want

480
00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:12,280
Speaker 3: to go in there and receive a bunch of special

481
00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:15,800
Speaker 3: treatment and have people wonder, you know, why they're there.

482
00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:17,880
Speaker 3: Did they have somebody look the other way or are

483
00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:21,680
Speaker 3: they actually good enough to be there? And so that's

484
00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:23,600
Speaker 3: what I say, If like you want to give women

485
00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:30,840
Speaker 3: equal opportunity, then let them like do it themselves. And

486
00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:35,640
Speaker 3: sadly in some cases not in all cases, that's happening.

487
00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:40,640
Speaker 1: And doesn't put our military at risk though, because you know,

488
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:41,360
Speaker 1: if you.

489
00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:44,880
Speaker 2: Are out there in combat.

490
00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:48,080
Speaker 1: You don't have time or the ability to take those

491
00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:51,720
Speaker 1: special considerations or you know, to take those you know,

492
00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:54,960
Speaker 1: special circumstances and consideration of oh, this is a woman,

493
00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:58,800
Speaker 1: we need to carey right like you were in combat exactly.

494
00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:01,360
Speaker 1: I mean, doesn't that ultimate really put or men and

495
00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:02,040
Speaker 1: women at risk?

496
00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:03,040
Speaker 2: It does.

497
00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:06,640
Speaker 3: When you lower a standard, someone else is having to

498
00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:10,200
Speaker 3: pick up that weight. And so yes, that is a

499
00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:17,400
Speaker 3: very very big problem. For example, I am a big

500
00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:24,000
Speaker 3: advocate for a gender neutral physical fitness test. I think

501
00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:25,920
Speaker 3: there should be a mission standard like this is the

502
00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:29,960
Speaker 3: physical requirements to accomplish the mission. It doesn't matter. The

503
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:32,080
Speaker 3: mission doesn't change if you're a man or a woman.

504
00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:35,680
Speaker 3: You still have to be able to, you know, whatever

505
00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:42,160
Speaker 3: the mission requires. The Army change their physical fitness test

506
00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:48,600
Speaker 3: to a gender neutral, age neutral test. The secretary anyway,

507
00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:52,800
Speaker 3: it failed miserably, the Secretary of the Army said under

508
00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:58,320
Speaker 3: the Biden administration. She said that she was worried that

509
00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:02,320
Speaker 3: because of this stand the test, which did men and

510
00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:05,880
Speaker 3: women are different, it made it harder for women. But

511
00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:09,320
Speaker 3: that's okay because once, like I said, there's a mission standard.

512
00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:16,400
Speaker 3: She said, she thought it was going to hurt recruiting

513
00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:19,120
Speaker 3: women into the army, and then it would also damage

514
00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:24,760
Speaker 3: retaining women. And so what did they do. They lowered

515
00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:27,760
Speaker 3: the standard. They went back to a gender specific standard,

516
00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:30,840
Speaker 3: and it was lowered, Like it's like to run a

517
00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:34,400
Speaker 3: two mile run now of female it's like twenty three

518
00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:38,200
Speaker 3: minutes or something like that, which is not much of

519
00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:42,800
Speaker 3: a standard. So, like I said, somebody picks up that

520
00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:48,240
Speaker 3: slack when those standards are lowered, especially on the physical side.

521
00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:52,800
Speaker 1: You know, the used Department of Defense was criticized not

522
00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:56,800
Speaker 1: too long ago for saying diversity is a strategic imperative,

523
00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:03,360
Speaker 1: strategic imperative critical to mission readiness and accomplishment.

524
00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:07,680
Speaker 2: I mean, isn't the truth.

525
00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:10,080
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, everyone I talked to, you know,

526
00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:12,680
Speaker 1: I've interviewed a ton of veterans, as I mentioned, and

527
00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:16,600
Speaker 1: everyone has pointed out that, like you don't take diversity

528
00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:19,680
Speaker 1: into account when you're out there and you're trying to

529
00:34:19,680 --> 00:34:21,960
Speaker 1: stay alive and you're fighting the enemy, Like you don't

530
00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:25,960
Speaker 1: even think about the fact that, oh, my teammate is

531
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:30,040
Speaker 1: you know a Christian or you know a Jew or

532
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:32,239
Speaker 1: black or whatever. You know what I mean, Like you're

533
00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:35,960
Speaker 1: you're in it together, trying to stay alive, uh, you know,

534
00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:39,239
Speaker 1: and trying to protect one another. So like, I mean,

535
00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:42,000
Speaker 1: what do you make of sort of the Department of

536
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:46,680
Speaker 1: Defense saying that that is critical to mission readiness an accomplishment.

537
00:34:47,640 --> 00:34:50,600
Speaker 3: Well, I think as a talking point, I think it's

538
00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:56,400
Speaker 3: the military is like just by the nature of the

539
00:34:56,400 --> 00:34:59,600
Speaker 3: military is like the biggest melting pot of everything you

540
00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:03,320
Speaker 3: could have for imagine, like it's all there and it works.

541
00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:05,520
Speaker 3: And the reason it works is because everybody wears the

542
00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:09,400
Speaker 3: exact same uniform. Everybody has the same you know, standards

543
00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:13,880
Speaker 3: of appearance, and uh yeah, when you when you go

544
00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:18,200
Speaker 3: into combat, everybody, you know, everybody's blood is the same color.

545
00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:25,319
Speaker 3: It's so this force diversity, which is extremely political and

546
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:30,080
Speaker 3: it's an attempt to follow social trends out in society.

547
00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:35,040
Speaker 3: You know, you often hear the talking point of like,

548
00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:40,960
Speaker 3: you know, we want a military that looks like America

549
00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:43,759
Speaker 3: or that's what we need in order to be successful,

550
00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:47,880
Speaker 3: and it's like, actually, what we need is a military

551
00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:51,840
Speaker 3: that can fight and win wars. And the best people

552
00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:54,239
Speaker 3: who can do that, regardless of what they look like,

553
00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:57,960
Speaker 3: should be the people doing that. So it's like the

554
00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:02,759
Speaker 3: military should like they have in terms of wanting to

555
00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:08,239
Speaker 3: be fair and representative of everyone has sung swung so

556
00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:14,520
Speaker 3: far in the opposite direction. You see, you know the

557
00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:17,680
Speaker 3: the Chairman of the Joint chos of Staff now back

558
00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:24,960
Speaker 3: when he was in the Air Force or the top

559
00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:29,120
Speaker 3: at the Air Force saying that he thought the pilot

560
00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:32,960
Speaker 3: core in the Air Force was too white. And it's

561
00:36:33,040 --> 00:36:36,160
Speaker 3: just like, why is that a focus? Like once again,

562
00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:41,520
Speaker 3: if we get back actually to making sure that the

563
00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:45,839
Speaker 3: military is a meritocracy, it's it actually works, and then

564
00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:51,920
Speaker 3: you have an effective military. When you are lowering those standards,

565
00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:55,320
Speaker 3: it's going to suffer and it creates a weak link

566
00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:58,920
Speaker 3: in the chain, and sooner or later it's going to break.

567
00:36:59,360 --> 00:37:02,280
Speaker 3: So meritocracy is our strength.

568
00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:05,160
Speaker 1: Got to take a quick commercial break more with Amber Smith.

569
00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:12,480
Speaker 1: On the other side, Rachel Levine, who's the dude made

570
00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:16,640
Speaker 1: history for becoming the first openly transgender four star officer

571
00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:19,880
Speaker 1: sworn in as an admiral. How much of that is

572
00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:25,480
Speaker 1: earned versus to say that, you know you have that statistic.

573
00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:34,600
Speaker 3: It's crazy, it's it's disrespectful to women. I don't even

574
00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:37,680
Speaker 3: think that's like a significant enough way to put it.

575
00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:42,720
Speaker 3: She's not that, he's not whatever is not the first

576
00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:46,680
Speaker 3: female anything. And I'm so sick of these titles being

577
00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:53,520
Speaker 3: stolen from women for and then the government backing it up.

578
00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:57,319
Speaker 3: The government's acting as if it is something to be

579
00:37:57,440 --> 00:38:02,200
Speaker 3: proud of and deserving of these titles. It's speaking of

580
00:38:02,200 --> 00:38:04,520
Speaker 3: why people don't want to join the military, like people

581
00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:09,080
Speaker 3: are saying that's what America is about today, Like it

582
00:38:09,160 --> 00:38:16,160
Speaker 3: is the if the administration and the military can't live

583
00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:20,359
Speaker 3: in reality with something as basic as being a man

584
00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:23,800
Speaker 3: and a woman, It's like the rest of it actually

585
00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:27,080
Speaker 3: makes sense. You know.

586
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:31,720
Speaker 1: Obviously you did a ton of research and it's personal,

587
00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:34,279
Speaker 1: right because you've served in the military, so you want

588
00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:36,319
Speaker 1: the military to be better and to to be the

589
00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:39,360
Speaker 1: best that it can be. What kind of like alarmed

590
00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:43,239
Speaker 1: you the most in doing research? Is there anything that

591
00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:45,799
Speaker 1: you found out that you're like, wow, I can't even

592
00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:46,319
Speaker 1: believe this.

593
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:57,400
Speaker 3: So the transgender and the pride stuff was pretty crazy

594
00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:00,319
Speaker 3: to read about. Some of the things that were going

595
00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:11,600
Speaker 3: on on military basis. Uh, the withdrawal of Afghanistan was devastating.

596
00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:19,680
Speaker 3: Two I it is what happened in Afghanistan, and I

597
00:39:19,719 --> 00:39:24,239
Speaker 3: almost want to use the word cover up afterwards.

598
00:39:23,760 --> 00:39:26,760
Speaker 1: And before and you flew two combat tours in Iraq

599
00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:30,320
Speaker 1: and Afghanistan, just for context for the listeners, Okay, continue,

600
00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:31,840
Speaker 1: just wanted people at home to know that.

601
00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:39,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, so the the way that not only the withdrawal happened,

602
00:39:40,160 --> 00:39:46,920
Speaker 3: but the leadership and sort of the second how the

603
00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:50,640
Speaker 3: second half of the war was handled, which then you know,

604
00:39:50,719 --> 00:39:55,759
Speaker 3: played into the way the withdrawal happened and the you know,

605
00:39:55,920 --> 00:40:01,799
Speaker 3: ultimate evacuation. It was devastating and to hear some of

606
00:40:01,840 --> 00:40:05,719
Speaker 3: the people's stories who were there on the ground, their

607
00:40:05,760 --> 00:40:09,560
Speaker 3: lives were changed forever because of it. But I think

608
00:40:09,719 --> 00:40:16,000
Speaker 3: a big one was when there you remember the isis

609
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:21,120
Speaker 3: K suicide bomber, thirteen Americans were killed. And then afterwards

610
00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:26,720
Speaker 3: the United States droned what they called was an isis

611
00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:33,600
Speaker 3: K target and they went with that narrative for weeks,

612
00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:37,319
Speaker 3: even though people started to question it, and it wasn't

613
00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:42,560
Speaker 3: until the New York Times came out with a video

614
00:40:43,640 --> 00:40:47,879
Speaker 3: that actually they didn't kill an isis K target. They

615
00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:54,600
Speaker 3: killed ten innocent Afghans, an AID worker and seven of

616
00:40:54,640 --> 00:41:01,680
Speaker 3: which were children, and the Department of just Defense like

617
00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:08,480
Speaker 3: refused like to acknowledge that even though even when people

618
00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:10,640
Speaker 3: were questioning them about it, and it wasn't until that

619
00:41:10,640 --> 00:41:12,120
Speaker 3: report came out from the New York Times that they

620
00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:15,319
Speaker 3: finally had to come clean about it, even just you

621
00:41:15,360 --> 00:41:18,359
Speaker 3: know a little before they finally had to change, they

622
00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:22,120
Speaker 3: finally had to admit it. General Millie publicly was saying

623
00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:26,719
Speaker 3: that it was a righteous strike, and I think that

624
00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:30,520
Speaker 3: sort of stance, I think people were like, Okay, you

625
00:41:30,640 --> 00:41:32,960
Speaker 3: lied about this. What else over a twenty year war

626
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:37,319
Speaker 3: have you been lying about? And I give so many

627
00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:43,000
Speaker 3: examples of my book about General's former Afghan commanders that

628
00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:47,480
Speaker 3: go testify in front of Congress and talk about a

629
00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:50,480
Speaker 3: war that didn't exist. They were talking about Afghanistan, but

630
00:41:50,520 --> 00:41:52,919
Speaker 3: at one was not the reality of what was going

631
00:41:52,960 --> 00:41:56,239
Speaker 3: on on the ground in Afghanistan and just painted a

632
00:41:56,239 --> 00:41:59,439
Speaker 3: completely different picture just to keep the money flowing. And

633
00:42:01,800 --> 00:42:03,759
Speaker 3: you know, they would have continued it as long as

634
00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:07,040
Speaker 3: they possibly could in terms of a war that was

635
00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:10,400
Speaker 3: being mismanaged, as long as they had the funds to

636
00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:14,560
Speaker 3: do so. So. Instead they then went on to mismanage

637
00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:19,920
Speaker 3: a withdrawal. But it was it was devastating for the

638
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:24,359
Speaker 3: veteran population and I think for recruitment as well.

639
00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:30,840
Speaker 1: You do, as you mentioned, you know, Afghanistan, you know,

640
00:42:30,840 --> 00:42:33,560
Speaker 1: it really seems like we never kind of had a mission.

641
00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:35,960
Speaker 1: What what was the final mission? You know, right, like,

642
00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:38,879
Speaker 1: what what was the end goal? And you know, here

643
00:42:38,880 --> 00:42:42,360
Speaker 1: we're entering with you know, Ukraine at least of just

644
00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:46,759
Speaker 1: sending endless amounts of money, and it's you know, I

645
00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:48,239
Speaker 1: think a lot of people are asking, well, you know,

646
00:42:48,239 --> 00:42:50,319
Speaker 1: how does Ukraine win this thing? Not not that we

647
00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:53,719
Speaker 1: don't have empathy for what Ukrainians are going through, or

648
00:42:53,719 --> 00:42:55,040
Speaker 1: not that we don't believe that they have a right

649
00:42:55,080 --> 00:42:58,960
Speaker 1: to defend their country and you know, their borders, but

650
00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:01,000
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, how do they win? Right, Like,

651
00:43:01,040 --> 00:43:05,360
Speaker 1: what's the what's the what's the plan? Kind of what

652
00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:07,280
Speaker 1: do you what do you make of that? As someone

653
00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:10,399
Speaker 1: who served in sort of you know, an endless war.

654
00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:16,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, so Ukraine is actually, you know, I always said

655
00:43:16,920 --> 00:43:20,800
Speaker 3: about Afghanistan the same The end results is the same.

656
00:43:21,200 --> 00:43:23,799
Speaker 3: Whether we stay in Afghanistan for twenty more years or

657
00:43:23,840 --> 00:43:28,240
Speaker 3: we leave tomorrow. The withdrawal obviously would have been different,

658
00:43:28,520 --> 00:43:32,640
Speaker 3: But so I feel the exact same way about Ukraine.

659
00:43:33,040 --> 00:43:35,680
Speaker 3: The outcome will still be the same. We can pump

660
00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:40,479
Speaker 3: Ukraine full of endless amounts of money, you know, kill

661
00:43:40,520 --> 00:43:45,120
Speaker 3: another generation of Ukrainian men. The outcome will still be

662
00:43:45,239 --> 00:43:50,120
Speaker 3: the same when the money eventually dries up. It's reckless.

663
00:43:51,440 --> 00:43:55,840
Speaker 3: It weakens our own defenses here in the United on

664
00:43:55,920 --> 00:43:58,840
Speaker 3: the home front and against other adversaries that we have

665
00:43:59,160 --> 00:44:02,760
Speaker 3: around the world. Old and just as you said, Ukraine

666
00:44:02,920 --> 00:44:08,359
Speaker 3: absolutely has the right to defend itself. Uh, and it

667
00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:11,040
Speaker 3: has proven that it wants to. It doesn't mean that

668
00:44:11,080 --> 00:44:16,040
Speaker 3: we need to fund it and be a part and

669
00:44:16,080 --> 00:44:20,440
Speaker 3: be like fighting a proxy war against Russia. It's very

670
00:44:20,600 --> 00:44:28,759
Speaker 3: aggressive on United States side and provocative in what most

671
00:44:28,800 --> 00:44:38,319
Speaker 3: would describe as a regional conflict. It's yeah, you know, and.

672
00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:40,799
Speaker 1: I think there's a distinction between that and then, you know,

673
00:44:40,880 --> 00:44:44,640
Speaker 1: giving money to Israel, a longtime ally who is clearly

674
00:44:44,760 --> 00:44:48,359
Speaker 1: winning the war against you know, Hamas, and is you know,

675
00:44:48,360 --> 00:44:51,879
Speaker 1: seemingly not too far away from you know, completing their

676
00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:56,560
Speaker 1: goal of eradicating Hamas from Gaza. So it's like, you know,

677
00:44:57,080 --> 00:44:59,320
Speaker 1: you know, for me, it's just that the common sense

678
00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:01,840
Speaker 1: what is achie, you know, what can actually happen.

679
00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:04,560
Speaker 2: But you said something earlier that.

680
00:45:04,560 --> 00:45:10,759
Speaker 1: I wanted to dig into about Pride Month on military basis, Uh,

681
00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:14,000
Speaker 1: what can you tell us about what happens during Pride

682
00:45:14,040 --> 00:45:17,319
Speaker 1: Month on military basis and kind of what impact does

683
00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:18,760
Speaker 1: that have on morale?

684
00:45:20,840 --> 00:45:26,440
Speaker 3: So you have one in terms of morale, it's like priorities, right,

685
00:45:26,640 --> 00:45:32,400
Speaker 3: like the military is going to they allow their libraries

686
00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:34,719
Speaker 3: to be taken over by drag queens and they do

687
00:45:34,800 --> 00:45:42,560
Speaker 3: these like burlesque style dances which they advertise as family events,

688
00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:48,760
Speaker 3: and they're used MWR money, which is military money, and

689
00:45:48,840 --> 00:45:55,480
Speaker 3: in order to host these things, and it's just it's

690
00:45:55,640 --> 00:45:58,359
Speaker 3: crazy to me, like here's what I want to say.

691
00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:02,520
Speaker 3: And command usually facilitate these, they sign off on these

692
00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:06,120
Speaker 3: events that they allow like these events to happen on

693
00:46:06,160 --> 00:46:10,279
Speaker 3: their military installations. So my question is is like they

694
00:46:10,320 --> 00:46:14,160
Speaker 3: want to go do these like drag queen shows on

695
00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:21,200
Speaker 3: military installations during June during Pride Month, because they of

696
00:46:21,280 --> 00:46:25,279
Speaker 3: course have to say that they respect everyone's right to

697
00:46:25,320 --> 00:46:27,760
Speaker 3: do anything they want to do and how that somehow

698
00:46:27,800 --> 00:46:30,239
Speaker 3: makes the military stronger. You always hear that talking point

699
00:46:30,400 --> 00:46:38,920
Speaker 3: anytime anybody brings up LGBTQ plus whatever Pride Month. It's like, okay,

700
00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:43,000
Speaker 3: so who, like I want someone to try this? Who

701
00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:47,560
Speaker 3: can then say I'm going to promote at a library

702
00:46:47,840 --> 00:46:54,279
Speaker 3: on base a women's history month and We're going to

703
00:46:54,320 --> 00:46:58,560
Speaker 3: invite a bunch of strippers to perform at a library

704
00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:00,920
Speaker 3: and it's a family event. Everyone one can come. Do

705
00:47:01,000 --> 00:47:02,799
Speaker 3: you think that that would happen or do you think

706
00:47:02,840 --> 00:47:08,080
Speaker 3: that there would be a ridiculous outcry of women empowerment

707
00:47:08,239 --> 00:47:11,800
Speaker 3: and how that's like inappropriate. That's probably what would happen,

708
00:47:12,200 --> 00:47:14,560
Speaker 3: But for some reason, you attach the word pride to it,

709
00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:19,040
Speaker 3: and the military looks the other way because they're terrified

710
00:47:19,200 --> 00:47:24,719
Speaker 3: of being called, you know, like non inclusive or getting fired.

711
00:47:25,040 --> 00:47:29,279
Speaker 3: They probably they probably would fire people then if they

712
00:47:29,560 --> 00:47:31,600
Speaker 3: said no to some of those events. But it's just,

713
00:47:32,040 --> 00:47:36,280
Speaker 3: you know, my example is to just show how ridiculous

714
00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:38,680
Speaker 3: it has become in terms of what they think is

715
00:47:38,719 --> 00:47:42,520
Speaker 3: appropriate and should be allowed, versus if you compare it

716
00:47:42,560 --> 00:47:44,879
Speaker 3: to something else that most people would be like, well,

717
00:47:44,920 --> 00:47:47,440
Speaker 3: you can't do that. But everybody looks the other way

718
00:47:47,440 --> 00:47:51,880
Speaker 3: at all this pride stuff. The military is also using

719
00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:57,320
Speaker 3: drag queens as social media influencers. The Navy has a

720
00:47:57,400 --> 00:48:00,880
Speaker 3: drag queen for real that promotes the military, promotes the Navy.

721
00:48:03,560 --> 00:48:07,600
Speaker 1: It's it's it's you know, and you wonder why, uh,

722
00:48:07,960 --> 00:48:11,640
Speaker 1: you know, red blooded men. I don't want to enlist

723
00:48:11,719 --> 00:48:14,000
Speaker 1: and sign up for that.

724
00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:16,799
Speaker 2: That's not exactly something you know they aspire to be.

725
00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:21,640
Speaker 3: And how about like even back to my point of

726
00:48:22,520 --> 00:48:25,400
Speaker 3: the Secretary of the Army being fearful about women or

727
00:48:25,520 --> 00:48:28,760
Speaker 3: recruitment of women and retention of women, It's like now

728
00:48:29,040 --> 00:48:35,520
Speaker 3: that transgender women, so men who are saying that they

729
00:48:35,560 --> 00:48:42,160
Speaker 3: are women, Now they can shower in women's locker rooms,

730
00:48:42,200 --> 00:48:45,800
Speaker 3: you know, after pet Now they can use women's sleeping quarters,

731
00:48:46,239 --> 00:48:49,160
Speaker 3: use women's bathrooms. Like, don't you think that is going

732
00:48:49,239 --> 00:48:52,600
Speaker 3: to hurt female recruitment a little bit? Like if I

733
00:48:52,719 --> 00:48:54,560
Speaker 3: knew that, Like, oh, I had to go boot camp.

734
00:48:54,880 --> 00:48:58,640
Speaker 3: I had to go to boot camp to you know,

735
00:48:58,880 --> 00:49:02,040
Speaker 3: as the first deep of becoming a helicopter pilot, but

736
00:49:02,120 --> 00:49:05,640
Speaker 3: I had to go and shower with men, Like that's

737
00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:09,600
Speaker 3: probably going to have a significant impact on my decision

738
00:49:09,640 --> 00:49:11,800
Speaker 3: of me moving forward with joining the military.

739
00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:15,560
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I mean I would feel the same way.

740
00:49:17,120 --> 00:49:22,200
Speaker 1: You know, before we go obviously having served examining all

741
00:49:22,200 --> 00:49:25,440
Speaker 1: the issues, you know, talking to so many veterans just

742
00:49:25,480 --> 00:49:30,520
Speaker 1: like yourself. What changes you know, let's say Trump gets in,

743
00:49:30,680 --> 00:49:33,440
Speaker 1: you know, god willing, what should he do? You know,

744
00:49:33,440 --> 00:49:35,919
Speaker 1: what what changes do you want to see? Like what

745
00:49:35,920 --> 00:49:39,440
Speaker 1: what things could be changed that would have an impact

746
00:49:39,520 --> 00:49:43,120
Speaker 1: on you know, morale and military recruitment.

747
00:49:43,200 --> 00:49:44,479
Speaker 2: What would you like to see get done.

748
00:49:46,040 --> 00:49:49,960
Speaker 3: So there's a couple of things. The first is, you know,

749
00:49:50,160 --> 00:49:53,160
Speaker 3: rip up every single executive order as it applies to

750
00:49:53,160 --> 00:49:56,360
Speaker 3: the military from the Biden administration. It's going to require

751
00:49:56,560 --> 00:50:01,719
Speaker 3: a coordinated effort from Potus Congress, sect all the service secretaries,

752
00:50:01,760 --> 00:50:08,440
Speaker 3: the co com commanders to then push policy that says

753
00:50:08,520 --> 00:50:11,040
Speaker 3: we are going back to a meritocracy, the best people

754
00:50:11,080 --> 00:50:14,880
Speaker 3: are going to be selected for positions. We're not focusing

755
00:50:14,960 --> 00:50:17,960
Speaker 3: on people's race and gender anymore. We're focusing on the mission.

756
00:50:18,880 --> 00:50:22,160
Speaker 3: Get the military back to that, and then work on

757
00:50:22,200 --> 00:50:27,000
Speaker 3: that culturally as well. The second thing is accountability, and

758
00:50:27,080 --> 00:50:31,400
Speaker 3: this would require working with Congress in the NDAA, which

759
00:50:31,440 --> 00:50:35,960
Speaker 3: is probably slashing fifty percent of the generals or the

760
00:50:36,000 --> 00:50:39,439
Speaker 3: flag officers that exist today. They are a significant part

761
00:50:39,560 --> 00:50:42,239
Speaker 3: of the lack of accountability culture that's been created in

762
00:50:42,280 --> 00:50:48,279
Speaker 3: the military, and that has to change. These double standards

763
00:50:48,400 --> 00:50:51,359
Speaker 3: at the top and the two tiered justice system where they,

764
00:50:51,480 --> 00:50:54,240
Speaker 3: you know, the military elite can get away with absolutely anything.

765
00:50:55,680 --> 00:51:01,879
Speaker 3: That has got to change. And so I think that

766
00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:04,560
Speaker 3: that's a good starting point. I do think it is

767
00:51:04,640 --> 00:51:07,319
Speaker 3: going to be like the whoever is tasked with that,

768
00:51:07,360 --> 00:51:11,360
Speaker 3: whoever the Secretary of Defense is It's going to be

769
00:51:11,920 --> 00:51:14,840
Speaker 3: the challenge of a lifetime. It will not be easy,

770
00:51:15,400 --> 00:51:18,000
Speaker 3: but it's what has to be done to reverse course

771
00:51:18,200 --> 00:51:18,960
Speaker 3: of our military.

772
00:51:20,800 --> 00:51:23,680
Speaker 1: You know, Ever, before we go, is is there anything

773
00:51:23,680 --> 00:51:24,879
Speaker 1: else you'd like to leave us with?

774
00:51:27,640 --> 00:51:33,080
Speaker 3: I would say that, you know, what is the implication

775
00:51:33,200 --> 00:51:35,880
Speaker 3: of a failing military, of a military and a downward spiral,

776
00:51:36,040 --> 00:51:42,439
Speaker 3: And I would say the sustainability of the all volunteer force.

777
00:51:43,680 --> 00:51:47,360
Speaker 3: We have been lucky enough as a nation. Most nations

778
00:51:47,520 --> 00:51:49,680
Speaker 3: around the world cannot do this, can They do not

779
00:51:49,760 --> 00:51:51,799
Speaker 3: have all volunteer forces. They do not have people who

780
00:51:51,840 --> 00:51:55,120
Speaker 3: believe in their nation enough to just be able to

781
00:51:55,160 --> 00:51:58,160
Speaker 3: fight in you know, multiple theaters of operation around the

782
00:51:58,160 --> 00:52:01,359
Speaker 3: world with an all volunteer force. We've been lucky enough

783
00:52:01,400 --> 00:52:03,359
Speaker 3: as a nation to have that since you know, just

784
00:52:03,400 --> 00:52:07,520
Speaker 3: after the end of Vietnam. There's a reason that the

785
00:52:07,560 --> 00:52:11,959
Speaker 3: Selective Service still exists today, and that every man within

786
00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:15,600
Speaker 3: thirty days of their eighteenth birthday is supposed to sign

787
00:52:15,719 --> 00:52:20,600
Speaker 3: up for the selective Service by law. So I was,

788
00:52:20,640 --> 00:52:26,080
Speaker 3: and they actually just had a They did a report,

789
00:52:26,320 --> 00:52:29,480
Speaker 3: basically a congressional driven report on whether the draft was

790
00:52:29,600 --> 00:52:32,839
Speaker 3: or the selective service was still needed and if women

791
00:52:32,880 --> 00:52:35,279
Speaker 3: should sign up, and they found that women did not

792
00:52:35,360 --> 00:52:38,160
Speaker 3: need to, but yes, selective service was still necessary in

793
00:52:38,200 --> 00:52:40,680
Speaker 3: case of a national emergency, which in other words, means

794
00:52:40,719 --> 00:52:44,040
Speaker 3: a war that they need to replace combat positions with.

795
00:52:44,560 --> 00:52:47,120
Speaker 3: And what a lot of people refer to as the draft,

796
00:52:47,719 --> 00:52:52,239
Speaker 3: that's not something that is that far fetched if we

797
00:52:52,239 --> 00:52:56,360
Speaker 3: were ever to get involved in any type of direct

798
00:52:56,440 --> 00:53:00,279
Speaker 3: war with China or Russia. And I think people need

799
00:53:00,320 --> 00:53:03,360
Speaker 3: to realize that that is what is at stake here.

800
00:53:03,840 --> 00:53:08,680
Speaker 3: That is why we cannot afford to have our military

801
00:53:09,120 --> 00:53:14,320
Speaker 3: become more woke and become as a result, become weaker,

802
00:53:14,520 --> 00:53:17,239
Speaker 3: continue to get weaker. So that's just something to think

803
00:53:17,239 --> 00:53:21,200
Speaker 3: about about the long term effects of where the military

804
00:53:21,239 --> 00:53:23,280
Speaker 3: is headed today. Is like, I would be very nervous

805
00:53:23,719 --> 00:53:26,319
Speaker 3: with the conflicts we see around the world, and if

806
00:53:26,360 --> 00:53:30,360
Speaker 3: I had a high school aged son right now, it's.

807
00:53:30,239 --> 00:53:30,759
Speaker 2: A great point.

808
00:53:30,800 --> 00:53:33,560
Speaker 1: I'm glad you got that in Amber Smith, unfit to fight,

809
00:53:33,680 --> 00:53:37,080
Speaker 1: How woke policies are destoring or military. Everyone go out

810
00:53:37,080 --> 00:53:39,360
Speaker 1: and get it. Amber, your friend, so proud of you.

811
00:53:39,920 --> 00:53:42,680
Speaker 1: This is really interesting stuff. I know it'll be a

812
00:53:42,719 --> 00:53:43,640
Speaker 1: huge success.

813
00:53:44,200 --> 00:53:46,120
Speaker 3: Thanks so much, Lisa. Appreciate it. I get to talk.

814
00:53:46,560 --> 00:53:49,640
Speaker 1: That was Amber Smith out with Unfit to Fight, how

815
00:53:49,680 --> 00:53:52,960
Speaker 1: woke policies are destoring or military go out and get it.

816
00:53:53,000 --> 00:53:56,040
Speaker 1: Appreciate you guys at home for listening every Monday and Thursday,

817
00:53:56,080 --> 00:53:58,000
Speaker 1: but you can listen throughout the week. I don't think

818
00:53:58,040 --> 00:54:00,279
Speaker 1: John Cassio, my producer, for putting the show to other

819
00:54:00,440 --> 00:54:01,160
Speaker 1: until next time.