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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, Welcome to Battleground podcasts. Now, Folks, we are

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Speaker 1: about three weeks into live streaming our brand new show

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Speaker 1: called Battleground Live. And I'm so grateful that you've all

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Speaker 1: joined me on this incredible journey and you're in the

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Speaker 1: trenches with me, fighting for the soul of this country

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Speaker 1: because frankly, we can't afford any more fence sitters in America.

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Speaker 1: Our country stands on a very thin line between hope

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Speaker 1: and darkness, and you and I are the only things

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Speaker 1: stopping it from plunging into that darkness. So today we're

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Speaker 1: gonna do something a little bit different. I've got a podcast,

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Speaker 1: an older podcast that I record over with Amber Smith.

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Speaker 1: Now you met Amber Smith, I think it was last week.

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Speaker 1: We did a pre debate analysis with her. She is

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Speaker 1: a she is super sharp. She was an under Secretary

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Speaker 1: of Defense, and she is an Afghan and Iraq combat veteran,

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Speaker 1: a Kiowa Warrior helicopter pilot. She's got one hell of

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Speaker 1: a story. So we thought that on this Labor Day

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Speaker 1: holiday we would rebroadcast that for you because we recorded

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Speaker 1: it really early before this podcast and this live show

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Speaker 1: really picked up any steam. So I want you to

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Speaker 1: watch it. She's got an incredible story and this was

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Speaker 1: an incredible conversation. And so, as always, if you're watching

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Speaker 1: this show, make sure you hit the little green thumb

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Speaker 1: and rumble like or Rumble because Rumble notices that stuff

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Speaker 1: and it helps us get advertisers. So in order for

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Speaker 1: us to grow this podcast and take it to the

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Speaker 1: next level, we need to We need advertisers that will

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Speaker 1: that will be incredible for us. It will help us grow. Also,

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Speaker 1: subscribe to my channel or two channels on Rumble. There's

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Speaker 1: Sean Parnell USA, which is a personal channel, and then

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Speaker 1: we've got Battleground Podcast, which is also my channel. They're

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Speaker 1: both tied together, so if you follow either one, you'll

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Speaker 1: get everything from Battleground Live. But subscribe to that it's

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Speaker 1: completely free. We'll always keep it free. And then this merchandise,

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Speaker 1: Battleground Apparel Company, is something that we just rolled out

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Speaker 1: in the last sixty days and we're selling so many

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Speaker 1: damn shirts it's hard to keep them in stock. And

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Speaker 1: so right now we're waiting on our third shipment and

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Speaker 1: should have them in here in the next couple of

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Speaker 1: days and we'll start putting these shirts out to you.

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Speaker 1: Because I know that some of you are waiting on

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Speaker 1: T shirt orders, but we'll start getting them out to

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Speaker 1: you next week. As soon as we get them here,

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Speaker 1: we'll do that for you. But all of this merchandise,

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Speaker 1: you know, we've got shirts that say, do not comply.

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Speaker 1: This is a battleground apparel, the one that I'm wearing.

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Speaker 1: It's the battleground apparel. Do not comply, red, white and blue.

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Speaker 1: We've got shirts that say liberty or Death. We've got shirts,

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Speaker 1: big bold letters that say do not comply. We've got

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Speaker 1: shirts to say never quit, never surrender, which is the

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Speaker 1: motto of this of this podcast, in the live stream show.

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Speaker 1: So head to the website. It's official Seanparnell dot com.

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Speaker 1: You can pick up all that stuff. So many cool

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Speaker 1: things coming down the pike for you all. Again, this show,

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Speaker 1: this podcast is always and will always be for you.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna cover things that the leftist mainstream media don't

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Speaker 1: cover to make sure that you have all the facts

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Speaker 1: so that you can stand on that pillar of truth

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Speaker 1: and fight back against radical communist lies. And so, as always,

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Speaker 1: thank you for watching this this live stream show. God

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Speaker 1: bless you all, and God bless this amazing country that

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Speaker 1: we live in take care.

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Speaker 2: That's kyapilots. That was our purpose. That was our mission

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Speaker 2: was to protect those guys, make sure they came home

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Speaker 2: to their families and trying to make their day a

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Speaker 2: little bit easier.

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Speaker 1: You have a bunch of people with stars on their

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Speaker 1: shoulders who have never really seen the horrors of war.

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Speaker 1: These are the people that are making life and death decisions,

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Speaker 1: decisions that send our people to war.

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Speaker 2: I grew up loving America, and I want to ensure

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Speaker 2: that my children get too experience that level of freedom.

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Speaker 1: Amber Smith, Welcome to Battleground. Thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: joining me.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me. It's so great

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Speaker 2: to be on with you again.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, this is crazy. We were just talking about prior

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Speaker 1: to going to recording about how we've known each other

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Speaker 1: for ten years. Isn't that crazy?

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Speaker 2: It's crazy that has been that long. That's why I

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Speaker 2: was saying, like again, like I feel like we've spoke together,

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Speaker 2: we've done media together, we've done like all sorts of

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Speaker 2: different advocacy work together, and so so yeah, be on

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Speaker 2: your PO podcast now, which I'm so excited that you

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Speaker 2: have launched. It's just awesome to be on with you.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, this is kind of crazy. We all have have

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Speaker 1: had sort of an insane journey over the last ten

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Speaker 1: years to get to this point. And I was thinking

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Speaker 1: about you and prep for this interview because I do know,

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Speaker 1: as we talked about, I have known you for ten years,

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Speaker 1: and you're a pretty incredible person. You know, you're competitive,

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Speaker 1: you're driven. You were a gymnast and then you were

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Speaker 1: a cheerleader, and then you made the transition to attack

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Speaker 1: helicopter pilot for the military and then a best selling author.

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Speaker 1: But you have this dog, this bulldog named Kaiowa, who

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Speaker 1: every picture that you take of this dog looks like

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Speaker 1: it can barely breathe on its own. So it sort

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Speaker 1: of turns the whole narrative of people buy dogs, people

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Speaker 1: buy dogs like they are on their head.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think there's some truth to the she can

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Speaker 2: really breathe parts of it and if you hear some snoring,

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Speaker 2: that's probably because she's laying down right next to me.

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Speaker 2: But she's awesome. She's a bulldog. She's the like laziest

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Speaker 2: breed out there. So there's I want to say that

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Speaker 2: there's not much work. But for any bulldog owner, you

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Speaker 2: will know that like bulldogs are very high maintenance, especially

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Speaker 2: for how lazy they are. But yeah, she got the

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Speaker 2: name Kaiowa obviously because I used to fly Kaiwa's in

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Speaker 2: the Army and I had to keep the legacy going

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Speaker 2: because I got her the same year that the Army

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Speaker 2: decommissioned the Kiowa.

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Speaker 1: So so I want to talk about legacies here in

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Speaker 1: a second. But how do you, as a competitive driven

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Speaker 1: person get a dog that's so lazy.

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Speaker 2: So I lived in Washington, d C. When I first

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Speaker 2: got the dog, and I was like, I need you know,

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Speaker 2: I was actually working at the Pentagon when I got her,

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Speaker 2: and I was like, I need a dog that is

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Speaker 2: going to be okay with you know, because when you

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Speaker 2: work in the Pentagon you work very long hour and

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Speaker 2: I was like, I need a dog that is going

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Speaker 2: to be okay with getting loss of sleep, and bulldog

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Speaker 2: fits exactly what I was looking for.

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Speaker 1: Well, kai see awesome.

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Speaker 2: Though bulldogs are so much work, but they're such like loyal, loving,

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Speaker 2: stubborn dogs.

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Speaker 1: Well, you talked about legacy, and what I found remarkable

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Speaker 1: because I read you've got this book out it's called

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Speaker 1: Danger Close, and I read that book a long time ago,

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Speaker 1: and one of the things that struck me very early

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Speaker 1: on in reading that book is that you come from

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Speaker 1: a family of pilots. I think it's remarkable, So correct

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Speaker 1: me if I'm wrong. You had a grandfather that flew

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Speaker 1: in World War Two, right, I do.

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Speaker 2: My grandfather he flew in the Army Air Corps in

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Speaker 2: World War Two. He flew the aerial routes between Northern

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Speaker 2: Africa in Europe, and he also flew some super early

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Speaker 2: on helicopter prototypes. After the war, he went on to

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Speaker 2: fly for the airlines. But that's really where the aviation

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Speaker 2: bug began in my family. So yeah, he kind of

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Speaker 2: started it all.

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Speaker 1: So you had a grandfather who is a pilot. Your

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Speaker 1: mom is also a pilot, right.

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Speaker 2: My parents. My dad was a pilot for a PanAm

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Speaker 2: My mom she was a pilot. She was a civilian pilot.

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Speaker 2: Women were still very rare back in the sixties when

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Speaker 2: she was flying sixties and then in the seventies, and

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Speaker 2: she got all of her ratings up to CF double

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Speaker 2: I Certified Flight Instructor for Instruments and she loved it

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Speaker 2: as well. It was like a hobby of hers that

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Speaker 2: she would do whenever she could save up the money

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Speaker 2: to afford the flight hours because aviation is a very

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Speaker 2: expensive hobby. And then I mean it kind of comes

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Speaker 2: with no surprise that they raised three daughters who wanted

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Speaker 2: to become pilots ourselves. We grew up around it. We

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Speaker 2: always talked about aviation growing up. It was like just

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Speaker 2: natural conversation. My dad would talk to us about how

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Speaker 2: important air speed is. You would talk to us about

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Speaker 2: learning how to read a sectional, and we're talking at

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Speaker 2: like a young age, and we as kids, like like

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Speaker 2: some people go camping with their parents. Like, we learned

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Speaker 2: about every aspect of aviation from like, you know, from

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Speaker 2: when we could talk up until we were getting our

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Speaker 2: aviation licenses. So I think that had the biggest impact

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Speaker 2: on us in terms of moving forward and pursuing aviation.

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Speaker 1: So clearly, so clearly there was a legacy of aviators

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Speaker 1: of pilots in your family. Were you thinking about that

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Speaker 1: legacy when you joined the military in two thousand and one?

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Speaker 2: You know, I don't think I thought of it as

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Speaker 2: a leg See. I thought how amazing it was that

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Speaker 2: I got to experience something that people had previous, like

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Speaker 2: through generations of my family had got to experience. I know,

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Speaker 2: I got to experience it completely different. My dad was

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Speaker 2: in the airborne infantry in the eighty second, so like

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Speaker 2: my experience in aviation was much different than his infantry

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Speaker 2: experience in the sixties. So, but also my mom. I

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Speaker 2: know my mom, like I told you, she was very

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Speaker 2: interested in aviation. And she told me when I started

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Speaker 2: to go down the path of after nine to eleven

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Speaker 2: and being like, I think, I know now how I

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Speaker 2: can apply my patriotism, my love of country, and and

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Speaker 2: love of aviation and put it all together and become

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Speaker 2: a helicopter pilot. And so when I started pursuing that,

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Speaker 2: my mom, I remember her saying just how amazing she

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Speaker 2: thought it was that her three had the opportunity to

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Speaker 2: pursue this, because she didn't have that opportunity when she

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Speaker 2: was interested in aviation. And she just thought it was

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Speaker 2: remarkable and very cool that we were getting to do this.

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Speaker 2: And so I remember that, and I sort of never

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Speaker 2: took that opportunity for granted, and I appreciated that I

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Speaker 2: was where I was in life where I was able

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Speaker 2: to become a helicopter pilot because it was still fairly new.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So was it nine to eleven that was the

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Speaker 1: catalyst for you to join?

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Speaker 2: It was I had loved the military because growing up,

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Speaker 2: like I said, with my dad's stories of serving in

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Speaker 2: the army and then aviation, I never knew for the

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Speaker 2: military was something that sounded cool and would be amazing

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Speaker 2: if I ever pulled the trigger and decided to go

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Speaker 2: for But it was nine to eleven that was like,

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Speaker 2: all right, I want to serve my country. I don't

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Speaker 2: want to wait, you know. Three. I was in college

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Speaker 2: when it happened, and I was like, I don't want

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Speaker 2: to wait any longer. I feel like it's crystal clear

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Speaker 2: for me now. I want to serve my country, and

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Speaker 2: I feel like the best way that I can do

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Speaker 2: that is through my love of aviation and my experience

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Speaker 2: with aviation, and that's the proper path for me.

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Speaker 1: But you had to know. You had to know Amber

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Speaker 1: that well. First of all, talk about nine. Let's talk

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Speaker 1: about nine to eleven for a second. If you lived

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Speaker 1: through that, I feel like it affected you to the

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Speaker 1: very core of who you are as a person, and

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Speaker 1: the very core you know. I can even to this day.

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Speaker 1: I mean, oh gosh, like over twenty years ago, I

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Speaker 1: could tell you exactly where I was, what I was doing,

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Speaker 1: what I had for dinner, the night before and breakfast

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Speaker 1: that morning, what all my roommates in college were doing.

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Speaker 1: And I remember everything every second of that day, and

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Speaker 1: I think it's because nine to eleven sort of engages

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Speaker 1: engaged you all of your senses, but also on a

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Speaker 1: very deep seated emotional level. And amber you had to

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Speaker 1: know that when you when you volunteer to serve this

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Speaker 1: country after nine to eleven and you were going into

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Speaker 1: you wanted to be an aviator, so you wanted to

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Speaker 1: I guess you wanted to join the army, and that

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Speaker 1: meant that you were probably going to fly rotary wing helicopters.

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Speaker 1: You had to know that you were going to be

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Speaker 1: going to combat in some way, shape.

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Speaker 2: Or form, right, I did, And I think it was

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Speaker 2: nine to eleven for me was the first time that

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Speaker 2: I realized that the freedoms that we love and enjoy

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Speaker 2: every single day are trying to be taken from us.

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Speaker 2: You know, those freedoms are a threat to a lot

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Speaker 2: of groups and adversaries around the world. And so in

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Speaker 2: my very early adult age, it was the first time

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Speaker 2: that I had that aha moment of like this can

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Speaker 2: be taken away. This isn't something we should be taken

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Speaker 2: for granted, as we saw with what happened for nine

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Speaker 2: to eleven, and I wanted to give back to the

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Speaker 2: country that had given me all of that. And I

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Speaker 2: knew that becoming a helicopter pilot in the Army, I

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Speaker 2: would likely, you know, head to war sooner or later,

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Speaker 2: and I did. I went to I ended up actually

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Speaker 2: going to boot camp two thousand and three and then

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Speaker 2: straight from there into flight school at Fort Rocker, Alabama.

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Speaker 2: And then I got Fort Campbell, Kentucky, the Hunter and

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Speaker 2: First Airborne Division for my first duty station, and I

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Speaker 2: was deploying within the year of me being there, to Iraq.

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Speaker 1: What's remarkable about that is that if you think back

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Speaker 1: at that time, so you and I are essentially the

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Speaker 1: same age, had such a similar experience and reason for

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Speaker 1: why we joined the military back then. Did you have

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Speaker 1: any conversation with your parents after nine to eleven when

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Speaker 1: you made that decision.

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Speaker 2: So I think I have an extremely rare sort of

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Speaker 2: experience with my parents with joining the military, because I

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Speaker 2: know so many people that I've talked to had the

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Speaker 2: exact opposite of what I did. My parents were so

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Speaker 2: unbelievably supportive. My dad from serving himself understood and knew

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Speaker 2: exactly what the military did for an individual and how

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Speaker 2: much it helped you grow and grow up and become

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Speaker 2: an adult, and sort of the lessons that you learn

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Speaker 2: while you're in the military and about other people and

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Speaker 2: the camaraderie and what it actually means to serve, to

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Speaker 2: serve something greater than yourself and be a part of

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Speaker 2: that brotherhood, in that sisterhood. So they knew. My parents knew,

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Speaker 2: and they were very supportive. I think the whole war

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Speaker 2: aspect of it was nerve racking to them because that

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Speaker 2: was new and obviously a child like I now that

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Speaker 2: I'm a parent myself, like I can't even imagine what

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Speaker 2: that is like. But in terms of military service and

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Speaker 2: wanting to go fly in the military and serve my country,

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Speaker 2: I could not have had a better support structure for them,

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Speaker 2: being proud and like happy that I was choosing that path.

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Speaker 1: They had to be superheroes because you know, you said,

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Speaker 1: you're a mother now and I'm a father, and yeah,

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Speaker 1: I can't imagine having those conversations with my children knowing

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Speaker 1: that they're going to be going into the fight, you know,

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Speaker 1: wanting to volunteer for the military in a time of war.

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Speaker 1: But what's kind of unbelievable about your circumstance and unique

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Speaker 1: to you is that you weren't the only one. You

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Speaker 1: had two sisters that also joined the military and found

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Speaker 1: themselves serving in a time of war? Am I right

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Speaker 1: about this as well?

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Speaker 2: You're right. My older sister, Kelly, she was a Sea

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Speaker 2: one thirty pilot for the California inter National Guard multiple deployments.

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Speaker 2: I actually got to spend some time with her in Afghanistan,

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Speaker 2: which was it's crazy.

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Speaker 1: That's crazy. It's crazy.

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Speaker 2: It's crazy.

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Speaker 1: I mean for your parents to have to bear that

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Speaker 1: burden of three first of all women in the military

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Speaker 1: in a post nine to eleven world in Iraq, and

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Speaker 1: I get two wars raging, two wars raging at the

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Speaker 1: same time. Did you ever ask.

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Speaker 2: So? In Trewo thousand and eight they had twice two

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Speaker 2: daughters in the same combat zone. So I got to

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Speaker 2: see Kelly in two thousand and eight. I was in Afghanistan.

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Speaker 2: I was in RC East in Jalalabad and then and

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Speaker 2: she was based out of Bagram and she got to

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Speaker 2: fly into Jalalabad and we got to see each other there,

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Speaker 2: and then I got to see her up in Bagram

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Speaker 2: a couple of times. And then at the end of

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Speaker 2: my deployment the end of two thousand and eight, my

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Speaker 2: sister Lacey, we did the RIPTOA with her unit, and

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Speaker 2: so she you know, her unit was replacing ours, and

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Speaker 2: so we had about like a ten day overlap, I

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Speaker 2: want to say, And it was crazy, Like I remember

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Speaker 2: that that was really hard for me because when Kelly left,

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Speaker 2: she said goodbye to me so to speak, like I

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Speaker 2: was still in country and she was leaving. And when

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Speaker 2: Lacey was there, she was a helicopter She was a

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Speaker 2: black Hawk helicopter pilot in the Hunter first as well,

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Speaker 2: and obviously I could relate more to her mission because

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Speaker 2: I was a helicopter pilot as well, and I sort

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Speaker 2: of knew what the year had been like for me

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Speaker 2: and some of the danger that exists as a helicopter

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Speaker 2: pilot in Afghanistan, And so I was like, it was

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Speaker 2: very hard for me to say goodbye to her, knowing

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Speaker 2: that I was leaving her there for an entire year

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Speaker 2: and what she could potentially face. So it was amazing

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Speaker 2: to see both of them in country, but it was

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Speaker 2: also like, it was crazy to leave my sister there.

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Speaker 1: How did you do when I came home, How did

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Speaker 1: you say goodbye to her?

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Speaker 2: It was really rough. She came. She she came to

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Speaker 2: like the holding area for us to get onto the plane,

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Speaker 2: like our final departure before they lock you down. She

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Speaker 2: like came to me there and it was you know,

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Speaker 2: I tried to give her the big sister of pep

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Speaker 2: talk about like you get in this situation like do this,

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Speaker 2: do this, do this, and yeah, it was just like

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Speaker 2: how do you put it into words to like leave

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Speaker 2: a family member behind in a combat zone? That is

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Speaker 2: like for me, Afghanistan was a much harder deployment than

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Speaker 2: Iraq was. And I knew that that she was going

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Speaker 2: into that and she was an RC East as well,

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Speaker 2: so it was tough. It was tough.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I was I know what it's like. Yeah, well listen,

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Speaker 1: I know what it's like. And yeah, you're leaving a

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Speaker 1: family member there. You know how dangerous it is. And

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Speaker 1: it sounded like you said she made it back.

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Speaker 2: She did. I was grateful, but I know it was

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Speaker 2: a rough deployment, as it was for most people during

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Speaker 2: that time frame. You know, it's it's combat. It sucks,

347
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Speaker 2: you see some things that it's war. Wars war as hell,

348
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Speaker 2: and so yeah, it was a rough deployment for everybody.

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Speaker 2: And but like I said, like so grateful she came

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Speaker 2: back safe and sound, and I'm really proud of her.

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Speaker 1: Do you ever talk about your experiences in Afghanistan or

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Speaker 1: in combat together?

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Speaker 2: So when she came home from Afghanistan, we kind of

354
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Speaker 2: definitely had that connection, and I know there were some

355
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Speaker 2: very she did. Some of her mission was like a

356
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Speaker 2: Metavac pilot as well, and so it's different than what

357
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Speaker 2: we did as Kiowa pilots. So we got to talk

358
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Speaker 2: through all of that, and I do think it was

359
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Speaker 2: helpful to have sort of relatable experiences where usually the

360
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Speaker 2: people that you talk about are people who have you

361
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Speaker 2: know in your unit, who have been there, done that,

362
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Speaker 2: shared experiences, and you guys are able to sort of

363
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Speaker 2: like laugh, cry, like talk about all the bs and

364
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Speaker 2: tell the warst stories together. But it was nice to

365
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Speaker 2: be able to be able to do that with my sister,

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Speaker 2: and I think it was helpful for both of us.

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Speaker 1: Do you think the war Well, I know the answer

368
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Speaker 1: to this question already, because it's inevitable if you experienced war.

369
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Speaker 1: Doesn't matter if you're flying one hundred de feet above

370
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Speaker 1: it or your boots on the ground. It does change

371
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Speaker 1: you in some deeper and profound ways. Have you and

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Speaker 1: your sister recognized any of those changes in yourselves?

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Speaker 2: Well, I'm not sure about my sister. For me, you know,

374
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Speaker 2: when I first came back, I was like, oh, fine, whatever,

375
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Speaker 2: like didn't give much thought to it. It wasn't until

376
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Speaker 2: I transferred out of the military or I was like.

377
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Speaker 2: You operate at such a high stress level as a

378
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Speaker 2: Kiowa pilot when you and this is just like take

379
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Speaker 2: away combat. Take away combat. You're flying a small squarely

380
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Speaker 2: aircraft with a fifty kW machine gun, a rocket pod,

381
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Speaker 2: seven high explosive rockets. You can carry hellfire missiles. You've

382
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Speaker 2: got a thermal imaging site system, and you have five

383
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Speaker 2: radios to talk on listen to all at the same

384
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Speaker 2: with all different information, everybody talking into your ear. You've

385
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Speaker 2: got your weapon systems, You've got your nav system. You

386
00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:59,399
Speaker 2: have to fly a helicopter, make sure that you and

387
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Speaker 2: your co pilot are on top of that. And then

388
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Speaker 2: you have the mission. You have the ground force, the

389
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Speaker 2: friendly situation, and this is going back to combat. Now

390
00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:10,920
Speaker 2: you have the enemy situation. Sometimes people are shooting at

391
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Speaker 2: you you're getting target grids, target coordinates to take out

392
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Speaker 2: an enemy target. Bringing everything up. You have all sorts

393
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Speaker 2: of aerial hazards like mountains, birds, cell phone towers, wires,

394
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Speaker 2: very steep valleys, and power limitations within the aircraft and

395
00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:31,359
Speaker 2: how much power you have when you're doing these like

396
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Speaker 2: deep dive attacks with a fifty calor rockets, and so

397
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Speaker 2: it's a lot at one time. Like you're if you're

398
00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:43,640
Speaker 2: a Kiwa pilot, you are likely an adrenaline junkie because

399
00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:47,720
Speaker 2: that's what's going on the entire time you're in the air,

400
00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:52,200
Speaker 2: and you get these troops in contact calls, and then

401
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:54,359
Speaker 2: it's like it's like a light switch, like it's on.

402
00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:56,399
Speaker 2: It's like go time, let's go. Like you could be

403
00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:59,440
Speaker 2: like sitting there, fat, dumb and happy, flying along looking

404
00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:02,280
Speaker 2: for the back like the mountains of Afghanistan, and then

405
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:05,159
Speaker 2: you get that call that there's friendly forces on the

406
00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:10,120
Speaker 2: ground that are overrun, getting attacked by the enemy, got

407
00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:16,280
Speaker 2: hit by an ID whatever, and it's like as Kyla pilots,

408
00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:20,360
Speaker 2: we prided ourselves in being able to have a call side,

409
00:24:20,359 --> 00:24:22,960
Speaker 2: a grid and a frequency and that's all we needed

410
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:27,560
Speaker 2: to go destroy the enemy and to protect those guys

411
00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:29,840
Speaker 2: on the ground that were in the thick of the fight.

412
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Speaker 2: That was our purpose, that was our mission, was to

413
00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:35,600
Speaker 2: protect those guys, make sure they came home to their

414
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Speaker 2: families and try to make their day a little bit

415
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Speaker 2: easier because they didn't get to go back to the

416
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Speaker 2: fob that I lived on. They lived out in the cops,

417
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Speaker 2: They lived out in the outposts with horrible food, you know,

418
00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:52,679
Speaker 2: not sleeping conditions. The enemy was always on them, and

419
00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:55,879
Speaker 2: so we prided ourselves in being able to respond with

420
00:24:56,119 --> 00:24:59,640
Speaker 2: as little information as possible. And yes we didn't fly

421
00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:04,919
Speaker 2: as far is an apache, but we dropped everything to

422
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:08,520
Speaker 2: get there and helped them out in any way that

423
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Speaker 2: we could. And that's what we lived for, and that's

424
00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:15,200
Speaker 2: what we prided ourselves on in combat, was being there

425
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Speaker 2: for them when it mattered the most. And so the

426
00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:21,320
Speaker 2: adrenaline was always there. And when you're deployed in combat,

427
00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:26,399
Speaker 2: you lived that for a year at a time. And

428
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Speaker 2: I remember speaking to a senior officer when I got

429
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Speaker 2: back from Iraq and he said, through some research, he

430
00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:39,239
Speaker 2: was a one sixtieth guy. He said that through their

431
00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:41,720
Speaker 2: research they had realized for every year you do at combat,

432
00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:44,439
Speaker 2: it takes twice that to sort of come down from that,

433
00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:47,240
Speaker 2: and then you compound it because you know, we're doing

434
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Speaker 2: these back to back to back deployments for years at

435
00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:54,960
Speaker 2: a time. My deployments were both one year. The army

436
00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:57,680
Speaker 2: had shifted to fifteen months after I was done deploying,

437
00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:01,800
Speaker 2: But so it was. It was a lot, and by

438
00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:05,239
Speaker 2: the time I got out, I had been living this

439
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:11,560
Speaker 2: like adrenaline, stress filled lifestyle as most people experience in combat,

440
00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:17,000
Speaker 2: and had lost friends and it takes a while to

441
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:19,240
Speaker 2: come down from that. I would say, like it takes

442
00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:21,600
Speaker 2: years to come down from that. It's not something that

443
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:24,400
Speaker 2: you go talk to somebody about, you know, for six

444
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:29,240
Speaker 2: weeks and then you feel better. It's like it takes

445
00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:35,840
Speaker 2: time to sort of reset your lifestyle. At least that's

446
00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:37,600
Speaker 2: the way it is for me. And when I say lifestyle,

447
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:40,239
Speaker 2: I mean sort of like your mindset and how you

448
00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:46,040
Speaker 2: operate without being three hundred miles an hour every day.

449
00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:48,720
Speaker 2: So that was a super long answer, but.

450
00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:55,840
Speaker 1: I'm glad to have heard it because I was one

451
00:26:55,880 --> 00:27:00,119
Speaker 1: of those guys on the ground in the infantry in

452
00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:05,760
Speaker 1: Afghanistan getting shot up every single day. Saved. I can't

453
00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:09,159
Speaker 1: even tell you how many times by helicopter pilots just

454
00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:13,440
Speaker 1: like you. And Okay, so you want to do something,

455
00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:15,600
Speaker 1: do an exercise with me, real quick, go with go

456
00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:18,680
Speaker 1: with the flow on this amber. I want people to see.

457
00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:23,720
Speaker 1: I want to set a scenario and I want people

458
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:26,399
Speaker 1: I want you to put people in your headspace. So

459
00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:29,879
Speaker 1: like say you're in Regional Command East RC East and

460
00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:34,119
Speaker 1: Afghanistan my platoon or there's a platoon out on the

461
00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:37,119
Speaker 1: border that's in contact, that's pinned down, and you get

462
00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:41,040
Speaker 1: that troops in contact report and you're in your Tactical

463
00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:45,080
Speaker 1: Operation Center or in your bed, your birds are on QRF.

464
00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:49,120
Speaker 1: Take us through from the moment that you get that call,

465
00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:51,439
Speaker 1: because you said it's like a light switch. Take us

466
00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:56,080
Speaker 1: through that moment when you get that call, to every

467
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:58,760
Speaker 1: step of the way to your bird. And I want

468
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:01,480
Speaker 1: people to see the level of proficiency. You talked about

469
00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:03,600
Speaker 1: it a little bit already, but the level of proficiency

470
00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:05,800
Speaker 1: and how you have it down to a battle drill

471
00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:07,200
Speaker 1: when you handle those types of.

472
00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:11,800
Speaker 2: Situations so immediately you get the call. Usually for us,

473
00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:14,359
Speaker 2: we were always in the air because you always like

474
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:16,760
Speaker 2: we did twenty four hour coverage, so there was always

475
00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:18,399
Speaker 2: a team in the air and that's the team they

476
00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:21,360
Speaker 2: called first, unless they were just way far away. So

477
00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:23,520
Speaker 2: say we were the team that was in there, the

478
00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:27,280
Speaker 2: pilot immediately pushes forward on the cyclic and pulls up

479
00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:30,879
Speaker 2: on the collective which means max power, max airspeed, and

480
00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:33,600
Speaker 2: you just head in the direction. All you know is

481
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:36,639
Speaker 2: they may say, hey, Corngall River Valley, there's a troops

482
00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:42,720
Speaker 2: in contact. You know, two Kia six wounded Metavax called

483
00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:48,120
Speaker 2: still active, tick Grid coming. So we know just from

484
00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:53,160
Speaker 2: being in the being in that AO, where that vicinity is.

485
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:55,960
Speaker 2: So we just immediately start flying as fast as we

486
00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:59,479
Speaker 2: possibly can to that area.

487
00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:01,680
Speaker 1: And well, and by the way, you don't know, you

488
00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:03,680
Speaker 1: have no idea what you're flying into. You just get

489
00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:06,400
Speaker 1: a baseline report, where, when and why.

490
00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:10,200
Speaker 2: Go yep yep if that Sometimes we don't even have that.

491
00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:13,320
Speaker 2: We get that when we're like super close. Sometimes you

492
00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:16,080
Speaker 2: get there and you don't have much information, which makes

493
00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:19,960
Speaker 2: it very difficult, or you have, you know, guys on

494
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:22,200
Speaker 2: the ground who they're they're people laying next to them

495
00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:24,560
Speaker 2: are shot and they're trying to keep people alive. They're

496
00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:27,240
Speaker 2: trying to talk to Ariel, they're trying to talk to

497
00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:30,040
Speaker 2: the weapons the scout Weapons team, which is US, and

498
00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:32,800
Speaker 2: get them the proper get grids so we can then

499
00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:36,360
Speaker 2: if it's at night, like lays the target, blow them up.

500
00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:41,280
Speaker 2: And then sometimes we have to observe for artillery. If

501
00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:44,520
Speaker 2: they call it an artillery mission, we'll stand to the side.

502
00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:47,840
Speaker 2: So you have artillery flying through the air and we're

503
00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:50,520
Speaker 2: flying there as well. You have the METAVAC coming in

504
00:29:51,960 --> 00:30:00,160
Speaker 2: and it is like a non stop activity and you

505
00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:03,080
Speaker 2: just do the best you can with the information that

506
00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:07,040
Speaker 2: you have. And then once you start putting like rounds

507
00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:13,120
Speaker 2: down on targets, sometimes things calm down. Sometimes they don't,

508
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,760
Speaker 2: and so it just kind of depends what the enemy.

509
00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:21,840
Speaker 2: In Afghanistan was very willing to fight, even sometimes when

510
00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:25,560
Speaker 2: helicopters were on station, and so it was like that's

511
00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:28,720
Speaker 2: why I say, like in Iraq, it was my experiences

512
00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:32,000
Speaker 2: were more like okay, once you laid down fire, it

513
00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:34,600
Speaker 2: was like, okay, it might get kind of quiet. But

514
00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:38,480
Speaker 2: in Afghanistan some like they were ready to fight and

515
00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:41,400
Speaker 2: keep going, and it was it was much harder terrain.

516
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:43,720
Speaker 2: In Afghanistan. They hid in the mountains. There was like

517
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:46,880
Speaker 2: boulder sized rocks that were the side of cars and

518
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:49,720
Speaker 2: they learned. They started to learn our TTPs our tactics,

519
00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:53,440
Speaker 2: techniques and procedures for us as aerial platforms, and they

520
00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:56,520
Speaker 2: knew that they could, you know, come out when we

521
00:30:56,520 --> 00:31:01,239
Speaker 2: were on our outbound racetrack pattern after shoot and then

522
00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:04,400
Speaker 2: jump back behind the rocks again, which were which were great,

523
00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:10,719
Speaker 2: you know, like protectors for them. And so it was

524
00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:15,840
Speaker 2: we did what we could with the information and terin

525
00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:17,600
Speaker 2: availability that we had.

526
00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:21,880
Speaker 1: I remember I used to come back from moments like that,

527
00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:25,160
Speaker 1: you know, haven't been been bailed out by you know,

528
00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:29,400
Speaker 1: helicopter air assets, come back from a troops in contact,

529
00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:34,520
Speaker 1: and like, you know, your adrenaline flows. It's it's crazy

530
00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:36,840
Speaker 1: how you're adrenaline flows in moments like that. And I'm

531
00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:39,040
Speaker 1: sure it was like that for you and the birds

532
00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:42,640
Speaker 1: racing to troops in contact trying to save the day.

533
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:48,960
Speaker 1: You get back from those missions, how did you mentally reset?

534
00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:51,880
Speaker 1: Because I feel like there were times I'd come back

535
00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:55,680
Speaker 1: from missions and I'd you know, you go through your

536
00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:59,040
Speaker 1: priorities of work and make sure your trucks are refilled

537
00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:03,360
Speaker 1: with fuel and munition and your weapons are clean, and

538
00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:06,680
Speaker 1: then you know, your men eat. What was that like

539
00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:10,560
Speaker 1: for you? How did you mentally reset because you go

540
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:15,000
Speaker 1: you're flying, I mean, what's the air speed of a

541
00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:18,680
Speaker 1: Kiowa Warrior helicopter pilot, and you're talking about the chaos

542
00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:20,920
Speaker 1: over top of troops in contact. You don't want to

543
00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:24,160
Speaker 1: shoot friendly troops. You've got artillery sometimes coming in, you've

544
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:25,720
Speaker 1: got mortars coming in. You don't want to get hit

545
00:32:25,720 --> 00:32:27,520
Speaker 1: with a mortar. You don't want to get hit with artillery.

546
00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:30,360
Speaker 1: And then sometimes you have close air support, which are

547
00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:32,360
Speaker 1: a tens and in some of the worst cases like

548
00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:34,880
Speaker 1: a strategical answer, and you don't want to be caught

549
00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:38,000
Speaker 1: in the middle of any of that. So God forbid.

550
00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:40,400
Speaker 1: So somehow you, by the grace of God, you survive

551
00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:43,760
Speaker 1: all that. You find yourself back on the base. How

552
00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:45,520
Speaker 1: do you mentally decompress from that?

553
00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:53,800
Speaker 2: So for me, I I really didn't decompress during that

554
00:32:53,960 --> 00:33:00,720
Speaker 2: year that I was there. I felt like I couldn't

555
00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:03,240
Speaker 2: because you go out the next day and you do

556
00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:05,800
Speaker 2: the exact same thing, and so you kind of have

557
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:07,200
Speaker 2: to keep your head in the game. And I think

558
00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:11,440
Speaker 2: that's why it's so taxing and so stressful, like compounded

559
00:33:11,480 --> 00:33:15,160
Speaker 2: stress is because you don't ever get that let down

560
00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:18,280
Speaker 2: while you're in it, because you need to keep that

561
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:21,280
Speaker 2: stress level so high in order for you to keep

562
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:23,360
Speaker 2: your head in the game to be able to be

563
00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:27,600
Speaker 2: completely efficient and effective at your mission and flying the helicopter,

564
00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:34,560
Speaker 2: And you can't let emotions and what if scenarios like

565
00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:40,560
Speaker 2: enter your mind. Those definitely came after when you come

566
00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:43,480
Speaker 2: home from deployments like back to America. Yeah, then it's

567
00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:48,320
Speaker 2: like flooded with like how the hell did I survive

568
00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:52,520
Speaker 2: that specific situation? Like I should not I should not

569
00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:56,040
Speaker 2: have survived it, Like, by the grace of God, I

570
00:33:56,080 --> 00:34:00,160
Speaker 2: am here today. But there are there are instances, like

571
00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:02,719
Speaker 2: too many to count where I'm like, how did I

572
00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:05,840
Speaker 2: survive that? And so, But you can't think of that

573
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:08,640
Speaker 2: either in the moment when you come back from the mission.

574
00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:13,680
Speaker 2: It's it's just at least that's how I handled it.

575
00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:18,120
Speaker 2: I didn't let my mind go to that place until

576
00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:21,160
Speaker 2: I came back from the deployment, like in the moment

577
00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:25,520
Speaker 2: in Afghanistan or in Iraq, it was a fate I

578
00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:29,120
Speaker 2: had accepted for anything that was going to happen in country.

579
00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:31,239
Speaker 2: It was a fate that I accepted for being there

580
00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:33,520
Speaker 2: as part of my job and part of my mission.

581
00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:35,960
Speaker 2: And I just didn't let myself think about it or

582
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:37,480
Speaker 2: dwell on it. And it was like, Yep, I'm going

583
00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:39,640
Speaker 2: to wake up tomorrow and do the exact same thing.

584
00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:41,640
Speaker 1: To talk about fate.

585
00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:44,080
Speaker 2: Help out guys just like you did.

586
00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:46,600
Speaker 1: Do you talk about a fate you accepted? Did you

587
00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:49,080
Speaker 1: accept at a certain level that that you that you

588
00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:51,319
Speaker 1: could very well die and you just let go. You

589
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:53,920
Speaker 1: don't care, obviously you want to make it home alive.

590
00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:58,440
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think that you know that because I had

591
00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:03,960
Speaker 2: so many I had, I had so many people in

592
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:07,440
Speaker 2: my troop, like small troop that I know throughout my

593
00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:11,680
Speaker 2: years had gotten killed in helicopter crashes, in combat, like

594
00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:15,200
Speaker 2: it was like a fact of life. And it was

595
00:35:15,239 --> 00:35:19,160
Speaker 2: like I remember when my friend Mike Slabonik, who's the

596
00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:22,759
Speaker 2: set of Before he was killed in Afghanistan. He was

597
00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:28,560
Speaker 2: shot in his thigh and bled out and was killed

598
00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:31,719
Speaker 2: on actually nine to eleventh, two thousand and eight. And

599
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:34,960
Speaker 2: I remember I was he was in my troop. He

600
00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:37,280
Speaker 2: was my instructor pilot from the very first. I deployed

601
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:39,319
Speaker 2: with him twice, flown with him. Taught me so much

602
00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:42,759
Speaker 2: about flying, and I remember because it had happened so

603
00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:48,200
Speaker 2: many times, you know, the look on a person's face

604
00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:52,040
Speaker 2: when they walk into a room to tell you. And

605
00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:55,520
Speaker 2: I remember when my my friend and Colleinge and Pilot

606
00:35:56,120 --> 00:35:58,880
Speaker 2: came to tell me. I looked on her face and

607
00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:05,160
Speaker 2: I said, who is it? She didn't say anything. I

608
00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:07,839
Speaker 2: just knew that someone had died. I didn't know who,

609
00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:12,160
Speaker 2: and uh, I was just like, who is it? And

610
00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:13,120
Speaker 2: then I found out was Mike.

611
00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:17,799
Speaker 1: But how did you handle that?

612
00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:28,120
Speaker 2: That was rough for me, that it so so we

613
00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:32,160
Speaker 2: just talked about We just talked about how you handle

614
00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:37,440
Speaker 2: knowing you could die in combat. And I think that

615
00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:40,920
Speaker 2: was kind of the exception when I said, I didn't

616
00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:45,520
Speaker 2: think about it in theater, But when Mike got killed,

617
00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:52,439
Speaker 2: it brought me back to reality and brought me back

618
00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:55,080
Speaker 2: how like every day you make it home from a

619
00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:59,719
Speaker 2: mission is a gift, and like how fragile life is,

620
00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:05,440
Speaker 2: and just how unfair it was that he didn't make

621
00:37:05,520 --> 00:37:10,960
Speaker 2: it home. You know, wife, kids, great American, loved this country,

622
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:17,239
Speaker 2: loved serving and flying, and so it was. It was

623
00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:21,439
Speaker 2: hard even after like all the people who I also

624
00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:27,759
Speaker 2: knew had been killed. It was it was. It never

625
00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:32,480
Speaker 2: gets any easier. I would say, how has how.

626
00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:37,880
Speaker 1: Have these experiences amber shaped your perspective on how you

627
00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:39,040
Speaker 1: live your life today.

628
00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:46,200
Speaker 2: Everything, all of those experiences have formed who I have,

629
00:37:46,719 --> 00:37:51,200
Speaker 2: who I am today, and it's completely changed my perspective

630
00:37:51,239 --> 00:37:57,480
Speaker 2: of war, of national security, of foreign policy, of at

631
00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:07,080
Speaker 2: a at a more national political level has completely And

632
00:38:07,239 --> 00:38:09,520
Speaker 2: also I think from my time serving in the Pentagon

633
00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:14,799
Speaker 2: and seeing it more from an executive Pentagon level and

634
00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:18,880
Speaker 2: then contrast to me as more of an operations tactical

635
00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:22,839
Speaker 2: level as my time as a Kiowa pilot uh and

636
00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:27,160
Speaker 2: so that's completely changed my perspective on life and how

637
00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:30,799
Speaker 2: I live my life, my priorities of what I think

638
00:38:31,040 --> 00:38:37,560
Speaker 2: is important. And I'm so incredibly grateful for my service.

639
00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:43,839
Speaker 2: I it gave me so much. It was it was hard.

640
00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:45,960
Speaker 2: I almost did it for you know, over seven and

641
00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:51,239
Speaker 2: a half years of my life, but it gave me

642
00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:56,239
Speaker 2: so much in terms of life lessons and learning who

643
00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:59,840
Speaker 2: I was and what I was capable of and how

644
00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:09,319
Speaker 2: I would handle situations, and so everything who I am

645
00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:12,080
Speaker 2: today is because of my experiences in the military.

646
00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:17,880
Speaker 1: Do you think when you talk about how your service

647
00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:27,320
Speaker 1: has shaped your perspective on geopolitics in war, You've always

648
00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:31,680
Speaker 1: been someone you fought for this country in Afghanistan, Iraq

649
00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:34,360
Speaker 1: on multiple battlefield, as you said you did seven plus years.

650
00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:42,000
Speaker 1: It's so important amber for people like you to come

651
00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:47,400
Speaker 1: back and stay involved in the dialogue and direction of

652
00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:53,480
Speaker 1: this country. The role of you know, the elder warrior

653
00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:57,880
Speaker 1: in society's past, and that yes, we send our men

654
00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:02,000
Speaker 1: and women to fight for our country. They experience hairing

655
00:40:02,120 --> 00:40:06,400
Speaker 1: and sometimes horrifying things in service to the country, and

656
00:40:06,440 --> 00:40:10,319
Speaker 1: instead of coming home and detaching, we need those people

657
00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:14,080
Speaker 1: to come back and stay involved to help educate our

658
00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:18,600
Speaker 1: policymakers on what war is like. And you've done that.

659
00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:23,520
Speaker 1: Where of all the horrible things that you've experienced. I'm

660
00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:28,560
Speaker 1: sure your service is braided with terrible experiences and the

661
00:40:28,560 --> 00:40:33,959
Speaker 1: best experiences in life. But where has that motivation come

662
00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:39,560
Speaker 1: from inside of you to stay in the fight for

663
00:40:39,640 --> 00:40:40,240
Speaker 1: this country.

664
00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:44,120
Speaker 2: I will tell you that I think top level leadership

665
00:40:44,239 --> 00:40:48,000
Speaker 2: are in the military are a big part of today's

666
00:40:48,239 --> 00:40:55,120
Speaker 2: problem with the military, and unfortunately, their voice in society

667
00:40:55,320 --> 00:41:00,240
Speaker 2: is what matters. So the reason I choose to stay

668
00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:05,160
Speaker 2: involved and be very vocal on some very unpopular issues

669
00:41:05,480 --> 00:41:07,040
Speaker 2: that a lot of people don't agree with me on

670
00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:12,320
Speaker 2: is because I think that it's important to have voices

671
00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:17,520
Speaker 2: out there that don't have stars on their shoulders, people

672
00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:19,640
Speaker 2: who have fought in these wars, that some of their

673
00:41:19,680 --> 00:41:25,480
Speaker 2: decisions place people in these positions. Those people who have

674
00:41:25,560 --> 00:41:31,759
Speaker 2: been there at that lower operational level, tactical level, and

675
00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:37,400
Speaker 2: have those experiences and understand that what briefs well on

676
00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:41,080
Speaker 2: a fancy little power point presentation in a skiff in

677
00:41:41,080 --> 00:41:45,800
Speaker 2: the Pentagon or at the White House doesn't always equate

678
00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:52,360
Speaker 2: to what's needed on the battlefield to achieve mission success.

679
00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:57,080
Speaker 2: And so I don't feel that the tactical level soldier

680
00:41:57,320 --> 00:42:01,799
Speaker 2: is always best represented because in today military, once you

681
00:42:01,880 --> 00:42:04,560
Speaker 2: get that star on your shoulder, a lot of people

682
00:42:04,600 --> 00:42:06,799
Speaker 2: aren't gonna like that. I have to say this, but

683
00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:11,279
Speaker 2: they are politicians. You are then a politician that is

684
00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:16,520
Speaker 2: serving a higher political being. It's no longer about the

685
00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:20,200
Speaker 2: guys on the ground. And I take issue with that.

686
00:42:20,760 --> 00:42:25,640
Speaker 2: It's it's not okay. It's destroying our military and we

687
00:42:25,719 --> 00:42:28,440
Speaker 2: see it in the recruitment numbers that are coming out.

688
00:42:28,440 --> 00:42:33,719
Speaker 2: It's only gonna get worse. And so I wanted to

689
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:38,040
Speaker 2: make sure that people know the truth and that military

690
00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:43,040
Speaker 2: leadership is a significant like also, you know, executive and

691
00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:48,000
Speaker 2: congressional legislative leadership. Is as well. They hold some of

692
00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:49,680
Speaker 2: the blame with the budget and all of that, but

693
00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:53,080
Speaker 2: it's they are a big part of the problem. And

694
00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:55,959
Speaker 2: I think for so long in our country, no one

695
00:42:56,080 --> 00:43:00,000
Speaker 2: felt like they could speak out about generals. It was like, oh,

696
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:02,759
Speaker 2: you're a general, You're untouchable, and that should be the

697
00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:07,480
Speaker 2: exact opposite. You want the responsibilities that come with being

698
00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:11,080
Speaker 2: a general, then guess what you deserve to be critiqued

699
00:43:11,320 --> 00:43:15,799
Speaker 2: for the decisions that you make. But sadly, there is

700
00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:21,600
Speaker 2: no accountability for about above the lieutenant colonel rank. It's

701
00:43:21,600 --> 00:43:24,359
Speaker 2: like once you make it past lieutenant colonel, except very

702
00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:27,040
Speaker 2: few instances in the Navy. For some reason, in the Navy,

703
00:43:27,080 --> 00:43:30,320
Speaker 2: they still choose to hold some of their vessel commanders

704
00:43:30,360 --> 00:43:35,120
Speaker 2: responsible for things that happen with them. But across the military,

705
00:43:35,560 --> 00:43:40,720
Speaker 2: as a generalization, senior military leaders are no longer held

706
00:43:40,719 --> 00:43:46,719
Speaker 2: accountable and that is a significant, significant problem for the

707
00:43:46,760 --> 00:43:49,399
Speaker 2: future of our nation and our national security and an

708
00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:50,920
Speaker 2: effective military.

709
00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:55,600
Speaker 1: Wow, Amber, I totally agree. Can I give you my

710
00:43:55,640 --> 00:43:56,480
Speaker 1: perspective on this?

711
00:43:57,640 --> 00:43:58,239
Speaker 2: Absolutely?

712
00:43:59,080 --> 00:44:03,000
Speaker 1: People like you know so, I've served just over six years,

713
00:44:03,040 --> 00:44:06,239
Speaker 1: almost seven years in the military. I went into the

714
00:44:06,239 --> 00:44:09,040
Speaker 1: military after nine to eleven just like you saying. I

715
00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:12,120
Speaker 1: wanted to make it a career. And then I went

716
00:44:12,160 --> 00:44:15,399
Speaker 1: to airborne school, went to ranger school, went to every cool,

717
00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:19,600
Speaker 1: sexy school that the military had to offer, and I

718
00:44:19,640 --> 00:44:23,360
Speaker 1: found myself boots on the ground in eastern Afghanistan in

719
00:44:23,440 --> 00:44:27,239
Speaker 1: direct combat with an enemy for sixteen straight months. And

720
00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:31,960
Speaker 1: first firefight I came back. It was exhilarating. And then

721
00:44:32,040 --> 00:44:35,080
Speaker 1: the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, I was like, Okay,

722
00:44:35,120 --> 00:44:38,160
Speaker 1: this sucks. I can't do this. I can't do this

723
00:44:38,200 --> 00:44:41,880
Speaker 1: for a career. And I came home. I came home.

724
00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:46,160
Speaker 1: I became you know, I I remember like my U

725
00:44:46,320 --> 00:44:48,480
Speaker 1: came home in my unit like nine months later, was

726
00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:50,600
Speaker 1: supposed to go back to Afghanistan, and I went into

727
00:44:50,600 --> 00:44:53,960
Speaker 1: my commander's office and I said, you know, Sir, I

728
00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:57,960
Speaker 1: can't do this. I can't. I can't lead troops effectively anymore.

729
00:44:58,040 --> 00:45:02,040
Speaker 1: Because I'm home now. I'm emotionally compromise. You talked about

730
00:45:02,040 --> 00:45:03,880
Speaker 1: that emotional state that you have to get in and

731
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:06,560
Speaker 1: combat to be able to survive and thrive and lead.

732
00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:09,400
Speaker 1: I was out of it. Amber I was out of it.

733
00:45:09,719 --> 00:45:13,120
Speaker 1: And I rather than put my soldiers at risk and

734
00:45:13,239 --> 00:45:17,520
Speaker 1: say like and pretend like there wasn't an issue. I

735
00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:19,280
Speaker 1: went and told my commander, I can't do it anymore.

736
00:45:19,320 --> 00:45:22,080
Speaker 1: And that was in the process of being medically retired,

737
00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:26,479
Speaker 1: having been wounded in combat and all that. But during

738
00:45:26,520 --> 00:45:30,240
Speaker 1: that time of my medical retirement, I did a lot

739
00:45:30,360 --> 00:45:36,279
Speaker 1: of watching other leaders officers in the military, and what

740
00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:42,319
Speaker 1: I saw is that there are officers that play the

741
00:45:42,400 --> 00:45:46,319
Speaker 1: game and officers who don't. And it's typically the officers

742
00:45:46,360 --> 00:45:50,080
Speaker 1: who don't see heavy combat that end up staying in

743
00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:52,319
Speaker 1: because they don't have the same sort of experiences that

744
00:45:52,360 --> 00:45:54,920
Speaker 1: I had on the battlefield, and they think, oh, this

745
00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:56,880
Speaker 1: isn't that bad, Well, maybe stay on to be a captain,

746
00:45:56,920 --> 00:45:59,759
Speaker 1: a major, the tenant colonel. And what you end up

747
00:45:59,800 --> 00:46:02,840
Speaker 1: having happening is is you have in units all across

748
00:46:02,840 --> 00:46:06,440
Speaker 1: the military, people who didn't see the heaviest combat or

749
00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:13,200
Speaker 1: didn't didn't play at the highest operational tempo end up

750
00:46:13,239 --> 00:46:16,839
Speaker 1: climbing the ladder. And what I saw among that demographic

751
00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:20,280
Speaker 1: where men and women who are willing to play the game,

752
00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:24,000
Speaker 1: leaders who were only concerned with their bow and rarely

753
00:46:24,080 --> 00:46:28,840
Speaker 1: their wake, and most of those people never saw sustained

754
00:46:28,840 --> 00:46:34,279
Speaker 1: heavy combat or high operational tempo like you. And what

755
00:46:34,320 --> 00:46:36,120
Speaker 1: do you end up have happening is you have a

756
00:46:36,160 --> 00:46:38,680
Speaker 1: bunch of people with stars on their shoulders who have

757
00:46:38,800 --> 00:46:41,640
Speaker 1: never really seen the horrors of war up close and

758
00:46:41,719 --> 00:46:44,759
Speaker 1: personal for a sustained amount of time. And I liken

759
00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:48,560
Speaker 1: it to almost being, you know, calling yourself an artist,

760
00:46:48,600 --> 00:46:51,719
Speaker 1: but having never painted the painting in your life yet.

761
00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:55,600
Speaker 1: These are the people that are making life and death

762
00:46:55,719 --> 00:46:59,560
Speaker 1: decisions at the strategic level for our country and our

763
00:46:59,560 --> 00:47:02,000
Speaker 1: men and women in uniform. And we're talking when you

764
00:47:02,040 --> 00:47:06,239
Speaker 1: talk about making strategic decisions, we're talking about decisions that

765
00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:09,839
Speaker 1: send our people to war, which I believe America's sons

766
00:47:09,880 --> 00:47:13,799
Speaker 1: and daughters are the most precious natural resource. It's a

767
00:47:13,880 --> 00:47:16,840
Speaker 1: leader's job. And I think that you'll probably agree with me.

768
00:47:17,880 --> 00:47:19,880
Speaker 1: It's we need to do everything that we can to

769
00:47:19,920 --> 00:47:23,800
Speaker 1: protect America's sons and daughters and shield them from sending

770
00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:29,000
Speaker 1: them into frivolous wars. And I think that's sort of

771
00:47:29,040 --> 00:47:33,120
Speaker 1: why we're in, why the military is today where it is.

772
00:47:35,840 --> 00:47:41,799
Speaker 2: That's such a fantastic point. Like with your experiences transitioning

773
00:47:42,120 --> 00:47:45,719
Speaker 2: out of the military and what you saw, I do

774
00:47:45,840 --> 00:47:48,520
Speaker 2: think that when you said that our men and women

775
00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:52,360
Speaker 2: who are serving, you know, our nation's most viable assets

776
00:47:52,640 --> 00:47:57,200
Speaker 2: they one hundred percent are. And there is nothing that

777
00:47:58,480 --> 00:48:02,120
Speaker 2: makes me more furious than an American saying when you

778
00:48:02,200 --> 00:48:05,919
Speaker 2: point out the flaws of the Pentagon, and you point

779
00:48:05,960 --> 00:48:10,560
Speaker 2: out the flaws of the military and toxic leadership that exists,

780
00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:14,799
Speaker 2: and you know, the almost cultural stance at the top,

781
00:48:14,800 --> 00:48:18,680
Speaker 2: which is to appease politicians in Washington instead of setting

782
00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:22,920
Speaker 2: up the military to be the best. Down at the

783
00:48:22,960 --> 00:48:27,200
Speaker 2: tactical level is when people say, oh, well, you well,

784
00:48:27,239 --> 00:48:31,239
Speaker 2: you signed up to serve the military people volunt all

785
00:48:31,320 --> 00:48:34,399
Speaker 2: volunteer force, so they just have to deal with it.

786
00:48:34,440 --> 00:48:37,919
Speaker 2: They you know, they knew what they were signing up for,

787
00:48:38,280 --> 00:48:41,399
Speaker 2: and that is a bunch of crap. People signed up

788
00:48:41,440 --> 00:48:44,440
Speaker 2: to serve our country because they believe in the freedoms

789
00:48:44,440 --> 00:48:47,360
Speaker 2: and principles that our nation was founding on founded on,

790
00:48:47,800 --> 00:48:51,000
Speaker 2: and they believe that it is worth protecting. They don't

791
00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:54,480
Speaker 2: sign up to join the military to have the poorest

792
00:48:54,600 --> 00:48:58,760
Speaker 2: leaders that exist and are not putting their well being

793
00:49:00,200 --> 00:49:04,680
Speaker 2: in line the way that it should be. You should

794
00:49:04,719 --> 00:49:07,520
Speaker 2: not be treated as can and fodder because you've signed

795
00:49:07,600 --> 00:49:10,080
Speaker 2: up to serve our military. And that has a lot

796
00:49:10,120 --> 00:49:13,839
Speaker 2: to do with leadership and what they think that they

797
00:49:13,840 --> 00:49:17,839
Speaker 2: can get away with and their priorities, and so yes,

798
00:49:17,960 --> 00:49:20,360
Speaker 2: signing up for war, you know that you could potentially

799
00:49:20,360 --> 00:49:23,040
Speaker 2: have to go to war give your life. And that's

800
00:49:23,080 --> 00:49:25,759
Speaker 2: what people know going into it. But it doesn't mean

801
00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:31,280
Speaker 2: that they should be put in positions that they had

802
00:49:31,280 --> 00:49:36,480
Speaker 2: that are wrong for the nation, that are not smart

803
00:49:37,080 --> 00:49:40,719
Speaker 2: foreign policy or national security decisions. And sadly that's what

804
00:49:40,719 --> 00:49:43,640
Speaker 2: we see today. That's exactly what we saw with Afghanistan,

805
00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:47,120
Speaker 2: where there was not a single general from about summer

806
00:49:47,160 --> 00:49:51,719
Speaker 2: of twenty eleven after osamovan Laden was killed up until

807
00:49:51,719 --> 00:49:55,080
Speaker 2: the withdrawal that could not articulate a mission or an

808
00:49:55,120 --> 00:49:59,080
Speaker 2: in state for Afghanistan. So they knew, they knew, and

809
00:49:59,120 --> 00:50:01,920
Speaker 2: they continued to sa send people into harm's way for

810
00:50:02,000 --> 00:50:04,120
Speaker 2: a fight that they couldn't articulate.

811
00:50:04,360 --> 00:50:07,880
Speaker 1: I mean, I totally totally listen. I totally agree that.

812
00:50:07,960 --> 00:50:10,399
Speaker 1: And I was going to ask you about the fall

813
00:50:10,440 --> 00:50:17,719
Speaker 1: of Afghanistan and how that affected you, you know, emotionally, mentally, physically.

814
00:50:18,640 --> 00:50:24,560
Speaker 1: I remember when I saw those images of what it

815
00:50:24,560 --> 00:50:27,759
Speaker 1: looked like Saigon two point zero and the Chinel helicopters

816
00:50:27,800 --> 00:50:30,560
Speaker 1: on top of the embassies in Afghanistan, and just the

817
00:50:30,760 --> 00:50:36,160
Speaker 1: sheer just how fast Afghanistan collapsed in on itself like

818
00:50:36,200 --> 00:50:42,439
Speaker 1: a dying star. And our politicians who sent us into

819
00:50:42,480 --> 00:50:45,920
Speaker 1: that war for twenty plus years, like as you mentioned,

820
00:50:46,160 --> 00:50:48,719
Speaker 1: no mission, no end state, and you had these generals

821
00:50:49,200 --> 00:50:52,560
Speaker 1: who every year the issue they report on Afghanistan in January,

822
00:50:52,560 --> 00:50:54,760
Speaker 1: and every year they say the mission is on track,

823
00:50:54,800 --> 00:50:57,480
Speaker 1: the Afghan National Armies on track, the Afghan National Police

824
00:50:57,480 --> 00:50:59,920
Speaker 1: are on track, the Afghan Border Police are good to go.

825
00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:00,200
Speaker 2: Oh.

826
00:51:00,600 --> 00:51:02,920
Speaker 1: But you and I, having been in that country, we

827
00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:06,360
Speaker 1: knew that that wasn't true. Yet they issued those reports anyway,

828
00:51:07,200 --> 00:51:10,240
Speaker 1: And in the lead up to the fall of Afghanistan,

829
00:51:10,760 --> 00:51:13,080
Speaker 1: you could see the writing on the wall. You could

830
00:51:13,120 --> 00:51:16,480
Speaker 1: see that our political leaders, our military leaders had they

831
00:51:16,560 --> 00:51:21,040
Speaker 1: hadn't given one thought to what a drawdown in peaceful

832
00:51:21,120 --> 00:51:24,640
Speaker 1: end state or peaceful withdrawal from Afghanistan looked like. And

833
00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:28,400
Speaker 1: it ended up squandering what I believe I mean obviously

834
00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:31,000
Speaker 1: like having been there, I would go back and serve

835
00:51:31,040 --> 00:51:33,360
Speaker 1: there again. We did lots of great things there. We

836
00:51:33,440 --> 00:51:37,640
Speaker 1: built wells in villages and did lots of humanitarian assistants

837
00:51:37,680 --> 00:51:42,120
Speaker 1: and taught kids to read and you know, enabled young

838
00:51:42,160 --> 00:51:44,239
Speaker 1: little girls to go get an education. I'm proud of

839
00:51:44,239 --> 00:51:46,480
Speaker 1: my service in Afghanistan. I'm sure that you are too,

840
00:51:47,040 --> 00:51:49,600
Speaker 1: but it doesn't mean that I'm not pissed off that

841
00:51:49,680 --> 00:51:54,880
Speaker 1: they squandered every bit of that. Because you're seeing Afghanistan

842
00:51:55,760 --> 00:51:57,799
Speaker 1: it's like the funniest thing in the world. Amber where

843
00:51:57,840 --> 00:52:00,600
Speaker 1: you had the Biden administration in Jensie who is then

844
00:52:00,640 --> 00:52:04,520
Speaker 1: the White House Press Secretary, saying that the Taliban were

845
00:52:04,560 --> 00:52:09,160
Speaker 1: going to now now embrace women's rights and allow them

846
00:52:09,160 --> 00:52:12,279
Speaker 1: to go to school. Was there any part of you

847
00:52:12,560 --> 00:52:17,360
Speaker 1: that believed that at all? And give me a sense,

848
00:52:17,400 --> 00:52:20,000
Speaker 1: give us a sense of how you process the fall

849
00:52:20,040 --> 00:52:22,040
Speaker 1: of Afghanistan and what it was like for you.

850
00:52:24,200 --> 00:52:28,920
Speaker 2: All politics is today is PR campaign after PR campaign

851
00:52:29,160 --> 00:52:32,480
Speaker 2: after PR campaign, and Afghanistan was no different. Like you said,

852
00:52:32,520 --> 00:52:34,640
Speaker 2: they were trying to sell to the public that the

853
00:52:34,680 --> 00:52:37,640
Speaker 2: Taliban was going to be great for Afghanistan and they

854
00:52:37,640 --> 00:52:40,160
Speaker 2: were going to be okay with women's rights and girls

855
00:52:40,200 --> 00:52:43,080
Speaker 2: going to school, and anyone with half of a brain

856
00:52:43,800 --> 00:52:49,239
Speaker 2: saw right through that, especially veterans who had served there. Yeah,

857
00:52:48,760 --> 00:52:51,680
Speaker 2: and that's why I think it was so difficult. The

858
00:52:51,800 --> 00:52:55,480
Speaker 2: withdrawal was so difficult, difficult for so many Afghanistan veterans.

859
00:52:55,680 --> 00:52:58,560
Speaker 2: For me, the writing was on the wall. I understood

860
00:52:58,680 --> 00:53:02,520
Speaker 2: from a political stance that the war in Afghanistan was

861
00:53:02,520 --> 00:53:05,399
Speaker 2: never going to change. It was going to be the

862
00:53:05,440 --> 00:53:11,560
Speaker 2: same bureaucracy, the same hearings at Congress, the same throw

863
00:53:11,640 --> 00:53:14,719
Speaker 2: the money at the problem, no results, no accountability, no

864
00:53:14,800 --> 00:53:17,239
Speaker 2: ability to track the money that we are sending, the

865
00:53:17,280 --> 00:53:19,759
Speaker 2: fifty billion dollars a year that we're sending over there,

866
00:53:20,640 --> 00:53:24,640
Speaker 2: and so year after year after year, it was very

867
00:53:24,680 --> 00:53:28,560
Speaker 2: clear to me that there was no coherent strategy if

868
00:53:28,600 --> 00:53:31,239
Speaker 2: there was one at all towards any sort of a

869
00:53:32,040 --> 00:53:41,480
Speaker 2: in state that would be beneficial. So it was we

870
00:53:41,560 --> 00:53:43,879
Speaker 2: can continue to spend money, we can continue to see

871
00:53:43,920 --> 00:53:48,440
Speaker 2: our American soldiers die in Afghanistan, or we can start

872
00:53:48,920 --> 00:53:53,200
Speaker 2: the process of ending this war. So I was for

873
00:53:53,440 --> 00:53:55,320
Speaker 2: the end of the war. What I was not for

874
00:53:55,760 --> 00:53:59,080
Speaker 2: was the withdrawal. The way that it happened. It could

875
00:53:59,080 --> 00:54:02,520
Speaker 2: not have been more like the world said. It could

876
00:54:02,600 --> 00:54:06,040
Speaker 2: not have been more of a disaster, more chaotic, more unplanned,

877
00:54:07,320 --> 00:54:13,040
Speaker 2: and it really showed a lot of our vulnerabilities, I

878
00:54:13,080 --> 00:54:18,880
Speaker 2: think from a national security perspective, with how it unfolded,

879
00:54:19,000 --> 00:54:22,560
Speaker 2: both like in our intelligence and you know, the Taliban

880
00:54:22,600 --> 00:54:27,000
Speaker 2: has no capabilities to take Kabul. The Afghan Army is

881
00:54:27,040 --> 00:54:29,680
Speaker 2: able to hold Kabool. You know, all of that information

882
00:54:29,760 --> 00:54:34,160
Speaker 2: that continued to come out from the IC and was

883
00:54:35,160 --> 00:54:37,600
Speaker 2: it wasn't just false, Like we didn't look back and

884
00:54:37,640 --> 00:54:39,040
Speaker 2: be like, oh yeah, they were a little off on

885
00:54:39,080 --> 00:54:43,040
Speaker 2: that one. It fell in the it fell in days,

886
00:54:44,360 --> 00:54:49,000
Speaker 2: and so it was just I think an example of

887
00:54:49,120 --> 00:54:54,680
Speaker 2: the IC doing their analysis, politicized analysis of like wanting

888
00:54:55,000 --> 00:54:58,120
Speaker 2: a specific outcome and then that's what gets briefed instead

889
00:54:58,120 --> 00:55:01,960
Speaker 2: of the reality on the ground. And so it was

890
00:55:02,040 --> 00:55:05,160
Speaker 2: very difficult for me to watch, actually a whole lot

891
00:55:05,280 --> 00:55:07,440
Speaker 2: more difficult than I thought it would be. It really

892
00:55:07,520 --> 00:55:16,120
Speaker 2: affected me seeing, you know, seeing the helicopters evacuate American

893
00:55:16,520 --> 00:55:20,680
Speaker 2: civilians off of the embassies, seeing what happened at the

894
00:55:20,719 --> 00:55:27,480
Speaker 2: airfield at Kia, seeing American veterans springing into actions, like

895
00:55:27,560 --> 00:55:30,480
Speaker 2: everybody on their phones twenty four to seven to try

896
00:55:30,520 --> 00:55:34,920
Speaker 2: to help the interpreters, interpreters and the other Afghans who

897
00:55:35,719 --> 00:55:40,480
Speaker 2: had helped Americans on the ground. And it was such

898
00:55:40,560 --> 00:55:43,400
Speaker 2: a helpless feeling because you're sitting over here in America,

899
00:55:43,719 --> 00:55:46,120
Speaker 2: You're like trying to you know, communicate the best you

900
00:55:46,160 --> 00:55:48,399
Speaker 2: can figure out a way, figure out which gates open

901
00:55:48,480 --> 00:55:52,160
Speaker 2: right now, versus you know where the Taliban is like

902
00:55:52,360 --> 00:55:55,160
Speaker 2: beating people to death and all of that. So it

903
00:55:55,320 --> 00:55:58,560
Speaker 2: was a lot and it was really a surreal time.

904
00:56:00,239 --> 00:56:03,040
Speaker 2: But what was more surreal was how quick it was

905
00:56:03,040 --> 00:56:04,919
Speaker 2: out of the news cycle once it was over.

906
00:56:05,560 --> 00:56:09,279
Speaker 1: My gosh, Amber, you're so right, Oh my god, so

907
00:56:09,400 --> 00:56:13,400
Speaker 1: much there. I remember experiencing that I felt at a

908
00:56:13,520 --> 00:56:21,040
Speaker 1: very similar experience, and I remember thinking, my god, I

909
00:56:21,080 --> 00:56:23,279
Speaker 1: want to go back, get me over there. And at

910
00:56:23,280 --> 00:56:26,200
Speaker 1: the time, I was running for Senate, at the height

911
00:56:26,200 --> 00:56:29,160
Speaker 1: of my Senate campaign, and I was this close to

912
00:56:29,200 --> 00:56:33,560
Speaker 1: suspending my campaign and hopping on like some civilian wowe

913
00:56:34,239 --> 00:56:36,160
Speaker 1: back then. And I did you feel the same way?

914
00:56:36,520 --> 00:56:37,319
Speaker 1: I know that you did.

915
00:56:38,480 --> 00:56:40,560
Speaker 2: I did, I absolutely did, and I did the best

916
00:56:40,600 --> 00:56:45,000
Speaker 2: I can. I was working with some special operations veterans

917
00:56:46,360 --> 00:56:49,840
Speaker 2: that were doing some sort of fantastic work behind the

918
00:56:49,880 --> 00:56:53,560
Speaker 2: scenes in terms of getting things done, and I'm grateful

919
00:56:53,719 --> 00:56:56,879
Speaker 2: for the work that I was able to do with them.

920
00:56:56,920 --> 00:56:58,880
Speaker 2: Of course, you always wish that you could do more,

921
00:57:00,040 --> 00:57:03,160
Speaker 2: which sort of leads to that like helpless feeling. But

922
00:57:03,239 --> 00:57:04,920
Speaker 2: it was like time was so short, and then the

923
00:57:04,960 --> 00:57:08,640
Speaker 2: State Department, you know, shut everybody down, like shut it.

924
00:57:08,680 --> 00:57:11,640
Speaker 2: At one point it was like nope, shut down and

925
00:57:11,680 --> 00:57:13,440
Speaker 2: there was no way in or out. And then it

926
00:57:13,480 --> 00:57:16,200
Speaker 2: was like, all right, let's move to grand transportation, and

927
00:57:16,960 --> 00:57:19,680
Speaker 2: that became its own issues for the obvious reasons with

928
00:57:19,720 --> 00:57:24,200
Speaker 2: the Taliban and checkpoints, and it was just it was

929
00:57:25,320 --> 00:57:29,120
Speaker 2: unreal that the US government essentially did that to itself.

930
00:57:30,800 --> 00:57:34,640
Speaker 2: So and where's the accountability? Sean? Are we going to

931
00:57:34,720 --> 00:57:39,600
Speaker 2: have that conversation? Like, I know, Congress just launched their investigation,

932
00:57:40,200 --> 00:57:42,520
Speaker 2: but which is great, which is great, We're going to

933
00:57:42,560 --> 00:57:46,440
Speaker 2: spend taxpayer dollars on like millions of taxpair dollars on

934
00:57:46,480 --> 00:57:51,080
Speaker 2: an investigation. But are we going to say I only

935
00:57:51,120 --> 00:57:54,440
Speaker 2: want an investigation if there's going to be some accountability,

936
00:57:54,480 --> 00:57:57,880
Speaker 2: because what are they going to do with this investigation? What?

937
00:57:58,920 --> 00:58:02,880
Speaker 1: It's a fair point. And I really let me just

938
00:58:03,000 --> 00:58:06,000
Speaker 1: let me just ask you this, how much investigation do

939
00:58:06,080 --> 00:58:07,080
Speaker 1: we really need to do?

940
00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:08,400
Speaker 2: Exactly?

941
00:58:08,480 --> 00:58:13,720
Speaker 1: We all saw what a horrific train wreck the withdrawal

942
00:58:13,760 --> 00:58:20,960
Speaker 1: of Afghanistan was. Yet you're absolutely right, from Milly on down,

943
00:58:21,000 --> 00:58:26,040
Speaker 1: there hasn't been one single person, not one politician, not

944
00:58:26,880 --> 00:58:30,440
Speaker 1: one single general, not one single military leader who's been

945
00:58:30,440 --> 00:58:33,640
Speaker 1: held accountable for that debacle. And at some level, I

946
00:58:33,680 --> 00:58:35,440
Speaker 1: think there has to be accountability.

947
00:58:36,160 --> 00:58:42,200
Speaker 2: There has to be accountability, and if generals and civilian leaders,

948
00:58:42,240 --> 00:58:46,240
Speaker 2: civilian sectors, there needs to be public acknowledgment of their

949
00:58:46,240 --> 00:58:50,960
Speaker 2: failures and that their responsibility contributed to this. And it

950
00:58:51,040 --> 00:58:53,960
Speaker 2: has to be not political. It has to be completely

951
00:58:55,800 --> 00:59:00,000
Speaker 2: just factual. These decisions, these leadership decisions that were made

952
00:59:00,000 --> 00:59:05,520
Speaker 2: made by these individuals, you know, failed the US military

953
00:59:05,520 --> 00:59:08,840
Speaker 2: and those we're serving in the people of Afghanistan. It

954
00:59:09,040 --> 00:59:11,880
Speaker 2: needs to be that blunt. If they can't, you know,

955
00:59:13,080 --> 00:59:18,400
Speaker 2: like criminally financially hold them accountable, then their needs they

956
00:59:18,400 --> 00:59:23,000
Speaker 2: need to publicly be said what the decisions that these

957
00:59:23,040 --> 00:59:28,200
Speaker 2: people made led and the consequences of their actions. But yeah,

958
00:59:28,240 --> 00:59:31,640
Speaker 2: the people who are still serving, it is like they

959
00:59:31,680 --> 00:59:35,040
Speaker 2: need to be removed from leadership leadership positions. But the

960
00:59:35,120 --> 00:59:37,640
Speaker 2: thing was is that in the military at the Pentagon,

961
00:59:38,000 --> 00:59:41,320
Speaker 2: and this isn't just the military, this is a government problem.

962
00:59:41,720 --> 00:59:45,200
Speaker 2: You fail up when you go on with the failed

963
00:59:45,280 --> 00:59:48,520
Speaker 2: decisions and you fall in line. Guess what, You keep

964
00:59:48,560 --> 00:59:51,560
Speaker 2: your mouth shut, you get promoted, you move up, you

965
00:59:51,600 --> 00:59:55,280
Speaker 2: speak out, you use common sense, you think critically. Guess

966
00:59:55,280 --> 00:59:59,120
Speaker 2: what you are now a threat and you are going

967
00:59:59,160 --> 01:00:01,360
Speaker 2: to be held accountable for telling the truth.

968
01:00:01,720 --> 01:00:04,120
Speaker 1: I mean, we live in a society with a two

969
01:00:04,160 --> 01:00:07,800
Speaker 1: tiered justice system. And you know, if you look at

970
01:00:07,800 --> 01:00:10,000
Speaker 1: what's going on with Joe Biden and the scandal that

971
01:00:10,040 --> 01:00:14,120
Speaker 1: he's embroiled in with these classified documents, like in the

972
01:00:14,200 --> 01:00:18,680
Speaker 1: carelessness with which he handled them, had and then you

973
01:00:18,680 --> 01:00:21,520
Speaker 1: look at the way the general these generals handled Afghanistan

974
01:00:21,600 --> 01:00:26,600
Speaker 1: and the carelessness with which they handled the whole of Afghanistan. No,

975
01:00:27,160 --> 01:00:29,560
Speaker 1: like no accountability for Afghanistan. Is there going to be

976
01:00:29,560 --> 01:00:32,400
Speaker 1: accountability for Joe Biden, who, by the way, is the

977
01:00:32,400 --> 01:00:39,000
Speaker 1: commander in chief of the United States Military. We wouldn't

978
01:00:39,080 --> 01:00:43,120
Speaker 1: get that level of grace if if you and you

979
01:00:43,280 --> 01:00:49,120
Speaker 1: or I as tactical leaders made the same mistakes that

980
01:00:49,280 --> 01:00:51,400
Speaker 1: they did, we would be fired and put out of

981
01:00:51,440 --> 01:00:52,680
Speaker 1: the military in a second.

982
01:00:54,120 --> 01:00:57,320
Speaker 2: Can you even imagine? First of all, no, I don't

983
01:00:57,360 --> 01:00:59,520
Speaker 2: think Joe Biden's going to be held accountable. I don't

984
01:01:00,120 --> 01:01:04,040
Speaker 2: not for a second. I wasn't even surprised. I wasn't

985
01:01:04,080 --> 01:01:09,160
Speaker 2: even surprised when I heard about this about the cost

986
01:01:09,200 --> 01:01:12,440
Speaker 2: by documents. I just was like, sounds about right. Uh

987
01:01:12,920 --> 01:01:18,000
Speaker 2: so the yeah, imagine a captain or maybe like an

988
01:01:18,080 --> 01:01:21,880
Speaker 2: E five, you know all the clearances, doesn't a skiff

989
01:01:21,920 --> 01:01:26,600
Speaker 2: is working on something, just takes this many documents, stuffs

990
01:01:26,640 --> 01:01:29,480
Speaker 2: them in his backpack and walks out. What would happen

991
01:01:29,520 --> 01:01:33,960
Speaker 2: to that guy?

992
01:01:34,120 --> 01:01:38,080
Speaker 1: Absolutely right, Yes, and there'll be no discussion about it.

993
01:01:39,040 --> 01:01:44,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, no discussion. They would be like committing treason, a

994
01:01:44,440 --> 01:01:49,640
Speaker 2: threat to the United States government. So it's just like

995
01:01:49,720 --> 01:01:54,400
Speaker 2: you said, the two tier justice system, the political elites.

996
01:01:54,400 --> 01:01:57,720
Speaker 2: When you're on the right wrong the right side, how

997
01:01:57,760 --> 01:02:01,080
Speaker 2: you get treated and howeverbody looks the other way for

998
01:02:01,160 --> 01:02:06,320
Speaker 2: you versus everybody else. It's really on American And I

999
01:02:06,480 --> 01:02:11,400
Speaker 2: don't know how long you carry on like that before

1000
01:02:13,520 --> 01:02:16,960
Speaker 2: people wake up to the reality and get very angry

1001
01:02:16,960 --> 01:02:20,800
Speaker 2: about that, about one standard being held to the political

1002
01:02:20,800 --> 01:02:23,680
Speaker 2: elite and those on the right side and then those

1003
01:02:23,800 --> 01:02:24,520
Speaker 2: everybody else.

1004
01:02:25,360 --> 01:02:29,360
Speaker 1: Well, you know, and now, Amber, you have two kids

1005
01:02:29,360 --> 01:02:31,080
Speaker 1: of your own. How old are you got a boy

1006
01:02:31,080 --> 01:02:32,520
Speaker 1: and a girl? How old are they?

1007
01:02:32,640 --> 01:02:34,800
Speaker 2: You do? Four and too?

1008
01:02:35,120 --> 01:02:37,800
Speaker 1: Four and two? Yeah, So I tried to do a

1009
01:02:37,800 --> 01:02:40,080
Speaker 1: little bit of math before the try to figure out

1010
01:02:40,160 --> 01:02:42,000
Speaker 1: how old your kids were. So you're still in the

1011
01:02:42,040 --> 01:02:44,480
Speaker 1: thick of it with your little ones, like where you're

1012
01:02:44,520 --> 01:02:47,520
Speaker 1: probably waking up in the middle of the night and

1013
01:02:47,520 --> 01:02:51,080
Speaker 1: and so you've made the transition from you know, running

1014
01:02:51,080 --> 01:02:54,440
Speaker 1: combat missions in Afghanistan and a Kyo Warrior helicopter flying

1015
01:02:54,440 --> 01:02:57,920
Speaker 1: into troops in contact of probably watching Doc mcstuffans and

1016
01:02:57,960 --> 01:03:02,560
Speaker 1: knowing all the lyrics on all of those those shows,

1017
01:03:02,560 --> 01:03:05,080
Speaker 1: which which is yeah, you Pepa Pig, which is a

1018
01:03:05,160 --> 01:03:07,320
Speaker 1: journey in and of itself, an adventurous one at that.

1019
01:03:08,320 --> 01:03:12,480
Speaker 1: But what do you would you want your children joining

1020
01:03:12,520 --> 01:03:15,800
Speaker 1: the military because your oldest is four, so in fourteen years,

1021
01:03:15,840 --> 01:03:20,720
Speaker 1: that would go by like that in fourteen years. So

1022
01:03:20,840 --> 01:03:22,920
Speaker 1: we talked about your parents and how they were supportive

1023
01:03:22,960 --> 01:03:25,000
Speaker 1: of you joined the military during a time of war,

1024
01:03:25,040 --> 01:03:29,040
Speaker 1: and how they clearly how I don't know how either.

1025
01:03:29,160 --> 01:03:31,760
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm a parent with young children as well.

1026
01:03:33,000 --> 01:03:36,560
Speaker 1: I have no idea how I would react to a

1027
01:03:36,600 --> 01:03:41,040
Speaker 1: situation like that. With where the military is today, where

1028
01:03:41,080 --> 01:03:41,720
Speaker 1: are you on that?

1029
01:03:44,440 --> 01:03:48,440
Speaker 2: The answer is a hard no, And that absolutely breaks

1030
01:03:48,480 --> 01:03:52,080
Speaker 2: my heart to say that. But the military that I

1031
01:03:52,240 --> 01:03:56,680
Speaker 2: served in I don't even recognize anymore. It doesn't exist.

1032
01:03:58,680 --> 01:04:01,720
Speaker 2: And that's hard because I did a significant chunk of

1033
01:04:01,720 --> 01:04:04,680
Speaker 2: my life to it, and it did do so much

1034
01:04:04,720 --> 01:04:08,160
Speaker 2: for me. It was extremely hard and challenging, and it

1035
01:04:08,320 --> 01:04:13,200
Speaker 2: forced myself, you know, to to the to the red

1036
01:04:13,240 --> 01:04:16,720
Speaker 2: line where you learn what you're capable of and your limits,

1037
01:04:16,760 --> 01:04:21,680
Speaker 2: and it it learned. It brings out the best part

1038
01:04:21,760 --> 01:04:25,240
Speaker 2: of you. And so I'm so grateful for my service,

1039
01:04:25,280 --> 01:04:29,840
Speaker 2: and I'm sad that that type of a military, with

1040
01:04:29,960 --> 01:04:34,040
Speaker 2: the military leadership that exists today isn't there anymore. And

1041
01:04:34,080 --> 01:04:37,120
Speaker 2: that the positive things that I said that the military

1042
01:04:37,160 --> 01:04:41,600
Speaker 2: does for you about character building and you know, working

1043
01:04:41,640 --> 01:04:44,840
Speaker 2: with the most diverse group of people that is out

1044
01:04:44,840 --> 01:04:48,640
Speaker 2: there and having one solid mission and your purpose. I

1045
01:04:48,680 --> 01:04:54,360
Speaker 2: don't believe that that military and those experiences are there anymore.

1046
01:04:54,400 --> 01:04:57,920
Speaker 2: I don't feel like it's military leadership would have the

1047
01:04:57,960 --> 01:05:03,560
Speaker 2: best interest of my children serving. It took me, you know,

1048
01:05:03,600 --> 01:05:08,280
Speaker 2: when I first started having these thoughts about you know,

1049
01:05:08,560 --> 01:05:11,040
Speaker 2: this is real now, Like my parents are growing up

1050
01:05:11,360 --> 01:05:16,080
Speaker 2: in a household where their father is still serving and

1051
01:05:16,160 --> 01:05:19,520
Speaker 2: has had an incredible military career, and then you know,

1052
01:05:19,600 --> 01:05:22,640
Speaker 2: I obviously served combat veteran myself, so of course they're

1053
01:05:22,640 --> 01:05:25,520
Speaker 2: going to hear about it and be so interested in it.

1054
01:05:26,800 --> 01:05:29,440
Speaker 2: But that's going to be a really hard conversation, and

1055
01:05:29,520 --> 01:05:32,040
Speaker 2: like I wish, I hope the military gets back on track.

1056
01:05:32,080 --> 01:05:34,720
Speaker 2: It's why I'm so vocal and passionate about this is

1057
01:05:35,280 --> 01:05:38,800
Speaker 2: the military needs to turn itself around and get back

1058
01:05:38,840 --> 01:05:41,720
Speaker 2: to a mission focused organization rather than a Washington, d c.

1059
01:05:42,720 --> 01:05:50,200
Speaker 2: Political agenda organization and really a leadership institution. The United

1060
01:05:50,200 --> 01:05:54,680
Speaker 2: States used to be the best like leadership government agency

1061
01:05:54,760 --> 01:05:58,120
Speaker 2: institution out there. West Point used to be the number

1062
01:05:58,120 --> 01:06:01,560
Speaker 2: one leadership school in the world. They're teaching CRT. They

1063
01:06:01,600 --> 01:06:04,560
Speaker 2: used to teach critical thinking, and now they're focused on

1064
01:06:04,600 --> 01:06:06,880
Speaker 2: other things. So it's just like the military has lost

1065
01:06:06,920 --> 01:06:10,400
Speaker 2: its way and it needs to get back on track

1066
01:06:10,440 --> 01:06:13,200
Speaker 2: if they want to fix this recruiting and retention and

1067
01:06:13,480 --> 01:06:18,480
Speaker 2: morale crisis that the military is in right now. I

1068
01:06:18,520 --> 01:06:23,440
Speaker 2: will tell you I have been speaking with a lot

1069
01:06:23,520 --> 01:06:30,000
Speaker 2: of active duty military and I have been asking them

1070
01:06:30,040 --> 01:06:35,640
Speaker 2: the same question. Not one person has said they would

1071
01:06:35,640 --> 01:06:40,680
Speaker 2: recommend military service to their children. That is terrifying because

1072
01:06:40,720 --> 01:06:43,040
Speaker 2: when I served out the Pentagon, I worked on an

1073
01:06:43,080 --> 01:06:47,600
Speaker 2: initiative called Know Your Military, which connects the American public

1074
01:06:47,640 --> 01:06:50,080
Speaker 2: that doesn't have much of a connection to those who serve,

1075
01:06:51,400 --> 01:06:53,200
Speaker 2: and then connects them to the military. It's part of

1076
01:06:53,240 --> 01:06:57,040
Speaker 2: bridging the civilian military divide. And through our research, we

1077
01:06:57,160 --> 01:07:00,000
Speaker 2: found that the military had really turned into a family business.

1078
01:07:01,600 --> 01:07:04,680
Speaker 2: People who have parents who serve are so much more

1079
01:07:04,800 --> 01:07:08,240
Speaker 2: likely to serve than those without military parents are without

1080
01:07:08,280 --> 01:07:11,440
Speaker 2: that direct connection to the military. And now this trend

1081
01:07:11,720 --> 01:07:14,640
Speaker 2: in people who are serving are not recommending to their

1082
01:07:14,720 --> 01:07:19,000
Speaker 2: children that they serve in the military. Is like, we

1083
01:07:19,040 --> 01:07:23,120
Speaker 2: think recruitment is bad this current generation, what's it going

1084
01:07:23,160 --> 01:07:26,080
Speaker 2: to look like in the next generation? And people need

1085
01:07:26,160 --> 01:07:29,760
Speaker 2: to wake up to the national security threat that that

1086
01:07:29,960 --> 01:07:35,400
Speaker 2: is when are like, like, we have an all volunteer

1087
01:07:35,480 --> 01:07:37,760
Speaker 2: service right now, is it always going to be like that?

1088
01:07:39,040 --> 01:07:40,960
Speaker 1: How do we get things back on the right track.

1089
01:07:43,280 --> 01:07:50,840
Speaker 2: We do. We start by fixing the general problem. And

1090
01:07:50,640 --> 01:07:53,960
Speaker 2: the thing is is that it's not an easy fix.

1091
01:07:55,720 --> 01:07:58,240
Speaker 2: It's going to have to be Congress in the executive

1092
01:07:58,280 --> 01:08:02,440
Speaker 2: branch working together. And what I just said doesn't actually

1093
01:08:02,440 --> 01:08:04,800
Speaker 2: exist in real life, so I don't think there's going

1094
01:08:04,880 --> 01:08:11,000
Speaker 2: to be much change. It would require both of them

1095
01:08:11,040 --> 01:08:18,000
Speaker 2: focusing on leadership at the Pentagon and understanding that that

1096
01:08:18,160 --> 01:08:24,240
Speaker 2: sort of legacy generals are the problem, are part of

1097
01:08:24,280 --> 01:08:28,000
Speaker 2: the problem, and they've just become yes man. That's what's said.

1098
01:08:28,080 --> 01:08:31,160
Speaker 2: The generals of World War two no longer exist. Those

1099
01:08:31,200 --> 01:08:35,400
Speaker 2: aren't the generals in the military today. And so that's

1100
01:08:35,479 --> 01:08:40,080
Speaker 2: kind of step one, you know, root out the toxic leadership,

1101
01:08:40,680 --> 01:08:44,360
Speaker 2: the people who are you know, pushing these woke agendas

1102
01:08:44,560 --> 01:08:51,400
Speaker 2: onto the military, over readiness, over mission success. And that's

1103
01:08:51,439 --> 01:08:53,360
Speaker 2: more on the political leadership side that we see with

1104
01:08:53,400 --> 01:08:57,280
Speaker 2: the sect deaf and his sort of priorities for the

1105
01:08:57,400 --> 01:09:03,479
Speaker 2: US military. Uh that so there's a lot to do.

1106
01:09:04,080 --> 01:09:06,599
Speaker 2: But with the way the military is treating those who

1107
01:09:06,600 --> 01:09:11,320
Speaker 2: are currently serving, it's having a serious effect. We saw

1108
01:09:11,360 --> 01:09:16,439
Speaker 2: what the COVID mandate did. It really was damaging to

1109
01:09:16,600 --> 01:09:19,439
Speaker 2: a lot of people serving who were forced into a

1110
01:09:19,479 --> 01:09:26,280
Speaker 2: corner and completely told that their principles didn't matter. So

1111
01:09:26,320 --> 01:09:34,160
Speaker 2: they were told to basically, you know, the army values

1112
01:09:34,200 --> 01:09:37,559
Speaker 2: that you learn from day one. They were essentially said to, like, nope,

1113
01:09:37,920 --> 01:09:40,400
Speaker 2: get rid of those and just do what we tell

1114
01:09:40,439 --> 01:09:44,480
Speaker 2: you to. Don't stand by your values anymore.

1115
01:09:44,880 --> 01:09:48,280
Speaker 1: It's terrifying. It sounds like it. I mean, the research

1116
01:09:48,680 --> 01:09:51,559
Speaker 1: that you conducted at the Pentagon and the idea that

1117
01:09:51,600 --> 01:09:55,360
Speaker 1: the military is a family business. People who have parents

1118
01:09:55,760 --> 01:09:58,519
Speaker 1: who serve are more likely to serve themselves. What do

1119
01:09:58,560 --> 01:10:02,600
Speaker 1: you do when and your parents are like, NA, ceasefire

1120
01:10:02,680 --> 01:10:05,400
Speaker 1: on that, kiddo, like it's not a good time to join.

1121
01:10:07,160 --> 01:10:10,120
Speaker 1: Raises very serious questions of whether or not you can

1122
01:10:10,200 --> 01:10:14,080
Speaker 1: even have in all volunteer force in five or ten

1123
01:10:14,160 --> 01:10:18,439
Speaker 1: years from now. And man, I don't know, amber you're

1124
01:10:18,439 --> 01:10:22,200
Speaker 1: a warrior. I want to be respectful of your time.

1125
01:10:24,040 --> 01:10:28,519
Speaker 1: How so, how how has being an I want to

1126
01:10:28,560 --> 01:10:33,320
Speaker 1: talk about you now? How has being a warrior in

1127
01:10:33,360 --> 01:10:37,559
Speaker 1: a helicopter pilot shaped who you've become as a mom?

1128
01:10:41,560 --> 01:10:46,160
Speaker 2: I guess it's made me more critical and focused on

1129
01:10:46,800 --> 01:10:49,160
Speaker 2: their future and some of the things they are going

1130
01:10:49,240 --> 01:10:53,080
Speaker 2: to be up against in this world. I know, like

1131
01:10:54,000 --> 01:10:58,799
Speaker 2: I want, I do get very concerned about the direction

1132
01:10:58,920 --> 01:11:03,320
Speaker 2: of this country and the divisiveness, and how you're no

1133
01:11:03,400 --> 01:11:09,040
Speaker 2: longer to think critically or have a voice of your

1134
01:11:09,080 --> 01:11:12,560
Speaker 2: own without having to worry about going against the mainstream

1135
01:11:12,600 --> 01:11:17,160
Speaker 2: and the consequences that come with it. But like I said,

1136
01:11:17,320 --> 01:11:22,080
Speaker 2: I grew up loving America, loving the freedoms that I

1137
01:11:22,120 --> 01:11:24,799
Speaker 2: got to enjoy every day growing up, and I want

1138
01:11:24,880 --> 01:11:29,360
Speaker 2: to ensure that my children get to experience that level

1139
01:11:29,400 --> 01:11:33,639
Speaker 2: of freedom, that level of opportunity and the joys that

1140
01:11:33,720 --> 01:11:37,080
Speaker 2: come with all of that. So it is very important

1141
01:11:37,280 --> 01:11:41,040
Speaker 2: to me that I continue to fight that fight in

1142
01:11:41,120 --> 01:11:47,439
Speaker 2: my own way by helping preserve the America that I

1143
01:11:47,439 --> 01:11:51,720
Speaker 2: know in love and that I fought to protect and

1144
01:11:51,760 --> 01:11:56,719
Speaker 2: two wars for. And I can only hope that more

1145
01:11:56,760 --> 01:12:00,679
Speaker 2: Americans are waking up. I think if they're one silver

1146
01:12:00,760 --> 01:12:04,720
Speaker 2: lining to the disaster of the COVID nineteen response is

1147
01:12:04,760 --> 01:12:09,840
Speaker 2: that I think it did wake up some sleeping Americans

1148
01:12:10,080 --> 01:12:15,880
Speaker 2: to big government power and control and utilizing fear as

1149
01:12:16,200 --> 01:12:18,800
Speaker 2: a way to get that power and control. And so

1150
01:12:19,360 --> 01:12:22,639
Speaker 2: I do think that I hope that many Americans woke

1151
01:12:22,760 --> 01:12:28,439
Speaker 2: up to some of the tyranny that we are now

1152
01:12:28,479 --> 01:12:32,680
Speaker 2: seeing on our own doorsteps, which is terrifying, and it

1153
01:12:32,800 --> 01:12:38,360
Speaker 2: happened very quickly. But I think it's important to find

1154
01:12:38,400 --> 01:12:40,400
Speaker 2: your voice, speak out about it.

1155
01:12:40,800 --> 01:12:43,559
Speaker 1: I totally agree, find your voice, speak out about it,

1156
01:12:43,600 --> 01:12:48,519
Speaker 1: take a stand, think critically, think for yourself. Amber This

1157
01:12:48,600 --> 01:12:53,559
Speaker 1: country is so lucky and blessed to have people like

1158
01:12:53,640 --> 01:12:57,679
Speaker 1: you in it. And thank you for coming on today,

1159
01:12:57,680 --> 01:12:59,800
Speaker 1: thank you for your perspective, and thank you for joining

1160
01:12:59,840 --> 01:13:00,720
Speaker 1: me battleground.

1161
01:13:02,200 --> 01:13:05,599
Speaker 2: Can I say, Mamartha of course you can. I just

1162
01:13:05,640 --> 01:13:08,240
Speaker 2: want to say, Sean number one, I'm so excited for

1163
01:13:08,320 --> 01:13:12,960
Speaker 2: this podcast because you're like made for it, and also

1164
01:13:13,200 --> 01:13:17,080
Speaker 2: so back in the day. You were my biggest advocate

1165
01:13:17,200 --> 01:13:19,240
Speaker 2: for getting my book off the ground, for telling me

1166
01:13:19,280 --> 01:13:21,639
Speaker 2: that I have a story, for helping me find my voice,

1167
01:13:22,880 --> 01:13:26,479
Speaker 2: and being such a big supporter of my book with

1168
01:13:26,640 --> 01:13:29,479
Speaker 2: everything that I needed. And I just can't thank you

1169
01:13:29,600 --> 01:13:34,519
Speaker 2: enough for being such an awesome person friend American. You're

1170
01:13:34,560 --> 01:13:38,439
Speaker 2: the real deal and American needs you. I know you're

1171
01:13:38,479 --> 01:13:39,240
Speaker 2: going to stay in the fight.

1172
01:13:40,320 --> 01:13:43,120
Speaker 1: Thanks Amber, I really appreciate that. Thank you for saying

1173
01:13:43,160 --> 01:13:43,320
Speaker 1: that