Nov. 8, 2025

Veteran's Day - A Special Edition

Veteran's Day - A Special Edition
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Veterans

Dive into an unforgettable Veterans Day tribute on this Special Veteran’s Edition of The Dave Carter Show, where raw, unfiltered Veteran-to-Veteran conversations crackle with surprises and soul-stirring revelations. Listen in on dialogues featuring iconic figures like game-show legend Pat Sajak, fellow military historian Bob Lee, public affairs guru Pat Murphy, and an irreplaceable national treasure—retired Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel Brendan Welsh, whose legacy endures despite his heartbreaking passing just a few years ago. These military stories and veteran insights aren't idle talks; they're portals to the unyielding spirit of service that unites veterans in a unique bond that military service yields.

Recorded several years ago yet in many respects timeless, these veteran interviews swing from side-splitting, laugh-out-loud humor to profound moments of reflection. Whether you're a proud veteran, a grateful patriot, or simply inspired by true tales of courage, raise a glass alongside Dave to honor these military legends—not just on Veterans Day, but every day.

WEBVTT

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How veteran's personal reflections on nine to eleven.

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I got off the school bus and I remember my

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mom asked me, She's like, did you hear what happened?

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And she turned on the TV and she showed me,

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and you know, at that young of an age, it

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was incomprehensible. I think even as an adult, it's hard

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to really imagine how much life was in those towers,

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but to understand the impact of it had no clue.

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I think all my adolescent brain summarized with someone attacked us,

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and now.

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We're going to go get that.

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And that was when I knew I wanted to be

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a soldier, And for most of us, that spurred our want,

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that spurred this passion, this patriotism. Nine to eleven showed

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some of the worst things and the best things in America.

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Our ability to band together, any unite brought.

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America together like nothing else ever had, and that produces

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a camaraderie, a trusts, the fact that you know you

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won't be abandoned, and that is probably the strongest form

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of unity I've ever seen.

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Her.

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For Dave Conner Show, Rip up the.

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Engine, Feel the Green, A shame.

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From the mice to the baside had awed Tagg.

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Meet Dave Carter, a veteran of the Fight Swamp dog

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Tags for a mic, chasing stories in the night at flos.

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In eighteen wheeler, rolling down those long roads.

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Now we spend in tails like a rock star.

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Unloose losy Anda Swamps to the distance towards of duty.

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He's kind of cranky humor with the touch of raw beauty,

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steering through the memories, both the dark and bright.

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With left her as his compass, He'll get you through

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the day.

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On the Dave Cord of show where the story is slow.

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Thank you all the journey through town, mens and space.

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Hey, folks, I am Dave Carter, and it's a pleasure

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and the privilege is always to welcome you to the

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special Veterans Day edition with the program here. Happy Veterans

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Day to one and all, but especially to our veterans,

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without whom we wouldn't be here in the first place.

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We've got a real treat for you today. As we're

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reaching way back in the program archives, we'll let you

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hear some of the amazing stories from a few of

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the veterans who have been privileged enough to interview over

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the years. Some of the stories that you'll hear are somber,

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some painfully realistic, and some of them are just absolutely

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bloil your drink out your notes funny. So they all

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provide though a glimpse of military life in general and

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what it's like at times to be on the pointy

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end of the nation's sword. If you will, or I

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will be hearing from Pat Sajak a Wheel of Fortune

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fame on his military experience, including his experience while stationed

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in Saigon during the Vietnam War. Also, two very dear

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friends of mine, Bob Lee and Pat Murphy, will be

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along to trade some funny stories as well as some

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very sober reflections. Bob was the guy who recruited me

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and first trained me as an active duty military historian

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back in the day I think it was in eighty seven.

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And Pat Murphy, he was a public affairs guy who

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was stationed with me for a year at Coonsan Air

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based Korea nineteen ninety fourteen ninety five. And then lastly,

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we will hear from a retired Special Forces officer who

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unfortunately is no longer with us, wonderful guy, Lieutenant Colonel

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Brendan Welsh was a much loved part of the Ricochet

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community and was kind enough to share his experiences in

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Special Forces with me several years ago, so you won't

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want to miss that. Back during my time as a

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military his story and I came across a book called

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A Narrative of a rev Lutionary Soldier by Joseph Plum

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Martin was published in nineteen I'm Sorry in eighteen thirty.

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The book described Martin's experience as a teenage private in

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the Continental Army's eighth Connecticut Regiment as two hundred and

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forty eight years ago. In November seventeen seventy seven, Private

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Martin served during the defense of Fort Mifflin on Mutt

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Island in the Delaware River, close to close to Philadelphia.

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They were under siege from British forces and they needed

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a signal to nearby American forces for support. And to

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accomplish this, the fort's flag needed to be replaced with

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a particular signal flag that would let the supporting forces

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know what they needed to do. An army an artillery

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sergeant volunteered to make that happen, so in Private Martin's account,

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we read the following. A sergeant of the artillery offered himself.

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He accordingly ascended to the round top and pulled down

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the fort's flag to affix the signal flag to the howard.

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The enemy, thinking we had surrendered, ceased firing in every direction,

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and sheered up with the flag, was the cry from

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our officers in every part of the fort. The flag

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was accordingly hoisted, and the firing was immediately renewed. The

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sergeant then came down and had not got a half

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rod from the foot of the staff when he was

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cut into by a cannon shot. Fort Mifflin fell a

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few days later to the British, forcing American soldiers to

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retreat to Valley Forge. Martin described the extreme cold of

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the lack of adequate footwear, soldiers marching shoeless, some leaving

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bloody footprints in the snow. He wrote, we walked all

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that day in the snow without stockings or shoes upon

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our feet, or breeches on our legs, and but a

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few of us had blankets to our backs. Many of

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the men were obliged to cut off their frozen toes

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and fingers with their knives.

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You see.

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Our history. American history overflows with stories like that, As

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generations of Americans have given their blood, sweat, and tears

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so that people they would never meet would be able

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to live in peace and freedom. You may recall, maybe

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you don't, during the War on Terror in the early years,

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then President George W. Bush asked veterans to please wear

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a hat or something that designated their veteran status so

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that Americans could see just how many people all around

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them had contributed to keeping Americans alive and free. The

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truth is that at any given time, roughly zero point

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six percent of the American population serves in the US

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Armed Forces. Today, we will hear from some of the

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people who've been part of that point six percent, beginning

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with Pat Sajak. I first interviewed him in June of

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twenty seventeen. Now we'll switch topics here for just a moment,

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But if I read correctly, you were in the army

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at one point, right.

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I was.

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I joined the army.

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I was.

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I finished three years of college in Chicago, and I

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started the fourth year and I wasn't it just wasn't

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feeling like much was happening. I was not the most

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devoted student in the world.

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And I joined the army.

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It was, you know, it's nineteen sixty eight, right at

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the height of the Vietnam build up, and I thought

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there was probably a pretty good chance that's where I

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would end up, and in fact I did. But yeah,

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I was in for three years, and you know, like

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you know, like the summer on the dock, it was

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a it's a maturing experience. I don't have to tell

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you what the military can do. And in terms of

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changing your view of the world and changing the way

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you approach things. You know, at the time you're grousing

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about the food or this, or am going to a

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war zone, what's.

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Going to happen?

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Blah blah blah.

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But you know, as you look back, you realize what

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the positive impacts that can have on you as well.

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So that was a real life changer for me. Oh yeah,

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And I've noticed that when veterans are talking with each

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other and they're telling stories slash lies, everybody can tell

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the difference sometimes, but they typically when they're talking about

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their days in uniform, they will steer away from the

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more morbid aspects of service and they go into the

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humorous episodes from their time on that that's.

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You know, that's absolutely true. My stepfather, my father, the

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one who stuck me on this dock. I notice how

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I'm changing my approach. The revered gentleman that stuck you

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on the serve. He served in World War Two, and

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and like a lot of veterans, particularly of that war,

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never talked about it. And not that he not that

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there was this great scar that he was carrying around,

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but he just never much talked about it. It was

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only in his later years that I learned a little

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bit more about what he did and what he went through.

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And for a lot of these guys, there was the

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feeling was, hey, I did what millions of other people

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do it, and I did my duty, and I did

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it to the best of my ability. And you know,

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I've moved on now. And it's not as if they're

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it's not as if they're ashamed of their here. It's

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not as necessarily they've been scarred by it, although some

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were obviously, but but but it's that, you know, it's

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what it's part of what I did. I mean, it's

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part of it was part of me being an American

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and being patriotic and whatever it was. And they didn't

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necessarily dwell on it later in life, but I did

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get some things out of them and learned a little

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bit about that as well. And you know, things I

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never knew. I just saw a couple of pictures of

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him in uniform and thought it was cool, and that

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was about it.

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He rarely, rarely talked about it. My great uncle was

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part of the folks that liberated some of the concentration camps.

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He absolutely would not talk about it. He didn't want

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to watch the television shows about it, and want to

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see any pictures, any books, he said, No, I've seen it.

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I've seen more than I ever wanted to see. Let

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me tell you about that, like else, and.

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We hear all the funny stuff, you know, Yeah, I

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mean those are different stories. I mean because there were,

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you know, so many people went through some horrific things,

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and that's a different you know, I want to talk

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about it because it was horrific and I don't need

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to relive it and it was terrible, and and you know,

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I'd rather move on to to something else now.

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It's those things are are difficult to to deal with.

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But I my.

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And then my brother served shortly after I did, and

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he was drafted and spent a couple of years in Vietnam.

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I spent a year in Vietnam as well, so h

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there was a little military history in my uh, my family.

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But when I when I was through at Vietnam, I

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finished up action Washington, d C. I worked at the

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Pentagon for the last nine months or so, a little

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different from being in in Saigon.

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Tried to talk some sense into them.

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There was no point.

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Well, it's true, that's true. Do you have any particular

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favorite funny stories or anything that happened while you while you're.

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In Well, I was.

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I had a strange military career because I joined and

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they they sent me to Fort leonard Wood, Missouri, and

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they decided they were going to and I, by the way,

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when I joined, I thought, you know, I've already had

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some civilian radio experience. I'll probably be an armed forces

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radio and that's sort of what I requested. And their

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answer to my request was they sent me to Fort

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leondar Wood to make me a clerk typist. And that's

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what I became. And then I went. I was sent

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to Vietnam having learned to be a clerk typist, and

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they made me They sent me assigned me to a

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finance unit about thirty miles outside of Saigon and said

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you're now a finance clerk. Learned to be a finance clerk,

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which the military works and mysterious work in which I did,

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and I became a pretty good one. But I kept

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trying to transfer to Armed Forces Radio, and I finally,

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after months and repeated attempts, for some reason, it sneaked

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through one day and I was transferred to Saigon, and

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I was the Good Morning Vietnam guy about a year

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and a half, which was which is you know, if

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you have to be in a war zone, that's that's

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not bad duty.

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So you were you were sitting in the finance typing

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and announcing the time of the temperature, and they finally said, all.

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Right, we'll send them over them that yeah, we got

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to do something with its going going nuts. But that

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was interesting duty because you know, you're you're there, you're

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in the military, and you're not in a way I

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00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:27.120
mean you're because when when you're on the air, you're

235
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trying to make it you want all the guys who

236
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are listening to UH to forget about the military for

237
00:12:34.559 --> 00:12:38.080
enrollment be entertained. And so you treated if you listen

238
00:12:38.120 --> 00:12:41.440
to our station other than the quote commercials were about

239
00:12:41.480 --> 00:12:43.759
you know, keeping your M sixteen clean and things like that.

240
00:12:45.159 --> 00:12:47.639
They all were produced in a way that sat you

241
00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:49.360
could have been listening to a rock and roll station

242
00:12:49.480 --> 00:12:52.000
in the States, and that you know purpose I did.

243
00:12:52.279 --> 00:12:54.320
I did a year in Korea from nineteen ninety four

244
00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:56.799
to nineteen ninety five, and we had an Armed Forces

245
00:12:57.240 --> 00:12:59.759
station on base, and you're right, You're exactly right.

246
00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:00.320
It was.

247
00:13:00.360 --> 00:13:03.080
It was like listening to a station back home. Aside

248
00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:05.440
from the from the you know, the little announcements and

249
00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:07.919
on the on the thing, you wouldn't know that it

250
00:13:08.039 --> 00:13:11.799
was a military operation. Yeah, absolutely, And uh so it

251
00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:13.080
was great, you know, it was great fun.

252
00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:15.480
And I was playing records and and uh you know,

253
00:13:15.799 --> 00:13:17.480
there was a war going on, and when you when

254
00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:19.759
you left the studio, you know, the bomb wire and

255
00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:23.279
tanks and armored personnel carriers outside and all that stuff.

256
00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:27.320
But you know, the human being as a as a

257
00:13:27.559 --> 00:13:32.159
as an adaptable animal, and we uh, you know, you're

258
00:13:32.200 --> 00:13:33.879
there for a while and now it all kind of

259
00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:37.720
seemed normal. I've never been back, which is people ask

260
00:13:37.799 --> 00:13:41.600
that a lot, and but I remember thinking looking around Saigon,

261
00:13:41.799 --> 00:13:43.600
I thought, you know, this would be a very pretty

262
00:13:43.639 --> 00:13:44.159
city if it.

263
00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:45.559
Weren't for all the barbed lie.

264
00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:50.240
Right, I understand we are talking with Pat. Say Jack,

265
00:13:50.279 --> 00:13:52.600
we'll have some questions about wheel of Fortune, some other

266
00:13:52.679 --> 00:13:53.960
things coming right.

267
00:13:55.639 --> 00:13:56.000
Cuter.

268
00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:15.120
That was Pat Sajack. We all know him from his

269
00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:18.559
appearances on television as a host and also as a guest, etc.

270
00:14:18.919 --> 00:14:22.519
But yeah, he was in the Army, serving the army.

271
00:14:22.519 --> 00:14:26.440
He'd been there, done that. These good people, as they say,

272
00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:30.440
and down to earth, an outstanding gentleman. Now next we're

273
00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:32.399
going to hear from two other gentlemen who are also

274
00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:36.080
very dear friends of mine. I met Bob Lee at

275
00:14:36.120 --> 00:14:39.440
my first thirty station at England Air Force Base back

276
00:14:39.480 --> 00:14:42.240
in nineteen eighty seven. I was a security police troop

277
00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:45.159
but I had seen something about a career field for

278
00:14:45.240 --> 00:14:48.720
military historians. I was twenty five years old and already

279
00:14:48.759 --> 00:14:51.159
writing articles and columns every place that would have me,

280
00:14:51.639 --> 00:14:54.799
and the historian thing really interested me. So I went

281
00:14:54.840 --> 00:14:57.840
to Sergeant Lee's office and when I walked in, he

282
00:14:57.919 --> 00:14:59.799
had a cigarette in one hand and a bottle of

283
00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:02.559
me as in the other. So apparently it's a low

284
00:15:02.600 --> 00:15:04.759
stressed job, right. He said he was going to try

285
00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:07.679
to scare me away from the job, and that if

286
00:15:07.799 --> 00:15:10.600
that didn't work, then I probably deserve to be there

287
00:15:10.759 --> 00:15:13.639
and be one of the one hundred active duty historians

288
00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:16.759
in the entire Air Force. Well, it worked out, and

289
00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:20.039
he and I have been friends ever since. Pat Murphy

290
00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:22.279
I met him while I was stationed while we were

291
00:15:22.279 --> 00:15:27.080
both stationed at Coonson Airbase in a Republic of Korea

292
00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:30.799
or South Korea. He was a public affairs guru and

293
00:15:31.039 --> 00:15:33.919
was in charge of the base newspaper, and Pat and

294
00:15:33.960 --> 00:15:36.360
I also formed a friendship that lasted this very day.

295
00:15:36.519 --> 00:15:39.159
So I sat down with both of these gentlemen back

296
00:15:39.240 --> 00:15:42.759
in July of twenty seventeen, and we had a rip

297
00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:46.600
roaring exchange which began with Pat telling us about a

298
00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:50.639
very unusual soccer game that he played while he was

299
00:15:50.720 --> 00:15:51.919
deployed to the Middle East.

300
00:15:52.679 --> 00:15:53.320
What was happening.

301
00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:56.159
We're playing a team of Navy seals and they were

302
00:15:56.279 --> 00:16:01.480
much better than us. Well, so they would come in waves.

303
00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:03.639
I don't know what happened to the rest of my team.

304
00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:07.159
It seemed like it was Navy seals coming in waves,

305
00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:08.840
and they would pass the ball back and forth and

306
00:16:09.399 --> 00:16:12.320
you know, try to kick it by me. Well, I

307
00:16:12.440 --> 00:16:15.159
have an advantage as the goalie. I can catch the

308
00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:17.159
ball with my hands right. So I figured out what

309
00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:19.720
I do is I'll intercept the passes, I'll run, I'll

310
00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:22.480
catch the ball and take a knee. And I guess

311
00:16:22.840 --> 00:16:26.159
one of the seals took offense to that, and apparently

312
00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:27.840
one of them ran me over when I did it,

313
00:16:27.960 --> 00:16:29.519
his knee caught me in the side of the head

314
00:16:30.120 --> 00:16:32.360
and I had a dent about the size of.

315
00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:37.600
A knee cap. Go wow, I mean. I was at

316
00:16:37.799 --> 00:16:40.440
Prince Saltan Airbase they called it. They called it Pea Sab.

317
00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:43.759
Prince Salton Airbase became Pea Sab, and my office was

318
00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:46.399
co located with the legal office. And the lady that

319
00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:50.639
answered the phone, that administrative guru that answered the phone

320
00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:55.399
in the legal office, spoke softly and quickly, and she

321
00:16:55.639 --> 00:16:58.159
was just far enough away from me in my office

322
00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:01.759
right next door that I couldn't hear everything she was saying,

323
00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:03.759
but I could hear just enough of it where it

324
00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:05.839
didn't make any sense at all. So when the phone

325
00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:08.559
would ring, she would answer the phone and say, Peaceab

326
00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:11.960
legal office, may I help you. What I heard was,

327
00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:15.599
h this is an average legal office. We can't help you.

328
00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:19.279
And an other times she answered the phone and I

329
00:17:19.400 --> 00:17:21.240
told the colonel about this, because I said, you know

330
00:17:21.319 --> 00:17:23.359
what this lady just said when she answered the phone.

331
00:17:23.400 --> 00:17:27.200
He said, no, what she said, we sell beagle dogs.

332
00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:27.920
In the hell with you?

333
00:17:29.240 --> 00:17:32.039
I just knew that's what that woman had said. And

334
00:17:32.119 --> 00:17:35.200
then she would she would have these conversations, and I

335
00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:37.839
was hearing these strange things, and I'm trying to think,

336
00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:40.279
why would she want to take somebody to Topeka on

337
00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:42.759
a wheelbarrow? This makes no sense at all, And so

338
00:17:42.839 --> 00:17:44.640
I eventually said, I just closed the doors. I can

339
00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:46.880
get my work done without agonizing over what the hell

340
00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:47.960
she was saying all the time.

341
00:17:48.279 --> 00:17:51.079
Are you sure you didn't play a soccer with Navy?

342
00:17:54.640 --> 00:17:54.759
Well?

343
00:17:54.839 --> 00:17:57.240
Then I played played jokes on each other too, And

344
00:17:57.359 --> 00:18:00.079
I came back from my break over the Hall of

345
00:18:00.200 --> 00:18:02.799
Days and came back to Korea. You had executed all

346
00:18:02.839 --> 00:18:07.359
the little rubber and plastic alligators in my office. One

347
00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:09.640
of them was hanging. He took us some some some

348
00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:12.119
string and made him too a hangman's noose, and he

349
00:18:12.279 --> 00:18:20.279
hung He hung my albino alligator from the hung Yeah, yeah,

350
00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:22.720
that's what he was. When I got back, I'm not

351
00:18:22.759 --> 00:18:24.680
gonna I'm not going to start. I'm not You're not

352
00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:26.279
going to make me do it and resort to calling

353
00:18:26.359 --> 00:18:36.480
you names. So anyway, wow, But then I got I'm

354
00:18:36.519 --> 00:18:42.119
sorry I didn't hear you, Bob at least you well

355
00:18:42.519 --> 00:18:44.680
all right, then I but I got Pat back. I

356
00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:46.680
went to his desk while he was gone and taped

357
00:18:46.680 --> 00:18:49.559
the phone to the receiver and then rigged up the

358
00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:51.599
desk drawers so when he opened up, a drawer had

359
00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:58.039
slammed shut. Again. That was fun stuff. Okay, So uh,

360
00:18:58.519 --> 00:19:00.519
it's kind of a serious question. That's to get you

361
00:19:00.599 --> 00:19:03.759
guys experience on this. Like most folks, I'm sure we

362
00:19:03.799 --> 00:19:06.359
all remember what we were doing on nine to eleven

363
00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:10.039
in the aftermath. Bob, you were already retired by that point,

364
00:19:10.759 --> 00:19:12.839
and I remember you called me that morning told me

365
00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:14.519
to turn on the television, which is when I saw

366
00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:21.680
the second plane hit, and you immediately contacted higher headquarters

367
00:19:21.720 --> 00:19:23.680
even though you were retired and volunteered to come back

368
00:19:23.720 --> 00:19:26.720
on active duty on the spot. I remember that, Pat.

369
00:19:27.160 --> 00:19:27.559
Where were you?

370
00:19:28.279 --> 00:19:32.440
I was stationed in New Jersey at the time. I

371
00:19:32.519 --> 00:19:35.000
had spent a year at McGuire Air Force Basin, and

372
00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:39.359
I moved to the local recruiting squadron, which was eighteen

373
00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:43.400
miles south of McGuire, and I was working public affairs

374
00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:48.559
for the recruiting squadron. Now, our zone for that squadron

375
00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:53.480
included all of New Jersey, New York City, Long Island,

376
00:19:53.720 --> 00:19:58.680
and Europe. And that morning, my office partner and I

377
00:19:58.839 --> 00:20:01.880
were planning a trip to New York. We were on

378
00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:06.200
our way and we were prepping for the trip, and

379
00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:10.480
all of a sudden started hearing these weird stories about

380
00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:14.359
planes hitting the towers, and you know, everybody was talking

381
00:20:14.359 --> 00:20:16.160
about the history of how a plane had hit the

382
00:20:16.839 --> 00:20:20.119
Empire State Building once and there wasn't a whole lot

383
00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:23.240
of information, and then all of a sudden we started

384
00:20:23.240 --> 00:20:26.720
seeing the footage and yeah, we never did make it

385
00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:30.720
there that day. In fact, we weren't allowed to go back.

386
00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:36.039
For close to four months, my goodness. To make it

387
00:20:36.119 --> 00:20:37.480
even more interesting.

388
00:20:38.279 --> 00:20:42.519
Everybody covering that story, you know, the whole events and everything.

389
00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:47.920
They wanted information about recruiting because there was a swell

390
00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:51.880
of patriotism and people had it in their heads that

391
00:20:52.839 --> 00:20:55.960
people were just running the recruiting squadrons and recruiting stations

392
00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:59.279
trying to join. That didn't turn out to be true.

393
00:21:00.119 --> 00:21:04.359
But I got a phone call about four months after

394
00:21:04.519 --> 00:21:08.359
everything happened from the higher headquarters and the New York

395
00:21:08.440 --> 00:21:11.519
Times wanted to do an interview with a recruiter. Now,

396
00:21:11.680 --> 00:21:14.839
we weren't allowed to talk about anything for four months,

397
00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:19.920
and I was told that they had permission to do it.

398
00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:22.799
The only requirement was I had to be there to

399
00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:27.839
supervise the interview. I remember. We took them around to

400
00:21:28.680 --> 00:21:32.519
different recruiting squadrons up in the city and they did

401
00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:35.960
a really great story. The lead of the story was

402
00:21:36.039 --> 00:21:42.400
something along the lines that recruiting activities included these three

403
00:21:42.519 --> 00:21:51.359
things on September tenth and on September twelfth, recruiting contains

404
00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:55.240
these things, and they're exactly the same. The way the

405
00:21:55.319 --> 00:21:58.279
story went, we found that the recruiters didn't have to

406
00:21:58.440 --> 00:22:03.359
change any of their tactics. In fact, they were really

407
00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:07.119
quite busy. But it was sorting out people who had

408
00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:10.079
been retired for a really long time. We had World

409
00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:12.559
War Two vets that were coming to recruiting offices trying

410
00:22:12.599 --> 00:22:12.960
to get back.

411
00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:15.680
Oh sure, yeah, I can believe that, but yeah, it

412
00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:16.160
was kind of.

413
00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:17.839
It was kind of a weird deal. I ended up

414
00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:22.000
spending a little time at Maguire again. They had stood

415
00:22:22.119 --> 00:22:25.599
up a joint Information Bureau, and I spent about a

416
00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:30.839
week trying to help them out, but truthfully, there was

417
00:22:30.920 --> 00:22:33.680
nothing to do because they wouldn't let anybody talk about

418
00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:37.640
any missions. And how nine to eleven changed.

419
00:22:37.400 --> 00:22:42.519
It, I understand. How did you guys react, Yes, may

420
00:22:42.599 --> 00:22:45.160
not be a fair question. How did you react? Down

421
00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:47.440
on your gut whenever you saw what was going on

422
00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:49.359
you realized that we were actually under attacked.

423
00:22:49.400 --> 00:22:58.480
Bob, It's indescribable, it really is. My heart just kind

424
00:22:58.519 --> 00:23:06.880
of dropped out. And I grew up during the Cold

425
00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:12.599
War and the duck and cover era. I'm just a

426
00:23:12.680 --> 00:23:14.519
little bit older than you are, and.

427
00:23:19.079 --> 00:23:20.400
And it was like it was.

428
00:23:22.039 --> 00:23:27.599
Back in the bad old days, like the entire country

429
00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:35.640
was going to go to war, and it just I

430
00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:38.000
was kind of numb. For the first couple of days.

431
00:23:39.160 --> 00:23:40.680
I was desperate to get back in.

432
00:23:43.480 --> 00:23:44.079
Like like.

433
00:23:46.039 --> 00:23:54.039
The pat said they were there were probably hundreds or

434
00:23:54.119 --> 00:23:58.759
thousands of veterans wanting to to come back and join

435
00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:05.440
the nineteen forties old farts wings. They were desperate enough

436
00:24:05.559 --> 00:24:06.440
to activate it.

437
00:24:06.839 --> 00:24:06.960
Right.

438
00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:11.680
So it was a helpless feeling because here I was

439
00:24:11.799 --> 00:24:14.640
on the outside and my country needed me. This is

440
00:24:14.680 --> 00:24:19.599
the stuff I'd trained for, right for twenty years plus

441
00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:23.000
and then all of a sudden things are happening and

442
00:24:24.279 --> 00:24:24.839
I'm out of it.

443
00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:28.599
Ben, how about you if you don't mind me asking.

444
00:24:28.839 --> 00:24:32.440
Well, mostly because I was still active at the time

445
00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:35.000
and it was so close to you know, it was

446
00:24:35.079 --> 00:24:39.240
in the middle of our zone. We the first couple

447
00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:42.039
of weeks was rough because we had to account for

448
00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:45.160
our people. There was a recruiting office that was a

449
00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:50.240
block away and the building didn't blow up, but it

450
00:24:50.319 --> 00:24:55.000
got bent and the recruit the recruiter worked there couldn't

451
00:24:55.039 --> 00:24:58.400
go to work in that building for a very long time,

452
00:24:58.920 --> 00:25:00.599
and we had to sort all that ou out. And

453
00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:03.599
then as it went on, you know, our reaction to it,

454
00:25:04.519 --> 00:25:07.640
being a guy whose job is to tell the story

455
00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:10.720
of what we're doing, and be told you can't do that,

456
00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:14.799
it was really frustrating. When the New York Times thing

457
00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:18.720
finally happened four months later, that was a huge relief

458
00:25:18.759 --> 00:25:19.839
because I finally.

459
00:25:19.640 --> 00:25:21.400
Could do something right.

460
00:25:21.480 --> 00:25:26.119
And when that story came out, I was really proud

461
00:25:26.200 --> 00:25:30.119
of that because they told me that that I was

462
00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:33.440
that important to make that happen. And then once that

463
00:25:33.559 --> 00:25:36.640
story happened, they started loosening up a little bit. We

464
00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:38.720
can tell this story the right way we can say

465
00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:41.960
what we're involved. And you know, it was all about

466
00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:46.039
firefighters and police all the news that we saw, and.

467
00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:47.200
You know they deserved it.

468
00:25:47.720 --> 00:25:50.920
There were military people who were doing the same kinds

469
00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:53.759
of things and my job was to tell their story

470
00:25:54.200 --> 00:25:56.759
and I wasn't allowed to for the longest time. So

471
00:25:57.200 --> 00:26:03.160
it was frustrating until they relaxed those do something. Yeah,

472
00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:05.119
then it was then we were back and forth going

473
00:26:05.160 --> 00:26:09.319
in there. I remember going up there and actually seeing

474
00:26:09.400 --> 00:26:13.440
Ground zero. There was a lot of military people that

475
00:26:13.559 --> 00:26:17.759
were coming through our area, and because we were the

476
00:26:18.200 --> 00:26:23.759
presence there, we got caught up in taking dignitaries to

477
00:26:23.880 --> 00:26:27.799
Ground zero quite a bit. But it was it was

478
00:26:27.960 --> 00:26:32.200
really frustrating. I had taken some pictures of the twin

479
00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:36.839
towers from the Empire State Building and they got lost

480
00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:39.400
the camera ate them up. I know you have some

481
00:26:39.880 --> 00:26:45.200
experience with that. The thing is, though I had these

482
00:26:45.240 --> 00:26:49.240
beautiful pictures that I lost, So I lost those and

483
00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:53.240
the towers at the same time. Yeah, a lot of frustration.

484
00:26:53.359 --> 00:26:55.240
I think the one thing that all three of us

485
00:26:55.279 --> 00:27:00.400
have in common, initially at least, is a sense of helplessness. Yeah,

486
00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:04.119
this happening and for my part, it was helplessness. It

487
00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:10.720
was absolute total anger. You've been to the Mid East, Pat, Bob,

488
00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:12.119
You've been to the Mid East, So I've been to

489
00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:14.200
the Midiest. We've all been to places where we had

490
00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:16.799
to run and duck and cover. It's either part of

491
00:27:16.839 --> 00:27:20.240
an exercise or a real event. And you put your

492
00:27:20.279 --> 00:27:23.480
gas mask on, you go take cover. You wonder if

493
00:27:23.720 --> 00:27:26.240
it's real when you hear an airplane, if it's real

494
00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:28.000
or not, if this is the real deal, if it's

495
00:27:28.039 --> 00:27:30.599
one of ours, if it's one of theirs. We put

496
00:27:30.680 --> 00:27:34.000
up with all that over there so that our family

497
00:27:34.079 --> 00:27:36.079
and friends won't have to live with that kind of

498
00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:40.640
dread in the back of their mind here. And one

499
00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:42.720
of the first things that I thought is my children

500
00:27:42.839 --> 00:27:45.440
when they hear an airplane, at least for the foreseeable,

501
00:27:45.480 --> 00:27:47.519
for the near term future, they're going to wonder whose

502
00:27:47.559 --> 00:27:50.359
is it, what's going on? They're going to have to

503
00:27:50.440 --> 00:27:54.240
learn perhaps to look where they can escape to or

504
00:27:54.240 --> 00:27:56.640
a place they can get cover and be safe. And

505
00:27:56.759 --> 00:28:00.519
the idea that we would have gone through that, sometimes

506
00:28:00.599 --> 00:28:04.519
successfully sometimes not, and our comrades and friends maybe not successfully,

507
00:28:05.319 --> 00:28:07.559
so that our family would not have to go through

508
00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:10.279
it and here they are living it. Here was the

509
00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:15.160
most frustrating thing. And Bob, like, I assume that's one

510
00:28:15.160 --> 00:28:17.000
of the reasons why you volunteer. Why I picked up

511
00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:18.640
the phone. I'd just come back from the Mideast, and

512
00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:20.319
I picked up the phone and call and said send

513
00:28:20.400 --> 00:28:23.680
me now, because I didn't want to be helpless. The

514
00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:25.720
same thing with you, Pat, and you want to do

515
00:28:25.960 --> 00:28:27.799
what you've been trained to do, what you know to do,

516
00:28:28.599 --> 00:28:31.720
so that this doesn't happen again. But it was terribly frustrating,

517
00:28:32.119 --> 00:28:36.440
definitely terribly interest Well, okay, you're listening to eighty five

518
00:28:36.480 --> 00:28:39.319
point three FM and you just heard my two favorite bands,

519
00:28:39.359 --> 00:28:42.559
Filter and the Refreshment shut up the.

520
00:28:42.839 --> 00:28:44.759
Day Charter show.

521
00:28:55.480 --> 00:29:00.480
That's Bob Lee, Pat Murphy and yours truly stories and

522
00:29:00.519 --> 00:29:02.160
observations from our time in uniform.

523
00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:03.319
Now.

524
00:29:03.440 --> 00:29:06.920
Interestingly enough, after the interview with Bob and Patt went out,

525
00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:09.759
I heard from a gentleman on Ricochet who went by

526
00:29:09.759 --> 00:29:14.000
the nickname of Boss Mongo. He had recently retired from

527
00:29:14.039 --> 00:29:16.640
active duty. He wrote that he was listening to the

528
00:29:16.680 --> 00:29:19.640
show in his car at his daughter's school while he

529
00:29:19.759 --> 00:29:21.240
was waiting for her to get out of school so

530
00:29:21.279 --> 00:29:23.880
he could pick her up take her home. As it happened,

531
00:29:24.480 --> 00:29:27.240
she got to the car at exactly a point where

532
00:29:27.319 --> 00:29:29.079
Bob and Pat and I were yucking it up with

533
00:29:29.160 --> 00:29:33.680
some goofy story and Boss Mongo was laughing at our antics.

534
00:29:34.920 --> 00:29:37.319
His daughter's noticed and said that it was the first

535
00:29:37.359 --> 00:29:39.960
time that she had seen him laugh in quite a while,

536
00:29:40.279 --> 00:29:42.680
and he wrote me he just wanted to say thanks.

537
00:29:43.480 --> 00:29:46.039
So Boss Mongo and I corresponded for a while and

538
00:29:46.160 --> 00:29:48.160
it turned out that he had just retired as a

539
00:29:48.200 --> 00:29:53.680
Lieutenant colonel after career in Special Forces. His name Brenton Wells.

540
00:29:55.160 --> 00:29:57.960
Checked this out little bit about him here. He's a

541
00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:01.799
graduate of West Point. Colonel Welsh went on to spend

542
00:30:01.880 --> 00:30:04.240
most of his career as a Special Forces officer. He

543
00:30:04.319 --> 00:30:08.039
served in Korea Desert Storm, along the various adventures in Iraq,

544
00:30:08.559 --> 00:30:12.799
Mossul Baghdad Ballade, and also commanded the Special Operations Command

545
00:30:12.880 --> 00:30:16.799
Forward in Paraguay. He also commanded the US Army Survival

546
00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:20.599
Part I'm Sorry, the US Army Survival, Evasion, Resistance and

547
00:30:20.880 --> 00:30:25.319
Escape School. Colonel Welsh earned the Bronze Star, the Defense

548
00:30:25.400 --> 00:30:29.440
Meritoria Service Medal, the Army Meritorious Service Medal, the Iraqi

549
00:30:29.519 --> 00:30:34.920
Campaign Medal with Arrowhead Device, Global War on Terror Expeditionary Medal,

550
00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:39.200
the Southwest Asia Service Medal with two Bronze Stars, the

551
00:30:39.279 --> 00:30:44.079
Special Forces tab Ranger TAB and Parachutist Badge, among others.

552
00:30:44.359 --> 00:30:48.200
To say that he was a rare breed would make

553
00:30:48.279 --> 00:30:52.359
for the largest understatement ever. He lived life to the fullest.

554
00:30:52.440 --> 00:30:56.359
His sense of humor ranged from hysterical to spicy and rye.

555
00:30:57.039 --> 00:30:59.880
He became a prolific and much loved writer on Rickish

556
00:31:01.200 --> 00:31:03.440
and he passed away a few short years ago, and

557
00:31:03.519 --> 00:31:05.960
those of us who were lucky enough to get to

558
00:31:06.079 --> 00:31:09.480
know him miss him terribly. He was sitting next to

559
00:31:09.640 --> 00:31:12.640
his gracious and devoted wife when he and I had

560
00:31:12.680 --> 00:31:19.160
the following exchange in terms of kind of glancing backward

561
00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:21.920
toward that fourteen year old kid, and then here you are,

562
00:31:22.519 --> 00:31:24.519
having gone through West Point and now you're in the

563
00:31:24.559 --> 00:31:28.279
operational world, in terms of both the training and real

564
00:31:28.319 --> 00:31:32.599
world operations. How did life in Special Forces stack up

565
00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:37.160
against whatever preconceived expectations you might have had going in.

566
00:31:40.599 --> 00:31:42.039
It's a good question. It was.

567
00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:45.240
It was everything I hoped it would be, as was

568
00:31:45.279 --> 00:31:46.880
obviously when I first got to SF.

569
00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:49.720
It was pre nine to eleven and I had an.

570
00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:55.440
Outstanding team and an outstanding team sergeant, and a team

571
00:31:55.480 --> 00:31:58.039
sergeant is kind of like and you might have noticed

572
00:31:58.079 --> 00:32:03.079
this from your different perspectives, Dave, but you know, as

573
00:32:03.119 --> 00:32:06.559
a young second lieutenant and then a young captain, that

574
00:32:06.799 --> 00:32:08.720
first senior NCO that gets a hold of you, it's

575
00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:12.279
kind of like a kid and it's uh and it's

576
00:32:12.400 --> 00:32:15.559
uh formative years. You know, if you break, he is

577
00:32:15.720 --> 00:32:19.440
never going to trust an NCO again. But if you're

578
00:32:19.519 --> 00:32:22.519
squared away, he will listen to and back.

579
00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:23.039
His n CEOs.

580
00:32:23.880 --> 00:32:24.880
That's exactly the truth.

581
00:32:24.960 --> 00:32:28.599
Yes, yeah, yeah, I was fortunate enough to have my

582
00:32:28.759 --> 00:32:32.759
first infantry pretends was a three hundred pounds samoan named

583
00:32:32.799 --> 00:32:37.680
Sartintaliga that was just awesome. Although I did learn and

584
00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:40.359
uh from him, but also some of the other smoans

585
00:32:40.359 --> 00:32:42.480
I've worked with over the years that you have to

586
00:32:42.559 --> 00:32:45.359
be very careful the way you articulate the guidance you

587
00:32:45.480 --> 00:32:48.319
give them, because they're kind of very literal and very

588
00:32:48.480 --> 00:32:51.640
there's no gray area. It's black or white, right, And

589
00:32:51.799 --> 00:32:54.559
so if I say don't let anybody in and into

590
00:32:54.599 --> 00:32:57.720
the office, and then uh, you know, the division commander

591
00:32:57.759 --> 00:33:02.359
comes by. Sorry, sir, you're not getting at the door, right,

592
00:33:02.920 --> 00:33:04.519
And then uh and then when I went specially and

593
00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:07.000
then when I went Special Forces at a great team

594
00:33:07.119 --> 00:33:13.599
sergeant who was absolutely uh committed to one seeing me

595
00:33:13.720 --> 00:33:17.079
succeed because that would mean the team succeeded, and seeing

596
00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:18.519
me succeed in front.

597
00:33:18.359 --> 00:33:20.079
Of the guys on the team.

598
00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:22.680
You know, the best best example I can give is

599
00:33:22.880 --> 00:33:25.720
we went when I was still relatively new on the ground.

600
00:33:27.440 --> 00:33:28.359
We went uh.

601
00:33:30.119 --> 00:33:34.920
Out to the Nevada test site and uh uh off

602
00:33:34.960 --> 00:33:38.279
of Indian Springs kind of Nevada, and uh we it

603
00:33:38.400 --> 00:33:40.519
was great. It was three hundred and sixty degree range

604
00:33:40.559 --> 00:33:43.720
fans and working up doing some dynamic shooting out there.

605
00:33:44.079 --> 00:33:46.240
Whack and Hut. Security had a little range kind of

606
00:33:46.359 --> 00:33:48.519
right at the gate that we arranged to use.

607
00:33:49.240 --> 00:33:51.880
And so he put the weapons guy to you know,

608
00:33:52.079 --> 00:33:55.200
inspecting all the weapons and counting all the AMMO we need,

609
00:33:55.319 --> 00:33:57.359
and the como guy was getting the radio is ready,

610
00:33:57.359 --> 00:33:59.240
you know, everybody's getting ready for the range next day.

611
00:33:59.240 --> 00:34:01.319
And he said, okay, me and the Captain are going

612
00:34:01.400 --> 00:34:04.680
to go do a safety check of the range all right,

613
00:34:04.799 --> 00:34:06.000
you know, we'll see you guys later.

614
00:34:06.079 --> 00:34:06.599
And we went down.

615
00:34:06.640 --> 00:34:09.159
I was like, Tim, we got to do a safety check.

616
00:34:09.320 --> 00:34:11.599
He's like, no, sir, we're not doing a safety check.

617
00:34:11.639 --> 00:34:14.920
I'm running you through the range because the detachment commander

618
00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:16.639
is not going to be the worst shot on the team.

619
00:34:16.800 --> 00:34:17.239
So let's go.

620
00:34:17.880 --> 00:34:19.840
And we spent about four hours out there with him,

621
00:34:19.840 --> 00:34:22.039
putting me through my paces and teaching me to be

622
00:34:22.119 --> 00:34:25.039
a better shooter. And and the next day, I know

623
00:34:25.239 --> 00:34:27.360
I did well when you know, the best shot by

624
00:34:27.400 --> 00:34:30.639
any means. But I didn't embarrass myself or you know,

625
00:34:31.239 --> 00:34:32.960
him vicariously through me, I guess.

626
00:34:33.599 --> 00:34:35.559
And that's relationship.

627
00:34:37.039 --> 00:34:38.239
That's a great ans there.

628
00:34:39.480 --> 00:34:42.000
Oh yeah, I thought the world of this guy. And

629
00:34:42.079 --> 00:34:44.719
the thing is is I had what in Special Forces?

630
00:34:44.760 --> 00:34:48.000
So you got your your halo you know, free fall teams,

631
00:34:48.079 --> 00:34:52.239
you got your stuma teams, got your mountain teams, and

632
00:34:52.360 --> 00:34:55.800
I have what's called the ordinary rucksack team, uh, which

633
00:34:55.880 --> 00:34:58.199
means anybody that looked like a Clydescale got a sign

634
00:34:58.239 --> 00:35:04.039
on my team, except for the team sergeant, who was

635
00:35:04.519 --> 00:35:08.880
probably five ten and maybe one hundred and sixty five

636
00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:11.320
hundred and seventy pounds. So when we'd go out and

637
00:35:11.400 --> 00:35:13.880
hit the bill or God and have you know, a

638
00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:19.760
couple of sodas together. He was the guy that, if

639
00:35:20.239 --> 00:35:24.000
you know, depending on how depending on how much of

640
00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:26.159
a dive the establishment we were at where he was

641
00:35:26.199 --> 00:35:28.880
the guy that would get singled out as the easy

642
00:35:28.960 --> 00:35:32.280
at a target, and it was probably the biggest mistake

643
00:35:32.440 --> 00:35:35.440
numerous people have ever made in their lives. The guy

644
00:35:35.639 --> 00:35:40.400
was a martial arts dynamo, and he actually got me

645
00:35:40.480 --> 00:35:43.360
started on the martial arts piece two, which I've done,

646
00:35:43.960 --> 00:35:46.159
you know, my whole life, and in conjunction with the

647
00:35:46.440 --> 00:35:49.960
Special Forces steps. So yeah, I have I have a

648
00:35:50.079 --> 00:35:55.039
deep and abiding one regard and affection for him. But

649
00:35:55.159 --> 00:35:59.360
it also let me know what NCOs in general and

650
00:36:00.119 --> 00:36:04.159
s f NCUS specifically, what they were capable of, and

651
00:36:04.280 --> 00:36:06.079
what I could and should.

652
00:36:05.840 --> 00:36:06.599
Expect out of them.

653
00:36:06.800 --> 00:36:10.039
Yeah, yeah, I understand. And you mentioned earlier that you

654
00:36:10.199 --> 00:36:12.320
were doing what you were born to do, and that

655
00:36:12.400 --> 00:36:14.559
actually is one of the things I was going to

656
00:36:14.599 --> 00:36:17.880
talk to you about. When I was working as a historian,

657
00:36:18.320 --> 00:36:19.800
my family would ask me, you know, how do you

658
00:36:19.920 --> 00:36:22.159
like your job? And it wasn't a job. I told

659
00:36:22.199 --> 00:36:24.039
him it was a scam because they paid me to learn,

660
00:36:24.159 --> 00:36:26.119
you know, I learned things for a living. But it

661
00:36:26.280 --> 00:36:29.599
was and that in context of working in the military

662
00:36:29.800 --> 00:36:33.280
was what I was born to do. It just felt right.

663
00:36:33.320 --> 00:36:35.159
And I take it that you experienced the same thing

664
00:36:35.199 --> 00:36:35.719
in your career.

665
00:36:35.800 --> 00:36:39.719
Yes, yes, I mean, I mean there were times like

666
00:36:41.159 --> 00:36:45.159
actually right after the First Golf War, you know, they

667
00:36:45.280 --> 00:36:47.360
kind of opened the flood flood gates with the peace

668
00:36:47.440 --> 00:36:51.079
of it in and West pointerers who'd been told, hey,

669
00:36:51.159 --> 00:36:54.239
it's it's a minimum five year commitment active duty when

670
00:36:54.280 --> 00:36:54.760
you graduate.

671
00:36:54.800 --> 00:36:57.960
They're letting them go at two and three years, right, Yeah,

672
00:36:58.679 --> 00:36:59.440
And I.

673
00:36:59.440 --> 00:37:02.480
Didn't go because while you know, there were some times

674
00:37:02.840 --> 00:37:04.519
in the army, and this is my whole career, I

675
00:37:04.639 --> 00:37:06.599
never woke up in the morning and didn't want to

676
00:37:06.639 --> 00:37:08.480
go to work, or I never woke up in the

677
00:37:08.519 --> 00:37:10.840
one thought, man, I'd really like to be doing this

678
00:37:11.000 --> 00:37:15.280
other activity, you know, for my life. So I just

679
00:37:15.400 --> 00:37:17.760
kind of hung out and stayed with it. And you know,

680
00:37:17.880 --> 00:37:21.559
it was the best UH soldier and leader I could be,

681
00:37:21.760 --> 00:37:25.920
and it was it was outstanding in.

682
00:37:26.039 --> 00:37:29.519
Our In our correspondence leading up to our chat today,

683
00:37:29.920 --> 00:37:32.840
you mentioned that you got a few good laughs out

684
00:37:32.880 --> 00:37:35.519
of the stories that my two military buddies and I

685
00:37:35.599 --> 00:37:38.079
traded on a recent podcast about our time in Korea.

686
00:37:38.760 --> 00:37:41.039
And some of the craziness that went on. And I

687
00:37:41.159 --> 00:37:43.119
have to assume that you've seen more than your fair

688
00:37:43.199 --> 00:37:47.880
share of craziness in your many experiences. Anything code of

689
00:37:47.960 --> 00:37:52.480
conduct compliant that stands out in your memory, I.

690
00:37:52.480 --> 00:37:54.519
Don't know, you know, I kind of thought this, uh,

691
00:37:55.079 --> 00:37:57.760
this question, and it's it's code of conduct, but it's

692
00:37:57.800 --> 00:37:59.920
also statute limitations.

693
00:38:00.079 --> 00:38:01.639
Oh there we go. Okay, that's even better.

694
00:38:02.960 --> 00:38:05.719
But uh yeah, I mean, well, there's two things.

695
00:38:05.800 --> 00:38:10.480
One is, I'm a big as a leader, you know,

696
00:38:10.920 --> 00:38:13.480
and a manager and you know, a director and stuff.

697
00:38:13.480 --> 00:38:14.360
I'm I'm a big.

698
00:38:14.239 --> 00:38:18.480
Believer in you know that any group of humans you

699
00:38:18.599 --> 00:38:22.840
put together, whatever dimension you look at them in, there's

700
00:38:22.880 --> 00:38:26.559
going to be a bell curve right right, And and

701
00:38:26.679 --> 00:38:29.320
so figure out where the well, the thing about being

702
00:38:29.360 --> 00:38:31.440
an s F guy is compared.

703
00:38:31.079 --> 00:38:34.800
To the normal population. Every dude is so much an.

704
00:38:34.719 --> 00:38:37.519
Outlier either to the left or the right of the

705
00:38:37.639 --> 00:38:43.760
bell curve of normal human beings that that you know,

706
00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:47.440
they're just a different kind of a different kind of cat. Sure,

707
00:38:47.519 --> 00:38:50.840
And and so yeah, every now and then we had

708
00:38:51.280 --> 00:38:56.159
so the one that I'll put out, uh that was

709
00:38:56.599 --> 00:38:58.559
it was the only time I kind of got involved

710
00:38:59.320 --> 00:39:03.039
and personally involved in uh in pulling something on.

711
00:39:03.079 --> 00:39:04.079
One of my guys.

712
00:39:05.280 --> 00:39:08.199
Was we'd done a long trip to Africa when I

713
00:39:08.280 --> 00:39:11.280
was a detachment commander and we were out.

714
00:39:11.199 --> 00:39:13.199
In the middle of nowhere. Uh it was awesome.

715
00:39:13.880 --> 00:39:17.360
We were like an hour away by very rough train,

716
00:39:18.239 --> 00:39:22.159
uh from our from our company that also deployed on

717
00:39:22.239 --> 00:39:24.960
this exercise, and we spent.

718
00:39:26.519 --> 00:39:28.639
A long time in this on this game preserve called

719
00:39:29.199 --> 00:39:33.199
Archer's Post and it was literally like there was a

720
00:39:33.360 --> 00:39:34.920
rock out there that we called Pride Rock.

721
00:39:34.960 --> 00:39:36.719
I mean it was it was right out of a

722
00:39:37.559 --> 00:39:38.559
right out of the Lion King.

723
00:39:38.800 --> 00:39:39.920
Yeah, and it was great.

724
00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.960
We worked with the uh the Kenyan fifth Infantry Rifles,

725
00:39:46.239 --> 00:39:48.920
a company from them, a company of their engineers, and

726
00:39:49.039 --> 00:39:51.639
then we did some jumping and stuff with their twentieth

727
00:39:51.679 --> 00:39:54.159
pair and uh, just a phenomenal trip.

728
00:39:54.239 --> 00:39:56.800
And it's you know, it's what you kind of sign

729
00:39:56.880 --> 00:39:58.719
up to do when when you go SF was just

730
00:39:59.079 --> 00:40:00.119
be out in the middle of nowhere. You know.

731
00:40:00.159 --> 00:40:05.079
They dropped us off with some some tent and pallada

732
00:40:05.199 --> 00:40:10.360
mrs and a water buffalo full of water which sorry,

733
00:40:10.760 --> 00:40:12.400
you know, I know you know what it is, but

734
00:40:12.800 --> 00:40:15.039
it's just a big water tank on wheels kind of thing.

735
00:40:15.519 --> 00:40:17.360
Thank you a g. I wouldn't even thinking to verify

736
00:40:17.440 --> 00:40:19.519
that because I've dealt with so many of them, Okay, yeah.

737
00:40:20.159 --> 00:40:22.760
Yeah, And so we were just left out there. It

738
00:40:22.840 --> 00:40:23.840
was like eight or nine weeks.

739
00:40:23.920 --> 00:40:27.639
Well, on my team, we had kind of a tradition

740
00:40:27.719 --> 00:40:31.159
where we had a no kidding rubber chicken, and whoever

741
00:40:31.400 --> 00:40:35.079
had whoever came back from a deployment with the rubber

742
00:40:35.159 --> 00:40:37.880
chicken in his kit was buying the beer when he

743
00:40:37.960 --> 00:40:41.760
got back. And for some reason, my my eighteen Bravo

744
00:40:42.519 --> 00:40:47.639
weapons inco just got fixated on making sure I would

745
00:40:47.679 --> 00:40:51.320
come home with the rubber chicken to the point where

746
00:40:52.079 --> 00:40:54.519
he would hide it in my gear and then fret

747
00:40:54.559 --> 00:40:56.239
about it for two or three days and then go

748
00:40:56.400 --> 00:40:58.679
back into my gear to hide it somewhere else, you know.

749
00:40:59.599 --> 00:41:02.159
And uh and I got I finally I kind of

750
00:41:02.280 --> 00:41:08.800
reached my limits. So when we were redeploying, I went

751
00:41:08.840 --> 00:41:11.320
to my medic and at the time I think the

752
00:41:12.159 --> 00:41:13.679
you know, they would offer up if you want. I

753
00:41:13.760 --> 00:41:17.719
never did them because I don't like meds, But at

754
00:41:17.760 --> 00:41:20.440
the time I think the the sleeping pill choice was

755
00:41:20.519 --> 00:41:25.960
Halseyon and uh and I was like, hey, uh, I

756
00:41:26.119 --> 00:41:28.119
want to use guy's names. When I'm pre cleared to

757
00:41:28.119 --> 00:41:32.000
with him. I was like, hey, uh, Medic, uh, you

758
00:41:32.079 --> 00:41:34.159
got any of those house on so and he was like, yes, Suir, I.

759
00:41:34.159 --> 00:41:35.039
Do and uh.

760
00:41:35.159 --> 00:41:37.159
I was like how many can you safely take? And

761
00:41:37.199 --> 00:41:37.760
he was like one.

762
00:41:38.280 --> 00:41:40.079
I was like no, no, no, but I mean, really,

763
00:41:40.199 --> 00:41:43.480
how many could you safely take? He was one, Okay,

764
00:41:43.519 --> 00:41:44.239
give me three of them?

765
00:41:44.679 --> 00:41:46.679
And uh and uh.

766
00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:53.000
When we stopped to refuel and rode to Spain, you know, being.

767
00:41:52.840 --> 00:41:54.280
The captain, I went out and bought all the guy

768
00:41:54.400 --> 00:41:56.440
sodas and brought them back to where we were hanging

769
00:41:56.480 --> 00:41:59.599
out and crushed up and put three of those housing

770
00:41:59.719 --> 00:42:00.159
on in.

771
00:42:00.360 --> 00:42:01.760
My weapons guy's.

772
00:42:03.360 --> 00:42:06.800
Coat, made sure he got he got the one with

773
00:42:06.880 --> 00:42:09.440
the mickey in it, and then you know, he fell

774
00:42:09.480 --> 00:42:09.920
asleep on.

775
00:42:09.960 --> 00:42:10.559
The ride back.

776
00:42:10.679 --> 00:42:13.199
So I went to the baggage palette and kind of

777
00:42:13.239 --> 00:42:16.320
reached in where I knew he'd hidden this rubber chicken

778
00:42:17.119 --> 00:42:18.360
and he was out, and I kind of, you know,

779
00:42:18.400 --> 00:42:20.239
I pulled the medic you know, hey, keep an eye

780
00:42:20.280 --> 00:42:20.599
on him.

781
00:42:20.639 --> 00:42:22.079
You know, I didn't want to, I mean, I wanted

782
00:42:22.119 --> 00:42:23.840
to get him back, but I didn't want to kill them.

783
00:42:24.599 --> 00:42:27.519
And uh, so uh, on the way back, I pulled

784
00:42:27.519 --> 00:42:32.119
the rubber chicken out and the medic cuts his cuts

785
00:42:32.159 --> 00:42:36.519
his uniform trouser off, like on the high thigh. You

786
00:42:36.639 --> 00:42:39.159
take the rubber chicken, put it up against the guy's knee,

787
00:42:40.280 --> 00:42:42.480
wrap it up with an a spandage, tape it up,

788
00:42:42.519 --> 00:42:45.800
and then put one of those those plastic kind of

789
00:42:45.960 --> 00:42:50.360
flex casts over his leg right and he was out

790
00:42:50.400 --> 00:42:53.599
the entire time. And as they're making the approach back in,

791
00:42:53.800 --> 00:42:57.760
we were we were not jumping in. We usually jumped

792
00:42:58.000 --> 00:43:00.320
in when we came back home. For whatever reason, we

793
00:43:00.400 --> 00:43:03.800
were flying a C seventeen and it's really weird. We

794
00:43:03.880 --> 00:43:06.599
have to have more fuel than X but less fuel

795
00:43:06.679 --> 00:43:09.800
than Y to safely jump out of it. And uh

796
00:43:10.599 --> 00:43:12.960
so we're going to AirLand and just you know, get

797
00:43:13.000 --> 00:43:14.679
our pallets of stuff and return them to the team

798
00:43:14.760 --> 00:43:16.840
room and account for our sense of items. And so

799
00:43:17.159 --> 00:43:19.519
we finally as as we're going to land, we we

800
00:43:19.760 --> 00:43:23.920
uh we woke up the weapons guy and we're like, hey, man,

801
00:43:24.840 --> 00:43:26.480
time to get up. And he was like, oh, he's looking.

802
00:43:26.679 --> 00:43:27.559
He said, what happened?

803
00:43:27.559 --> 00:43:30.800
I was like, you don't remember falling off the palette

804
00:43:30.800 --> 00:43:33.199
when we were in roadees Like, oh, yeah, man, you

805
00:43:34.039 --> 00:43:35.199
strewed up your nee pretty good.

806
00:43:35.440 --> 00:43:38.119
And he was like, yeah, it really hurts. I was

807
00:43:38.159 --> 00:43:38.559
like yeah.

808
00:43:39.280 --> 00:43:42.760
And so anyway, we downloaded all our stuff and uh

809
00:43:43.000 --> 00:43:46.000
we uh you know, got everything accounted born all that,

810
00:43:46.159 --> 00:43:49.639
and then the medicals like, hey, brother, let me let

811
00:43:49.719 --> 00:43:51.320
me look at that leg and he said okay, So

812
00:43:51.480 --> 00:43:55.760
he ticks off the plastic cast, unwrapped the ace bandage.

813
00:43:55.760 --> 00:43:57.800
Oh and we'd also like, like I said, tape up

814
00:43:57.840 --> 00:43:59.840
the ace bandage. And we taped in such a way

815
00:43:59.840 --> 00:44:01.760
that we knew it would it would take a lot

816
00:44:01.760 --> 00:44:05.239
of leg here with it. Sure, And so we ripped

817
00:44:05.239 --> 00:44:06.880
that off and the guy looks down and there's the

818
00:44:06.960 --> 00:44:13.639
rubber chicken. So I kind of made an enemy for

819
00:44:13.719 --> 00:44:17.039
life there. But the statement that needed to be made.

820
00:44:17.199 --> 00:44:21.159
So that's good. That that is good. That when the

821
00:44:21.239 --> 00:44:22.679
movie comes out, it's going to be even better.

822
00:44:22.719 --> 00:44:23.159
I like that.

823
00:44:24.199 --> 00:44:29.760
That's all right. Okay, we'll shift gears one last time,

824
00:44:30.400 --> 00:44:31.960
and this will be it needs to be the last question.

825
00:44:32.119 --> 00:44:35.679
But I often asked this question of veterans, and he

826
00:44:35.760 --> 00:44:38.280
heard me ask it. Of the two gentlemen I spoke

827
00:44:38.320 --> 00:44:40.679
with a few weeks ago, there are certain days that

828
00:44:40.840 --> 00:44:43.920
stand out in the minds of people. Most everyone remembers

829
00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:46.880
where they were when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. I

830
00:44:47.000 --> 00:44:49.360
shortly have to take off. Most folks who are old

831
00:44:49.440 --> 00:44:51.840
enough to remember, know exactly where they were when they

832
00:44:51.880 --> 00:44:55.599
heard the President Kennedy had been assassinated. Take me back

833
00:44:55.639 --> 00:44:59.239
to nine to eleven, if you don't mind, And where

834
00:44:59.320 --> 00:45:03.960
were you when all that unfolded? And how'd you handle

835
00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:04.199
all that?

836
00:45:06.840 --> 00:45:09.360
So I was in command of a US Army Series

837
00:45:09.360 --> 00:45:13.039
school on nine to eleven, and I was driving. So

838
00:45:13.639 --> 00:45:16.480
you have Fort Bragg. Outside of Fort Brag, you've got

839
00:45:16.480 --> 00:45:17.360
a place called Camp.

840
00:45:17.280 --> 00:45:22.760
McCall, which is out in the in the the pine

841
00:45:23.039 --> 00:45:25.719
forests of North Carolina. It was about a forty five

842
00:45:25.760 --> 00:45:28.320
minute drive from one of the other And uh, that's

843
00:45:28.360 --> 00:45:33.280
where most of the Special Forces pipeline training takes place.

844
00:45:33.440 --> 00:45:37.800
So qualification course, the Special Forces Assessment Election Cours, and

845
00:45:38.199 --> 00:45:41.559
Special Assessment and Selection Course, and the SEARS school. We're

846
00:45:41.639 --> 00:45:46.280
all out there. And so I was driving. We lived

847
00:45:46.320 --> 00:45:50.039
on post at Fort Bragg, and I was driving out

848
00:45:50.119 --> 00:45:54.400
to Camp Call, and I was listening to some morning

849
00:45:54.559 --> 00:45:58.280
radio show, John Boy and Billy, and they said, Hey,

850
00:45:58.360 --> 00:46:00.960
a plane has just hit the World Trade Center, And

851
00:46:01.000 --> 00:46:02.320
I didn't know if it was a bit they were

852
00:46:02.360 --> 00:46:04.199
doing it and and and I'll never.

853
00:46:04.119 --> 00:46:07.280
Forget the guy said, hey, look, we don't do this

854
00:46:07.440 --> 00:46:08.440
very much, but you might want to.

855
00:46:08.440 --> 00:46:10.960
Switch over to a real news radio station because we're

856
00:46:11.039 --> 00:46:13.159
good at fart jokes, but we're not good at covering

857
00:46:13.199 --> 00:46:13.840
this kind of stuff.

858
00:46:14.880 --> 00:46:16.519
And I was like, so, on the way.

859
00:46:18.159 --> 00:46:20.280
How to camp, recall kind of en route.

860
00:46:21.440 --> 00:46:24.639
Was what we called the Resistance Training Laboratory, which is

861
00:46:25.199 --> 00:46:27.880
uh our prison camp that we put guys through and

862
00:46:28.199 --> 00:46:31.119
uh and I pulled off there and it looks like

863
00:46:31.239 --> 00:46:36.920
a you know, it's very painstakingly done to look genuine

864
00:46:37.360 --> 00:46:37.800
and uh.

865
00:46:38.800 --> 00:46:42.000
And so I went into the cadre hooge there and

866
00:46:42.360 --> 00:46:46.599
uh and saw the second plane hit and you know,

867
00:46:46.679 --> 00:46:47.639
and it's it's.

868
00:46:47.519 --> 00:46:49.920
Always been ironic to me that I was in this

869
00:46:51.679 --> 00:46:56.239
replication of a prison camp. The the satellite dish that

870
00:46:56.400 --> 00:47:00.840
the Cadre got there, UH video through actually had a

871
00:47:00.880 --> 00:47:04.480
hammer and stickles stencil into it. And I went in

872
00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:10.519
and I was like, Okay, everything has changed. And and

873
00:47:10.880 --> 00:47:13.440
it took me when I came home from work that day,

874
00:47:13.440 --> 00:47:15.079
I want to say, it took me five or six

875
00:47:15.199 --> 00:47:18.239
hours to get back to you know, to do my

876
00:47:18.360 --> 00:47:19.719
forty five minute ride back.

877
00:47:19.559 --> 00:47:20.159
To Fort Bragg.

878
00:47:20.800 --> 00:47:23.920
As soon as it happened, the lovely in town and

879
00:47:24.280 --> 00:47:27.519
Missus Mango got our scoop we had at the time

880
00:47:27.519 --> 00:47:30.559
of Scooby doo Van, you know, the custom pop job

881
00:47:30.639 --> 00:47:34.119
for the four kids. Yeah, and uh she went to

882
00:47:34.199 --> 00:47:36.840
the high school and the elementary schools and picked up

883
00:47:37.000 --> 00:47:39.639
our kids and a bunch of other kids that were

884
00:47:39.679 --> 00:47:40.360
friends of ours.

885
00:47:40.840 --> 00:47:42.239
She got them released and was.

886
00:47:42.280 --> 00:47:44.320
Like on the phone on the way in having parents

887
00:47:44.440 --> 00:47:46.800
call in to say, Missus Welsh can take my son

888
00:47:46.880 --> 00:47:48.559
home because she knew they were gonna they were gonna

889
00:47:48.639 --> 00:47:51.800
lock the base down, and uh, you know, and all

890
00:47:51.840 --> 00:47:52.639
my kids remember it.

891
00:47:52.719 --> 00:47:53.960
They were you know, they were going.

892
00:47:54.039 --> 00:47:59.119
They were like from fifteen onto uh like four or five,

893
00:47:59.480 --> 00:48:03.199
and like my kids can remember, you know, the Humbies

894
00:48:03.320 --> 00:48:06.519
parked on the intersection of the housing areas, manned with

895
00:48:06.559 --> 00:48:09.760
cruisers weapons and uh, you know they were running outside

896
00:48:09.800 --> 00:48:11.679
and bringing back to Eminem's.

897
00:48:11.239 --> 00:48:14.400
To the soldiers and stuff like that. They didn't really get.

898
00:48:14.320 --> 00:48:16.920
What's going on, but uh we were just like, okay,

899
00:48:17.159 --> 00:48:20.280
we're going and and it it kind of broke my

900
00:48:20.440 --> 00:48:24.519
heart that I was on a schoolhouse rotation at the

901
00:48:24.599 --> 00:48:27.480
time because you know, I'd been a fifth group guy

902
00:48:27.800 --> 00:48:29.920
and uh, and a lot of those guys that went

903
00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:32.920
in right away were my boys.

904
00:48:33.119 --> 00:48:33.280
You know.

905
00:48:34.639 --> 00:48:37.320
Well, well like some money, I was, you're champion at

906
00:48:37.360 --> 00:48:37.599
the bit.

907
00:48:37.800 --> 00:48:40.960
Oh yeah, it was. I mean everybody, everybody you know

908
00:48:41.079 --> 00:48:43.280
in my line of work was like, all right, it's.

909
00:48:43.199 --> 00:48:45.960
On, you know, and uh, and talk to my guys

910
00:48:46.079 --> 00:48:49.679
when my my former guys when they rotate back through,

911
00:48:50.039 --> 00:48:52.639
they were like, you know, the first couple of months

912
00:48:52.760 --> 00:48:53.320
was awesome.

913
00:48:54.880 --> 00:48:58.440
And then they and then they started sending officers. So

914
00:48:58.880 --> 00:49:00.119
you know, I think.

915
00:49:00.119 --> 00:49:04.480
Happens not not the majors, which in SPUCCH forces, everything's

916
00:49:04.480 --> 00:49:06.880
one rank up except for a Battalian command, which is

917
00:49:06.920 --> 00:49:11.159
a lieutenant colonel. But you know, companies are commanded by majors.

918
00:49:11.880 --> 00:49:14.320
Eight teams are commanded by captains. They're like, we could

919
00:49:14.360 --> 00:49:17.199
work with the majors and the captains, but once once

920
00:49:17.199 --> 00:49:18.559
all of them lieutenant colonels.

921
00:49:18.239 --> 00:49:20.000
Showing up, you know, it became a different thing.

922
00:49:20.719 --> 00:49:22.000
And uh, you know.

923
00:49:22.280 --> 00:49:24.599
But but at first the guys were you know, and they.

924
00:49:24.559 --> 00:49:28.960
Did something that that nobody I would believe could be done,

925
00:49:29.039 --> 00:49:33.840
you know, bringing down the tunnel band with the Northern

926
00:49:33.880 --> 00:49:35.519
Alliance as quickly as they did.

927
00:49:37.159 --> 00:49:40.719
And it was due to our our ability to work with.

928
00:49:40.880 --> 00:49:43.119
I mean, it was the first time since Vietnam that

929
00:49:43.239 --> 00:49:49.159
we had had strategic air assets supporting tactical elements on

930
00:49:49.239 --> 00:49:49.639
the ground.

931
00:49:50.039 --> 00:49:52.880
And uh, and and it worked. You know, they just

932
00:49:53.239 --> 00:49:57.639
scrambled some eggs and uh, you know. And so it's been,

933
00:49:57.840 --> 00:49:58.199
it's been.

934
00:49:59.159 --> 00:50:03.480
You know, things got pretty busy for me and you know,

935
00:50:03.760 --> 00:50:06.280
for well all the way through retirement.

936
00:50:06.360 --> 00:50:10.679
Really yeah, yeah, let's go when things work as advertised

937
00:50:10.679 --> 00:50:13.679
the way they're supposed to before it gets messed up.

938
00:50:13.760 --> 00:50:16.239
But it's a shame at the same time that it

939
00:50:16.400 --> 00:50:19.480
had to happen that way. You know, like I was

940
00:50:19.519 --> 00:50:21.880
talking with with my buddies, you spend all this time

941
00:50:22.280 --> 00:50:25.320
trying to keep the bad guys over there and then

942
00:50:25.360 --> 00:50:27.679
they hit you over here. Yeah.

943
00:50:28.039 --> 00:50:31.559
Absolutely, But I had kind of had a you know

944
00:50:31.639 --> 00:50:36.639
that exactly. I mean what you try to say, my mind,

945
00:50:36.760 --> 00:50:39.880
I mean, we were all kind of afraid something like

946
00:50:39.920 --> 00:50:42.119
that would happen, because it's only got to happen once, right,

947
00:50:42.159 --> 00:50:44.800
And you get to nine to eleven, and I remember,

948
00:50:44.960 --> 00:50:47.280
my I mean what you just said. You spend all

949
00:50:47.320 --> 00:50:50.920
that time over there, hoping it never comes here. You know,

950
00:50:50.960 --> 00:50:53.559
I remember my dad was tore up when probably I

951
00:50:53.559 --> 00:50:57.920
can't remember his name, but the the Pakistani guy that

952
00:50:58.519 --> 00:51:01.639
at the turn to go into the campus at Langley,

953
00:51:01.679 --> 00:51:03.800
the CEEIA campus at Langley, he just started walking down

954
00:51:03.840 --> 00:51:07.559
the turning lane within AK forty seven and uh, you know,

955
00:51:07.639 --> 00:51:11.199
my dad wasn't on the campus that day, It wasn't

956
00:51:11.199 --> 00:51:12.760
going to the campus that day, but he was. He

957
00:51:12.800 --> 00:51:15.280
said the exact same thing, and that kind of opened

958
00:51:15.360 --> 00:51:18.679
up my eyes on that Hey, it can happen here

959
00:51:18.840 --> 00:51:21.440
and we need to guard against it. And you know,

960
00:51:21.519 --> 00:51:24.280
I think, I think, uh, I think America at large

961
00:51:24.360 --> 00:51:27.199
really needs to recalibrate because awful things can happen here.

962
00:51:27.400 --> 00:51:29.039
And I think we have a very.

963
00:51:30.599 --> 00:51:36.119
Hard time imagining how bad a bast swath of humanity

964
00:51:36.280 --> 00:51:39.960
is and what they would do with us without Baton

965
00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:40.159
and I.

966
00:51:40.239 --> 00:51:43.000
I mean, you know, you read the news today and uh,

967
00:51:43.639 --> 00:51:45.320
you know, one of the things that upsets me is

968
00:51:45.400 --> 00:51:48.880
the total ahistorical.

969
00:51:49.440 --> 00:51:52.719
Appreciation that any of the kids that are protesting have,

970
00:51:53.039 --> 00:51:57.880
you know, on either side to say, hey, okay, you

971
00:51:57.960 --> 00:52:01.199
know the great men that you're testing about, come back

972
00:52:01.239 --> 00:52:04.400
to our founders. I mean, they were great in spite

973
00:52:04.480 --> 00:52:07.239
of their human frailty and in spite of their human shortfalls.

974
00:52:07.320 --> 00:52:09.559
Not you know, they're not held up because of those

975
00:52:09.639 --> 00:52:12.079
They're held up because they did great things about that, right,

976
00:52:12.360 --> 00:52:15.800
And losing perspective is something that you know, I'm very

977
00:52:15.880 --> 00:52:16.880
concerned about right now.

978
00:52:17.599 --> 00:52:20.599
That yeah, absolutely, And I mean it's been said before.

979
00:52:20.719 --> 00:52:25.679
Not all great men were necessarily good men all the time, right,

980
00:52:26.199 --> 00:52:28.199
I mean, we all suffer from a condition that we

981
00:52:28.280 --> 00:52:30.639
inherited from Adam, I believe, So that's my faith at

982
00:52:30.639 --> 00:52:35.039
any rate. So yeah, well, it has been an honor

983
00:52:35.199 --> 00:52:36.559
to have you on the program this morning. We have

984
00:52:36.639 --> 00:52:38.159
to do this some more because we're not through solving

985
00:52:38.199 --> 00:52:39.639
all the world's problems yet, so we'll have to have

986
00:52:39.719 --> 00:52:42.000
you back on here. This is just great fun, but

987
00:52:42.199 --> 00:52:44.840
it is. It has been you know, we do need

988
00:52:44.880 --> 00:52:45.000
to do.

989
00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:47.039
It again solve some more problems, although I will tell

990
00:52:47.039 --> 00:52:51.440
you I'm way too sober for worldwide problem solving, right,

991
00:52:53.719 --> 00:52:54.159
all right.

992
00:52:54.079 --> 00:52:57.079
Well then we'll drink and then we'll solve it. But again,

993
00:52:57.079 --> 00:52:59.480
it's been an honor. I really appreciate you taking the

994
00:52:59.519 --> 00:53:01.599
time out of weekend the chat and I'll share your

995
00:53:01.639 --> 00:53:04.559
experiences and perspective on events, and I look forward to

996
00:53:04.639 --> 00:53:07.280
hearing even more from you on Ricochet as well. So

997
00:53:07.679 --> 00:53:19.880
thank you, sir, absolutely, thank you David. In the dawn

998
00:53:20.719 --> 00:53:26.039
of freedom, shadows cast the line a.

999
00:53:26.239 --> 00:53:34.559
Bold declaration, define and divine, from the income.

1000
00:53:34.079 --> 00:53:42.000
The founding father's hand to the grease that mark heroes

1001
00:53:43.360 --> 00:53:44.800
on foreign sand.

1002
00:53:48.320 --> 00:53:56.599
They stood in silence, fought through the night, guardians of liberty,

1003
00:53:57.639 --> 00:54:01.159
spreading line its sacrifice.

1004
00:54:01.239 --> 00:54:01.920
They call.

1005
00:54:03.840 --> 00:54:10.599
Through times enless than in honor of the suit defended

1006
00:54:10.800 --> 00:54:11.639
this land.

1007
00:54:15.719 --> 00:54:23.159
We breathe free on the prize they paid every ride.

1008
00:54:23.480 --> 00:54:32.519
We heard in the sund profsely with the waiveringcer, they

1009
00:54:32.960 --> 00:54:39.039
answered the car veteran sary heroes.

1010
00:54:38.960 --> 00:54:43.559
Standing crowd and tall from the horn.

1011
00:54:43.480 --> 00:54:50.000
Of this nation, the spearing wall fade in the songs

1012
00:54:50.199 --> 00:54:54.679
of every man Prince. Their legs seem.

1013
00:55:00.840 --> 00:55:03.199
In jungles of Vietnam.

1014
00:55:04.199 --> 00:55:07.760
They faced the unknown through.

1015
00:55:07.639 --> 00:55:13.440
The fog of the battle. Seeds of freedom sown from

1016
00:55:13.639 --> 00:55:21.000
Baton's march to the shores of Feeble Gamo. A tapestry

1017
00:55:21.159 --> 00:55:25.800
woven from every warrior streamer.

1018
00:55:28.400 --> 00:55:34.840
With agent Torrent scars etched on brave skin. They fought

1019
00:55:35.119 --> 00:55:40.880
for our futures. Though some may wid from the.

1020
00:55:41.079 --> 00:55:43.519
Fields of Korea.

1021
00:55:43.800 --> 00:55:56.960
To Fluia stripe before the burden, risking their line, weby.

1022
00:55:56.800 --> 00:56:03.760
Free on the brown nice they made every rid week

1023
00:56:05.599 --> 00:56:14.599
in the south, previsely with the waver the awuper call.

1024
00:56:16.159 --> 00:56:23.239
Veterans are heroes, standing crowd and top from the heart

1025
00:56:23.480 --> 00:56:30.000
of this nation, the spear for fay in the songs

1026
00:56:30.199 --> 00:56:39.639
of remain prince their leg and the scene made spit

1027
00:56:39.840 --> 00:56:48.119
on and start d p sweet no man the battle

1028
00:56:49.039 --> 00:56:57.280
or the heat of deceit loud and sometimes lost in

1029
00:56:57.440 --> 00:57:03.920
the haase. Yet they stole in the breach worthy of

1030
00:57:04.440 --> 00:57:16.719
free role foreign nation sti so three lands to laughter

1031
00:57:17.119 --> 00:57:27.719
and tears for freedom. There's a story til it soldier's

1032
00:57:27.880 --> 00:57:31.159
journey alive and come.

1033
00:57:36.920 --> 00:57:42.960
Trace a line through history from the past to our present.

1034
00:57:44.280 --> 00:57:51.519
The Constitution guides us so vital, so pleasant. The lives

1035
00:57:52.199 --> 00:57:59.039
that we cherish, the liberty we share is woven by

1036
00:57:59.480 --> 00:58:01.119
veterans who.

1037
00:58:01.119 --> 00:58:09.079
Took on the wall in the colors of honor. They

1038
00:58:09.480 --> 00:58:18.159
paint the sky ride a heartfelt tribute to sheros in flood.

1039
00:58:20.679 --> 00:58:24.760
So here's to the fairs.

1040
00:58:24.039 --> 00:58:30.880
Botany and apart in the fabric of freed of their

1041
00:58:31.079 --> 00:58:37.480
stitched in our heart before we live free today. Thanks

1042
00:58:37.559 --> 00:58:43.199
to those brave falls together and speed.

1043
00:58:47.320 --> 00:59:00.480
As the freedom bell tolls.