Combat medics. PTSD. IEDs. And the reality most civilians never hear.
In this episode of Stay in the Gray, Ryan sits down with Army medic Mitch and fellow veteran Manny to share firsthand stories from Iraq and Afghanistan—from battlefield emergencies and mental health trauma to moral questions raised by modern warfare.
The episode also tackles the Aaron Bushnell self-immolation protest, the Gaza Strip crisis, and why mass migration is shaping conflict worldwide. It's raw. It's emotional. And it's brutally honest.
🎙 Topics include:
– What it's really like to be deployed
– Medical chaos, suicide bombers, and surviving a 72-hour firefight
– PTSD, insomnia, and adjusting back to civilian life
– Gaza, military protest, and the weight of loyalty
🔥 Follow for more unfiltered conversations on war, morality, and modern conflict.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Headline Footage
01:33 - Introduction and Greetings
02:05 - Mitch’s Military Background
02:55 - The Role of a Combat Medic
04:11 - What Life in the Military Is Really Like
11:43 - Living Conditions and Daily Routine
23:14 - Scariest Moments & Challenges of Deployment
36:58 - Medical Emergencies on the Battlefield
43:15 - Best Military TV Show Recommendation
44:15 - Funny Moments & Lighthearted Stories from Deployment
46:00 - Interacting with Local Children During War
47:46 - Facing Suicide Bombers & Daily Dangers
49:13 - Surviving a 72-Hour Firefight
50:32 - PTSD, Insomnia & Mental Repercussions of War
58:31 - Adjusting to Civilian Life After Combat
01:01:40 - Finding Love After Deployment
01:05:58 - The Gaza Strip Conflict & Aaron Bushnell’s Protest
01:26:23 - Final Thoughts & Reflections on Military Life
00:00:00
So yeah, in the Army, right, the most important person in like
00:00:03
any unit, any kind of like combination of like Rifleman or
00:00:06
like, you know, squad machine gunner is the dock or the manage
00:00:09
and you know, and he's like pretty much the lifelong.
00:00:11
I'd hang around him. Oh hey, jump in the front lines,
00:00:14
grab that M4M16, you know, and get something right.
00:00:18
You will smell people like it's just sometimes they can be a
00:00:22
little bit rough. But see, that's where as a dog.
00:00:24
No washing machines. So there are, there's an old
00:00:28
adage in the military, it says that you can trust people with
00:00:31
your life, but you cannot trust them with your stuff.
00:00:34
So we would go around in these like different areas and, you
00:00:36
know, we'd see these kids and they would know our vehicles
00:00:38
after a while and they would get really comfortable with us.
00:00:40
And, you know, we'd give them like, you know, big bottles of
00:00:44
water, We'd give them Gatorade. We'd even give them like
00:00:47
powdered electrolyte mixes and show them how to mix it in the
00:00:49
water so they get that taste and stuff.
00:01:01
Welcome to Stay in the Grave podcast.
00:01:03
I'm your host Ryan, and I'm here to bring you raw conversations
00:01:07
about life and those undeniable human truths.
00:01:11
We dive into the chaos 1 issue at a time, blending comedy,
00:01:15
controversy, and the unexplainable.
00:01:22
Get ready for transparent ideas straight from the Gray areas
00:01:25
where most answers are hiding. So stay curious, stay
00:01:31
inquisitive, please stay laughing, stay in the Gray.
00:01:35
Come check it out. We'll see you there, everyone.
00:01:41
February the 28th, 2025. Gentlemen, how are we tonight?
00:01:47
Excellent, Sir, Thank you. I am I we've been trying to get
00:01:50
this group, this threesome, if you will, together for a long
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time and I'm very, very excited to have you guys here tonight.
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People know Manny, they've seen they've seen your mugs of the
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show before. So we'll get to you.
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But Mitch, glad you're here, my man, Thank.
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You for having me? And I was thinking about how to
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intro this and whatever the bottom line is, I'm just going
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to ask you straight up tell me a little bit about you in the
00:02:19
sense when it comes to your military and anything else you
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think is important to know about you.
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Because I've had conversations with you and I'm fascinated by
00:02:35
the things you have to say. You've travelled, you've, you're
00:02:39
a corn fan, which makes all the difference in the world.
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Hell yeah. And I'm very intrigued by
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military life and what you guys do and, and did for this
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country. And so just kind of fill me in
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on you. Like, when did you go into the
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military? What were your goals in life?
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And and so people go, why the Hell's this guy here, you know?
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Hey, well, First off I just want to say I'm a man who pays
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attention. I just want to know what's going
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on in the world, right? Especially in my own country.
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I am the son of a soldier, grew up in the military as a brat,
00:03:16
lived over four countries in four different continents.
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Well, technically six countries, but I, I love to travel.
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I did a lot with the military. I was an Army combat medic, 68
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whiskeys, the MOS designator. I did a lot of healthcare based
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initiatives. I was a an instructor.
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I've done everything from teaching soldiers how to do CPR
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to plugging wounds, putting on tourniquets, how to look at mass
00:03:48
casualty events and say hey, I need 2 guys with me to go ahead
00:03:54
and get these six people that are injured to a safe space so
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they can start working on them. So I was kind of like an
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instructor and like a train the trainer type.
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Goodness. Yeah.
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So I didn't know it was full. I didn't know you were medical.
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I thought, yeah, wow. Yeah, yeah, right.
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So in the. Army, you saw some stuff.
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I did. I I worked on on both sides, the
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Iraqi side and the American side and even private contractors,
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Yeah. We'll get to that.
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Yeah, Yeah, right. Go ahead.
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So yeah, in the Army, right, the most important person in the any
00:04:22
unit, any kind of like combination of like Rifleman or
00:04:25
like, you know, squat machine gunner is the dock or the menish
00:04:29
and you know, and he's like pretty much the lifeline.
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I'd hang around him. Yeah, you know, Yeah.
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So you never want to make him sad, mad or, you know, you want
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to do everything to make sure that he's, you know, combat
00:04:38
efficient, happy. He like, wouldn't this the
00:04:41
asshole that said something the other day?
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Yeah, yeah. And I'm the guy that smashed him
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around. There you go there.
00:04:45
You go and and interesting that he mentioned that.
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So I actually want to piggyback off of what he said.
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So in respects the the doc or the combat medic or whoever's
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the medical liaison that's with that group, those people trust
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that person with their life. Whether it's male or female
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doesn't matter, but it is ultimately the goal of the
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medical personnel to be proficient at your skills.
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You need to know what you're doing.
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You have to walk the walk and talk the talk.
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And if you don't, they'll find it out.
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They'll suss it out. And when they find it out,
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they're kind of going to be Sol. They're going to be labeling you
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as a Pogue, which is a person other than grunt, which is
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actually a derogatory term, PO. GI don't know that dude.
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Is that something most people should know?
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Well, yeah, so, so those are the people are like in the back of
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the base, They're paper pushers. They're supply men, you know,
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they're, you know, wire treatment.
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I love it. We've got it right down.
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We're right in. We're right in it already.
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Adam Sandler We love the water board, but.
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There you go. Yeah, he's that guy, Yeah.
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Yep, in the 70s for Delta NBC guys, yeah.
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NBC they POG. Person other than grunt is is
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actually ultimately. What it is?
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All right, all right. So it's basically is.
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There anybody that's on the line there that's like not quite that
00:05:56
he's closed like what position would that be, you know, like
00:06:00
probably S2, what is that S? 2.
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OK, everybody, basically my audience, I love, they're gonna
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inside the joke laugh like, yeah, the S2, no one knows what
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that is. So S2, right, is the the guy
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that's is a pretty much a clerk, right?
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And he's a person that is say, hey, you know, my I am, let's
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say Lieutenant Ryan, you know, I want to take vacation.
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So you would go to this person and so and he would be the one.
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That's it. Yeah.
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So he can be the lowest level and he makes a difference of
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like you go into vacation or you go into war.
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So he has power, but he's like, he's kind of that annoying power
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guy, yes. And and he almost never sees
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combat right. Almost and.
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He never has to do really, really crappy details.
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Details are jobs that have to be done.
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So, so to, again, to piggyback off of what he was saying, so
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the, the medics job ultimately is to show competence.
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And if you don't show competence, it will be sussed
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out and you will be called out. And you'll basically be a Pogue
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where you can go hang out in the back while they take another
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medic who is proficient, who knows what they're doing, and
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they're going to basically adopt that other person.
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So you never want that as a medic.
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Sure. So before you were, were you
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assigned that or is it something that you do before you enlist?
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So in the Army, you're able to choose your job, MOS if you
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will, right? It's a do.
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You have to have previous training if you don't mind me
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asking. Well, it does help if you're
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trying to pick your job, but ultimately you can choose what
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job you want to have before you actually go into basic training.
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And then they'll train you once you're in.
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Once you get done with basic training, then you can take you
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to what's called called AIT, which is like advanced
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individual training, and then you really go deep hardcore.
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Even medical. Everything, every field there
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is. But so there are people that get
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what's called an option 40 package that is given to you on
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conditions whenever you enlist, when you go to the recruiting
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office in town, you speak to the recruiter, you get an option 40
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package. It's basically allowing you the
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ability to go to even higher in better schools that focus on
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things like Ranger School, airborne, air assault, going to
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special forces, Special forces. Those are the big.
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Swinging and you were both army is that right?
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Army yes. OK.
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And you weren't you didn't cross paths.
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You just met each other after after.
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Yep. Yeah, OK.
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Wow, that's so just kind of bonded over that experience.
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Even though it wasn't together, it was still shared.
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Yeah, it was like, remember when we talked about at dinner, I
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think it was a couple days ago, we were talking about when
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you're living in a tent with 30 other guys, right?
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You really get to know everybody pretty intimately.
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Oh, that's a great segue here. Go ahead.
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That was my next question. Go ahead.
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No, keep going. So whenever you're in a tent
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with, you know, 10 to 30 people, obviously all of the same gender
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and sex, all that you really get to know people.
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You get to know which ones stink.
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You know which ones cleaned up, you know which ones will look
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over, look over your stuff when you're gone so someone doesn't
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steal anything. So you.
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Really. Or which ones might steal
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correct? Yeah, so you really get to know
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who you can trust. Do they do the gender thing I
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mean or did they not have females in the same tent with
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OK? But things could have changed in
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the new military. I'm wondering and I don't mean
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to but it takes and all that, but.
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But even if it did, yeah, it doesn't exist anymore.
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Because, Donald, that's true. Trump ended.
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That's true. He did.
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The DEI thing. And that's a very good.
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Thing Yeah, yeah, it's gonna help the morale.
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Morale and that's you know, and a lot of people and we won't
00:09:24
talk about, you know, Donald and things like that.
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But but the morale when it comes to that subject, I often
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wondered about it. You not often, but enough.
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And some people don't, they don't get it because they're not
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there. So what do you go ahead, Manny.
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What do you think? I mean, you, you like, you like
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what has just happened. Yes, and the reason why, right,
00:09:46
because I mean it's devastating man.
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Like for example, right, all all the women out there, you know
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they want equality, you know equality, right.
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Well, hey, jump in the front lines route that M4M16, you
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know, and get some right. And when they do right, let's
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say when you get like a group of 20 men and they see like, let's
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say that that dead female soldier, that's, that's
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shocking, you know, that's like automatic PTSD, you know, and
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that's what I care about. So it it, it's, it's more
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intense when you see a dead woman.
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Oh, absolutely. You know so.
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You feel like in your heart of hearts, as a man, you were
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supposed. To you're supposed to protect
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her absolutely, and and that's the way I've been brought up and
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that's the way I feel like it is.
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And I know nowadays it's, you know, people are kind of, you
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know, that's it. Should I I don't even we won't
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get to that. Maybe next next time, but but I
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think that there's something to that.
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So that I was wondering about your opinion on that.
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So you were talking about getting to know people.
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You're very intimate with people.
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Not that way, but you know what I'm saying?
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I totally get it. You're in.
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It's just I'm so used to this show making like sex jokes and.
00:10:56
Well, well, Mitch is don't get to me on a Saturday.
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There you go, right? You know, Saturday.
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Yeah, tonight is that you're good, right?
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It's clear I'm still in the clear.
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Yeah, I I'm so. I know this might seem boring on
00:11:06
the surface, but I think I don't think it is.
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I want to know about living conditions.
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I am so fascinated. Not fast.
00:11:14
Fascinating is the wrong word. I'm so intrigued.
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Well, I'm intrigued by it, but I'm so I just feel like we have
00:11:20
enough technology and enough money and enough whatever I'm
00:11:23
going to know we're in debt. You know what I'm saying?
00:11:25
Enough to take care of active military.
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I mean, veterans is a whole other topic.
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We'll get to that. But but active military, when
00:11:33
you're over deployed, you can make those tents pretty bad ass.
00:11:38
You could do you could have right or am I am I wrong?
00:11:42
I mean technology, air conditioners, things like that.
00:11:45
So. From everything I knew, Mitch,
00:11:48
it it's not that it's hot. It's miserable, you know, tell
00:11:52
me what it's like with the living conditions.
00:11:55
Well. What doesn't kill you makes you
00:11:56
stronger. There you go.
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I mean, you're going to get you're going to get some kind of
00:12:00
fungus exposure. You will smell people like it's
00:12:04
just sometimes it can be a little bit rough.
00:12:07
But see, that's where as a dog. No washing machines, right?
00:12:10
I mean, luckily, if you're on the right type of forward
00:12:13
operating base or FOB, you're going to have like usually it'll
00:12:18
be like Filipino or Nepalese or some third world contractor
00:12:23
that's coming over and they do the laundry for you.
00:12:26
So that's like one headache you don't have to worry about,
00:12:28
right? But then you also have those
00:12:30
soldiers or service members that are in the desert or in terrible
00:12:33
conditions where they don't think to take their laundry down
00:12:36
to the laundromat to go get it done.
00:12:38
Why not? They just don't.
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They don't need to do it. So as a doc, my job is to make
00:12:42
sure, hey, I can smell you from across the tent.
00:12:45
You need to go take care of yourself.
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Go, go get yourself clean. We're going to get your laundry
00:12:49
together. We're going to take care of it.
00:12:50
Yeah, that's odor. That's that's you got it
00:12:53
happening? Yeah.
00:12:54
You got to daddy them sometimes because if you don't, and some
00:12:57
of these guys that you know, they're a reflection of the
00:12:59
working class. So some of these guys don't come
00:13:01
from money. They do not have any investments
00:13:03
and they're very bad with their paychecks, if you will.
00:13:08
So some of these guys, they lack home training.
00:13:10
So, you know, as a doc, it's like whatever I was lacking, I
00:13:14
had to go and figure it out real fast because a lot of these guys
00:13:17
would look up to me as like a person that they would get sound
00:13:22
advice from. So I always had to come correct.
00:13:25
And if if I ever made a mistake as a doc, you always had to
00:13:28
admit it. And that's important to soldiers
00:13:30
in all military, even civilian police, first responders, it
00:13:35
doesn't matter. Just owning your mistakes
00:13:37
outright up front can really save you a headache.
00:13:39
I think our doctors should have to do that here.
00:13:41
You know so many doctors we lost over COVID because of the forced
00:13:45
vaccinations. Oh yeah?
00:13:48
Well, that's a whole another. Yeah, they made them.
00:13:50
They made them pariahs. But yeah, I understand.
00:13:52
Yeah. Well, we can talk about that if
00:13:54
you want. Mitch Talk.
00:13:55
About whatever you want. It's your podcast.
00:13:57
That's true. That's right.
00:13:59
Well, maybe maybe we'll get there.
00:14:00
Let Yeah, because that's that's a whole that's AI didn't even
00:14:03
think about that. Let's move on and we'll come
00:14:06
back to that. But living conditions, you mean
00:14:09
talk about these things. I I want to know about
00:14:11
day-to-day. I want to know about, OK, you
00:14:13
wake up in the morning and what do you, what's your routine?
00:14:16
Oh, hey, Mitch, by the way, did you ever take malaria pills?
00:14:19
Yeah, we had to do that. Yeah, so the Army, right,
00:14:22
because of like, well, if you go to combat in the Middle East,
00:14:25
they'll give you like weird pills, you know?
00:14:27
Well, mainly Ambien and Dolce cycling.
00:14:30
Yeah, back in. The day it's an antibiotic,
00:14:32
yeah. And so we have to take them,
00:14:34
right? And these will give us like
00:14:35
weird dreams, man. So it really.
00:14:38
Yeah. But yeah, was it a type?
00:14:40
Of Ambien, it's mostly the. Ambien, but I don't think I ever
00:14:43
took it was actual. Ambien, I don't.
00:14:45
Think I actually took it. I'm.
00:14:46
I'm not familiar. He did go to war at a different
00:14:48
time than I did. So but yeah.
00:14:50
So you're When were you? Go ahead.
00:14:52
And I was there. From let's see, it was April
00:14:55
2007 to June 2008, so it's 14 months 2000. 8 and you were so
00:14:59
I. Went to war twice, to
00:15:01
Afghanistan 09 to 2010. So you were just.
00:15:04
Before him, yeah. And.
00:15:05
Then yeah, 2011 to 2012, OK. Goodness, so he's got more
00:15:09
common. Experience one, one thing you're
00:15:12
talking about the living condition.
00:15:13
So yeah, so you basically your first formation.
00:15:16
Is it like bugles in the morning?
00:15:18
And like, yeah, it's bugles go. Is it really?
00:15:21
Yeah, it's a. Tradition.
00:15:22
It's a. It's a.
00:15:22
It goes all the way back to the beginning, boss.
00:15:24
Yeah, yeah. So I.
00:15:25
Mean, I knew that, but I I still could just can't believe that
00:15:28
everybody's supposed to be like, here we go, you know, like,
00:15:30
yeah. Yeah, it's it's it's kind of
00:15:32
funny when it's comical when you think about it.
00:15:33
But yeah, you so if the. Beagles in the morning, so the
00:15:35
first time you. Stand in your little formation,
00:15:37
your little, you know, your little squad, your platoon,
00:15:40
whatever your company, you stand, you're going to be
00:15:43
falling into formation. It's, it's never at exactly the
00:15:46
time it's supposed to be. It's always earlier.
00:15:48
So if you have a earlier, so your first formation's at 6:30,
00:15:52
you better be down there at 6:15 because if in the Army, if
00:15:55
you're on time, you're late. This is why.
00:15:57
I would never about boys. I'd be 645.
00:16:00
Hold on a second. I'm I'm I'll be rolling up in
00:16:03
and I don't think that would work.
00:16:05
I don't think I would be I'd be what would you say the guy in
00:16:07
the back everybody pogues or something?
00:16:09
I that's me anyway, so breakfast.
00:16:14
What's that like? So.
00:16:15
Yeah, so take me through. It.
00:16:16
Yeah, yeah. So.
00:16:17
So you get up at like 5:30 in the morning, you do your shave
00:16:20
because you got to have, you got to be clean shaven or
00:16:22
everything's got to be like even like low level stubble unless
00:16:26
you have what's called a shaving profile or in the Navy, they
00:16:29
call it like a shaving chit and a chit CHIT.
00:16:32
So basically what it is is you get what's called folliculitis.
00:16:36
Folliculitis is where when you shave every day, you have curly
00:16:40
hairs, you start to grow underneath the skin and they get
00:16:42
infected and you get these really big painful bumps.
00:16:46
African Americans, people of dark complexion or of curly
00:16:50
hair, they get it the most. So a lot of times if you see
00:16:53
like someone with dark complexion with facial hair and
00:16:56
military uniform a little bit. Yeah, it's because they.
00:16:58
Have a shaving profile or or or. Mitch a sick seek Sikhs, those
00:17:03
guys. Oh, Sikhs.
00:17:05
Yeah, Sikhs. Yeah, they're they're allowed to
00:17:06
have a full beard and they're allowed to wear a turban.
00:17:08
Yes. Correct.
00:17:09
The religion, yeah. And actually, Rastafarians can
00:17:11
have dreads, but they can only be a certain length.
00:17:13
Yeah. Could you not?
00:17:14
That's interesting. Rastafarians.
00:17:17
Rastafarians are in the military.
00:17:18
That's really in our. Military and they're allowed to
00:17:21
have dreadlocks, yes, but they're.
00:17:22
Like I think they only go like down to their their but still
00:17:24
ears. So it's like basically from the
00:17:26
top of the head to the ear. But what if I?
00:17:27
Wanted to have them and I claim to be a Rastafair.
00:17:30
Then you can. Do that you could because there
00:17:32
are, there are white Rastafarians.
00:17:34
Yeah, they do exist. So you were talking about the,
00:17:37
the day-to-day. So you get up 530, do your
00:17:39
shave, you get your uniform on. Usually it's going to be your
00:17:42
physical fitness uniform, your PT uniforms.
00:17:45
And then you, you know, you brush your teeth, all that you
00:17:47
go downstairs, you get in your formation, everybody falls in.
00:17:51
Falling in is like where everybody goes to the position
00:17:53
of attention. Everyone's already lined up
00:17:55
ready to go. Then you go ahead and you know,
00:17:58
you do your little PT training where you train for about an
00:18:01
hour, like 3 days out of the week.
00:18:04
You're going to run 4 miles. Yeah, so you.
00:18:06
Run like you run like 12 miles a week and then Tuesdays are
00:18:10
usually like push ups and sit ups, pull ups like so it's just.
00:18:13
Workouts and train, you know every cardio and everything OK
00:18:17
but in some. Units in some bases, they have
00:18:19
what's called sergeant's time on Thursday mornings.
00:18:21
So it's the only time of the week where you get to wear like
00:18:24
your, you know, your military uniform.
00:18:26
You don't have to put on your physical training uniform.
00:18:29
You get to put on your, you know, your, your military
00:18:31
uniform and you go on a March like 18 kilometers or you got,
00:18:36
you know, and you have like 45 to 60 lbs of weight on you.
00:18:40
Yeah. Oh my God.
00:18:41
Carrying your. Rifle going up and down hills,
00:18:43
or you could be doing stuff like you go to the range and go shoot
00:18:46
some guns, which is always fun. Yeah, yeah.
00:18:48
Right. So I was artillery, right?
00:18:50
And for surgery time training on a Thursday, we would do like
00:18:53
simulated combat, like artillery strikes, right?
00:18:55
Kind of like Risk, but like add a military map.
00:18:57
It's pretty cool. Yeah, kind of like Risk.
00:18:59
Yeah, like the game. Yeah, the risk.
00:19:01
Well, that's pretty cool. Well, kind of like, you know,
00:19:02
like, hey, you know, hey, I'm like I'm in this coordinate and
00:19:05
like I'm shooting a this type of missile at this point.
00:19:08
Well, oh, OK. Well, if you're just shooting
00:19:10
this missile, I'm shooting this missile right at at your supply
00:19:13
base, you know something? Yeah, yeah.
00:19:15
Tactician type stuff, correct. Very cool.
00:19:17
Yeah. See, that's that is the beauty
00:19:19
of sergeant's time. And it only happens on Thursdays
00:19:21
Yeah, most soldiers appreciate sergeant's time.
00:19:24
Yeah. If you have a really good leader
00:19:26
who's leading your, your team or your squad generally you will
00:19:30
have a great time on those Thursday mornings.
00:19:33
Now once you get done with your hour of training, you have until
00:19:35
about 9:00 to your next formation.
00:19:38
So you can go up to your room, your barracks room, or go back
00:19:41
home. If you, if you live on base and
00:19:43
you're, you're married and have kids, go take a shower, go get
00:19:46
your breakfast and then be back by 9:00 in the duty uniform,
00:19:50
which is your military uniform. And then from 9:00 all the way
00:19:54
until about 4:30 in the afternoon, that's, that's your
00:19:57
duty day. That's like where you do all
00:19:59
your, where you do. Your OK?
00:20:00
Yeah. What's the food like?
00:20:03
It depends on what base you're at, but in the Army it does not
00:20:05
even come close to the Air Force.
00:20:08
Yeah, Air. Force has the best food, so
00:20:10
when? My wife was stationed with the
00:20:11
Navy in Okinawa. We would go to Kadena Air Base,
00:20:15
which was like it's the best base on Okinawa, Japan, and it's
00:20:20
got the best dining facilities. It's obviously Air Force.
00:20:23
So everyone is paid out the ass. I mean they get don't think
00:20:27
it's. Like Air Force is kind of like
00:20:29
the chair force. Yeah, OK.
00:20:30
Chair Force they spend all their.
00:20:32
Time in air condition for so there is.
00:20:34
A little bit of a of a rivalry between all four.
00:20:37
Oh yeah. We all talked.
00:20:39
We all talked about. OK, I mean, I I think I even
00:20:42
heard you talking smack to your wife the other night.
00:20:44
Yeah, Army and. Navy a house to fight it, yeah.
00:20:49
So food's not is there any time where you're just like, what is
00:20:51
this just shit like every day really OK, every day, OK, what
00:20:56
would you eat for dinner? Like what would you go?
00:20:59
What would be a normal like you go through a line is like
00:21:01
cafeteria or something you can do the.
00:21:02
You can do the dining facility or what is it?
00:21:05
Like what kind of stuff they have just slop like Salisbury.
00:21:08
Steak, sometimes spaghetti, you'll have like, well, it's.
00:21:11
Not it's not good. It's like and not good
00:21:13
spaghetti. It's like glorified.
00:21:15
School lunch, Yeah. Like a Ruby, I know if if if.
00:21:19
You're overseas or like fighting the word zone or like on a
00:21:21
deployment Friday nights, right? They serve steak and shrimp.
00:21:26
Yeah, we call. It yeah, OK.
00:21:27
And the reason for? That right, if you get killed in
00:21:30
in the military or like at the battlefield, it's like your last
00:21:33
like best meal before you die. Yeah, it's like a homage, but
00:21:36
yeah, yeah. Yeah, I don't wanna.
00:21:37
Think about it that way, you guys each night should have
00:21:40
fucking lobster and whatever the hell you want and I feel like
00:21:44
they should give that to you but whatever.
00:21:45
But. Come on, Elon Musk, come fund
00:21:47
that. Well, I mean.
00:21:49
Also, ever join? The military.
00:21:50
I get lobster right now. Yes, Sir.
00:21:52
Yeah, well, the Air Force probably gets lobster.
00:21:54
Yeah, I I say this, but my, my MY2 best military friends
00:21:57
besides Manny are both Air Force.
00:21:59
So yeah, if that. Says anything Well, but it's
00:22:01
fun. You yeah.
00:22:02
Razz. Each other.
00:22:03
I, I, we do, they razz. Themselves.
00:22:04
Actually, I I'd probably be Air Force if I heard air
00:22:07
conditioning. I think that's all I need to
00:22:08
know. No, I don't think.
00:22:08
Right. I think you're Space Force, yes.
00:22:11
Yeah, 100. Percent sure isn't that make
00:22:13
believe that would be me. No, it's.
00:22:14
It's a real, I know. Yeah, you're gonna.
00:22:16
You're gonna. Be in Donald Trump's military?
00:22:17
Yeah, he's got his force, brother.
00:22:18
I'm in yeah, I'm I'm intrigued by it.
00:22:22
I am now not probably somebody that they would I I've not
00:22:26
sought after because I'm old and I don't have a lot to offer.
00:22:31
So it's kind of like, well, what would I do now?
00:22:34
Space. I've been look, I can be behind
00:22:36
the machines and all that, right?
00:22:38
Yeah. OK, you you could be doing
00:22:40
their. Media.
00:22:40
There you go over. There or or you could be talking
00:22:43
to. Aliens trying to, you know, have
00:22:45
them come watch. Stay in the grey.
00:22:46
Well, yeah. You know what I'm saying?
00:22:47
Well, we'll, we'll get there, man.
00:22:49
Take it easy. You mentioned before about
00:22:54
getting to know the people around you.
00:22:57
Yeah. Can you give me any examples of
00:23:02
the negative? And like, Sure, man, I came in
00:23:05
and this, you know, this one guy, somebody stuck with you and
00:23:08
you're like, man, I had to watch out for this guy.
00:23:09
I had to whatever, I had to confront him.
00:23:11
I had stuff. He was not trustworthy.
00:23:16
And you don't have to go into great details because I don't
00:23:18
want to throw them under the bus.
00:23:19
No problem. I'm not going to dox anybody.
00:23:21
So I actually had a there was a particular Sergeant who was two
00:23:25
ranks above me and he used to bust my balls all the time
00:23:29
because he was like, oh, medics, you guys don't do anything.
00:23:31
It was like, well, if, if you guys take care of yourselves, I
00:23:35
don't have to do a whole lot. I'm just observing at that
00:23:37
point. But he was always a ball Buster.
00:23:39
You know, he's always trying to like, if I was working out or
00:23:41
whatever, you'd be like, oh, you need to lose some more weight or
00:23:43
whatever. So, and I remember one time it
00:23:46
was like towards the end of my, my time in Iraq and I, I was
00:23:51
like 22225 but I was like solid muscle.
00:23:55
I was fully built. I, I have fallen so far.
00:23:59
Please forgive me God, but. But I don't have anything to
00:24:03
say. But yeah, he was actually making
00:24:06
fun of me when I was having to do away and tape because in the
00:24:08
military they got to make sure if you're so big, like weight
00:24:12
wise, like your number is so high.
00:24:14
So being 225 and 511, it was like, we need to make sure that
00:24:18
we tape you to make sure you're not on the Fat, Fat Boy program.
00:24:21
Oh man. Yeah, he's the.
00:24:22
Main what, below 20% body fat, something like that, yeah, so.
00:24:26
But he was a bust of my balls. But when they measured my neck,
00:24:28
my neck was so wide that they're like, OK, so he meets the
00:24:31
parameters for being able to be 225.
00:24:35
But he was making fun of me. And I was like, hey, look, I got
00:24:37
some boxing gloves if you want to step in the back.
00:24:39
Everybody can watch if you want to see it.
00:24:40
And I called him out. And after that he just totally
00:24:43
left me alone because I just, all I did was just be like, hey,
00:24:45
what we can go take care of this.
00:24:47
Everybody we can, they can bet some dollars we can have some
00:24:49
fun. And then after that, he was kind
00:24:51
of like, so he. Stopped so he was the guy that
00:24:54
wasn't untrustworthy per SE he was just the the busting balls
00:24:57
guy like the guy that was like yeah just so if you.
00:25:01
Want to go that deep? So, well, there are people.
00:25:03
I'll go as deep as what you're willing.
00:25:05
You can go, man. Sure, sure.
00:25:08
Or. Manny So there are there's an
00:25:10
old adage in the military, it says that you can trust people
00:25:13
with your life, but you cannot trust them with your stuff.
00:25:17
And the reason why this is is because in the military, you
00:25:20
live a life that's very rough and tumble.
00:25:23
So a lot of the times the gear that they give you that you have
00:25:26
to sign for gets destroyed. Because it's just a.
00:25:30
Natural process of things, you know, the, what do they call it?
00:25:32
The it'll come back to me. But basically it's like the rate
00:25:35
of diminishing returns. So if you, for example, they
00:25:38
give you like a $250 sleeping bag system, right?
00:25:43
And then you use it when you go out in the field or you train or
00:25:46
you go to war and it gets destroyed over time.
00:25:48
Sometimes if you find somebody's who looks better than yours, you
00:25:52
just swap yours with theirs and they won't even know when you
00:25:54
take their stuff away. So that kind of stuff happens.
00:25:58
It does. So you have to remember again,
00:26:00
the military is a reflection of the working force.
00:26:03
Some of these people are raised in kleptomaniac type, and a lot
00:26:06
of. People don't realize that a lot
00:26:07
of people, it's like they're shocked to hear this kind of
00:26:10
stuff. And, you know, and I, I, I think
00:26:12
about it sometimes whenever I talk about the military and I'm
00:26:14
like, you know, it's not like every single person that just
00:26:17
because they served, all of a sudden there's this St. there's
00:26:20
this, you know, infallible person.
00:26:23
Oh my gosh, thank you for, you know, you're amazing.
00:26:26
You know, here's I've heard enough stories.
00:26:28
Yeah. And and that's sad because
00:26:31
ultimately, from the at outset, it's like, thank you.
00:26:35
And. And that's very admirable.
00:26:39
Yeah. But then there's stuff behind
00:26:41
the scenes that people don't see.
00:26:43
Yeah. So I was just curious if that
00:26:45
was if there was something that kind of stuck out.
00:26:47
And then you if you. So that actually did happen to
00:26:50
be about the whole swappage of the year, yeah.
00:26:52
Oh yeah, I'm sorry. Somewhere destroyed.
00:26:53
Stuff. No, no, you're fine.
00:26:55
And so usually when that happens, it teaches you a a very
00:27:00
strong lesson of always be aware of where all your stuff is at
00:27:03
all times. And this kind of plays, it's
00:27:05
hard, isn't? It it can be.
00:27:07
And so yes, it is very hard because if when you you're out
00:27:10
doing. Whatever you got 500.
00:27:12
Pieces of kit and different things and this not everything's
00:27:14
signed for you're you're liable for it because if not when it
00:27:18
comes time for you to go to turn in your stuff at CIF when you
00:27:23
leave. Service when you leave service.
00:27:24
And like, we don't have this, this and this.
00:27:25
We're going to take it out of your paycheck.
00:27:27
So that's that's the reason why you'll sometimes hear about
00:27:30
people stealing. Now, when people do get caught
00:27:32
stealing, the leadership usually will destroy this person's
00:27:36
career because you've just basically shown the unit that
00:27:40
you cannot be trusted. We want to get rid of you.
00:27:43
So we're going to do everything from rightfully.
00:27:44
So yes, so. They do everything from giving
00:27:47
you extra duty which means you gotta be like cleaning parking
00:27:51
lots, cleaning sidewalks, cleaning buildings, picking up
00:27:54
trash till like 11:00 at night or a punishment.
00:27:58
Called Article 50 man. Yes.
00:28:00
So I was gonna get to that. So.
00:28:01
So instead of extra duty or on top of extra duty, you can get
00:28:05
your pay docked so you can actually lose pay for up to 45
00:28:10
days. See these are.
00:28:11
The things I don't think people realize, they don't realize.
00:28:13
It so there's like an incentive for people to not steal, but
00:28:16
there will always be somebody somewhere when they find an
00:28:19
opportunity, they will take it. So I always tell people it's
00:28:22
like always know where your stuff is, always keep it locked.
00:28:25
And, and like, even if like for example, like just everyday
00:28:28
stuff, like if you're going to go inside the store for just a
00:28:32
second to grab a drink and you leave your car running is the
00:28:36
dumbest thing you can do for sure.
00:28:37
Because you're. Literally opening yourself up to
00:28:39
be stolen from. So in the military, I learned
00:28:42
that you just have, you can never take chances.
00:28:44
You always got to, you know, keep your head on a swivel.
00:28:47
And it's sad. But it's you trust.
00:28:49
People to a fault. Yeah, you trust?
00:28:51
People to a fault you want to, but at the same time you cannot
00:28:54
trust the devil inside of them and unfortunately there's a
00:28:57
little bit of them in everybody so.
00:28:59
Yeah, that's why I, well, for for you got young men out there
00:29:03
trying to join the military or the army in that fact, right.
00:29:07
I recommend that you guys go Special forces or Rangers and
00:29:11
40. Baby Yeah and.
00:29:12
These are like the elite units and these guys are like the no
00:29:14
shit, like, hey, you know, you have to be sharp.
00:29:17
You have to be trusted, right? And, you know, and essentially
00:29:20
you're making a bigger impact than, you know, most Army
00:29:23
soldiers. Yeah, 100.
00:29:24
Percent agree with that man. If you're going to go in, you go
00:29:26
in balls deep yeah, but in in the on the other side of the
00:29:30
spectrum, there are people that just want to join the military
00:29:33
just to get a college degree. Sure.
00:29:35
Just to go ahead and get one and they'll they'll.
00:29:37
Admit that, yeah. And.
00:29:38
And that's the I was one of them.
00:29:40
Yeah, that was one of those guys.
00:29:41
Well, Manny was. Chasing a girl.
00:29:43
So that's a whole different thing.
00:29:45
Jesus, we'll get to that. Yeah, sure.
00:29:47
Every show I'm gonna try and get this fucking girl call in or
00:29:52
something. That'll be fine.
00:29:53
Give me a message anyway. Sure.
00:29:56
Where were you deployed? So I.
00:29:57
Was in Bakuba, Iraq, but I was basically with what's called
00:30:02
route clearance. I was with combat engineers.
00:30:05
Our job was to go down the road and look for IEDs on the side of
00:30:08
the road. Or if there was a building,
00:30:10
yeah, there was a building that was making bombs to blow us up
00:30:13
or blow up the indigenous people.
00:30:15
We'd have to go and stop that threat.
00:30:18
So I have. That's a lot.
00:30:20
More than just being a medic. Yeah, yeah, I was doing a lot of
00:30:23
VIP transport missions, like escorting, like, you know,
00:30:27
generals, colonels, you know, other branches of service, high
00:30:31
level brass. Because I, I had built a
00:30:34
relationship with my guys that was so ironclad that they saw
00:30:38
like I'd have been tested already.
00:30:39
Like even before my unit got there, I was doing right seed
00:30:42
ride alongs. A right seed ride along is
00:30:45
basically where you go as a brand new virgin combat military
00:30:51
and you go with another unit and you sit in their vehicles and
00:30:54
you go do a mission with them so you can see how it all unfolds.
00:30:58
So if they get shot at, blown up or if they have to return to
00:31:01
base, you know how it all plays out.
00:31:03
I was getting, you know, blown up and shot at like day one.
00:31:08
So like my guys already knew they were like, oh, we can trust
00:31:11
Chap Chap is good. Let's bring Chapman in here.
00:31:14
So after a while I was doing a lot of that's you, right?
00:31:17
Yeah, chat, chat. OK, chaps, you.
00:31:18
Yeah, yeah, they're. Just calling me doc, but I mean
00:31:20
well, we we. Never gave your name so I just
00:31:22
wanted to make sure people knew Chap is I'm.
00:31:24
Mitchell Chap Yeah, there you go.
00:31:26
But yeah, so my. Listeners aren't the smartest.
00:31:29
No, I'm just, I'm just kidding, Mitch.
00:31:32
My listeners are amazing. OK, so I'm going to jump in
00:31:36
here, man. You told me last time what yours
00:31:39
was. What was your?
00:31:41
Do you have a scariest moment, not only fearing for your life,
00:31:44
but maybe now that I know you're a medic, did you have a a just a
00:31:49
chaotic experience where you saw something just disturbing enough
00:31:54
or what was the the the moment if somebody said, God, what,
00:31:59
what just haunts you? Do you have any of those?
00:32:02
And I know I'm putting you on the spot.
00:32:04
It's fine. No.
00:32:04
No, no, I don't. But.
00:32:05
I don't mind Manny. We can tell jokes until Yeah,
00:32:09
right. Let him think about it a little
00:32:10
bit. Do you have any that are kind of
00:32:11
off the top of your head I'd say?
00:32:13
Probably the scariest time. So being in route clearance, I
00:32:18
was always in a vehicle most of the time until we had to get out
00:32:21
on the ground and I had to go do something like outside of the
00:32:23
vehicles. But so as a direct consequence
00:32:28
of being in a route clearance package, I got blown up four
00:32:31
times. The first time you have no idea
00:32:34
what's how. It's like.
00:32:35
It's like the in you're a virgin and you have sex and it's over
00:32:38
before you realize it. Sure.
00:32:39
The first time I got blown up. Know about that the first time
00:32:42
I. Got blown up.
00:32:42
I was like, what just happened? Is everyone OK?
00:32:45
Oh God, oh God, oh God. What were you?
00:32:48
Where were you? What were you doing?
00:32:49
I. Was in a vehicle and our vehicle
00:32:52
got hit by 90. Was a home explosion in a
00:32:54
vehicle. I was in a.
00:32:55
Vehicle. Yeah, Manny was.
00:32:56
In a tank on his no the. Humvee.
00:32:58
The Humvee. Would be that's even the guns,
00:33:00
right? Yeah.
00:33:01
That's terrible. I felt bad for the Humvee guys.
00:33:03
So we were in Stryker vehicles. They're big personnel carriers
00:33:07
with four wheels on each side, so 8 total big tires.
00:33:11
So we. The first time I got blown up,
00:33:12
it was kind of like a surprise. That wasn't the scariest.
00:33:15
The scariest time was the second time I got blown up because the
00:33:18
bomb was even bigger. And this time I was angry.
00:33:22
I wasn't like surprised. I was like, I wanted to kill
00:33:24
somebody. I was like, this is the second
00:33:26
time this has happened in a month.
00:33:29
I'm ready. I who's out there, we need to go
00:33:31
stop it. But the way that the insurgency,
00:33:34
the guerrilla war tactics, that these, the indigenous people in
00:33:37
Iraq were doing this, you blow something up from a distance and
00:33:41
they don't know who to shoot at because you're so far away,
00:33:43
right? That was my question is how how
00:33:46
much of AI mean it for like of a better word investigation when
00:33:50
when like that happens you're blown up.
00:33:53
Are they just like oh man, we can't really do much else only
00:33:55
thing you. Can do is just put on the
00:33:57
thermal cameras and the 50 Cal and you put on the camera and
00:33:59
see I'd be like. Let's go fuck some shit up.
00:34:01
Yeah, of course I'd be in the back saying you guys do it.
00:34:04
You guys got this, But I'd be I I mean, I'd be like you.
00:34:08
Yeah. Like, what are we sitting here?
00:34:09
Why are we just why are we accepting this?
00:34:11
Yeah. Yeah, I don't know.
00:34:12
It's gotta be tough. Every.
00:34:13
Every. Time I got blown up, it was it
00:34:15
was more what are the other? One, you got blunt.
00:34:17
You just got blown up all the time and you're here.
00:34:19
You're here. Yeah, my back.
00:34:20
Suffered for it. I'm actually going through
00:34:22
decompression right? You know what?
00:34:23
In the long, having some back issues is probably better than
00:34:26
it could be if you're blown up four times.
00:34:27
Yeah, I got guys. That like lost hands, yeah, all
00:34:30
kind of craziness. So yeah, man, you.
00:34:31
Blacked out, didn't you? And you were, you told me you
00:34:34
were. You kind of came back, yeah.
00:34:37
Very. Weird.
00:34:38
Kind of. You had dreams and should.
00:34:40
Yeah. I spoke.
00:34:40
I spoke about this on my first podcast with you.
00:34:44
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And yeah.
00:34:46
Also I was like, you know, white smoke, you know, again.
00:34:49
And then where I was like, in my mind, right, I'm upright like
00:34:54
normal on the Humvee, and Augustine is like, white for
00:34:57
some reason. But in reality, I was sideways.
00:35:00
Yeah, yeah. My pinky was bent.
00:35:02
And my M240 Bravo, the machine gun was cut in the hat split.
00:35:05
Dang, and that's a large white. Yeah, that's a big weapon.
00:35:08
Oh yeah, yeah, Mitch, you probably know this, but I got
00:35:10
hit by Efpi. Did too.
00:35:12
Yeah. That was the third time I got
00:35:13
blown up. Yeah.
00:35:14
Oh my. Goodness, are you familiar with?
00:35:16
What a EFP I haven't. Been blown up by shit?
00:35:18
Yeah EFP, go ahead. So.
00:35:22
Essentially in, in, in simple terms, it's basically a big
00:35:25
copper disk that gets a bunch of force and heat exerted upon it
00:35:30
in a short amount of time. And it shoots that that copper
00:35:33
disk out at such as velocity that it turns into a cone and it
00:35:37
cuts through steel like butter. Yeah.
00:35:39
It just cuts through whatever it hits.
00:35:41
It's powerful. Like the the AFP was really
00:35:44
scary because when I got blown up by the striker, we actually
00:35:48
it almost hit our driver. Our driver almost got hit and it
00:35:51
like went through the engine block.
00:35:52
We could feel the heat coming off this.
00:35:55
Yeah. Mine hit the the fuel tank.
00:35:57
Yeah. Flipped my humble sideways and
00:35:58
started to fire. But you're lucky that.
00:36:00
Didn't like yeah, instantly combust, yeah, but.
00:36:03
Everybody survived. Yeah, I had concussion of like
00:36:06
when you had. That pinky.
00:36:08
Well, yeah, I, I gave Mitch. I when Manny told this story
00:36:10
initially, I gave him a hard time.
00:36:11
I was like, really? The pinky?
00:36:12
Are you really upset about that? I I'd sacrifice a bit.
00:36:16
Well, I mean. OK, so for me, so for me, I'm
00:36:18
giving him. Shit.
00:36:19
Whoa. OK.
00:36:19
OK, OK. But for thank you for your.
00:36:20
Service but really Pinky Manny hey.
00:36:23
So that pinky matters in competition, I know.
00:36:25
I'm sure it does 100%. Sure it does, and.
00:36:27
Manny, but also. All about it, and also for sure,
00:36:29
shockers too. What?
00:36:33
What about medical? Was there any, Were there any
00:36:35
injuries? You were just like, Oh my God.
00:36:37
Like, you know, I'd be like, like, no, I'm not touching that
00:36:41
shit. Yeah, there was.
00:36:42
One time where we had a particular house outcropping in
00:36:46
the middle of nowhere. I mean it was like desolate,
00:36:50
desolate. The only thing that was around
00:36:52
this particular shanty building, it was a 11 room building and it
00:36:58
all it had was roads. And then it had ditches on the
00:37:01
sides of the roads, like berms, you know the ones where they
00:37:03
have the tall grass, you got to throw the incendiary, you have
00:37:05
to kind of burn it all the way. So we found out that these,
00:37:09
there was insurgents that were in this building and they were
00:37:12
actually making homemade explosive, IE DS or improvised
00:37:16
improvised explosive devices. And so we actually called in
00:37:20
coordinates to have AJ Dam, which was a ÂŁ500 bomb dropped on
00:37:25
that house by the Air Force, totally decimates this house,
00:37:28
right. But we still got to go check it
00:37:29
out because we're the combat engineers.
00:37:33
One guy got hit so hard by the blast that he hit a telephone
00:37:37
pole and knocked it over, and his body was wrapped around the
00:37:40
telephone pole like he was giving it a bear hug.
00:37:42
Good God, the other. Guy got launched up into a ditch
00:37:46
and he had third degree burns all over his body, but he was
00:37:49
still alive. So this is the fun part.
00:37:52
All right, So my guys were like, let's just shoot him and leave.
00:37:56
And I was like, but wait, wait, there's more guys.
00:37:59
There's more. They're like, what are you
00:38:01
talking about, Doc? And I said, this guy has Intel,
00:38:05
he's still alive, he's incapacitated, he's not going to
00:38:10
lift a finger to hurt us because his body is completely
00:38:12
decimated. Let me keep him alive.
00:38:15
Let's get him back to the base. And then he can go ahead and
00:38:18
give all of that insurgency material about where he's
00:38:20
getting his bomb making materials from.
00:38:23
And then we can go ahead and shut down a whole area or we
00:38:26
don't have to worry about bombs in that spot now.
00:38:29
Although I'm sorry to interrupt you now, although I'm on board
00:38:33
with that totally. I don't have any rules of war in
00:38:36
my in my pocket. Just never man for himself,
00:38:40
Manny. But in this situation, is there
00:38:43
any part of it that that's not that you're not supposed to do
00:38:45
that? I mean, you're kind of like, all
00:38:46
right, I was hated. While I was going on, yeah, but.
00:38:49
It's but it was smart. They didn't see that at the time
00:38:53
because they had short sightedness on.
00:38:55
They're like, let's just throw a grenade on this full walk away,
00:38:58
right? But where I was like, was he in?
00:39:00
I mean, was he just he was in? Agony.
00:39:03
That may be the that's the point.
00:39:06
But he was. Able to speak because he was
00:39:08
able to speak shows me that he had enough competency to be able
00:39:11
to get it. Could you do?
00:39:12
It right there like great all I could do.
00:39:14
Honestly was I was like, look, let's get him in the truck.
00:39:17
Nobody wanted to help me, but I finally got two guys to help me.
00:39:20
We got him in the truck. I started wrapping up his, his,
00:39:23
his burns and stuff with dry bandages.
00:39:26
And then I gave, I tried to give him an IV, but his, his veins
00:39:29
were so burned. Oh man, it collapsed that like
00:39:31
he wasn't getting a lot of good profusion in his hands and feet.
00:39:35
So I, I did an Intraosus, an IO injection where it's like it's
00:39:39
called a fast 1. You stick it on their chest and
00:39:41
you hit a plunger and it sticks an IV straight into their
00:39:44
sternum to get fluids. So I'm giving this guy fluids
00:39:47
and he's like water. He's saying it in English.
00:39:51
He's like water. And he would say it in Iraqi as
00:39:53
well or in Arabic. And I was like, I can't give him
00:39:57
water because he has blast injuries.
00:39:58
This fool just got launched out of a building into a ditch,
00:40:01
right? If I give him water it could
00:40:03
push out clots from internal bleeding and he could bleed out
00:40:06
inside before I even get him back to the hospital.
00:40:10
I didn't give him any water. He hated me for that.
00:40:11
He spit. He spit blood all over my chest.
00:40:14
He's mad. He was upset, yeah.
00:40:16
But all I did was I just. It's not you.
00:40:18
You could sit there and give him a medical lesson on why he
00:40:22
couldn't have fucking water. He wouldn't.
00:40:23
Understand it anyway. But we got.
00:40:25
Him back and I remember we got him onto the the table in the
00:40:29
first aid center that we had there on on.
00:40:32
I won't say the base, I'm not going to dox it, but like it
00:40:35
doesn't matter anymore. It's Camp Taji.
00:40:37
So that was yeah, Camp Taji. Yeah.
00:40:39
I don't I. Think you'd find to to say
00:40:41
location as long as there aren't.
00:40:43
So when I brought this full on the table, everyone, all the
00:40:46
surgeons, all the medical staff, they all looked at me and like,
00:40:49
seriously, you brought us this guy and I said, keep him alive.
00:40:53
He's the most important person you're going to see today.
00:40:55
They're like, they're like, why? And they're like, this guy's got
00:40:57
Intel. He's going to help us start
00:40:59
shutting down stuff. We need people like him to go
00:41:02
ahead and gave us information. We need to interrogate this
00:41:05
fool. I thought that.
00:41:06
Wasn't unusual, though, like in wars and I mean, you see in the
00:41:09
movies, I don't know, I get it. It's that's not reality, but you
00:41:13
see it where it's like, OK, this guy, this guy's still alive.
00:41:17
What can we get out of him? Yeah, he's got.
00:41:19
Intelligence and is. That was that kind of the
00:41:21
mindset was like nobody else. Saw that?
00:41:23
No, no, no, no. No, stop, don't you don't kill
00:41:25
him. Yeah, so.
00:41:26
Going full circle, why did nobody see that?
00:41:28
Going full. Circle all the way back to the
00:41:30
beginning where I said it is to be a medic, you got to be
00:41:32
competent, right? You got to have certain
00:41:35
leadership skills that other people are don't have.
00:41:38
Because I don't have the rank of someone that's leading a whole
00:41:41
team or a squad or a platoon. But if I show myself competent,
00:41:45
they will trust me like they will trust that higher ranking
00:41:48
person. So when my my commanding officer
00:41:51
shows up, he goes, we had to go clear this whole road to get to
00:41:55
this other base and you decided to bring this guy back here.
00:41:59
When I explained to him everything that I thought of
00:42:02
because nobody else asked me, I said this is what we got to do
00:42:05
with this guy. He said, you know what, that's a
00:42:07
great idea. He goes, we'll go ahead and take
00:42:08
care of this. I'm going to go ahead and give
00:42:10
you a two week R&R tonight. So you're going to fly out.
00:42:14
So like literally after that mission, I took a two week RNR
00:42:16
Wow. It was it was like something out
00:42:18
of a movie. It was a it was a trip.
00:42:20
It was a trip because I wonder. About, I wonder about that.
00:42:22
I wonder if there are people that, you know, if you do
00:42:25
something like that. Yeah.
00:42:26
If I mean, if people like and you answer my question, somebody
00:42:30
says I like what you did, you know, deep down and here you go,
00:42:35
you're rewarded and whatever. Whereas some people are like, no
00:42:38
matter what protocol, no matter what, these are the rules.
00:42:41
There are authoritarians, right? Yeah.
00:42:44
And this guy was able to say, you know what?
00:42:46
I like where your head was. Yeah, that was a good call.
00:42:48
So. Cool.
00:42:50
Oh, wow. OK.
00:42:51
Hey, Ryan, Do. You like a military TV shows?
00:42:54
Like mash. No, no, no, no.
00:42:56
Well, there's there's really. There's a Really.
00:42:58
Good one. And yeah, for your viewers, too.
00:43:00
It's called Generation Kill. All right, Generation.
00:43:02
Kill Everybody, Manny's promoting.
00:43:04
Manny is giving us shows to watch.
00:43:07
Generation Kill. Yes.
00:43:08
What network? HBO Max.
00:43:10
HBO Max, Okay, tell me about it. It's pretty much.
00:43:15
Like if you imagine, do you work for?
00:43:17
This No, no, no, no, no. No, what did this this TV show
00:43:21
reminded you of what Mitch would have done?
00:43:23
Like, you know, so it's pretty much the evasion of Iraq.
00:43:27
Yeah. And they follow us like the
00:43:28
initial. 2000. Three to get.
00:43:30
To get Saddam, yes. Yeah, essentially.
00:43:32
And GW, yeah, it's very hyperalistic because like, you
00:43:36
see how like the boys act with the boys and they're, you know,
00:43:39
they're playing butt, butt games and and then you see how like,
00:43:43
you know, the atrocities of war and it's, it's a very, very good
00:43:46
show. Yeah.
00:43:48
OK, I shouldn't. No, I should watch.
00:43:49
I should, I should check it out. All right, let's let's shift
00:43:52
gears to positives to funny. Well, there, there had to be
00:43:56
blooper funny type real moments when you're over there with your
00:44:00
boys. Was there one that stuck out
00:44:02
during training during the the mess hall?
00:44:06
That's what we think of it. We think you guys go through
00:44:08
like a fucking mess hall. Is there something that stuck
00:44:11
out that was just like it gave you?
00:44:14
I always, I always preached. In fact, the last show I did
00:44:17
solo was about being able to laugh again.
00:44:20
Was there anything that made you guys really laugh?
00:44:23
That kind of motive? I know this sounds.
00:44:25
It's so such a bad question. Was there something that's not a
00:44:27
bad question? Because when you think about you
00:44:30
guys being there and just the hell you're in, a lot of the
00:44:34
time me, I'm in hell immediately if I get off that plane because
00:44:38
it's hot as fuck and I don't even I'd be like, where's the AC
00:44:42
and the Scotch? Let's roll.
00:44:44
And and I that's why I'm I wouldn't be good.
00:44:48
But so was there something that you kind of said?
00:44:50
You know what? Today was a good day because
00:44:53
this was fucking funny or you know what I mean?
00:44:56
Was there something that happened that we wouldn't we
00:44:59
wouldn't know about here? That that indeed.
00:45:03
Does this make any sense? No, it does.
00:45:04
Or am I gonna have to cut this, boys?
00:45:06
No, no. No, no.
00:45:07
So no. So you're ready?
00:45:09
You got something all right. Yeah, I got something for that.
00:45:11
OK, There was a So whenever you're doing route clearance,
00:45:15
you, you get to know what roads are in the general area pretty
00:45:18
well. Like you know where a dead
00:45:21
donkey is. Like you start knowing that kind
00:45:23
of they have donkeys over there. Yes, yeah.
00:45:26
And. So that was.
00:45:27
Camels. Oh, is that racist?
00:45:29
Go. Ahead So there was a there's
00:45:32
always like these different houses you'll come across where
00:45:34
there's children, right, and we would actually try to build
00:45:39
hearts and minds because we cared more about that than, you
00:45:42
know, taking out an insurgent. Sometimes it was it was better
00:45:45
for our psyche to, you know, let's let's let's help these
00:45:48
kids out. Let's do something good for
00:45:49
these kids. You know, we would give them
00:45:51
like Otis spunk buyer muffins. We'd give them RIP.
00:45:53
Its we would, you know, butchers like an energy drink, but they
00:45:56
don't have that there. So it was like really sought
00:45:58
after for them because most of their drinks are mostly like
00:46:02
Chai and coffee. Yeah, but you're.
00:46:03
Giving them poison with these energy drinks, but go ahead.
00:46:05
Oh yeah, A. 100% But you know what though?
00:46:07
I mean in moderation, right? Everything in.
00:46:09
Moderation, Yeah, Yep, Yep. So we would go.
00:46:11
Around in these like different areas and you know, we'd see
00:46:13
these kids and they would know our vehicles after a while and
00:46:16
they would get really comfortable with us.
00:46:17
And you know, we'd give them like, you know, big bottles of
00:46:20
water. We'd give them Gatorade.
00:46:23
We we'd even give them like powdered electrolyte mixes and
00:46:25
show them how to mix it in the water so they get like taste and
00:46:28
stuff. So after a while what would
00:46:30
happen is we would see them, we would start like doing like
00:46:32
little funny things like playing with the kids, like with the
00:46:34
funny faces. And they would try to one up us.
00:46:36
And then every time we'd see them, they would pop up in
00:46:38
another spot and do like a silly little thing.
00:46:40
But it was like, even though it was like corny and cheesy, when
00:46:45
you're over there, those little things go so far and.
00:46:49
It's the it's not the enemy's kids.
00:46:51
But it is. But it isn't.
00:46:52
But it is. You know what I mean?
00:46:53
You don't like we don't know you.
00:46:55
Don't know and here are these. Innocent children and that's the
00:46:59
one thing I talk about with American children right now and
00:47:02
dealing with all these issues, the innocence of the kids and
00:47:06
they're over there going they have no clue I mean they can't
00:47:09
comprehend all this what's an. IPad, Yeah, well.
00:47:12
What's that? What's this?
00:47:13
What's why are these people here and you guys are being nice to
00:47:15
them and they're playing games with you and that's got to be,
00:47:19
it's got to hit you. It's got to feel good.
00:47:20
Strange. Super strange, but then.
00:47:22
Correct me if I'm wrong, not to take this down a bad path, but
00:47:25
they can run at you with something you don't know.
00:47:27
They got something. Strapped on.
00:47:28
And that is the thing too. So do you ever?
00:47:31
See that at all? No, we.
00:47:32
Actually, luckily we were lucky and we didn't have any suicide
00:47:35
bombers, but. That that a real thing.
00:47:37
That's a real it is 100%. Especially when it's Humvees
00:47:40
like the, you know, the basic Humvee trucks that they use, But
00:47:43
for the bigger vehicles, they don't mess around with us.
00:47:46
And actually, believe it or not, the Iraqi people are more afraid
00:47:49
of pistols than they are rifles, because pistols are used by
00:47:53
Saddam's army, and they were usually held by officers, and
00:47:56
officers, if they didn't like you, they just pop you.
00:47:58
So it. Was just this this like yeah, so
00:48:00
if you. If they were so since I was a
00:48:02
medic, I always had a pistol on my, on a leg holster, right?
00:48:05
And I had an M4, but that pistol on my hip, on my thigh, it
00:48:10
actually gave me more respect from the Iraqis because they
00:48:13
were like, oh, he's somebody important because he's got one
00:48:15
of those. We got to treat this guy with
00:48:17
respect. But when they would be around
00:48:19
me, they would see that I was very friendly.
00:48:21
I was cordial with them. I would try to check them out,
00:48:23
you know. And so over time, I started
00:48:25
building hearts and minds. So we never, we were lucky.
00:48:27
We never had a single suicide bomber.
00:48:29
Not one time. Wow, that's.
00:48:32
Impressive. From my understanding that's
00:48:33
impressive. I don't.
00:48:34
Again, I don't know shit about it, but from my understanding it
00:48:38
was not uncommon. I don't know still.
00:48:41
Happens now. Did you see it?
00:48:43
I. Didn't see any suicide, you
00:48:44
know, bombers or, or you know, any, anything like that.
00:48:47
You see it? OK, Well, I, I wasn't involved
00:48:50
in a 72 hour firefight. Wow.
00:48:52
Nice. Yeah.
00:48:53
Damn. Yeah, yeah.
00:48:54
So yeah, it was just kind of where where were.
00:48:56
You at Were you behind like a no or?
00:48:59
Yeah. So we're like in the rich line,
00:49:01
like on top of a mountain, right?
00:49:02
I'm comparing it to my paintball experiences.
00:49:04
Painting. Oh, yeah.
00:49:05
Where were you at? That's a lot of fun.
00:49:07
Oh. Yeah, well, I suck.
00:49:08
I. Suck, Mitch.
00:49:09
Mitch, I have no patience. I'm like, I get freaked out and
00:49:13
I just start shooting everything.
00:49:14
And then I get hit 20 times and I go wait for everybody else to
00:49:16
finish. Cool.
00:49:17
Yes. So I like it.
00:49:19
Yeah. Right.
00:49:19
Yeah. I'm the worst soldier ever.
00:49:21
But we'll be on the same. Team.
00:49:22
There we go. Yeah, so in in Afghanistan,
00:49:24
right, there's a place called Assadabad and it's really,
00:49:27
really, really hilly with a lot of greenery, you know.
00:49:30
And yeah, man, we were just like dugout.
00:49:32
We were like dugout on the side of the mountain.
00:49:34
And we would just take take incoming fire.
00:49:37
Well, and then we would take it and then we would send it back,
00:49:39
you know, Right. And this went on because,
00:49:41
because on my second deployment, I was on the special assignment
00:49:45
pretty much like we're assigned to like pretty much set up like
00:49:48
radio communications for like the surrounding area just to
00:49:51
help out, like, you know, just in case somebody needs like
00:49:53
calling out to artillery strike or whatever.
00:49:56
But yeah, that was my mission on my second appointment.
00:49:59
And yeah, man, I just, I was kind of kind of weird, you know,
00:50:04
just like, it's weird. And this is the reason why I
00:50:07
feel like I can't sleep or have insomnia, you know what I mean?
00:50:11
And I struggle with her because like I just yeah, like my body
00:50:14
got used to like, you know, this combat of like, hey, fight,
00:50:18
stop, fight, stop. Sleep for 30 minutes.
00:50:21
Either MRE fight against that's kind.
00:50:23
Of the stuff I was getting to earlier with the lifestyle, like
00:50:26
I can't, I can't imagine you deal with dreams and stuff also.
00:50:30
I do, OK. I do.
00:50:32
So that's a real thing. It is a real thing.
00:50:34
I mean, people like me are like, we hear about it, but I hope
00:50:36
it's more exaggerated. But apparently it's not
00:50:39
actually. What's interesting is people who
00:50:41
have been in very massive car accidents or people who have
00:50:44
been sexually traumatized or you know, people would have been a
00:50:47
war. They all share some commonality
00:50:49
in that PTSD does affect everybody.
00:50:53
And with The funny thing is, is that it affects everybody
00:50:55
differently. So you can never really pinpoint
00:50:57
exactly what they're going through.
00:50:59
All you can try to do is understand.
00:51:01
But I will tell you this, when it comes to PTSD, most people
00:51:04
who actually have experienced it have frontal, frontal lobe
00:51:09
deficiencies. So that comes to regulating
00:51:12
your, your mood, your, your anger, your, your hostility,
00:51:16
attitude, making decisions, trying to work in a timely
00:51:22
manner. These are all things that are
00:51:24
dictated up here in the front of your brain, which we have PTSD.
00:51:27
That part's affected. And I am one of those people
00:51:29
that is affected by that as a by product of war as well.
00:51:33
So, but yeah, being in a 72 hour fight, yeah man, that.
00:51:38
Yeah, that really. That really does.
00:51:39
That does drain. Yeah, that really does drain you
00:51:42
and you. Were I mean is literally no
00:51:44
break like there was. But you know, like.
00:51:48
Time out No. Well, you take some coffee.
00:51:51
Well, you gotta get other people into the fight, you know, So
00:51:53
like they're, do you really? Like tag team and like people
00:51:56
come in and you go out. Yeah, pretty much.
00:51:58
Crazy, yeah, but you're still in gear.
00:52:00
Like, you know, in your full battle rattle, you know, helmet
00:52:03
by armor weapon and you just run.
00:52:05
Back for a few seconds to do Yeah, just.
00:52:07
To Yeah. Man, but but every conflict
00:52:10
that's ever existed is has a thing called a battle pulse.
00:52:13
So whenever you're in war, you're not fighting hardcore all
00:52:17
of the time because that would be infeasible.
00:52:19
You would you would literally kill over and die from
00:52:22
dehydration. But just being at a heightened
00:52:25
level of like, Oh my gosh, a a stray round or a sniper could
00:52:30
just pop my my noggin right now for 72 hours.
00:52:33
That fills like three months. When you're in that.
00:52:37
For three straight days, that is, if you're literally on the
00:52:41
freaking wall and you're aiming out in just, you're 10 tenths
00:52:45
the whole time, just straight 10 tenths.
00:52:48
So I can see how that would affect you, you know, and I
00:52:52
think honestly, for like PTSD sake, you need to go ahead and
00:52:55
try to claim that for your, your VA disability and just go ahead
00:52:59
and write that out in detail and submit that because that's
00:53:01
something that needs to be like documented.
00:53:03
Let's. Get that?
00:53:04
Anybody here in this Yeah, I'm. I'm on board with that because I
00:53:08
I'm. That's a whole another topic on
00:53:10
how veterans are treated in this country.
00:53:14
Do you think that. I mean, this sounds silly, but
00:53:16
if you're somebody that doesn't understand, wasn't involved in a
00:53:21
firefight like that, do you, I mean, what were you told to do?
00:53:24
Were you aiming at? Were there people?
00:53:25
Could you see him? Was it like, are you just in the
00:53:28
dark getting shot at there? What was it going on?
00:53:30
They're they were pretty. Far away, man.
00:53:32
They're like maybe 304 hundred meters away, you know, on on the
00:53:37
other side of the mountain, but you can hit.
00:53:38
Them. Yeah, yeah, it's like, and they
00:53:40
can hit you, yeah. So it's not.
00:53:42
Like we're now in the open. We have like headstill barriers,
00:53:45
which are these like big stone, They're like, well, how did,
00:53:48
how? Did it all start?
00:53:50
How? Did it all start?
00:53:51
So we were pretty much, so we we were pretty much on patrol.
00:53:55
And then we linked up to this forward observation base, right,
00:53:58
which is Bob. And then it was newly built and
00:54:03
we linked up with this another Army unit.
00:54:05
And then as soon as it happened, we took the incoming fire,
00:54:08
right. And so when they would fire, you
00:54:11
know, we would be sitting rounds to suppress them, you know,
00:54:15
right. Not necessarily like be
00:54:17
accurate, but just to make sure. Hey, stop shooting at us.
00:54:19
Stop shooting. Yeah, Yeah.
00:54:22
And and this will go on. So it was so it's pretty much
00:54:26
stop, no shoot, stop, shoot, stop, take a break maybe for a
00:54:29
little bit and then shoot, stop a shoot, stop.
00:54:32
It's dust time, shoot, stop, shoot, stop.
00:54:35
It's dark, shoot, stop, shoot stops more.
00:54:38
And it was like that. Like what was the?
00:54:40
Goal. So the goal, I don't know what's
00:54:43
the goal is and. That's what's weird is that you
00:54:46
kind of just fire and you don't know what's going on the goal.
00:54:48
Was to pretty much get set up for radio communications.
00:54:52
So pretty much our common team, they have to go set up.
00:54:56
They're called, what, 0825 fours?
00:54:58
Yes. Yeah, I probably mispronounce
00:55:00
the the. No, you're right.
00:55:02
The military code. But yeah, they're these like
00:55:04
large antennas where, like, you know, other people can talk to
00:55:06
us by radio. Yeah, they're telling.
00:55:08
Us like, hey, there's people in this general vicinity, you know,
00:55:11
they're moving in on your your territory.
00:55:14
You need to go ahead and, you know, react.
00:55:16
Yeah. And so, yeah, yeah, right.
00:55:17
And so in the military, right, So you have you.
00:55:20
So you have a base, right? And this base you would make
00:55:23
strategically, you'll make something called an observation
00:55:26
point, right? Which is like another smaller
00:55:28
base and, and OP or, or whatever right is so their job supposed
00:55:33
to watch out for the enemy. So they would signal the alarm
00:55:37
before the enemy comes to the main base.
00:55:39
And so, yeah, at that time, our mission was to link up with this
00:55:43
new OP, helped him get set up. But they weren't, they weren't
00:55:46
even ready to defend themselves. You know, it was like 1/2 ass
00:55:49
belt essentially. Yeah, there goes.
00:55:51
That battle pulse that you were talking about earlier, So also
00:55:55
another thing that I've learned about our insurgent enemies over
00:55:59
in the Middle East, they're not really good shots.
00:56:02
There are some that are really good, but they're very far and
00:56:05
few between. Generally, whenever they came
00:56:07
into contact with American forces or British forces or
00:56:11
Canadian forces, just firing on their position would make them
00:56:15
melt like butter and disperse and try to hide and go run away.
00:56:18
But because of the what's called rules of engagement or Roe, that
00:56:23
kind of held our hands behind our backs because when Obama
00:56:28
instated this new, well, I think it was during Operation New
00:56:31
Dawn. It's after Operation Iraqi
00:56:33
Freedom. No, it was after, yeah, after
00:56:36
Iraqi Freedom. And what was going on was they
00:56:40
were telling us you cannot fire on anyone unless they fire on
00:56:42
you first. And if they throw down their
00:56:44
weapon, they are no longer a non combatant.
00:56:46
So you cannot shoot them. So what you would have is you
00:56:48
would have guys walk up and start shooting at us and they
00:56:51
would throw their gun down and we couldn't do anything about
00:56:53
it. So it was basically like so
00:56:55
they. Got wind of this and they, yeah,
00:56:56
they started. Learning about it because there
00:56:58
are. People right?
00:56:59
That's ridiculous. It is wild, yeah.
00:57:02
But you know, it's that's Obama. That's yeah.
00:57:05
Oh. Yeah, we're, yeah, we're we're
00:57:06
fighting all that right now. And the government right now
00:57:08
with all the USAID stuff getting cut out because, yeah, that was
00:57:11
a lot of Obama era stuff. And even George W man, George W
00:57:15
Bush, he was. Yeah, there's a lot.
00:57:16
Of he. Was a part of it too, and
00:57:18
everybody's like. Oh, we don't know for sure yet.
00:57:21
Yeah, we do. There's some, there's some,
00:57:23
there's some stuff going on real quick.
00:57:26
You know, I have. I have a topic that I like to
00:57:28
get to with you guys. You know, look here, we're an
00:57:31
hour and I'm just just talking you guys.
00:57:34
I love it. And obviously we have to have
00:57:37
you back. But before we do talk about
00:57:40
assimilating to civilian life, I know you knew I was going to ask
00:57:44
you that, You know, I mean, you already talked about the dreams,
00:57:47
right? Yeah.
00:57:48
What? When you got back.
00:57:49
So when you literally came back and you were like, here I am,
00:57:54
what had changed? I mean, relationships, family,
00:57:57
was it were you your favorite spots to go eat dinner?
00:58:01
I mean, was it just like this surreal?
00:58:03
Were you able to kind of like fall back into it or was it you
00:58:07
don't? Fall back, Yeah.
00:58:08
Yeah, that's what I thought. But I just, I'm just curious.
00:58:10
Yeah, sure, sure. So well, so when I got back to
00:58:14
Fort Lewis, WA after my deployment, I did not have Fort
00:58:17
Lewis. Is that in Washington state?
00:58:20
Yeah, It's. It's in.
00:58:21
It's like near Tacoma. It's 45 minutes South of
00:58:24
Seattle. Oh wow, yeah, I used to party.
00:58:25
A lot in Seattle way in the. North I love.
00:58:27
That city, actually, that's where I discovered my love for
00:58:29
Scotch. But so I remember when I got
00:58:33
back, I didn't have any family up in Washington and my actual
00:58:36
family couldn't make it because half of them are in Germany,
00:58:39
have been since forever. And then the other half was in
00:58:42
Kentucky. But they couldn't make it for
00:58:44
for different reasons. So I came back to nobody.
00:58:47
So when you come into the auditorium and everyone's like,
00:58:50
yay, there's my Billy, you know, there I am just walking in there
00:58:54
and I'm 225 lbs of solid muscle. You knew.
00:58:57
Like, but you knew nobody was going to nobody.
00:58:59
Was going to be there. So I just kind of like looked
00:59:01
around and just was happy for my guys that I'd basically, I wish
00:59:05
I knew. I'd be there for you.
00:59:09
Well. Because everybody, everybody
00:59:11
needs somebody there. Come on.
00:59:13
Yeah. You kind of need something,
00:59:14
right? You need something.
00:59:15
What a shitty. Your story, man, it's crazy.
00:59:16
Yeah, so yeah, Boo Boo ordered me.
00:59:19
I know. Yeah, Boo.
00:59:21
But I remember when I got back, I literally all I did was order
00:59:24
Pizza Hut. OK, you may think that's kind of
00:59:27
stupid. Now there is Pizza Hut in Iraq
00:59:29
and in some parts of Afghanistan too, but it's not the same.
00:59:32
And I remember when I got it, I remember exactly what I OK do.
00:59:36
It right now. What did you get?
00:59:37
I actually. Got a calzone.
00:59:39
And then I got another one that was like, just a small pizza,
00:59:41
but it was like, like, real thick and stuff like that.
00:59:44
It was so bad for me. Yeah.
00:59:47
And so I ate that, and I drank a few beers.
00:59:51
And I remember just looking out of my window in my barracks
00:59:53
room, and I was thinking like, you know what?
00:59:55
I'm really happy for all these guys.
00:59:57
They came back and all their families are there and.
00:59:59
And I was just. Like, you know what, God's doing
01:00:01
this for a reason. And I don't know don't know what
01:00:04
it is yet, but I know why God did that.
01:00:09
When I was in Iraq, I used to pray every night and I said,
01:00:12
God, please give me a good woman, help me find a Good Wife.
01:00:16
I need a woman in my life that I can build with, right?
01:00:20
So I would pray for this every day I was there because I was
01:00:23
like, tomorrow's not promised. I could be dead next week.
01:00:26
I don't even know, of course. So ultimately the, the, the want
01:00:30
to to be married and to have a family was like boom, right
01:00:33
there at the top. But I didn't want to do it under
01:00:35
false pretenses and just fall in love with some harlot back in
01:00:39
town. When I come back, I, I need to
01:00:40
make sure she was a woman of God, a woman of substance,
01:00:43
right. So where did you meet your?
01:00:45
Wife I met my. Wife.
01:00:47
Actually, it was funny. I met my wife.
01:00:48
I need to know. Now the story.
01:00:50
Yeah, I I met my. Wife within the first year I
01:00:52
came back to the States. So I was going, I was in in
01:00:55
college and I was also working, but I was on Fort Knox, KY,
01:00:59
because that's where my family lives.
01:01:02
I'm going to ruin. It she's also military, she.
01:01:05
Wasn't at the time, wasn't. At the time, she was completely.
01:01:07
Civilian she was. She was greener than Green and
01:01:11
I. Corrected Please continue.
01:01:13
And she was going. To classes there on Fort Knox
01:01:15
with Central Texas College at the time, I believe CTC.
01:01:19
And then so I met her and ironically, or no, I should say
01:01:24
coincidentally, we had three classes back-to-back to back on
01:01:29
the same schedule. And we had no idea about this,
01:01:32
right? But as time went on, she
01:01:34
realized that I was, you know, I was nice and I cared and I could
01:01:37
tell that, you know, she, she was quiet but very polite and
01:01:41
observed, but I could tell this was a good woman.
01:01:43
I didn't want to horn in. So I was just like, you know
01:01:45
what, I'm just going to go ahead and just be myself.
01:01:49
You know what women always tell you go, just be yourself and all
01:01:51
that kind of stuff. I actually did that.
01:01:53
I actually did it and I was like, you know what, let me see.
01:01:56
Luckily one of the classes we had was music, intro to music,
01:02:00
the Super basic elective class. I only needed the credit.
01:02:04
And I remember we're in that class and it was a really great
01:02:07
class. Professor John Day was amazing.
01:02:09
And I still remember this man. But my then wife, well, she was
01:02:14
my, I guess, classmate at the time.
01:02:16
Yeah. You're.
01:02:16
Then classmate she. Didn't know that I knew German.
01:02:19
So like I lived in Germany for nine years.
01:02:22
So we were doing Hondel, who was a very famous German, a German
01:02:27
composer, and we were doing what was that?
01:02:31
I believe it was night music. I think it was that one knocked
01:02:34
music and then. Not, not music, yeah.
01:02:39
I or yeah, I incline. I incline and knock music or
01:02:42
something like that. So yeah.
01:02:43
We were, we were doing that and I was, I was actually explaining
01:02:47
to her what the what the Deutsch was in English and what it was
01:02:50
actually saying because the the interpretation in the book was
01:02:54
actually off. So I was telling her that this
01:02:56
is wrong. So she actually thought that
01:02:58
that was really sexy. Yeah.
01:03:00
I was going to say yeah, yeah. All right.
01:03:02
So then after. That, you know, we started
01:03:04
becoming friends. He was in.
01:03:05
That was it, yeah. So she's a woman of culture and
01:03:09
she's been to Ireland, she's been to Romania and stuff, but
01:03:12
she joined the military long after that we met seems.
01:03:15
Like a good woman. I don't, I don't, I don't know
01:03:17
well, but she's. Quite at first, but she is very
01:03:20
friendly. I mean, Manny knows this.
01:03:21
Yeah, of course. Yeah, but but it's just great
01:03:24
that that's what you needed, that's what you wanted.
01:03:26
When you came back, you prayed for it, that you did everything
01:03:29
to harness the energy and all the things.
01:03:33
And what do you, we call it manifest.
01:03:37
You know, a lot of religious people get mad when I use that
01:03:40
word, but I think it can all tie together.
01:03:42
And to do that and and find a woman that, you know, not to
01:03:47
give all your juice, but kids and a new one on its way and
01:03:52
things like that. And I'm just.
01:03:53
I'm happy to hear that. Yeah, I am.
01:03:55
Too. I'm very happy for a while.
01:03:57
I hope so. But after everything and, and
01:04:00
all that you went through for the country and things like
01:04:02
that, and then you come back and what you wanted has happened and
01:04:06
that's big. And you know, you're next,
01:04:07
bitch. You're next.
01:04:10
Yeah, bro, You know what? Every time Mandy's on, I I talk
01:04:13
about this woman that he. I won't do it tonight unless you
01:04:16
want to. It's up to you.
01:04:17
Let's get to something real fast because if you believe it, we're
01:04:21
over an hour already. Wow.
01:04:23
And so I want to get to this real quick because instead of,
01:04:27
you know, I love listening to you guys talk about but but I
01:04:30
feel like I can do it for six hours.
01:04:31
I mean, it's insane. I cannot believe it's been as
01:04:35
long as it's been already. But I'm going to shift gears to
01:04:39
this, this, this so unprofessional.
01:04:44
My notes here we go. I wanted to, to to talk about
01:04:49
this person and it was a year ago.
01:04:52
So I'm a little late to the party, but it was brought to my
01:04:55
attention. And his military men, veterans,
01:05:01
if you will, with all the titles.
01:05:04
There was an incident a while back and I I think that I wanted
01:05:07
to talk about something that was current events.
01:05:10
And you've got two world issues that are going on that are kind
01:05:14
of taking. You have Russia and Ukraine, and
01:05:17
then you have the Gaza Strip. Yeah.
01:05:19
Oh, yeah. So let's talk Gaza Strip and as
01:05:23
2 military men, I want to know if you know of Aaron Bushnell.
01:05:27
Bushnell Bushnell. I've heard the name.
01:05:29
But I'm not too keen, OK? This guy and I'll give you some
01:05:32
of the details and what kind of goes because I'm so, you know,
01:05:36
people give me a hard time. You need to just calm down,
01:05:38
whatever. But I get so fired up about
01:05:40
these things. Then I step back and I go, all
01:05:42
right, let me really try and assess it fully before I get so
01:05:46
angry because obviously this was important to this guy.
01:05:49
And I'll tell you what it is. So this guy's 25.
01:05:51
He was 25 years old and on February 25th, so a year ago,
01:05:57
what, four days ago of last year.
01:05:59
And he was an Air Force guy. We talked about the Air Force.
01:06:02
So maybe he got too many good meals.
01:06:06
Too many. Lobsters.
01:06:07
Too many lobsters. Too many.
01:06:09
But this guy was a pro Palestine.
01:06:13
Yes, whatever. You want to call it activist?
01:06:16
And he by self immolation. Did I pronounce that correctly?
01:06:22
Yeah, kind of. Scotcher too, burned himself
01:06:26
alive in front of the Israeli embassy in DC because of his
01:06:33
support for Palestinians as AUS Air Force military man.
01:06:39
He had no ties to the Palestinians.
01:06:42
He had no ties to Muslim or Islam.
01:06:44
He had no ties to any of that. And here he here, he does that
01:06:49
so real quick. These are some of his quotes.
01:06:52
He was protesting against what people have been.
01:06:54
That's what he said. I mean, protesting against what
01:06:56
people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their
01:06:59
colonizers. And he said he will no longer be
01:07:02
complicit in genocide. He had a Christian upbringing.
01:07:06
He began his objections to the military.
01:07:09
So all of a sudden he was calling out the US military
01:07:12
after George Floyd. Yes, I, I don't know how, First
01:07:17
off, I don't know how that tied together military, but, you
01:07:21
know, whatever. And he, he said he was an
01:07:23
anarchist and he would follow all these social media anarchy
01:07:26
pages. He got, you know, groups and he
01:07:29
told him what he was going to do and all these things.
01:07:32
And then of course, when he talked about the Nova Musics
01:07:35
Festival, which was the big attack by Hamas on October the
01:07:39
7th, which we talked about earlier was Oh yeah, yeah, it's
01:07:43
a big date and I'll let you you can talk about that in a second.
01:07:46
And he said those civilians fun was being was purely built off
01:07:51
Palestinian suffering and there are no innocent civilians in
01:07:56
settler colonization. But give me a break.
01:08:01
You're talking about 1012. Was it 1200 people or something
01:08:03
like that? It's not them.
01:08:06
But anyway, and let's see. So he walked towards the embassy
01:08:11
on that day and he said the following and then I'll, I'll
01:08:13
let you guys go a little bit here.
01:08:15
I'm active duty member of the US Air Force.
01:08:18
I will no longer be complicit in genocide.
01:08:20
I'm about to engage in an extreme act of protest.
01:08:23
But compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine,
01:08:27
it's not extreme at all. OK, so I'll let you go.
01:08:31
I have more, but I'm going to let you go now.
01:08:33
And as veterans and you hear this guy, he's got no ties to
01:08:38
any of this. What is your.
01:08:41
He burned himself a lot. Yeah, you.
01:08:44
Haven't met this since Vietnam. Mental.
01:08:45
Mental issues, people go well, people close to him said he
01:08:49
didn't have mental issues. Well, that doesn't mean shit.
01:08:52
So do you know this story and what's your reaction?
01:08:56
And let's just talk about Gaza. Yeah, well.
01:08:59
To me, that's treason. I.
01:09:00
Think well man, he goes like full out.
01:09:04
Well, yeah, man, like, yeah, you know, it's like you're well,
01:09:07
this is say, right? If, you know, the Palestine sent
01:09:10
this Hamas group, right? And I'm not sure if y'all see
01:09:14
the video, but they're like parachuting in.
01:09:16
Yeah, right. And if you're the one to start,
01:09:20
you know, this like assault, you know, you're a terrorist, bro.
01:09:23
You know, like, hey, you know, and for you to support, you
01:09:26
know, terrorism, I can't start with you.
01:09:29
Well, that's where I'm at. That's where I'm at is is
01:09:32
especially extremist Islam and that's what this country in the
01:09:37
West has dealt with a lot. I can't align or have empathy
01:09:41
for terrorist organization. And this organization is been
01:09:46
known as a terrorist group and they were elected by by the
01:09:48
Palestinians in the power. And so I just wondered what your
01:09:54
thoughts were when you hear a guy in the Air Force says he
01:10:00
does something like that and he's bashing the military.
01:10:03
He's doing all these things and his former or his veterans,
01:10:06
you're going. I, I just, I want, I guess what
01:10:09
I'm trying to say is I want to pick your brains and just try
01:10:12
and get into the mindset of somebody like that.
01:10:14
Were there anybody that you was there anybody that you knew?
01:10:17
Were there people that were kind of like, and I know, you know,
01:10:21
were there anybody that kind of like sympathize with the enemy?
01:10:24
Were there any people that that you heard about that you're
01:10:29
worried about mentally? Because this guy has issues.
01:10:32
I don't care what people say. Burning yourself for the
01:10:35
Palestinians? He's never.
01:10:36
Even been there self immolations pretty well.
01:10:38
So you know, I'm going to play devil's advocate for a second.
01:10:41
So one thing I want to think about is what was that guy's
01:10:44
social life like? What?
01:10:46
Didn't he have friends in his unit?
01:10:48
Did he have a girlfriend? Was he always shunned, shunned
01:10:51
by his other peoples and he was around on the day-to-day basis?
01:10:54
Was he the? Was he the butt of the joke he
01:10:56
looked like? A decent looking guy.
01:10:58
I mean, I looked at his pictures, but anyway, I recall.
01:11:00
I recall what he looks like now. But yeah, those are things you
01:11:04
want to look at because, you know, we do have a huge in cell
01:11:07
problem with men in America or even in the West in general
01:11:11
right now where men are involuntary involuntarily
01:11:14
celibate. And they don't know how to deal
01:11:17
with that because they feel like they feel like the world is
01:11:20
against them and they can't get ahead.
01:11:22
Or no woman will ever want to have anything to do with him
01:11:26
because he may talk funny or he may do things weird or he just
01:11:30
might be, you know, off or whatever.
01:11:32
So I think there are some mental health there that maybe should
01:11:34
have been addressed. I think his leadership probably
01:11:37
should have looked at that and been like, you know what?
01:11:39
He's been following a lot of weird stuff.
01:11:41
You've been seeing Palestinian flags or something in his room,
01:11:44
right? So that's on the leadership.
01:11:46
They need to know what's going on with their guys.
01:11:48
People were saying. That is that they they were,
01:11:50
they wish that leadership had kind of got a hold of him and
01:11:52
could have prevented it. But yes, if they prevented it
01:11:56
now what? I mean, would it?
01:11:57
Yeah. What would you have done a year?
01:11:59
I don't know Self. Immolation is probably the most
01:12:01
extreme form of suicide. I think I can, actually, yeah.
01:12:04
I mean. Obviously any of course yelled
01:12:06
for your Palestine as he was burning.
01:12:07
And then they got him and they tried to put him out.
01:12:09
And one guy, you know, 1 Secret Service guy apparently had his
01:12:13
gun out and everyone there was a clip of the one of the other
01:12:17
guys trying to put him out. Like we don't need a gun, we
01:12:19
need some fucking fire, fire extinguisher.
01:12:21
Like, what are you doing? And you know, they took him to
01:12:24
the hospital and he died later. But it, it just when I hear this
01:12:28
and I hear this blind support for Palestine, and I say blind
01:12:32
because they don't not there. He wasn't there.
01:12:36
And what bothers me? And then I want, I really want
01:12:38
to let you roll and I've got to get this in and I'll talk about
01:12:43
it down the road on some show, I'm sure.
01:12:45
But I, I did some research and I wanted to shore up that research
01:12:51
more than what I already knew, which is the truth.
01:12:55
This is way this conflict is this region way before 1947 or
01:13:04
you know, the whole World War One World War 2.
01:13:07
This is this is, you know, Palestinians as they are now
01:13:12
with with Islam wouldn't even they weren't even there until
01:13:16
636 thirty. Basically the mid 633, something
01:13:21
like that. I mean.
01:13:23
They've they had different versions, right?
01:13:24
Like the the Ottoman Empire. Yeah, yeah.
01:13:27
Here you go. Manny, I'll tell you right now
01:13:28
the. I'll tell you right.
01:13:29
Now, so 638 was the 1st when the Muslims conquered Jerusalem,
01:13:32
right? Yeah.
01:13:33
But before that it was all Israelites and Israeli and the,
01:13:37
I mean, I, oh, back then. They were called semites though.
01:13:41
Semites. And the whole, the whole
01:13:43
shebang. I mean, the Philistines or yeah,
01:13:46
there's so much. I read it today and I was like
01:13:47
my head hurt because I was just looking at, at at the history in
01:13:51
that region. And then 1099, of course The
01:13:54
Crusaders, you know, capture it back.
01:13:55
And so it is more involved with Muslims and Christians than
01:13:58
anything. 1187 recapture of the Muslims.
01:14:01
Then 1229 to 44 was The Crusaders, the sixth round of
01:14:05
them. And then 1577 was Ottoman Empire
01:14:09
with Turkey came down and of course lived peacefully with
01:14:13
multiple religions until after World War One or at the end of
01:14:19
World War One. And I'm sitting here going, the
01:14:21
argument that I have is, oh, Israel tormenting with the
01:14:26
Palestinians and this is their stuff.
01:14:28
Doesn't sound like it. If you want to sit here and tell
01:14:31
me that in this country, the indigenous, oh, poor, poor
01:14:36
indigenous, they were, you know, they're like, if anything,
01:14:39
that's Israel, right? If you want to have a comparison
01:14:42
or am I off, tell me. I think there's something.
01:14:45
There you should be saying. Like, this was a long time ago,
01:14:48
way, a long time ago. This was Israeli land.
01:14:51
This was, I mean, the Jews were way before Christians and Islam,
01:14:56
right? This was their land.
01:14:58
And so all of a sudden, you want to say, well, you know, it's
01:15:01
genocide and they're taking Palestinian land.
01:15:03
Well, how far are you willing to go back?
01:15:06
Yeah. And that's my whole problem with
01:15:09
this thing is it's not as simple as that.
01:15:10
And I'm not trying to sit here and bash like all the
01:15:14
Palestinians. I understand they're suffering,
01:15:15
I understand that whatever. But it's, it seems to be to me
01:15:18
like the victims, the Palestinians are the ones that
01:15:21
are being overwhelmed because of technology, because of power,
01:15:27
because of strength, the military, etcetera, etcetera.
01:15:31
Doesn't mean that all that they're completely innocent in
01:15:34
the whole thing. I'm getting off topic here, but
01:15:37
that that's to me. So when I hear about a military
01:15:40
guy, a United States military guy killing himself by burning
01:15:44
himself in, of course, what we called in Malay that's right in
01:15:49
Malaysia. And I just want to know.
01:15:53
I mean, you guys go through so much as combat veterans.
01:15:57
You went through so much, and to hear this guy just like, and
01:16:01
then throw himself on fire and then he's dies as a martyr and
01:16:04
all these people are praising him.
01:16:06
I just didn't know. I don't know if I even have a
01:16:08
conversation here, but how does it make you feel as a veteran?
01:16:12
I mean, did you know people that were like that mentally?
01:16:17
Yeah. So.
01:16:17
I didn't personally know people like that right.
01:16:19
But like, you know, I guess if you're a soldier and you're
01:16:23
enlisting, you know, you're, you're getting like a wide
01:16:25
spectrum on people, you know, So like, like anybody who's able to
01:16:30
can join the military and like, not only this person, right, Not
01:16:36
only Bush now, but I mean, will you have a Bergdahl, that guy
01:16:39
that walked away from, you know. I don't know, Bergdahl.
01:16:43
Tell me. Yeah, so.
01:16:44
He was an American Army guy. E5 Buckshard.
01:16:48
Yes, Buck. Sergeant, Army guy, yes, I think
01:16:51
he was a Taliban sympathizer. He just so story so there's a
01:16:56
different version of the story, right.
01:16:57
He walked away, dropped his gun, dropped his gear and to start
01:17:00
walking like out of the front of the base.
01:17:02
Whoa. You know, and.
01:17:03
He got picked up, yeah. And they, I'm sure they probably
01:17:07
tortured him at 1st and they when they realized, yeah, he was
01:17:10
like I. Promise.
01:17:11
I'm, I want you to be with you guys, yeah.
01:17:13
Yeah, and right. Not not only that you have Major
01:17:15
Hassan, which niche pod? No, Yeah, that was.
01:17:18
The Fort Hood shooting, yes. The active shooting.
01:17:21
The active. Shooter in Fort Hood, that was
01:17:23
2010, 2011, yes. Something like that, yeah.
01:17:26
So you get a wide weird spectrum of people.
01:17:30
I remember. That.
01:17:32
Yeah, yeah, he was shooting. On Fort Hood, I don't remember
01:17:34
like all the details of it, but yeah.
01:17:37
Yeah, so he was, he was basically of Middle Eastern
01:17:41
descent. I don't know exactly what
01:17:42
ethnicity he was or what, but he was AAI guess religiously
01:17:48
orthodox Muslim man who was in the military as an officer.
01:17:53
He was a major, which is like a mid rank in the officer ranks.
01:17:57
Yeah. So he was like 04, which, you
01:18:01
know, he's got some power, some pull.
01:18:03
So I'm sure that there was probably sometimes where he
01:18:06
might have been probably leading some of his troop in the wrong
01:18:09
direction and that's that. That's ultimately a downside of
01:18:13
having officers come out of universities in the last 20
01:18:18
years because after the No Child left behind act took over and
01:18:22
basically decimated education, you know, you have a lot of
01:18:25
these universities becoming basically like like, I guess you
01:18:29
could say indoctrination camps for anti American interests.
01:18:33
And major Hassan would have been probably prime Kennedy or
01:18:37
something like that. So going back to your your
01:18:39
gentleman, the gentleman who burned himself up.
01:18:42
So I always try to like look at details and I don't know enough
01:18:46
about him, but questions I would ask is so I know for a fact that
01:18:50
females most of the time tend to side with the Palestinians more
01:18:57
so than the Israeli side. And I think it's.
01:18:59
Females. Females in general, because so
01:19:03
like in Europe with the the, the Muslim migration that has
01:19:06
overtaken the entire Western European Front, there are a lot
01:19:12
of women who feel sorry for these people and they will treat
01:19:17
them like a pet. They will almost be like a cat
01:19:20
or a dog or a parakeet. They just want a better they
01:19:23
want to take. Care of them, They want to look
01:19:25
out. For them the the bleeding
01:19:26
hearts. And all this kind of stuff,
01:19:28
right? So it's.
01:19:29
So what's been going on is a lot of women have been played
01:19:33
against their own safety and interest to start siding with
01:19:37
our enemies in our country. And some of them have even gone
01:19:41
as far has to leave our country and go to the Middle East to
01:19:44
become a wife. Well, breeder, Yeah, for some,
01:19:47
which isn't. Good for them, but that's what
01:19:49
they want to do, right? Right.
01:19:51
Go to the Middle East. Don't do it here, but yeah.
01:19:54
Right. I'm not saying we're, we're not
01:19:56
anti Palestine, right? No, no.
01:19:57
And and I'm not turning that way.
01:20:00
Yeah, I do want to add. Something to this though, so go
01:20:02
ahead. So the whole.
01:20:03
Palestine is real thing. So there are, there is a
01:20:06
subculture of people out there that want racial purity in
01:20:10
Europe again, they want German, Germany for Germans, they want,
01:20:14
they want Portugal for Portuguese, right.
01:20:16
So there, there is like this kind of growing sentiment of
01:20:21
people wanting their, their, their land back for their own
01:20:23
people. And, and, and, and rightfully
01:20:25
so. But because there is so much
01:20:27
migration that has just basically flooded into Europe
01:20:30
since 2015. What's going on is, is that
01:20:33
people have started to realize that they've made a huge
01:20:36
mistake. But it's too late now because
01:20:39
the indoctrination has gotten to the females that are coming up
01:20:41
through the university. And by the time they get to
01:20:43
university, they all they can spell out is Palestine,
01:20:47
Palestine now on the opposite side of the aisle.
01:20:50
So you have the women now the men.
01:20:52
So the men have started looking into things, the crimes of both
01:20:56
sides in through the histories. How many countries have they
01:21:00
been kicked out of? How many times have they been
01:21:02
kicked out of countries? Are they responsible for
01:21:06
pedophile rings, groom gangs, all these things, right?
01:21:08
So, so there's a subset of people that don't like Palestine
01:21:12
and don't like Israel, but they've been following the
01:21:15
money. They've been following the
01:21:16
crimes that both of those factions have gotten into, and
01:21:19
they realize, like, wow, I've been lied to.
01:21:22
I thought that the Jews were supposed to be a great people.
01:21:25
Now I'm learning that they're responsible for, you know,
01:21:28
pedophilia and pornography in America, for instance.
01:21:31
And so there's this whole subset subculture of young people,
01:21:34
especially men who are like, I don't want anything to do with
01:21:37
either side. And I actually really hate
01:21:39
Israel now. So there's like this whole
01:21:42
subculture of young men that are growing up and they're pissed
01:21:44
off, especially in Europe. A lot, a lot are in Canada.
01:21:48
And we do have them here in the United States.
01:21:50
Feel like the Jews can't catch a break, man.
01:21:53
I mean, how has there been a look in the history of the
01:21:57
world? Has there been a people?
01:21:58
It's been like as chastised and as I don't know, I just they,
01:22:02
they have. Gone through a lot they've.
01:22:03
Gone through a lot they've gone through.
01:22:04
A lot but but at the. Same time you're right, they
01:22:07
have been. Kicked out of 109 nations.
01:22:10
There you go. There's that, and I'm not or.
01:22:12
Taking two nuclear bombs. There you go.
01:22:15
But I'm not, I'm not the, I'm not the Israel apologist.
01:22:19
I'm not that guy at all. Just because I brought this up.
01:22:22
I'm just bringing up facts. Yeah, back in the day.
01:22:25
I mean, I sit here and I'm told all that, you know, if I argue
01:22:28
with people about the, the Native Americans and how it
01:22:31
wasn't as simple as what people want to make it, they're not as
01:22:35
innocent. And it's not a white European
01:22:37
bad and natives innocent. They never did anything wrong.
01:22:41
And people yell at me about it. And this is, it just reminds me
01:22:43
of that. And it's the same, it's kind of
01:22:45
the same thing. Well, back a long time ago, this
01:22:48
was the way it was. And all of a sudden they were.
01:22:52
But it was OK. It's like OK, hypocrisy.
01:22:55
And I don't like that. I don't like hypocrisy.
01:22:57
I hate it anyway, that's why I brought it up.
01:23:00
But what you just said is really interesting about, about men
01:23:03
and, and their, their mindset about Israel right now.
01:23:06
And it's a mess. And it's not just going to be,
01:23:09
you know, everybody's like, they look like a Fresh Prince or
01:23:12
whatever, you know, but it's not going to be just let's, you
01:23:17
know, oh, there's a ceasefire. Oh, everything's solved.
01:23:21
It's just not going to be No, it's not.
01:23:23
It's going to be a lot. Longer than that, and then it's.
01:23:24
Going to take for and I don't know what the solution is.
01:23:27
I mean, I just don't, I don't have a clue.
01:23:30
I mean, the the the Palestinians and Hamas say that they won't
01:23:34
settle for anything less than just wiping the Jews.
01:23:37
Well, that how you, I mean, really.
01:23:39
And then the Israelis are in constant defense because they're
01:23:42
in this country that's surrounded by people that hate
01:23:45
them. And so they're they're, you
01:23:48
know, preemptively striking people and maybe they shouldn't.
01:23:51
And maybe that's over the over the top.
01:23:53
One thing, it's a mess. It is a.
01:23:55
Mess 100% and one thing I actually do like that Israel has
01:23:58
done in the past is if they're going to bomb you, they're going
01:24:01
to at least let you know before that so you can evacuate the
01:24:03
people that's. True.
01:24:04
That's one thing they've done that, haven't they?
01:24:06
Yeah. No, again, I get people, look, I
01:24:08
get people that yell at me about everything, but I've had people
01:24:11
that are like, that's not true. They they're they're, you know,
01:24:15
just as bad. They're genocide, all this
01:24:17
stuff. And I'm just kind of like, all
01:24:18
right, if you're if until you're willing to look beyond that and
01:24:23
I don't know, I feel like a lot. Of people just want to be cool
01:24:25
and want to sit there and tell like hot words, like keywords.
01:24:29
Yeah, it's. Virtue signal Trendy.
01:24:30
Words that they they saw on the Internet that some really hot
01:24:33
chick started spouting. There you go, just crying into
01:24:35
the camera virtue signaling. I feel bad for the poor
01:24:38
Palestinian people. And it's just it's like they,
01:24:41
they take the, the group that's being victimized or the weaker
01:24:46
group and it's just like, no matter what.
01:24:49
Oh, how dare Israel do this to them.
01:24:53
Well, why did Israel do this to them?
01:24:55
And and you got to look at all that.
01:24:56
And I'm not, I'm not an expert. I don't know.
01:24:59
Yeah. But anyway, I just, I wanted to
01:25:00
bring that up and, and tonight and we got to probably stop
01:25:05
here. I I it's just not, I mean, I
01:25:09
feel like we just got rolling. So will you come back?
01:25:13
Oh, 100. Percent.
01:25:14
OK, let's. Do let's do another one.
01:25:16
And this was the warm up. OK, now people have learned
01:25:19
about some of the things that you've been through.
01:25:22
They're going to Doss me. No, some of the things you've
01:25:25
been through. Some of you didn't give any
01:25:27
names. You didn't give.
01:25:28
I just. Told my names, but yeah.
01:25:29
Well, but you didn't give any specifics about you didn't you
01:25:33
didn't give any secrets out or whatever that was called.
01:25:36
No operational security. There you go.
01:25:39
And but, but I think now that we've gotten to know you, I
01:25:42
think it'll be more of a OK, let's talk about all these kinds
01:25:45
of things. Manny, when you were on last
01:25:47
time we we hit like tons of topics.
01:25:50
Yeah, we did. But I really wanted to get I
01:25:52
mean, I know I know you, but I know I know you more.
01:25:55
I wanted to let people that listen to the show get to know
01:25:59
you. And then now we're roll.
01:26:00
I just can't believe it's been like how much time it's been on
01:26:03
my I'm looking at this like, really?
01:26:04
Has it been this long? So I had fun.
01:26:07
Hope you enjoyed 100% being here.
01:26:09
OK. Is there anything at the end?
01:26:11
What do you want to talk about, Manny?
01:26:13
No, I think. Pretty good podcasts, you know?
01:26:16
Well, you don't mean I like to talk about, you know, hey, you
01:26:19
know, maybe Ryan's by Mike Lock. Oh, Manny, Manny likes talking
01:26:24
about guns. Go ahead, Manny.
01:26:25
Real quick before we close. No, no, I'm no, no, I'm saying
01:26:28
so get, get get it out. Let's see.
01:26:30
You know, I know it's deep down. You want me to buy a gun from
01:26:33
you before you? Go into that, though I do have
01:26:35
to give a caveat. You're like John Wick.
01:26:37
No man, you are pretty awesome on the.
01:26:40
Guys, yeah, I love Bitch friend. He's telling me this.
01:26:44
You are John. Wick, but it was pretty good
01:26:46
too. Yeah, that was pretty good.
01:26:50
Well, there you go. And and you know what, from what
01:26:52
I know of Manny, he he takes that to heart because that's his
01:26:57
it's one of his passions. Yeah, he loves it.
01:26:59
But yeah, we'll talk guns, Manny, I'll and maybe I'll buy
01:27:02
something from you. I don't know.
01:27:04
I'm I'm that guy that I'd I'd have it and I'd be like, oh, no,
01:27:08
like what do I do with this? But.
01:27:11
But yeah. So anything about that girl?
01:27:16
None yet, man. OK, yeah, it's the one in
01:27:19
church. No, no.
01:27:20
No, it's my has to crush. Oh yeah, the one that got away.
01:27:24
Yeah. Then he went.
01:27:25
Into the military, essentially. But every show he's been on, I'm
01:27:28
like, hey, all right, Nothing yet, huh?
01:27:30
Nothing. Yet.
01:27:31
But she's she's out there somewhere.
01:27:32
I'm. Blaming myself.
01:27:33
I need to expand my audience in order to get.
01:27:38
It's going to happen for you, man.
01:27:40
Hopefully I'll do a dating. We'll do a whole show Mitch just
01:27:44
about getting Manny hooked up and we'll interview him.
01:27:48
We'll we'll do a like one of those old Danny videos where he
01:27:51
gets in there and he's like, hey, my name is Manny and I like
01:27:55
walks on the beach. Hey, I like a nice, I like a
01:27:59
Merlot and on the beach with moon and all that bullshit,
01:28:04
actually. Since you like Rosie Moscato,
01:28:06
there you go. You may pick.
01:28:07
A good one that you think she likes to.
01:28:09
No. There you go.
01:28:10
See, yeah, we'll, we'll get it taken care of.
01:28:12
But loved having you on. And man, I, I, I again, I'm
01:28:19
delaying because I want more, but I think it's time to to wrap
01:28:23
it up and give me something to go out with.
01:28:25
And the guys can edit this if they need to.
01:28:27
God, you got to have something on me.
01:28:29
What's a good ending here? Let's end my boys will edit
01:28:33
this. Don't worry just let's in
01:28:35
something. Do you have a?
01:28:36
Send off not. Really.
01:28:38
Oh, so that's something. We got to work on Yeah Send.
01:28:40
Off, yeah, there you. Go and and this they'll probably
01:28:42
leave this in because they'll fuck.
01:28:43
Yeah, What did I have? I had one other thing I didn't
01:28:46
get to. But anyway, I'll do the cheese
01:28:49
ball thing. All right, look, I admire what
01:28:52
you guys have done and I and to hear that you've come back and
01:28:57
had issues and dreams and no one was waiting for you, Mitch in
01:29:03
the fucking airport or wherever you want.
01:29:05
Yeah, and I and I do, I feel for him, but at the same time it's
01:29:08
kind of like, oh, for Mitch, you're right, because I know him
01:29:10
and he's like, but at the same time, you just, you guys don't
01:29:14
I, I mean, like, maybe you get it, maybe you don't, but people
01:29:17
like me that just respect the hell out of what he did and know
01:29:21
that I I would have been terrible.
01:29:24
People say you could have been trained.
01:29:25
I don't know. My sister's an officer in the
01:29:28
Navy. I don't know if you knew that.
01:29:29
Sweet. She's psychology.
01:29:32
So she got her doctorate and she's in the Navy.
01:29:34
Nice. And she tells me a little bit
01:29:38
here and there, just about not, not anything secret.
01:29:40
She's all can't tell your shit. I'm like, come on, She's
01:29:44
worried. About operations, sure.
01:29:45
Exactly. And so I've I had it before her,
01:29:48
but I definitely have it now. Just a matter of respect for
01:29:51
what's going on. And I know that this world is
01:29:53
crazy right now. And so you never know what, you
01:29:56
know, what we're going to hear next and who's going to have to
01:29:58
go deal with it. And so thank you both.
01:30:01
And next time you come on, we'll talk some more.
01:30:05
Like we'll talk some fun stuff next time.
01:30:07
How about that? Yeah, it was pretty.
01:30:08
Heavy tonight. This was heavy.
01:30:09
But I like it. It's so, it was so interesting
01:30:12
to me that some of the stuff you guys were talking about with
01:30:14
just just a mindset. People don't think about some of
01:30:17
the things that you were saying and they should they they they
01:30:21
want to make it simplistic and it and it's just not sometimes.
01:30:25
Being in the grey is a lot harder than you think.
01:30:28
That is the exit right there. That's a.
01:30:30
Great exit. There you go.
01:30:32
There it is. Mitch.
01:30:32
All right, brother. Manny, Mitch, love you guys.
01:30:34
Thanks for coming on. Thank you for having us.
01:30:36
We'll see everybody next time. Thank you.
01:30:37
Bye, guys. Thanks.
01:30:38
All right.