1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:19,000 Speaker 1: H Hello, my friends, Hi guys, everybody ready for the show. 2 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:23,279 Speaker 1: All right, Well, this is behind the Bastards and you 3 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:27,040 Speaker 1: might know me as the executive producer Anderson's mom or 4 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:31,639 Speaker 1: that who's that really annoying voice laughing obnoxiously in the background. 5 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 1: Oh thanks, guys. Well, first to the stage, let's welcome 6 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 1: Reverend Dr Billionaire Wayne David h and live in person 7 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: and not trapped in an iPad, my favorite bastard, Reverend 8 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:17,240 Speaker 1: doctor Robert Evans. So I let it go to my 9 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 1: head a little bit, Jesus, do you like me to 10 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 1: hold You got so much going on and plan for 11 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:31,520 Speaker 1: after coming in with the cape, just for coming in 12 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:33,440 Speaker 1: with you. Just you look like one of those people 13 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 1: that like you're going to battle, but then you get 14 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:41,399 Speaker 1: the battle and you're wearing things and battles just through. 15 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: How are you doing to that, Billy man, I'm fucking good. 16 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:48,400 Speaker 1: I wanted to thank you, Billy for this, the wonderful 17 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 1: gift of this machete. I got a new one. Billy 18 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:54,040 Speaker 1: just gave it some And you know, I'm I'm a 19 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 1: little bit of a connoisseur. And what I love about 20 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:59,160 Speaker 1: this machete is that in order to draw it. You 21 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:01,360 Speaker 1: have to bring it day juriously close to your throat, 22 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 1: and that's the real mark of a quality weapon, Like 23 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:06,880 Speaker 1: look at that. You do that drunk, you could really 24 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:09,400 Speaker 1: damage yourself. That's probably why they had it for sale 25 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:14,800 Speaker 1: on Craigslist. About that, the guy walked out of an alley, 26 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:21,520 Speaker 1: handed me that through my car, just handed it to 27 00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: my car, and I gave him twenty five. This is 28 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: like a real story, you guys, we're laughing. It's not 29 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: a bit. No. That's when you see a machete for 30 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 1: sale on Craigslist, you're like, I'm gonna go try to 31 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,720 Speaker 1: buy this. You know, you know one thing immediately, and 32 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 1: it's the person you're buying that machete from did not 33 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:45,280 Speaker 1: themselves come by it least no, God, that is a 34 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: stolen machete, but it was in a package. That's He 35 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:54,960 Speaker 1: walked off before I could ask him any follow up questions, 36 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:58,960 Speaker 1: where I was like, how many do you have? It's 37 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:00,400 Speaker 1: a fascinating for me to get to the head of 38 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:02,240 Speaker 1: somebody that goes to an ARII and of all of 39 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:04,280 Speaker 1: the different high dollar items you could steal from an 40 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:08,000 Speaker 1: r I picks like the worst price price to size ratio, 41 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:12,720 Speaker 1: but I think that's just opportunity presented itself. And now 42 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 1: you have fourteen machetes that happened to me, but all 43 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:24,960 Speaker 1: they did start a podcast, So Billy, you don't know 44 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:27,959 Speaker 1: the subject today that we're going with. That's good, that's good. 45 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:29,560 Speaker 1: I have a question i'd like to to ask you 46 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 1: before I kind of lead into things, um, and I 47 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:33,880 Speaker 1: hope it's okay to ask this in front of an 48 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 1: intimate group of our friends. Have you ever killed a 49 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:45,320 Speaker 1: man on purpose? No? No, I have not, but you've 50 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 1: you've thought about it? Like we all like like that's 51 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:51,920 Speaker 1: the thing, right, Yeah, I'm not fuck off with that question. 52 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 1: That is you can't answer that and we're recording this. 53 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 1: I think it was like witness with all their names, 54 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:09,119 Speaker 1: have you ever thought about kill in someone? If we're 55 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:12,200 Speaker 1: honest with ourselves, if we're if we're really if we're 56 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:16,360 Speaker 1: really being truthful tonight, I think most most men, particularly 57 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: you know, you're in the line at the bank and 58 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:22,240 Speaker 1: you're like, would have ninja came out? Right? You're at 59 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:24,599 Speaker 1: the McDonald's and you just like if something happened, if 60 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:26,320 Speaker 1: the ship went down, Like could I could I be 61 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:31,600 Speaker 1: a badass? And like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, never, like, 62 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:33,920 Speaker 1: if they weren't on this planet, this would help me out. 63 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:38,680 Speaker 1: Never never think that way. You said McDonald's. I thought 64 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:41,159 Speaker 1: you were going Trump there because how much you love 65 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:47,440 Speaker 1: him some McDonald's, but he ain't step McDonald's. Yeah. So 66 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:49,720 Speaker 1: I think it's a pretty normal thing to like wonder 67 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:52,839 Speaker 1: how you would react if, like a situation required you 68 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:56,920 Speaker 1: to be a giant badass. Um. But that fantasy isn't 69 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:00,440 Speaker 1: enough for everybody. Some people need to really commit to 70 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,440 Speaker 1: the fantasy that, despite all evidence to the contrary, they're 71 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:06,440 Speaker 1: huge badasses. And over the last twenty years or so, 72 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:09,000 Speaker 1: there's a whole industry that's grown up of tactical gear 73 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:14,599 Speaker 1: and tactical content and tactical magazine. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 74 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:16,640 Speaker 1: we like there's a bit of that. And I mean 75 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:20,640 Speaker 1: I walked on the stage. Yeah it's fine, um, and 76 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:28,120 Speaker 1: I'm gonna go yeah, I don't dive. So we're all 77 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:31,240 Speaker 1: familiar with kind of where the story has ended up 78 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:34,520 Speaker 1: in and today we're going to talk about the birth 79 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: of this industry as embodied by a single periodical soldier 80 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 1: of fortunes. Yeah, yes, man, I was so hoping you're 81 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:52,239 Speaker 1: gonna say that. Yeah, you might want to hold onto 82 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: that I know I don't mean good. I think is 83 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,799 Speaker 1: to entertaining as fuck, entertaining as fun. I think Reddit 84 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:07,440 Speaker 1: is a magazine. You might be surprised by how many 85 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:11,760 Speaker 1: people this magazine got killed, because it is a lot 86 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:16,799 Speaker 1: even better. So our story starts with a single man, 87 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:21,400 Speaker 1: Robert Brown. He was born on November two, nineteen thirty two, 88 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:23,960 Speaker 1: in Monroe, Michigan, and I've been able to find vanishingly 89 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: little about his early life, and everything you just said 90 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:30,719 Speaker 1: is boring his head. But he entered college in nineteen 91 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:32,520 Speaker 1: fifty and at the time there was a draft on 92 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:35,279 Speaker 1: and Brown saw some sort of military service as inevitable. 93 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:37,880 Speaker 1: He decided he'd rather be a fighter pilot than anything else, 94 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:39,800 Speaker 1: and he joined the Air Force r OTC to make 95 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:42,679 Speaker 1: that happen. So far, it all scans um. He wound 96 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:45,080 Speaker 1: up not being doing well in college and was forced 97 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:47,920 Speaker 1: to transfer in nineteen fifty three to another university because, 98 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:50,080 Speaker 1: in his words, the dean and I agreed it was 99 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:54,760 Speaker 1: best I leave Michigan State. I've been on some of 100 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 1: those discussions. So, due to a mix of his new 101 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:03,520 Speaker 1: colleges policies and his bad eyesight, Brown gradually accepted that 102 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:05,479 Speaker 1: his career as a that a career as a fighter 103 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:07,920 Speaker 1: pilot was not in the cards, and instead he joined 104 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 1: the Marine Corps Reserve. But then, uh, a military recruiter 105 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:14,640 Speaker 1: he calls a snake oil salesman convinced him to join 106 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:17,200 Speaker 1: the Army instead, saying that he would become a special 107 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:24,600 Speaker 1: agent in the counter Intelligence Corps. You got what you deserve? Yeah, um, 108 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: so this was obviously a bald faced lie, as our 109 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:32,680 Speaker 1: most things that military recruiters tell young men. Uh, but 110 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:37,200 Speaker 1: fantasizing of platinum blondes and Catillac convertibles. Brown agreed and 111 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: he signed on the dotted line. Yeah he did he 112 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 1: ever watch like even the movies don't make it look great. No, No, 113 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:48,680 Speaker 1: he really thought that he was going to join the 114 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:53,760 Speaker 1: Army and become James Bond. But he was young and dumb. 115 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:56,679 Speaker 1: He gets smarter, so he enters the Army on October 116 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:00,440 Speaker 1: and he loves it. He's particularly taken with arms training 117 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:02,640 Speaker 1: and getting to shoot guns a lot, and the whole 118 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:05,200 Speaker 1: experience of basic training convinces him that the draft is 119 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:08,000 Speaker 1: an awesome idea and should never have been discontinued. He's 120 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:13,680 Speaker 1: he's very, very prone to brainwashing. It was very clear, 121 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:16,520 Speaker 1: Like by the end of basic training, he's like, this 122 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:20,160 Speaker 1: is the best. Everyone should have to do this, like 123 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:25,880 Speaker 1: even the even the drill sergeant, like, we gotta watch him. 124 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 1: We did too good. So once he graduates training, he 125 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:33,160 Speaker 1: has informed that this job as special agent uh is 126 00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:36,640 Speaker 1: not going to work out because it doesn't exist. Who 127 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:38,600 Speaker 1: told you it was? Oh, I know who told you 128 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:43,040 Speaker 1: that he's funny. Instead, he's told that his job is 129 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:46,560 Speaker 1: actually going to be clerk analyst, which is essentially secretarial work. 130 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:56,719 Speaker 1: So it's yeah, it's lateral, not a change in money. 131 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:00,440 Speaker 1: So Robert was profoundly bad at this job and he 132 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:04,080 Speaker 1: failed the training course for it four times. You're really 133 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 1: terrible at hitting at that desk. Yeah, keep stand up, 134 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:13,079 Speaker 1: And he just failed down. So he uh. He's admitted 135 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:16,040 Speaker 1: since that he uh found the idea of doing secretarial 136 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:19,079 Speaker 1: work hateful, and this is what convinced him to drop 137 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:22,120 Speaker 1: out of that career track and go to officer candidate 138 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:25,079 Speaker 1: school as a way to escape the tedium of office work. 139 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:28,560 Speaker 1: He graduates, I just want to tell people what to do. 140 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 1: I can't handle this desk. I think I should be 141 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:35,800 Speaker 1: in charge of a lot of people's lives instead. Yeah, 142 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:41,160 Speaker 1: So he graduates, and he would later brag of two accomplishments. 143 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:44,760 Speaker 1: At Officer Candidate School number one, he received more demerits 144 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:48,040 Speaker 1: than any other member of his class. At number two, 145 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:50,120 Speaker 1: he was the best shot with a heavy machine gun. 146 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:57,480 Speaker 1: I was the angriest and the best at machine guns. 147 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:02,480 Speaker 1: And that checks out. You can be a dick when 148 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:05,720 Speaker 1: you're good at the machine gun. Really, all that matters 149 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:12,240 Speaker 1: is good at machine guns. It's wild that we haven't 150 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:16,120 Speaker 1: had a presidential candidate run on that platform. We got 151 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:23,680 Speaker 1: some months. Yeah, that's how Bloomberg could have come in. 152 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 1: And he's still so. Brown's dreams of daring do in 153 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:32,880 Speaker 1: the army were initially cut short by his father's untimely 154 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:36,079 Speaker 1: deaf death. He opted for a state side job in Wisconsin, 155 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:39,200 Speaker 1: working what he calls a cushy desk job. He left 156 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:41,600 Speaker 1: active service in nineteen fifty seven and spent the next 157 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:45,520 Speaker 1: few years in the Army reserves, mostly participating in marksmanship competitions. 158 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:47,800 Speaker 1: He managed to say some to say some of his 159 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:51,280 Speaker 1: desire for action whene Fidel Castro launched his rebellion against 160 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:55,720 Speaker 1: the dictatorial rule of Fugencio Batista. So this happens right 161 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 1: as he gets out of the army and for a 162 00:10:57,040 --> 00:11:00,920 Speaker 1: few months Brown improbably became a pro cast stro activist, 163 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:03,600 Speaker 1: even purchasing and hiding at a legal machine gun with 164 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:06,640 Speaker 1: the goal of running weapons to Cuban rebels in Wisconsin. 165 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:12,720 Speaker 1: From Wisconsin, you know, the classic Wisconsin to Cuba flight path. 166 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:23,600 Speaker 1: Everybody French connection. They call Wisconsin Big Cuba. So eventually 167 00:11:23,640 --> 00:11:27,280 Speaker 1: he tricked his college's student newspaper into issuing him press credentials, 168 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:29,079 Speaker 1: and he spent a brief period of time and Havana, 169 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:32,079 Speaker 1: but failed to see any action. He was repeatedly invited 170 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:34,440 Speaker 1: by contexts he'd met in Havana to participate as a 171 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:37,760 Speaker 1: war correspondent a number of revolutions throughout South America, but 172 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:40,000 Speaker 1: never quite managed to make it work out, mostly because 173 00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:44,280 Speaker 1: he was afraid he'd get killed. Man, now he really 174 00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:46,320 Speaker 1: gets in the way of the secret agent work. It does. 175 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:48,120 Speaker 1: That would that would be a bummer if you had 176 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:51,200 Speaker 1: to like go alone into a situation. I'm not gonna 177 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:57,959 Speaker 1: do this. I keep missing matings. It's a lot of anxiety. 178 00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:01,040 Speaker 1: So he manages to get hired by the AP to 179 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:05,160 Speaker 1: interview a refugee Spanish general promising to overthrow Francisco Franco, 180 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:08,360 Speaker 1: Spain's dictator. What do you mean? He may like, I 181 00:12:08,400 --> 00:12:11,360 Speaker 1: mean some there's some places like there's just refugee General's 182 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 1: left and right. Man, you just gotta He sounds like mean, 183 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:18,120 Speaker 1: he's just stumbling into all this stuff that is kind 184 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:19,920 Speaker 1: of his life. He's like I was in Westconsin and 185 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:21,480 Speaker 1: I was like, I'm gonna go Cuba for a minute, 186 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:27,000 Speaker 1: and people are like, okay, Robert. So he writes an 187 00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:30,080 Speaker 1: article based on his his conversation with this general and 188 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:32,520 Speaker 1: it did well, and Brown struck up a friendly acquaintance 189 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:35,120 Speaker 1: ship with the general who had helped to train Castro's guerrillas. 190 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:37,640 Speaker 1: So this guy gives Brown a copy of a book 191 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:40,360 Speaker 1: called A hundred Fifty Questions for a Guerrilla and it's 192 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:45,720 Speaker 1: the militant kind, not the Yeah, it's a manual for 193 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:50,520 Speaker 1: like so funny. I just picked up Males book on 194 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 1: guerrilla warfare, and the first thing I thought was like, 195 00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:54,320 Speaker 1: woll I was reading. I was like, so he talked, 196 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:57,920 Speaker 1: guerrilla is to fun This is the dumbest joker. But 197 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:01,640 Speaker 1: it made me laugh for a good fifteen minutes. And 198 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:03,400 Speaker 1: I haven't been able to start that book because there's 199 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:07,360 Speaker 1: time I do right. Uh. So it's a manual for 200 00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:09,960 Speaker 1: like how to wage an insurgent war? Right? Um. So 201 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:11,720 Speaker 1: he gets a copy of this book from this general 202 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:14,280 Speaker 1: and he instantly sees dollar signs, and he opens a 203 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:16,960 Speaker 1: publishing company to translate the book into English and sell 204 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:21,280 Speaker 1: it in the United States. So that's his his first business. 205 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:27,520 Speaker 1: That's where the most guerillas are. Ye. So Robert worked 206 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:29,840 Speaker 1: as a reporter for a little while, writing articles for 207 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:33,400 Speaker 1: Guns Magazine and similar publications. But as the Vietnam War 208 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:35,719 Speaker 1: kicked off for the US in the nineteen sixties, are 209 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:40,719 Speaker 1: simpler then what you gonna make a magazine? What's about goods? 210 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:49,840 Speaker 1: I got a dirty one is called jugs? They really 211 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:58,040 Speaker 1: should emerged. I feel like the gas station. So the 212 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:00,840 Speaker 1: Vietnam War kicks off and Robert Brown finds himself drawn 213 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:03,880 Speaker 1: back to his dream of experience in combat. He rejoined 214 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:06,640 Speaker 1: active duty and became a Green Beret, serving from nineteen 215 00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:10,120 Speaker 1: sixty eight to nineteen sixty nine. It was easier. They're 216 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:13,880 Speaker 1: just saying stuff. It's like a weird mad lib of 217 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:16,839 Speaker 1: like this dude's life because he was like, he's bad 218 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:19,000 Speaker 1: at desk work, couldn't be a fire pilot. Then he's like, 219 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:21,400 Speaker 1: then he west went to Wisconsin, got really good at 220 00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:23,880 Speaker 1: desk work. And then he's like, funk this, I'm going 221 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:27,760 Speaker 1: to Cuba and doing some weird lights spying. That's our 222 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:32,720 Speaker 1: show again. With all of these guys, it's an ability 223 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:35,360 Speaker 1: to pivot that makes them great. It's impressive, and he's 224 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:37,840 Speaker 1: a pivot. So he pivots all the way to Vietnam 225 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:40,200 Speaker 1: and gets horribly wounded at nineteen sixty nine in a 226 00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:48,280 Speaker 1: mortar attack. He pivot. So he was pretty good at 227 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:51,200 Speaker 1: a soldier up until getting wounded. Um, but he would 228 00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:52,920 Speaker 1: and it would eventually retire from the service as a 229 00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:56,000 Speaker 1: lieutenant colonel. But sadly for him at least, the Vietnam 230 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:58,200 Speaker 1: War did not end well for the United States. I'm 231 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:01,440 Speaker 1: sorry if that's a spoiler to anybody. Um. He returned 232 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:03,960 Speaker 1: home to a nation that widely considered the war he'd 233 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:06,600 Speaker 1: nearly died in to have been a colossal waste of money. 234 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:10,040 Speaker 1: Many protesters called soldiers like him baby killers, and Brown 235 00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:12,480 Speaker 1: quickly recognized that he was part of a new generation 236 00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 1: of retired warrior who felt increasingly isolated from mainstream American society. 237 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:20,239 Speaker 1: See World War two had been this like widely celebrated 238 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:23,360 Speaker 1: collective endeavor, but Korea and Vietnam weren't, and that left 239 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:25,600 Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands of veterans feeling like their service was 240 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:28,720 Speaker 1: neither appreciated nor understood, and a big chunk of those 241 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:32,080 Speaker 1: men in including Robert Brown, still found themselves drawn to 242 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:35,400 Speaker 1: stories of combat and daring do. In nineteen seventy five, 243 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:38,040 Speaker 1: the same year that Vietnam War ended, Robert Brown found 244 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:41,440 Speaker 1: himself traveling around Africa and basically living as a war tourist, 245 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:48,240 Speaker 1: visiting combat zones just to hang out somewhere exciting. You 246 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:54,000 Speaker 1: never done that, Billy, I never thought that that's the thing. Like, Hey, 247 00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:56,280 Speaker 1: I'm gonna go watch a little bit war for a while. 248 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:04,760 Speaker 1: Have I Have I ever told you about Iraqi? Margharita's 249 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:09,840 Speaker 1: by the way, Look I get it, Like I used 250 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:12,120 Speaker 1: to not understand like people watching the Civil War like 251 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:14,360 Speaker 1: from a field, but now like I understand, like some 252 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:16,280 Speaker 1: people just like to fight. So you just go like, hey, 253 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:20,920 Speaker 1: we'll watch him do it. But the way he's doing 254 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:25,920 Speaker 1: is not no cool. So while he's touring around and 255 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:28,280 Speaker 1: just hanging out in war zones, Robert Brown befriends some 256 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:30,720 Speaker 1: mercenaries on their way to Oman to put down an 257 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:35,240 Speaker 1: insurrection for the Sultan. Spirit Air spirit Air. Yeah. So 258 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:37,840 Speaker 1: meeting these guys gives Robert Brown the idea to write 259 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:41,480 Speaker 1: the Oman Ministry of Defense inquiring about taking the job himself. 260 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:43,520 Speaker 1: And they send him a contract, just like a blank 261 00:16:43,560 --> 00:16:45,680 Speaker 1: contract to be a mercenary for the government of Oman. 262 00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:51,400 Speaker 1: And well, no, he he recognizes immediately anyone who's just 263 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:54,680 Speaker 1: gonna send me become a mercenary letter site unseen in 264 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:56,680 Speaker 1: the mail, probably don't want to fight for that army. 265 00:16:57,120 --> 00:16:59,800 Speaker 1: Not a great idea, but he has a smarter idea 266 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:04,960 Speaker 1: for what to do with it, So go on. He 267 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:08,280 Speaker 1: takes out ads in a series of gun magazines reading 268 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:11,119 Speaker 1: want to be a mercenary in the Middle East, Send 269 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:23,359 Speaker 1: five dollars. All y'all think this through. This was not 270 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:28,440 Speaker 1: Internet where you're like click, that's hilarious. That was This 271 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:30,880 Speaker 1: is gonna take some time. This is some errands involved. 272 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:34,960 Speaker 1: It's like four to six weeks to get the letter there. Yeah, yeah, 273 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:37,640 Speaker 1: and then you gotta wait for the money to come back. 274 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:43,400 Speaker 1: He's all this through. He's a smart man, So when 275 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:46,160 Speaker 1: people would send him five dollars, he would just xerox 276 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:52,200 Speaker 1: the contract he'd received and mail it to them. Brown 277 00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:54,679 Speaker 1: later recalled, I'm not mad at him at all. No, no, no, 278 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:58,439 Speaker 1: this is kind of brilliant. Yeah. I don't get to 279 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:03,119 Speaker 1: where he's a bastard yet. So Brown later recalled, I 280 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:05,919 Speaker 1: got scores of replies. Newsweek spotted this and did an 281 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:07,800 Speaker 1: article on my ad, and it went through the roof. 282 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:10,560 Speaker 1: I was getting replies from people in Bangladesh, Greece. I 283 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:12,520 Speaker 1: was in the army in Turkey for five years. I 284 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:15,959 Speaker 1: want to be a mercenary. I realized I was onto something. 285 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:21,639 Speaker 1: You are. Yeah, it's not a good thing. You're out too. No, 286 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:24,480 Speaker 1: and it's unlikely that any of Brown's clients wound up 287 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:27,320 Speaker 1: actually fighting froman One assumes most men who volunteered to 288 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:28,920 Speaker 1: join a war effort based on an ad in a 289 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:33,399 Speaker 1: magazine are not particularly enticing specimens of soldiery um. But 290 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:40,840 Speaker 1: the financial the financial success of the endeavor convinces Brown 291 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:42,240 Speaker 1: that there's a lot of money to be made and 292 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:45,000 Speaker 1: playing to the dream in every man's heart, that he might, 293 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:48,880 Speaker 1: and the right circumstances, be a fucking badass. So this 294 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:52,120 Speaker 1: is the thing, he realizes, and so Robert Brown uses 295 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:54,840 Speaker 1: the ten thousand dollars he made scamming gun nuts to 296 00:18:54,920 --> 00:19:00,160 Speaker 1: fund the creation of a new magazine, Soldier of Fortune. 297 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:05,000 Speaker 1: That was the appropriate That was the right amount of 298 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:13,240 Speaker 1: applause for that. Yeah, he's like one gun fell out, 299 00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:27,720 Speaker 1: just fell apart, So Brown stated, go with this magazine 300 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:33,080 Speaker 1: was to rehabilitate the image of the warrior in American society. 301 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:38,760 Speaker 1: I like him a lot. Yeah, And Soldier Fortune magazine 302 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:40,679 Speaker 1: probably would have just been a blip on the radar 303 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:43,280 Speaker 1: if it weren't for a real stroke of marketing genius 304 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:46,439 Speaker 1: by Robert Brown. Rather than portraying or angling it as 305 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:49,080 Speaker 1: a magazine for military veterans, of which there are only 306 00:19:49,119 --> 00:19:51,520 Speaker 1: a few, and even a smaller number who glorify what 307 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:54,680 Speaker 1: actually happens. In more, he fashioned Soldier of Fortune as 308 00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:59,320 Speaker 1: the journal of professional adventurers, a magazine for mercenaries and 309 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:01,359 Speaker 1: people who think would be cool to be a mercenary? 310 00:20:04,119 --> 00:20:16,320 Speaker 1: Do you like hiking? And pretended so well, they won't 311 00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:25,560 Speaker 1: let you get boys life anymore. So Uh then, as now, 312 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:27,760 Speaker 1: there were at most a couple of thousand English speaking 313 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:30,560 Speaker 1: works in the world who were actually mercenaries. But Brown's 314 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:33,320 Speaker 1: real target was not hard bitten mercenaries. It was aging 315 00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:35,640 Speaker 1: baby boomers who thought they probably could have been hard 316 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:38,160 Speaker 1: bitten mercenaries if they hadn't gotten that girl pregnant back 317 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:42,120 Speaker 1: in sixty two. All that mud, it would stoker, I'd 318 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:52,720 Speaker 1: have been Vietnam towards some ligaments doing fucking. Here's how 319 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:56,199 Speaker 1: Mike Royko of the Chicago Tribune described the magazine in nine. 320 00:20:57,200 --> 00:20:59,600 Speaker 1: It's directed to professional mercenaries, men who will fight for 321 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:01,440 Speaker 1: pay in those who want to hire them. But since 322 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:04,359 Speaker 1: mercenaries represent only a tiny portion of the reading population, 323 00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:07,000 Speaker 1: the magazine tries to broaden its appeal to include those 324 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:09,320 Speaker 1: who might be called war fans and the weapon their 325 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:14,800 Speaker 1: work through a magazine. Yeah. So. The first ever issue 326 00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:17,359 Speaker 1: of Soldier of Fortune features a glossy color picture of 327 00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:19,720 Speaker 1: a soldier with a rifle behind a barbed wire fence 328 00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:22,320 Speaker 1: with a red sun setting in the background. The whole 329 00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:24,520 Speaker 1: image was cast in a green tent. Is it being 330 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:30,320 Speaker 1: viewed through night vision goggles? Articles included You're gonna like this, 331 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:45,199 Speaker 1: billy underwater knife fighting techniques, lunge, lunge again, free and 332 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:46,879 Speaker 1: it it tells you kind of where I am on 333 00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:49,720 Speaker 1: this spectrum that I get understanding, Like, yeah, I want 334 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:51,399 Speaker 1: to know what it's like to fight with a knife 335 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:54,360 Speaker 1: in the water, but I recognize that having techniques applied 336 00:21:54,400 --> 00:22:01,880 Speaker 1: to it as ridiculous, right, like, do it better? So 337 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:05,400 Speaker 1: in addition to urban knife fighting techniques or underwater knife 338 00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:09,359 Speaker 1: fighting technique, sorry, urban street Survival part one. I'm gonna 339 00:22:09,359 --> 00:22:12,040 Speaker 1: guess we all assume how racist that article was, right, like, 340 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:17,040 Speaker 1: I don't need to like. Yeah, and then an article 341 00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:23,240 Speaker 1: titled American mercenaries in Africa. Now that last article, I'm 342 00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:25,560 Speaker 1: gonna guess the person who said, huh knows where we're 343 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:27,600 Speaker 1: going with us. I don't like it. It was a 344 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:34,360 Speaker 1: feature about the conflict in Rhodesia. Yeah, we're gonna talk 345 00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:41,040 Speaker 1: a lot about Rhodesia right now. I was having what 346 00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:43,639 Speaker 1: do you know about Rhodesia? I don't know much, and 347 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:51,960 Speaker 1: judging by their reaction, I wish I could leave. I 348 00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:55,520 Speaker 1: was like, this is a fun one. Nothing bad has happened. 349 00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:58,440 Speaker 1: It can't all be underwater knife it can't all be 350 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:01,760 Speaker 1: underwater knife fighting. But you really can only do that once. 351 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:10,400 Speaker 1: It's a general rule. So Rhodesia was a white supremacist 352 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:13,040 Speaker 1: state in modern days Zimbabwe that broke away from the 353 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:16,560 Speaker 1: British Empire in nineteen sixty five over the issue of 354 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:18,960 Speaker 1: whether or not black people should be able to vote. 355 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:22,120 Speaker 1: The three percent of the nation that was white did 356 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:28,760 Speaker 1: not think they should be. Okay, from a logic standpoint, 357 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:30,760 Speaker 1: if you want power, I can see where they're like, 358 00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:35,680 Speaker 1: we've been so shitty to you guys for so long. Shit, 359 00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:41,760 Speaker 1: what if you all can't vote? Nope? Fuck, I feel 360 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:43,440 Speaker 1: like three per cents enough for us to keep a 361 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:48,320 Speaker 1: lid on this thing, this wanting to vote thing. So 362 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:51,560 Speaker 1: just jesus, I'm gonna read a quote to you, Billy 363 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:55,199 Speaker 1: from Soldier of Fortune magazine describing the Rhodesian conflict, and 364 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:57,280 Speaker 1: they have a different take on it than I do. 365 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,520 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty five, Therhodesian government got together with the 366 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:03,359 Speaker 1: British government to try to sort out a way to 367 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:05,720 Speaker 1: end the war that was smoldering and about to explode. 368 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:08,320 Speaker 1: Ian Smith was the governor of Rhodesia and leader of 369 00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:11,080 Speaker 1: the Rhodesia Front. The insurgents were on the move. The 370 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:14,160 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty five talks accomplished nothing with the Brits wanted 371 00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:17,240 Speaker 1: was for the Blacks to get the vote. One man, 372 00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:19,840 Speaker 1: one vote. Of course, that would mean the Blacks would 373 00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:23,040 Speaker 1: get into power, So the white Rhodesian's unilaterally implemented the 374 00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:28,000 Speaker 1: Universal Declaration of Independence in nineteen sixty five. So that's 375 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:32,560 Speaker 1: our soldier of Fortune magazine, the country they wanted to 376 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:39,040 Speaker 1: You can't have your country, so you're not read history. 377 00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:44,040 Speaker 1: So a lot of Rhodesia's black residents decide that we 378 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:46,720 Speaker 1: should probably overthrow the government, which is a reasonable conclusion 379 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:51,280 Speaker 1: to reach given the circumstances. Um, yeah, I bet they 380 00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:58,560 Speaker 1: all came together at once. I mean, like, hey, the 381 00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:01,600 Speaker 1: British Empire is all on the reasonable side of things. 382 00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:09,040 Speaker 1: I think these guys might be really bad. Yeah. Before 383 00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:16,600 Speaker 1: Oh so, having lived under an oppressive capitalist system their 384 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:20,280 Speaker 1: whole lives, most of these rebels decided communism sounded pretty good. Uh. 385 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:22,280 Speaker 1: The U. S s R. In China wound up backing 386 00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:25,200 Speaker 1: separate guerrilla armies, and the two fought each other sometimes, 387 00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:27,480 Speaker 1: but they put enough pressure on the embattled white minority 388 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:30,760 Speaker 1: that things began to get very dire for the Rhodesian government. 389 00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:33,879 Speaker 1: This racist nation's problems were compounded by the fact that 390 00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:37,360 Speaker 1: virtually the whole world, except for South Africa, slammed Rhodesia 391 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:41,400 Speaker 1: with sanctions as life in this time, why not South Africa? 392 00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:44,800 Speaker 1: You know, Billy, I've never heard anyone theorize on that. 393 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:52,679 Speaker 1: Look it up later. Yeah. As life in the tiny, 394 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:56,400 Speaker 1: landlocked country grew more difficult for a large grew more difficult, 395 00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:58,880 Speaker 1: a large chunk of the white population fled the country, 396 00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:05,200 Speaker 1: mostly for South Africa. Stuck, you guys, I know a place. 397 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:12,960 Speaker 1: Studying there is going to be interesting. Stuck between a 398 00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:15,399 Speaker 1: rock and a hard place. The Rhodesian government decided to 399 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:18,119 Speaker 1: turn their national struggle and struggle into a cost celeb 400 00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:21,320 Speaker 1: for the racist right wing worldwide. Of course, they didn't 401 00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:25,280 Speaker 1: frame it as a racist crusade to stop black self determination. Instead, 402 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:28,800 Speaker 1: they build it as a fight against the encroachment of communism. 403 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:32,360 Speaker 1: Prime Minister Ian Smith called his nation the ultimate bastion 404 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:35,880 Speaker 1: against communism in the on the African continent, and this 405 00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:40,199 Speaker 1: worked pretty well. Mainstream American Republicans can tended to embrace 406 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:48,199 Speaker 1: the idea. William F. Buckley. William F. Buckley found it, 407 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:55,080 Speaker 1: organized the Friends of Rhodesian Independence campaign. He just forgot 408 00:26:55,080 --> 00:27:01,440 Speaker 1: his mask. This camp pain work to spread propaganda to 409 00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:05,320 Speaker 1: Americans about what a cool place Rhodesia was, but no 410 00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:14,280 Speaker 1: single public William historically, motherfuckers, what's your legacy? I'm a motherfucker, 411 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:17,359 Speaker 1: and I made a lot of money being a motherfucker, 412 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:23,479 Speaker 1: but I don't spend it like you think I would. Yeah. So, 413 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:27,560 Speaker 1: Rhodesia had a lot of support in the worldwide right wing, 414 00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:31,119 Speaker 1: but no single publication did as much to popular popularize 415 00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:34,639 Speaker 1: the Rhodesian cause as Soldier of Fortune magazine. Starting in 416 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:37,480 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy five, they ran a series of lurid articles 417 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:41,199 Speaker 1: about the American volunteers already fighting in Rhodesia. Interviews with 418 00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:43,280 Speaker 1: these men focused on the failures of the US to 419 00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:46,119 Speaker 1: stop Communism from getting a foothold in Africa, which was 420 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:49,680 Speaker 1: heightened after congressional democrats stopped the CIA from aiding fascists 421 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:53,000 Speaker 1: and Angola against the socialist regime. One mercenary in that 422 00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:56,200 Speaker 1: first Soldier of Fortune issue complained, the West isn't doing 423 00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:59,280 Speaker 1: its job. The US especially isn't doing its duty. If 424 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:01,639 Speaker 1: they're too scared to fight the communists, than people like 425 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,520 Speaker 1: me have to act independently. I consider it my duty 426 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:07,320 Speaker 1: to fight in Rhodesia. After Vietnam and and Goala, we 427 00:28:07,359 --> 00:28:10,199 Speaker 1: can't afford to lose any more countries. I ain't allowed 428 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:16,320 Speaker 1: to kill in America. Let me go over endition killing. 429 00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:19,520 Speaker 1: So while Soldier of Fortune was smart enough to not 430 00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:22,400 Speaker 1: throw out any racial slurs, the racism in its Rhodesian 431 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:25,080 Speaker 1: coverage was pretty obvious. At one point, a mercenary was 432 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:27,840 Speaker 1: quoted as saying, what we have here is an ideal 433 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:29,840 Speaker 1: core of white people who are able to raise the 434 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:33,360 Speaker 1: standard of living among the Africans without US conditions will 435 00:28:33,359 --> 00:28:37,040 Speaker 1: decline rapidly. But you guys, he didn't say slurs. He 436 00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:41,800 Speaker 1: didn't say slurs, didn't say slurs. I bet he has 437 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: strong opinions about the fact that that's free speech, and 438 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:50,880 Speaker 1: he should be able to. But let me communicate my idea. 439 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:54,400 Speaker 1: After Vietnam, the US had probably the highest population of 440 00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:57,200 Speaker 1: unemployed combat veterans in the world. A few of these 441 00:28:57,200 --> 00:28:59,560 Speaker 1: men joined the Rhodesian fighting effort and rose to high 442 00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:03,160 Speaker 1: levels and its military establishment, but most volunteers were far 443 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:06,480 Speaker 1: from hardened operators. Instead, there were folks who had missed 444 00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:08,960 Speaker 1: out on their chance to fight in Vietnam but wanted 445 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:19,040 Speaker 1: desperately to experience combat. Oh wish we had videos. Yeah, 446 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:21,880 Speaker 1: you guys to do right, Yes, it's like a truth. 447 00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:27,760 Speaker 1: So for these men, Soldier of Fortune published a series 448 00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:30,720 Speaker 1: of articles written by major Nick Lamprett, the chief recruiting 449 00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:33,800 Speaker 1: officer for the Rhodesian Army. He provided step by step 450 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:36,040 Speaker 1: advice for how they could apply to join and be 451 00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:38,200 Speaker 1: flown out to the country to be inducted into the 452 00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:41,160 Speaker 1: army as conscripts. Lamp Preck promised that the work would 453 00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:45,560 Speaker 1: be difficult but rewarding. Sometimes there's a delay when I 454 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:48,440 Speaker 1: have to switch pieces of paper that normally gets edited 455 00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:52,000 Speaker 1: out by Daniels, So let's give a shout out to him. Yeah, 456 00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 1: that's right, and by Chris, who's not here tonight. But 457 00:29:57,600 --> 00:29:59,920 Speaker 1: it's also great. Yeah, let's give it up for Chris too. 458 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:07,320 Speaker 1: So Chris, Okay, this is Nick Lamprect. Rhodesia has many 459 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:12,320 Speaker 1: things to offer, good Rhodesian beer, friendly, populous and what 460 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:17,720 Speaker 1: I wanted to stop, motherfucker goddamnit, and what I would 461 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:20,560 Speaker 1: describe as a free and easy, unhurry ways of life, 462 00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:24,800 Speaker 1: of wide open spaces. And they're filled with some of 463 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:27,440 Speaker 1: those friendly locals with sniper rifles shooting at us for 464 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:31,960 Speaker 1: unexplicable reasons. They hate these cans, Yeah, they hate these 465 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:37,560 Speaker 1: cans of good Rhodesian beer. For years, Soldier of Fortune, 466 00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:41,280 Speaker 1: rand glossy recruiting articles with full page spreads featuring the 467 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:44,720 Speaker 1: elite Rhodesian Light Infantry and sell US scouts locked in 468 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:48,440 Speaker 1: glorious combat. Some four hundred men were eventually induced to 469 00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:51,440 Speaker 1: join the fight by soldier of Fortune magazine, and as 470 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:53,920 Speaker 1: you might expect, they were not very good at it. 471 00:30:55,440 --> 00:31:04,080 Speaker 1: Most Rhodesian it's hot. Yeah. Most Rhodesian volunteers were people 472 00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:06,360 Speaker 1: whose lives in the US were going badly enough that 473 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:16,800 Speaker 1: they opted to join the army based on whatever I'm doing. 474 00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:22,800 Speaker 1: Feels worse than joining the army based on a magazine ad. Yeah, 475 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:30,080 Speaker 1: I've been there. Yeah, I've been what's in the back 476 00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:33,960 Speaker 1: of magazine the guys that were that's a glossy magazine 477 00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:37,280 Speaker 1: ad and it said beer, we're not great fighters. No, no, 478 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:45,040 Speaker 1: not not ideal soldiers. No so uh. In nine, one 479 00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:48,200 Speaker 1: reporter noted the majority found the routine too leugh to, 480 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:50,080 Speaker 1: too rough to last more than a few months. The 481 00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:52,840 Speaker 1: desertion rate among American citizens who have joined the Rhodesian 482 00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:54,920 Speaker 1: Army over the past two years has estimated to run 483 00:31:54,960 --> 00:32:04,800 Speaker 1: about a Yeah, that's pretty great, but I don't want 484 00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:07,920 Speaker 1: to meet this. No, no, no, they like this is 485 00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:15,720 Speaker 1: there's some legitimately scary guys among yeah, and of course 486 00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:18,160 Speaker 1: a good number of the American volunteers did not survive 487 00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:21,680 Speaker 1: their time in Rhodesia. John allan Coe, Yeah, that's fine. 488 00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:29,920 Speaker 1: To clap a lot of claps for dead Rhodesians. That's 489 00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,800 Speaker 1: what I like to hear. No, Yeah, I don't know. 490 00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:38,160 Speaker 1: John allan Coe, a medic from Cleveland, Ohio, joint based 491 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:40,479 Speaker 1: on a Soldier of Fortune article and died in combat 492 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:43,840 Speaker 1: almost as soon as he arrived in the country. Soldier 493 00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:49,800 Speaker 1: Dangerous Overthing. Soldier of Fortune published a hagiographic article quoting 494 00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:52,840 Speaker 1: him as saying this. Since coming to Rhodesia, I've often 495 00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:55,520 Speaker 1: heard people remark that it's inevitable for the country and 496 00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:58,320 Speaker 1: all of Southern Africa to follow the winds of change 497 00:32:58,360 --> 00:33:00,360 Speaker 1: and go the same way as other former allan ease 498 00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:03,080 Speaker 1: to the north. This is rubbish and only indicates a 499 00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:06,120 Speaker 1: lack of fighting spirit, guts and the will to rule 500 00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:12,280 Speaker 1: a civilization built by better men. Would that last part 501 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:17,320 Speaker 1: meaning he was being vague? I don't know that. They 502 00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:20,920 Speaker 1: couldn't ask him a follow up question because, you know, yeah, 503 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:29,400 Speaker 1: because a better man got him. Better man got him so. 504 00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:34,200 Speaker 1: Soldier of Fortune articles on Rhodesia regular rarely made blatant lies. 505 00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:36,400 Speaker 1: It was a lot easier to just ignore facts that 506 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:40,680 Speaker 1: didn't reinforce their narrative. And one piece they noted, it's 507 00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:44,440 Speaker 1: a lot easier. It makes everything easier. The young rivaled 508 00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:47,560 Speaker 1: Sella Scouts, the covert elite special force regiment of a 509 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:50,400 Speaker 1: thousand that consisted of black and white, with a majority 510 00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:53,400 Speaker 1: of blacks, were credited with gathering spot on intelligence for 511 00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:56,120 Speaker 1: the regular army. And it is true that the Rhodesian 512 00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:59,400 Speaker 1: armed forces were mostly black, but Soldier of Fortune neglected 513 00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:01,320 Speaker 1: to mention that on the white men were allowed to 514 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:07,400 Speaker 1: be officers. Yeah, like nobo, are y'all shocked about this 515 00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:12,960 Speaker 1: is consistent by ignoring the uncomfortable reality of Rhodesia. Soldier 516 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:15,400 Speaker 1: of Fortune succeeded in painting a picture of a gallant 517 00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:17,960 Speaker 1: lost cause fight. And it's not wildly different from this. 518 00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:21,480 Speaker 1: The from the lost Cause narrative of the Confederacy. Actual 519 00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:24,600 Speaker 1: articles from real journalists who visited Rhodesia, like this nineteen 520 00:34:24,640 --> 00:34:28,520 Speaker 1: seventy nine Washington Post article made the reality clear. Quote. 521 00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:31,399 Speaker 1: The first impressions are of the rural South I knew 522 00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:33,600 Speaker 1: as a boy in the nineteen thirties, Black maids and 523 00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:36,160 Speaker 1: houseboys earning twenty to sixty dollars a month, fetching boo, 524 00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:39,239 Speaker 1: saying master and boss. Black labors working for twelve to 525 00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:42,719 Speaker 1: twenty dollars a month plus rations, cluster and grass grasshots 526 00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:45,400 Speaker 1: on the white farmer's land, like the Mississippi sharecroppers of 527 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:49,200 Speaker 1: the remembered past past. They are like children. A housewife says, 528 00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:51,120 Speaker 1: you have to do everything for them. You have to 529 00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:53,400 Speaker 1: stand over them to get anything done. It's more trouble 530 00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:56,040 Speaker 1: than it's worth sometimes, but they are very happy people. 531 00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:59,200 Speaker 1: It's not like South Africa. A young woman asks if 532 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:01,520 Speaker 1: we have a dishwash, a clothes washer, and a dryer. 533 00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:04,200 Speaker 1: She laughs, you know what we call them here, and 534 00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:09,279 Speaker 1: then she says what is essentially the N word, thank 535 00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:14,640 Speaker 1: you for coming to the comedy show. The only part 536 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:16,840 Speaker 1: of history that's like this. Yeah, No, everything else is 537 00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:20,840 Speaker 1: actually pretty great. Yeah. The Rhodesian Bush War ended in 538 00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:23,480 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine, when rebel succeeded in blowing up the 539 00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:29,480 Speaker 1: nation's entire strategic fuel reserve. Probably shouldn't have kept it 540 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:34,440 Speaker 1: all in the one place. Not a great call, especially 541 00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:39,880 Speaker 1: on beer. Not Yeah. A final toll more than eleven 542 00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:43,040 Speaker 1: hundred Rhodesian soldiers died, along with roughly ten thousand rebels 543 00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:46,360 Speaker 1: and more than twenty thousand civilians. It is unlikely that 544 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:48,960 Speaker 1: the few hundred mercenary Soldier of Fortune induced to join 545 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:52,480 Speaker 1: had a measurable impact on the confliction, but they did 546 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:55,000 Speaker 1: an awful lot to influence how Rhodes has gone on 547 00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:57,759 Speaker 1: to be remembered by racists around the world. Remember that 548 00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:00,160 Speaker 1: Soldier of Fortune article I quoted from earlier that aked 549 00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:01,880 Speaker 1: about how weird it was that the Blacks wanted to 550 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:07,200 Speaker 1: vote unfortunately. Now, when would you guess that article was written, Billy? 551 00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:11,520 Speaker 1: Probably like the seventies, right, probably, No, it was two 552 00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:23,320 Speaker 1: thousand twelve. You guys, I've been following the news. Yeah, somebody, 553 00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:28,759 Speaker 1: I'll need to go home and google the news. You're 554 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:34,360 Speaker 1: gonna be like, what we should do, something we should 555 00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:38,000 Speaker 1: we need to do? Maybe find us a strategic well 556 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:40,640 Speaker 1: written No, I'm not gonna probably shouldn't make statements like 557 00:36:40,719 --> 00:36:50,120 Speaker 1: that here. Yeah, so I should note before we get 558 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:53,160 Speaker 1: onto the more fun wacky stuff that three years after 559 00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:56,240 Speaker 1: that article was published, in two thousand and fifteen, Dylan 560 00:36:56,320 --> 00:36:58,439 Speaker 1: Ruth walked into a black church in Charleston and shot 561 00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:00,880 Speaker 1: nine people to death. His ated goal was to provoke 562 00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:03,400 Speaker 1: a race war, and he left behind a manifesto titled 563 00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:11,680 Speaker 1: The Last Rhodesian. Yep, cool, Yep, there's a whole road 564 00:37:11,719 --> 00:37:13,520 Speaker 1: easier chunk at YouTube two. You do not want to 565 00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:17,279 Speaker 1: read the comments? No, No, you don't. So did you? 566 00:37:18,239 --> 00:37:20,279 Speaker 1: Did you read the comment? Yeah? It's not good? Yeah? 567 00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:26,480 Speaker 1: I figured you did. Yeah, so um. Most of Soldier 568 00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:28,799 Speaker 1: of Fortune's argument in favor of the Rhodesian government came 569 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:30,839 Speaker 1: from the fact that the government it replaced was ruled 570 00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:33,520 Speaker 1: by Robert Mugabe, hitler loving monster who killed a lot 571 00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:36,600 Speaker 1: of people. Mugabe was absolutely terrible, and there's no arguing 572 00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:38,600 Speaker 1: with that. But the argument Robert Brown would make that 573 00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:40,840 Speaker 1: the Rhodesian government was the only thing that held Zimbabwe 574 00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:43,880 Speaker 1: back from tyranny was nonsense because the reality is that 575 00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:47,040 Speaker 1: Mugabi didn't take control of the guerrilla forces fighting Rhodesian's 576 00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:50,360 Speaker 1: government until the previous commander was assassinated by Rhodesian forces 577 00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:53,080 Speaker 1: in the late seventies. Mugabi rose to power because there 578 00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:54,800 Speaker 1: was a civil war and he was good at fighting it. 579 00:37:55,120 --> 00:37:58,359 Speaker 1: Rides had transitioned into a democracy in nineteen six five, 580 00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:01,000 Speaker 1: Mugabi wouldn't have come to Power War s o f 581 00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:04,080 Speaker 1: S articles also ignored the brutal realities of the Rhodesian regime, 582 00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:07,240 Speaker 1: which jailed peaceful black political leaders and moss and employed 583 00:38:07,239 --> 00:38:10,319 Speaker 1: a torture technique on them known as skull bashing, which 584 00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:15,080 Speaker 1: probably shouldn't be referred to as a technique. It's not 585 00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:17,759 Speaker 1: a technique if it's just in the name. It's just 586 00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:20,279 Speaker 1: what you're doing to them. That's not a technique that 587 00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:24,600 Speaker 1: that's not that you need to learn. That's just human instinct. 588 00:38:26,719 --> 00:38:29,280 Speaker 1: While the Rhodesian Bush War was a disaster for humanity, 589 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:31,440 Speaker 1: it was a great time for Robert Brown and the 590 00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:34,040 Speaker 1: writers of Soldier of Fortune magazine. They got to take 591 00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:35,920 Speaker 1: all sorts of little trips to the country and bring 592 00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:38,480 Speaker 1: in guns and take part in gunfights because like they 593 00:38:38,520 --> 00:38:40,360 Speaker 1: were helping bring in soldiers, so it's like, sure, you 594 00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:42,480 Speaker 1: can go, you can go shoot at strangers in the 595 00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:46,239 Speaker 1: middle of the savannah with us, like absolutely, So it 596 00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:47,960 Speaker 1: was like a really fun time for them, and it 597 00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:50,359 Speaker 1: was a perfect situation for Brown. He got to play 598 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:52,759 Speaker 1: soldier whenever he wanted and then head home when things 599 00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:54,719 Speaker 1: got really scary and you didn't have to hang around 600 00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:57,160 Speaker 1: for strategic oil reserves blowing up in the light. It's 601 00:38:57,200 --> 00:39:00,200 Speaker 1: like a rich guy hunter. Yeah, yeah, that's what it is. 602 00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:02,239 Speaker 1: It's like those dudes that go up and like my 603 00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:04,560 Speaker 1: friend does it in Alaska. He tracks bears and they 604 00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:07,000 Speaker 1: get the thing and then he's like, literally just do 605 00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:09,800 Speaker 1: everything and they come over and they pull the trigger. 606 00:39:11,040 --> 00:39:13,680 Speaker 1: It's like it's good for conservation. He like explained it 607 00:39:13,719 --> 00:39:16,160 Speaker 1: to me. He's like, but funk does motherfucker's forever also, 608 00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:18,600 Speaker 1: And I was like, I was like, I'm so conflicted. 609 00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:21,400 Speaker 1: I don't know how to tell you. He's scary hunt bears, 610 00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:24,240 Speaker 1: you know what I mean. It's like it's like volunteerism, 611 00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:28,799 Speaker 1: but with war. Yeah, yeah, it's yeah, So that that's 612 00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:30,719 Speaker 1: what the Soldier of Fortune writers get up to. Well, 613 00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:33,680 Speaker 1: this is all going on, and the whole performance did 614 00:39:33,719 --> 00:39:36,239 Speaker 1: great things for Soldier of Fortune subscription numbers. By the 615 00:39:36,320 --> 00:39:38,279 Speaker 1: end of the war, more than a hundred thousand people 616 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:40,520 Speaker 1: were signed up for the magazine. So it turns out 617 00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:46,560 Speaker 1: this is a good business. Hyeah, don't worry. Nothing like 618 00:39:46,640 --> 00:39:52,959 Speaker 1: this ever happened again. Repeatedly fixed it. Yeah, we learned 619 00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:56,759 Speaker 1: our lessons. A brief FBI investigation into whether or not 620 00:39:56,880 --> 00:39:59,759 Speaker 1: the magazine was breaking the law by soliciting mercenaries. Also, 621 00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:02,279 Speaker 1: how drum up interest in Soldier of Fortune? Okay, that 622 00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:04,120 Speaker 1: is a good question I've been had in the back. 623 00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:06,839 Speaker 1: I was like, Yo, can you do that? Yes, you can. 624 00:40:07,239 --> 00:40:11,640 Speaker 1: And here's why. See, the men who joined the Rhodesian 625 00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:15,440 Speaker 1: military were conscripted, so they became regular soldiers, so they 626 00:40:15,480 --> 00:40:18,880 Speaker 1: weren't mercenaries. So it wasn't illegal to induce people to 627 00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:21,440 Speaker 1: do this. That makes sense, right, everybody's on board. I 628 00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:24,680 Speaker 1: love a loophole, you know what I mean? No, I go, 629 00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:29,640 Speaker 1: I'm not a mercenary by loophole. Yeah. And so, as 630 00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:32,760 Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies rolled to an end, Robert Brown continued 631 00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:35,200 Speaker 1: to send his writers off to little wars around the world. 632 00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:39,080 Speaker 1: He focused primarily on struggles between communist and anti communist forces, 633 00:40:39,320 --> 00:40:41,960 Speaker 1: like the fighting in Angola. Brown was canny enough not 634 00:40:42,080 --> 00:40:45,200 Speaker 1: to solicit mercenaries directly this time, but he did allow 635 00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:47,880 Speaker 1: his readers to place classified ads in the magazines with 636 00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:53,440 Speaker 1: no restrictions whatsoever. Those are good. Yeah, you guys ever 637 00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:58,160 Speaker 1: been on the internet, That's what that is. One of 638 00:40:58,239 --> 00:41:00,640 Speaker 1: these ads caught the eye of a con artist or 639 00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:04,719 Speaker 1: the fact that soldier forts had this classified section caught 640 00:41:04,760 --> 00:41:07,160 Speaker 1: the eye of a con artist named David Buffkin, a 641 00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:11,360 Speaker 1: former I know, right, like what's in a name? You know? 642 00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:16,640 Speaker 1: David Buffkin as a man who's started Soldier of Fortune. 643 00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:21,000 Speaker 1: I got a idea well prior to finding that he 644 00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:23,919 Speaker 1: was a crop duster um, and he decided that crop 645 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:25,840 Speaker 1: dusting had gotten old and he would rather be a 646 00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:29,279 Speaker 1: mercenary recruiter. So he started putting up ads in local 647 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:32,120 Speaker 1: newspapers and Soldier of Fortune magazine, trying to raise a 648 00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:35,160 Speaker 1: hundred mercenaries to fight against the communists in Angola. To 649 00:41:35,239 --> 00:41:37,720 Speaker 1: make his case seem more legit, he lied and claimed 650 00:41:37,760 --> 00:41:40,040 Speaker 1: that he'd been given an eighty thousand dollar contract by 651 00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:45,399 Speaker 1: the CIA for this. Yeah let checks out, yeah yeah yeah. 652 00:41:46,239 --> 00:41:49,080 Speaker 1: So a few dozen would be warriors reached out to Buffkin, but, 653 00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:52,920 Speaker 1: as one actual mercenary later recalled, Buffkin obviously had no 654 00:41:53,040 --> 00:41:56,160 Speaker 1: funds available. He operated out of motels, He had no office. 655 00:41:56,360 --> 00:41:58,920 Speaker 1: Potential recruits had to pay their own travel expenses. It 656 00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:02,080 Speaker 1: was definitely a shoester operation. Now, if I'm gonna go 657 00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:03,840 Speaker 1: fight for your country, you gotta pay for me to 658 00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:10,040 Speaker 1: fly out there. That's how he said. Motels, Yeah, we're 659 00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:16,359 Speaker 1: gonna give you a lot of exposure, though it's gonna 660 00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:23,080 Speaker 1: really help your career. So a few very dumb men 661 00:42:23,200 --> 00:42:27,239 Speaker 1: did agree to join. Former CIA officer George Bacon read 662 00:42:27,320 --> 00:42:30,880 Speaker 1: this ad on Soldier of Fortune magazine, enjoyed the war effort, 663 00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:34,680 Speaker 1: which the CIA does a lot of shady ship. But 664 00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:39,799 Speaker 1: let's not pretend they're smarter than they are. Okay, see 665 00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:42,640 Speaker 1: that's someone they got. He programmed and it's not right. 666 00:42:43,360 --> 00:42:44,880 Speaker 1: And then he thought he was done, and he's like, no, 667 00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:46,920 Speaker 1: I read the thing. It still happened. I'm in the 668 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:50,799 Speaker 1: sag and right, oh we baking up. Yeah, we did 669 00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:53,080 Speaker 1: some damage to Bacon. He might have been one of 670 00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:57,719 Speaker 1: the ones they gave too much acid to. Uh So, 671 00:42:57,960 --> 00:43:03,600 Speaker 1: like many Rhodesian volunteers, Bacon was basically immediately since he 672 00:43:03,719 --> 00:43:07,040 Speaker 1: and his fellow antique communist fighters were vastly outnumbered by 673 00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:10,719 Speaker 1: tens of thousands of Cuban soldiers. I think there was 674 00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:12,920 Speaker 1: like a last second thing where he was like, this 675 00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:17,759 Speaker 1: is the yeah, you know what, this doesn't feel like 676 00:43:17,800 --> 00:43:20,840 Speaker 1: the c I oh no, it's up dead. I don't know, 677 00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:22,680 Speaker 1: you know, the Bay of Pigs wasn't that long ago, 678 00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:26,640 Speaker 1: So this kind of does feel like the c Yeah, yeah, 679 00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:33,600 Speaker 1: written all over yea, who's yeah, there's thirty of us 680 00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:36,000 Speaker 1: in a lot of Cuban Army guys. Yeah, this kind 681 00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:44,040 Speaker 1: of feels like the CIA. I'm dead. Daniel Gearhardt, a 682 00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:47,640 Speaker 1: thirty four year old Vietnam veteran and financial distress, also replied. 683 00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:50,000 Speaker 1: His wife told him this was a terrible idea, but 684 00:43:50,080 --> 00:43:52,640 Speaker 1: Buffkin managed to convince him, and soon he found himself 685 00:43:52,719 --> 00:44:00,920 Speaker 1: over and come to He was capt it instantly, without 686 00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:07,400 Speaker 1: ever getting into common. His wife and family begged President 687 00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:09,440 Speaker 1: gerald Ford to do something. But if you know one 688 00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:14,239 Speaker 1: thing about gerald Ford, no, no, no, not unless you're 689 00:44:14,280 --> 00:44:20,440 Speaker 1: Richard Nixon. So the government of Angolas they made that dirty. 690 00:44:24,680 --> 00:44:29,840 Speaker 1: That's a weird reaction. So the government of Angola sentenced 691 00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:31,920 Speaker 1: him to death and executed him with a handful of 692 00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:35,239 Speaker 1: other mercenaries in nineteen seventy six. He and George we're 693 00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:37,120 Speaker 1: not the first soldier of Fortune readers to die as 694 00:44:37,160 --> 00:44:40,680 Speaker 1: a result of the magazine's classic classified ads section, and 695 00:44:40,760 --> 00:44:44,640 Speaker 1: they would not be the last. We have a legacy 696 00:44:44,719 --> 00:44:48,680 Speaker 1: to ophold here now. Billy I found a copy of 697 00:44:48,719 --> 00:44:51,040 Speaker 1: the magazine from the Year of Our Lord nineteen eighty 698 00:44:51,160 --> 00:44:52,800 Speaker 1: and I'd like to read you a handful of the 699 00:44:52,920 --> 00:44:55,560 Speaker 1: different ads in it. Are you you want to? Yeah? 700 00:44:55,600 --> 00:44:59,200 Speaker 1: This is this is don't worry no more depressing racism, 701 00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:06,160 Speaker 1: some depressing murder, and some depressing racism, but entertaining murder. 702 00:45:06,200 --> 00:45:08,759 Speaker 1: Probably at the entertaining murder for something. I noticed that 703 00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:13,040 Speaker 1: and then like somebody else does, and you guys like, yeah, 704 00:45:15,280 --> 00:45:17,920 Speaker 1: it's a bit of a whip lash episode. We're all 705 00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:22,839 Speaker 1: over the place tonight. So add number one male years old, 706 00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:28,080 Speaker 1: five ft nine pounds, desire security position any location, excellent 707 00:45:28,160 --> 00:45:31,560 Speaker 1: marksman and speaks fair German. I'm anti social and prefer 708 00:45:31,719 --> 00:45:38,600 Speaker 1: working alone. That's like the Vegas like, just let me 709 00:45:38,719 --> 00:45:42,279 Speaker 1: kiel a German. Du you need a German kield, I'll 710 00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:45,800 Speaker 1: do it. I'm quiet. Oh we speak? Ohh I was? 711 00:45:45,920 --> 00:45:48,520 Speaker 1: I read something else and speaks German and likes to shoot. 712 00:45:49,040 --> 00:45:55,879 Speaker 1: But and anti social. Oh there's a lot of bad 713 00:45:55,920 --> 00:46:01,520 Speaker 1: people in this magazine. Yeah. The next ads shrying to 714 00:46:01,600 --> 00:46:08,759 Speaker 1: help you. I get it. That's bad. It took me 715 00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:20,560 Speaker 1: a minute and I'm glad it did. So. The next 716 00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:24,440 Speaker 1: ad x C I A attach a seeks area in 717 00:46:24,640 --> 00:46:31,200 Speaker 1: us to it actually does, but like like proud boy 718 00:46:31,360 --> 00:46:34,320 Speaker 1: kind of racist, so it seeks area in US to 719 00:46:34,400 --> 00:46:39,400 Speaker 1: fulfill purpose of pro Western ideals and their success. Tradecrafts 720 00:46:39,480 --> 00:46:46,720 Speaker 1: many cut out, sanitization, sanctification, playback, disinformation, bag jobs, false 721 00:46:46,800 --> 00:46:51,880 Speaker 1: flag legends, peeps and sounds, sneak ease, and sisters available. 722 00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:56,960 Speaker 1: I don't know what sisters means in this context. I 723 00:46:57,080 --> 00:47:00,200 Speaker 1: bet he'd use the same thing on his dating profile up. 724 00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:04,040 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, thirty years later and this is just an 725 00:47:04,080 --> 00:47:20,760 Speaker 1: okay Cupid Yeah, Snakey's Oh this ad billy former agent 726 00:47:20,880 --> 00:47:24,799 Speaker 1: in place, qualified in counter ops, SERAI brief Debrief, War 727 00:47:24,920 --> 00:47:28,399 Speaker 1: Planning interrogator to to three and three oh eight arms dead, 728 00:47:28,560 --> 00:47:34,279 Speaker 1: serious inquiries only contact micro Data Systems of Huntington's Beach, California. 729 00:47:36,360 --> 00:47:44,319 Speaker 1: That's awesome. I don't worry bullshit the next ad. I'll 730 00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:52,279 Speaker 1: live an orange Gammy's Madman's Book of Formulas, how to 731 00:47:52,400 --> 00:47:57,880 Speaker 1: make step by step goodies like knockout drops, explosives, silencer's poisons, 732 00:47:58,239 --> 00:48:04,759 Speaker 1: letter bomb, and many others you need to know to 733 00:48:04,840 --> 00:48:08,839 Speaker 1: make a letter bomb. Knockout drops. I bet they're good. 734 00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:14,680 Speaker 1: I bet they work. I bet that's where Cosby got his. 735 00:48:18,080 --> 00:48:20,080 Speaker 1: I'm just kidding. It was probably a real doctor. You 736 00:48:20,120 --> 00:48:25,439 Speaker 1: guys goome off and the last little lad we're gonna 737 00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:29,600 Speaker 1: read Billy wanted Patriots, especially veterans who see the coming 738 00:48:29,680 --> 00:48:32,920 Speaker 1: national crises and desire to be prepared right to for 739 00:48:33,080 --> 00:48:41,759 Speaker 1: free information to Christian Patriots Defense League. Yeah yeah, we've 740 00:48:41,840 --> 00:48:45,919 Speaker 1: moved on to Christian mingles. What you're saying, Yeah, yeah, 741 00:48:46,520 --> 00:48:53,200 Speaker 1: farmers only I do whenever I see Farmers Only, I 742 00:48:53,320 --> 00:48:56,000 Speaker 1: can't imagine someone saying the name of that service without 743 00:48:56,040 --> 00:48:59,560 Speaker 1: holding a gun. Yeah, no, no, I think the people 744 00:48:59,600 --> 00:49:03,200 Speaker 1: that came up, but that we're like, yeah, now, the 745 00:49:03,280 --> 00:49:06,480 Speaker 1: slogan for Soldier of Fortune magazine, displayed displayed in vibrant 746 00:49:06,480 --> 00:49:09,040 Speaker 1: color on a poster in their Boulder, Colorado office, was 747 00:49:09,640 --> 00:49:14,400 Speaker 1: killing is our business, and business is good. Actually, our 748 00:49:14,480 --> 00:49:21,040 Speaker 1: business is a magazine and we most get just you know, 749 00:49:21,160 --> 00:49:25,799 Speaker 1: we do a lot of ink writing. They're all fat. 750 00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:31,960 Speaker 1: And I have to say, though, like the fact that 751 00:49:32,239 --> 00:49:34,960 Speaker 1: their business is killing and it's good was not as 752 00:49:35,120 --> 00:49:38,200 Speaker 1: untrue as you'd think, because throughout the early nineteen eighties, 753 00:49:38,280 --> 00:49:40,800 Speaker 1: Soldier of Fortune did a brisk business and selling ads 754 00:49:40,880 --> 00:49:50,680 Speaker 1: to contract killers. Yeah yeah, yeah, it's wild because like 755 00:49:50,719 --> 00:49:52,799 Speaker 1: they kind of invented the dark web before the dark 756 00:49:53,680 --> 00:49:55,759 Speaker 1: but while all of them, the hitman on the dark 757 00:49:55,800 --> 00:49:59,440 Speaker 1: web are just FBI agents. Like this, this actually happened, 758 00:49:59,520 --> 00:50:04,239 Speaker 1: like real people did murders through these. Yeah, I'm gonna 759 00:50:04,320 --> 00:50:10,680 Speaker 1: quote now from a media I'll be getting people in 760 00:50:10,760 --> 00:50:14,400 Speaker 1: trouble here. I'm gonna quote now from a media matters 761 00:50:14,560 --> 00:50:17,880 Speaker 1: right up one of them. Knoxville, Tennessee one of them, 762 00:50:17,920 --> 00:50:21,040 Speaker 1: and Knoxville, Tennessee. Nightclub operator and former prison guard named 763 00:50:21,320 --> 00:50:24,200 Speaker 1: Richard Michael Savage said that he received thirty to forty 764 00:50:24,320 --> 00:50:26,160 Speaker 1: calls a week after he placed this ad in the 765 00:50:26,280 --> 00:50:30,319 Speaker 1: June issue of the magazine Gun for Higher. Thirty seven 766 00:50:30,400 --> 00:50:34,040 Speaker 1: year old professional mercenary desires jobs Vietnam veteran, discreet and 767 00:50:34,120 --> 00:50:39,520 Speaker 1: very private bodyguard, courier, and other special skills all jobs considered. 768 00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:41,399 Speaker 1: Which is a nice way of saying, I'll kill people. 769 00:50:41,440 --> 00:50:45,200 Speaker 1: I'll kill him. Yeah, I'm from Tennessee. I'll kill somebody. 770 00:50:46,560 --> 00:50:51,239 Speaker 1: That was one of the ads. I'm from Tennessee. Some 771 00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:54,640 Speaker 1: people don't understand, like the volunteers, they think that's our nickname. No, 772 00:50:54,880 --> 00:50:58,280 Speaker 1: that's because whenever there was a kid like war or anything, 773 00:50:58,800 --> 00:51:02,439 Speaker 1: every Tennessee and his wit it's okay to go kill people. 774 00:51:02,480 --> 00:51:08,040 Speaker 1: There I'll be there. I don't give a ship. Which 775 00:51:08,120 --> 00:51:13,760 Speaker 1: side is just something I'm good at. And the Tennessee 776 00:51:13,840 --> 00:51:18,440 Speaker 1: Mercenaries doesn't have the ring to it, the volume, because 777 00:51:18,440 --> 00:51:20,480 Speaker 1: you gotta sail that ship. You know, we're learning, you 778 00:51:20,560 --> 00:51:23,640 Speaker 1: know what I mean. So uh. One of the people 779 00:51:23,719 --> 00:51:27,120 Speaker 1: who called Richard Savage wanted to recruit a small army 780 00:51:27,160 --> 00:51:31,759 Speaker 1: to rate a gold mine in Alaska. He's go to 781 00:51:31,840 --> 00:51:34,440 Speaker 1: a bar in Alaska. It's it's really it is not 782 00:51:34,600 --> 00:51:38,879 Speaker 1: hard to find army man looking for work there. Who's 783 00:51:38,880 --> 00:51:47,560 Speaker 1: got a gun? Oh? You brought him? Follow me, That's it. 784 00:51:48,880 --> 00:51:52,279 Speaker 1: I'll be there in May. Another caller pitched him on 785 00:51:52,320 --> 00:51:55,120 Speaker 1: a plot to steal an army payroll in South America, 786 00:51:55,719 --> 00:52:00,239 Speaker 1: and based on its interview with a friend of Chard 787 00:52:00,239 --> 00:52:02,840 Speaker 1: Savage who was in contact with him during this whole period, 788 00:52:03,040 --> 00:52:07,040 Speaker 1: People magazine reported this in quote. Yet another wanted to 789 00:52:07,120 --> 00:52:11,040 Speaker 1: rate Nicaragua and promised to supply guns, camouflage, clothing, rubber boats, 790 00:52:11,080 --> 00:52:14,040 Speaker 1: and fifty dollars for each mercenary when the raid was completed. 791 00:52:14,440 --> 00:52:18,200 Speaker 1: Savage was enthusiastic about every hair braids. It's a good deal. 792 00:52:18,800 --> 00:52:21,759 Speaker 1: I do it. Yeah, sure, why not? You don't have 793 00:52:21,840 --> 00:52:24,560 Speaker 1: to complete the mission, no, you get the money gets. 794 00:52:26,120 --> 00:52:28,960 Speaker 1: Savage was enthusiastic about every hairbrain scheme he heard, but 795 00:52:29,040 --> 00:52:32,360 Speaker 1: ultimately was persuaded to concentrate on murder. So if the 796 00:52:32,440 --> 00:52:35,239 Speaker 1: caller sounded discreet, Savage would ask for a round trip 797 00:52:35,400 --> 00:52:37,720 Speaker 1: for a round trip airline ticket and a thousand dollars, 798 00:52:38,000 --> 00:52:39,920 Speaker 1: the two would meet face to face, then feel each 799 00:52:39,960 --> 00:52:43,120 Speaker 1: other out until each was certain of the other's credentials. 800 00:52:43,280 --> 00:52:45,239 Speaker 1: It's a good business to being getting paid thousand dollars 801 00:52:45,280 --> 00:52:47,400 Speaker 1: just to talk about killing a guy that's not against 802 00:52:47,440 --> 00:52:54,560 Speaker 1: the law. Probably anyway, I got a new business idea, Billy. 803 00:52:57,360 --> 00:52:59,359 Speaker 1: I think d C is the place for that. Yeah, 804 00:53:00,880 --> 00:53:03,640 Speaker 1: in a way, Robert, Yeah, sorry, I just gave that 805 00:53:03,719 --> 00:53:06,800 Speaker 1: out a little early there. So, um, I know, I know, 806 00:53:06,920 --> 00:53:09,800 Speaker 1: I'm fucking hacking a fraud. So Savage took on a 807 00:53:09,920 --> 00:53:13,120 Speaker 1: job to kill Richard Brown, an Atlanta man he and 808 00:53:13,160 --> 00:53:16,880 Speaker 1: to triggerman also recruited through soldier of Fortune magazine, ambushed 809 00:53:16,880 --> 00:53:19,680 Speaker 1: Brown and his teenage son with AMAC eleven. They killed 810 00:53:19,719 --> 00:53:22,800 Speaker 1: Brown and wounded his boy. Four months after this, Savage 811 00:53:22,840 --> 00:53:25,640 Speaker 1: was hired to kill Anita Spearman of Palm Beach, Florida. 812 00:53:26,040 --> 00:53:28,640 Speaker 1: He subcontracted the head out he had. Another Soldier of 813 00:53:28,680 --> 00:53:32,880 Speaker 1: Fortune reader. Yeah, listen, I got a lot going on. 814 00:53:35,880 --> 00:53:38,680 Speaker 1: A guy named and at Fast in my work for me. 815 00:53:40,520 --> 00:53:43,719 Speaker 1: So Savage and the guy that he subcontracted were paid 816 00:53:43,719 --> 00:53:47,360 Speaker 1: twenty dollars for the hit by Spearman's husband, himself a 817 00:53:47,440 --> 00:53:50,960 Speaker 1: big fan of Soldier of Fortune magazine. Another hit man 818 00:53:51,320 --> 00:53:55,280 Speaker 1: I'm a huge fan of Would you murderous? I've always 819 00:53:55,320 --> 00:54:00,400 Speaker 1: wanted to do this. Sorry, I'm a little starstruck. Gets 820 00:54:03,360 --> 00:54:10,520 Speaker 1: here's the money. Horror she dried here? Should not bring 821 00:54:10,600 --> 00:54:15,120 Speaker 1: her in? I don't know. Another hitman was Texas trucker 822 00:54:15,200 --> 00:54:18,279 Speaker 1: John Hearno. He ran an ad in four issues of 823 00:54:18,320 --> 00:54:22,120 Speaker 1: the magazine looking for high risk assignments USKR overs u 824 00:54:22,320 --> 00:54:25,239 Speaker 1: S or overseas. So many people called hern that he 825 00:54:25,280 --> 00:54:27,880 Speaker 1: had to hire an answering service to handle all the demand. 826 00:54:28,400 --> 00:54:31,360 Speaker 1: He estimated that of his callers wanted him to commit 827 00:54:31,480 --> 00:54:34,960 Speaker 1: some sort of crime, ranging from bombings to jail breakings. 828 00:54:35,120 --> 00:54:38,480 Speaker 1: Too simple. Assault. He received, he says, three to five 829 00:54:38,600 --> 00:54:41,640 Speaker 1: contract murder offers every single day, which says a lot 830 00:54:41,719 --> 00:54:48,360 Speaker 1: about the readers of Soldier Fortune magazine. Finally, Yeah, in 831 00:54:48,520 --> 00:54:52,200 Speaker 1: February five, Herne took on the job of murdering Sandra Black. 832 00:54:52,400 --> 00:54:54,560 Speaker 1: Her husband paid him ten thousand dollars to shoot his 833 00:54:54,680 --> 00:54:58,000 Speaker 1: wife the first one. If you're getting that many, you know, 834 00:54:58,080 --> 00:55:00,200 Speaker 1: that's a very good question. I would love to asked 835 00:55:00,280 --> 00:55:02,200 Speaker 1: him that. Same with the other dude, you're getting like, 836 00:55:02,280 --> 00:55:04,680 Speaker 1: I'm like, he was, like, listen, they were all great offers, 837 00:55:04,719 --> 00:55:08,680 Speaker 1: but I got in this today murder. Um. You know, Billy, 838 00:55:08,719 --> 00:55:10,520 Speaker 1: A big part of success when you do what you 839 00:55:10,600 --> 00:55:12,800 Speaker 1: want for a living is figuring out how to say no. 840 00:55:13,080 --> 00:55:21,680 Speaker 1: You know, it's a struggle, it is, so Richard said, 841 00:55:21,880 --> 00:55:26,719 Speaker 1: oh yeah, um. So Hearne was eventually caught and tried um, 842 00:55:26,880 --> 00:55:28,879 Speaker 1: and he has insisted that he never would have gotten 843 00:55:28,920 --> 00:55:30,960 Speaker 1: start as a hitman if started as a hitman, if 844 00:55:31,000 --> 00:55:34,600 Speaker 1: it weren't for Soldier of Fortune Magazine. What a sentence. 845 00:55:35,200 --> 00:55:37,960 Speaker 1: Richard Savage was also caught by the law. He too, 846 00:55:38,080 --> 00:55:41,280 Speaker 1: squealed on Soldier of Fortune magazine, and suddenly a deluge 847 00:55:41,360 --> 00:55:44,359 Speaker 1: of news coverage hit the magazine. Robert Brown denied any 848 00:55:44,440 --> 00:55:47,480 Speaker 1: responsibility for the deaths. He ordered his executive editor to 849 00:55:47,520 --> 00:55:50,680 Speaker 1: make this statement, We're as cupable as any newspaper which 850 00:55:50,680 --> 00:55:53,040 Speaker 1: accepts an ad from a used car salesman, and doesn't 851 00:55:53,040 --> 00:55:57,080 Speaker 1: go out to check the condition of the brakes. Same thing, 852 00:56:00,719 --> 00:56:07,520 Speaker 1: tied Jesus, It's amazing. You think they had a meeting 853 00:56:07,600 --> 00:56:10,440 Speaker 1: like we'ing go with this one. Yeah. Oh, they must 854 00:56:10,480 --> 00:56:12,959 Speaker 1: have workshop the ship out of that. So we're gonna 855 00:56:12,960 --> 00:56:20,560 Speaker 1: go to use karthin. I'm glad we all got guns. Still. 856 00:56:20,760 --> 00:56:23,080 Speaker 1: Brown was wise enough to stop running ads for murderers 857 00:56:23,120 --> 00:56:25,440 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty six. If he felt any guilt over 858 00:56:25,520 --> 00:56:27,560 Speaker 1: all the deaths, he did not show it, writing in 859 00:56:27,600 --> 00:56:30,360 Speaker 1: a nineteen eighty six editorial, for the last decade, I 860 00:56:30,400 --> 00:56:33,359 Speaker 1: have hunted terrorists with the Rhodesian African rifles and fired 861 00:56:33,440 --> 00:56:37,040 Speaker 1: up a Russian fort in Afghanistan with the Mujahideen. Between firefights, 862 00:56:37,080 --> 00:56:40,320 Speaker 1: takeovers and insurgencies, I managed to put out a magazine 863 00:56:41,760 --> 00:56:46,320 Speaker 1: Kick him in the balls. Yeah. He also managed to 864 00:56:46,360 --> 00:56:48,920 Speaker 1: get sued by Richard Brown's sons for his role in 865 00:56:48,960 --> 00:56:51,840 Speaker 1: their father's murder. They were awarded four point three million 866 00:56:51,920 --> 00:56:55,719 Speaker 1: dollars in civil judgments judgments, which was upheld by the U. S. 867 00:56:55,800 --> 00:56:58,600 Speaker 1: Court of Appeals in nineteen two. The New York Times 868 00:56:58,640 --> 00:57:02,000 Speaker 1: wrote this about the case. The Eleventh Circuit Panel said, however, 869 00:57:02,080 --> 00:57:04,680 Speaker 1: that while the advertisement in the Texas case was facially 870 00:57:04,719 --> 00:57:09,160 Speaker 1: innocuous and ambiguous in its message. Mr Savages advertisement clearly 871 00:57:09,239 --> 00:57:11,239 Speaker 1: conveyed that he was ready, willing and able to use 872 00:57:11,320 --> 00:57:15,719 Speaker 1: his gun to commit crimes. Yeah, I got that. I 873 00:57:15,840 --> 00:57:19,120 Speaker 1: got a couple other people got that too, Billy. Yeah, 874 00:57:21,120 --> 00:57:25,920 Speaker 1: I'm not good at codes either. Brown wound up settling 875 00:57:25,960 --> 00:57:28,360 Speaker 1: with the bron family for two dred thousand dollars. When 876 00:57:28,400 --> 00:57:30,680 Speaker 1: he was interviewed about this later in two thousand sixteen, 877 00:57:30,840 --> 00:57:34,320 Speaker 1: he said this, they really tried the magazine, not the cases. 878 00:57:34,640 --> 00:57:36,800 Speaker 1: Two guys meet through the magazine, They have a friendly 879 00:57:36,880 --> 00:57:39,920 Speaker 1: relationship for six months, they don't talk about anything illegal, 880 00:57:40,160 --> 00:57:42,200 Speaker 1: but then six months later they agree to commit this 881 00:57:42,240 --> 00:57:47,520 Speaker 1: horrendous crime. I'm a dick. Well, if they meet up 882 00:57:47,560 --> 00:57:49,520 Speaker 1: in a bar six months later they say, let's rob 883 00:57:49,560 --> 00:57:52,000 Speaker 1: a bank, should the bartender be held liable? It was 884 00:57:52,120 --> 00:57:59,120 Speaker 1: total crap. Well, like the bar was like a bartend, 885 00:57:59,400 --> 00:58:03,080 Speaker 1: like a bar for people that rob banks. Yeah, if 886 00:58:03,120 --> 00:58:05,360 Speaker 1: it was the bartender, probould be like the police would 887 00:58:05,360 --> 00:58:08,440 Speaker 1: be like yo, I feel like the booze was just 888 00:58:08,560 --> 00:58:13,640 Speaker 1: a you got me. Yeah, if instead of checking I 889 00:58:13,760 --> 00:58:15,959 Speaker 1: d S, the bar required you to plan to murder 890 00:58:16,080 --> 00:58:19,200 Speaker 1: someone's wife, in order to enter like then we then 891 00:58:19,240 --> 00:58:22,240 Speaker 1: the comparison would be valid. I will say that and 892 00:58:22,360 --> 00:58:27,200 Speaker 1: that's an Applebach just that is an apple BEEAs and 893 00:58:27,520 --> 00:58:34,680 Speaker 1: some waffle houses not a good one. So from that 894 00:58:34,800 --> 00:58:37,560 Speaker 1: point on, the Soldier of Fortune classified ad section turned 895 00:58:37,640 --> 00:58:40,760 Speaker 1: to slightly more licit fair. They sold Mail Order Brides 896 00:58:43,080 --> 00:58:52,360 Speaker 1: Bounty Hunter treating all of a sudden, I got real serious, 897 00:58:52,760 --> 00:58:59,600 Speaker 1: you guys, that's how you treated that one. They sold 898 00:58:59,680 --> 00:59:03,360 Speaker 1: Male Order Bride's Bounty Hunter training manuals, Secrets of the 899 00:59:03,480 --> 00:59:09,800 Speaker 1: Ninja Lessons, old Nazi equipment, functional machine. What does that mean? 900 00:59:11,080 --> 00:59:14,800 Speaker 1: I think you know what it means. It means as 901 00:59:14,840 --> 00:59:18,840 Speaker 1: well as silencers and sniper rifles, they send you a potato. 902 00:59:21,800 --> 00:59:24,160 Speaker 1: Soldier of Fortune also did a brisk business and selling 903 00:59:24,240 --> 00:59:26,080 Speaker 1: the kind of T shirts that are all too common 904 00:59:26,160 --> 00:59:29,040 Speaker 1: in randomly generated Facebook counts today. I do not want 905 00:59:29,040 --> 00:59:34,040 Speaker 1: to know what the shirts with slogans like no happiness 906 00:59:34,120 --> 00:59:37,000 Speaker 1: is a confirmed kill. There are a few social programs 907 00:59:37,040 --> 00:59:40,000 Speaker 1: that cannot be solved by the proper application of high explosives, 908 00:59:40,200 --> 00:59:42,680 Speaker 1: and the ever popular kill them all and let God 909 00:59:42,760 --> 00:59:48,600 Speaker 1: sort them, saying yes, we have Robert Brown to thank 910 00:59:48,680 --> 00:59:51,760 Speaker 1: for launching the bafflingly violent t shirt industry, which, by 911 00:59:51,800 --> 00:59:55,840 Speaker 1: my rough count, provides roughly six of Facebook's operating revenue today. 912 00:59:56,000 --> 01:00:08,720 Speaker 1: So so belly. Soldier of Fortune also contributed to the 913 01:00:08,800 --> 01:00:12,520 Speaker 1: birth of the needlessly aggressive sticker industry, selling door stickers 914 01:00:12,600 --> 01:00:18,520 Speaker 1: labor is their life after death. Trespass here and find 915 01:00:18,560 --> 01:00:21,640 Speaker 1: out and never mind the dog, be aware of owner, 916 01:00:21,880 --> 01:00:24,520 Speaker 1: and of course bumper stickers. Like the only way they'll 917 01:00:24,560 --> 01:00:26,439 Speaker 1: get my gun is to pry it from my cold 918 01:00:26,520 --> 01:00:30,280 Speaker 1: dead hands, and the irony of that one. So Robert 919 01:00:33,360 --> 01:00:36,720 Speaker 1: Robert Milch wrote Red Dawn classic movie. There's very famous 920 01:00:36,720 --> 01:00:38,840 Speaker 1: scene in the beginning when the Soviets are invading were like, 921 01:00:38,920 --> 01:00:40,760 Speaker 1: you see a guy with a they get my gun 922 01:00:40,760 --> 01:00:42,880 Speaker 1: when they pried for my cold dead hands, lying dead 923 01:00:42,920 --> 01:00:45,960 Speaker 1: behind his truck with at five. Robert Milch was the 924 01:00:46,000 --> 01:00:49,000 Speaker 1: subject of like a tin page spread like article in 925 01:00:49,120 --> 01:00:53,080 Speaker 1: Soldier of Fortune magazine. It's just fun, it's just a 926 01:00:53,080 --> 01:00:56,800 Speaker 1: good time. It's good time. Boulder is a nice place. 927 01:00:57,440 --> 01:01:00,600 Speaker 1: It is a nice place. He went for college and 928 01:01:00,680 --> 01:01:03,400 Speaker 1: likes it. He went to college and behold, I went 929 01:01:03,440 --> 01:01:05,479 Speaker 1: to the University of Colorado. How do you go there? 930 01:01:05,600 --> 01:01:08,920 Speaker 1: And then like I'm gonna be a professional well different age, okay, 931 01:01:08,960 --> 01:01:10,680 Speaker 1: because I don't know if you've been in the Boulder lightly, 932 01:01:10,760 --> 01:01:16,240 Speaker 1: but no one has murdered anything there, and like even soap, 933 01:01:16,560 --> 01:01:20,760 Speaker 1: they don't. It's just where if you rich kids go 934 01:01:20,920 --> 01:01:26,520 Speaker 1: that can't get into Ivy League schools. So in addition 935 01:01:26,600 --> 01:01:28,960 Speaker 1: to all this, Soldier of Fortune continue to play host 936 01:01:29,000 --> 01:01:31,480 Speaker 1: to a series of classic articles for the modern man, 937 01:01:31,520 --> 01:01:33,960 Speaker 1: who's pretty sure he would have been Conan the Barbarian 938 01:01:34,000 --> 01:01:38,120 Speaker 1: if a few cards had landed differently, and yeah, yeah, 939 01:01:39,120 --> 01:01:43,080 Speaker 1: time cards to a lot of cards actually, And I 940 01:01:43,160 --> 01:01:46,280 Speaker 1: think the single best example of this magazine's content is 941 01:01:46,480 --> 01:01:48,880 Speaker 1: this classic article that I'm so excited to read you 942 01:01:48,960 --> 01:01:54,400 Speaker 1: Billy Wayne Davis. Wow, that's not a good sign. Secrets 943 01:01:54,440 --> 01:02:01,880 Speaker 1: of Modern battle Acts Fighting by Jeff Cooper. This ain't 944 01:02:01,920 --> 01:02:08,320 Speaker 1: everyday knowledge, and this ain't old school ship modern secret 945 01:02:08,680 --> 01:02:11,400 Speaker 1: modern battle axe fighting trying to hit him in the neck. 946 01:02:13,240 --> 01:02:15,680 Speaker 1: A lot of people don't know that some important ship 947 01:02:15,800 --> 01:02:26,160 Speaker 1: here week do their hands. The article opens with Jeff 948 01:02:26,280 --> 01:02:28,920 Speaker 1: announcing that, for reasons that are never made clear, he 949 01:02:29,000 --> 01:02:31,280 Speaker 1: has won an award that also happens to be a 950 01:02:31,360 --> 01:02:36,360 Speaker 1: hand forged Norse battle axe, being the kind of man 951 01:02:36,480 --> 01:02:39,440 Speaker 1: who writes for Soldier of Fortune magazine, Jeff Cooper decided 952 01:02:39,480 --> 01:02:41,480 Speaker 1: he desperately needed to know how to kill people with 953 01:02:41,560 --> 01:02:44,680 Speaker 1: this axe. Unfortunately, the only manuals he could find on 954 01:02:44,760 --> 01:02:47,680 Speaker 1: axe fighting were archaic and not very detailed. So he 955 01:02:47,760 --> 01:02:51,040 Speaker 1: had a friend. Decided to spend the afternoon inventing am saying, 956 01:02:51,080 --> 01:02:57,440 Speaker 1: I had to drink made first. So he had a 957 01:02:57,520 --> 01:03:00,640 Speaker 1: friend and spent an afternoon inventing a modern science of 958 01:03:00,680 --> 01:03:07,800 Speaker 1: battle axe fighting by afternoon. Yeah, now that's kung fu 959 01:03:07,960 --> 01:03:12,760 Speaker 1: was written in an afternoon, A long afternoon, Yes, they 960 01:03:12,840 --> 01:03:17,960 Speaker 1: let it was in like August. Yeah, so they did 961 01:03:18,040 --> 01:03:22,959 Speaker 1: this by jabbing vaguely at hay bales in an empty field. Now, Billy, 962 01:03:23,120 --> 01:03:24,440 Speaker 1: I'm gonna need you to take a look at a 963 01:03:24,440 --> 01:03:29,320 Speaker 1: pat I've studied how to do this. I want you 964 01:03:29,400 --> 01:03:30,880 Speaker 1: to look at the picture, and I want you to 965 01:03:31,000 --> 01:03:34,040 Speaker 1: notice that while he is jabbing this hay bale violently 966 01:03:34,080 --> 01:03:36,120 Speaker 1: with an axe, he's wearing a gun on his hip. 967 01:03:39,680 --> 01:03:48,240 Speaker 1: And we're gonna pass this around. It is this is 968 01:03:49,040 --> 01:03:53,560 Speaker 1: He looks like you think you would, yeah, like you 969 01:03:53,600 --> 01:03:56,160 Speaker 1: can't see his eyes, but they're beaty, you know, they're bady. 970 01:03:57,440 --> 01:04:00,640 Speaker 1: I gotta finish to pass this around because you really 971 01:04:00,680 --> 01:04:03,800 Speaker 1: need to see Jeff Cooper doing the pike thrust, the 972 01:04:03,920 --> 01:04:06,959 Speaker 1: straight right, the full overhead, and of course port guard 973 01:04:07,960 --> 01:04:15,320 Speaker 1: for he got again. Yeah, I think he might have 974 01:04:15,360 --> 01:04:17,360 Speaker 1: a cigarette in his mouth on the last of these two. 975 01:04:19,400 --> 01:04:21,320 Speaker 1: He didn't even know he lit it. That's how. That's 976 01:04:21,320 --> 01:04:24,520 Speaker 1: how people smoke, how to get I don't even know. 977 01:04:26,000 --> 01:04:29,240 Speaker 1: So the business of writing articles like this was rather safe, 978 01:04:29,320 --> 01:04:32,280 Speaker 1: but Robert Brown was not satisfied with safe. He still 979 01:04:32,320 --> 01:04:35,560 Speaker 1: found himself desperately addicted to war tourism, and the primary 980 01:04:35,600 --> 01:04:38,400 Speaker 1: purpose of Soldier of Fortune magazine was to enable his habit. 981 01:04:38,720 --> 01:04:41,280 Speaker 1: Throughout the mid nineteen eighties, Brown and his magazine got 982 01:04:41,360 --> 01:04:44,880 Speaker 1: increasingly involved in the El Salvadoran Civil War. He visited 983 01:04:44,920 --> 01:04:47,120 Speaker 1: for the first time in nineteen three and spent several 984 01:04:47,200 --> 01:04:50,840 Speaker 1: happy days fighting alongside a cadre of mercenaries and paramilitary 985 01:04:50,920 --> 01:04:54,320 Speaker 1: fighters backing Roberto de Abison. Dobyson was, in the words 986 01:04:54,360 --> 01:04:57,320 Speaker 1: of the U. S. Ambassador to El Salvador, a pathological 987 01:04:57,440 --> 01:05:00,040 Speaker 1: killer who bragged about the need to exterminate two of 988 01:05:00,120 --> 01:05:02,320 Speaker 1: the three hundred thousand people in his country. This is 989 01:05:02,360 --> 01:05:04,480 Speaker 1: the guy Robert Brown's like, I don't want to be 990 01:05:04,560 --> 01:05:10,280 Speaker 1: angry with you. I'm gonna I'm gonna pass these battle 991 01:05:10,320 --> 01:05:13,000 Speaker 1: axe photos around because I have a moral obligation to 992 01:05:13,080 --> 01:05:15,240 Speaker 1: show them to you. Yeah, you guys need to see him. 993 01:05:16,000 --> 01:05:20,720 Speaker 1: He looks like he looks like, he looks like he's 994 01:05:20,720 --> 01:05:24,560 Speaker 1: gonna like if he was around today, he'd have a 995 01:05:24,640 --> 01:05:28,200 Speaker 1: red hat on in those pas. No very specific brand. 996 01:05:29,120 --> 01:05:31,920 Speaker 1: Oh what happened with the light, I don't know, but 997 01:05:32,080 --> 01:05:39,400 Speaker 1: just these people are important, looking very nice. I was 998 01:05:39,480 --> 01:05:42,120 Speaker 1: hoping it was shining on Katie Stole and Cody Johnston. 999 01:05:42,280 --> 01:05:47,400 Speaker 1: It was just like a red that's like old school Vegas. 1000 01:05:47,520 --> 01:05:52,120 Speaker 1: We're like, hey, Dean Martin's in the Dean Martin is 1001 01:05:52,480 --> 01:05:59,920 Speaker 1: in the audience. But turn a lout off. So Dabis 1002 01:06:00,040 --> 01:06:03,280 Speaker 1: and Round ran death squads which massacred women, children, and 1003 01:06:03,320 --> 01:06:05,480 Speaker 1: a huge number of priests, and Robert Brown was only 1004 01:06:05,560 --> 01:06:08,360 Speaker 1: too happy to help with that. He claimed to have 1005 01:06:08,400 --> 01:06:11,000 Speaker 1: sent more than a hundred mercenaries into Al Salvador. He 1006 01:06:11,080 --> 01:06:16,360 Speaker 1: also claimed that Henne came back a lot, didn't um. 1007 01:06:16,840 --> 01:06:18,880 Speaker 1: He also claimed that his readers had donated more than 1008 01:06:18,960 --> 01:06:21,480 Speaker 1: four million dollars in supplies to fight the Contra rebels 1009 01:06:21,480 --> 01:06:23,800 Speaker 1: in Nicaragua. When he was criticized over the fact that 1010 01:06:23,880 --> 01:06:27,160 Speaker 1: his magazine was actively enabling death squads and multiple nations. 1011 01:06:27,480 --> 01:06:30,600 Speaker 1: Robert Brown wrote this, we are not content to just 1012 01:06:30,760 --> 01:06:33,040 Speaker 1: tell the story to the best of our ability. We 1013 01:06:33,160 --> 01:06:35,920 Speaker 1: also help equip, aid and train the world's anti communist 1014 01:06:36,000 --> 01:06:38,680 Speaker 1: freedom fighters. We make no apologies about this or for 1015 01:06:38,760 --> 01:06:44,480 Speaker 1: our virulent, anti tyrant, anti communist editorial stance. Now, hey, hey, 1016 01:06:46,200 --> 01:06:48,680 Speaker 1: not only did I report what happens, I shoot people 1017 01:06:51,640 --> 01:06:54,320 Speaker 1: from a safe distance, from a very safe distance, and 1018 01:06:54,400 --> 01:06:58,760 Speaker 1: then I leave. Now tragedy, tragically, billy, And this is 1019 01:06:58,760 --> 01:07:01,680 Speaker 1: really gonna buy me out. Robert Brown's second plan trip 1020 01:07:01,760 --> 01:07:05,400 Speaker 1: to go fighting El Salvador, was canceled. I know, I 1021 01:07:05,480 --> 01:07:07,120 Speaker 1: know it's a bummer, right, but we all you know, 1022 01:07:07,720 --> 01:07:10,320 Speaker 1: sometimes you get sick and you can't make that trip. Sometimes, 1023 01:07:10,360 --> 01:07:12,920 Speaker 1: as in Brown's case, one of your own mercenary shoots 1024 01:07:12,960 --> 01:07:22,680 Speaker 1: you in the leg and it took a long time. 1025 01:07:26,120 --> 01:07:29,400 Speaker 1: Well that's you want. You're gonna do some other stuff 1026 01:07:29,400 --> 01:07:33,120 Speaker 1: after you do that. Well, here's how the Chicago Tribune 1027 01:07:33,280 --> 01:07:36,160 Speaker 1: described what happened. Because this is you're gonna enjoy this. 1028 01:07:36,880 --> 01:07:39,280 Speaker 1: Colonel Brown and his kitchen table buddies. We're talking about 1029 01:07:39,280 --> 01:07:41,080 Speaker 1: a flight to El Salvador that Brown was to make 1030 01:07:41,120 --> 01:07:43,400 Speaker 1: the next day. Brown, who was a captain in Vietnam, 1031 01:07:43,480 --> 01:07:45,720 Speaker 1: claims to be helping to train the Salvadoran army on 1032 01:07:45,760 --> 01:07:48,160 Speaker 1: an unofficial basis. He says he's making them tougher and 1033 01:07:48,240 --> 01:07:51,160 Speaker 1: more disciplined. As the evening war on official basis, I 1034 01:07:51,280 --> 01:07:53,960 Speaker 1: like that, Like, I'm just gonna war these people up 1035 01:07:53,960 --> 01:07:57,040 Speaker 1: a little bit, Just an ad hoc thing, don't you 1036 01:07:57,160 --> 01:08:05,760 Speaker 1: mind me? Unofficially teach. As the evening wore on towards midnight, 1037 01:08:05,840 --> 01:08:08,080 Speaker 1: one of Brown's buddies, who writes for Soldier of Fortune, 1038 01:08:08,120 --> 01:08:10,480 Speaker 1: took out an automatic pistol he was carrying and showed 1039 01:08:10,520 --> 01:08:13,400 Speaker 1: it to Brown. Brown's buddy talked about his pistols, heft, 1040 01:08:13,600 --> 01:08:16,240 Speaker 1: the trigger action, and the other qualities that please gun lovers. 1041 01:08:16,439 --> 01:08:18,960 Speaker 1: He pulled the trigger. Being a gun expert, he knew 1042 01:08:18,960 --> 01:08:21,800 Speaker 1: it was empty. When Brown's buddy, a gun expert, pulled 1043 01:08:21,840 --> 01:08:28,760 Speaker 1: the trigger, there was a loud explosion. He scared. He 1044 01:08:28,880 --> 01:08:32,640 Speaker 1: scared me. He stood there for a moment with his 1045 01:08:32,760 --> 01:08:34,680 Speaker 1: mouth wide open. Then he looked at his hand and 1046 01:08:34,760 --> 01:08:37,080 Speaker 1: saw a hole. He had shot a hole through his hand. 1047 01:08:39,920 --> 01:08:42,360 Speaker 1: Brown looked down at his leg, his leg hurt. He 1048 01:08:42,400 --> 01:08:45,120 Speaker 1: saw blood running out of his calf. The bullet, after 1049 01:08:45,240 --> 01:08:47,320 Speaker 1: blowing a hole in his buddy's hand, had blown a 1050 01:08:47,360 --> 01:08:50,000 Speaker 1: hole in Brown's leg. The hole the owner of the 1051 01:08:50,080 --> 01:08:59,760 Speaker 1: gun was right, It did pack a wallop. I tell you, 1052 01:09:00,320 --> 01:09:03,720 Speaker 1: I tell everyone, Yeah, I didn't look like a strong gun. 1053 01:09:05,960 --> 01:09:09,559 Speaker 1: Brown looked down looking at it slowed down through his hand. 1054 01:09:09,760 --> 01:09:11,240 Speaker 1: That could have hurt you. I would have done some 1055 01:09:11,320 --> 01:09:17,760 Speaker 1: real dawn could up. Brown looked down at his bleeding leg. 1056 01:09:17,960 --> 01:09:20,240 Speaker 1: Then he looked at his buddy and said, you stupid 1057 01:09:20,320 --> 01:09:22,320 Speaker 1: son of a bit. You shot me, and now I 1058 01:09:22,400 --> 01:09:29,320 Speaker 1: can't go to El Salvador. That's a good story. That's 1059 01:09:29,360 --> 01:09:32,439 Speaker 1: a feel good moment right there. We're all nine years old. 1060 01:09:32,880 --> 01:09:36,719 Speaker 1: That's where we'd never get past. That's our media, just like, hey, 1061 01:09:37,080 --> 01:09:42,040 Speaker 1: now I can't go to the water park. When I 1062 01:09:42,080 --> 01:09:44,439 Speaker 1: think about situations that scare me as like a journalist 1063 01:09:44,479 --> 01:09:46,320 Speaker 1: embedded with a group of people, one of them is 1064 01:09:46,400 --> 01:09:48,920 Speaker 1: being there for that and having to like not laugh, 1065 01:09:49,240 --> 01:09:52,559 Speaker 1: like because you really can't in that situation because one 1066 01:09:52,640 --> 01:09:57,519 Speaker 1: bullets already gone off. They're not against using another. Yeah, 1067 01:09:57,560 --> 01:10:01,760 Speaker 1: we can correct who tells this story to this? A 1068 01:10:01,920 --> 01:10:05,960 Speaker 1: different version of this gets out As the nineteen eighties 1069 01:10:06,040 --> 01:10:08,040 Speaker 1: wore on and the Cold War neared its end, so 1070 01:10:08,200 --> 01:10:11,000 Speaker 1: too did the business of soliciting mercenary fighters to crush 1071 01:10:11,080 --> 01:10:15,080 Speaker 1: so to crush socialist movements. Being a far right crypto fascist, 1072 01:10:15,200 --> 01:10:19,000 Speaker 1: Robert Brown trans transitioned seamlessly from demonizing left wing movements 1073 01:10:19,040 --> 01:10:21,840 Speaker 1: around the world and towards attacking the US government. As 1074 01:10:21,880 --> 01:10:24,160 Speaker 1: the Cold War ended, Soldier of Fortune became one of 1075 01:10:24,200 --> 01:10:27,760 Speaker 1: the prime sources fueling the American American Militia movement. In 1076 01:10:27,840 --> 01:10:31,599 Speaker 1: April nineteen, it did a cover story on the Michigan Militia, 1077 01:10:31,800 --> 01:10:34,920 Speaker 1: the largest such patriot group in the country. That same month, 1078 01:10:35,120 --> 01:10:38,400 Speaker 1: Soldier of Fortune subscriber and former Michigan Militia member Tim 1079 01:10:38,479 --> 01:10:40,800 Speaker 1: McVeigh set off a truck bomb outside them Are Building 1080 01:10:40,800 --> 01:10:43,400 Speaker 1: in Oklahoma City, killing a hundred sixty people and injuring 1081 01:10:43,479 --> 01:10:46,960 Speaker 1: seven hundred. When McVeigh was caught and his car was searched, 1082 01:10:47,080 --> 01:10:49,720 Speaker 1: the police found a photocopy of an underground right wing 1083 01:10:49,880 --> 01:10:54,400 Speaker 1: zene called The Resistor Sixty Minutes. Correspondent Steve Croft described 1084 01:10:54,439 --> 01:10:57,160 Speaker 1: it as a political warfare journal, describing the U s 1085 01:10:57,240 --> 01:10:59,400 Speaker 1: Government as a deadly enemy that needed to be crushed 1086 01:10:59,439 --> 01:11:02,840 Speaker 1: with lethal course, it's publisher, Stephen Barry, was a former 1087 01:11:02,920 --> 01:11:04,840 Speaker 1: Special Forces man who went on to work for the 1088 01:11:04,960 --> 01:11:07,960 Speaker 1: National Alliance, at the time the largest neo Nazi group 1089 01:11:08,000 --> 01:11:10,840 Speaker 1: in the United States. Now, the FBI obviously wanted to 1090 01:11:10,880 --> 01:11:13,000 Speaker 1: track down how this copy of the Resistor had wound 1091 01:11:13,040 --> 01:11:15,799 Speaker 1: up in mcveigh's hands, and by reading the fact signature 1092 01:11:15,840 --> 01:11:17,639 Speaker 1: of the paper, they were able to trace it back 1093 01:11:17,680 --> 01:11:20,880 Speaker 1: to Soldier of Fortunes offices, because it turns out Robert 1094 01:11:20,920 --> 01:11:23,240 Speaker 1: Brown had sent out nine hundred free copies of this 1095 01:11:23,360 --> 01:11:25,760 Speaker 1: zine the Soldier of Fortune subscribers as part of a 1096 01:11:25,800 --> 01:11:32,240 Speaker 1: promotional offer. Yes, this is a good deal. It is 1097 01:11:32,280 --> 01:11:36,839 Speaker 1: a two for one. You know he's gonna spend the money. Anyway, 1098 01:11:39,400 --> 01:11:42,280 Speaker 1: the Bureau wanted to know if Steven Barry Nazi head 1099 01:11:42,280 --> 01:11:44,880 Speaker 1: any ties to Robert Brown, so they leaked him false 1100 01:11:44,960 --> 01:11:49,360 Speaker 1: intel and watched as Sure enough that false intel appeared 1101 01:11:49,400 --> 01:11:55,760 Speaker 1: in Soldier of Fortune magazine. No way, So Brown found 1102 01:11:55,840 --> 01:11:59,040 Speaker 1: himself regularly under investigation and sued, but he always managed 1103 01:11:59,040 --> 01:12:02,120 Speaker 1: to stay in business and just shy of getting convicted 1104 01:12:02,160 --> 01:12:05,000 Speaker 1: of any felonies I had committing any felonies, But he 1105 01:12:05,080 --> 01:12:12,639 Speaker 1: absolutely committed some felonies allegedly after the Oklahoma City bombing, 1106 01:12:12,680 --> 01:12:15,240 Speaker 1: the Patriot movement got too toxic for Soldier of Fortune 1107 01:12:15,280 --> 01:12:17,679 Speaker 1: to cover. But once the nineties ended, Soldier of Fortune 1108 01:12:17,720 --> 01:12:19,760 Speaker 1: was able to pivot yet again by focusing on the 1109 01:12:19,840 --> 01:12:23,280 Speaker 1: dangers of immigrants and Muslim extremists. In two thousand three, 1110 01:12:23,439 --> 01:12:25,880 Speaker 1: Soldier of Fortune published a two part article on a 1111 01:12:25,960 --> 01:12:29,439 Speaker 1: group called Ranch Rescue a Border, a border vigilante group 1112 01:12:29,520 --> 01:12:31,960 Speaker 1: that later pistol whipped and set Rottweiler's on immigrants in 1113 01:12:32,000 --> 01:12:35,639 Speaker 1: Arizona and Texas. In October of two thousand nine, Soldier 1114 01:12:35,680 --> 01:12:38,160 Speaker 1: of Fortune to the feature on Sheriff Joe R. Pio 1115 01:12:38,280 --> 01:12:45,120 Speaker 1: of Maricopa County. Yeah, you guys, a funny cartoon writing 1116 01:12:45,479 --> 01:12:47,519 Speaker 1: his tough stand on a legal immigration is what he's 1117 01:12:47,520 --> 01:12:50,400 Speaker 1: getting beat up for by liberals promoting a legal immigration. 1118 01:12:51,439 --> 01:12:56,080 Speaker 1: Respect you know other people. They neglected to mention that 1119 01:12:56,120 --> 01:12:58,200 Speaker 1: dozens of prisoners had died in our piles jails at 1120 01:12:58,280 --> 01:13:00,679 Speaker 1: that point, often by being illegally risk reigned and boiled 1121 01:13:00,720 --> 01:13:02,479 Speaker 1: to get death in a hundred and forty five degrees 1122 01:13:02,960 --> 01:13:06,360 Speaker 1: cells under our pile. The Marico County Sheriff's office paid 1123 01:13:06,360 --> 01:13:08,280 Speaker 1: out more than a hundred and forty million dollars in 1124 01:13:08,360 --> 01:13:10,679 Speaker 1: wrongful death suits. We don't talk about it. We don't 1125 01:13:10,720 --> 01:13:14,320 Speaker 1: like to talk about that. Shockingly, Robert Brown was not 1126 01:13:14,520 --> 01:13:16,880 Speaker 1: an instant fan of the candidacy of Donald J. Trump. 1127 01:13:17,200 --> 01:13:19,639 Speaker 1: When interviewed about it in two thousand sixteen, he expressed 1128 01:13:19,680 --> 01:13:21,400 Speaker 1: his belief that the man was a buffoon and would 1129 01:13:21,400 --> 01:13:24,640 Speaker 1: hand the election to Hillary Clinton, meaning Robert Brown was 1130 01:13:25,120 --> 01:13:32,920 Speaker 1: too optimistic. Um, he has kept his men. Yeah, he 1131 01:13:32,960 --> 01:13:37,320 Speaker 1: really is. It's amazing. He's kept his mouth mostly quiet 1132 01:13:37,320 --> 01:13:40,320 Speaker 1: about Trump since then, involving himself primarily and internal n 1133 01:13:40,439 --> 01:13:43,639 Speaker 1: r A politics. He was once the organization's vice chairman. 1134 01:13:44,560 --> 01:13:50,479 Speaker 1: No way soldier of fortune. No longer publishes a physical magazine. 1135 01:13:50,600 --> 01:13:52,639 Speaker 1: Brown had to lay off almost all of his staff 1136 01:13:52,680 --> 01:13:55,320 Speaker 1: and go digital a few years back. The periodical is 1137 01:13:55,360 --> 01:13:58,080 Speaker 1: still online and still just as racist as ever, although 1138 01:13:58,080 --> 01:14:01,200 Speaker 1: it's increasing irrelevance has made it less dangerous. In late 1139 01:14:01,240 --> 01:14:04,680 Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen, the online edition of the magazine republished 1140 01:14:04,720 --> 01:14:08,439 Speaker 1: that two thousand twelve article about Rhodsha. Whatever you can 1141 01:14:08,479 --> 01:14:11,400 Speaker 1: say about Robert Brown, he's not a quitter, although he 1142 01:14:11,720 --> 01:14:16,880 Speaker 1: really should be. Is he still is he alive? Oh? Man, 1143 01:14:20,600 --> 01:14:23,679 Speaker 1: that's frustrating. In it. It's just one of those things 1144 01:14:23,760 --> 01:14:29,240 Speaker 1: you're like, I wonder what he's doing it now. It's 1145 01:14:29,280 --> 01:14:33,360 Speaker 1: not good. It's good. He's he's too old and sick 1146 01:14:33,479 --> 01:14:38,080 Speaker 1: to do as much of the bad stuff. He said 1147 01:14:38,120 --> 01:14:39,680 Speaker 1: like a year or two ago that he thinks he's 1148 01:14:39,720 --> 01:14:43,920 Speaker 1: got one more good war in him. So that's the 1149 01:14:44,160 --> 01:14:49,639 Speaker 1: right reaction when anyone says ship like that, Now, yeah, 1150 01:14:49,640 --> 01:14:55,639 Speaker 1: I got one good war left. Things like that. Now, everybody, 1151 01:14:56,040 --> 01:14:58,360 Speaker 1: I know this has been an emotionally taxing episode. I 1152 01:14:59,320 --> 01:15:01,519 Speaker 1: know this isn't a ootionally taxing year. And on top 1153 01:15:01,560 --> 01:15:03,360 Speaker 1: of all of them have to not read Chldren of 1154 01:15:03,439 --> 01:15:05,519 Speaker 1: Fortune anymore. And that's hard. I know. That's really a 1155 01:15:05,560 --> 01:15:09,840 Speaker 1: bummer to everybody. People weren't prepared for that. Walking in turning, 1156 01:15:09,920 --> 01:15:15,680 Speaker 1: you're killing people T shirts. It's a bummer. It's a bummer. Um. Now, 1157 01:15:16,720 --> 01:15:21,240 Speaker 1: we have brought, courtesy of Sophie, a truly unreasonable number 1158 01:15:21,280 --> 01:15:23,600 Speaker 1: of bagels, and I want to pass those out to 1159 01:15:23,680 --> 01:15:25,679 Speaker 1: people in the crowds. And then you're gonna take turns 1160 01:15:25,720 --> 01:15:27,960 Speaker 1: tossing them at Usine We'll we'll, we'll knock him out 1161 01:15:27,960 --> 01:15:34,240 Speaker 1: of the air. And the water boy is not gonna 1162 01:15:34,240 --> 01:15:38,160 Speaker 1: be excited about it, and there's already some in the 1163 01:15:38,200 --> 01:15:41,320 Speaker 1: crowd already. Okay, good looking at you, Daniel, Jamie Katie 1164 01:15:41,360 --> 01:15:46,600 Speaker 1: could if if we hit your bagel, then you're protected. 1165 01:15:47,640 --> 01:15:50,439 Speaker 1: If we don't, I'm sorry. It's not a perfect science. 1166 01:15:51,920 --> 01:15:55,280 Speaker 1: This wouldn't be a legitimate medical practice if we claimed 1167 01:15:55,320 --> 01:16:01,120 Speaker 1: it was perfect. I got, hey, this all you also 1168 01:16:01,200 --> 01:16:05,479 Speaker 1: have to do diet and exercise with this, stay off planes, 1169 01:16:05,520 --> 01:16:08,880 Speaker 1: all that stuff. I have to put it back around 1170 01:16:08,960 --> 01:16:10,719 Speaker 1: my neck to draw it again because it doesn't feel 1171 01:16:10,800 --> 01:16:22,360 Speaker 1: right unless it's day. It looks good, all right, Now 1172 01:16:24,720 --> 01:16:29,280 Speaker 1: what a weird This is the weirdest ship so now okay, 1173 01:16:29,320 --> 01:16:36,800 Speaker 1: wrong where he looks like he defends MacArthur Park every night. Now, Billy, 1174 01:16:37,360 --> 01:16:39,280 Speaker 1: I want to ask you to remember all of the 1175 01:16:39,360 --> 01:16:42,400 Speaker 1: safety precautions we talked about before. That you want to 1176 01:16:42,479 --> 01:16:47,439 Speaker 1: hold the machete real loose and just as hard as 1177 01:16:47,520 --> 01:16:50,240 Speaker 1: you can with a loose grip, just right at the crowd, 1178 01:16:50,400 --> 01:16:59,760 Speaker 1: right critical Senator Buck from Colorado taught me safety. Now, yeah, 1179 01:16:59,800 --> 01:17:01,840 Speaker 1: you're right, I don't want to chainey the mic stand 1180 01:17:09,080 --> 01:17:10,800 Speaker 1: by the way, I could use your help with making 1181 01:17:10,920 --> 01:17:16,400 Speaker 1: cheney a verb for that specific reason, So I don't 1182 01:17:16,439 --> 01:17:20,840 Speaker 1: think Cheney gives them fun. No, h these are just 1183 01:17:20,960 --> 01:17:22,840 Speaker 1: c d s. We're not going to destroy these. Um 1184 01:17:23,640 --> 01:17:26,400 Speaker 1: funk we can These are just you guys can have these. 1185 01:17:26,439 --> 01:17:28,519 Speaker 1: These are my first CD. I bought a bunch of them. 1186 01:17:28,560 --> 01:17:32,320 Speaker 1: In the theme it's a CD, you guys, don't cheers, 1187 01:17:32,400 --> 01:17:35,680 Speaker 1: just a heavy fucking flyer. I'm giving you all right, 1188 01:17:36,080 --> 01:17:39,080 Speaker 1: all right, Billy, it's time. Okay, it's time. So are 1189 01:17:39,120 --> 01:17:42,719 Speaker 1: you ready, Reverend doctor, I'm yeah, all right, start throwing 1190 01:17:43,280 --> 01:17:47,560 Speaker 1: Holy Ship. They're just coming at us. Oh yeah, I 1191 01:17:47,560 --> 01:17:55,160 Speaker 1: don't know what a terrible idea. It's. It's well because 1192 01:17:55,240 --> 01:18:00,439 Speaker 1: it just comes out of the darkness as you can't 1193 01:18:00,479 --> 01:18:05,880 Speaker 1: see him deep enough, then they just show up. It's 1194 01:18:05,880 --> 01:18:09,080 Speaker 1: like an old video game. We're not great at this, 1195 01:18:11,000 --> 01:18:26,120 Speaker 1: it's not don't cheer, okay, yeah, I talk all right, 1196 01:18:26,160 --> 01:18:30,560 Speaker 1: you do it with a machette. So if I'm just 1197 01:18:30,600 --> 01:18:38,080 Speaker 1: gonna toss it out and everything, Oh shit, Oh god, 1198 01:18:39,520 --> 01:18:42,880 Speaker 1: don't she swum that right at the crowd, you guys? 1199 01:18:44,360 --> 01:18:50,000 Speaker 1: Oh holy ship? There are so many bagels on this. 1200 01:18:51,840 --> 01:18:56,400 Speaker 1: I don't know how to explain this to me now. 1201 01:18:56,680 --> 01:18:58,720 Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know if I really want to 1202 01:18:58,720 --> 01:19:04,479 Speaker 1: watch the first minutes of that, I'm sandwiched. He's just 1203 01:19:04,600 --> 01:19:09,920 Speaker 1: walking around like at a medium pace. Why are all 1204 01:19:09,920 --> 01:19:15,920 Speaker 1: these bagels here? I mean, I'm a bagel man, right, motherfuck? 1205 01:19:18,680 --> 01:19:20,920 Speaker 1: I think you didn't need that bagel money. One thing 1206 01:19:21,040 --> 01:19:23,479 Speaker 1: we've learned, Oh there is still all billy billy we 1207 01:19:23,560 --> 01:19:25,400 Speaker 1: gotta do. We gotta do the throwing and the whole 1208 01:19:25,439 --> 01:19:33,559 Speaker 1: thing between it, because that's make it explode. Yeah. Here, 1209 01:19:33,640 --> 01:19:36,519 Speaker 1: just passed that around. This is a new machette. I'm 1210 01:19:36,520 --> 01:19:38,599 Speaker 1: not as used to hitting. Baby, grab as many. They're free. 1211 01:19:38,680 --> 01:19:42,920 Speaker 1: You can take ten. I don't give a ship. It's heavy, 1212 01:19:43,080 --> 01:19:45,800 Speaker 1: so you can't have that bag. I don't give a 1213 01:19:45,840 --> 01:19:51,759 Speaker 1: fun There we go. Ready, I'm gonna doing it vertical 1214 01:19:51,880 --> 01:20:02,080 Speaker 1: for horizon, horizontal, so aggressive. Here, throw it high. I'm 1215 01:20:02,080 --> 01:20:07,800 Speaker 1: gonna chop it down there we'll go, oh so high, 1216 01:20:09,680 --> 01:20:16,080 Speaker 1: so high. This is not you just can't just sit 1217 01:20:16,200 --> 01:20:33,400 Speaker 1: that down. Wasn't it handy weapon? Oh oh no, stop 1218 01:20:34,080 --> 01:20:38,160 Speaker 1: stop hitting it toward the crowd. If you don't throw 1219 01:20:38,280 --> 01:20:42,040 Speaker 1: things at the crowd, then they don't know. Can you tell? 1220 01:20:42,040 --> 01:20:43,560 Speaker 1: I have a ten year old and everything I'm like, 1221 01:20:43,680 --> 01:20:49,080 Speaker 1: this is I don't want to go to the emergency, 1222 01:20:50,760 --> 01:20:55,479 Speaker 1: all right, you can do it. One more guys getting 1223 01:20:55,520 --> 01:20:58,400 Speaker 1: sucked up. All right, all right, we have to stop 1224 01:20:58,479 --> 01:21:00,800 Speaker 1: doing this because this is a actually a very big 1225 01:21:00,840 --> 01:21:03,080 Speaker 1: problem now, so we have to we have to clean everything. 1226 01:21:05,200 --> 01:21:09,000 Speaker 1: But I want you all to take with you the 1227 01:21:09,120 --> 01:21:12,040 Speaker 1: knowledge that, through the good graces of Machettison, you are 1228 01:21:12,120 --> 01:21:16,679 Speaker 1: all now protected and that's legally by all right, everybody, 1229 01:21:16,720 --> 01:21:17,639 Speaker 1: Thank you, guys coming