553: Becoming Brothers Through Battle, Death, and Honor in Ramadi. With Miguel "Pitbull" Santana.

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[UNKNOWN]: This is Jocco podcast number 553 with Equal Charles and me, Jocco willing, good evening, echo.

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[UNKNOWN]: Our four months in Tallah Far were a necessary brutal baptism by fire.

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[UNKNOWN]: We learned to read the dust, respond to the ambush, and trust the discipline forged in the face of constant danger.

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[UNKNOWN]: But Tallah Far was the proving ground, Ramadi was the crucible.

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[UNKNOWN]: I remember the briefing was the fault line.

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[UNKNOWN]: our orders changed, we are going to Ramadi.

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[UNKNOWN]: The moment before and after which nothing would be quite the same.

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[UNKNOWN]: We sat with fragments of the mission, unaware of how thoroughly the months ahead would hollow us out and rebuild us or how deeply they would forge the ties between us.

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[UNKNOWN]: The order came down, saying nothing to your families until the movement was complete.

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[UNKNOWN]: Opsack above all else.

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[UNKNOWN]: It sounds clean as a directive, but it settled over us like something heavier.

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[UNKNOWN]: The transition south carried a sense of purpose and determination.

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[UNKNOWN]: We were leaving northern Iraq after months of hard-earned experience, bringing with us confidence, discipline, and combat knowledge forged through countless patrols and operations.

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[UNKNOWN]: Ramadi had earned a reputation as the most dangerous city in Iraq, but to us, the mission represented more than danger.

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[UNKNOWN]: It was an opportunity to take part in the fight that would ultimately shape the outcome of the war in Ambar Province.

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[UNKNOWN]: And that right there is an excerpt from a book called Unheard Voices, the fight for Ramadi, a soldier's memoir from combat outpost Falcon.

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[UNKNOWN]: And it was written by retired major Miguel Santana, and Miguel served over 25 years in the U.S. Army.

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[UNKNOWN]: He started off as an elicited soldier, moved up through the ranks, eventually earning a commission becoming an infantry officer.

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[UNKNOWN]: attending infantry school, airborne school, mechanized leaders course and ranger school.

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[UNKNOWN]: And during his time, he also served as a platoon commander in the Battle of Ramadi in 2006 and 2007.

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[UNKNOWN]: And in that role, he and his soldiers conducted countless missions alongside seals from task unit bruiser, provided support when we needed it most, including during our most intense and dire

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[UNKNOWN]: during desperate battles.

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[UNKNOWN]: Many of the stories that lay for an I wrote about an extreme ownership and that academy of leadership involved Miguel directly and his men.

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[UNKNOWN]: In his platoon from Bravo Company, first Battalion 36 Infantry Regiment, which was led by the exemplary Captain Mike McCusker.

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[UNKNOWN]: was eventually task-organized under Bravo Company 1st Battalion 37th Infantry Regiment, the bulldogs under the venerable main gun, Mike Bima, for operations in Ramadi, and Miguel and his platoon fought with such tenacity that he earned.

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[UNKNOWN]: the nickname Pitbull, and it fit and it is an honor to have him with us here tonight to share some of his stories, his experiences and lessons learned.

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[UNKNOWN]: Miguel Pitbull, it's awesome to see you.

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[UNKNOWN]: Thank you so much for joining us after 20 years.

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[UNKNOWN]: Yes, or what an honor after 20 years, just to be sitting here, face to face.

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[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, I mean guarantee the last time you and I looked at each other was down at Cobb Falcons.

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[UNKNOWN]: You know, either you were heading out or I was heading in or whatever the case may be.

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[UNKNOWN]: Um, yeah, that's...

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[UNKNOWN]: an interesting time.

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[UNKNOWN]: Oh, no, I guess we did see each other down in Texas, though, for the ready first for union.

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[UNKNOWN]: That was outstanding.

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[UNKNOWN]: And then you just came out, we had a little task, universal reunion out here in San Diego.

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[UNKNOWN]: And it was very fitting to see you there as well and for you to see the boys again.

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[UNKNOWN]: And for the guys to say thanks to you, for all that you guys did for us.

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[UNKNOWN]: And I know, you know, for since day one, yes, funny when General McFarlane was on, you know, he's, you know, we both couldn't hold him in any higher regard.

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[UNKNOWN]: And just to get his perspective from his altitude of positional leadership on the battlefield,

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[UNKNOWN]: And, you know, I've had some grunts on here that we're in Ramadi with us, and so to have you on here with that platoon commander level infantry on the ground, living in downtown Ramadi.

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[UNKNOWN]: This is a real, I think it's going to give people another perspective that they haven't seen yet.

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[UNKNOWN]: So, thanks so much for coming out, man.

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[UNKNOWN]: Thank you for the invite.

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[UNKNOWN]: Let's get into it.

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[UNKNOWN]: Let's get a little background first so Bornware the DR born the DR. Yeah, I was born in the Dominican Republic and at the age of six My parents migrated to the US and it's interesting how we got here because my dad is a retired military officer from the Dominican Republic And so my dad was a combat engineer

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[UNKNOWN]: Oh well.

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[UNKNOWN]: And when he retired, well actually let me back up something special that there's a bond between my dad and I and is that because as a combat engineer, my dad got an opportunity to travel outside of the medical public.

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[UNKNOWN]: And so my dad went to school of America as a forward-bending

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[UNKNOWN]: where it's like, what 30, 40 years later, his son, you know, goes there to go to infantry school and rain just school and everyone's school.

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[UNKNOWN]: It's like, how cool is that?

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[UNKNOWN]: And so yeah, and then my dad also got a chance to go to Panama and my dad build a lot of roads in the medical public and the cities.

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[UNKNOWN]: Okay, and then I don't remember my dad serving because he retired shortly after I was born and then He petitioned for a visa for green card and we got it and you know my mom and dad we we migrated to United States and

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[UNKNOWN]: We lived in New York for about four years and then my mom kept telling my dad it's like no, we got to go up to Massachusetts because that's where my mom side of the family lived also.

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[UNKNOWN]: I grew up in a small little town called Lawrence Massachusetts and what do your parents do when they got to America?

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[UNKNOWN]: And so my mom and dad besides my dad being a military officer, my dad and my mom were business people and Lawrence Massachusetts, my parents established the first Hispanic kind

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[UNKNOWN]: So it's funny because at like the age of seven, the age of eight, I'm doing bank reconciliation, and bank deposits of my mom and dad, and so I grew up in a convenient store in Lawrence, and everybody knew who we were because at the time we were the only Hispanic store, and so we were making history and Lawrence.

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[UNKNOWN]: Nice.

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[UNKNOWN]: And so that's how kind of we got to the U.S. And then how was our school and what sports were you doing in school growing up?

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[UNKNOWN]: Oh man, let me tell you something, Jacob, in my house, we're four boys, four athletes.

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[UNKNOWN]: We were involved in all type of sports, you know, my mom and dad, I've, you know, besides running a store, like they were taking us to all the different sporting activities, you know, I mean, I play baseball, I wrestled, and football, and so we were very, very active boys growing up, and my mom, we kept my mom pretty busy.

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[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

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[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

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[UNKNOWN]: You've got a story in the forward to your book.

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[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

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[UNKNOWN]: You talk about your brother, who saved you from drowning.

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[UNKNOWN]: What was going on that?

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[UNKNOWN]: You were drowning in your brothers.

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[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

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[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

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[UNKNOWN]: So yeah.

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[UNKNOWN]: That's a tough story.

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[UNKNOWN]: I dedicated the book to my brother because you know.

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[UNKNOWN]: What good is all the accolades?

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[UNKNOWN]: If I could not be there for my brother.

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[UNKNOWN]: And so yeah, at the age of 10, it was in the summer and we went to a lake and just having no cook out at a lake.

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[UNKNOWN]: And it was packed.

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[UNKNOWN]: It was a lot of people there.

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[UNKNOWN]: And my brother and I, we didn't really know how to swim.

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[UNKNOWN]: So we're planning the water.

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[UNKNOWN]: And next, you know, I couldn't feel the bottom.

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[UNKNOWN]: So I was drowning.

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[UNKNOWN]: and my brother at the age of 10 showed me what courage was.

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[UNKNOWN]: He somehow swam out to me, went underwater, pushed me, went underwater, pushed me again.

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[UNKNOWN]: I don't know how many times he did that, so I finally was able to, you know, touch the ground and then get out and then my brother continued to fight for himself to get out.

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[UNKNOWN]: And so at the age of 10 my brother gave me life

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[UNKNOWN]: And so a lot of the self-discipline kindness, you know, I get it from my brother.

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[UNKNOWN]: And, you know, why is this very personal because my brother never got to chance to read the book?

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[UNKNOWN]: I mentioned it to him.

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[UNKNOWN]: And he's like, you got to write this book.

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[UNKNOWN]: And so on the 12th of January, my brother passed away, I have 57, I just turned 56.

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[UNKNOWN]: My brother was only a year older than me.

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[UNKNOWN]: And so he didn't get a chance to read the book.

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[UNKNOWN]: So I dedicated to him.

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[UNKNOWN]: But at the age of 10, selfless service, commitment, dedication.

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[UNKNOWN]: Did you, with the learning that, those lessons from your brother with your dad having served in the Dominican military, did you have your eye on the militaries from a young age?

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[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, I mean, we all come from a family of service, my dad served, my uncle served, he was a cop.

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[UNKNOWN]: So we come from a family that I have always served.

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[UNKNOWN]: And it's interesting because this antenna family has a rich history, the Dominican Republic, in addition to the U.S. And so,

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[UNKNOWN]: You know, we can, I consider ourselves like, we're like two generations.

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[UNKNOWN]: Like, there's still, there's still St. Tannis in the Dominican Republic that are still serving.

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[UNKNOWN]: Whether it's doctors, police officers.

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[UNKNOWN]: But the new generation that live in the United States also served, like my younger brother served in the Air Force.

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[UNKNOWN]: And did about four or five years in the transition.

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[UNKNOWN]: So my younger brother is a federal agent.

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[UNKNOWN]: He works for customs and immigration.

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[UNKNOWN]: So when you were in high school, were you thinking this is what I'm gonna do?

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[UNKNOWN]: Well, actually, when I was in high school, I was a little, I didn't really know if I wanted to become a cop or a soldier in a good mentor or a mine in high school said, well, why don't you do both?

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[UNKNOWN]: And, you know, 17, 18 years of age, you don't really know this.

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[UNKNOWN]: And he was like, he explained it to me.

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[UNKNOWN]: He's like, look, join the Army Reserve, come back, and go to the police academy and do both.

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[UNKNOWN]: And I was like, man, it's a great idea.

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[UNKNOWN]: I think I'm going to do that.

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[UNKNOWN]: And that's what I did.

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[UNKNOWN]: I originally started in the reserves.

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[UNKNOWN]: So I went to Basic, AIT, became a tank system mechanic.

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[UNKNOWN]: Came back, went to the police academy, served as a reserve auxiliary police officer in the city of Lawrence, Massachusetts.

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[UNKNOWN]: But after a couple years I realized my passion was more to be a soldier and so I resigned as a police officer and I committed to being a soldier and be the best of it.

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[UNKNOWN]: and so did you go full active duty at that time?

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[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, yeah.

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[UNKNOWN]: And what year was that?

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[UNKNOWN]: And then I also applied to the ROTC program.

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[UNKNOWN]: Okay.

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[UNKNOWN]: And that's when it was about what seven years are in already?

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[UNKNOWN]: Six, six, seven years?

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[UNKNOWN]: So you did that.

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[UNKNOWN]: So you were a cop and reserve cop and reserve soldier for seven years.

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[UNKNOWN]: Correct.

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[UNKNOWN]: were you doing graduate high school?

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[UNKNOWN]: 89.

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[UNKNOWN]: Okay.

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[UNKNOWN]: So 89, 90, although we have to like 96, is when you decided you're going to commit to just soldier.

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[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

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[UNKNOWN]: So did you go, did you go active duty at that point?

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[UNKNOWN]: So I applied to green to go OCS and RTC and I got picked up by Florida International University RTC program.

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[UNKNOWN]: And then, did you go down to Florida to go to school?

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[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

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[UNKNOWN]: Is that the way it worked?

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[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

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[UNKNOWN]: Did you have to go four years?

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[UNKNOWN]: That's how they sent me.

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[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

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[UNKNOWN]: So I went to college for four years.

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[UNKNOWN]: Government pay for it.

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[UNKNOWN]: Nice.

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[UNKNOWN]: But his what's even more interesting is that, besides being an infantry officer, the Army pay for me to go to college and I got a bachelor's degree in business.

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[UNKNOWN]: Oh, figure.

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[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

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[UNKNOWN]: The military's a good deal, man.

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[UNKNOWN]: It is.

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[UNKNOWN]: It is.

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[UNKNOWN]: It is because, you know, later on, you know, when I, um, so I served as an infantry officer, went to infantry school, went to range of school, you know, and, um, and then the military said to me, hey, um, we need, we need controllers, mm-hmm.

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[UNKNOWN]: and you remembered being in the convenient score store running through the checkbook.

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[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, it's in the checkbook doing all of that.

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[UNKNOWN]: And so in between my second deployment, because you know, the first deployment we were together for money, I went back again.

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[UNKNOWN]: And I went back as a as a company commander and they're like, hey, we're going to make you as an infantry guy.

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[UNKNOWN]: We're going to make you responsible for the whole financial footprint.

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[UNKNOWN]: I'm going to bust.

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[UNKNOWN]: Dang.

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[UNKNOWN]: And so I was responsible for all the money running around.

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[UNKNOWN]: I'm going to bust.

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[UNKNOWN]: I've a rack between Alassad, Romadi, Hit, TQ, and people would look at me and be like, you're an infantry guy, but you're the money guy.

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[UNKNOWN]: I'm like, yeah, yeah.

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[UNKNOWN]: The army has big plans.

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[UNKNOWN]: Sure.

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[UNKNOWN]: How are you going through, so you get commissioned, what year did you get commissioned?

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[UNKNOWN]: August 2004.

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[UNKNOWN]: Dang, okay, and then once you get commissioned, did you go to, is that when you were in all that schooling or did you do some of the schooling?

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[UNKNOWN]: Some of the military schools did you do during college or did you do them all once you got commissioned?

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[UNKNOWN]: Some of the schooling I did as an enlisted, but in French for school, range of school, and make an eye school, I did it as an infantry officer.

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[UNKNOWN]: How old were you?

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[UNKNOWN]: 35.

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[UNKNOWN]: How is 35 years old going through range of scroll?

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[UNKNOWN]: Outstanding.

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[UNKNOWN]: it's the it's the best year of my life.

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[UNKNOWN]: I 35 years old I was like in the top physical condition of my life you know range of school people asked me how was range of school at 35 I mean I lost 28 pounds.

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[UNKNOWN]: I'm just a little guy.

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[UNKNOWN]: I remember we talked really you wrestled at 112 Yeah, I wrestled what you graduate range of school at weightwise.

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[UNKNOWN]: Wow I lost 28 pounds.

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[UNKNOWN]: I was like maybe I was like maybe 135

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[UNKNOWN]: Lost 28 pounds that would make that right there would make echo Charles quit You don't want to lose what 20 pounds

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[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, and it's interesting because I got recycled once at Ranger School, and for those that make it straight through, those were lucky, but the majority of people got recycled, and now now his one thing about Ranger School, what did Ranger School talk me?

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[UNKNOWN]: Is not the leadership per se, you know what Ranger School taught me personally at 35?

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[UNKNOWN]: How much I can push myself?

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[UNKNOWN]: What's my limit?

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[UNKNOWN]: You know, being deprived of sleep and food, um, matter if I got almost lost my right eye in Ranger School, for more.

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[UNKNOWN]: And one of the training missions, um, get off the helicopter, we're running into the woods, and my Ranger buddy in front of me, pushed the branch over, and I didn't see it, and the branch came back and slapped me on the face.

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[UNKNOWN]: And all I remember was just my feet up in the air.

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[UNKNOWN]: And so that mission from a training mission became a matter of fact to get me back down the mountain.

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[UNKNOWN]: This was up on Le Nag de Lada Gajorja.

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[UNKNOWN]: And so I remember the doctor simply said, you want to quit?

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[UNKNOWN]: What do you want, Ranger?

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[UNKNOWN]: I said, I'm staying.

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[UNKNOWN]: And so I remember they treated me, they covered my eye, and mandatory eight-hour sleep, and then in the morning they just simply asked me, what do you want to do, Ranger?

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[UNKNOWN]: Get me back out there.

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[UNKNOWN]: And so, for a couple of days you see me running around the woods with a patch eye, and then the morning the medic would come and check up on me and make sure I was okay, but I knew the importance of,

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[UNKNOWN]: You know, I said that as a goal for me to get my tab.

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[UNKNOWN]: And so I was willing to leave everything on the table because what type of a leader, what type of an infantry officer, would be if I didn't get it?

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[UNKNOWN]: And I mean, this is post September 11th.

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[UNKNOWN]: This is 2004.

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[UNKNOWN]: You must know that what you're preparing for is to go to war.

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[UNKNOWN]: Correct.

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[UNKNOWN]: What's your first duty?

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[UNKNOWN]: So where do you end up getting assigned when you get done with your underscore?

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[UNKNOWN]: Well, at the time, I was one of the assignments who was potentially 75th of a range of regimen, 80 second, or potentially Europe.

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[UNKNOWN]: I didn't really know.

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[UNKNOWN]: We didn't really know.

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[UNKNOWN]: And so as soon as I graduated, Ranger School was like, hey, four Loutens, we all got orders.

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[UNKNOWN]: Hey, I'm going to Germany.

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[UNKNOWN]: And initially, I was supposed to go to bomb holder.

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[UNKNOWN]: They call it the rock.

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[UNKNOWN]: Um, and so, all right, we get to Germany, but once we get to Germany, I get, I get, I get, re-brought it to Freeberg Germany with, you know, First Armored Division.

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[UNKNOWN]: I do have to share this story, um, and I hope you see that, um, Colonel Graves, the, the Batang Commander, you know, we get off the bus and we go see the Batang Commander, and he, uh, immediately, you know, here, we are these, these four

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[UNKNOWN]: and he points at one, are you tapped and the first lieutenant says, no, he points to the second, no, he points to the third, no, he points to me and you know I said yes so he's a congratulations.

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[UNKNOWN]: You're going to be second-but-tune, Bravo Company 136 between leader, you've got 45 days, get your shit ready, you're going to rack with us.

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[UNKNOWN]: So our major, I got three little tenets for staff and so that was it, I just got 45 days to get my stuff in order and Germany, yeah,

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[UNKNOWN]: you were also what 35 at that point 35 so he's looking at you these are the guys probably were what 22 something like that yeah i was a priori listed guy too so when i was an inson which is an old one you know it's a pretty old that's

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[UNKNOWN]: which has, which definitely has to be divided to the experience wise, and so what was the, so now you know, you guys, do you guys know you're one of our rack immediately?

18:44.641 --> 18:57.153
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

18:57.253 --> 19:00.134
[UNKNOWN]: No, no, the position was vacant for a while.

19:00.934 --> 19:03.615
[UNKNOWN]: Danny Luhan, the puttum son, who was kind of running in the puttum.

19:04.636 --> 19:07.877
[UNKNOWN]: And then I just came in like 45 days before deploying.

19:08.017 --> 19:14.880
[UNKNOWN]: And then I had a quick, like, I went to grab for about a week, you know, to get certified in the Bradley with the crew.

19:15.640 --> 19:22.603
[UNKNOWN]: In addition to getting my household goods in order, you know, I ended up picking an apartment in Germany that I even forgot where I lived.

19:23.483 --> 19:31.505
[UNKNOWN]: because it was just like 45 days ago, you know, and so I ended up really getting to know my soldiers in route to Iraq.

19:32.325 --> 19:40.686
[UNKNOWN]: So you don't have much time to train up with these guys and you are heading on the point.

19:40.706 --> 19:42.327
[UNKNOWN]: That's what's going on.

19:42.787 --> 19:44.947
[UNKNOWN]: Again, I read a little opening from the book.

19:45.207 --> 19:46.828
[UNKNOWN]: I'm going to pick up the book here.

19:47.228 --> 19:49.028
[UNKNOWN]: The book is just outstanding.

19:49.348 --> 20:08.129
[UNKNOWN]: and you know we were talking before he hit record and you talked about what do you say this smell the smells and the feeling the sense of smell the sense of taste like that's what you get from a book like this that's written by someone that was on the ground again the book is called Unheard Voices the Fight for Remoddy.

20:09.370 --> 20:16.494
[UNKNOWN]: Um, you're the, I, as far as I know, you're the first person from the 137 to the 136.

20:16.514 --> 20:21.737
[UNKNOWN]: That's written a book, you know, documented, you know, what went down from your perspective.

20:21.777 --> 20:23.518
[UNKNOWN]: So it was awesome here again.

20:24.418 --> 20:31.245
[UNKNOWN]: And we'll talk about we'll get into the relationship between, you know, my guys and your guys at some point, but it couldn't have been any closer.

20:32.607 --> 20:33.167
[UNKNOWN]: But I'll go here.

20:33.348 --> 20:33.848
[UNKNOWN]: Here we are.

20:34.209 --> 20:38.053
[UNKNOWN]: And again, I'm not going to read the whole book obviously order the book, but.

20:39.414 --> 20:40.375
[UNKNOWN]: I'm gonna fast forward a little bit.

20:40.395 --> 20:43.597
[UNKNOWN]: I looked around at everyone and wondered which of us wouldn't make it back home.

20:43.817 --> 20:47.060
[UNKNOWN]: I studied each face noticing those who seemed scared or ready for war.

20:47.080 --> 20:48.641
[UNKNOWN]: You could tell a lot from a soldier's face.

20:49.042 --> 20:52.484
[UNKNOWN]: I remember standing on that ramp looking down at the blur of fatigue.

20:52.544 --> 20:54.546
[UNKNOWN]: Hard faces hardened by the past few days.

20:54.906 --> 20:57.088
[UNKNOWN]: Body's heavy with the weight of the coming mission.

20:57.548 --> 21:00.150
[UNKNOWN]: It wasn't just a clinical finality.

21:00.270 --> 21:02.992
[UNKNOWN]: I felt it was a sense of profound, heavy duty pride.

21:03.373 --> 21:05.054
[UNKNOWN]: This was the moment of professional commitment.

21:05.515 --> 21:13.954
[UNKNOWN]: I ran the account in my head and necessary ritual of responsibility focusing on the numbers because every single one of those faces was a brother I swore to bring back alive.

21:17.987 --> 21:20.510
[UNKNOWN]: And your first step is where, is it in a Kuwait?

21:21.030 --> 21:21.791
[UNKNOWN]: Where's your first stop?

21:22.572 --> 21:29.899
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, in the book you'll see, we went from free book Germany where we were stationed in our first stop was Kuwait.

21:30.400 --> 21:37.807
[UNKNOWN]: And let me just point something out that, what you just read, came out of an outstanding NCO called Michael Oten.

21:39.107 --> 21:40.888
[UNKNOWN]: Yep, that was his those were his words.

21:40.908 --> 21:42.389
[UNKNOWN]: Those were his exact words.

21:43.609 --> 21:47.891
[UNKNOWN]: I have a good relationship with all my NCOs and all my soldiers son and lives in Florida.

21:48.651 --> 21:52.772
[UNKNOWN]: And before I wrote the book, I kind of run it by him, showed him pictures.

21:53.493 --> 21:55.293
[UNKNOWN]: And he was like, wow, so look how young we were.

21:56.294 --> 22:01.396
[UNKNOWN]: And then there's a picture in the book that you'll see him standing there at the ramp that I just took.

22:02.456 --> 22:06.863
[UNKNOWN]: and I asked him what was going through your mind when you took that picture and that's exactly what he said.

22:07.764 --> 22:12.291
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, I mean I didn't read that part pretty says man how man look how young.

22:12.532 --> 22:12.732
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

22:13.193 --> 22:13.493
[UNKNOWN]: You know.

22:17.920 --> 22:19.320
[UNKNOWN]: So can't be ring, am I saying that?

22:19.340 --> 22:20.021
[UNKNOWN]: Can't be a ring.

22:20.241 --> 22:20.821
[UNKNOWN]: Go a ring.

22:20.961 --> 22:21.921
[UNKNOWN]: That's where you guys end up.

22:22.481 --> 22:24.722
[UNKNOWN]: And when you get there, it's time to train.

22:25.262 --> 22:26.362
[UNKNOWN]: It's time to get all your equipment.

22:26.382 --> 22:30.244
[UNKNOWN]: Your brads have been shipped over earlier so you're waiting for those things to show up.

22:30.844 --> 22:35.565
[UNKNOWN]: You talk about some of that stuff fast forward a little bit because we are considered a mechanized unit.

22:35.585 --> 22:46.128
[UNKNOWN]: We also had to complete high stakes, convoy, live fire training, this training emphasized immediate brutal contact rules, reflexive reaction to ambush and the laborious process of vehicle recovery.

22:46.588 --> 22:53.093
[UNKNOWN]: Every drill is executed at maximum speed, simulating the chaos we knew it's waiting, and selling a deep, almost religious adherence to procedure.

22:53.473 --> 22:56.876
[UNKNOWN]: The slightest lapse in a drill meant virtual death sentence in Iraq.

22:57.837 --> 23:06.463
[UNKNOWN]: The last most sobering training we had to take was cultural awareness, a crash course, and understanding local customs that felt impossible to grasp from a PowerPoint slide.

23:07.023 --> 23:13.050
[UNKNOWN]: and the criticality and the critically important rules of engagement, defining the awful use of force.

23:13.511 --> 23:23.863
[UNKNOWN]: These were the mental guardrails we desperately needed, the line between duty and atrocity, all delivered while the smell of sand and cordite clung to our clothes.

23:25.100 --> 23:43.555
[UNKNOWN]: You know, there's one thing that is very important, Jaco, that I had the opportunity of serving in a mechanized unit with the first time a division, but I also deployed with the 173rd Infantry Brigade, and so I've done both light infantry and mechanized, and the thing about mechanizes is not just your soldiers, you also have to think about your vehicles.

23:44.675 --> 23:45.996
[UNKNOWN]: Where to position your vehicles?

23:46.516 --> 23:48.697
[UNKNOWN]: Because your vehicles is an extension of you.

23:49.537 --> 23:56.800
[UNKNOWN]: And so, you know, about the two weeks we won't co-weight, besides getting the soldiers ready, getting our weapons, we also have to get our vehicles.

23:58.348 --> 24:08.811
[UNKNOWN]: The vehicles came in, and we had to load them, and then bring the vehicles to the firing range and make sure that they were all exact zeroed.

24:08.851 --> 24:14.292
[UNKNOWN]: The 25-mic is a beautiful, it's a beautiful gun, and it has a very distinct sound.

24:15.752 --> 24:23.414
[UNKNOWN]: So in a light infantry unit, you don't have the Bradley, you have strikers, but even

24:28.235 --> 24:34.063
[UNKNOWN]: You know, when you have vehicles, why, because you can move faster into the battle space.

24:35.145 --> 24:38.209
[UNKNOWN]: And you can use the vehicles, like I said, as an extension.

24:40.889 --> 24:42.891
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, they make a huge difference.

24:42.931 --> 24:43.812
[UNKNOWN]: That's for sure.

24:44.472 --> 25:03.349
[UNKNOWN]: Do you guys, you know, we have, we have home v's, well, in the sales teams we used to, in that time for the other vehicles now, but you know, I always compare this, I always thought of my home v's, the same way I thought of our boats in the old days and the seal teams, we would get issued boats and motors, right?

25:03.769 --> 25:06.191
[UNKNOWN]: And these boats and motors, motors are,

25:07.312 --> 25:28.248
[UNKNOWN]: They're like they're like almost living creatures and different motors have different personalities and we would name the motors and You know the classic one that I remember off the top my head is where we had a motor and one of my Patons It was named Frankenstein and it was a kind of made up of different parts, but it was it was strong and reliable But you know you had to kind of know how to work with it

25:29.068 --> 25:32.549
[UNKNOWN]: And we kind of had relationships with these, with these motors.

25:32.870 --> 25:35.551
[UNKNOWN]: And you know, some of them just run better and some of them don't run as well.

25:35.851 --> 25:40.692
[UNKNOWN]: And same thing with home fees, especially in the beginning of the war, we kind of got Hodgepodge home fees from all over the place.

25:40.712 --> 25:42.753
[UNKNOWN]: So we'd have, we'd have to plan.

25:42.893 --> 25:45.934
[UNKNOWN]: We literally had vehicles that we knew that could only go 55 miles an hour.

25:46.175 --> 25:49.036
[UNKNOWN]: And the other, the better ones could go maybe 65 miles an hour.

25:49.376 --> 25:51.617
[UNKNOWN]: So we, and we named all those vehicles as well.

25:51.677 --> 25:53.117
[UNKNOWN]: So we kind of knew the first nowadays.

25:53.537 --> 25:56.078
[UNKNOWN]: Did you got, did your Bradley's have personalities like that?

25:56.158 --> 25:56.398
[UNKNOWN]: Oh yeah.

25:56.918 --> 25:57.639
[UNKNOWN]: I figured it was nice.

25:58.459 --> 26:07.178
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, as you were talking, um, I'm a little guy, I'm only 5-4, and in the book you can see a picture of Sarmali, Battle Dwarf.

26:11.595 --> 26:18.181
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, just another outstanding answer, and you know now, if, if, like I said, I'm only five four.

26:18.281 --> 26:35.275
[UNKNOWN]: So the Bradley for me was comfortable, but if, if you're, like yourself, you know, five eleven, six feet, the Bradley's tight, but yeah, every Bradley, every vehicle of ours had had a specific name and, and it's own personality, you know, starting from the driver to the gunner.

26:39.538 --> 26:43.241
[UNKNOWN]: And you guys, what point did you guys figure out you're going to tell afar?

26:44.061 --> 26:46.983
[UNKNOWN]: Well, the original order was to go to Talafar.

26:47.444 --> 26:49.725
[UNKNOWN]: So when you do leave in Germany, you're going to tell Talafar.

26:49.745 --> 26:50.206
[UNKNOWN]: Correct.

26:50.266 --> 26:53.928
[UNKNOWN]: The order was to replace third SCR up into Lafer.

26:54.829 --> 26:59.012
[UNKNOWN]: And I do remember we flew in into Fopsike.

27:00.253 --> 27:06.598
[UNKNOWN]: And you know what to my surprise was that I always thought I'd rack would be like open desert hot and you know.

27:07.078 --> 27:16.485
[UNKNOWN]: And when we got to to Talafer it was like what meant February it was cold it was raining and it was green and I was like this was weird.

27:17.226 --> 27:18.266
[UNKNOWN]: I wasn't expecting this.

27:18.607 --> 27:21.989
[UNKNOWN]: Kids playing in the street and I'm telling myself we're at war.

27:22.309 --> 27:23.330
[UNKNOWN]: What's going on here?

27:24.511 --> 27:26.413
[UNKNOWN]: And so yeah, that was pretty interesting.

27:26.453 --> 27:31.378
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, there's a huge difference, even just between southern Iraq and even Baghdad going up to northern Iraq.

27:31.398 --> 27:37.264
[UNKNOWN]: I know, I know guys that would go and do a mission and it'd be hot, very hot in Baghdad.

27:38.045 --> 27:39.847
[UNKNOWN]: And get up there and it'd be really, really cold.

27:40.167 --> 27:40.687
[UNKNOWN]: And snowing.

27:40.788 --> 27:44.431
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, and I've had their stories about guys going up there and they're snowing the ground.

27:45.332 --> 27:48.757
[UNKNOWN]: So, so that's where you guys fobsikes, uh, or, is that all right?

27:48.837 --> 27:49.097
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

27:49.357 --> 27:49.958
[UNKNOWN]: fobsikes.

27:50.599 --> 27:51.480
[UNKNOWN]: You guys get up there.

27:52.281 --> 27:55.725
[UNKNOWN]: And again, you got so much great information in this book talking about what's going on.

27:56.386 --> 28:02.594
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, and let me, let me just share with, with the readers and everybody kind of like what you and I were talking as, um, you know.

28:04.033 --> 28:08.054
[UNKNOWN]: This book wasn't really written in six months or any year.

28:08.214 --> 28:10.454
[UNKNOWN]: This book is a 20 year in the making.

28:11.634 --> 28:19.656
[UNKNOWN]: And so I'd like to share this sort of a birdie is that for 20 years, just like all the other vitamins, you just want to forget and you bury it.

28:20.156 --> 28:25.657
[UNKNOWN]: Well, I took everything and just buried it in a taco box and just wanted to move on.

28:26.937 --> 28:29.237
[UNKNOWN]: But as a leader, I took a lot of pictures.

28:29.957 --> 28:30.958
[UNKNOWN]: I did a lot of journals.

28:33.538 --> 28:42.280
[UNKNOWN]: As those that read this book, this book is very simple, and you're going to realize every story has a picture, every story has a date, has a time.

28:42.920 --> 28:44.460
[UNKNOWN]: Why is that because I took the pictures?

28:45.400 --> 29:00.663
[UNKNOWN]: And all the pictures that I have are all dates stamped, the date and the time, and so I know when all the events that we were pretty much involved, you know, from laughter, destruction, you know, I have it all.

29:01.186 --> 29:05.992
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, and time really does get a skewed when you don't have those reference points.

29:06.172 --> 29:17.426
[UNKNOWN]: I know when General McFarlane came on and I kind of, for the first time we were putting, I put together kind of the dates behind the combat outpost going in.

29:18.547 --> 29:28.355
[UNKNOWN]: And what seemed in my head to be, you know, three or four weeks between each combat outpost going in, it was like days.

29:29.455 --> 29:33.719
[UNKNOWN]: And, you know, that was his intention was to keep the enemy off balance and keep going.

29:34.119 --> 29:37.281
[UNKNOWN]: And, you know, when you started thinking about that, I talked about this with him.

29:38.442 --> 29:50.309
[UNKNOWN]: the miraculous logistical efforts that you're going to have 200 concrete, 12-foot tall concrete tea barriers shipped in to go around Coppire.

29:50.629 --> 29:54.351
[UNKNOWN]: And then a couple days later, week later, they're going around Falcon.

29:54.371 --> 29:56.392
[UNKNOWN]: By the way, they're also doing eagles nest.

29:56.412 --> 29:59.374
[UNKNOWN]: This is happening just all over each day.

29:59.534 --> 30:01.835
[UNKNOWN]: There's so much effort being put forth.

30:02.435 --> 30:16.999
[UNKNOWN]: But in my mind, this was like, these things were like three, four weeks apart and when I finally, you know, went through the dates, I was kind of shocked that, oh, that was only a few days away.

30:17.239 --> 30:27.221
[UNKNOWN]: The only thing that there's one thing that I particularly remember was putting in cop hawk, which was the three eight up at the hospital and they pushed it a little bit.

30:27.321 --> 30:29.862
[UNKNOWN]: So my guys could have time to come out of cop falcon.

30:30.622 --> 30:38.904
[UNKNOWN]: and get refitted and go into a hawk, but it was like they had to push it like a day, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to be there.

30:38.944 --> 30:45.585
[UNKNOWN]: So it's just interesting that like you're saying, you have these timestamps on these photos, which are a frame of reference.

30:45.625 --> 30:53.407
[UNKNOWN]: Without that frame of reference, time becomes very tough to grab onto and make sense of when you look for me looking in the past.

30:53.692 --> 31:20.582
[UNKNOWN]: yeah and a lot of the pictures is really what helped me a lot of my notes was what helped me write this book and so you know when I write about a specific event that's the exact time because I took a picture you know and and I took a lot of pictures just as a leader I figured you know I'm going to take a picture and as I write my report I have a picture to reference like and I'm glad I did because here it is 20 years later it's like a time cap so

31:21.403 --> 31:32.456
[UNKNOWN]: Now, it's awesome, and again, before we hit record, I was telling you that I don't have many pictures at all from my whole Navy career, and there's a picture of me in Ramadi, but it's taken by...

31:34.273 --> 31:37.134
[UNKNOWN]: I want to say it was taken by the ops officer from 137.

31:37.214 --> 31:44.236
[UNKNOWN]: I want to say his name, but you know, I'm talking about, but I think he's took it and gave it to me at some point, because we just didn't take pictures.

31:44.256 --> 31:50.599
[UNKNOWN]: You know, those kind of considered, you know, op-sec, you know, seal teams, don't take pictures.

31:50.639 --> 31:53.640
[UNKNOWN]: And I, you know, kind of listen to that.

31:53.740 --> 31:55.500
[UNKNOWN]: So I don't have many pictures.

31:55.780 --> 31:59.582
[UNKNOWN]: And again, I just to reiterate, you and I are going to connect on

32:00.202 --> 32:13.712
[UNKNOWN]: Dropbox or something and I'm gonna get a copy of all these pictures because I should have taken more I should have wish I would have taken more, but It's awesome that you have them and you know you put a bunch of them in the book too Which is which is great because it really brings it to life.

32:13.732 --> 32:25.221
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, and I also As I was writing the book the self-pullishing company Strategic book advisors They just did a phenomenal job and they're like hey, you need a website

32:26.462 --> 32:27.302
[UNKNOWN]: I don't need a website.

32:27.503 --> 32:28.403
[UNKNOWN]: No, you need a website.

32:28.583 --> 32:29.584
[UNKNOWN]: Why do I need a website?

32:31.005 --> 32:42.514
[UNKNOWN]: And I'm glad that they convinced me to create an actual on her voices website that goes with the book because in the book a lot of pictures are black and white and so you can see it.

32:43.274 --> 32:46.857
[UNKNOWN]: But some of these pictures you can't really see the blood or you can't.

32:47.517 --> 33:06.874
[UNKNOWN]: You know, you can't, it doesn't really show you what you need to see and so on the website I started sharing some of the color pictures and so the website is an extension of the book And also I'm going through some of the videos because I do also have videos some good videos, some funny videos

33:07.995 --> 33:12.738
[UNKNOWN]: that I'm going to be sharing with the world because everybody needs to understand it like kind of when we first started.

33:13.718 --> 33:14.919
[UNKNOWN]: My book, What do I bring?

33:14.979 --> 33:17.560
[UNKNOWN]: This is a smell and taste of what Romadi was.

33:18.240 --> 33:21.062
[UNKNOWN]: And so in order to be able to understand and grasp,

33:22.712 --> 33:46.511
[UNKNOWN]: The importance of Ramadi, it besides the book, is the website, where you're going to see pictures from 20 years ago, and in fact, I also created a folder where 20 plus years reunion, some of the pictures that you and I took, it's in there and then I'm working on creating another folder for videos, for the last 20 years, I never had a digital footprint, I mean, I had

33:53.593 --> 34:01.102
[UNKNOWN]: You know, and everywhere I go, I always say, as a leader, if we were in combat, you know, you can trust each other.

34:01.142 --> 34:01.622
[UNKNOWN]: We know that.

34:02.123 --> 34:03.925
[UNKNOWN]: Well, as a veteran, why do we have to stop?

34:04.866 --> 34:06.007
[UNKNOWN]: Leaders continue to lead.

34:06.928 --> 34:09.131
[UNKNOWN]: Doesn't matter that we, you know, we're retired.

34:09.151 --> 34:09.711
[UNKNOWN]: It doesn't matter.

34:09.731 --> 34:12.194
[UNKNOWN]: I don't think it doesn't even matter if you're being retired.

34:12.394 --> 34:14.397
[UNKNOWN]: If you served, you were a veteran.

34:15.177 --> 34:22.261
[UNKNOWN]: And if you were a leader continue to lead, if you're so used to soldier, and so the website is an extension.

34:23.202 --> 34:23.842
[UNKNOWN]: It is helping.

34:24.743 --> 34:26.324
[UNKNOWN]: You know, I like to share this also.

34:26.364 --> 34:36.429
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, the amount of people that have reached an out to me through the website sending me messages and thanking me for writing this book and also for the website.

34:37.070 --> 34:41.212
[UNKNOWN]: You know, moms and dads are finally getting to understand what we went through.

34:42.645 --> 34:47.368
[UNKNOWN]: You know, being a soldier to us is like, I'm doing my job.

34:47.588 --> 34:50.150
[UNKNOWN]: There's nothing to talk about, like, yeah, I just did my job.

34:50.982 --> 34:56.743
[UNKNOWN]: but as a leader is our responsibility to continue to lead and share the stories of those soldiers.

34:58.244 --> 35:00.824
[UNKNOWN]: I don't know if this is the right time, but I do want to share this.

35:01.804 --> 35:06.405
[UNKNOWN]: When you look at the book, the front cover of the book, Jacko, I took that picture.

35:06.865 --> 35:08.986
[UNKNOWN]: And you saw, you immediately recognize it.

35:09.146 --> 35:11.406
[UNKNOWN]: Leave the whole task bruiser yesterday.

35:11.506 --> 35:12.907
[UNKNOWN]: You know, it was yesterday, yeah, yesterday.

35:13.827 --> 35:16.507
[UNKNOWN]: They immediately recognize the front cover.

35:21.309 --> 35:28.131
[UNKNOWN]: And then where I wrote a so just memoir from Cap Falcon, you notice it's a red stripe.

35:28.871 --> 35:31.071
[UNKNOWN]: Well, that red stripe is the blood that we all shed.

35:31.912 --> 35:33.232
[UNKNOWN]: You know, I am a proper heart recipient.

35:33.332 --> 35:40.454
[UNKNOWN]: I got shot, you know, just like Captain McCusker and I, we shared a close quarters of Binta Lafron.

35:41.114 --> 35:42.114
[UNKNOWN]: And so we both blood.

35:42.394 --> 35:45.355
[UNKNOWN]: And so that stripe reminds me, it reminds all of us.

35:46.596 --> 35:56.505
[UNKNOWN]: You know, for the blood that we shared in combat, and then in the top right-hand corner, I put the American flag as a symbol for what, for our fallen soldiers, that we can never forget.

35:57.506 --> 36:03.172
[UNKNOWN]: And so this book is written by me, every picture is me, and this is...

36:03.908 --> 36:13.718
[UNKNOWN]: As a leader, this is my way of giving back to my soldiers and their families, their moms, their dads, sons, and brothers, so they can truly understand what we went through in that time.

36:14.038 --> 36:23.428
[UNKNOWN]: And this book is not just about the army, it's about the CO teams, it's about the Marines, it's about all of us that at one point or another set foot at Calfalkin.

36:25.862 --> 36:45.762
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, no, it's uh, it's awesome to capture this stuff historically as well because, you know, people's memories fade and even just talking, you know, just this past weekend and we did the task in a bruiser reunion and being down in Texas when we did the the one one AD reunion, you're hearing stories that it when you hear them.

36:47.310 --> 36:47.971
[UNKNOWN]: you remember them.

36:48.151 --> 36:51.993
[UNKNOWN]: But if you wouldn't have heard them, they may have continued to fade.

36:52.994 --> 37:01.400
[UNKNOWN]: So just being able to document these things so that as people, as these memories fade, they don't fade anymore because they're captured.

37:02.420 --> 37:04.081
[UNKNOWN]: So it's awesome.

37:04.342 --> 37:04.862
[UNKNOWN]: It's awesome.

37:04.902 --> 37:05.642
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you for writing it.

37:06.783 --> 37:08.944
[UNKNOWN]: Um, getting back this.

37:09.004 --> 37:09.584
[UNKNOWN]: You guys up.

37:09.664 --> 37:11.705
[UNKNOWN]: You guys get up to a fab psychs.

37:11.725 --> 37:21.329
[UNKNOWN]: This is where you guys end up and you guys immediately you get it sent out to a place, uh, cop Burma and you say cop Burma wasn't just another small base.

37:21.369 --> 37:27.312
[UNKNOWN]: It was a pivotal U.S. Army combat outpostly located in the rural Alscar, skirts of Tallah Far Iraq.

37:28.292 --> 37:37.194
[UNKNOWN]: its position was chosen for its sheer strategic value located midway between Mosul to the east and Xinjar to the west yet uncomfortably close to the Syrian border.

37:37.654 --> 37:40.935
[UNKNOWN]: So that's where you end up as combat outpost Burma.

37:43.695 --> 37:57.118
[UNKNOWN]: Of course, you know, like it's it's it's uh rough living out in the combat outpost and what was your what was your mission when you're out there at the combat outpost where you guys

37:57.808 --> 37:58.248
[UNKNOWN]: primarily.

37:58.709 --> 38:05.772
[UNKNOWN]: Well, primarily, you know, we were responsible for a major artery where a lot of the logistics passed through.

38:06.473 --> 38:11.395
[UNKNOWN]: And so, Comparama, our backside of Comparama was just open desert.

38:12.516 --> 38:15.638
[UNKNOWN]: And so, a lot of the threat, a lot of the threat came from the front.

38:16.618 --> 38:31.703
[UNKNOWN]: And so we replaced 30 CR, and like I was telling you earlier, I was just amazed, it was cold, rainy, snowy, and I'm saying to myself, this is our rack, because it was actually very beautiful for the northern part, you know?

38:32.663 --> 38:33.344
[UNKNOWN]: It was very nice.

38:34.924 --> 38:36.865
[UNKNOWN]: I'm not fast forward a little bit.

38:38.725 --> 38:39.986
[UNKNOWN]: April 9th, 2006.

38:40.226 --> 38:48.450
[UNKNOWN]: The episode began around 9 a.m. We rolled out of our combat outpost Burmer for what was supposed to be a routine building search, our platoon never got past the first two houses.

38:49.210 --> 38:54.773
[UNKNOWN]: As staff sergeant Jeff Anderson led his squad into one home sergeant Michael Autton's team went to another Jason Barn.

38:55.853 --> 39:02.802
[UNKNOWN]: Michael's men immediately found the grim evidence of suicide vests and bags of fertilizer and explosive pack with metal shrapnel.

39:02.842 --> 39:04.164
[UNKNOWN]: This wasn't a casual hideout.

39:04.424 --> 39:05.385
[UNKNOWN]: This was a workshop.

39:06.206 --> 39:10.511
[UNKNOWN]: Next door Jeff Anderson had barely searched a room before his gut gave him a bad vibe.

39:11.072 --> 39:21.860
[UNKNOWN]: The room was unnervingly sparse compared to the rest of the furnished house, Jeff tugged a framed poster off the wall, revealing a vent-like opening, a known spot for stashing weapons.

39:22.261 --> 39:25.924
[UNKNOWN]: He dragged the couch over to boost himself up, and that was the trigger.

39:27.004 --> 39:33.926
[UNKNOWN]: I pulled the couch away from the wall and I heard this click-click-click he told us and that's pretty much when the couch exploded in my face.

39:34.846 --> 39:43.128
[UNKNOWN]: Amazingly, the blast only deafened Jeff for a few seconds before the smoke cleared a hand grenade drop from the hole, skittered across the floor and exploded.

39:43.428 --> 39:46.569
[UNKNOWN]: The gunman was cornered inside the wall and he was fighting to the death.

39:47.189 --> 39:48.609
[UNKNOWN]: This wasn't a typical engagement.

39:48.689 --> 39:53.450
[UNKNOWN]: Captain McCusker noted that the most of these guys fire and flee,

39:57.111 --> 40:05.355
[UNKNOWN]: After pouring over a thousand rounds and exhausting our grenades, the gunman stayed hunkered down with his submachine gun and collision a cough.

40:05.716 --> 40:07.557
[UNKNOWN]: The situation demanded something final.

40:08.197 --> 40:14.720
[UNKNOWN]: Captain Makaskar knew someone had to go in and confirm the kill, but he saw the toll the fight had already taken on us.

40:14.980 --> 40:17.562
[UNKNOWN]: He wasn't going to tell one of his soldiers to crawl into that hole.

40:18.342 --> 40:25.807
[UNKNOWN]: in a decision that defined his leadership, Captain McCusker, armed himself with a flashlight and his nine milliliters pistol, and squeezed into the opening.

40:26.267 --> 40:33.071
[UNKNOWN]: As the lieutenant, I was immediately behind him, covering the entry with my M4 carbine, specialist Jeremy Ili, my saying that right.

40:33.091 --> 40:33.331
[UNKNOWN]: Correct.

40:33.892 --> 40:38.314
[UNKNOWN]: Ili stacked directly behind me, we moved as a team disciplined to the last inch.

40:39.635 --> 40:43.417
[UNKNOWN]: Captain McCusker's shone is light into the hole, and that was all the enemy needed.

40:43.737 --> 40:48.740
[UNKNOWN]: He immediately opened fire with his AK-47, the burst was instantaneous and deafening.

40:49.020 --> 40:52.342
[UNKNOWN]: The rounds went right past the captain's face and straight toward me.

40:53.022 --> 40:59.126
[UNKNOWN]: One moment I was standing with my M4, ready, and the next around struck the optic of my M4.

40:59.506 --> 41:01.207
[UNKNOWN]: The impact was violent, the force

41:01.687 --> 41:10.937
[UNKNOWN]: Combined with the shrapnel spray from the broken optic through me back, I was instantly bleeding from my face and left hand, feeling the dizzying, dizzying, concussion as I fell.

41:11.257 --> 41:20.326
[UNKNOWN]: The optic had absorbed the round, saving my life, and the military issued glasses I wore, shielded my eyes from the shattering plastic and debris.

41:20.646 --> 41:24.671
[UNKNOWN]: Without those army issued ballistic glasses, I would be blind today.

41:25.231 --> 41:36.197
[UNKNOWN]: Specialist Jeremy Ili, the man stacked right behind me didn't hesitate, he reacted instantly, dropping his body over-mind to cover me from further fire while simultaneously returning fire into the opening.

41:36.717 --> 41:45.622
[UNKNOWN]: Lying there, con custom bleeding, all I felt was the intense searing heat of his brass casings, raining down on my neck and back as he stood his ground.

41:46.363 --> 41:50.005
[UNKNOWN]: He kept that unrelenting fire until both the captain and I were clear.

41:50.705 --> 41:56.069
[UNKNOWN]: Captain McCusker, bleeding from the concrete fragments that had peppered his face, managed to pull himself out.

41:56.370 --> 41:59.792
[UNKNOWN]: He looked up at me and asked the question, we all ask, am I shot?

42:00.273 --> 42:01.494
[UNKNOWN]: I confirmed he was bleeding.

42:01.894 --> 42:03.555
[UNKNOWN]: The evacuation didn't end the battle.

42:03.875 --> 42:07.818
[UNKNOWN]: We moved to the medical tent to treat the shrapnel, but the fight raged on.

42:08.079 --> 42:12.382
[UNKNOWN]: Captain McCusker, seeing the enemies fanatical will decide to end the standoff.

42:12.662 --> 42:21.825
[UNKNOWN]: He ordered and brought the explosive ordinance to disposal team back and detonated four blocks of C4 systematically demolishing the entire second floor of the building.

42:23.806 --> 42:28.088
[UNKNOWN]: A week later when I spoke to Specialist Jeremy, Ili about that moment, he kept it simple.

42:28.148 --> 42:29.428
[UNKNOWN]: Sir, I believed you were dead.

42:29.588 --> 42:31.049
[UNKNOWN]: I covered you and returned fire.

42:31.369 --> 42:35.770
[UNKNOWN]: He had stood his ground, returning fire until both the captain and I were successfully ex-filled.

42:36.371 --> 42:39.232
[UNKNOWN]: That moment was the definition of professionalism and brotherhood.

42:40.212 --> 42:45.035
[UNKNOWN]: When I was finally cleared from the medical clinic, I was given the option to take recovery leave.

42:45.916 --> 42:46.876
[UNKNOWN]: I chose to stay.

42:47.496 --> 42:49.998
[UNKNOWN]: When I returned to the outpost, the soldiers asked me why.

42:50.698 --> 43:01.104
[UNKNOWN]: I looked at the exhausted, dust caked faces of the men who had just fought for five hours, who had literally laid their bodies over mine and told them the truth, because this is home now with you guys.

43:02.245 --> 43:08.869
[UNKNOWN]: It was a loyalty forged and fire, a bond thicker than any family tie, and it was why I was still standing.

43:12.361 --> 43:16.547
[UNKNOWN]: You got your optic right there with a bullet hole in the front of it.

43:16.567 --> 43:17.008
[UNKNOWN]: This is it.

43:18.590 --> 43:24.099
[UNKNOWN]: This is, you know, everybody has something that

43:25.503 --> 43:28.704
[UNKNOWN]: They'd like to look at, to either motivate them or inspire them.

43:29.084 --> 43:32.084
[UNKNOWN]: You know, when things are good or things are bad, I always look at this.

43:33.465 --> 43:44.367
[UNKNOWN]: I've never realized that the round or shrapnel, what hit it, what I do know is that it saved my life and so, take a look at that juggle.

43:44.547 --> 43:46.127
[UNKNOWN]: You see where the round hit, you know.

43:49.448 --> 43:51.289
[UNKNOWN]: And I still haven't.

43:51.489 --> 43:53.049
[UNKNOWN]: It was written off as a battle loss.

43:54.032 --> 43:56.413
[UNKNOWN]: And it was awarded to me when I got my purple heart.

43:57.174 --> 44:04.738
[UNKNOWN]: And I still, even still today, I have the actual glasses where you can see the huge indent.

44:05.039 --> 44:07.360
[UNKNOWN]: If I was not wearing this, I would have lost my right eye.

44:08.601 --> 44:10.582
[UNKNOWN]: So you got to trust your equipment.

44:11.203 --> 44:19.511
[UNKNOWN]: And then that moment in time, trust your equipment, trust your soldiers, trust the relationships that I've been forged.

44:20.472 --> 44:21.293
[UNKNOWN]: It's very important.

44:21.633 --> 44:23.916
[UNKNOWN]: You know, staffs aren't on.

44:24.616 --> 44:26.398
[UNKNOWN]: Staffs aren't Jeff Anderson.

44:27.019 --> 44:27.620
[UNKNOWN]: So aren't on.

44:28.340 --> 44:28.501
[UNKNOWN]: Ali.

44:29.941 --> 44:33.322
[UNKNOWN]: My paternal son, you know, the actual I.D.

44:33.722 --> 44:45.344
[UNKNOWN]: or the suicide vest that son, Michael on, on found, I have a video of that, of that actual vest, and we blew it up in place.

44:45.464 --> 44:46.344
[UNKNOWN]: I have a video of that.

44:48.144 --> 44:49.705
[UNKNOWN]: And Gab McCasker leading from the front?

44:49.725 --> 44:50.845
[UNKNOWN]: Yes, leading from the front.

44:51.725 --> 44:52.365
[UNKNOWN]: He's a stud.

44:52.885 --> 44:56.346
[UNKNOWN]: Oh, he's just absolutely just an awesome lead of the up.

44:59.107 --> 44:59.708
[UNKNOWN]: outstanding.

45:01.829 --> 45:04.531
[UNKNOWN]: He got some other good stories.

45:04.571 --> 45:05.032
[UNKNOWN]: Get the book.

45:05.132 --> 45:06.673
[UNKNOWN]: If you're listening to this right now, just get the book.

45:07.133 --> 45:08.414
[UNKNOWN]: I'm going to fast forward a little bit.

45:09.275 --> 45:14.078
[UNKNOWN]: The City of Tallahafar and Cobb Burma became more than just a backdrop to our deployment.

45:14.659 --> 45:17.941
[UNKNOWN]: It was a forge a place where we hammered out fierce bonds.

45:18.782 --> 45:21.864
[UNKNOWN]: Overcame deep challenges and faced shared uncertainty.

45:23.955 --> 45:26.116
[UNKNOWN]: Of course, you and I both know that that didn't last too long.

45:26.136 --> 45:26.856
[UNKNOWN]: What are you guys up there?

45:27.357 --> 45:29.678
[UNKNOWN]: Three, three, four months or something like that?

45:29.718 --> 45:30.678
[UNKNOWN]: About three, four months, yeah.

45:30.858 --> 45:36.881
[UNKNOWN]: And, you know, I started off this whole thing by reading about, when you guys find out, you're going to Ramadi.

45:37.921 --> 45:39.282
[UNKNOWN]: And...

45:40.962 --> 45:41.723
[UNKNOWN]: Well that's what happens.

45:43.684 --> 45:44.464
[UNKNOWN]: Fast forward a little bit.

45:44.584 --> 45:48.365
[UNKNOWN]: Our unit arrived in May 2006 to provide critical support and to shift the tide.

45:48.425 --> 45:54.328
[UNKNOWN]: We inherited a desperate situation, but we brought heavy firepower and focused determination of a mechanized unit.

45:54.808 --> 46:05.412
[UNKNOWN]: Over the next year, through relentless patrolling, clearing operations and focused application of combat power, we'd work alongside the Marines, Navy Seals, and other coalition forces to fundamentally change

46:08.550 --> 46:15.556
[UNKNOWN]: When you guys were heading down there, are you guys are you guys reading through Intel reports?

46:15.896 --> 46:17.798
[UNKNOWN]: Like, what are you guys doing to prep for what's coming?

46:18.689 --> 46:20.290
[UNKNOWN]: Well, there wasn't really much prep.

46:20.791 --> 46:25.455
[UNKNOWN]: It was more, we got the orders and it was simple.

46:26.075 --> 46:30.919
[UNKNOWN]: We're going to Ramadi, however, no one, no loved ones need to know.

46:31.559 --> 46:39.646
[UNKNOWN]: And so it was interesting because telling you soldiers, we're going to Ramadi and everybody knew at the time, Ramadi was the dangerous city.

46:39.686 --> 46:47.212
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, Ramadi was a lost city that everybody, you know, really not fast, it's gone.

46:47.962 --> 46:49.883
[UNKNOWN]: And so, um, and the casualty.

46:49.943 --> 46:50.904
[UNKNOWN]: And the casualty.

46:50.944 --> 46:52.604
[UNKNOWN]: That's the thing that I remembered you.

46:52.805 --> 46:53.785
[UNKNOWN]: I didn't know it was going to remind you.

46:53.865 --> 46:58.507
[UNKNOWN]: So we were deploying in April, and I didn't, I didn't know it's going to remind until February.

46:58.527 --> 46:59.368
[UNKNOWN]: We were supposed to go to Baghdad.

46:59.488 --> 47:01.309
[UNKNOWN]: I did a pre-deployment site survey in Baghdad.

47:02.022 --> 47:04.824
[UNKNOWN]: to go and work with the Iraqi counterterrorist force.

47:05.104 --> 47:05.964
[UNKNOWN]: That's what we were going to do.

47:06.324 --> 47:10.447
[UNKNOWN]: We were all set on that, and then a couple weeks before the implement, I found that we're going to remind you.

47:10.567 --> 47:15.529
[UNKNOWN]: Now, I had been tracking the body the whole time, and I knew those totally, is the wild west.

47:16.410 --> 47:21.112
[UNKNOWN]: So the casualty at point reports alone made that very clear.

47:21.653 --> 47:29.377
[UNKNOWN]: Because Baghdad, I want to say, has, I think the number, like, greater Baghdad, has something like 15 million people in it.

47:32.188 --> 47:41.814
[UNKNOWN]: Ramadi has 300,000, 350,000, and Ramadi would have more casualties, so you knew it was going to be bad.

47:42.715 --> 47:50.720
[UNKNOWN]: And the area that we got was an area that the Marines would not go in, and if they would, they would get shredded.

47:51.360 --> 47:59.285
[UNKNOWN]: And so there wasn't, you know, in the book I write that, you know, Telafo was just, you know, the staging area getting us ready for Ramadi.

48:01.828 --> 48:06.739
[UNKNOWN]: And you also get, so you leave your battalion at this point, right?

48:06.799 --> 48:08.223
[UNKNOWN]: And you guys get chopped under the 137.

48:08.872 --> 48:17.298
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, Captain McCusker, Bravo 136, we get attached to, you know, Task Force Bandits.

48:18.438 --> 48:21.640
[UNKNOWN]: And then Captain McCusker gets assigned to Cup Iron.

48:22.461 --> 48:31.667
[UNKNOWN]: And then within that, Captain McCusker had to give one of its platoon to Bravo 137, Captain Byima.

48:31.827 --> 48:36.150
[UNKNOWN]: And so that's where I was assigned to Cup Falcon.

48:36.783 --> 48:38.643
[UNKNOWN]: let's get let's get into comp iron a little bit.

48:38.844 --> 48:46.905
[UNKNOWN]: So again, people that have been listening to this podcast, they know all this stuff because I've had, you know, General McFarlane, we brief the whole thing.

48:47.866 --> 48:57.088
[UNKNOWN]: But we're putting these combat outposts inside the city and you go through some of the stuff in the books while you kind of explain the strategy and the strategy that that it's actually the strategy that

48:58.509 --> 49:01.793
[UNKNOWN]: Colonel McMaster had done with the third ACR up in Tallahfort.

49:01.813 --> 49:08.581
[UNKNOWN]: That's why Tallahfort was pacified because these or relatively pacified was because they'd put combat out post throughout the city.

49:09.502 --> 49:10.663
[UNKNOWN]: General McFarlane showed up there.

49:11.144 --> 49:12.145
[UNKNOWN]: Kind of got the brief okay.

49:12.165 --> 49:12.886
[UNKNOWN]: This is what you did.

49:13.006 --> 49:13.266
[UNKNOWN]: Cool.

49:13.406 --> 49:14.107
[UNKNOWN]: We're going to remind you.

49:14.127 --> 49:15.428
[UNKNOWN]: We'll do the same thing down there.

49:15.669 --> 49:16.790
[UNKNOWN]: So that's kind of the

49:17.731 --> 49:19.513
[UNKNOWN]: the the genesis of the plan.

49:20.254 --> 49:26.139
[UNKNOWN]: But going into these areas that you just mentioned, you know, these areas where there hadn't been coalition forces in a long time.

49:26.880 --> 49:30.263
[UNKNOWN]: And when coalition forces did venture into these areas that you didn't go well.

49:31.765 --> 49:38.971
[UNKNOWN]: So Cop Iron was in South Ramadi and this was the first one that we were putting in and you say this.

49:39.632 --> 49:45.418
[UNKNOWN]: When we first moved into the sector that would become cop iron from mid-June 2006, the heat hit us like a wall.

49:45.658 --> 49:47.440
[UNKNOWN]: It was instantaneous and suffocating.

49:47.480 --> 49:49.782
[UNKNOWN]: The air felt like it came straight off an engine block.

49:50.142 --> 49:57.029
[UNKNOWN]: The city was already alive with the sound of generators, distant muffled gunfire, and the constant unnerving hum of a place that lived on the edge.

49:57.330 --> 50:03.075
[UNKNOWN]: We knew precisely what we were walking into one of the worst sectors in the worst city in Iraq at the time.

50:03.996 --> 50:07.399
[UNKNOWN]: The operation began before dawn on June 18th.

50:07.759 --> 50:11.982
[UNKNOWN]: We moved silently into the neighborhood the shadow is still deep enough to offer cover.

50:12.423 --> 50:17.106
[UNKNOWN]: The streets were narrow, winding, and completely scarred from years of relentless fighting.

50:18.187 --> 50:25.233
[UNKNOWN]: Trash tires burned in the alleys and the sickly heavy smell of diesel and decay hung perpetually in the air.

50:25.573 --> 50:32.058
[UNKNOWN]: We dismounted at the first major intersection and immediately split into squads running parallel clearances of the buildings on opposite sides of the street.

50:32.438 --> 50:40.505
[UNKNOWN]: every door creaked as if it hadn't been opened in years, signaling our presence, every shadow, every broken window seemed like it could hide a triggerman.

50:41.606 --> 50:45.069
[UNKNOWN]: In reality, the scene was one of overwhelming abandonment.

50:45.750 --> 50:57.701
[UNKNOWN]: Most of the buildings were empty, furniture overturned, walls blown open by past blast, doors broken off the hinges, somehow, wherever we're not empty, they had been used as fighting positions.

50:58.061 --> 50:58.501
[UNKNOWN]: So this was a

50:59.282 --> 51:17.254
[UNKNOWN]: the first big operation that the 137 was conducting, and I remember Colonel Tedesco, I mean he's epic, it is own right, but he gave an epic speech to while we were doing the warning order or actually

51:18.903 --> 51:27.589
[UNKNOWN]: and he gave an epic speech about, you know, the biggest battle, this is the biggest operation since the battle the R-dense force, and he was fired up, I was fired, we were all fired up.

51:28.429 --> 51:32.532
[UNKNOWN]: And we went and staged there by the bridge.

51:32.552 --> 51:33.913
[UNKNOWN]: What was that, was that ECP-3?

51:33.973 --> 51:34.593
[UNKNOWN]: ECP-3.

51:34.693 --> 51:37.035
[UNKNOWN]: So we all went and staged by the bridge at ECP-3.

51:38.175 --> 51:58.387
[UNKNOWN]: I don't know if you remember this, but we were, so my guys went over, lafes guys went over, and their plan was for them to go over and clear a couple buildings where the combat outpost was going to be, and then when the, when the ID clearance team came through, my guys would watch to make sure that there was no more IDs put in place.

51:59.328 --> 52:05.394
[UNKNOWN]: And if they got, if my guy's gotten trouble, we'd call the tanks over, call the brads over and get help.

52:05.855 --> 52:08.357
[UNKNOWN]: Well, the bridge was so fouled.

52:09.371 --> 52:11.333
[UNKNOWN]: There's these big concrete barriers all over it.

52:11.393 --> 52:16.637
[UNKNOWN]: It was going to take like three or four hours to before my guys could get support.

52:17.017 --> 52:22.141
[UNKNOWN]: And this is one of those moments where, you know, well, what kind of risk are we going to take?

52:22.421 --> 52:27.185
[UNKNOWN]: And so, Colonel McFarlane, we were in the back of, uh, what do they call it?

52:27.325 --> 52:30.648
[UNKNOWN]: One, it's a one 13, but it's turned into a command vehicle.

52:30.668 --> 52:31.589
[UNKNOWN]: It's a one one seven.

52:31.769 --> 52:32.269
[UNKNOWN]: It's a one 17.

52:33.510 --> 52:35.171
[UNKNOWN]: And so it's like a little command vehicle.

52:35.351 --> 52:37.532
[UNKNOWN]: It's a 1-1-3 that's been so we're in the back of this thing.

52:37.552 --> 52:47.196
[UNKNOWN]: It's like World War II I'm like having fantasies of World War II because I'm back there with the brigade commander and the Italian commander And we're looking at the baps, you know, and there's it's still a body.

52:47.236 --> 52:54.379
[UNKNOWN]: There's like tracers in the air and stuff like this and They you know, they look at me like hey, we're not going to be able to support your guys when they're over there

52:55.560 --> 53:12.892
[UNKNOWN]: you know we don't recommend you go what do you want to do and I was like well let me go talk to you let me go talk to the guys and I went to life hey here's what's going on Dave Burke was the the anglico guys said hey guys here's what's going on what do you want to do when of course life's like hey talk to the daddy talk to his guys hey here's what's going on and the guys came back to me

53:13.252 --> 53:16.215
[UNKNOWN]: Hey, here's the, here's the, what we got, where you over there quiet.

53:17.116 --> 53:19.239
[UNKNOWN]: We have air cover, we have an AC 130 overhead.

53:19.879 --> 53:21.381
[UNKNOWN]: We can call in more support if we need it.

53:21.681 --> 53:33.535
[UNKNOWN]: And worst case scenario, we'll do an immediate action drone, we'll bound back to the river and we'll just swim across, because we're fragment, we'll go and I was like, all right, so I wouldn't told them, then Chromic Frone said, Roger that.

53:34.155 --> 53:35.898
[UNKNOWN]: And Colonel Tedesco said Roger that.

53:36.339 --> 53:45.693
[UNKNOWN]: And so then they went across and then the clear the bridge eventually you guys went across and started setting this stuff up.

53:46.434 --> 53:47.576
[UNKNOWN]: But it was surprising.

53:48.380 --> 53:54.222
[UNKNOWN]: that there wasn't a lot of resistance on that first combat outpost.

53:55.243 --> 53:58.764
[UNKNOWN]: And there was a there was a range of operation that had taken place.

53:59.204 --> 54:03.045
[UNKNOWN]: I don't know if you remember this was a range of operation where they've been shot off target down there.

54:03.425 --> 54:09.908
[UNKNOWN]: And so, and I don't know if you remember this as well, there was a little clump of buildings south of Coppire.

54:10.908 --> 54:26.313
[UNKNOWN]: That was called Moose Village and so you know we're all thinking you got Moose Village You got this target that the Rangers have been shot off of this is going to be a this is going to be a fight and Interestingly as you put you know it was a book abandoned looking buildings

54:29.673 --> 54:31.034
[UNKNOWN]: And I have pictures of that building.

54:31.394 --> 54:34.796
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, that whole building was just completely destroyed.

54:36.016 --> 54:36.757
[UNKNOWN]: It was nothing there.

54:36.977 --> 54:37.237
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

54:37.817 --> 54:38.098
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

54:39.058 --> 54:42.720
[UNKNOWN]: Uh, you know, also it's also important to mention, we had Iraqis with us as well.

54:42.920 --> 54:44.281
[UNKNOWN]: So there's a bunch of Iraqi soldiers.

54:45.381 --> 54:48.323
[UNKNOWN]: We had T72s, we had Iraqi tanks on that one.

54:48.923 --> 54:51.825
[UNKNOWN]: And they came out of, I believe, Corrigat or, yeah, I think they did.

54:52.205 --> 54:52.845
[UNKNOWN]: I think they did.

54:56.087 --> 54:57.129
[UNKNOWN]: So fast forward a little bit.

54:57.209 --> 55:02.155
[UNKNOWN]: Once we had the area secured, the 40th engineer battalion, and logistics teams arrived.

55:02.175 --> 55:04.097
[UNKNOWN]: That's when Iron began to take shape.

55:04.517 --> 55:05.919
[UNKNOWN]: Cop Iron wasn't handed to us.

55:05.959 --> 55:08.903
[UNKNOWN]: We literally had to carve it out of blast damage concrete and dust.

55:09.263 --> 55:15.291
[UNKNOWN]: We worked onto the fierce sauna assembling hasco barriers by the section, filling them with whatever we could scoop up, dirt, rubble, broken bricks.

55:15.691 --> 55:21.998
[UNKNOWN]: The engineer's dozer pushed massive earth and berms around the perimeter while the operators worked under sporadic sniper fire.

55:22.438 --> 55:33.190
[UNKNOWN]: Every time a round snapped overhead, the operators would flinch stuck behind the armor for necessary second and then immediately push the dozers forward driven by the urgency of getting the protection up.

55:34.491 --> 55:41.156
[UNKNOWN]: And again, you know, I just said, oh, it was surprisingly quiet, but obviously it wasn't completely quiet.

55:41.176 --> 55:51.463
[UNKNOWN]: And actually a couple days later, that's when Corporal Chris Leon from Anglico, one of Dave Berks guys, was killed by one shot.

55:52.324 --> 55:55.887
[UNKNOWN]: And he was actually the first Anglico Marine that was killed in Iraq.

55:56.747 --> 56:05.837
[UNKNOWN]: So, you know, by no means was this a peaceful situation, but it wasn't as much of a fight getting the footprint there as I actually thought it was going to be.

56:05.938 --> 56:12.425
[UNKNOWN]: And where actual cop iron was established, I mean, there was, there were a little expose.

56:13.325 --> 56:19.329
[UNKNOWN]: And so their biggest threat was sniper firing, compared to Falcon, Falcon, we were surrounded by buildings.

56:20.210 --> 56:27.395
[UNKNOWN]: And so our biggest threat was indirect and IDs, but Iron had massive sniper fire threat.

56:27.975 --> 56:39.203
[UNKNOWN]: That at the beginning, we would do patrols during the day, but the threat was so high, Captain McCusker changed and we started doing missions more at night.

56:42.229 --> 56:55.000
[UNKNOWN]: And that during that mission, you were working for Captain McCusker, and then, as you were saying, once Combine was established, that's when it started looking like you were going to get chopped over.

56:55.020 --> 57:00.025
[UNKNOWN]: Well, let's, let's backtrack a little bit after I was established.

57:01.565 --> 57:23.510
[UNKNOWN]: You know, first between the 2nd and 3rd and we were all at our end, and it's in the book when, hey Miguel, you're going to go to Falcon, and you're going to be with Captain Byima, and we went to do a leader's recon with the rock limiting, it should have been a quick 45 minutes, turned into like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,

57:23.790 --> 57:25.692
[UNKNOWN]: turned into like maybe four or five, six hours.

57:25.732 --> 57:28.695
[UNKNOWN]: I don't remember how long but but what I do remember and it's in the book.

57:29.155 --> 57:32.158
[UNKNOWN]: I got hit with two massive ideas all within five minutes.

57:32.198 --> 57:35.902
[UNKNOWN]: I like literally we left Cap Iron across the train tracks.

57:36.562 --> 57:37.683
[UNKNOWN]: Not even a hundred meters.

57:38.524 --> 57:41.627
[UNKNOWN]: The M rap and front of me got hit with a massive idea.

57:43.417 --> 57:52.084
[UNKNOWN]: Um, what I'd remember because it was right in front of me and, you know, as you know, in the Bradley's, the commander's a little bit exposed on the hatch.

57:53.185 --> 57:56.027
[UNKNOWN]: And so I took that direct concussion.

57:57.448 --> 58:05.875
[UNKNOWN]: Now, here's another thing that is very important for people to understand is that at that moment in time, we're trying to assess.

58:07.684 --> 58:15.451
[UNKNOWN]: We returned fire, gained fire superiority of the objective, but I knew, I knew that we had to secure it.

58:16.032 --> 58:21.156
[UNKNOWN]: I knew that we had to dismount and get the engineers out of the M-Rap.

58:21.196 --> 58:29.324
[UNKNOWN]: So the first on Durand was with us, and the exos tank, he was also with us, Captain Fox.

58:30.325 --> 58:31.606
[UNKNOWN]: And the driver was, um,

58:33.362 --> 58:39.324
[UNKNOWN]: private Jeremy Brockton, and so the decision was made.

58:40.024 --> 58:44.026
[UNKNOWN]: Captain Fox is going to pass me am I right and take and secure the lead.

58:44.366 --> 58:52.669
[UNKNOWN]: You know, it would become the lead vehicle and secure the front, and then I was going to dismount to aid the engine soldiers inside the arm wrap.

58:53.369 --> 58:56.230
[UNKNOWN]: Whereas the tank is passing me am I right, and I'm looking towards my right

59:03.540 --> 59:07.066
[UNKNOWN]: hit the tank, lift it half the tank, broke track.

59:08.288 --> 59:11.152
[UNKNOWN]: If that decision was not made and I would have this money,

59:12.849 --> 59:17.853
[UNKNOWN]: we all would have been wiped out by that person, pray, I, I, I, I, I, and so the tank got hit.

59:17.933 --> 59:28.601
[UNKNOWN]: And so this simple mission of just a little's recon, just became a major operation because now, you know, I found myself with two vehicles destroyed.

59:29.642 --> 59:39.689
[UNKNOWN]: And so now I had to secure the objective, because as you know, juggle for the Iraqis to destroy a vehicle, that was a big deal for them.

59:41.030 --> 59:58.167
[UNKNOWN]: And so we knew I knew I wasn't allowed them to have these two vehicles and so we stayed there for hours until finally out of cop iron, the M88 recovery vehicle and I remember his name because I also took a picture of him's Staff Sergeant Penetta

01:00:00.176 --> 01:00:26.658
[UNKNOWN]: our company mechanic with the M88 came out to recover the M wrap and then we only have one M wrap available and so the other tank that escorted the M wrap I mean escorted the M88 that self recovery on the other tank and then all the engine soldiers out of the M wrap you know we put them in the back of my branch and we fought for hours because they wanted the vehicles and

01:00:31.081 --> 01:00:32.903
[UNKNOWN]: a little bit more to this story.

01:00:33.424 --> 01:00:34.305
[UNKNOWN]: I don't know if you know this.

01:00:34.686 --> 01:00:45.999
[UNKNOWN]: So from our perspective, talking to Colonel Tedesco and I remember he says here, we're going to do an armored reconnaissance and you're okay, Roger that sir.

01:00:47.121 --> 01:00:47.241
[UNKNOWN]: And

01:00:48.965 --> 01:00:50.666
[UNKNOWN]: I said, hey, you know, I can get my guys in there too.

01:00:50.786 --> 01:00:53.567
[UNKNOWN]: Like they can come and they can come and take a look around.

01:00:53.707 --> 01:00:54.627
[UNKNOWN]: They can see what they see.

01:00:54.667 --> 01:00:56.068
[UNKNOWN]: They'll take pictures of the whole nine yards.

01:00:56.568 --> 01:00:59.809
[UNKNOWN]: And he said, well, you don't really need to because we got we're going to have our guys.

01:00:59.829 --> 01:01:01.810
[UNKNOWN]: And I said, well, if you don't mind, we'll do it.

01:01:01.910 --> 01:01:03.010
[UNKNOWN]: You know, just so we get a feeling.

01:01:03.271 --> 01:01:07.452
[UNKNOWN]: We'll get to look at some Overwatch positions that we can go to that around the surrounding area.

01:01:07.492 --> 01:01:09.073
[UNKNOWN]: Maybe not necessarily the cop itself.

01:01:09.893 --> 01:01:11.154
[UNKNOWN]: And he goes, okay, you guys want to go down there.

01:01:11.174 --> 01:01:11.374
[UNKNOWN]: Cool.

01:01:12.034 --> 01:01:14.415
[UNKNOWN]: So I go back to life in his kitchen.

01:01:14.435 --> 01:01:18.878
[UNKNOWN]: And I think it was, I think it was Blafes Platoon Chief, Tony, Tony, a fratty.

01:01:19.838 --> 01:01:23.380
[UNKNOWN]: And I said, hey, you know, the storm is going to do an armor greconnaissance down there.

01:01:23.680 --> 01:01:25.641
[UNKNOWN]: And he goes, what do you mean armor greconnaissance?

01:01:25.922 --> 01:01:27.903
[UNKNOWN]: And I go, it means they're going to take their vehicles.

01:01:27.923 --> 01:01:29.023
[UNKNOWN]: They're going to drive and look around.

01:01:29.043 --> 01:01:35.947
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, it's so, it's so the opposite of when a seal thinks of greconnaissance, you know, we think of like crawling through and no one's going to see us.

01:01:36.567 --> 01:01:40.151
[UNKNOWN]: And so he was kind of just look at his face like what is an armored reconnaissance to even mean?

01:01:40.191 --> 01:01:41.452
[UNKNOWN]: I go means they're going to take their vehicles.

01:01:41.472 --> 01:01:42.633
[UNKNOWN]: They're going to drive and they're going to look around.

01:01:42.673 --> 01:01:43.654
[UNKNOWN]: That's an armored reconnaissance.

01:01:44.154 --> 01:01:56.246
[UNKNOWN]: And he goes, okay, but so while that happened with you guys, my guy Charlie Petune, Lace Petune went in and put her winning on the Marine Corps circle boats, which we had a great relationship.

01:01:56.266 --> 01:01:57.367
[UNKNOWN]: The Marines were outstanding.

01:01:58.167 --> 01:02:21.409
[UNKNOWN]: They went in on those boats, put trolled in, went into Cobb Falcon, took pictures of everything, took pictures of all the building itself, the entryways, the long access roads coming out of there so they could plan for sniper positions and came back and I mean we were back and done and cleaned and handing pictures over to Colonel Tedesco, you guys were still out there.

01:02:21.969 --> 01:02:31.792
[UNKNOWN]: And so it was good that we did it because we were able to, we, we know we had been in golf Falcon and we knew what was going to happen and we knew, had imagery of this situation, but yeah, that was devastating to hear.

01:02:32.112 --> 01:02:34.233
[UNKNOWN]: But thankfully, you guys didn't lose anybody on that.

01:02:34.293 --> 01:02:34.453
[UNKNOWN]: No.

01:02:34.933 --> 01:02:41.176
[UNKNOWN]: And the other thing, too, was that it wasn't just necessarily at least a streetcon.

01:02:41.256 --> 01:02:45.437
[UNKNOWN]: It was also rock-claring because they changed it exactly.

01:02:45.557 --> 01:02:48.378
[UNKNOWN]: And so every night, you had a rock-claring scene.

01:02:49.918 --> 01:02:52.341
[UNKNOWN]: patrolling, clearing these routes daily.

01:02:52.682 --> 01:02:55.205
[UNKNOWN]: And so the decision was made.

01:02:55.225 --> 01:03:02.014
[UNKNOWN]: Hey, part of the rock clearing, Miguel, you and the leadership, you guys are going to go follow the rock clearing.

01:03:02.155 --> 01:03:04.137
[UNKNOWN]: You'll be the security element.

01:03:04.277 --> 01:03:06.020
[UNKNOWN]: Was the em wrap in front of you as a dagger?

01:03:06.440 --> 01:03:26.077
[UNKNOWN]: it was in front of me yeah was it one of the like one of the mine clearance vehicles yeah with the robot on board with the robot yeah and the rollers yeah and the rollers but it was you can tell it was command detonated because it hit the vehicle right and you you can see it in the book and I think I think I uploaded the picture on the website literally I split the vehicle into

01:03:27.759 --> 01:03:41.948
[UNKNOWN]: And so it was meant to be looked like a rock clearing and then we were going to go see and pass in front of Falkins and from my perspective you know what I was looking for is like maneuvering the vehicles.

01:03:42.708 --> 01:04:04.988
[UNKNOWN]: Tide alleyways because up until now for it happened to me it happened to us a couple of times In the map you think you can drive a vehicle through through this street, but you didn't realize it was a Thai alley And you can drive the Bradley through and so rock I mean leaders recon without vehicles was very very important because I never wanted to find myself in that position where

01:04:06.149 --> 01:04:11.572
[UNKNOWN]: where, you know, we drive the vehicle in, and then we can't do really a pivot turn, or we can't get out.

01:04:12.172 --> 01:04:14.353
[UNKNOWN]: And so that rock clearance was very important.

01:04:14.533 --> 01:04:19.696
[UNKNOWN]: But once again, it should have been a 45 minute mission, and we were there for hours.

01:04:19.716 --> 01:04:22.897
[UNKNOWN]: And that wasn't the last time that that happened either.

01:04:23.017 --> 01:04:23.738
[UNKNOWN]: This stuff happened.

01:04:24.418 --> 01:04:37.824
[UNKNOWN]: Uh, before we jump in this next, I got a, I was, uh, talking to Mike Bima and Lave sent Mike, uh, an email that, that you were coming on the podcast, and so, uh, here's my main gun, Mike.

01:04:39.425 --> 01:04:45.611
[UNKNOWN]: wanted to say this June 2006 for Mody Iraq, Arbor Gade was preparing to launch the offensive that would clear the city of Al Qaeda.

01:04:46.152 --> 01:04:51.016
[UNKNOWN]: Just days before we crossed the line of departure of the task organization, for the operation became official.

01:04:51.076 --> 01:04:57.603
[UNKNOWN]: That's when an infantry platoon from Bravo Company, first battalion 36 infantry regiment was attached to my company.

01:04:58.203 --> 01:05:02.768
[UNKNOWN]: The platoon leader's name was Miguel Santana, his company commander was Mike McCusker.

01:05:03.448 --> 01:05:04.768
[UNKNOWN]: I already knew Mike's reputation.

01:05:04.848 --> 01:05:07.869
[UNKNOWN]: Every brigade has officers whose names travel ahead of them.

01:05:08.249 --> 01:05:09.310
[UNKNOWN]: Mike was one of those men.

01:05:09.430 --> 01:05:15.751
[UNKNOWN]: Just months earlier, in Tallahafar, he would be wounded crawling toward a fortified machine gun bunker to destroy it.

01:05:16.331 --> 01:05:18.472
[UNKNOWN]: He was the kind of leader and you everyone respected.

01:05:19.052 --> 01:05:22.713
[UNKNOWN]: So when I learned he was sending me one of his platoons, I wondered what I was getting.

01:05:23.453 --> 01:05:26.396
[UNKNOWN]: company commanders usually keep their best-full-tune leaders.

01:05:27.036 --> 01:05:29.599
[UNKNOWN]: They also keep the ones who need the most supervision.

01:05:29.979 --> 01:05:35.564
[UNKNOWN]: If they have to give one away, they send the one in the middle, the dependable one, the replaceable one.

01:05:36.665 --> 01:05:38.687
[UNKNOWN]: Then Miguel walked into my command post.

01:05:39.327 --> 01:05:45.309
[UNKNOWN]: He wasn't physically imposing, maybe about five foot six, maybe five eight if he countered his boots.

01:05:45.749 --> 01:05:49.770
[UNKNOWN]: His uniform is dirty, nothing about him screamed future legend.

01:05:50.630 --> 01:05:54.491
[UNKNOWN]: That first impression lasted about five minutes, then he started talking.

01:05:55.091 --> 01:06:01.593
[UNKNOWN]: You could tell immediately he loved being an infantryman, not because he said it, because it came through and everything he talked about.

01:06:01.933 --> 01:06:05.394
[UNKNOWN]: His soldiers, the mission, training, closing with the enemy.

01:06:06.414 --> 01:06:10.315
[UNKNOWN]: There wasn't any bravado, just quiet confidence and complete commitment.

01:06:11.056 --> 01:06:13.337
[UNKNOWN]: Over the next nine months, I watched him lead.

01:06:13.997 --> 01:06:16.778
[UNKNOWN]: Mission after mission, firefight after firefight.

01:06:17.398 --> 01:06:20.119
[UNKNOWN]: Their markable thing wasn't that he was fearless.

01:06:20.179 --> 01:06:22.960
[UNKNOWN]: A lot of soldiers can be fearless for a few minutes.

01:06:23.560 --> 01:06:24.821
[UNKNOWN]: Miguel was consistent.

01:06:25.601 --> 01:06:27.382
[UNKNOWN]: He was calm when everyone else was amped up.

01:06:27.702 --> 01:06:29.464
[UNKNOWN]: He was preparing while others were resting.

01:06:29.764 --> 01:06:33.126
[UNKNOWN]: He checked on his soldiers before he checked on himself every single day.

01:06:34.367 --> 01:06:37.209
[UNKNOWN]: Eventually nobody called him Lieutenant Santana anymore.

01:06:37.509 --> 01:06:40.571
[UNKNOWN]: Not the soldiers, not the Marines, not the seals.

01:06:41.412 --> 01:06:44.634
[UNKNOWN]: To everyone in Teen Bulldog, he became pit bull.

01:06:45.554 --> 01:06:48.975
[UNKNOWN]: It wasn't nicknamed someone made up, it was one he earned.

01:06:49.716 --> 01:06:53.257
[UNKNOWN]: Officially, he was my platoon leader, and I was his company commander.

01:06:53.617 --> 01:06:58.959
[UNKNOWN]: We respect the chain of command, but War has a way of stripping away titles and leaving only character.

01:06:59.499 --> 01:07:04.761
[UNKNOWN]: By the end of Ramadi, Miguel Santana wasn't just one of my platoon leaders, he was my brother.

01:07:05.461 --> 01:07:08.802
[UNKNOWN]: And more than 20 years later, that's still exactly who he is.

01:07:10.183 --> 01:07:10.783
[UNKNOWN]: And quote.

01:07:14.103 --> 01:07:27.654
[UNKNOWN]: So there's Mane Gun Mike Pima, and I actually, when I emailed him, I said open invite when you want to come and talk about Bulldog and Mane Gun Mike, and you know that's another nickname that got earned Mane Gun Mike.

01:07:27.994 --> 01:07:31.657
[UNKNOWN]: He fired a lot of Mane Gun rounds out of his take.

01:07:32.658 --> 01:07:36.120
[UNKNOWN]: So that's how you ended up working for Mike Pima.

01:07:36.220 --> 01:07:39.223
[UNKNOWN]: You guys wrap up at a cop iron and now he needs to

01:07:42.105 --> 01:07:43.486
[UNKNOWN]: and we'll get into Cobb Falcon here.

01:07:44.607 --> 01:07:49.611
[UNKNOWN]: The successful establishment of Cobb Iron proved that the neighborhood outpost strategy could work.

01:07:50.532 --> 01:07:55.016
[UNKNOWN]: But the next step pushing further north into a denser, more hostile area was significant gamble.

01:07:55.076 --> 01:08:01.561
[UNKNOWN]: Falcon was a clear declaration of war on insurgent turf, a sanctuary that had long been off-limits except for short raids.

01:08:01.981 --> 01:08:04.483
[UNKNOWN]: This time we weren't raiding, we were staying.

01:08:05.484 --> 01:08:13.508
[UNKNOWN]: Cobb Falcon became the first outpost established in South Central sector of Ramadi, an area that had long remained under insurgent control.

01:08:14.409 --> 01:08:27.016
[UNKNOWN]: The first step was to clear the battle space around Falcon of entrenched enemy forces, but clearing alone was never enough, in previous operations and surgeons often returned as soon as coalition forces withdrew, quickly reestablishing control over the population.

01:08:27.356 --> 01:08:34.140
[UNKNOWN]: To prevent that cycle from repeating forces at Falcon were tasked with permanently holding the area through a constant presence in the neighborhood.

01:08:34.701 --> 01:08:42.383
[UNKNOWN]: The combat outpost became the anchor that denied the insurgents, the opportunity to refill the vacuum after operations ended.

01:08:44.881 --> 01:08:47.063
[UNKNOWN]: So that was the mission.

01:08:47.983 --> 01:08:49.264
[UNKNOWN]: And yeah, actually, you're right.

01:08:49.284 --> 01:08:53.407
[UNKNOWN]: You do have a picture of that vehicle just torn in half.

01:08:53.708 --> 01:08:54.208
[UNKNOWN]: Get the book.

01:08:54.568 --> 01:08:55.569
[UNKNOWN]: You want to see these pictures?

01:08:58.391 --> 01:09:02.494
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, less than 100 meters after crossing the main tracks on route central, key artery.

01:09:02.594 --> 01:09:07.098
[UNKNOWN]: The attack began, the lead vehicle, mind-resistant ambush, protect vehicle, hit by a massive ID.

01:09:07.458 --> 01:09:08.859
[UNKNOWN]: And this is the way you were just talking about.

01:09:09.540 --> 01:09:11.161
[UNKNOWN]: You got images of all this stuff.

01:09:13.892 --> 01:09:18.136
[UNKNOWN]: And then finally on June 26th, we pushed the full force of the mission.

01:09:18.316 --> 01:09:20.978
[UNKNOWN]: We moved from camper-modded to the objective at 0-200.

01:09:21.398 --> 01:09:25.602
[UNKNOWN]: The city was strangely silent as if holding its breath for the coming fight.

01:09:27.524 --> 01:09:28.465
[UNKNOWN]: I wrote one of your brads.

01:09:28.705 --> 01:09:29.485
[UNKNOWN]: I don't know who's it was.

01:09:29.925 --> 01:09:31.106
[UNKNOWN]: I want to say it was my cost guy.

01:09:31.126 --> 01:09:31.987
[UNKNOWN]: I don't really remember.

01:09:32.507 --> 01:09:36.249
[UNKNOWN]: But my guy's came in on the boats and then I went in with you guys.

01:09:36.289 --> 01:09:37.330
[UNKNOWN]: Were you on the first brad?

01:09:37.430 --> 01:09:37.990
[UNKNOWN]: I don't remember.

01:09:38.310 --> 01:09:40.511
[UNKNOWN]: Because I was in the first brad.

01:09:40.691 --> 01:09:41.752
[UNKNOWN]: I had a dog in the back too.

01:09:42.272 --> 01:09:43.513
[UNKNOWN]: There was a working dog in the back with it.

01:09:43.913 --> 01:09:44.374
[UNKNOWN]: Probably.

01:09:44.394 --> 01:09:45.774
[UNKNOWN]: It was hotter than hell, yeah.

01:09:46.255 --> 01:09:46.815
[UNKNOWN]: And noisy.

01:09:47.015 --> 01:09:48.176
[UNKNOWN]: And I never liked being in brads.

01:09:48.796 --> 01:09:49.877
[UNKNOWN]: I never like being in any vehicle.

01:09:49.897 --> 01:09:50.637
[UNKNOWN]: I don't want to be in a home via.

01:09:50.657 --> 01:09:51.598
[UNKNOWN]: I don't want to be in a Bradley.

01:09:51.618 --> 01:09:53.019
[UNKNOWN]: I don't want to be in him, but want to be on the ground.

01:09:53.419 --> 01:10:00.063
[UNKNOWN]: You know, sitting in there, especially for us, man, sitting in the back just when I used to it.

01:10:01.544 --> 01:10:02.684
[UNKNOWN]: We want to see what's going on.

01:10:05.808 --> 01:10:09.272
[UNKNOWN]: Let's see, fast forward a little bit, our objective once reached was a permanent statement.

01:10:09.932 --> 01:10:23.145
[UNKNOWN]: The seals were already at the objective, providing crucial outer security through their established Overwatch and sniper positions, knowing the seal team was in position, meant I had a constant critical need to maintain flawless situational awareness to prevent any chance of friendly fire.

01:10:23.625 --> 01:10:26.987
[UNKNOWN]: My platoon immediately moved through the neighborhood clearing structures blocked by block.

01:10:27.327 --> 01:10:32.290
[UNKNOWN]: The first building was seized, was a former community center school now nothing but a shell with blown out windows.

01:10:32.650 --> 01:10:39.094
[UNKNOWN]: We took over more houses, many gutted or abandoned with damage roofs and broken doors, exhibiting signs of previous intense destruction.

01:10:40.135 --> 01:10:42.616
[UNKNOWN]: The construction phase was a testament to courage.

01:10:42.636 --> 01:10:47.419
[UNKNOWN]: The engineers threw brought in pallet after pallet of concrete barriers over 300 of them,

01:10:50.961 --> 01:10:52.563
[UNKNOWN]: Hescos followed immediately.

01:10:52.843 --> 01:10:55.806
[UNKNOWN]: We built the perimeter in three essential essential layers.

01:10:55.926 --> 01:11:07.258
[UNKNOWN]: First, the concrete barriers to stop the devastation of a vehicle born improvised explosive device, second the Hescos walls for blast protection, and third sandbag rooftop positions for dedicated Overwatch.

01:11:09.220 --> 01:11:10.861
[UNKNOWN]: You've got some great pictures of the cop falcon here.

01:11:11.382 --> 01:11:13.283
[UNKNOWN]: You know what's when you think God?

01:11:13.524 --> 01:11:32.980
[UNKNOWN]: And the fire positions, the way we designed it, we actually brought an engineer, and we got 250 cows, build an actual frame, support for the 50 cow, and massive amount of sandbags.

01:11:33.180 --> 01:11:33.480
[UNKNOWN]: Oh yeah.

01:11:33.680 --> 01:11:54.828
[UNKNOWN]: all the way up to the roof and so the 50 cat was just to reach out there and then on top of that we had two four nine and the saw and the grinney launchers I mean it was just a massive fortress and you know I was just thinking about as I was reading through all that stuff it's important to remember that

01:11:56.489 --> 01:12:03.077
[UNKNOWN]: When you talk about reinforcing this stuff, you might think to yourself, yeah, I guess you would need to reinforce it.

01:12:03.097 --> 01:12:04.118
[UNKNOWN]: That seems like a good idea.

01:12:04.579 --> 01:12:05.840
[UNKNOWN]: No, it was absolutely mandatory.

01:12:06.481 --> 01:12:10.826
[UNKNOWN]: There was an ECP, I think it was 29 or 5 or 29, you're 29 or 3 up in to meme.

01:12:16.152 --> 01:12:36.481
[UNKNOWN]: that got hit and was devastatingly impacted with the uh... met team the ongoing the oncoming met team and the off-going met team leaders were killed a bunch of Iraqi soldiers were killed that the what we talked about earlier ECP three had been overrun all but overrun

01:12:37.121 --> 01:12:38.961
[UNKNOWN]: Do you remember getting down there?

01:12:40.082 --> 01:12:41.362
[UNKNOWN]: It was just nothing left.

01:12:41.802 --> 01:12:43.282
[UNKNOWN]: This had been a little outpost.

01:12:43.903 --> 01:12:50.964
[UNKNOWN]: And the enemy had hit it with mortars, followed by RPGs, machine guns, and then a vehicle born ID.

01:12:51.664 --> 01:12:57.406
[UNKNOWN]: And this combat, the ECP, down there at ECP 3, there was nothing left.

01:12:57.446 --> 01:12:59.346
[UNKNOWN]: You see twisted, hasco barriers.

01:12:59.406 --> 01:13:03.347
[UNKNOWN]: And I have a picture of us at ECP.

01:13:05.178 --> 01:13:12.825
[UNKNOWN]: One of our soldiers sergeant Crutoff took a sniper shot and the face.

01:13:14.277 --> 01:13:14.837
[UNKNOWN]: and survived.

01:13:15.878 --> 01:13:18.479
[UNKNOWN]: So I have pictures of ECP 3.

01:13:18.639 --> 01:13:21.760
[UNKNOWN]: I also have pictures of the devastation the aftermath.

01:13:22.360 --> 01:13:22.620
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

01:13:23.401 --> 01:13:34.065
[UNKNOWN]: So when we're sitting here and when we're doing the planning of how you reinforce these positions, it couldn't be any more serious because it is a real absolute threat.

01:13:34.245 --> 01:13:36.606
[UNKNOWN]: And by the way, those two that I talked about are just two that I talked about.

01:13:36.626 --> 01:13:37.286
[UNKNOWN]: There's there's

01:13:40.928 --> 01:13:48.274
[UNKNOWN]: The enemy did, you know, combined arms attacks and completely devastated, they did an OPPVA.

01:13:49.836 --> 01:13:50.957
[UNKNOWN]: They did it all over the city.

01:13:51.638 --> 01:14:00.366
[UNKNOWN]: And so this was very serious, you know, for you to approach it, you're talking about how you designed to get 50 cows up there and the amount of sandbags and the amount of concrete bears.

01:14:00.586 --> 01:14:01.647
[UNKNOWN]: Because you were going to get attacked.

01:14:01.987 --> 01:14:03.389
[UNKNOWN]: That's what was going to happen.

01:14:03.949 --> 01:14:12.057
[UNKNOWN]: And also Falcon 2, however, if you remember, Falcon was like right in the middle, there was a bunch of roads that led him to Falcon.

01:14:12.397 --> 01:14:15.120
[UNKNOWN]: So it wasn't just baseline in the center.

01:14:15.320 --> 01:14:16.481
[UNKNOWN]: We also had the back side.

01:14:17.322 --> 01:14:23.548
[UNKNOWN]: And so now, for those that don't know, the cover of the book, that tank, that was the main entrance.

01:14:24.733 --> 01:14:26.736
[UNKNOWN]: And so you had to deal with the tank.

01:14:27.276 --> 01:14:32.282
[UNKNOWN]: You had to deal with the 50 cows up in the roof, the 249s, the grenade launchers.

01:14:33.584 --> 01:14:39.291
[UNKNOWN]: And so after we initially took over Falcon,

01:14:40.623 --> 01:14:43.964
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, immediately we started taking in and direct.

01:14:44.624 --> 01:14:48.426
[UNKNOWN]: And after even we thought that, okay, we built it as fortified.

01:14:50.586 --> 01:14:58.249
[UNKNOWN]: So on Luhan, all my NCOs, we would walk the perimeter just to make sure that every angle is covered.

01:14:58.849 --> 01:15:05.811
[UNKNOWN]: And we would go out and we would hide and say, hey, sir, look, that's a weak spot.

01:15:06.312 --> 01:15:07.292
[UNKNOWN]: We gotta fortify that.

01:15:07.973 --> 01:15:15.475
[UNKNOWN]: And so we make sure that from every angle for Cup Falcon was completely sealed and you were not going to be able to get in.

01:15:16.904 --> 01:15:37.569
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, and you're right that reminds me of even the the indirect fire the morning that we were put it in there Current McFarlane came down and there was a there was a I was thought it was a mortar He said on the podcast he said it was a is a rocket was 120 millimeter rocket that hit killed killed the soldier

01:15:38.469 --> 01:15:42.952
[UNKNOWN]: If I recall correctly, I believe he took Shrapnel under his site playus.

01:15:42.972 --> 01:15:44.093
[UNKNOWN]: He came under.

01:15:44.533 --> 01:15:44.754
[UNKNOWN]: Yes.

01:15:45.474 --> 01:15:46.475
[UNKNOWN]: He didn't have a site play.

01:15:46.875 --> 01:15:48.276
[UNKNOWN]: They didn't, we didn't have site playus.

01:15:48.676 --> 01:15:53.059
[UNKNOWN]: And again, this is, you know, leadership from Karmak Farland.

01:15:56.487 --> 01:16:12.975
[UNKNOWN]: You know, I was, I was on the other side of that wall where that hit and, you know, he got cast of act and all that was terrible, but look, the next day of truck arrived with the sapply sites plates and gave mouth all the soldiers to get him in there.

01:16:14.475 --> 01:16:17.657
[UNKNOWN]: And I was always interesting to me, you know, being from the special operation side.

01:16:18.657 --> 01:16:28.302
[UNKNOWN]: The guys always prioritize being light, you know, and last body armor, and, you know, all of us came home from a body with a different attitude.

01:16:28.682 --> 01:16:37.066
[UNKNOWN]: And also besides the sideplate, you remember, we got to show the, uh, I don't know if you guys were them, but we had to wear the, uh, the groin.

01:16:37.186 --> 01:16:44.730
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, there was the groin once the guy, well, I would see the army dudes with the groin thing, with the shoulder things, with the neck, the neck collar.

01:16:45.550 --> 01:16:46.631
[UNKNOWN]: Oh, yeah, I knew.

01:16:46.951 --> 01:16:53.456
[UNKNOWN]: I knew the growing, but I didn't like the shoulder the neck because it's just, yeah, I'm a little guy in front of her a gunner.

01:16:53.616 --> 01:16:54.457
[UNKNOWN]: Oh, yeah, in a homie.

01:16:54.597 --> 01:16:56.519
[UNKNOWN]: Yes, all day they all day correct.

01:16:56.679 --> 01:16:57.219
[UNKNOWN]: All right.

01:16:57.900 --> 01:16:58.160
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

01:17:01.130 --> 01:17:02.050
[UNKNOWN]: Fast-forward a little bit here.

01:17:02.090 --> 01:17:05.631
[UNKNOWN]: Tasking a bruiser from Seal Team 3 established a presence within Cop Falcon.

01:17:06.431 --> 01:17:09.691
[UNKNOWN]: Further strengthening the combat outpost capabilities and operational reach.

01:17:10.092 --> 01:17:18.393
[UNKNOWN]: Their integration into Falcon reflected the growing importance of the position as coalition forces expanded their permanent presence inside the city.

01:17:18.793 --> 01:17:22.194
[UNKNOWN]: By late July, Falcon had effectively become a fortress.

01:17:22.654 --> 01:17:29.835
[UNKNOWN]: Reinforce with barriers, fighting positions, heavy weapons, and constant operational tempo that denied insurgents freedom of movement.

01:17:31.600 --> 01:17:33.861
[UNKNOWN]: and you got the, uh, a good picture in here.

01:17:33.881 --> 01:17:38.564
[UNKNOWN]: So we, we, you guys gave us a little house inside of Cop Falcon.

01:17:39.064 --> 01:17:40.445
[UNKNOWN]: The guys wrote Seal House on it.

01:17:40.465 --> 01:17:42.146
[UNKNOWN]: PTF big tough frog, man.

01:17:43.467 --> 01:17:51.912
[UNKNOWN]: And it was funny because yesterday, you know, and I got, um, laying the whole team and Nick and everybody, and I showed him the book and I showed him the picture.

01:17:51.932 --> 01:17:52.732
[UNKNOWN]: I was like, oh my God.

01:17:54.182 --> 01:17:56.223
[UNKNOWN]: It was like, it immediately brought him back.

01:17:56.343 --> 01:17:56.663
[UNKNOWN]: Oh, yeah.

01:17:56.943 --> 01:17:59.124
[UNKNOWN]: And Nick was, I really sent the pictures to him.

01:17:59.224 --> 01:17:59.984
[UNKNOWN]: I love that.

01:18:00.024 --> 01:18:00.745
[UNKNOWN]: So he has him.

01:18:01.125 --> 01:18:02.325
[UNKNOWN]: He's like, well, this is amazing.

01:18:02.746 --> 01:18:03.566
[UNKNOWN]: I don't have no pictures.

01:18:03.586 --> 01:18:05.827
[UNKNOWN]: Look, oh my, guys, got to see this picture.

01:18:05.967 --> 01:18:06.187
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

01:18:07.007 --> 01:18:07.207
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

01:18:07.788 --> 01:18:09.488
[UNKNOWN]: No, it was, it was awesome.

01:18:09.528 --> 01:18:17.712
[UNKNOWN]: And it was, because any operation to be conducted within that entire area,

01:18:18.472 --> 01:18:19.933
[UNKNOWN]: You could just roll out a cop falcon.

01:18:19.953 --> 01:18:20.533
[UNKNOWN]: You're already there.

01:18:20.653 --> 01:18:21.594
[UNKNOWN]: You're already in the bad.

01:18:21.674 --> 01:18:23.815
[UNKNOWN]: You want to be a you want to go get a bad guy in the bad neighborhood?

01:18:24.776 --> 01:18:31.460
[UNKNOWN]: You can beat you're in the bad neighborhood with with your friends from cop falcon walk out grab them come back knowing and lay in the whole team

01:18:33.853 --> 01:18:40.538
[UNKNOWN]: You guys will get intel and then you would come see us and we go like we're looking for this We're looking for this guy.

01:18:40.578 --> 01:18:45.661
[UNKNOWN]: He's a high-value target and the intel we got he's at he's at this house And I'm really not late.

01:18:46.321 --> 01:18:47.542
[UNKNOWN]: I saw this guy this morning.

01:18:47.602 --> 01:18:48.463
[UNKNOWN]: Oh, I saw him yesterday.

01:18:48.483 --> 01:18:49.103
[UNKNOWN]: He's over here.

01:18:49.163 --> 01:18:49.964
[UNKNOWN]: He got a picture of him

01:18:50.504 --> 01:19:00.690
[UNKNOWN]: You know, I got, well, as the other thing about the pictures, besides normal patrols, we did a lot of sensing patrols, meaning that I went out.

01:19:01.470 --> 01:19:08.554
[UNKNOWN]: And my job was to, with this biometric, take pictures and, right, what do you call that?

01:19:08.574 --> 01:19:10.495
[UNKNOWN]: Right, right, right, right.

01:19:10.515 --> 01:19:11.015
[UNKNOWN]: Right now.

01:19:11.216 --> 01:19:18.920
[UNKNOWN]: So every house we went, there was an age man, you know, there was an adult a man in the house.

01:19:19.580 --> 01:19:43.808
[UNKNOWN]: We took a picture and so all that information was being gathered and So I had the ability to literally like I went into every single house within my own battle space, and I got to see Everybody and so every time laying the team would come there like I'm gonna go looking for this guy I would either remember what I might have a picture and so the intro that you guys got

01:19:44.968 --> 01:20:00.077
[UNKNOWN]: was good, but then I finished it off, making the final tweaks, and we did some raids, some massive raids together that gave us huge dividends, because we were able to capture the high valley tiger you guys were looking for.

01:20:00.217 --> 01:20:04.139
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, there was also a lot of times where it got, well it got to eventually to a point.

01:20:04.739 --> 01:20:19.944
[UNKNOWN]: Where we would just call you up and say hey, there's a guy named, you know, whatever, whatever He's in we think he's in building 16 whatever piece Julia 16 and you guys will cool Well, we'll call you in 20 minutes.

01:20:20.344 --> 01:20:26.686
[UNKNOWN]: And you guys would patrol out there just as a kind of a standard patrol Sometimes sometimes as a rating force, but got come 20 minutes later.

01:20:26.766 --> 01:20:28.727
[UNKNOWN]: Hey, we got him What do you want to do with them?

01:20:28.967 --> 01:20:31.267
[UNKNOWN]: Now send them up to our detention facility.

01:20:31.347 --> 01:20:32.748
[UNKNOWN]: We'll interrogate him find out which friends are

01:20:33.588 --> 01:20:56.654
[UNKNOWN]: yeah so that relationship was awesome and you know we we didn't care who got to do the rain you know what I mean it was just please get these bad guys like let's get these bad guys and sometimes it made sense for us to go down there and help out and sometimes if it was a time sensitive target you guys could be there in three minutes seven minutes and one thing about the Bradley to is when I used to get these calls maybe I'll go get this guy for us

01:20:58.054 --> 01:21:06.678
[UNKNOWN]: Um, we would bring out either two or three Brad's, right, and about maybe eight of us, 10 of us will cram in the Brad.

01:21:07.758 --> 01:21:10.500
[UNKNOWN]: And so you would, you would tell me, go get this person.

01:21:11.280 --> 01:21:13.721
[UNKNOWN]: I'm, I might bring out 15, 18 of my guys.

01:21:15.862 --> 01:21:23.605
[UNKNOWN]: And you should see their faces when the ramp dropped and all of a sudden that one or two dudes And that one or two soldiers will come out.

01:21:23.825 --> 01:21:30.367
[UNKNOWN]: You would get like 10 12 15 18 of us Storming you know the compound

01:21:31.843 --> 01:21:37.267
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, when you talk about command presence, shock and awe, I mean, that was impressive.

01:21:37.928 --> 01:21:38.168
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

01:21:38.408 --> 01:21:44.433
[UNKNOWN]: No, it's great, great relationship, and I mean, it was this couldn't be any tighter.

01:21:47.800 --> 01:21:57.723
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, just the partnership between conventional army and special operations forces became critical element in disrupting and surgeon operations and maintaining relentless pressure on enemy forces during the campaign to reclaim the city.

01:21:57.783 --> 01:21:58.484
[UNKNOWN]: No doubt about it.

01:21:59.884 --> 01:22:00.644
[UNKNOWN]: You go on to say this.

01:22:00.664 --> 01:22:04.586
[UNKNOWN]: Cobb Falcon changed that we thought we weren't rating from afar anymore.

01:22:04.646 --> 01:22:05.886
[UNKNOWN]: We were in their neighborhood.

01:22:05.966 --> 01:22:08.487
[UNKNOWN]: Our operational template was built on constant presence.

01:22:08.927 --> 01:22:13.369
[UNKNOWN]: Presence patrols targeted raids, meat and talk patrols with shakes and local families,

01:22:14.929 --> 01:22:19.632
[UNKNOWN]: OPs on the rooftop's most nights, we moved on foot within minutes of stepping outside the wire.

01:22:20.232 --> 01:22:23.414
[UNKNOWN]: Our foot patrols ran from sunrise to sunset and often past Ms.

01:22:23.495 --> 01:22:23.855
[UNKNOWN]: Midnight.

01:22:24.195 --> 01:22:27.217
[UNKNOWN]: We walked the same street so often that we knew every crack in the pavement.

01:22:28.117 --> 01:22:35.242
[UNKNOWN]: Insurgents hit us hard at first, complex ambushes, machine gun fire from alley corners, mortars that bracketed our timing.

01:22:35.782 --> 01:22:39.524
[UNKNOWN]: But after weeks of constant grinding pressure, something changed.

01:22:39.905 --> 01:22:45.928
[UNKNOWN]: Civilian started pointing things out, kids waved, shop owners left their shutters open, longer.

01:22:47.029 --> 01:22:54.113
[UNKNOWN]: By late July, we were no longer just guests in the neighborhood, we had become a permanent accepted and feared part of life there.

01:22:56.157 --> 01:23:16.314
[UNKNOWN]: huge difference, just to explain to people that don't know the strategy and the war up until this point had been doing these targeted raids, grab a bad guy and bring him back to base, the next night, grab another bad guy and bring him back to base, but those raids only take an hour, and the insurgents are there, the other 23 hours.

01:23:16.915 --> 01:23:19.597
[UNKNOWN]: And so the locals, they have to bow down,

01:23:20.297 --> 01:23:22.920
[UNKNOWN]: and give passive support to the insurgents.

01:23:23.941 --> 01:23:37.213
[UNKNOWN]: But once we were, once coalition forces are there, it's kind of like they're doing America when you have a bad neighborhood and they put a police station right in that neighborhood they'll put like a police trailer and they'll start doing patrols and get more presence.

01:23:37.574 --> 01:23:40.316
[UNKNOWN]: Eventually the criminals, they just, they can't do anything anymore.

01:23:40.336 --> 01:23:41.838
[UNKNOWN]: If they don't have the freedom of maneuver.

01:23:42.698 --> 01:23:51.168
[UNKNOWN]: And so that was the goal here, and eventually the civilians that were giving passive support to the insurgents because they didn't want to get murdered.

01:23:52.089 --> 01:23:54.292
[UNKNOWN]: Eventually they go, there's a bad guy in that building over there.

01:23:54.972 --> 01:23:55.873
[UNKNOWN]: You guys need to go get him.

01:23:56.634 --> 01:23:57.475
[UNKNOWN]: That's how it ended up.

01:23:57.916 --> 01:23:58.336
[UNKNOWN]: And we did.

01:23:58.677 --> 01:23:58.877
[UNKNOWN]: Yes.

01:23:59.237 --> 01:23:59.998
[UNKNOWN]: You did, indeed.

01:24:01.199 --> 01:24:06.804
[UNKNOWN]: And you did indeed You guys are also You know, there's no rest, right?

01:24:06.824 --> 01:24:07.324
[UNKNOWN]: You're training.

01:24:07.364 --> 01:24:10.667
[UNKNOWN]: I write you you're down there with Iraqi army There's another thing people got to remember.

01:24:10.687 --> 01:24:12.168
[UNKNOWN]: There's Iraqi army and again.

01:24:12.208 --> 01:24:26.399
[UNKNOWN]: This is another thing that was a very People don't understand, you know We're there fighting alongside Iraqi soldiers You know that you are fighting alongside Iraqi soldiers you have Iraqi soldiers you guys are living with our Iraqi soldiers

01:24:27.059 --> 01:24:53.668
[UNKNOWN]: We task in the bruise were operating with always with Iraqi soldiers and that's one of the things that was you know with the civilian populist the The locals could definitely tell the difference between a bad guy and a good guy But they are the Iraqi soldiers are also gonna be better at that than we are obviously, you know, it's like asking somebody from You know somebody from Eastern Europe to tell the difference between a guy from you know Louisiana and Boston

01:24:54.528 --> 01:24:57.130
[UNKNOWN]: you and I can tell the difference between Louisiana and Boston and the heartbeat.

01:24:57.550 --> 01:25:01.814
[UNKNOWN]: But somebody from Bulgaria, they don't, they hear a person speaking, they're just English, right?

01:25:02.174 --> 01:25:07.919
[UNKNOWN]: But the locals and the Iraqi soldiers, and eventually the Iraqi police, they can tell the difference.

01:25:08.759 --> 01:25:10.080
[UNKNOWN]: And so that's powerful.

01:25:11.081 --> 01:25:18.526
[UNKNOWN]: No, in Falcon, you know, once we established it, secured it, you know, you guys had a permanent home with us.

01:25:19.267 --> 01:25:21.969
[UNKNOWN]: And we had the Iraqi Army with us.

01:25:23.150 --> 01:25:27.573
[UNKNOWN]: We were tasked to establish the first official police station.

01:25:28.293 --> 01:25:34.698
[UNKNOWN]: So we also had Iraqi police with us, living with us, patrolling with us, eating with us.

01:25:40.817 --> 01:25:51.385
[UNKNOWN]: the uniform, and the showing up with an AK, no mag, or maybe a mag in one round, I mean.

01:25:52.921 --> 01:25:55.422
[UNKNOWN]: But I mean, they did a phenomenal job.

01:25:55.742 --> 01:26:06.246
[UNKNOWN]: And once we took them under our wings and they realized truly that, hey, the people and the task bruiser, you know, we're not going to leave you guys behind.

01:26:06.346 --> 01:26:10.707
[UNKNOWN]: We're here to support that relationship got stronger.

01:26:11.567 --> 01:26:16.429
[UNKNOWN]: And then we were able to get, you know, the right uniform, the equipment, and they saw firsthand.

01:26:16.929 --> 01:26:18.270
[UNKNOWN]: We're not leaving you, we're here.

01:26:22.015 --> 01:26:31.162
[UNKNOWN]: Tasking a bruiser ended up with a whole contingent of guys, a small contingent of guys that just trained Iraqi police and just trained Iraqi soldiers up on camper body.

01:26:31.983 --> 01:26:37.407
[UNKNOWN]: The important thing about the Iraqi police strategically was that the Iraqi police were from Ramadi.

01:26:37.587 --> 01:26:38.488
[UNKNOWN]: They were tribesmen.

01:26:38.868 --> 01:26:43.309
[UNKNOWN]: And that's a whole, so yeah, an Iraqi soldier can tell better than an American, right?

01:26:44.169 --> 01:26:56.672
[UNKNOWN]: But an Iraqi policeman from Ramadi can tell even better than an Iraqi soldier and also, it's important to remember that most of the Iraqi army were Shia and the Iraqi police were from there and they were Sunni.

01:26:56.872 --> 01:27:06.435
[UNKNOWN]: And so there's a lot more trust that was immediately in play because this is like, you know, the kid from your high school, that you went to high school with

01:27:08.595 --> 01:27:19.058
[UNKNOWN]: So when he comes in and asks you something, oh yeah, you know, there's some bad guys over there where we need help with this or we need some more fuel for our generators or whatever the case may be and the Iraqi policeman can make that happen.

01:27:19.858 --> 01:27:22.799
[UNKNOWN]: And so that was another key component of this whole strategy.

01:27:22.859 --> 01:27:26.600
[UNKNOWN]: But once again, the reason I'm bringing all that up is because you guys had to live with them.

01:27:26.860 --> 01:27:27.821
[UNKNOWN]: You guys had to train with them.

01:27:28.081 --> 01:27:29.121
[UNKNOWN]: You guys had to patrol them.

01:27:29.721 --> 01:27:32.162
[UNKNOWN]: It's a difficult mission.

01:27:32.842 --> 01:27:44.329
[UNKNOWN]: And, you know, even though the enemy attacks, you know, sometimes we're back off a little, but this was by no means, by no means pacified in any way shape or form.

01:27:45.049 --> 01:27:49.612
[UNKNOWN]: This was still, you know, contact is eminent when you go outside the water.

01:27:52.152 --> 01:27:54.994
[UNKNOWN]: Um, so you guys are doing all that.

01:27:55.374 --> 01:27:57.255
[UNKNOWN]: Um, continuing operations.

01:27:57.275 --> 01:27:58.096
[UNKNOWN]: How often do you guys patrol?

01:27:58.116 --> 01:27:59.637
[UNKNOWN]: Would you say you're patroling two or three times a day?

01:27:59.697 --> 01:28:00.818
[UNKNOWN]: About two or three times a day.

01:28:00.958 --> 01:28:08.323
[UNKNOWN]: And then whenever you guys called and needed us to go raid and go pick up some, you know, high violet target.

01:28:08.503 --> 01:28:11.705
[UNKNOWN]: But on average, it was two or three times a day.

01:28:12.205 --> 01:28:19.377
[UNKNOWN]: Now, in the summer months, you know, August and September, and the pure heat, we would patrol, patrol early in the morning, and then late afternoon.

01:28:19.918 --> 01:28:22.923
[UNKNOWN]: But on average, it was like two three times a day, we would, we would be out.

01:28:23.184 --> 01:28:23.885
[UNKNOWN]: And it's funny because,

01:28:26.097 --> 01:28:32.760
[UNKNOWN]: The days that we didn't do two or three patrols, like maybe we did one, the soldiers, myself would be like, what's going on?

01:28:32.860 --> 01:28:33.240
[UNKNOWN]: What are you?

01:28:34.061 --> 01:28:35.201
[UNKNOWN]: It's like, it's bored.

01:28:35.621 --> 01:28:38.623
[UNKNOWN]: Sorry, come on, let's go, let's go out, let's do something.

01:28:39.583 --> 01:28:44.826
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, that was part of the, what kept you grounded is going out.

01:28:45.546 --> 01:28:53.610
[UNKNOWN]: Because if we didn't get no indirect or a small-down fire, you already start thinking, like, what are they planning?

01:28:54.351 --> 01:28:55.452
[UNKNOWN]: What's going on outside?

01:28:56.294 --> 01:29:01.441
[UNKNOWN]: And so you were eager to want to go out and talk to people and see what's going on?

01:29:04.826 --> 01:29:05.928
[UNKNOWN]: In the fast forward a little bit

01:29:08.193 --> 01:29:09.553
[UNKNOWN]: August 2, 2006.

01:29:10.734 --> 01:29:24.398
[UNKNOWN]: Team Bulldog, commanded by Captain Mike Bima, was tasked to conduct a court in search operation in sector J10, the Al and Alus district to kill or capture anti-iracky forces operating in the area.

01:29:27.038 --> 01:29:30.619
[UNKNOWN]: Of course, you know, Charlie Petune's tilting through is supporting this operation.

01:29:30.679 --> 01:29:32.400
[UNKNOWN]: You guys were out there supporting this operation.

01:29:35.909 --> 01:29:39.817
[UNKNOWN]: The atmosphere was thick with the dust of destruction at approximately 0-5-8.

01:29:44.147 --> 01:29:51.693
[UNKNOWN]: Navy Seal Ryan Job and his team were located in building 125 sector J-10 in a high-risk position overlooking a crowded urban area.

01:29:52.454 --> 01:30:00.020
[UNKNOWN]: Job, a disciplined and talented machine gunner, had been instrumental in supporting our fight as we pushed through the street below the enemy struck.

01:30:01.181 --> 01:30:08.987
[UNKNOWN]: The sniper round cracked the silence, tearing into Ryan Job's face, the shot instantly shattered bone destroyed his right eye and critically wounded him.

01:30:10.248 --> 01:30:22.340
[UNKNOWN]: The shock was immense, but the discipline of the seals was absolute, even with the life threatening trauma, Ryan stayed conscious refusing to succumb to the panic as his teammates instantly scrambled to save him.

01:30:23.381 --> 01:30:27.225
[UNKNOWN]: I was on the adjacent street with my platoon, rating the adjacent house.

01:30:27.745 --> 01:30:32.610
[UNKNOWN]: Immediately I remember the radio coming alive with all the communication about the seals injured team member.

01:30:33.190 --> 01:30:42.134
[UNKNOWN]: By approximately 8-15 hours, team Bulldog tank section began engaging the sniper position with 520mm main gun rounds.

01:30:42.534 --> 01:30:52.098
[UNKNOWN]: One of my Bradley Vehicle supporting the seal team also returned fire with 10-25mm rounds and 2-2 blanche to optically tracked wire-guided tow missiles.

01:30:52.618 --> 01:30:54.720
[UNKNOWN]: at building 99 in sector J-10.

01:30:56.081 --> 01:31:03.147
[UNKNOWN]: First Sergeant Louis Duran and I immediately began coordinating with the seal team on Ryan's Medevac while sustaining the fight on the ground.

01:31:03.608 --> 01:31:08.192
[UNKNOWN]: I began by repositioning our vehicles to support the seal team and by clearing the route.

01:31:08.632 --> 01:31:16.819
[UNKNOWN]: Ryan was rushed back to Cobb Falcon by Team Bulldog in the M-113 Armour personnel carrier, medical personnel at Falcon immediately began treatment.

01:31:17.840 --> 01:31:26.466
[UNKNOWN]: At approximately 840, we began exfiltrating from both objectives and move back to COP Falcon due to the high sniper threat and to regroup.

01:31:27.187 --> 01:31:32.671
[UNKNOWN]: However, Captain Bama continued to engage in destroy enemy fighters attempting to inflict additional casualties.

01:31:33.171 --> 01:31:37.413
[UNKNOWN]: his crew spotted a blue sedan traveling at high speed toward sector J-10.

01:31:37.773 --> 01:31:54.501
[UNKNOWN]: Inside the vehicle, our enemy fighters are armed with AK-47s by 09-15 captain by Bama engaged to additional AAF right riflemen located in building 65 and by 945 the call came quickly surveillance spotted enemy fighters gathering in a nearby building preparing for another attack.

01:31:55.101 --> 01:31:55.762
[UNKNOWN]: Captain Bama's

01:32:15.158 --> 01:32:15.759
[UNKNOWN]: carrying on.

01:32:15.919 --> 01:32:20.744
[UNKNOWN]: The seal puttune, all the support elements, and white puttune, which was your puttune.

01:32:22.466 --> 01:32:24.428
[UNKNOWN]: Now, back at Falcon, we didn't hesitate.

01:32:24.468 --> 01:32:27.511
[UNKNOWN]: Ryan had been hit and the only answer was to strike back immediately.

01:32:28.572 --> 01:32:32.597
[UNKNOWN]: By 1030, the seal team had mounted two of the Bradley's from white puttune,

01:32:33.077 --> 01:32:45.039
[UNKNOWN]: Headed straight back into the fight where Captain Bima was aggressively engaging the insurgents on the ground, White Potun took a defensive posture at Falcon, doubling every fighting position as Falcon was receiving direct fire.

01:32:46.280 --> 01:32:58.962
[UNKNOWN]: The seals and the supporting element from Falcon, breached the assault, breached and assaulted building 65, sector J10 as they prepared to make entry, the house erupted in gunfire, bullets snapped past walls and ricocheted through door frames.

01:32:59.662 --> 01:33:02.783
[UNKNOWN]: Inside building 65, the fight narrowed to mere feet.

01:33:03.304 --> 01:33:10.006
[UNKNOWN]: Hallways lit by muzzle flashes, stairwells choked with smoke, rooms where life or death hinged in their on fractions of a second.

01:33:10.667 --> 01:33:15.208
[UNKNOWN]: When the seals were pinned down under a storm of automatic fire from building 63, mark stepped out.

01:33:16.289 --> 01:33:19.330
[UNKNOWN]: Not because anyone told him to, but because someone had to break the enemy's aim.

01:33:19.750 --> 01:33:24.092
[UNKNOWN]: He moved into the open, his weapon roaring, buying precious seconds for the others to reposition.

01:33:24.472 --> 01:33:29.956
[UNKNOWN]: The enemy fire intensified, hammering the walls around him, but Mark held his ground until his teammates were safe.

01:33:30.497 --> 01:33:34.600
[UNKNOWN]: A second time he exposed himself, leaning out to identify the source of a new burst of gunfire.

01:33:34.900 --> 01:33:36.641
[UNKNOWN]: He fired back, suppressing the shooters.

01:33:37.742 --> 01:33:39.223
[UNKNOWN]: Then came the third final moment.

01:33:41.785 --> 01:33:49.331
[UNKNOWN]: Mark stepped into the opening, as he laid down another stream of covering fire, the devastating burst of machine gunfire, split the air.

01:33:51.112 --> 01:33:53.154
[UNKNOWN]: Mark Lee fell, struck down instantly.

01:33:57.421 --> 01:34:14.079
[UNKNOWN]: Captain Bima responded to building 63 with the crushing asymmetric power of our armored support, pounding the structure with 11 main gun rounds, four toes, hundreds of 25 millimeter cannon rounds from the M242 chain gun and over 2,000 coaxial machine gun rounds and one hellfire missile.

01:34:14.579 --> 01:34:20.324
[UNKNOWN]: missile into bunkered, insurgent positions when the dust finally settled the building was a gutted tomb.

01:34:21.385 --> 01:34:34.535
[UNKNOWN]: By approximately 1140, the end of the fight, the area looked like a scar carved into the city, burned out vehicles, collapsed walls, shattered windows, and a constant, a accurate haze of smoke and pulverized brick hanging in the air.

01:34:34.876 --> 01:34:40.840
[UNKNOWN]: We found 12 enemy bodies, intelligence suggested as many as 15 had been dragged away by their fighters.

01:34:42.041 --> 01:34:46.685
[UNKNOWN]: It had been the biggest fight since we arrived, maybe the biggest any is a of us it ever seen.

01:34:48.227 --> 01:34:57.895
[UNKNOWN]: At the same time, all of this was happening, Staff Sergeant Parallas, commanding the Bradley and supporting the seal patron on the ground, took immediate action and responded to the metavac call for Mark Lee.

01:34:58.656 --> 01:35:06.243
[UNKNOWN]: Staff Sergeant Parallas dismounted the vehicle, exposing himself by providing security at the back of the Bradley as Mark was being loaded into the vehicle.

01:35:06.644 --> 01:35:12.985
[UNKNOWN]: Under fire, the vehicle continued to engage AIF using its armor and 25mm cannon to shield the medical team.

01:35:14.793 --> 01:35:20.817
[UNKNOWN]: Staff Sergeant Pralas pushed through this push-through sector J10 and MetaVac Mark back to Falcon.

01:35:21.037 --> 01:35:27.682
[UNKNOWN]: At Falcon, the brigade surgeon had already stabilized Ryan and was inside the M113 Armour personnel carrier.

01:35:27.982 --> 01:35:33.185
[UNKNOWN]: Staff Sergeant Pralas and the Medical Team inside the 113 pushed forward to Charlie Metacamper-Moddy.

01:35:33.525 --> 01:35:40.310
[UNKNOWN]: Everyone at Falcon watched them go, breathless, exhausted, blood on their gloves and simmering with a cold, righteous anger.

01:35:41.050 --> 01:35:42.651
[UNKNOWN]: This was the turning point in spirit.

01:35:43.012 --> 01:35:46.454
[UNKNOWN]: The moment we went from a fighting war to fighting a vendetta.

01:35:48.475 --> 01:35:52.138
[UNKNOWN]: At Charlie Med, the medical facility was known throughout the whole battle space.

01:35:52.618 --> 01:36:08.709
[UNKNOWN]: It was staffed by a surgical shock trauma-poutine composed of some of the finest medical professionals serving in Iraq, made up primarily of highly skilled Army and Navy doctors nurses' medics and corpsmen, the unit operated under relentless pressure with one singular mission to preserve life.

01:36:12.691 --> 01:36:29.523
[UNKNOWN]: In the chaos and violence of Romadi, Charlie Medd became more than just a medical facility as a place where courage took a different form, where surgeons, medics, and corpsmen fought just as fiercely to save lives as combat troops fought to protect them on the battlefield.

01:36:34.767 --> 01:36:39.250
[UNKNOWN]: That's why August 2nd, my birthday, August 3rd has never been the same.

01:36:43.133 --> 01:36:54.480
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, I've, you know, late, and I wrote about the amount of support that we got from you guys, and this is such a clear explanation of it.

01:36:54.820 --> 01:37:01.484
[UNKNOWN]: You know, we only see our side, but to hear your side of it, exactly what you guys were doing, exactly what you guys were seeing.

01:37:14.495 --> 01:37:22.880
[UNKNOWN]: a couple months ago, my driver called me, and I would have been talking to some parallas, that's a Vivergeo.

01:37:24.100 --> 01:37:27.462
[UNKNOWN]: It's like, you know, sir, I should have drove faster.

01:37:27.702 --> 01:37:29.623
[UNKNOWN]: I should have pounded the insurgents more.

01:37:30.904 --> 01:37:36.707
[UNKNOWN]: You know, as a leader, you know, it's my job to listen, to comfort.

01:37:38.520 --> 01:37:40.141
[UNKNOWN]: And so, you know, we talked for hours.

01:37:41.381 --> 01:37:43.102
[UNKNOWN]: I trusted my driver, my gunner.

01:37:44.022 --> 01:37:45.282
[UNKNOWN]: And that's why we test them.

01:37:50.384 --> 01:37:53.185
[UNKNOWN]: You know, many people enjoy their birthdays.

01:37:55.166 --> 01:38:05.190
[UNKNOWN]: There's a sense of celebration, you know, parting, drinking, listening to music, but, you know, for me is not the same.

01:38:09.024 --> 01:38:17.030
[UNKNOWN]: You know, I wrote this book on the other voices is because these are the voices of my soldiers, you know.

01:38:19.212 --> 01:38:23.395
[UNKNOWN]: What we did from Mark Lee for you guys, for I mean what we did for all of us.

01:38:24.896 --> 01:38:33.903
[UNKNOWN]: And so, um, the census malentaste,

01:38:40.328 --> 01:38:53.592
[UNKNOWN]: Um, I'm honored to be part of something so beautiful, you know, I'm honored to be part of the fight for Ramadi.

01:38:55.093 --> 01:39:07.717
[UNKNOWN]: So I go for 20 years, I want it to forget, I want it to barrier, but what type of lead or I would be, and for 18 years my wife kept reminding me, you know, my wife is

01:39:09.480 --> 01:39:19.348
[UNKNOWN]: She's not my wife, she's my soulmate, you know, beautiful, beautiful person, beautiful being, and every year she would remind me, is this the year?

01:39:21.070 --> 01:39:32.219
[UNKNOWN]: And as I look at my two boys, I said to myself, I have to write this book, and then my brother lies,

01:39:41.278 --> 01:39:43.458
[UNKNOWN]: As a veteran, we have to continue to lead.

01:39:44.699 --> 01:39:52.040
[UNKNOWN]: And so I'm honored that God gave me the opportunity to do this.

01:39:52.400 --> 01:39:56.901
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, as I look back, I said to myself, why did I take so many pictures?

01:39:58.762 --> 01:40:00.682
[UNKNOWN]: I don't know why, but I did.

01:40:01.922 --> 01:40:05.803
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, August 2nd, and you know, you and I, we talked about prior,

01:40:07.898 --> 01:40:11.079
[UNKNOWN]: And Lee is like, Miguel, I hate it reporters.

01:40:11.759 --> 01:40:12.780
[UNKNOWN]: I, yeah, I got stuck with them.

01:40:14.501 --> 01:40:19.442
[UNKNOWN]: But even August 2nd, I was assigned to a reporter.

01:40:22.624 --> 01:40:24.444
[UNKNOWN]: And he documented everything.

01:40:25.365 --> 01:40:26.425
[UNKNOWN]: And the pictures he took.

01:40:28.958 --> 01:40:37.360
[UNKNOWN]: And that was Stars and Stripes, and you actually have a copy of the August 3rd 2006 Stars and Stripes.

01:40:38.081 --> 01:40:42.662
[UNKNOWN]: And what's, this is the original newspaper.

01:40:43.442 --> 01:40:45.803
[UNKNOWN]: And it was interesting because,

01:40:47.423 --> 01:40:53.505
[UNKNOWN]: You know, for some reason, you know, in the sealed teams, you know, we have a whole protocol if someone gets wounded badly or gets killed.

01:40:53.745 --> 01:40:59.046
[UNKNOWN]: You know, there's a protocol to go through that includes, uh, it's called River City.

01:40:59.246 --> 01:41:10.889
[UNKNOWN]: River that turned before now, I think I'm getting it right, but it means you're not a it means you shut down all communications because they don't want the family to find out, you know, before they can be notified correctly.

01:41:11.749 --> 01:41:25.139
[UNKNOWN]: Well, I started getting emails, you know, that, because it hit the news, because the article came out pretty quick, and again, looking back, it's, we have that document.

01:41:25.279 --> 01:41:37.528
[UNKNOWN]: We have the historical document that reports exactly what was going on and the meaning and the impact of, of that sacrifice, and you know what's so amazing is 20 years later.

01:41:39.990 --> 01:41:49.532
[UNKNOWN]: 20 years later, something told me, let me see if I can find the reporter, and I went on social media and I found him, Monte Moreno.

01:41:50.732 --> 01:41:51.912
[UNKNOWN]: And he's here in California.

01:41:53.233 --> 01:42:00.434
[UNKNOWN]: You know, back then he was a, he was a reporter for stars and stripes, but right now he's here.

01:42:01.394 --> 01:42:01.834
[UNKNOWN]: He's part of

01:42:07.859 --> 01:42:19.985
[UNKNOWN]: to have a 20 year reunion and sit with him and go over this article and I thank him for writing the article and taking the pictures because as a leaders our job to make sure

01:42:23.128 --> 01:42:34.132
[UNKNOWN]: that the battles events are documented because it's not about us, it's about the soldiers and their loved ones and so I'm honored.

01:42:35.632 --> 01:42:39.173
[UNKNOWN]: Like I said, I don't know why I took so many pictures but I did.

01:42:39.193 --> 01:42:44.115
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, I have over a thousand pictures and videos.

01:42:45.816 --> 01:42:54.443
[UNKNOWN]: And so, for my name and my picture to be associated to August 2nd, it's a very humbling experience.

01:42:54.583 --> 01:43:00.808
[UNKNOWN]: And 20 years later, to be able to sit with the reporter and be able to reunite with you guys.

01:43:00.868 --> 01:43:02.189
[UNKNOWN]: It's like a part of me.

01:43:04.579 --> 01:43:05.240
[UNKNOWN]: very humbling.

01:43:05.720 --> 01:43:11.086
[UNKNOWN]: I wanted to forget, I wanted to bury it and I did, but I just couldn't live with myself.

01:43:12.447 --> 01:43:23.619
[UNKNOWN]: And now that I did it, now that I wrote the book, now that I can see you, shake your hand and give your hug and leave in the whole team, it's just a wonderful experience.

01:43:24.120 --> 01:43:24.520
[UNKNOWN]: And um,

01:43:26.685 --> 01:43:28.006
[UNKNOWN]: As leaders, we got to lead.

01:43:28.727 --> 01:43:30.248
[UNKNOWN]: It doesn't matter if we're retired.

01:43:30.288 --> 01:43:32.190
[UNKNOWN]: It doesn't matter if you just served two years.

01:43:32.670 --> 01:43:33.831
[UNKNOWN]: You served your veteran.

01:43:33.931 --> 01:43:35.192
[UNKNOWN]: We have to continue to lead.

01:43:37.514 --> 01:43:38.915
[UNKNOWN]: I also want to share something.

01:43:39.936 --> 01:43:47.963
[UNKNOWN]: If we circle back to Telafore, you know, when Captain Mikosk and I share that event, you know, I sustain traumatic brain injury.

01:43:49.804 --> 01:43:54.088
[UNKNOWN]: And so I suffer from this condition called essential tremor.

01:43:55.407 --> 01:43:58.508
[UNKNOWN]: So basically, I lost my fine motor scales and my right side of the body.

01:43:58.749 --> 01:44:04.171
[UNKNOWN]: So I had a stress, does affect my right hand.

01:44:06.252 --> 01:44:18.378
[UNKNOWN]: And so for years, going through the VA, trying all these different medications, but inside of me, something tells me, this is not who you are.

01:44:18.398 --> 01:44:19.358
[UNKNOWN]: This is not who you are.

01:44:21.090 --> 01:44:35.253
[UNKNOWN]: And so for me, the last 20 years has been, it's been, well, actually the first couple of years, I've retired, I was lost, going through the VA, but that little voice in some of my head as a leader saying, lead, lead.

01:44:37.874 --> 01:44:44.175
[UNKNOWN]: You know what's interesting too, also, Joc was that leaders don't have a true leader, doesn't come.

01:44:45.981 --> 01:44:48.682
[UNKNOWN]: You can't box it on a height.

01:44:49.202 --> 01:44:50.102
[UNKNOWN]: I'm only five four.

01:44:50.823 --> 01:44:56.864
[UNKNOWN]: Leaders are short, tall, skinny, male, female, Hispanic, American.

01:44:58.385 --> 01:44:59.845
[UNKNOWN]: They're all different types of leaders.

01:45:00.926 --> 01:45:05.167
[UNKNOWN]: And for the last 20 years that little voice of me telling me, I have to write this story.

01:45:06.567 --> 01:45:12.949
[UNKNOWN]: You have to tell the story of soldiers because I'll get second, change me before I am as a person.

01:45:16.813 --> 01:45:19.537
[UNKNOWN]: I just want to share with the world what we all did.

01:45:20.659 --> 01:45:25.786
[UNKNOWN]: And once again, on her voices is the voice of my soldiers.

01:45:28.230 --> 01:45:33.037
[UNKNOWN]: So people can truly understand the magnitude of her body and what it was for all of us.

01:45:35.965 --> 01:45:49.835
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, um, you're just going to the, you know, you took a lot of pictures and you showed me a picture of the reporter sitting in the back of your Brad working on a story.

01:45:50.976 --> 01:45:56.039
[UNKNOWN]: That is, he's got, if you gave that to a guarantee, he's going to frame that thing and put it up on this wall.

01:45:56.059 --> 01:45:57.941
[UNKNOWN]: That's something iconic picture.

01:45:58.761 --> 01:46:01.563
[UNKNOWN]: I also don't want to get in trouble with Mama Lee.

01:46:03.004 --> 01:46:10.047
[UNKNOWN]: So I got to say that she told me that she told you that you better celebrate your birthday.

01:46:11.128 --> 01:46:13.029
[UNKNOWN]: You better celebrate your birthday from now on.

01:46:13.369 --> 01:46:15.250
[UNKNOWN]: You didn't celebrate for 20 years.

01:46:16.231 --> 01:46:19.933
[UNKNOWN]: Time for time for you to celebrate because Mark would want you to celebrate.

01:46:22.314 --> 01:46:24.415
[UNKNOWN]: And you know Mama Lee puts out the word.

01:46:24.915 --> 01:46:25.756
[UNKNOWN]: You got to listen to her.

01:46:26.156 --> 01:46:26.276
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

01:46:27.498 --> 01:46:43.534
[UNKNOWN]: So, um, you know, obviously talking a lathe and lathe, lathe sent me some thoughts, lathe and you guys were joined at the hip down there, lathe wrote me this.

01:46:45.275 --> 01:46:55.600
[UNKNOWN]: Our task-unit bruiser seal, our task-unit bruiser, drug-potent seals, conducted many combat operations alongside Miguel Santana and his soldiers, everybody called him Pit Bull.

01:46:56.460 --> 01:47:02.763
[UNKNOWN]: He was courageous, smart, aggressive on the battlefield and generous to provide support to our seals whenever we needed it.

01:47:03.503 --> 01:47:05.664
[UNKNOWN]: His soldiers were the same to a man.

01:47:06.284 --> 01:47:10.586
[UNKNOWN]: It was Miguel and his soldiers and Bradley Feinei vehicles along with team bulldogs,

01:47:11.186 --> 01:47:18.769
[UNKNOWN]: tanks who continuously braved some of the most dangerous streets in Ramadi to come to rescue us, and they did it over and over and over again.

01:47:19.730 --> 01:47:25.312
[UNKNOWN]: It was Miguel Santana's Bradley Fighting Vehicle that provided casualty evacuation for our wounded.

01:47:26.033 --> 01:47:33.936
[UNKNOWN]: Miguel took the risk to violate protocol and send a lone Bradley single track without escort in order to get Mark Lee back to

01:47:38.178 --> 01:47:44.904
[UNKNOWN]: It was Miguel Santana and his soldiers that fought through the streets as they were attacked from all directions on that day, August 2nd.

01:47:45.685 --> 01:47:46.666
[UNKNOWN]: They never backed down.

01:47:47.146 --> 01:47:48.027
[UNKNOWN]: They never wavered.

01:47:48.667 --> 01:47:51.009
[UNKNOWN]: He and his soldiers put their lives on the line for us.

01:47:52.511 --> 01:48:03.901
[UNKNOWN]: It was the honor of a lifetime to serve with such incredible, with such an incredible soldier, leader, teammate, and friend, and to share the battlefield with his exceptional and heroic soldiers.

01:48:10.118 --> 01:48:13.660
[UNKNOWN]: Life also reminded me, um, and I think we wrote about it.

01:48:13.680 --> 01:48:29.069
[UNKNOWN]: I think in dichotomy of leadership that a few weeks after Mark got killed, there was we got a really strong intel report of where some of the guys that were involved with that attack might be located and we needed guys.

01:48:30.110 --> 01:48:35.677
[UNKNOWN]: We didn't have enough guys to conduct a raid, you know, and so called you up.

01:48:36.238 --> 01:48:48.473
[UNKNOWN]: And it was a squad of your guys and squad plus of his guys that went out and conducted, you know, special operations direct action raid deep in any meat territory conducted by a joint.

01:48:50.323 --> 01:48:57.747
[UNKNOWN]: Special Operations, Conventional Unit of Seals from Tasking to Prusa and Soldiers from White Patu.

01:48:58.867 --> 01:49:00.768
[UNKNOWN]: And that was just another day in Ramadi.

01:49:04.470 --> 01:49:06.451
[UNKNOWN]: Working together, one team, one fight.

01:49:10.261 --> 01:49:22.344
[UNKNOWN]: Um, how did that, you know, I, I felt like we were very, we felt very invincible, asking to bruise or felt very invincible.

01:49:23.024 --> 01:49:34.126
[UNKNOWN]: I, one of the things that I, I realized talking with Colonel Dean from the 1-3-5 and Colonel McFarland is, when we were doing stuff, when my guys were out there killing bad guys, uh,

01:49:35.384 --> 01:49:50.430
[UNKNOWN]: kind of everybody knew about it because you'd hear the report on the radio, they would go over, it'd go from some company net, you know, play foot tell a company commander, hey, we just killed two guys over here with a mortar tube, the company net would relay it to the battalion net.

01:49:50.630 --> 01:49:54.671
[UNKNOWN]: So now, every battalion, you know, everybody hears it, all the companies hear it.

01:49:55.251 --> 01:49:58.813
[UNKNOWN]: Those guys pass the word, hey, seals just killed two guys with a mortar tube.

01:49:59.693 --> 01:50:07.330
[UNKNOWN]: and that happened all the time and so everyone kind of knew you know what we were doing all the time and we also you know we had

01:50:09.798 --> 01:50:21.546
[UNKNOWN]: a lot of effectiveness on killing bad guys and so and plus the fact that we'd kind of come in and you know go in meet and greet with you guys go out conduct operation and leave and then go some some other A.L.

01:50:21.966 --> 01:50:34.375
[UNKNOWN]: do some work there plus you had guys on the other side of Ramadi out there with Seth Stone on I can't correct or they were doing the same stuff so it was like we had a you know we built up a reputation and

01:50:36.306 --> 01:50:39.829
[UNKNOWN]: when Mark got killed, it was a big impact.

01:50:41.090 --> 01:50:53.341
[UNKNOWN]: And you also, Corporal Joe Thompson, that same day from three Marines, a guy that my guys had worked with a bunch, killed on August 2nd as well.

01:50:53.701 --> 01:50:56.904
[UNKNOWN]: We stood side by side with those guys for the angel flight.

01:51:01.223 --> 01:51:09.068
[UNKNOWN]: just that impact of the guys, you know, the, the first thing that gets killed in Iraq and it's like, oh, yeah, these guys can get killed too.

01:51:12.811 --> 01:51:19.255
[UNKNOWN]: It definitely, it definitely had that impact on us.

01:51:19.955 --> 01:51:21.276
[UNKNOWN]: It was a, it was an awakening.

01:51:22.984 --> 01:51:31.206
[UNKNOWN]: And I will tell you that from my perspective not to be fatalistic, but I was realistic.

01:51:32.306 --> 01:51:34.467
[UNKNOWN]: And I knew, you know, those casualties happen in every day.

01:51:35.507 --> 01:51:46.309
[UNKNOWN]: And I, the, the odds are, you know, you play the, you, you roll the dice so many times, eventually it's going to come up.

01:51:48.710 --> 01:51:49.130
[UNKNOWN]: And yet,

01:51:51.427 --> 01:51:55.230
[UNKNOWN]: You still work to do, and you still gotta get your gear on and go back out.

01:51:55.910 --> 01:52:00.013
[UNKNOWN]: And that was the attitude of the entire Ready First Brigade.

01:52:00.613 --> 01:52:04.816
[UNKNOWN]: You know, does the attitude of the entire Ready First Brigade?

01:52:07.638 --> 01:52:14.282
[UNKNOWN]: Do you, what would you guys do, you know, August 3rd, what you guys do is back to Petrol and back to Petrol.

01:52:16.327 --> 01:52:22.249
[UNKNOWN]: August 4th, patrol, August 7th, August 10th, it's the way it was.

01:52:22.389 --> 01:52:22.569
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

01:52:23.209 --> 01:52:27.671
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, the life I kept falcon, it was very simple.

01:52:29.191 --> 01:52:40.375
[UNKNOWN]: You're either patrolling or you're manning one of the guard towers or you are doing what getting ready to go back out.

01:52:40.835 --> 01:52:41.055
[UNKNOWN]: I mean,

01:52:46.335 --> 01:52:55.581
[UNKNOWN]: Um, you know, when you said that, and I wrote it in the book, Life I Coped Falcon, December, when December came, it was kind of weird.

01:52:56.922 --> 01:52:58.663
[UNKNOWN]: And I wrote it in the book, and I just remembered.

01:52:59.464 --> 01:53:03.947
[UNKNOWN]: Because here we are, all this, all this time we're fighting day in and day out.

01:53:04.808 --> 01:53:06.729
[UNKNOWN]: And then the care packages started coming in.

01:53:08.950 --> 01:53:14.054
[UNKNOWN]: And so you open these care packages, and it's the smell of back home, the cookies.

01:53:15.609 --> 01:53:39.493
[UNKNOWN]: you know the the the things that make you human and and in the book and I have a picture in the company talk all these care packages and grandma cookies all around the walls are all the AK-47s and RPGs that I confiscated what I mean that's just that's just weird here we

01:53:43.334 --> 01:54:11.039
[UNKNOWN]: design to kill right next to a care package with mom and dad and grandings grandmas cookies yeah it's rough I prefer to not think about the rest of the world when I was there I didn't have any pictures of my kids I put them in a drawer in a folder I just wanted to focus on what we're doing you know another thing I just remember too that I want to share

01:54:13.228 --> 01:54:19.250
[UNKNOWN]: For us in the army, when you deployed, there's no alcohol, right?

01:54:19.630 --> 01:54:30.734
[UNKNOWN]: However, because we were operating in Ramadi, alongside with the Marines, we got an opportunity to celebrate the Marines' birthday.

01:54:33.158 --> 01:55:00.115
[UNKNOWN]: And we got our two beers two beer day two beer day and I have a picture of that and what's so what's so Interesting about that it's like two beers really two beers or you know what halfway through my first beer I was feeling it yeah Completely dehydrated exactly exactly exactly exactly and so you know this is part of what life was at falcon

01:55:01.473 --> 01:55:16.320
[UNKNOWN]: You know, besides patrolling two, three times a day and going on these missions, you know, what we're going after some high, vitally target, there was also a sense of humility inside Falcon.

01:55:16.761 --> 01:55:19.882
[UNKNOWN]: You know, we would get the care packages from back home.

01:55:22.563 --> 01:55:29.767
[UNKNOWN]: My Patum Sarn, Danny Luhan, myself, we purchased a satellite internet satellite.

01:55:31.376 --> 01:55:37.841
[UNKNOWN]: for our soldiers, because we lived out of cop fog and we had no internet, we had nothing.

01:55:38.762 --> 01:55:43.946
[UNKNOWN]: And so we would only go to Camp Romadi, maybe every 15, 20 days, maybe.

01:55:44.646 --> 01:55:48.469
[UNKNOWN]: And sometimes I don't even go, maybe a month before I would go back.

01:55:49.670 --> 01:55:52.953
[UNKNOWN]: And so we asked, and it was like, okay, yes, you guys can do it.

01:55:53.413 --> 01:56:00.038
[UNKNOWN]: So we bought an actual internet satellite, but it was only for the purpose of emails.

01:56:01.099 --> 01:56:02.760
[UNKNOWN]: And we had control of it.

01:56:03.541 --> 01:56:07.224
[UNKNOWN]: And so that way our soldiers can still somewhat communicate with their loved ones.

01:56:08.084 --> 01:56:11.707
[UNKNOWN]: And be able to help with morale.

01:56:12.508 --> 01:56:14.409
[UNKNOWN]: Because remember, we also got extended.

01:56:14.890 --> 01:56:15.230
[UNKNOWN]: Oh, yeah.

01:56:15.690 --> 01:56:21.135
[UNKNOWN]: Our initial orders for 12 months, and then we got extended for 46 more days.

01:56:24.058 --> 01:56:25.899
[UNKNOWN]: Well, get to that extension.

01:56:26.019 --> 01:56:31.244
[UNKNOWN]: You made a very nice tribute to Mikey Monsworn here.

01:56:31.384 --> 01:56:32.485
[UNKNOWN]: Do you remember when that happened?

01:56:32.505 --> 01:56:34.867
[UNKNOWN]: Do you remember what you heard about that when that happened September 29th?

01:56:34.927 --> 01:56:41.233
[UNKNOWN]: It came through the net also, and any time that I remember,

01:56:42.817 --> 01:56:47.538
[UNKNOWN]: Every time you guys went out, me as a paternal leader, I kept track.

01:56:48.119 --> 01:56:48.339
[UNKNOWN]: Why?

01:56:48.379 --> 01:56:50.759
[UNKNOWN]: Because I was out every day.

01:56:52.320 --> 01:56:55.041
[UNKNOWN]: For the most part, either my paternal son, and I, we would rotate sometimes.

01:56:55.061 --> 01:56:58.222
[UNKNOWN]: So he would go out and I would go out sometimes, both of us would go out.

01:56:58.862 --> 01:57:02.623
[UNKNOWN]: But I always maintain situation, awareness, kind of where you guys were at.

01:57:02.903 --> 01:57:09.525
[UNKNOWN]: And so when that came through, it was just a punch in the gut, just like markedly on August 2nd.

01:57:13.496 --> 01:57:33.969
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, and I know I mentioned that the, you know, we got to see some level of improvement, you know, as we were there, I remember when we put in cop, I think it was cop-sword or cop-grant, I think it was cop-sword, but like my guys didn't kill anybody, which was a big...

01:57:34.930 --> 01:57:35.810
[UNKNOWN]: which was a big step.

01:57:36.110 --> 01:57:41.252
[UNKNOWN]: You know, for my guys to be out in downtown Ramadi for two days and not coming to one, like that was pretty surprising.

01:57:42.252 --> 01:57:45.813
[UNKNOWN]: And but it was the first time where it was like, oh, maybe there's some stuff getting a little bit better.

01:57:46.593 --> 01:57:51.235
[UNKNOWN]: But you know, it was still so much heavy fighting to do.

01:57:52.155 --> 01:57:54.996
[UNKNOWN]: And I mean, you go through some of this stuff in here.

01:57:55.016 --> 01:57:57.917
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, because I keep forgetting

01:58:03.210 --> 01:58:11.040
[UNKNOWN]: the new seo team that came through, we got to meet him, and so we introduced each other and kind of, you know, what I bring to the fight.

01:58:11.381 --> 01:58:11.621
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

01:58:12.162 --> 01:58:15.246
[UNKNOWN]: And so that's where that relationship was also formed.

01:58:15.526 --> 01:58:16.407
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

01:58:16.547 --> 01:58:17.509
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

01:58:17.529 --> 01:58:19.231
[UNKNOWN]: I myself and Dave and Seth.

01:58:19.912 --> 01:58:23.796
[UNKNOWN]: And the last guys of task and bruiser left on October 21st.

01:58:24.597 --> 01:58:31.464
[UNKNOWN]: So then you got the guys from team five in And again, the defining was still going hard.

01:58:31.504 --> 01:58:32.025
[UNKNOWN]: You say this.

01:58:32.065 --> 01:58:38.772
[UNKNOWN]: I remember hearing the blast before I fully understood what happened It was a concussive wave that rolled through the adjacent city blocks like a physical hammer

01:58:39.212 --> 01:58:44.634
[UNKNOWN]: a bright searing flash split the blackness followed by a thunderous crack that seemed to rip the sky open.

01:58:44.654 --> 01:58:47.395
[UNKNOWN]: It was the kind of explosion you felt in your ribs before you even heard it.

01:58:47.915 --> 01:58:52.657
[UNKNOWN]: Then the radio net, our lifeline came alive with the sound of pure chaos broken only by panic

01:58:54.457 --> 01:59:04.383
[UNKNOWN]: Captain Michael P. McCusker, Staff Sergeant Nicholas Kurt Kruthoff, Staff Sergeant Carlos Guzman and Specialist Ryan Major were all hit by a massive ID.

01:59:04.443 --> 01:59:06.565
[UNKNOWN]: We immediately sprinted toward the impact area.

01:59:06.625 --> 01:59:10.247
[UNKNOWN]: The ID had torn through the platoon formation with a brutal clinical efficiency.

01:59:10.607 --> 01:59:14.288
[UNKNOWN]: what struck me most powerfully was the silence right after the explosion.

01:59:14.328 --> 01:59:24.111
[UNKNOWN]: The awful stretched out seconds where radio is crackled, but no one answered where you fared the worse, but were forced yourself to keep moving driven only by the primal need to reach your brothers.

01:59:24.612 --> 01:59:25.892
[UNKNOWN]: Reality was devastating.

01:59:25.932 --> 01:59:31.474
[UNKNOWN]: The four men were met-of-act out-to-can't camper-moddy and quickly thrown out blown out-to-long stool.

01:59:32.014 --> 01:59:36.835
[UNKNOWN]: medical center, a name whispered as the destination we all prayed we'd never see firsthand.

01:59:37.195 --> 01:59:42.416
[UNKNOWN]: Yet that night, three of our own were flown there, each carrying wounds that would fundamentally shape the rest of their lives.

01:59:42.877 --> 01:59:55.540
[UNKNOWN]: Staff Sergeant Kruthoff, Kruthoff, sustained grievous trap of the face causing vision lost on his right side, especially as Ryan Major suffered catastrophic injuries starting him on a long brutal and painful road of recovery.

01:59:55.840 --> 01:59:57.480
[UNKNOWN]: But one detail stood a part,

02:00:02.081 --> 02:00:05.923
[UNKNOWN]: After a month recovering in long stool, returned to us.

02:00:05.983 --> 02:00:08.043
[UNKNOWN]: He returned to Iraq to finish the deployment.

02:00:08.103 --> 02:00:10.184
[UNKNOWN]: His resolve was not just a personal choice.

02:00:10.244 --> 02:00:21.869
[UNKNOWN]: It was a defiant act of loyalty, a demonstration of the pact and his sheer determination was something every single one of us leaned on to survive the remaining months.

02:00:24.110 --> 02:00:25.872
[UNKNOWN]: that was November 10th, November 20th.

02:00:27.834 --> 02:00:30.156
[UNKNOWN]: Sergeant First Class Danny, we want what do you say, his name, Lujon?

02:00:30.636 --> 02:00:31.017
[UNKNOWN]: Lujon.

02:00:31.057 --> 02:00:31.457
[UNKNOWN]: Lujon.

02:00:32.678 --> 02:00:34.420
[UNKNOWN]: Um, his, him, sorry.

02:00:34.520 --> 02:00:35.821
[UNKNOWN]: His vehicle gets hit.

02:00:35.962 --> 02:00:36.742
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

02:00:36.802 --> 02:00:45.571
[UNKNOWN]: And if we can just quick pause and go back to, um, so Captain McCusker and I share that experience up into law firm.

02:00:46.828 --> 02:00:52.429
[UNKNOWN]: this we were also, you know, reading this neighborhood that we got into.

02:00:53.129 --> 02:01:04.892
[UNKNOWN]: So this mission was out of Kaapar and ironed and so Kaap them at Costco got hit with a mass of iodine and the four soldiers were from my sister Petun.

02:01:06.512 --> 02:01:09.672
[UNKNOWN]: And so Kaap them at Costco besides what happened to Lafer,

02:01:14.217 --> 02:01:21.439
[UNKNOWN]: Stasar and Guzman came back to us after a month or still was shrapnel in his body.

02:01:23.980 --> 02:01:40.724
[UNKNOWN]: Stasar and Carlos Guzman, I mean towards the end of the book, I provide like where is he, where's Stasar and Carlos Guzman did like six deployments, four as a soldier and two as a contractor.

02:01:44.989 --> 02:01:52.675
[UNKNOWN]: Earlier, remember at the beginning, he was the one that got shot at ECP-3 from a sniper fight.

02:01:52.695 --> 02:02:00.742
[UNKNOWN]: It's a sniper round, got hit with a mass of ID and was meta-ranked, and so he didn't get to finish the deployment with us.

02:02:03.399 --> 02:02:26.991
[UNKNOWN]: And then, made your, everybody knows, you know, he's evolved, but the injuries that he sustained, but today he's a phenomenal, phenomenal warrior, involving so much, you know, for the military and competing, I mean, just outstanding soldiers and warriors, what happened

02:02:33.001 --> 02:02:37.927
[UNKNOWN]: guys get hit, luckily, pretty minor injuries.

02:02:39.409 --> 02:02:46.018
[UNKNOWN]: And in the book, I say luckily, because one of the things that we did was, I mean, the Bradley,

02:02:47.345 --> 02:02:51.747
[UNKNOWN]: powerful vehicle, but it did have some some weak spots.

02:02:52.847 --> 02:02:57.949
[UNKNOWN]: And so you as the commander of the Bradley, you were exposed.

02:02:58.669 --> 02:03:07.512
[UNKNOWN]: And so we got small glass or a Palmer glass protector protection

02:03:14.575 --> 02:03:17.277
[UNKNOWN]: shoulder, shoulder and up.

02:03:18.278 --> 02:03:22.281
[UNKNOWN]: But on the right side where the hatch opens, there was always a gap there.

02:03:23.682 --> 02:03:36.952
[UNKNOWN]: And one of my one of my CEO's star-siren cord arrows came up with a bright idea of cutting a piece of steel and bolt in it in that opening.

02:03:38.445 --> 02:03:56.889
[UNKNOWN]: And so that is what saved my Patum Science on Luhan because when his ID hit, now also the Bradley has reactive armor that it's on the side and some of them went off deflecting most of the concussion but still if that plate wasn't there I would have lost my Patum

02:04:02.030 --> 02:04:05.732
[UNKNOWN]: and the Bradley absorbed most of the the brown of it.

02:04:06.292 --> 02:04:28.483
[UNKNOWN]: Now the hit was off to the side but if it would have been directly underneath like I show a picture of a Bradley that I got hit underneath and I also show the the their favorite IDs we call it the speed bump ID and in the book I showed you what it looks like and that picture of that ID

02:04:30.012 --> 02:04:33.134
[UNKNOWN]: We were going, we were coming back from a mission.

02:04:34.275 --> 02:04:41.981
[UNKNOWN]: And in my Brad, you know, I'm looking at the road and just for a split second, I saw this shiny arm and I told the driver stop.

02:04:43.002 --> 02:04:44.843
[UNKNOWN]: And then I saw a saw in Parallels.

02:04:45.244 --> 02:04:45.644
[UNKNOWN]: What is that?

02:04:45.664 --> 02:04:47.005
[UNKNOWN]: What's that shining on the road?

02:04:48.006 --> 02:04:53.790
[UNKNOWN]: And so he put the gun down and looked through the optics and realized, sir, I believe this is an ID.

02:04:53.850 --> 02:04:54.651
[UNKNOWN]: So we backed up.

02:04:56.118 --> 02:05:05.785
[UNKNOWN]: And so the picture in the book of that, of that's B-Bump ID was an ID that was determined to hit us, but we saw it at the last minute.

02:05:06.786 --> 02:05:11.009
[UNKNOWN]: And so that was one of our biggest threat as a mechanized unit was these IDs.

02:05:11.369 --> 02:05:15.812
[UNKNOWN]: And so my普通 son was lucky that it wasn't at the record.

02:05:18.988 --> 02:05:19.828
[UNKNOWN]: December 4th.

02:05:20.709 --> 02:05:23.891
[UNKNOWN]: I was returning from Camp Romadi heading back to Cobb Falcon with my soldiers.

02:05:24.251 --> 02:05:25.812
[UNKNOWN]: We were on a three vehicle convoy.

02:05:25.832 --> 02:05:30.635
[UNKNOWN]: I was in the lead, followed by the Humvee and the Trailing Vehicles and other Bradley.

02:05:31.056 --> 02:05:39.061
[UNKNOWN]: We were moving carefully, turning right on the route central near the intersection with Michigan heading south toward the relative safety of the Cobb.

02:05:39.401 --> 02:05:54.488
[UNKNOWN]: As I passed the intersection, the Humvee following me entered the same space and immediately the ID struck the blast, massive and concussive shook the street and instantly left a burning wreck where seconds earlier there had been a fully functioning vehicle carrying five brothers.

02:05:55.449 --> 02:06:04.233
[UNKNOWN]: Our first frantic priority was the men we worked to get the we work with primal urgency to pull the men clear the burning wreck each of them was injured and each were lucky to be alive.

02:06:04.913 --> 02:06:13.463
[UNKNOWN]: Once I knew the site was secure and my 5 soldiers were loaded into my Bradley, we quickly punched through the remaining distance to Cop Falcon so they could receive immediate medical attention.

02:06:13.804 --> 02:06:18.970
[UNKNOWN]: The 5 soldiers inside the Humvee sustained severe injuries, but they were lucky to be alive.

02:06:21.932 --> 02:06:26.254
[UNKNOWN]: And as you look at the pictures, I do want to point out a couple of things.

02:06:28.716 --> 02:06:31.078
[UNKNOWN]: Did you shoot these pictures right when you got to cop the occupant of these guys?

02:06:31.538 --> 02:06:31.718
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

02:06:32.258 --> 02:06:32.779
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

02:06:32.919 --> 02:06:33.739
[UNKNOWN]: I took all those pictures.

02:06:33.759 --> 02:06:38.823
[UNKNOWN]: It's incredibly, just specialists, just among Montgomery, he's the driver.

02:06:39.923 --> 02:06:41.544
[UNKNOWN]: Specialist Daniel Eich Anderson.

02:06:43.566 --> 02:06:45.527
[UNKNOWN]: Now specialists Eich Anderson.

02:06:47.753 --> 02:07:01.417
[UNKNOWN]: a couple of weeks ago, graduated from the Command Sergeant Major Academy, and he's in route to career to become a Command Sergeant Major, an outstanding 18 mid-18 as a private.

02:07:02.337 --> 02:07:05.978
[UNKNOWN]: Today, I mean for the last 20 years, he's been carrying the torch.

02:07:07.238 --> 02:07:09.239
[UNKNOWN]: That's awesome.

02:07:09.319 --> 02:07:10.459
[UNKNOWN]: Sergeant Jason Blankin.

02:07:11.303 --> 02:07:13.565
[UNKNOWN]: and then Sergeant King, and Sergeant Travis King.

02:07:13.825 --> 02:07:18.148
[UNKNOWN]: He took the brunt of it because the IED hit the right of the vehicle.

02:07:18.228 --> 02:07:23.552
[UNKNOWN]: So most of it, he took the physical aspect of the hit.

02:07:24.793 --> 02:07:29.517
[UNKNOWN]: He was the one that connected me with W. Lee, with Mama Lee.

02:07:31.038 --> 02:07:34.840
[UNKNOWN]: And then, special Hopkins, he was, he was, yeah.

02:07:35.081 --> 02:07:39.384
[UNKNOWN]: And his injuries blew out both his, your trunks.

02:07:41.502 --> 02:07:47.006
[UNKNOWN]: And I don't know if I put it on the book or not, but the following day, we're not even the following day.

02:07:47.026 --> 02:07:47.726
[UNKNOWN]: I was later.

02:07:47.746 --> 02:07:54.631
[UNKNOWN]: I blew up, I blew up two houses.

02:07:55.371 --> 02:07:57.693
[UNKNOWN]: I found out where the individuals were.

02:07:58.333 --> 02:08:05.238
[UNKNOWN]: And so that night it was a long night because I went on the hunt for the guys that did this to my vehicle, to my soldiers.

02:08:06.198 --> 02:08:07.139
[UNKNOWN]: So it was a long night.

02:08:11.578 --> 02:08:17.985
[UNKNOWN]: Um, a few days later, December 6, 2006, two days after our home be was attacked and burned on Route Central.

02:08:18.005 --> 02:08:22.930
[UNKNOWN]: The worklame two more soldiers in a Marine while they were traveling on a route that brigade often used.

02:08:22.950 --> 02:08:26.133
[UNKNOWN]: The road from government center south to Copfalk and known as Route Sunset.

02:08:26.613 --> 02:08:30.477
[UNKNOWN]: This road was a crucial lifeline, but also relentless target for the enemy.

02:08:30.517 --> 02:08:33.160
[UNKNOWN]: That day, the insurgents carried out another devastating attack.

02:08:33.740 --> 02:08:38.302
[UNKNOWN]: A massive fuel enhanced IED, one of the insurgents deadliest weapons detonated under the vehicle.

02:08:38.342 --> 02:08:43.724
[UNKNOWN]: The blast was devastating, it tore through the steel, setting the vehicle on fire and leaving no chance for survival.

02:08:44.484 --> 02:08:48.006
[UNKNOWN]: In an instant three of their gates, most skilled and committed warriors were killed.

02:08:48.526 --> 02:08:52.947
[UNKNOWN]: It was the kind of strike that reverberated across every company, platoon and outpost and remoddy.

02:08:54.528 --> 02:08:57.049
[UNKNOWN]: Their sponsor, however, was just immediate and fierce.

02:08:59.489 --> 02:09:12.193
[UNKNOWN]: First Sergeant Louie Durrand, Staff Sergeant James K. Wilson and Sergeant Jeremy Ili were preparing to conduct convoy-based logistics package-resupply operations back to Camp Remoddy when they witnessed the convoy coming down the road, get hit.

02:09:12.813 --> 02:09:18.355
[UNKNOWN]: First Sergeant Durrand instantly activated the quick reaction force and then sent them to the fore to the secure site.

02:09:18.395 --> 02:09:27.318
[UNKNOWN]: First Sergeant the QRF team responded quickly and aggressively to the attack, ultimately locating fixing and eliminating the IED cell, responsible in a sharper tallatory action.

02:09:28.179 --> 02:09:33.725
[UNKNOWN]: The team responded promptly providing aid in doing everything within human ability to preserve what could be maintained.

02:09:34.166 --> 02:09:42.356
[UNKNOWN]: Their actions in the face of such devastation demonstrated a strong bond between units between services and among all of us fighting the same on forgiving fight.

02:09:44.508 --> 02:09:51.852
[UNKNOWN]: The death of Major Megan McClung, Captain Travis Patrickwin, and Specialist Vincent Pumante resonated through every rank.

02:09:52.192 --> 02:09:57.615
[UNKNOWN]: It reminded us that no amount of skill experience or heart could eliminate the randomness and the cruelty of war.

02:09:58.135 --> 02:10:08.401
[UNKNOWN]: Major Megan McClung, United States Marine Corps Reservoirs was the brigade public affairs officers who's a true trailblazer, mentor, and warrior the first female marine officer killed in Iraq.

02:10:08.441 --> 02:10:12.303
[UNKNOWN]: And tragically, the first female naval academy graduate to fall in combat.

02:10:14.400 --> 02:10:17.903
[UNKNOWN]: She was just outstanding here.

02:10:18.003 --> 02:10:20.785
[UNKNOWN]: The only thing I'm sorry I cut you off.

02:10:21.486 --> 02:10:28.051
[UNKNOWN]: I did miss mentioning in the book, and so Carson, one of my soldiers, was also there.

02:10:32.332 --> 02:10:33.733
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, what they did was incredible.

02:10:34.534 --> 02:10:40.398
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, first of all, they saw the vehicles coming and they got hit, and they would just eager to get out and help.

02:10:41.318 --> 02:10:47.002
[UNKNOWN]: And so besides, you know, Italy and the first time, also Carson was there.

02:10:47.463 --> 02:10:47.883
[UNKNOWN]: And he,

02:10:51.198 --> 02:10:52.079
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, no questions.

02:10:52.119 --> 02:10:53.940
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, they just went out there.

02:10:54.941 --> 02:11:00.124
[UNKNOWN]: And just to give some context, when an ID goes off on a vehicle, there's a chance that there's not going to be fallen on the tack.

02:11:00.144 --> 02:11:02.506
[UNKNOWN]: There's also a decent kind of like a chance that there's going to be fallen on tack.

02:11:02.526 --> 02:11:03.266
[UNKNOWN]: So you're just rolling in.

02:11:03.486 --> 02:11:08.250
[UNKNOWN]: And by the way, there's also a high chance that there's multiple IDs in that area.

02:11:08.570 --> 02:11:14.114
[UNKNOWN]: So now when you roll in with your vehicle or on foot, you are absolutely putting your life at risk to go help.

02:11:14.574 --> 02:11:18.537
[UNKNOWN]: This is not, oh, the ID already went off the dangerous gone.

02:11:18.597 --> 02:11:20.038
[UNKNOWN]: No, the dangerous actually increased.

02:11:23.059 --> 02:11:32.121
[UNKNOWN]: Captain Travis Patrick and U.S. Army Officer was legendary Brigade Civil Affairs Officer and the author of the classic presentation how to win a non-bar.

02:11:33.102 --> 02:11:43.745
[UNKNOWN]: He effectively used a simple stick figure power point to promote the groundbreaking strategy of army and training SUNY tribes, a strategy that would ultimately influence the successful SUNY Awakening movement in Iraq.

02:11:44.325 --> 02:11:53.354
[UNKNOWN]: and then specialists with Vincent Pomonte, the Humvee Gunner, detailed from his artillery unit to assist with executing civil military operations.

02:11:54.978 --> 02:12:15.072
[UNKNOWN]: And that, you know, is with, you know, General McFarland, these were his guys, you know, there was these are, you know, the public affairs officer, just staff officer, you know, the the civil affairs officer, which is what Patrick and what's doing, like, the Montez, I think it was PSD, like these are his guys, yeah.

02:12:19.262 --> 02:12:19.883
[UNKNOWN]: looking back.

02:12:19.983 --> 02:12:20.284
[UNKNOWN]: Go ahead.

02:12:20.684 --> 02:12:21.626
[UNKNOWN]: No, I'm sorry.

02:12:21.686 --> 02:12:22.447
[UNKNOWN]: Cut your off again.

02:12:22.487 --> 02:12:25.652
[UNKNOWN]: But, you know, I might as well hear it from the horses mouth, right?

02:12:25.672 --> 02:12:26.454
[UNKNOWN]: No, no, no, no.

02:12:26.494 --> 02:12:29.519
[UNKNOWN]: What I wanted to share is that, Jarko, is that you can see.

02:12:31.669 --> 02:12:33.150
[UNKNOWN]: how busy we were at Falcon.

02:12:33.450 --> 02:12:36.372
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, that's kind of one of the reasons I wanted to read.

02:12:36.392 --> 02:12:40.494
[UNKNOWN]: Like this is what is it November 10th, November 16th, it's just day after day.

02:12:40.534 --> 02:12:42.895
[UNKNOWN]: And these are devastating attacks.

02:12:42.955 --> 02:12:44.376
[UNKNOWN]: These are destroyed vehicles.

02:12:44.536 --> 02:12:45.717
[UNKNOWN]: And these are not the only ones.

02:12:46.217 --> 02:12:50.920
[UNKNOWN]: There's constant sniper firing by the way, you take this is just one, this is just one combat outpost.

02:12:51.400 --> 02:12:54.222
[UNKNOWN]: You know, there's there's five, six other combat outpost.

02:12:54.242 --> 02:12:56.023
[UNKNOWN]: They're all experienced in this kind of stuff all day.

02:12:56.663 --> 02:13:10.037
[UNKNOWN]: So yeah, I wanted to convey that this was not this was this is daily operations and the risk was always there So yeah, absolutely You and I'm skipping some stuff as well.

02:13:10.197 --> 02:13:12.199
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, like there's more in the book, but there's even more.

02:13:12.420 --> 02:13:13.140
[UNKNOWN]: That's not the book.

02:13:13.240 --> 02:13:13.461
[UNKNOWN]: All right

02:13:15.182 --> 02:13:30.588
[UNKNOWN]: uh... and that's kind of what you mentioned here looking back at this chain over relentless violence from the sacrifice of monster or the agony of augus second the continued i the continuous i d threats to the devastating loss losses of December six what stands out isn't the violence but it's the bond it created

02:13:31.388 --> 02:13:46.332
[UNKNOWN]: After long days and longer nights, after raids, fire flights and explosions, when we finally returned to the output post and took off our helmets, there was always a quiet subtle moment where we looked at each other and knew the simple truth brothers in arms.

02:13:47.373 --> 02:13:48.713
[UNKNOWN]: We learned to breathe for one another.

02:13:49.393 --> 02:14:03.342
[UNKNOWN]: To watch each other's sectors without being asked, to memorize each man's footsteps, breathing patterns, sense of humor and fears, but most important to know instinctively when one of us was off, tired, hurting, scared, or angry.

02:14:04.323 --> 02:14:06.324
[UNKNOWN]: That bond saved lives.

02:14:06.884 --> 02:14:12.228
[UNKNOWN]: It kept us sane, and it gave us meaning during a year when death stalked us daily.

02:14:12.988 --> 02:14:21.577
[UNKNOWN]: I didn't realize it at the time, but brotherhood was the armor we wore beneath the Kevlar, beneath the plates, beneath the dust.

02:14:22.337 --> 02:14:24.139
[UNKNOWN]: That's why we survived Ramadi.

02:14:24.519 --> 02:14:25.741
[UNKNOWN]: That's why we remember.

02:14:26.181 --> 02:14:37.572
[UNKNOWN]: That's why I'm writing this book to ensure this story isn't forgotten and is added to history books, so future generations will always remember what we fought for in Ramadi.

02:14:42.375 --> 02:14:44.957
[UNKNOWN]: hundred percent, hundred percent.

02:14:49.261 --> 02:14:56.268
[UNKNOWN]: You started, you mentioned this, something that happened, which was rough, accounting the days.

02:14:56.288 --> 02:15:02.974
[UNKNOWN]: You say the brotherhood we forged was our armor, but by the time the calendar turned into the final months of 2006, that armor was dented and heavy.

02:15:03.734 --> 02:15:05.636
[UNKNOWN]: We had survived the turning point of August.

02:15:05.656 --> 02:15:09.799
[UNKNOWN]: The brutal construction of the cops and the relentless IED strikes of November, December.

02:15:10.119 --> 02:15:15.503
[UNKNOWN]: We were tired, we were grieving, but we were also fueled by a single shimmering hope.

02:15:16.763 --> 02:15:17.484
[UNKNOWN]: January.

02:15:18.925 --> 02:15:22.447
[UNKNOWN]: Just as we were starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, the news hit the wire.

02:15:22.928 --> 02:15:29.272
[UNKNOWN]: The first brigade combat team received orders that changed everything, our toward been extended by an additional 46 days.

02:15:31.634 --> 02:15:33.895
[UNKNOWN]: The emotional strain was immediate and suffocating.

02:15:34.416 --> 02:15:45.303
[UNKNOWN]: It reached all the way back to the housing areas in free, free bird and geese and impacting wives, children and parents who had already checked off 10 months from their calendars.

02:15:45.763 --> 02:15:48.063
[UNKNOWN]: In Ramadi, the extension was more than just a delay.

02:15:48.083 --> 02:15:50.044
[UNKNOWN]: It was a period of increased vulnerability.

02:15:50.384 --> 02:15:51.464
[UNKNOWN]: We were short timers.

02:15:51.964 --> 02:15:53.364
[UNKNOWN]: Who weren't short anymore.

02:15:53.664 --> 02:15:55.985
[UNKNOWN]: We had to fight the urge to check out mentally.

02:15:56.205 --> 02:16:03.566
[UNKNOWN]: We had to maintain the same discipline, the same ID sweeps, and the same house rates, even though our hearts were already halfway across the world.

02:16:03.986 --> 02:16:10.727
[UNKNOWN]: The extension was devastating because it asked for more from men who had already given everything they thought they had.

02:16:12.387 --> 02:16:14.388
[UNKNOWN]: How was it breaking the news to the boys on that one?

02:16:21.955 --> 02:16:43.646
[UNKNOWN]: all the potential leaders and all the leadership had to come to cover body and we were giving the news that we were extended and then once again it's like you have to be careful what you say to the loved ones back home and whether you want to or not the news travels in their travel quick.

02:16:44.871 --> 02:16:48.954
[UNKNOWN]: And so you had moms, dads, grandma, grandpa's.

02:16:49.195 --> 02:16:51.336
[UNKNOWN]: Because remember, we were stationed out of free fraternal.

02:16:51.777 --> 02:16:57.862
[UNKNOWN]: And so you had loved ones that already had tickets from the states, coming to Germany.

02:16:58.382 --> 02:17:07.349
[UNKNOWN]: And you had loved ones in Germany that had already seen their neighbors get the knock on the door and go into memorial services over and over again.

02:17:07.510 --> 02:17:07.730
[UNKNOWN]: Yes.

02:17:08.590 --> 02:17:09.151
[UNKNOWN]: Devastating.

02:17:09.351 --> 02:17:09.992
[UNKNOWN]: Devastating.

02:17:16.231 --> 02:17:17.332
[UNKNOWN]: the families that are home.

02:17:17.632 --> 02:17:29.303
[UNKNOWN]: When they're watching a soldier or a sailor get buried, there's no way that they don't think that they know that that could be there, their soldier or their sailor.

02:17:30.284 --> 02:17:35.489
[UNKNOWN]: So it's very real and all of a sudden instead of coming home, where like you said, you have tickets.

02:17:36.330 --> 02:17:40.494
[UNKNOWN]: Now we're getting put in the, we don't know if he's coming home.

02:17:43.238 --> 02:17:49.876
[UNKNOWN]: But, you know, the great thing about my soldiers because, you know, a great, a great leader.

02:17:52.388 --> 02:17:55.811
[UNKNOWN]: became a great leader because of strong and serious and strong soldiers.

02:17:56.612 --> 02:17:59.134
[UNKNOWN]: And so my soldiers were hardcore veterans.

02:17:59.535 --> 02:18:03.118
[UNKNOWN]: The majority of them already had one or two deployments under their belts.

02:18:03.779 --> 02:18:05.280
[UNKNOWN]: And so they understood the mission.

02:18:06.562 --> 02:18:09.704
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, it's just outstanding soldiers.

02:18:10.505 --> 02:18:12.187
[UNKNOWN]: And they understood what the mission was.

02:18:13.188 --> 02:18:16.111
[UNKNOWN]: And like I wrote in the book, the biggest thing is like, hey guys,

02:18:16.831 --> 02:18:17.451
[UNKNOWN]: We're still here.

02:18:18.292 --> 02:18:20.953
[UNKNOWN]: We're not, you know, we're still in the fight.

02:18:21.793 --> 02:18:27.976
[UNKNOWN]: So whatever you do, just make sure that we continue to look after each other.

02:18:28.796 --> 02:18:37.520
[UNKNOWN]: Okay, it's 46 days, but we know the battle space, we know the streets, keep your head in the game, and we're gonna make it.

02:18:37.960 --> 02:18:39.481
[UNKNOWN]: We're gonna, you know, we're gonna survive this.

02:18:40.421 --> 02:18:47.048
[UNKNOWN]: And once again, all my NCOs and all my soldiers, I mean, just create all Americans and I say it again.

02:18:48.542 --> 02:18:52.624
[UNKNOWN]: You know, I'm a great leader because I stood, you know, next to Giants.

02:18:53.205 --> 02:18:55.426
[UNKNOWN]: All my NCOs and soldiers were just phenomenal.

02:18:56.187 --> 02:19:05.012
[UNKNOWN]: And, you know, the whole name of me, the pit boy, is because I'm a little guy, but you mess with my soldiers, it's on.

02:19:06.272 --> 02:19:11.836
[UNKNOWN]: And it was times, my soldiers had to tell me, hey, sir, you're not gonna be the first one to the door, sir.

02:19:11.876 --> 02:19:13.337
[UNKNOWN]: Come on, please, don't do this to us.

02:19:14.037 --> 02:19:15.698
[UNKNOWN]: You can't stack and be the first one.

02:19:15.738 --> 02:19:16.719
[UNKNOWN]: Come on, sir, please.

02:19:17.599 --> 02:19:21.640
[UNKNOWN]: You know, be the third or just just stay out this or don't.

02:19:21.800 --> 02:19:25.321
[UNKNOWN]: But what type of a leader I would be if I felt only from the front.

02:19:25.441 --> 02:19:28.022
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, I never served in a range of regiment.

02:19:28.962 --> 02:19:31.903
[UNKNOWN]: But range of school to me in the range of type meant something.

02:19:32.143 --> 02:19:33.103
[UNKNOWN]: Lead by example.

02:19:34.364 --> 02:19:39.025
[UNKNOWN]: And so to circle back, you know, those 46 days, it was hard to our families back home.

02:19:40.145 --> 02:19:42.986
[UNKNOWN]: But my soldiers and I, we stayed focused on the mission.

02:19:44.381 --> 02:19:48.542
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, the way you put it in here, you say, we had built the outposts.

02:19:48.602 --> 02:19:51.603
[UNKNOWN]: We had stood by the Iraqi police as they reclaimed their precinct.

02:19:51.723 --> 02:19:55.244
[UNKNOWN]: We had survived the darkest days of August and the fiery trials of December.

02:19:55.644 --> 02:19:59.785
[UNKNOWN]: As we entered those final grueling weeks, we did so with a grim quiet pride.

02:20:00.126 --> 02:20:02.306
[UNKNOWN]: We weren't just staying because we were told to.

02:20:02.606 --> 02:20:06.647
[UNKNOWN]: We were staying to ensure that the progress we had brought with the lives of our brothers.

02:20:08.568 --> 02:20:14.314
[UNKNOWN]: Mark Lee, Michael Monsor, Meghan McClung, Travis Patrickrin, would not be undone in the final hour.

02:20:14.975 --> 02:20:20.080
[UNKNOWN]: We were tired, we were frustrated, and we were home sick, but we were still the ready first.

02:20:20.801 --> 02:20:22.142
[UNKNOWN]: We would finish the job.

02:20:23.264 --> 02:20:26.307
[UNKNOWN]: And as one, three, six, I'm out of his D's and that words.

02:20:29.097 --> 02:20:31.499
[UNKNOWN]: Um, and that's what you did.

02:20:31.740 --> 02:20:36.965
[UNKNOWN]: You guys kept pushing your kept control and you kept working and and you detail that in the book.

02:20:36.985 --> 02:20:50.117
[UNKNOWN]: Get the book so you can read through some of that, um, and eventually, you had home and I mean, the way you recount those things, the way you recount going home, um,

02:20:51.478 --> 02:21:01.362
[UNKNOWN]: Leaving Romani brought a surge of relief but it was tempered by a heavy lingering shadow we were leaving behind the streets where our brothers had fallen in the neighborhoods where we had grown old before our time.

02:21:01.662 --> 02:21:07.684
[UNKNOWN]: We were returning to Germany changed men bound together by a shared history that no civilian could ever truly grasp.

02:21:08.424 --> 02:21:23.533
[UNKNOWN]: We walked away with our heads high knowing that we, that when the history of the Iraq wars written, we would, we, the stand we took in the heart of the great SUNY desert, would be remembered as the moment the tide began to turn, we had survived, we had held, and finally we were going home.

02:21:27.715 --> 02:21:28.836
[UNKNOWN]: The homecoming peace guy.

02:21:38.098 --> 02:21:45.163
[UNKNOWN]: You know, for 14 months, you see, battle heart and men, right?

02:21:45.723 --> 02:21:52.148
[UNKNOWN]: And then that flight, you see this warrior kind of weeping a little bit like, oh, I'm coming home.

02:21:53.509 --> 02:22:01.935
[UNKNOWN]: You know, for 14 months, you always had your side arm and for you always had, you know, a tool of war.

02:22:03.721 --> 02:22:06.463
[UNKNOWN]: And now on that flight home, it's like, hey, you can take off your car wall.

02:22:06.783 --> 02:22:22.795
[UNKNOWN]: You can take off your IVA and put it in your bag and then when we landed in Germany, it was like, at least for me, it was like a sense of overload because in Iraq there was only one smile.

02:22:24.423 --> 02:22:31.366
[UNKNOWN]: And I know you can relate, you know, there's only one smell and that's just dirty uniform.

02:22:31.886 --> 02:22:44.673
[UNKNOWN]: And then we land in Germany and it's like, oh my lord, you know, just all the smell of food of just just how beautiful Germany is.

02:22:45.053 --> 02:22:50.116
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, you know, the first time I'm a division prior to, I mean, right now, you know, they're in Fort Belets.

02:22:51.036 --> 02:22:54.681
[UNKNOWN]: back then we were in Germany and Germany is so beautiful.

02:22:55.261 --> 02:23:05.334
[UNKNOWN]: The food, the beer, the women, the people and so that flight back home was like a surreal and your senses were just

02:23:07.849 --> 02:23:08.949
[UNKNOWN]: I do want to share the story.

02:23:08.969 --> 02:23:14.171
[UNKNOWN]: Remember at the beginning, I said, I have 45 days to get ready for the deployment.

02:23:14.451 --> 02:23:18.012
[UNKNOWN]: Well, when we got back home to Germany, okay, we got back home to Germany.

02:23:19.012 --> 02:23:29.495
[UNKNOWN]: I see my loved ones, you know, I see my soldiers hugging their loved ones and everybody's kind of going on their way and I'm standing there sending myself.

02:23:30.595 --> 02:23:51.223
[UNKNOWN]: I don't remember where I live, I literally didn't remember where I lived because I got an apartment and like two weeks later I laughed after getting the apartment and I didn't really remember and so it took me a while to kind of be driving around the neighborhood to be able to find where I live and what helped me with it.

02:23:51.243 --> 02:23:51.703
[UNKNOWN]: Was it on base?

02:23:52.003 --> 02:23:53.284
[UNKNOWN]: No, no, it was off base.

02:23:53.684 --> 02:23:59.086
[UNKNOWN]: It was off base and back then it's not like today that you have the technology Google Maps.

02:23:59.246 --> 02:24:24.534
[UNKNOWN]: there was it was it was this um but but starts on crude off um to see was married you know staff son he he also lived off base and he lived above me and so on my head son crude off man how do how do we get to my house and so he kind of gave me an idea and let me tell you juggle when I when I got to my house when I got to my apartment and I opened the door

02:24:25.494 --> 02:24:26.875
[UNKNOWN]: You know what my land lady did?

02:24:27.475 --> 02:24:29.736
[UNKNOWN]: Because I only met her briefly when I signed for the apartment.

02:24:30.677 --> 02:24:35.359
[UNKNOWN]: My German land lady left me a six pack of beer in the refrigerator.

02:24:35.579 --> 02:24:36.020
[UNKNOWN]: Jack.

02:24:37.240 --> 02:24:37.921
[UNKNOWN]: Outstanding.

02:24:38.141 --> 02:24:40.042
[UNKNOWN]: Salute to the Freud line.

02:24:44.284 --> 02:24:46.386
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, that's awesome.

02:24:47.047 --> 02:24:50.910
[UNKNOWN]: The strange face of peace, there was excitement, yes, but there is something deeper, disbelief.

02:24:50.970 --> 02:24:53.452
[UNKNOWN]: That's why I highlighted this, because there is a disbelief.

02:24:54.193 --> 02:25:01.739
[UNKNOWN]: We had spent so much time preparing for law scanning for ideas, bracing for an impact that the sudden absence of threat felt strange, almost uncomfortable.

02:25:01.779 --> 02:25:04.061
[UNKNOWN]: Peace was a language we hadn't spoken in 13 months.

02:25:04.561 --> 02:25:05.823
[UNKNOWN]: We were all a bit rusty.

02:25:07.304 --> 02:25:28.698
[UNKNOWN]: and then you know you go through the stuff and again this is beautiful writing the families the silent front line at home you talk about them you talk about the reunion doors laughter that turned to sobbing hugs that lasted until muscles cramped small hands clutching our uniforms as if the children were afraid we might vanish back into the dust if they let go moment of it was a first real moment of relief for over a year.

02:25:29.398 --> 02:25:34.628
[UNKNOWN]: And let me take a quick pause there, that picture is Captain Metley.

02:25:35.249 --> 02:25:36.191
[UNKNOWN]: He was our exo.

02:25:37.734 --> 02:25:41.982
[UNKNOWN]: And so when his kids saw him and the wife saw him,

02:25:42.498 --> 02:25:46.020
[UNKNOWN]: They were like, they were not like, they were not going to let him go.

02:25:47.000 --> 02:25:51.562
[UNKNOWN]: And so I saw the picture and I had to put it in there.

02:25:51.602 --> 02:25:53.063
[UNKNOWN]: So, put it yeah.

02:25:53.403 --> 02:25:55.704
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, it's just beautiful to read.

02:25:56.925 --> 02:25:59.666
[UNKNOWN]: Fast forward a little bit at one point.

02:25:59.746 --> 02:26:04.129
[UNKNOWN]: You talk about standing beside Colonel Sean McFarlane, possessed by a possessed its own unique weight.

02:26:05.149 --> 02:26:08.351
[UNKNOWN]: Being next to him at that moment was an honor I felt my bones.

02:26:09.291 --> 02:26:17.396
[UNKNOWN]: He wasn't just the senior officer in the combat uniform, he was the leader who strategic audacity and unwavering resolve at shape the entire fight in Ramadi.

02:26:17.856 --> 02:26:27.602
[UNKNOWN]: His leadership hadn't been a detached theory from a distance head, distant headquarters, and mattered on the ground in the dirt and in the dangerous alleys where it counted most.

02:26:28.102 --> 02:26:34.265
[UNKNOWN]: Standing there beside him, both of us in uniform after everything we'd endured felt like standing at the crossroads of

02:26:37.267 --> 02:26:43.573
[UNKNOWN]: a specific kind of pride, not the loud, boastful kind, but the steady internal kind.

02:26:43.713 --> 02:26:47.957
[UNKNOWN]: It's the pride that comes from knowing you are a vital part of something much bigger than yourself.

02:26:48.337 --> 02:27:00.728
[UNKNOWN]: It's a kind of pride that acknowledges the staggering cost of victory without glorifying violence, understanding that true leadership is about the heavy responsibility taken on under impossible circumstances.

02:27:05.584 --> 02:27:11.470
[UNKNOWN]: As you read that, I do want to share this about, oh, now 10 general McFarlane.

02:27:13.492 --> 02:27:13.973
[UNKNOWN]: Great leader.

02:27:15.683 --> 02:27:18.305
[UNKNOWN]: I don't remember all the details of what happened.

02:27:19.086 --> 02:27:20.187
[UNKNOWN]: It's still a little blurry.

02:27:21.108 --> 02:27:22.349
[UNKNOWN]: But I do remember I was up.

02:27:22.950 --> 02:27:23.870
[UNKNOWN]: We were out all night.

02:27:24.671 --> 02:27:25.372
[UNKNOWN]: I can't remember what.

02:27:25.632 --> 02:27:27.454
[UNKNOWN]: But I know that we were out all night.

02:27:28.635 --> 02:27:32.538
[UNKNOWN]: And the following morning, he wanted to talk to me.

02:27:33.619 --> 02:27:37.903
[UNKNOWN]: So he came from Capfalt, from Cap Romadi to Seas.

02:27:38.444 --> 02:27:41.326
[UNKNOWN]: And literally he walked into the room where I was just passed out.

02:27:42.307 --> 02:27:55.196
[UNKNOWN]: And he's like, hey Miguel, hey people, I kind of opened my eyes and he's standing there and I'm like, I'm gonna get fired, I think I did something wrong, shit was I too aggressive, oh my god, what did I do wrong?

02:27:55.296 --> 02:27:58.678
[UNKNOWN]: He's like, hey relax my god, just clean up and come see me.

02:28:00.399 --> 02:28:06.764
[UNKNOWN]: And so my Petun science, all my soldiers were like, oh my god, I hope we don't lose the Petun leader.

02:28:07.923 --> 02:28:19.853
[UNKNOWN]: But, you know, what made, you know, what made McFarlane such a great leader was, just like the Descoan, all of them.

02:28:20.414 --> 02:28:23.977
[UNKNOWN]: He wanted to know from the tip of the spear from the his paternal leader, what happened.

02:28:25.678 --> 02:28:29.862
[UNKNOWN]: He didn't want the information to get lost, you know, through the staff.

02:28:31.433 --> 02:28:44.463
[UNKNOWN]: And so we sat there for a good hour, just talking about what I saw, what I did, what out my recommendations, and he just took it all in, and I respect that.

02:28:45.403 --> 02:28:51.728
[UNKNOWN]: I really do, because it wasn't once or twice, he was always there, just like to disco, to disco lead from the front.

02:28:53.028 --> 02:28:59.331
[UNKNOWN]: You know, they didn't hide at Camp Romario or behind the staff.

02:28:59.511 --> 02:29:01.832
[UNKNOWN]: They were there in the front lines with us.

02:29:02.412 --> 02:29:13.696
[UNKNOWN]: And any time there was a big engagement, they were either there or they came, you know, shortly after to get the information directly from us.

02:29:14.977 --> 02:29:21.539
[UNKNOWN]: And so at no time did I worry about that I do the right thing or not because I knew

02:29:23.240 --> 02:29:26.962
[UNKNOWN]: I knew that I knew that I can trust on them.

02:29:27.582 --> 02:29:31.384
[UNKNOWN]: And they also knew that I was an older puton leader.

02:29:31.644 --> 02:29:32.605
[UNKNOWN]: That was 35.

02:29:33.645 --> 02:29:39.688
[UNKNOWN]: But once again, I respect that they always came to see me and ask for my input.

02:29:41.877 --> 02:29:50.843
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, I can't say enough good things about General McFarlane and Tedesco, and they're just great.

02:29:50.983 --> 02:29:58.489
[UNKNOWN]: And there was, you know, to go right down the list of outstanding battalion commanders and company commanders, there's just so many great people.

02:29:59.569 --> 02:30:04.113
[UNKNOWN]: I didn't put this in the book, but I'm going to share it.

02:30:04.393 --> 02:30:10.377
[UNKNOWN]: And I hope Colonel Tedesco doesn't mind, but him and I have a wonderful relationship.

02:30:11.023 --> 02:30:11.943
[UNKNOWN]: Here's how we start it.

02:30:12.864 --> 02:30:16.484
[UNKNOWN]: Currented desk, I'm sorry, I'm gonna share it with the world.

02:30:18.025 --> 02:30:24.627
[UNKNOWN]: So the first time I met Currented desk, it was I believe in Courier, and so all the tanks in the Bradley's.

02:30:24.907 --> 02:30:27.427
[UNKNOWN]: That's where your vehicle showed up.

02:30:27.527 --> 02:30:28.748
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, that's where we all met.

02:30:29.628 --> 02:30:32.849
[UNKNOWN]: And so I kept it out of the book,

02:30:34.230 --> 02:30:36.531
[UNKNOWN]: you know, this is an honor of Colonel's the Desco.

02:30:37.632 --> 02:30:45.358
[UNKNOWN]: And so we all converge and carry it or we're all getting out of our vehicles and we're all converging in the center.

02:30:46.779 --> 02:30:50.542
[UNKNOWN]: And as I'm walking there, you know, I'm only five four.

02:30:50.882 --> 02:30:51.603
[UNKNOWN]: I'm a little guy.

02:30:52.643 --> 02:30:59.609
[UNKNOWN]: And Colonel, the Desco sees me and he walks right up to me and shakes my hand and goes, you're going to do great

02:31:01.128 --> 02:31:05.271
[UNKNOWN]: in my task force, and I was like, and I'm thinking, oh my god, am I in trouble already?

02:31:06.011 --> 02:31:12.675
[UNKNOWN]: You know, I just, I'm just meeting him for the first time, and I was like, yes, sir, he looks at me, goes, you know why?

02:31:12.915 --> 02:31:17.678
[UNKNOWN]: I was like, no, sir, he goes, you're the first man that I can see either.

02:31:17.778 --> 02:31:21.040
[UNKNOWN]: I don't trust these, these tall men next to me.

02:31:21.460 --> 02:31:23.942
[UNKNOWN]: But you I can trust.

02:31:24.002 --> 02:31:27.945
[UNKNOWN]: You're going to do great things at my task force and I was like, yes, sir, you know.

02:31:28.045 --> 02:31:30.988
[UNKNOWN]: And so that's how we began our relationship.

02:31:31.108 --> 02:31:36.532
[UNKNOWN]: And I'll tell you 20 years later, I will follow Colonel Tedesco to the end.

02:31:37.252 --> 02:31:41.496
[UNKNOWN]: along with, you know, Sean McFarlane and by Amine, Captain McCusker.

02:31:41.596 --> 02:31:49.221
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, once again, great leaders, you know, if people look at me as a great leader, it's not necessarily me, I'm a humble person.

02:31:50.102 --> 02:31:56.887
[UNKNOWN]: I'm a great leader because I was surrounded by the by giants between NCOs and great officers.

02:31:58.565 --> 02:32:23.752
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, the thing that I realized about all these guys and it was real obvious even being there is all these leaders what makes them so awesome is they just cared about the troops and look, they were doing everything they could to get the mission done and did get the mission done but everybody, everybody just cared so much about making sure we could do everything that we could to keep the troops as safe as possible.

02:32:24.472 --> 02:32:43.708
[UNKNOWN]: and it's not easy, it's not easy when they are getting wounded and they're getting killed and it's hard to maintain and always put them first and care about them so much when you know you're also going to put them at risk, it's very, very difficult but all of them is always front of mind and you can see it.

02:32:45.109 --> 02:32:48.891
[UNKNOWN]: you didn't have to hear him talk about, you could see it, you could feel it in the meetings.

02:32:49.232 --> 02:32:59.698
[UNKNOWN]: The way operations were planned, the way operations were directed, it was, we care about the troops, we care about the soldiers, the sailors, the airmen, the Marines that are out there, they're going to have to do this stuff.

02:33:01.259 --> 02:33:05.122
[UNKNOWN]: And that caring that they all displayed was very obvious.

02:33:05.962 --> 02:33:11.104
[UNKNOWN]: And I think that's what kept everyone so that made everyone trust them so much.

02:33:14.026 --> 02:33:21.509
[UNKNOWN]: You, you, you also in the book, you pay tribute to a lot of the, to a lot of leaders that you work with.

02:33:21.529 --> 02:33:22.610
[UNKNOWN]: You got to Desco in here.

02:33:23.150 --> 02:33:26.651
[UNKNOWN]: Well, I, I, I, I, the final chapter of the book.

02:33:27.312 --> 02:33:29.673
[UNKNOWN]: Let, let me just, um, add this because,

02:33:30.473 --> 02:33:35.937
[UNKNOWN]: You know, the whole idea of this book was just a memoir for my soldiers and the loved ones.

02:33:36.437 --> 02:33:41.180
[UNKNOWN]: And strategic book advisors, the self-pultaged company that I went with.

02:33:42.989 --> 02:33:46.852
[UNKNOWN]: Um, just when I thought the book was done, they're like, oh, no, you're not done.

02:33:46.872 --> 02:33:48.814
[UNKNOWN]: I'm like, I don't understand.

02:33:49.114 --> 02:33:51.856
[UNKNOWN]: They're like, you brought us back 20 years ago.

02:33:52.977 --> 02:33:55.619
[UNKNOWN]: We want to know where are you guys today?

02:33:56.480 --> 02:33:58.522
[UNKNOWN]: You have to add another chapter in Tullis.

02:33:59.522 --> 02:34:03.005
[UNKNOWN]: Where are the soldiers that fought a Ramadi 20 years later?

02:34:03.526 --> 02:34:04.947
[UNKNOWN]: And so the final chapter.

02:34:05.898 --> 02:34:17.432
[UNKNOWN]: is about where we're out today and that's where I give tribute to the leaders and some of the soldiers and kind of where we're out today.

02:34:18.060 --> 02:34:19.060
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

02:34:19.541 --> 02:34:19.841
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

02:34:19.961 --> 02:34:30.685
[UNKNOWN]: And I mean, the chapter before that is remembering our fallen, and so you do a great job of telling about the people that you lost and you know, given a quick bio about who they were.

02:34:31.605 --> 02:34:38.848
[UNKNOWN]: So they're remembered and then you, like I said, you just said, you go through some of these some of the leaders, you know, some of the people that you work with.

02:34:41.010 --> 02:34:49.282
[UNKNOWN]: Colonel Tedesco, you know, among the leaders who shaped the battle of Amadi, few left a stronger impression on the soldiers who fought there than the tenant Colonel Tedesco.

02:34:49.663 --> 02:34:54.229
[UNKNOWN]: He carried forward a proud family legacy of military service as a third-generation warfighter.

02:34:54.890 --> 02:35:01.416
[UNKNOWN]: Following both his grandfather and father in serving the nation, his commitment to the army represented something far deeper than a profession.

02:35:01.716 --> 02:35:06.961
[UNKNOWN]: He reflected a lifelong devotion to duty, service and sacrifice and service to the country.

02:35:07.621 --> 02:35:13.627
[UNKNOWN]: In many ways, his career embodied the true meaning of patriotism, loyalty, and honor of the United States of American flag values

02:35:14.047 --> 02:35:31.738
[UNKNOWN]: He not only believed in but demonstrated daily through his leadership in combat and his dedication to the soldiers under his command as Patai and Commander, he embodied the kind of leadership soldiers immediately recognized and trusted, calm under pressure, tactically brilliant, physically present in the fight, and relentlessly committed to accomplishing the mission while taking care of his men.

02:35:32.378 --> 02:35:39.422
[UNKNOWN]: From the moment, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, fell under his command Lieutenant Colonel Tedesco treated the soldiers as his own.

02:35:40.603 --> 02:35:45.585
[UNKNOWN]: He did not lead from a distant command post for a lie solely on reports filtered through layers of staff officers.

02:35:46.126 --> 02:35:51.669
[UNKNOWN]: He led from the front understanding that the battlefield leadership required visibility, presence and trust.

02:35:52.109 --> 02:35:57.692
[UNKNOWN]: We all knew we would never, we all knew he would never ask them to go somewhere he was unwilling to go himself.

02:35:58.252 --> 02:36:08.839
[UNKNOWN]: And the reason one of the reason I highlighted that was because that's exactly the way he trained it treated my seals as well and me was like we were part of his unit and that's exactly how I felt.

02:36:11.261 --> 02:36:11.841
[UNKNOWN]: Can I buy my

02:36:14.146 --> 02:36:24.774
[UNKNOWN]: As Commander, Bravo Company operating a cop-falk and cop-dim-buyma established himself as an aggressive decisive and highly respected battlefield leader whose presence shaped the tempo and effectiveness of operations within cop-falking.

02:36:25.194 --> 02:36:36.623
[UNKNOWN]: In the brutal urban battlefield of Ramadi, hesitation could cost lives, Captain Bama understood that success demanded leaders who could make rapid decisions under pressure while maintaining complete confidence in their soldiers and equipment.

02:36:36.923 --> 02:36:39.105
[UNKNOWN]: a tanker by trade in a warrior by nature.

02:36:39.505 --> 02:36:44.950
[UNKNOWN]: He brought a level of technical proficiency in combat knowledge that gave us confidence during the most dangerous operations.

02:36:46.351 --> 02:36:56.800
[UNKNOWN]: Whether maneuvering armored vehicles through narrow streets, coordinating combined arms, fire power, or leading patrols into contested neighborhoods, he consistently demonstrated mastery of urban combat operations.

02:36:56.840 --> 02:36:58.321
[UNKNOWN]: Captain Bama led from the front.

02:36:58.581 --> 02:37:02.683
[UNKNOWN]: He did not command from a distance or ask us to face dangerous, he was unwilling to face himself.

02:37:03.084 --> 02:37:09.727
[UNKNOWN]: His leadership style was aggressive, but disciplined always focused on maintaining initiative against an adaptive and determined insurgency.

02:37:10.067 --> 02:37:21.414
[UNKNOWN]: We all knew that when fighting intensified, he would be exactly where he needed to be, forward, engaged, and fully committed to the mission, and all out of footnote there are probably launching some main gut products.

02:37:24.355 --> 02:37:41.350
[UNKNOWN]: Uh, you got, uh, first sergeant, Louis DeRan, the operational bedrock of the outpost, first sergeant Louis DeRan was the bedrock of our unit, the steady, dependable leader who's presence, Brock Order, Discipline, and Confidence during some of the most difficult moments of the deployment in the chaos of combat operations within Falcon.

02:37:41.670 --> 02:37:46.534
[UNKNOWN]: He served as the backbone of the company balancing toughness with genuine care for the soldiers under his responsibility.

02:37:46.994 --> 02:37:57.808
[UNKNOWN]: whether inside the tactical operation center or out amongst the men for sergeant to land led with quiet professionalism and an unwavering sense of duty that earn the respect of everyone around him.

02:37:58.749 --> 02:38:05.658
[UNKNOWN]: And you go through a lot of these different leaders and get the book so you can hear these tributes.

02:38:06.278 --> 02:38:11.842
[UNKNOWN]: One of them, Michael Otten, who we mentioned earlier, he, you asked him, you showed him a picture.

02:38:12.843 --> 02:38:18.426
[UNKNOWN]: And I don't know, you, you, you, you asking this question, what, what does Ramadi mean to you 20 years later?

02:38:19.087 --> 02:38:23.490
[UNKNOWN]: And I'll fast forward a little bit on his response, but he says, Ramadi was literally hell on earth.

02:38:24.410 --> 02:38:27.152
[UNKNOWN]: the fight day in and day out was forever changing.

02:38:27.432 --> 02:38:32.094
[UNKNOWN]: The threat of I.D.s was tremendous from day one, but only got worse over the 10 month deployment.

02:38:32.475 --> 02:38:37.597
[UNKNOWN]: Every patrol mounted or dismounted was stressful and the thought of not making it off the patrol was real.

02:38:37.918 --> 02:38:40.899
[UNKNOWN]: Every rooftop, every person, every piece of trash was a threat.

02:38:41.279 --> 02:38:42.600
[UNKNOWN]: A threat you could not identify.

02:38:42.820 --> 02:38:44.501
[UNKNOWN]: It was a nightmare every second.

02:38:45.182 --> 02:38:50.424
[UNKNOWN]: Ramadi turned little boys into stone, cold, heartless killers, and made even those soldiers who

02:38:53.446 --> 02:38:59.007
[UNKNOWN]: It built bonds that never could be broken, bonds that will last a lifetime looking back at the battle of Ramadi.

02:38:59.327 --> 02:39:01.548
[UNKNOWN]: I can say it was one of the proudest things I've done in my life.

02:39:02.208 --> 02:39:06.449
[UNKNOWN]: Though it was a nightmare and not enjoyable, I am proud to have been a part of history.

02:39:07.089 --> 02:39:09.450
[UNKNOWN]: In a sense, Ramadi meant life or death to me.

02:39:09.970 --> 02:39:14.651
[UNKNOWN]: Oftentimes, when I got in my darkest days, I referred back to the days of that battle.

02:39:14.911 --> 02:39:18.052
[UNKNOWN]: When I wanted to take my own life at one point, I couldn't.

02:39:18.352 --> 02:39:24.657
[UNKNOWN]: Because the men I fought alongside in Ramadi, I couldn't take my own life because I would have failed my brothers from Ramadi.

02:39:25.258 --> 02:39:28.660
[UNKNOWN]: I do, I know they suffer from the same emotions, nightmares, etc.

02:39:28.680 --> 02:39:29.201
[UNKNOWN]: that I do.

02:39:29.621 --> 02:39:32.503
[UNKNOWN]: How could I be so weak as to leave them on this earth alone?

02:39:32.984 --> 02:39:35.626
[UNKNOWN]: I owe it to them to fight the demons we all share together.

02:39:36.566 --> 02:39:39.309
[UNKNOWN]: Maybe my living is the reason a brother holds on.

02:39:39.689 --> 02:39:42.771
[UNKNOWN]: If I break, would it encourage another brother to take his own life?

02:39:43.912 --> 02:39:48.976
[UNKNOWN]: I have asked myself this question often, so what Ramadhi means to me is life.

02:39:50.017 --> 02:40:02.628
[UNKNOWN]: We must live on, regardless or else we let the place we hate more than anything win, and it does not deserve to claim another brother who fought and won a battle that nobody thought could be one.

02:40:06.860 --> 02:40:08.481
[UNKNOWN]: That says it all right, that does.

02:40:08.781 --> 02:40:17.486
[UNKNOWN]: And so once again, just like, so I'm not and said, what type of a leader I would be if I didn't write this book.

02:40:19.890 --> 02:40:27.155
[UNKNOWN]: We owe it, you know, to our fallen, to make sure that the stories and the legacy carries on for future generations.

02:40:29.076 --> 02:40:30.677
[UNKNOWN]: And like I said, I read a couple of these.

02:40:30.857 --> 02:40:42.325
[UNKNOWN]: You got more of them in their super impactful, you know, like I said, you got the the memory for the fallen and as well, I want to close out with this section of the book.

02:40:44.587 --> 02:40:46.768
[UNKNOWN]: You say we were the ready first.

02:40:50.570 --> 02:40:57.512
[UNKNOWN]: And though the years had passed, and our hair is grayed, we remained bound by a bond that time cannot touch.

02:40:58.552 --> 02:41:13.235
[UNKNOWN]: I wrote this so that my sons and yours will know that there was a time in a broken city far away when ordinary men did extraordinary things for one another, deeds, not words.

02:41:15.656 --> 02:41:16.616
[UNKNOWN]: Miguel Santana.

02:41:18.247 --> 02:41:24.190
[UNKNOWN]: Major U.S. Army retired, Ramadi, 2006, 2007.

02:41:28.333 --> 02:41:36.437
[UNKNOWN]: D's not words, and you and your soldiers certainly lived that mantra without question.

02:41:37.638 --> 02:41:41.740
[UNKNOWN]: What was your, when you got home, what was your next assignment after Ramadi?

02:41:42.737 --> 02:41:49.880
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, when I got home, like I said, I, as an officer, I was commissioned infantry.

02:41:50.440 --> 02:41:52.761
[UNKNOWN]: And so I went to infantry school, range of school and all of that.

02:41:54.722 --> 02:42:10.309
[UNKNOWN]: However, about six months after coming back home, there was a company commander back in Iraq, back in Ramadi, the same battle space that we just left, that had a family,

02:42:12.312 --> 02:42:40.241
[UNKNOWN]: I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to say I don't want to

02:42:42.400 --> 02:42:45.441
[UNKNOWN]: responsible for M&F West, the whole financial footprint.

02:42:46.542 --> 02:42:49.363
[UNKNOWN]: And so he needed to be replaced.

02:42:50.703 --> 02:42:52.864
[UNKNOWN]: And so here I am an infantry officer.

02:42:53.464 --> 02:42:57.126
[UNKNOWN]: I got calling to a room and asked, would you be willing to go back?

02:42:58.106 --> 02:43:23.212
[UNKNOWN]: And I mean, it's what six months and we just came back and so it was asked of me hey, would you be willing to go back and take a man prior to going to the captain's career course and take a man of a finance company, your own battle space, but in addition to Ramada, you're going to be responsible for all Assad, hit, TQ, Felicia, Felicia, all of it, all the financial footprint and I was like, well, I'm an infantry guy.

02:43:23.532 --> 02:43:30.434
[UNKNOWN]: And they're like, yeah, but you also were assessed as a future potential finance officer, comptroller, the army is changing.

02:43:31.654 --> 02:43:41.636
[UNKNOWN]: And so this concept of creating comptrollers, S8, G8, we're starting.

02:43:42.176 --> 02:43:46.197
[UNKNOWN]: And so here I am, I just let an infantry

02:43:53.519 --> 02:44:11.230
[UNKNOWN]: I penned and I put captain's bar in route back to Iraq and to command of a finance company responsible for the whole financial footprint and I was kind of weird juggle because going back to your battle space emotionally it was like wait a second.

02:44:11.730 --> 02:44:19.774
[UNKNOWN]: I'm not the paternal leader, I'm the commander now, and my finance soldiers were like, Sir, why do you want to go back to Ramadhi?

02:44:20.414 --> 02:44:22.015
[UNKNOWN]: Why do you want to see Copfalken?

02:44:22.055 --> 02:44:28.458
[UNKNOWN]: They didn't understand the reasons why I was emotionally attached, so much to Ramadhi and Copfalken.

02:44:29.679 --> 02:44:43.925
[UNKNOWN]: And so, as I went back to Ramadi and visited all the battle spaces, Battalion and Brigade Commanders were confused, because, you know, my uniform showed infantry, C.I.B.

02:44:44.406 --> 02:44:47.367
[UNKNOWN]: Ranger Tab, and it's like, you're the finest commander.

02:44:48.027 --> 02:45:14.620
[UNKNOWN]: My guy, the finance commander, I'm what is called a future S8, and Better within the brigade, but responsible for the financial footprint, and so I went back for another 12 months and led in The same battle space and what I can share with you guys is this is that I'm glad I won't write back Because I got a chance to see Falcon when we laughed it

02:45:15.901 --> 02:45:20.426
[UNKNOWN]: and about eight months later, the file can completely different.

02:45:22.068 --> 02:45:30.757
[UNKNOWN]: Um, soldiers were walking around without hard hats, IBAs, and it was a softer Romadi, and I was weird for me.

02:45:32.095 --> 02:45:45.264
[UNKNOWN]: You know, that was weird for me that guys, eventually we got the picture sent back to the guys that that will replace us and you know, it's like kids girls girl school running running road races down round measure again, just all that stuff.

02:45:45.304 --> 02:45:47.426
[UNKNOWN]: And it's funny because I never stopped taking pictures.

02:45:47.586 --> 02:45:54.951
[UNKNOWN]: So I like I have a picture of Capfalkan when I last next to another picture that I took and it was like, wow, it's just so amazing.

02:45:56.252 --> 02:45:58.474
[UNKNOWN]: And so for me, it was.

02:46:01.410 --> 02:46:07.873
[UNKNOWN]: It gave me an opportunity to find closure because I was able to finally see what happened.

02:46:08.473 --> 02:46:13.615
[UNKNOWN]: I was actually given the opportunity to see what we fought for.

02:46:14.915 --> 02:46:23.779
[UNKNOWN]: But once again, August 2nd has never been the same for me, but at least I got a chance to see because a lot of soldiers got hurt.

02:46:25.302 --> 02:46:29.650
[UNKNOWN]: got back sent, you know, got sent back to Germany, and they never found closure.

02:46:30.672 --> 02:46:32.054
[UNKNOWN]: Like for example, it's Aaron King.

02:46:33.276 --> 02:46:37.183
[UNKNOWN]: After he got blown up on the home V, he didn't come back from the deployment.

02:46:38.532 --> 02:46:47.115
[UNKNOWN]: And so sitting and talking to him, it's like, man, sir, there's there's there's a piece that is missing what happened afterwards.

02:46:47.876 --> 02:46:53.738
[UNKNOWN]: And just talking to him and helping him close those gaps and filling those missing gaps.

02:46:54.798 --> 02:46:58.700
[UNKNOWN]: That for years he's been carrying, it's just a beautiful experience.

02:46:58.940 --> 02:47:11.445
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, that's one of the things that I told the guys that came to the task, you know, Bruce, reunion is there's like a scene in a band of brothers where the German general is a dress after they've surrendered.

02:47:11.465 --> 02:47:15.447
[UNKNOWN]: He's addressing his troops and you know, he tells him it's been a long war.

02:47:15.547 --> 02:47:16.287
[UNKNOWN]: It's been a hard war.

02:47:16.387 --> 02:47:21.069
[UNKNOWN]: You fought proudly and bravely for your country, your special group, you've

02:47:22.029 --> 02:47:36.415
[UNKNOWN]: formed upon that only exists in combat and it only exists amongst brothers who have shared foxholes who have held each other in dire moments who have seen death and who have suffered together.

02:47:39.467 --> 02:47:44.988
[UNKNOWN]: And I explained to them that, you know, while that German General is giving that speech, there's an American that's translating it.

02:47:45.188 --> 02:47:49.169
[UNKNOWN]: And they all realize that what he's saying is true, regardless of what side you're on.

02:47:50.269 --> 02:47:55.431
[UNKNOWN]: And it also made me realize that for the Germans in that moment, the war was over.

02:47:55.631 --> 02:47:57.651
[UNKNOWN]: And for the Americans in that moment, the war was over.

02:47:58.251 --> 02:48:02.092
[UNKNOWN]: But us coming home from Remadi in town, it for us in our task, we came home in October.

02:48:02.892 --> 02:48:03.672
[UNKNOWN]: The war's not over.

02:48:04.132 --> 02:48:05.653
[UNKNOWN]: It's there's no end to it in sight.

02:48:06.653 --> 02:48:10.394
[UNKNOWN]: We just, you know, guys went, gone to another patoon, gone to another task unit, guys.

02:48:10.414 --> 02:48:11.335
[UNKNOWN]: Some guys went to training.

02:48:11.375 --> 02:48:14.716
[UNKNOWN]: It's just everybody kind of moves on, but there's no, as you put it closer.

02:48:15.656 --> 02:48:18.717
[UNKNOWN]: And I think there's a lot of Americans, you know, a lot of Americans, we didn't really get that.

02:48:19.337 --> 02:48:23.559
[UNKNOWN]: And so, you know, I never said to him, like, hey, you guys did a great job.

02:48:24.259 --> 02:48:34.083
[UNKNOWN]: Like, you know, guys checking out, going to a different man, so I think the fact that you got to go back over there and set foot in, and life got to see it too, I think in 2009.

02:48:35.803 --> 02:48:38.966
[UNKNOWN]: And I want to say his last deployment was in 2009 or 2010.

02:48:39.886 --> 02:48:45.571
[UNKNOWN]: They had one in all of the Alonbar province during his six month deployment.

02:48:46.051 --> 02:48:54.017
[UNKNOWN]: They had one casualty, a guy got injured in a vehicle roll, does it in all of Alonbar problems?

02:48:54.278 --> 02:48:55.639
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, that's totally insane.

02:48:56.820 --> 02:48:59.001
[UNKNOWN]: So yeah, that's great that you got to go back there.

02:49:02.744 --> 02:49:21.109
[UNKNOWN]: 0, 5, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0

02:49:27.531 --> 02:49:45.864
[UNKNOWN]: And so I went to the finance captain's career course to become a comptroller, and immediately I got orders back to German, well back to Italy with the 173th Infantry Brigade, and so I did another 12 months with the Airborne Brigade, and where was that?

02:49:46.144 --> 02:49:49.286
[UNKNOWN]: At our Vigence Italy, and we went to Afghanistan.

02:49:50.447 --> 02:49:52.848
[UNKNOWN]: And you were doing the comptroller stuff over in Afghanistan?

02:49:52.888 --> 02:49:54.009
[UNKNOWN]: There were a lot of years, was that?

02:49:59.490 --> 02:50:14.074
[UNKNOWN]: 2012, 2012, 2011, 2012, and it was interesting because I've Afghanistan completely different from Iraq, completely the dynamics of it.

02:50:14.454 --> 02:50:25.918
[UNKNOWN]: And even though I'm the Comptroller, I'm the essay responsible for all the financial funding that's operating, you know, I've got to stand was just

02:50:26.918 --> 02:50:29.799
[UNKNOWN]: You know what we did in Ramadhi was backstreet fighting.

02:50:30.539 --> 02:50:38.480
[UNKNOWN]: I've got to stand totally different to rain And so with the 173rd I was still tip of the spear.

02:50:38.620 --> 02:50:39.601
[UNKNOWN]: I was still involved.

02:50:40.601 --> 02:50:48.602
[UNKNOWN]: I still went out Because I wanted to understand if I'm gonna pull resources funding resources and fund What the soldiers needed.

02:50:48.722 --> 02:50:56.324
[UNKNOWN]: I needed to be able to understand and see it firsthand and so I went out I'm still an infantry officer

02:50:56.604 --> 02:50:57.404
[UNKNOWN]: It's still pitiful.

02:50:59.185 --> 02:51:00.306
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, still the pitiful.

02:51:00.826 --> 02:51:08.709
[UNKNOWN]: And then I think you're last big thing was the financial planner for Operation Atlantic Resolve.

02:51:08.729 --> 02:51:09.509
[UNKNOWN]: That was what 2014?

02:51:09.529 --> 02:51:11.030
[UNKNOWN]: 2014, yeah.

02:51:11.290 --> 02:51:17.352
[UNKNOWN]: And so now this is after the Russians invade the Crimean Peninsula there or whatever.

02:51:17.853 --> 02:51:18.393
[UNKNOWN]: And next it.

02:51:18.693 --> 02:51:29.378
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, and so when I came back from Afghanistan, that was going on, and I was pulled from Vincent's Italy back to Germany at the headquarters level.

02:51:29.478 --> 02:51:43.986
[UNKNOWN]: So I was at the G8 now, and I was the deputy chief of the tactical branch within the resource management team, and so I was hand-selected as part of this team, because back then it was completely classified.

02:51:45.126 --> 02:52:12.868
[UNKNOWN]: Nobody knew what we were doing and so my responsibility was to build this funding package to bring soldiers to Europe and it was the biggest movement of troops and equipment since war war two and so I was funding missions that was in I mean the news is out anyway so I guess I can talk about it but like I was funding missions at Poland and Lithuania, Storia, Lafayette, Romania and addition to Germany

02:52:13.668 --> 02:52:15.169
[UNKNOWN]: and all these training exercises.

02:52:15.189 --> 02:52:19.812
[UNKNOWN]: So like, if you go back and you pull the original funding order, you're going to see my name on it.

02:52:20.332 --> 02:52:27.557
[UNKNOWN]: And so that was my big, um, I don't consider it deployment, because I was a ready station out of Europe.

02:52:27.597 --> 02:52:29.938
[UNKNOWN]: I spent almost 10 years operating out of Europe.

02:52:31.290 --> 02:52:40.335
[UNKNOWN]: And I understood the culture, I understood the language, I understood the exchange rate, I understood the infantry aspect of it, plus the funding aspect of it.

02:52:41.376 --> 02:52:44.838
[UNKNOWN]: And so it just, for me, it was just, I love that.

02:52:46.038 --> 02:52:47.779
[UNKNOWN]: What made you decide to retire?

02:52:50.621 --> 02:52:53.883
[UNKNOWN]: That's a difficult one, but,

02:52:55.968 --> 02:53:01.794
[UNKNOWN]: My third diploma in Afghanistan was pretty rough and I can see my body changing.

02:53:03.295 --> 02:53:14.426
[UNKNOWN]: I'm not going to share everything, but what I can say is that the injuries that I sustained as a paternal leader, as a company commander, has started creeping up on me.

02:53:21.312 --> 02:53:23.513
[UNKNOWN]: You know, I have two beautiful boys, Michael and Matthew.

02:53:24.134 --> 02:53:26.415
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, they're just the love of my life, you know.

02:53:27.215 --> 02:53:28.356
[UNKNOWN]: I see myself through them.

02:53:29.156 --> 02:53:33.679
[UNKNOWN]: But when my second boy and Matthew was born, I was having a hard time taking care of him.

02:53:34.659 --> 02:53:36.160
[UNKNOWN]: I didn't understand why my hand was shaking.

02:53:37.701 --> 02:53:58.178
[UNKNOWN]: You know, I was I was taking Tylenol Adville's Maltre and like TikToks, you know, like just popping a man, you know, and I'm like I didn't really know the difference between a headache and my greens I didn't know, I didn't understand what was happening to my body And then one day my wife said no You know, as a loving wife and soulmate, she's like, no, we need to find out

02:53:58.838 --> 02:54:21.848
[UNKNOWN]: And so I went to Longstool and they did the MRIs and they did all the tests and discovered that I did sustain Traumatic brain injury and so the condition that I have was officially like for years I didn't really know why my hand was shaking wire sometimes my voice You know the pitch changed and then finally the doctor broke it down and said hey you suffer from a central tremor

02:54:23.212 --> 02:54:23.992
[UNKNOWN]: and adding believe it.

02:54:24.593 --> 02:54:30.095
[UNKNOWN]: But once I saw the MRIs and then the doctor said flat out, you know my home out of Lee.

02:54:30.595 --> 02:54:32.036
[UNKNOWN]: Oh yeah, greatest boxer.

02:54:32.596 --> 02:54:39.699
[UNKNOWN]: He's like, yeah, well, you know, he got too many concussions that eventually became Parkinson's.

02:54:40.580 --> 02:54:41.640
[UNKNOWN]: Is that what you want for yourself?

02:54:41.660 --> 02:54:43.581
[UNKNOWN]: You know, because at the time I was still on jump status.

02:54:44.241 --> 02:54:47.743
[UNKNOWN]: Even though I was a comptroller, I was still living the infantry lifestyle.

02:54:48.543 --> 02:54:50.804
[UNKNOWN]: And at that moment in time, I realized that, hey,

02:54:52.085 --> 02:55:06.736
[UNKNOWN]: you know I have a duty I let soldiers in combat but now I have the ultimate responsibility and it's my wife and my boys and my wife and I we prayed about it and that's when the decision was made that it's best for me to

02:55:07.516 --> 02:55:16.139
[UNKNOWN]: So, retired, and it's interesting, I will mention his name because he was a great mentor to my, at the time he was major lackey.

02:55:16.920 --> 02:55:27.424
[UNKNOWN]: He was the, he was the, the Brigade X, the Brigade S3 with the 173 under Colonel Roland, now General Roland.

02:55:27.964 --> 02:55:30.865
[UNKNOWN]: He became the infantry branch manager.

02:55:32.335 --> 02:55:33.776
[UNKNOWN]: And he called me, he's like, I can't make out.

02:55:34.217 --> 02:55:35.718
[UNKNOWN]: I got the perfect excitement for you.

02:55:36.819 --> 02:55:40.663
[UNKNOWN]: The 75th range of regimen in about a year from now needs a controller.

02:55:41.043 --> 02:55:42.725
[UNKNOWN]: I put your name in the hat, you got it.

02:55:44.867 --> 02:55:46.949
[UNKNOWN]: And I'm like, OK, he's like, don't worry about.

02:55:47.189 --> 02:55:48.551
[UNKNOWN]: I'll take care of the finance branch.

02:55:49.131 --> 02:55:50.232
[UNKNOWN]: But we're going to make it work.

02:55:51.293 --> 02:55:53.395
[UNKNOWN]: And so you have this beautiful career.

02:55:57.932 --> 02:56:01.317
[UNKNOWN]: I had to make the tough decision to say, hey, I appreciate it, sir.

02:56:01.437 --> 02:56:06.384
[UNKNOWN]: But I think it's time for me to retire and come home and take care of my family and take care of myself.

02:56:06.765 --> 02:56:07.406
[UNKNOWN]: Yes indeed.

02:56:07.666 --> 02:56:13.855
[UNKNOWN]: And so that was, that was the reason why I retired and so what are you doing now?

02:56:17.985 --> 02:56:24.472
[UNKNOWN]: I retired in uniform, but I didn't retired, of course.

02:56:25.093 --> 02:56:30.439
[UNKNOWN]: So I retired as a soldier, but I continued service.

02:56:30.820 --> 02:56:35.205
[UNKNOWN]: And so as a September, I was the G8.

02:56:35.986 --> 02:56:37.948
[UNKNOWN]: So I joined the Surveillance Workforce.

02:56:38.749 --> 02:56:58.825
[UNKNOWN]: As a as a federal civilian and I worked out of a Southern command the United States Army Miami Garrison supporting Southern command and so I was the Garrison GA the Comptroller for the Garrison and I did that for a couple years but once again Ramadi

02:57:00.440 --> 02:57:00.860
[UNKNOWN]: was here.

02:57:01.860 --> 02:57:06.881
[UNKNOWN]: And so in September, you know, with the government shot down in all that, I saw the opportunity.

02:57:07.601 --> 02:57:12.442
[UNKNOWN]: And so I left that and committed to writing this book for my soldiers.

02:57:13.783 --> 02:57:15.283
[UNKNOWN]: And so, what am I doing right now?

02:57:16.203 --> 02:57:17.763
[UNKNOWN]: Right now, you know what's my goal?

02:57:19.244 --> 02:57:20.364
[UNKNOWN]: Hang out with your wife and kids.

02:57:21.284 --> 02:57:21.784
[UNKNOWN]: Be size that.

02:57:24.265 --> 02:57:24.845
[UNKNOWN]: Be size that.

02:57:25.485 --> 02:57:26.665
[UNKNOWN]: Because my wife just said,

02:57:28.263 --> 02:57:32.707
[UNKNOWN]: You got to lead the amount of calls that I get from my soldiers and family members.

02:57:33.788 --> 02:57:37.230
[UNKNOWN]: And so, what do I want to share with the world is?

02:57:38.331 --> 02:57:39.753
[UNKNOWN]: A soldier always be a soldier.

02:57:40.033 --> 02:57:40.573
[UNKNOWN]: My dad.

02:57:42.215 --> 02:57:45.677
[UNKNOWN]: My dad is 87 years old, right?

02:57:46.238 --> 02:57:50.161
[UNKNOWN]: And my dad, if I tell him dad, I stand up, I want to salute.

02:57:58.455 --> 02:58:00.475
[UNKNOWN]: And I said, Dad, I want to salute you.

02:58:00.815 --> 02:58:07.857
[UNKNOWN]: At 87 years old, you see my dad must have the strength and the courage to stand up so we can salute each other.

02:58:08.857 --> 02:58:11.878
[UNKNOWN]: And so with that being said, I'm going to continue to lead.

02:58:14.698 --> 02:58:19.419
[UNKNOWN]: What has helped me to this point is realizing there's nothing wrong with us.

02:58:21.559 --> 02:58:24.840
[UNKNOWN]: We just simply transform ourselves.

02:58:26.638 --> 02:58:32.541
[UNKNOWN]: A leader, always be a leader, a soldier, always be a soldier, and so as a veteran, I'm going to continue to lead.

02:58:33.341 --> 02:58:36.583
[UNKNOWN]: You know, like this book took 20 years.

02:58:38.343 --> 02:58:40.684
[UNKNOWN]: Jerko, I can't stop it.

02:58:40.724 --> 02:58:41.805
[UNKNOWN]: I'm writing another book.

02:58:42.485 --> 02:58:42.785
[UNKNOWN]: Awesome.

02:58:44.026 --> 02:58:50.649
[UNKNOWN]: I'm writing another book because my brother Jose taught me a lesson at 57.

02:58:52.710 --> 02:58:53.390
[UNKNOWN]: He passed away.

02:58:56.647 --> 02:58:57.888
[UNKNOWN]: We're not going to live forever.

02:58:59.390 --> 02:59:08.098
[UNKNOWN]: And so what type of a leader I ask again, what I be, if I don't put all the lessons learned onto a book, that's going to help.

02:59:08.479 --> 02:59:13.224
[UNKNOWN]: It has helped me tremendously, but it's also going to help my soldiers and family members.

02:59:13.444 --> 02:59:17.408
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, right now, it's kind of overwhelming too, because the amount of emails,

02:59:19.029 --> 02:59:23.310
[UNKNOWN]: I do want to share the story, so I'm Wilson, I'm sorry, I will have to share it.

02:59:24.070 --> 02:59:29.933
[UNKNOWN]: But I want to see Camp Wilson, in the book I called them the Builder, up in North Carolina.

02:59:30.853 --> 02:59:34.875
[UNKNOWN]: Every year we go out of our way to make sure we have a reunion just like so I'm not.

02:59:35.535 --> 02:59:39.256
[UNKNOWN]: So I'm Goosman, I mean a lot of my CEOs, I stay connected with them.

02:59:39.496 --> 02:59:46.279
[UNKNOWN]: And so, you know, I went to see him and it was like, we signed each other's book.

02:59:47.890 --> 02:59:56.337
[UNKNOWN]: and the beautiful thing about that relationship is that we still hold each other's accountable as we're sitting by the lake, beautiful lake, beautiful house.

02:59:57.317 --> 03:00:00.540
[UNKNOWN]: You know, we talk about Ramadi and we see the wise

03:00:01.930 --> 03:00:26.772
[UNKNOWN]: and the kids playing, it's like, wow, we did that, we created that and he's always doing some project, he's always helping his community, he's always doing something, he's right now involved in helping rebuild one of one of the churches in the small, you know, North Carolina time where he lives and so it's like, as a veteran, he's still leading and

03:00:28.110 --> 03:00:29.691
[UNKNOWN]: As a grading CEO, he's still leading.

03:00:29.791 --> 03:00:32.213
[UNKNOWN]: So once again, what type of a leader am I going to be?

03:00:33.153 --> 03:00:34.514
[UNKNOWN]: Am I going to continue to hide?

03:00:34.834 --> 03:00:38.036
[UNKNOWN]: No, you know, once again, I never served in a range of bad.

03:00:39.277 --> 03:00:42.699
[UNKNOWN]: But range of school means something to me, the tab means something to me.

03:00:43.820 --> 03:00:45.181
[UNKNOWN]: I have to continue to lead.

03:00:46.042 --> 03:00:51.105
[UNKNOWN]: And so the next book is to help soldiers.

03:00:51.565 --> 03:00:53.386
[UNKNOWN]: How do you overcome multiple deployments?

03:00:54.767 --> 03:00:55.848
[UNKNOWN]: How do you overcome injuries?

03:00:57.395 --> 03:00:59.856
[UNKNOWN]: How do you overcome family reintegration?

03:01:00.817 --> 03:01:08.241
[UNKNOWN]: It took a lot for me to talk about my tremors, because I was struggling, why is my hands shaking?

03:01:08.821 --> 03:01:12.963
[UNKNOWN]: My wife had to help me shave, time I shoes at one point.

03:01:14.064 --> 03:01:20.327
[UNKNOWN]: And so, by the grace of God, histamine blockers, regularly, I lead you medicine.

03:01:21.655 --> 03:01:25.640
[UNKNOWN]: I don't know, but it helps me and so I'm back.

03:01:26.301 --> 03:01:31.948
[UNKNOWN]: The pit was back and so we have to lead and take care of our soldiers.

03:01:32.829 --> 03:01:38.997
[UNKNOWN]: It doesn't matter if we're veterans, if we're back home, we have to lead.

03:01:40.615 --> 03:01:41.335
[UNKNOWN]: yes indeed.

03:01:44.617 --> 03:01:45.577
[UNKNOWN]: Where can people find you?

03:01:45.597 --> 03:01:48.019
[UNKNOWN]: You got Miguel Santana dot com.

03:01:48.399 --> 03:01:48.739
[UNKNOWN]: Correct.

03:01:49.259 --> 03:01:50.360
[UNKNOWN]: Surprise you're able to get that.

03:01:50.540 --> 03:01:52.100
[UNKNOWN]: That's pretty awesome that you're able to get that.

03:01:52.180 --> 03:01:52.661
[UNKNOWN]: Good job.

03:01:52.821 --> 03:01:53.061
[UNKNOWN]: Yes.

03:01:53.381 --> 03:01:56.402
[UNKNOWN]: You got a YouTube channel Santana channel official.

03:01:56.783 --> 03:01:58.664
[UNKNOWN]: With currently has zero videos on it.

03:01:58.984 --> 03:02:00.584
[UNKNOWN]: I look last night so no pressure.

03:02:01.065 --> 03:02:02.425
[UNKNOWN]: You can't lead with no videos.

03:02:02.445 --> 03:02:03.646
[UNKNOWN]: You got to get some videos on there.

03:02:03.946 --> 03:02:05.407
[UNKNOWN]: Well, let me just explain.

03:02:05.447 --> 03:02:09.851
[UNKNOWN]: So the whole idea of I never had a digital footprint.

03:02:09.971 --> 03:02:14.134
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, I had free to book, but just just so that I can keep up with my soldiers.

03:02:15.135 --> 03:02:20.340
[UNKNOWN]: But the whole idea of the book, the self-politician company that I went through, they're like, hey, you need a website.

03:02:21.160 --> 03:02:24.863
[UNKNOWN]: And so the website is the extension, and that's the Miguel Sondana.

03:02:24.903 --> 03:02:25.244
[UNKNOWN]: Correct.

03:02:25.344 --> 03:02:25.704
[UNKNOWN]: Correct.

03:02:25.744 --> 03:02:30.368
[UNKNOWN]: But I will echo if you're looking for the links on there for his Instagram or his Twitter.

03:02:30.748 --> 03:02:31.189
[UNKNOWN]: Click on them.

03:02:31.309 --> 03:02:31.969
[UNKNOWN]: They don't go anywhere.

03:02:32.250 --> 03:02:33.811
[UNKNOWN]: He's got no Instagram notes.

03:02:33.891 --> 03:02:34.191
[UNKNOWN]: Not yet.

03:02:34.291 --> 03:02:34.592
[UNKNOWN]: Not yet.

03:02:35.713 --> 03:02:46.582
[UNKNOWN]: But the website, what I'm going to do different is that if you read the book and you go to the website, there's pictures of us, there's pictures of you, there's pictures of us.

03:02:48.200 --> 03:03:08.554
[UNKNOWN]: There's a part that it's deployment photos and some of these pictures that are black and white, they're on the website and they're colored and then I have another folder for reunions and you and I attended the 20 year reunion but in addition to that my soldiers have been having their own little reunions and so I'm uploading those pictures there.

03:03:09.715 --> 03:03:11.476
[UNKNOWN]: In addition to that, what am I going to do?

03:03:12.077 --> 03:03:12.977
[UNKNOWN]: I have a lot of videos.

03:03:13.177 --> 03:03:16.160
[UNKNOWN]: I'm going to start sharing videos because what good is me having all these

03:03:18.304 --> 03:03:24.346
[UNKNOWN]: I have to share it with the world so that way people can truly get the full experience of what Romadi was for us.

03:03:24.767 --> 03:03:29.688
[UNKNOWN]: Echo, can you not take those videos put them on the YouTube channel and then link it through the website?

03:03:30.309 --> 03:03:30.709
[UNKNOWN]: What do you mean?

03:03:31.169 --> 03:03:36.831
[UNKNOWN]: So he's got videos, put them on the YouTube channel, and then post them on the website through the YouTube channel.

03:03:36.851 --> 03:03:37.631
[UNKNOWN]: That'd be a good move, right?

03:03:37.872 --> 03:03:38.332
[UNKNOWN]: All right.

03:03:38.352 --> 03:03:41.313
[UNKNOWN]: So when you re-listen to this you know what I just said and it makes sense.

03:03:41.753 --> 03:03:43.874
[UNKNOWN]: You'll tell your, you're probably one of your sons

03:03:47.035 --> 03:03:47.655
[UNKNOWN]: That's awesome.

03:03:47.695 --> 03:04:00.543
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, so Miguel Santana dot com the YouTube channel Santana channel official Facebook Miguel and Santana, and that's where you're at right now Echo Charles you got any questions.

03:04:00.804 --> 03:04:06.367
[UNKNOWN]: I have a couple come to my your interview mate some kind of random I've been wondering this for a long time

03:04:07.164 --> 03:04:26.187
[UNKNOWN]: so let's say you're in a firefight right you let's say we eliminate three combatants right they die what happens to those guys there's somebody coming clean them off or like what up out of respect

03:04:28.358 --> 03:04:38.641
[UNKNOWN]: Any time we engage someone, the insurgents did have a court of honor, they will come and pick up their deceased.

03:04:39.802 --> 03:04:42.343
[UNKNOWN]: You can literally watch them do it.

03:04:42.363 --> 03:04:44.463
[UNKNOWN]: They would come and grab their guys and put them in.

03:04:44.563 --> 03:04:48.044
[UNKNOWN]: They would bring them out to the Ramadi General Hospital or bring them to another site.

03:04:48.405 --> 03:04:49.205
[UNKNOWN]: Okay.

03:04:49.965 --> 03:04:52.006
[UNKNOWN]: If they didn't get recovered to get dogs on them.

03:04:52.166 --> 03:04:53.906
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

03:04:54.126 --> 03:04:55.487
[UNKNOWN]: They don't straight up dogs.

03:04:55.547 --> 03:04:55.787
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

03:04:56.667 --> 03:05:06.133
[UNKNOWN]: And then also I mean correct me if I'm wrong if if they died they had to bury them before either Sunrise or Sunset Oh, okay, they had a protocol.

03:05:06.153 --> 03:05:15.058
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, they had a protocol for but from the most part they they tried to recover the body It's crazy What kind of beard did your land lady leave you?

03:05:16.078 --> 03:05:16.518
[UNKNOWN]: Oh, man.

03:05:16.818 --> 03:05:19.399
[UNKNOWN]: I don't remember all I know is a Germans have good beer.

03:05:19.479 --> 03:05:29.943
[UNKNOWN]: Oh, yes, you know at the most popular beer And man, I might be wrong about this might be urban legend, but you know the most popular beer in Germany is what backs Budweiser Budweiser is that you think that's true.

03:05:30.564 --> 03:05:30.884
[UNKNOWN]: Oh, yeah.

03:05:31.404 --> 03:05:33.645
[UNKNOWN]: I mean fire did I like I add October fest

03:05:34.425 --> 03:05:36.886
[UNKNOWN]: which I've been to, which is in September oddly enough, right?

03:05:36.946 --> 03:05:37.666
[UNKNOWN]: Isn't it in September?

03:05:37.706 --> 03:05:39.147
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, it's in between.

03:05:39.167 --> 03:05:42.448
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, it's, it's uh, they're like all the most, the most drink here.

03:05:42.508 --> 03:05:46.549
[UNKNOWN]: Now look, I might, I might catch how I might be totally wrong, but that's the urban legend that I heard.

03:05:46.629 --> 03:05:50.911
[UNKNOWN]: Look, uh, but, but here's the thing, the beautiful thing about Germany is like,

03:05:52.842 --> 03:05:57.326
[UNKNOWN]: Any restaurant you would go to, you can order any type of beer.

03:05:57.367 --> 03:05:59.449
[UNKNOWN]: I mean, coming back from a diploma, everything was good.

03:06:00.470 --> 03:06:01.310
[UNKNOWN]: Everything was good.

03:06:01.430 --> 03:06:11.820
[UNKNOWN]: And so I liked, sometimes I would have a peers, a light beer, or the dunker, the dark German beer, and it was just, it was all delicious.

03:06:12.522 --> 03:06:35.541
[UNKNOWN]: be you don't remember what kind of with no I don't all I know is because I didn't leave nothing in the refrigerator and so I opened the fridge and I was like oh my guy was a six pack of German beer and and all my gear I threw it right by the living room and it was funny because I followed day when my senses well I took a shower and went to bed but the following day when I woke up I'm like what

03:06:35.681 --> 03:06:57.813
[UNKNOWN]: What is that smell and it was all my gear right there by the entrance, you know, and some of my pants were so You know sweat like you can they would stand by themselves You know and that white you remember the white you sweat so much that that your pants in your shirt will be White and it's all that ammonia from your body Yeah, it's crazy.

03:06:58.193 --> 03:06:58.573
[UNKNOWN]: Go man.

03:06:58.753 --> 03:06:59.334
[UNKNOWN]: That's all I got.

03:06:59.354 --> 03:07:00.674
[UNKNOWN]: Any other questions do you have a chance?

03:07:00.834 --> 03:07:01.635
[UNKNOWN]: No, no, no, oh

03:07:05.957 --> 03:07:32.205
[UNKNOWN]: Yes, once again, 20 years in the making, I want to thank you for welcoming me and giving me this platform and allowing me to bring on her voices to the world because it's not about me, it's about my soldiers and also helping moms and dads, brothers and sisters to truly get to understand what Romadi was all about and also to help the seals team fill in some

03:07:33.425 --> 03:07:41.508
[UNKNOWN]: You guys never knew I had those pictures of Copfalken, and I already started sharing them.

03:07:42.168 --> 03:07:49.751
[UNKNOWN]: And so even though 20 years I've passed, a blink of an eye still feels like you and I never missed a beat.

03:07:52.536 --> 03:07:52.997
[UNKNOWN]: Absolutely.

03:07:53.017 --> 03:07:54.818
[UNKNOWN]: Well, thank you so much for joining us.

03:07:54.878 --> 03:07:56.239
[UNKNOWN]: Thanks for writing this book.

03:07:56.540 --> 03:07:57.600
[UNKNOWN]: It's incredible to see you again.

03:07:57.640 --> 03:08:09.170
[UNKNOWN]: It's awesome to see you down at the ready first reunion, awesome to see you at the Tasks, you're a bruiser reunion, and now to be able to sit with you to read your book over the past, you know, a couple weeks, read your book, go through it, look at the pictures.

03:08:09.190 --> 03:08:12.633
[UNKNOWN]: This has been, it's been incredible.

03:08:13.054 --> 03:08:14.755
[UNKNOWN]: And so thank you for that.

03:08:14.815 --> 03:08:16.597
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you for passing on the lessons that you learned.

03:08:17.418 --> 03:08:20.464
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you for remembering the fallen.

03:08:21.105 --> 03:08:28.479
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you for remembering and giving a voice to your soldiers who were just absolutely outstanding.

03:08:30.945 --> 03:08:45.512
[UNKNOWN]: That's a tribute to them, and thank you for your service to our great nation, but most of all from me, thank you for what you and your soldiers did for me and for my seals.

03:08:46.092 --> 03:08:49.614
[UNKNOWN]: You all risk your lives to save ours and we are.

03:08:50.894 --> 03:09:01.903
[UNKNOWN]: eternally grateful for that and we will always consider you and your soldiers and the soldiers and Marines of the ready-first brigade combat team our brothers.

03:09:02.964 --> 03:09:03.344
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.

03:09:06.645 --> 03:09:18.889
[UNKNOWN]: And with that Miguel Pit Bull, Santana, has left the building outstanding guy, outstanding human being, outstanding leader, outstanding soldier with outstanding troops.

03:09:20.370 --> 03:09:26.712
[UNKNOWN]: So real honored to have him on here and just be able to discuss the incredible things that they did.

03:09:26.732 --> 03:09:27.793
[UNKNOWN]: And again, you know,

03:09:29.993 --> 03:09:32.634
[UNKNOWN]: such the, you know, I hit the real eye level today.

03:09:32.834 --> 03:09:35.674
[UNKNOWN]: The book hits like one level below that.

03:09:36.374 --> 03:09:37.955
[UNKNOWN]: But you just can't capture this.

03:09:37.995 --> 03:09:39.855
[UNKNOWN]: What was going on in a single day and what that was like.

03:09:39.895 --> 03:09:45.376
[UNKNOWN]: So, but the book does a great job on her voice is the fight for Romadi.

03:09:45.876 --> 03:09:47.716
[UNKNOWN]: So, check that out.

03:09:49.037 --> 03:09:51.377
[UNKNOWN]: In the meantime, guess what?

03:09:52.017 --> 03:09:56.218
[UNKNOWN]: I was thinking, you really, on like a deployment like that.

03:09:57.679 --> 03:10:04.625
[UNKNOWN]: You're a it's very sparse it's tough to

03:10:06.706 --> 03:10:08.127
[UNKNOWN]: work out the way you want to work out.

03:10:08.608 --> 03:10:10.930
[UNKNOWN]: It's almost impossible to eat the way you want to eat.

03:10:10.990 --> 03:10:13.972
[UNKNOWN]: It's very difficult to train the way you want to train.

03:10:15.674 --> 03:10:20.618
[UNKNOWN]: That's what our service men and women do when they're on deployment, right?

03:10:21.158 --> 03:10:25.522
[UNKNOWN]: Now, when we're back here, state side, we're going to take advantage of it.

03:10:25.742 --> 03:10:26.903
[UNKNOWN]: You got to take advantage of it.

03:10:26.923 --> 03:10:27.523
[UNKNOWN]: You got to train.

03:10:28.124 --> 03:10:30.906
[UNKNOWN]: You got to lift or as you would say, you got to lift.

03:10:32.779 --> 03:10:55.385
[UNKNOWN]: It trains you, Jitsu, run, sprint, be outside, go do some cool stuff, and then the eating part, man in America, you got that access to the good stuff, look, you get steak, chicken, sushi, sushi, all day, all day, you can't always get everything that you want.

03:10:56.925 --> 03:10:57.926
[UNKNOWN]: That's why we have jockel fuel.

03:10:59.027 --> 03:10:59.788
[UNKNOWN]: We have jockel fuel.

03:10:59.928 --> 03:11:04.091
[UNKNOWN]: We have protein the best protein the taste you protein.

03:11:04.572 --> 03:11:05.493
[UNKNOWN]: You can mix it with the water.

03:11:05.693 --> 03:11:06.573
[UNKNOWN]: You can mix it with milk.

03:11:06.714 --> 03:11:11.618
[UNKNOWN]: You can mix it with greek yogurt If you're looking for the RTDs.

03:11:11.818 --> 03:11:13.620
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, they go hard with the RTDs.

03:11:13.660 --> 03:11:14.100
[UNKNOWN]: You know this.

03:11:14.120 --> 03:11:20.546
[UNKNOWN]: Yes, oh So just had one during the break and 30 grams of protein needed it too, by the way Good work out this morning.

03:11:20.566 --> 03:11:22.207
[UNKNOWN]: Do you work out jerky lift today lift?

03:11:22.467 --> 03:11:27.690
[UNKNOWN]: No, no, no, no, how far up for you when you're done here, how far up to you?

03:11:28.051 --> 03:11:29.892
[UNKNOWN]: Are you to go then back and lift?

03:11:30.192 --> 03:11:32.774
[UNKNOWN]: We had been varying levels of fired up sometimes.

03:11:32.814 --> 03:11:33.634
[UNKNOWN]: I'm not fired up at all.

03:11:33.714 --> 03:11:34.535
[UNKNOWN]: Sometimes I'm like cool.

03:11:35.295 --> 03:11:40.759
[UNKNOWN]: If my son's there, like not really doing much, I can get fired up because he's lifting with me.

03:11:40.819 --> 03:11:44.842
[UNKNOWN]: By the way, but speaking of lifting the other day, yesterday, oh, perfect.

03:11:45.082 --> 03:11:45.682
[UNKNOWN]: Yesterday, I

03:11:50.465 --> 03:11:51.967
[UNKNOWN]: Didn't eat anything all day.

03:11:52.247 --> 03:11:52.728
[UNKNOWN]: Nothing at all.

03:11:52.768 --> 03:11:53.989
[UNKNOWN]: Yep, why don't we my friend.

03:11:54.189 --> 03:12:03.599
[UNKNOWN]: Okay After I was done lifting the hunger was that peak so I was like let me hit one of these RTD's no RTD flavor The cereal one yeah

03:12:05.465 --> 03:12:20.464
[UNKNOWN]: I think I hit it in literally one swallow not even one like hit like one swat Brad just flies done It's like a literal like the dessert capabilities of it double if you just don't eat anything It's very much of a good experience

03:12:20.748 --> 03:12:21.988
[UNKNOWN]: We got all kinds of good stuff for you.

03:12:22.328 --> 03:12:33.171
[UNKNOWN]: Jockelfuel.com, we got energy, we got hydration, we got supplementation, we got joint warfare, we got super krill, we got time, we got the, we got awesome stuff for you.

03:12:33.191 --> 03:12:36.832
[UNKNOWN]: We got muscle drive, has a nice little something to have.

03:12:37.212 --> 03:12:44.034
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, nice little snack, listen, tasty, taste sweet, but it's sweetened with natural sweeteners, right, monk fruit.

03:12:45.248 --> 03:12:45.688
[UNKNOWN]: It's really good.

03:12:45.848 --> 03:12:46.569
[UNKNOWN]: We make the best stuff.

03:12:46.869 --> 03:12:51.192
[UNKNOWN]: Jockelfield.com or go to wherever you buy stuff, where we buy food, where you buy things.

03:12:51.973 --> 03:12:52.974
[UNKNOWN]: They should have Jockelfueler.

03:12:53.014 --> 03:12:57.597
[UNKNOWN]: If they don't have Jockelfueler, ask them and will help you out getting them, get it there.

03:12:58.198 --> 03:13:00.419
[UNKNOWN]: So, Jockelfuel.com.

03:13:00.860 --> 03:13:05.623
[UNKNOWN]: Also, it's really, it can be very difficult to train due to overseas.

03:13:05.683 --> 03:13:06.664
[UNKNOWN]: It's true.

03:13:07.524 --> 03:13:08.505
[UNKNOWN]: Was I able to pull it off?

03:13:08.645 --> 03:13:09.366
[UNKNOWN]: Yep.

03:13:09.446 --> 03:13:10.487
[UNKNOWN]: Bring my own mats.

03:13:12.811 --> 03:13:15.613
[UNKNOWN]: kind of peer pressure people into just rolling with me.

03:13:16.674 --> 03:13:17.514
[UNKNOWN]: It's not always easy.

03:13:17.755 --> 03:13:19.176
[UNKNOWN]: OriginUSA.com.

03:13:19.196 --> 03:13:22.798
[UNKNOWN]: We have a G-Jitsu camp where G-Jitsu could not be any easier to do.

03:13:23.018 --> 03:13:23.379
[UNKNOWN]: Flex.

03:13:23.419 --> 03:13:26.781
[UNKNOWN]: Then when you're at, you fall out of bed, you're doing G-Jitsu basically.

03:13:27.081 --> 03:13:27.882
[UNKNOWN]: If you want to be.

03:13:27.962 --> 03:13:28.302
[UNKNOWN]: Right?

03:13:28.582 --> 03:13:29.083
[UNKNOWN]: You wake up.

03:13:29.143 --> 03:13:36.909
[UNKNOWN]: If you, if you, if you drink a 24 pack, a case of beer, and you hammered, and you had no idea what was happening.

03:13:36.969 --> 03:13:38.450
[UNKNOWN]: And you said, I'd like to, you'd be training.

03:13:38.470 --> 03:13:38.630
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

03:13:38.930 --> 03:13:39.791
[UNKNOWN]: You fall onto a map.

03:13:40.451 --> 03:13:41.812
[UNKNOWN]: which let's face it.

03:13:42.713 --> 03:13:52.823
[UNKNOWN]: Not so much the beer part, but a jujitsu training slash friendly competition can break out at any moment and has broken out at any moment.

03:13:52.863 --> 03:13:56.746
[UNKNOWN]: So you remember this, Jack that it was Jack that New Hill and Alex Tabs.

03:13:57.607 --> 03:13:59.228
[UNKNOWN]: This was like the most random time.

03:13:59.268 --> 03:13:59.829
[UNKNOWN]: Where was this?

03:14:00.129 --> 03:14:00.549
[UNKNOWN]: At camp.

03:14:00.709 --> 03:14:00.989
[UNKNOWN]: Okay.

03:14:01.089 --> 03:14:04.312
[UNKNOWN]: It was like... Post.

03:14:05.232 --> 03:14:06.253
[UNKNOWN]: It was either...

03:14:06.273 --> 03:14:09.035
[UNKNOWN]: It was right around the time that the mid-rats were being served.

03:14:09.115 --> 03:14:09.755
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

03:14:09.775 --> 03:14:10.356
[UNKNOWN]: Like the night.

03:14:10.436 --> 03:14:10.716
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

03:14:10.736 --> 03:14:12.377
[UNKNOWN]: The mid-rats.

03:14:12.397 --> 03:14:12.737
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

03:14:12.878 --> 03:14:12.978
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

03:14:12.998 --> 03:14:14.839
[UNKNOWN]: They were out there having a 40 minute roll.

03:14:14.999 --> 03:14:16.340
[UNKNOWN]: The 40 minute death match.

03:14:16.520 --> 03:14:17.100
[UNKNOWN]: It wasn't even a roll.

03:14:17.120 --> 03:14:17.901
[UNKNOWN]: They were trying to kill each other.

03:14:17.981 --> 03:14:18.501
[UNKNOWN]: Exactly.

03:14:18.541 --> 03:14:20.743
[UNKNOWN]: But sometimes it just freaking breaks into that.

03:14:20.763 --> 03:14:21.183
[UNKNOWN]: I want one.

03:14:21.203 --> 03:14:21.964
[UNKNOWN]: You remember the one?

03:14:22.064 --> 03:14:23.325
[UNKNOWN]: I think Jack has...

03:14:23.485 --> 03:14:24.626
[UNKNOWN]: He has more experience.

03:14:24.706 --> 03:14:24.886
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

03:14:24.906 --> 03:14:26.567
[UNKNOWN]: But Jack had a little bit more experience at the time.

03:14:26.747 --> 03:14:29.969
[UNKNOWN]: And then, but Tabs was like, no, no, let's go again.

03:14:30.229 --> 03:14:32.730
[UNKNOWN]: And I was there, I witnessed the whole evolution, okay?

03:14:32.750 --> 03:14:34.991
[UNKNOWN]: Because they were we're at the table.

03:14:35.171 --> 03:14:37.412
[UNKNOWN]: And they started out with that kind of old thing.

03:14:37.832 --> 03:14:39.293
[UNKNOWN]: And it just escalated.

03:14:39.313 --> 03:14:41.674
[UNKNOWN]: I forget I what sparked it, but just escalated.

03:14:42.254 --> 03:14:43.735
[UNKNOWN]: So, you know, I didn't even give in table.

03:14:44.175 --> 03:14:46.396
[UNKNOWN]: You might hear, well, we can go outside right now, right?

03:14:46.536 --> 03:14:46.857
[UNKNOWN]: Legit.

03:14:46.877 --> 03:14:47.437
[UNKNOWN]: You can do that.

03:14:47.877 --> 03:15:06.402
[UNKNOWN]: at camp you actually can go outside right now the match are right there one of the many by the way yeah you can you know as closer as far as you need them to be in the amma so do you just do whatever you like to literally when you say fall out of your bed and you can be training yeah literally that's what's happening oh yeah so it's a camp it's a camp for adult humans

03:15:08.382 --> 03:15:33.959
[UNKNOWN]: and you're doing jiu-jitsu, but there's the lake with there's paddle boards, there's swimming happening, there's a weight room, there's people teaching people teach like yoga and fitness on Jason Cleep who's got to show in workouts like everyone's just doing stuff, cool stuff, fun stuff, barbecue at night, people, you know, hanging out, telling stories, doing Q&A, I do Q&A up there, just makes stuff happen.

03:15:34.819 --> 03:15:36.581
[UNKNOWN]: Lobster bake steak dinner.

03:15:37.141 --> 03:15:38.182
[UNKNOWN]: It's just awesome.

03:15:38.902 --> 03:15:41.404
[UNKNOWN]: So it is August 23rd through the 28th.

03:15:41.564 --> 03:15:44.546
[UNKNOWN]: This is a camp for adults barely, right?

03:15:45.867 --> 03:15:52.812
[UNKNOWN]: You just get to go to jiu-jitsu all day and you've ate by the way if you don't want to train at all You just let's say you got a broken femur

03:15:53.632 --> 03:15:56.513
[UNKNOWN]: You can just sit on the side of the map and learn, no one's going to say any of it at all.

03:15:56.553 --> 03:15:56.753
[UNKNOWN]: Cool.

03:15:56.993 --> 03:15:57.833
[UNKNOWN]: You can watch this.

03:15:58.093 --> 03:15:58.553
[UNKNOWN]: How you do it.

03:15:59.413 --> 03:16:02.454
[UNKNOWN]: So you can train for zero minutes a day or seven hours a day.

03:16:02.614 --> 03:16:06.815
[UNKNOWN]: The choice is yours, but you're going to have a good time on and off the mats of justice.

03:16:07.735 --> 03:16:08.956
[UNKNOWN]: OriginUSA.com.

03:16:08.976 --> 03:16:09.696
[UNKNOWN]: Check out the camp.

03:16:09.736 --> 03:16:11.856
[UNKNOWN]: Come to camp August 23rd through the 28th.

03:16:12.637 --> 03:16:13.277
[UNKNOWN]: We'll see you there.

03:16:13.537 --> 03:16:16.457
[UNKNOWN]: We'll, by the way, when you're there, you can get awesome due to to gear.

03:16:16.837 --> 03:16:18.778
[UNKNOWN]: You can get jeans, boots, hoodies.

03:16:19.018 --> 03:16:20.018
[UNKNOWN]: Everything that we make 100% America.

03:16:20.038 --> 03:16:20.358
[UNKNOWN]: OriginUSA.com.

03:16:24.013 --> 03:16:31.018
[UNKNOWN]: True also a factory tour by the way You're interested in how this stuff is for real-made Not just the the legend anymore.

03:16:31.038 --> 03:16:41.986
[UNKNOWN]: You can see the actual process Trust me, it's like actually it was more interesting that I had anticipated Because you get to see like the like glooms at all there like how does the loom work?

03:16:42.026 --> 03:16:46.890
[UNKNOWN]: I don't know now you can know it's good such the boots that one was the one that really struck pretty awesome

03:16:47.530 --> 03:16:51.972
[UNKNOWN]: Also, don't forget about jocostor.com, this is where you can get your discipline equals freedom stuff.

03:16:52.172 --> 03:16:57.975
[UNKNOWN]: We've got 5 versions of discipline equals freedom shirts, 5 versions, 5.0, they're all good though.

03:16:58.595 --> 03:17:02.297
[UNKNOWN]: Even 1.0, freaking still, still holds up big time.

03:17:02.337 --> 03:17:03.737
[UNKNOWN]: I think 2.0 is my favorite.

03:17:04.398 --> 03:17:06.119
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, that makes sense for sure.

03:17:06.399 --> 03:17:08.760
[UNKNOWN]: I like the most recent 1.5.0, it's good.

03:17:08.900 --> 03:17:09.940
[UNKNOWN]: Is that the arch 1?

03:17:10.280 --> 03:17:11.901
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, that one's pretty cool.

03:17:12.121 --> 03:17:13.582
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, people seem to like that one.

03:17:13.766 --> 03:17:17.974
[UNKNOWN]: Nonetheless, hey, you can choose for yourself, which one you like, or all of them, whatever.

03:17:18.135 --> 03:17:20.359
[UNKNOWN]: It's available there, also good.

03:17:21.748 --> 03:17:25.069
[UNKNOWN]: that resonates with many people, you know, and you want to represent.

03:17:25.089 --> 03:17:29.950
[UNKNOWN]: You can have that three versions, by the way, latest one is a good one.

03:17:29.970 --> 03:17:33.331
[UNKNOWN]: It's kind of a handwritten kind of OCR font, handwritten is good.

03:17:33.372 --> 03:17:33.832
[UNKNOWN]: It's a good one.

03:17:33.852 --> 03:17:34.812
[UNKNOWN]: You got to check it out.

03:17:34.832 --> 03:17:35.132
[UNKNOWN]: You know what?

03:17:35.192 --> 03:17:36.232
[UNKNOWN]: I'll check it out then, thank you.

03:17:36.492 --> 03:17:36.913
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, yeah.

03:17:37.013 --> 03:17:37.973
[UNKNOWN]: Actually, I have one of those.

03:17:38.333 --> 03:17:40.074
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, you literally took it from me.

03:17:40.114 --> 03:17:40.874
[UNKNOWN]: So, hey, man.

03:17:40.934 --> 03:17:41.934
[UNKNOWN]: Hey, I took merchandise.

03:17:42.074 --> 03:17:43.375
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, yeah, no, no, no, it's good.

03:17:43.395 --> 03:17:44.075
[UNKNOWN]: I'm glad you liked it.

03:17:45.716 --> 03:17:54.322
[UNKNOWN]: Also, you know, other things stand by to get somewhere representing that, get after it, you know, the basics fundamentals, we're, you know, we're representing that too.

03:17:54.602 --> 03:18:05.630
[UNKNOWN]: Also, as far as representation goes, you want to subscribe to a new design every month, slightly more, you know, want to create of designs, whatever, fun people like that.

03:18:05.770 --> 03:18:18.787
[UNKNOWN]: Anyway, it's called the shirt locker, subscription, every month new design, check it out go to jockelstore.com, click on shirt locker, you can see what it's all about, otherwise yeah, check out the whole site if you like something, get something.

03:18:19.054 --> 03:18:40.884
[UNKNOWN]: okay good advice we got some books as well uh there's a book called Unheard Voices the fight for Romadi soldiers memoir from combat outpost falcon you just heard a podcast about it so it's great book to read and really appreciate uh pitball right in that book so check that one out also put your legs on by Rob Jones also need to lead by Dave Burke

03:18:42.144 --> 03:18:44.285
[UNKNOWN]: Also, we have a leadership consultancy.

03:18:44.385 --> 03:18:45.345
[UNKNOWN]: It's called echelon front.

03:18:46.125 --> 03:18:50.986
[UNKNOWN]: Every problem that you have inside your organization is fundamentally at its core, a leadership problem.

03:18:51.586 --> 03:18:53.967
[UNKNOWN]: And we solve problems through leadership.

03:18:54.487 --> 03:18:59.748
[UNKNOWN]: So if you need help inside your organization or do you want to come to one of our events, go to echelonfront.com.

03:19:00.068 --> 03:19:07.250
[UNKNOWN]: If you want to try our online training academy to learn the skills of leadership, go to extremownership.com and take some of our,

03:19:07.570 --> 03:19:16.898
[UNKNOWN]: courses and then if you want to help service members active and retired, you want to help the families, you want to help gold star families, you heard about Mark Lee today.

03:19:18.199 --> 03:19:22.082
[UNKNOWN]: We talked a little bit about mom and Lee and her what she went through.

03:19:23.302 --> 03:19:24.103
[UNKNOWN]: losing her son.

03:19:25.283 --> 03:19:25.583
[UNKNOWN]: Mark.

03:19:26.744 --> 03:19:29.705
[UNKNOWN]: Well, she took that and turned it into something extremely positive.

03:19:29.905 --> 03:19:32.967
[UNKNOWN]: And that is America's mighty warriors.

03:19:33.127 --> 03:19:34.908
[UNKNOWN]: This is a charity organization.

03:19:35.408 --> 03:19:38.449
[UNKNOWN]: Does so much to help our veterans and their families.

03:19:39.010 --> 03:19:43.552
[UNKNOWN]: If you want to donate or you want to get involved, go to America's mighty warriors.org.

03:19:44.938 --> 03:19:47.220
[UNKNOWN]: Also check out heroes and horses dot org.

03:19:47.461 --> 03:19:49.002
[UNKNOWN]: They started a kids program by the way.

03:19:49.022 --> 03:19:58.772
[UNKNOWN]: It looks like so so check that out Heroes and horses dot org and then finally Jimmy May's organization beyond the brotherhood dot org and finally warriors in need taking

03:20:00.132 --> 03:20:05.415
[UNKNOWN]: Aviation specialist from the military and getting them jobs in the civilian sector.

03:20:05.856 --> 03:20:07.917
[UNKNOWN]: That's an outstanding organization to support.

03:20:08.417 --> 03:20:18.063
[UNKNOWN]: If you want to connect with us for Miguel Pitbull on the interweb he is Miguel Santana dot com and then he also has his

03:20:18.363 --> 03:20:26.587
[UNKNOWN]: empty, currently empty YouTube channel, soon to be very populated, Santa Ana channel official, and he's on Facebook, Miguel, and Santa Ana.

03:20:27.027 --> 03:20:30.289
[UNKNOWN]: For us, check out jockel.com and then on social media on my jockel.

03:20:30.349 --> 03:20:31.410
[UNKNOWN]: Because I could add a quick draw.

03:20:32.390 --> 03:20:35.432
[UNKNOWN]: It's don't spend too much time on there because it's literally trying to kill you.

03:20:36.432 --> 03:20:44.075
[UNKNOWN]: And then, finally, thanks once again to Miguel, to Pitbull, for joining us, just outstanding to see you.

03:20:45.415 --> 03:20:52.657
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you for everything that you did for the country, for the Army, for the Ray 1st Brigade, and for tasking a bruiser.

03:20:53.557 --> 03:20:55.778
[UNKNOWN]: We will not forget you or your men.

03:20:57.079 --> 03:21:00.139
[UNKNOWN]: And thank you to all of our military around the world right now.

03:21:02.120 --> 03:21:03.201
[UNKNOWN]: and to our veterans as well.

03:21:03.682 --> 03:21:10.007
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you all for your service and sacrifice and to the soldiers and Marines of the Ready First Brigade that we serve with in Ramadi.

03:21:11.208 --> 03:21:11.589
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.

03:21:12.430 --> 03:21:14.572
[UNKNOWN]: And we are proud to call you our brothers.

03:21:15.793 --> 03:21:23.700
[UNKNOWN]: Also thanks to our police law enforcement firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, dispatchers, correctional officers, board patrol, secret service as well as all other first responders.

03:21:24.180 --> 03:21:27.724
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you for your service and sacrifice here at home to keep us safe.

03:21:28.804 --> 03:21:36.727
[UNKNOWN]: And everyone else out there, there's another quote that is in this book, Unheard Voices, the Fight for Romadi.

03:21:38.168 --> 03:21:44.390
[UNKNOWN]: After Mark Lee was killed, and also after Corporal Joe Thompson was killed from three eight Marines, that was on August 2nd.

03:21:46.352 --> 03:21:50.757
[UNKNOWN]: And at that point there has been dozens of other soldiers and Marines killed.

03:21:51.418 --> 03:21:54.682
[UNKNOWN]: There is a quote that Miguel put in the book.

03:21:54.923 --> 03:22:00.189
[UNKNOWN]: It is a quote from Colonel Sean McFarland, who said, we must make their death matter.

03:22:01.010 --> 03:22:02.752
[UNKNOWN]: Peace and prosperity in Ramadi.

03:22:03.053 --> 03:22:03.914
[UNKNOWN]: That is the mission.

03:22:06.392 --> 03:22:23.557
[UNKNOWN]: Well, that mission is over, but we still have to make their deaths matter and the way that we do that is by living to the best of our ability, to do what we can to bring some light into the world.

03:22:25.210 --> 03:22:36.593
[UNKNOWN]: just as our fallen heroes fought to bring light into that dark place, so let's keep striving and keep living for them.

03:22:38.894 --> 03:22:43.415
[UNKNOWN]: And that's all we've got for tonight, and until next time, the Zeco and Jocco out.