Sept. 3, 2025
504: Congressman Wesley Hunt: Discipline, Leadership, and America’s Future
Congressman and former Army Apache pilot Wesley Hunt, who shares his journey from West Point and combat deployments to the halls of Congress. He reflects on his family’s history from slavery to public service, the lessons of struggle and resilience, and the values of faith, family, and country. Hunt and Jocko discuss leadership, authenticity in politics, America’s challenges and strengths, and the importance of discipline, service, and personal responsibility in building a stronger future.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This is Jockel Pondcast number five-o four with echo Charles and me, Jockel Willing.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Be the evening, I go leading me.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The presence of veterans in legislative bodies is not merely symbolic.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Veterans bring to politics a distinct understanding of national interest discipline and a sense of responsibility shaped by their military service.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Their experience instills an ability to deliberate on matters of war and peace, security, and the burdens born by citizens in uniform.
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[SPEAKER_00]: when those who have sworn to defend the nation's laws also help make them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The healthy integration of military and civilian spheres is enhanced, strengthening the very fabric of democratic governance.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The statesmen who has also been a soldier is armed not only with theories of national security, but with the tested realities of service and sacrifice.
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[SPEAKER_00]: His judgment about the requirements of policy is tempered by direct knowledge of the cost of war and the limits of force.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Military experience does not guarantee wisdom, but it provides an anchor against illusion and an appreciation for the discipline, unity and responsibility that preserve a free society.
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[SPEAKER_00]: those right there are some quotes from a book called The Soldier and The State written by Samuel P. Huntington who graduated from Yale served in the Army at the tail end of World War II.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Got a master degree from University of Chicago, PhD from Harvard and eventually became one of America's most influential political scientists and theorists.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And it's thoughts that I just read about the importance of veterans in our government are just as important than as they are now going from the military into the government provides a link between
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[SPEAKER_00]: both of those and grounds them both in reality.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's an honor to have one of those veterans leaders here with us tonight to discuss his experiences on the battlefield and now in the political world.
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[SPEAKER_00]: in the halls of Congress.
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[SPEAKER_00]: His name is Wesley Hunt.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He's West Point graduate Army Apache pilot Iraq War veteran and now a congressman representing the thirty-eighth congressional district of Texas.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The great state of Texas as they say.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Wesley, thanks for joining us, man.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Great to meet you.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for having me on, brother.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you all very much.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Glad we can finally make this happen, man.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Be sure.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We you got a lot of stuff.
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[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of experiences.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Let's get right into it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk a little bit about your background growing up.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
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[SPEAKER_00]: What was that all like?
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[SPEAKER_01]: background growing up but as retired Lieutenant Colonel in the army.
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[SPEAKER_01]: What are you doing the army?
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[SPEAKER_01]: My dad was an agit general.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so graduated ROTC as something university.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And then was active due to a little while, then with reserves for a while in Houston, Texas, where my brother and I and sister were basically our born and raised.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So my sister is West Point, ninety three.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So she served twenty three years active duty, military intelligence officer deployed multiple times.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And she started she graduated in ninety three nine three she's more of my as she is your vintage.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So and now you know she retired lives lives in Houston is doing awesome.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm West Point two thousand and four so finish it was point
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[SPEAKER_01]: then did eight years active duty as a patchy driver, deployed to Iraq, flew fifty-five competent nurses in Baghdad, two twos of duty in Saudi Arabia, and then after that went to grad school at Cornell University, earned three masters the reason for years.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So the master's business public administration in industrial and labor relations moved back home to God's country.
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[SPEAKER_01]: That is Texas, sorry.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And then ran for Congress and now here I am.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And my brother is also West Point graduate.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So my brother, my brother is ten months and eight days, my junior.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So I always make sure that eight days are always delineated because it's very important to us for a competitive.
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[SPEAKER_01]: He is West Point, oh five.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And then went into the Navy as a surface warfare officer.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So he was stationed out here in San Diego.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And then with the Harvard Business School after that.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so he's the only one that defected to the Navy.
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[SPEAKER_01]: He would give him a really hard time.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But then I realized when I was stationed at Fort Hood and I got back from my deployment, he invited me down to San Diego.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And this dude pulls up and it's BMW convertible and it's uniform beautiful women beautiful weather you name it.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It goes welcome to San Diego and I'm like Dammit You are the smart one for the Texas San Diego you you get it
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[SPEAKER_00]: That played a role for me to join in the Navy.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I was looking at all the different special operations.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And I grew up as a kid.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I served in Maine, which is like there's not many surfers in Maine and there definitely wasn't many surfers in the in Maine in the eighties.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I was a surfer and I looked at all the different special operations.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I was trying to figure out what to do.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And if you in the sealed teams, you were either stationed in Virginia Beach or San Diego.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Each one had surfing.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And I looked at all the place, all the other special operations you weren't surfing.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I was one of the things.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And also because I was a water guy, you know, the sealed teams made sense.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But so when you were growing up, like at what age did you know the path you were going to take?
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[SPEAKER_01]: So we drove my sister up to West Point.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So she's ten years older than me.
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[SPEAKER_01]: They're my brother and our ten months apart.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Ten and ten, ten years, ten months.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so I was about eight, seven years old when we drove for up to West Point for to do to do her pleap summer.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And we drove from Texas drove all the way up to West Point.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And then when you're there and you're at six, seven year old little boy and you see West Point for the first time, some gets locked in.
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[SPEAKER_01]: That's all it took.
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[SPEAKER_01]: That's literally all took and we tried to fight it.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we would say we're not going to go to West Point.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to go to my brother went to go to Harvard for undergrad and I went to go to University of Michigan and we would joke around.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But when it came down to it and when the rubber met the actual road, we were all who were up on the West Point.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's just kind of what it was.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So knowing though that at a young age that you wanted to go there, at least you wanted as an option, that had to get you focused because you're not getting into West Point without doing the work.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So the good thing is is that hell's focus you and then I had what I call parent privilege.
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[SPEAKER_01]: There is no privilege in this country.
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[SPEAKER_01]: There's only parent privilege and also the privilege of being an American.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Those are only two privileges that I would ever deem in this country today.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so both of my parents didn't play games.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You don't have three West pointers coming from one house growing up in a soft home.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so my parents were very big on.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to serve this country.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to figure out how to preserve the lineage that got you here in the first place.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You are not going to be a victim.
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[SPEAKER_01]: My parents grew up in the Jim Crow era.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And they're looking at us and looking at guys like me and their sons and their daughters becoming West Point graduates.
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[SPEAKER_01]: He announced his congressman as Republicans and white majority districts.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And my parents were like, no, no, we don't, we don't play the games of the past.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We always look forward.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So you find a bit of service country, which is exactly what we all did at one point.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We were all in Baghdad at the same time during in two thousand six.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So I was by far the coolest flying patches.
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[SPEAKER_01]: That's how, like, so what?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Black one of you.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That's true.
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[SPEAKER_00]: As you looked at, you know, how did you map out?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to West Point.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That means I need to get these kind of grades.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That means I need to get this and the SATs.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That means I need to get this type of leadership, kind of skills.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I need to play these sports.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Did you just package it up?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Was that your focus?
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[SPEAKER_01]: The good thing is it's like, this is what's about parents, like my dad and my mom, like, they were our sherpas going through life.
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[SPEAKER_01]: They were like, look, if you want to go to West Point, you have to do X, Y, and Z. But if you want to do anything excellent in this life, even if it's not West Point, this is what's required of you.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so, yes, we had a, we always played a sport.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So I did, I went from football to basketball, basketball and running track.
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[SPEAKER_01]: All of our summers were filled with something spiritual, something physical, and something academic, every single summer.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so you constantly push yourself to be a very well-rounded human being and the one thing about my parents that I really appreciate and one thing that I like about West Point is it's not just one dimensional.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You have to be good at everything basically.
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[SPEAKER_01]: There is a bar that you have to meet.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You have to meet a military bar and academic bar, a physical bar.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You can't just hit max out your SAT, but you can't lift your body weight.
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[SPEAKER_01]: That's not this.
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[SPEAKER_01]: That's just not going to work.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so in areas that you are deficient, you have to work on those areas to get them proficient enough to meet the standard.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And that's kind of the house that we grew up in.
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[SPEAKER_01]: My brother was definitely more the Brainiac.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I was more of the physical guy and my sister was more the personality kind of person.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But we were actually pretty decent at everything and being well rounded human beings.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And that started in the home with my parents.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Now, a lot of people ask me questions about kids.
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[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of, I've written a bunch of kids books.
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[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people ask me questions about kids.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And if parents aren't careful, they can push their kids to a point where the kids go in the other direction.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Now part of that I believe comes from if you if you're a do what I say not what I do type person there's a higher chance that the kids will push against you.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But is there something that you saw on your parents that you looked and said oh yeah I can I can see that they're trying to help me well I always think the most important thing is if your parents if you know your parents care about you yes
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[SPEAKER_00]: then you know that they're pushing you for the right reason, but did you ever feel, did you ever get to a point where you're like, like, hey man, I know it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Hey dad, it's summer.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I get spiritual, I get academic, I get physical, but I also want to, you know, take a break.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Did that ever enter your mind?
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[SPEAKER_00]: No.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And is that just because the environment that your dad showed you, your mom and dad showed you was like, hey, we're not doing that.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, sir.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And it's all about love, too.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And they came from a place of love.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And we had a good time.
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[SPEAKER_01]: They wanted us to have a good time.
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[SPEAKER_01]: My parents were my parents actually pretty fun people.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But when it came time when it came down to developing children, they had to say, I'm not your friend.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I am your parent.
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[SPEAKER_01]: When you were eighteen years old, then you can do whatever you want to do.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But then by the time you're a teen, you go up in this environment where the kicks have already been baked, brother.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you're going to start making decisions based on how you were raised to once you become an adult if they do it the right way.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Also, just being present, like my mom was the president of the PTF when I was an elementary school.
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[SPEAKER_01]: When I was in high school, I drove one hour one way, every single day, to attend a private school in Houston, Texas, one hour one way.
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[SPEAKER_01]: My dad would drive us drop us off on his way to work and then on his way back home, he would pick us up and take us back home.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And every now and again, I would look up on the, I'd be at football practice and I would look up and I would see my dad just standing in the distance watching.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Just to make sure that we aren't slacking off, to make sure that we are getting treated right.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And you realize that he's doing this because he loves us.
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[SPEAKER_01]: He's doing this because he cares about us.
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[SPEAKER_01]: He's doing this because he wants us best for his children.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So I think you have to respect the home.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And my parents were the, my dad especially with a kind of people that were like, look, you know, if, if you get locked up or you do something stupid, you get a DUI, I'm not getting you out of jail.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You're gonna stay there.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Now, are you little buddies?
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[SPEAKER_01]: They're dads, they're lawyers.
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[SPEAKER_01]: They're gonna, they're gonna come get it, get them out the next day.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You're gonna wanna stay there for a little while.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You're gonna remember what you did.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And when you think about that, and you're like, I don't really wanna go to jail, because my dad's gonna leave me there.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And he's not kidding.
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[SPEAKER_01]: He, the curl is not playing around.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So it's a sort of level of fear, but they didn't manifest itself in a former respect, especially Western still at a very young age.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And what was the biggest trouble you ever got in with the old man?
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[UNKNOWN]: Oh man.
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[SPEAKER_01]: There was.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I got in a fight.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I got in a fight in the sixth grade.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And when they found out about the fight, it wasn't my fault.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't start the fight.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And this was when I was in public school before I went to private school.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And then they kind of found out what happened in our fought back.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But my dad was more upset with me because I had kind of a bloody nose and a busted lip.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But the guy just had a busted lip.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But he didn't even have a bloody nose.
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[SPEAKER_01]: He was upset with me because he's like, that guy should also have a bloody nose like you do.
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[SPEAKER_01]: like you stick up for yourself.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You're a good kid and I'm not condoning fighting, but I'm also condoning needy to all so stick up for yourself and that kid needs to look as bad as you look.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You look, you know, I lost him up a little bit, but it wasn't enough.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And then the application process getting into West Point, that's rigorous.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And as you show up there, you already saw your sister go, you knew you were in for.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Of course I did.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And we have visited, you know, there are a lot, and keep in mind, my sister is ten years older than me.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so there's a saying at West Point, the history that we teach is made by those that we taught.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So my sister, my sophomore, my young, my sophomore junior year at West Point, she actually went off, got her master's degree in Applied Mathematics at Post-Nail of Graduate School.
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[SPEAKER_01]: and then was an instructor at West Point as a captain major.
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[SPEAKER_01]: While my brother and I were both pleaves were both freshmen and sophomores at West Point.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so we were all there at the same time.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I just salute my sister every damn day.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It was excruciating.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Because sometimes she would see me like a cross-to-quad and she was like, she's coming here.
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[SPEAKER_02]: She does the hike and foot looks like it's actually really hilarious.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Um, but we knew us coming our way and a lot of her classmates were actually our instructors as well.
13:19.969 --> 13:29.455
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, so it's nice to have that family, you know, unit up there to know what you're getting into, but the one thing about us was this when you start this journey and you start going down this path, you're going to finish it.
13:29.955 --> 13:37.298
[SPEAKER_01]: And my dad said, you can't leave once you start because you have to understand that you took the place of somebody that would have died to be in your shoes.
13:37.818 --> 13:40.379
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you quit, you're not quitting on yourself.
13:40.759 --> 13:44.621
[SPEAKER_01]: You're quitting on the person that wanted this slot that didn't get it.
13:45.201 --> 13:45.761
[SPEAKER_01]: So guess what?
13:46.202 --> 13:46.642
[SPEAKER_01]: Suck it up.
13:47.242 --> 13:49.043
[SPEAKER_01]: The ups, the downs, the highs, the lows.
13:49.063 --> 13:54.505
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to walk out of here a much better human being and a much better person, but you're not going to quit.
13:56.014 --> 14:01.264
[SPEAKER_01]: And that non-stop, like, don't quit attitude or something that my dad's still in all three of us.
14:04.510 --> 14:08.056
[SPEAKER_00]: Was there anything that was more than you expected when you got there?
14:08.216 --> 14:08.457
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.
14:13.307 --> 14:14.168
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.
14:14.408 --> 14:15.830
[SPEAKER_00]: I want the guys remember about bootcamp.
14:15.850 --> 14:22.297
[SPEAKER_00]: I was going through Navy bootcamp and one thing I was not prepared for is the complete not a lack of privacy.
14:22.677 --> 14:22.877
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah.
14:23.077 --> 14:24.799
[SPEAKER_00]: So you you're going to the bathroom.
14:25.059 --> 14:27.662
[SPEAKER_00]: You sit down on the toilet and you look to your right.
14:27.682 --> 14:30.665
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's a guy sitting there on the toilet next to you and you look to your left.
14:30.705 --> 14:33.348
[SPEAKER_00]: Same thing because by the way, you only got six minutes to use the head.
14:33.368 --> 14:33.448
[SPEAKER_00]: So
14:35.430 --> 14:38.152
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I was like, okay, I guess that's just the way it is.
14:38.232 --> 14:40.113
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, we're just one big happy thing.
14:40.133 --> 14:42.075
[SPEAKER_00]: We're a happy real close family around you.
14:42.695 --> 14:45.577
[SPEAKER_00]: What kind of thing, what shocked you were, where you kind of go, dang.
14:45.597 --> 14:46.798
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, this was happening.
14:46.898 --> 14:54.763
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, so when you go to West Point, you're doing an application process, obviously you're pretty sharp, you know, young man or young woman at the end of the day.
14:54.843 --> 14:57.405
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's what that's what's required to get into any academy.
14:58.066 --> 14:58.306
[SPEAKER_01]: And so
14:59.815 --> 15:01.037
[SPEAKER_01]: You think pretty oddly of yourself.
15:01.237 --> 15:11.330
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I was captain of the football team, but captain of the basketball team, and I was a class pre-fact and leader, and you know, felt pretty calm, you know, pretty cool down, pretty cool guy, you know?
15:12.071 --> 15:13.052
[SPEAKER_01]: You get the real eyes.
15:14.055 --> 15:14.855
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody's like that.
15:17.076 --> 15:19.457
[SPEAKER_01]: Like dude, you're not special.
15:19.857 --> 15:21.257
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you're not special.
15:21.557 --> 15:24.038
[SPEAKER_01]: And everyone gets treated the same way that first bleep summer.
15:24.478 --> 15:33.260
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it is a reprogramming of the way you view yourself and the breaking down of the individual to realize you are a part of a team and you are not special.
15:33.660 --> 15:34.661
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care what you did.
15:34.681 --> 15:35.781
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care how good you were.
15:35.801 --> 15:37.582
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care how badass we think you are.
15:37.982 --> 15:38.722
[SPEAKER_01]: You're all pleaps.
15:39.918 --> 15:40.559
[SPEAKER_01]: So deal with it.
15:40.959 --> 15:49.363
[SPEAKER_01]: And then not only that, our summers were, the cadre, they were upperclassmen that went through the same kind of program as well.
15:49.463 --> 15:52.145
[SPEAKER_01]: You know the upperclassmen were also pleased that they did play the summer.
15:52.545 --> 15:59.889
[SPEAKER_01]: And so there's a certain level of respect that you have to deal with, of breaking down the individual humbling the individual, then realizing that we're all in this together.
16:00.029 --> 16:02.210
[SPEAKER_01]: We'd better work together because nobody is special.
16:02.610 --> 16:05.112
[SPEAKER_01]: And that for me was the biggest, you know, kicking a teeth.
16:06.092 --> 16:07.633
[SPEAKER_01]: Come out thought I thought I was cool.
16:09.620 --> 16:11.021
[SPEAKER_00]: So you show up there in two thousand.
16:11.041 --> 16:11.641
[SPEAKER_00]: You go through pleaps.
16:11.681 --> 16:12.562
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm in freshman year.
16:13.162 --> 16:17.364
[SPEAKER_00]: What's what's it like on campus on September eleven, two thousand one?
16:17.624 --> 16:19.265
[SPEAKER_01]: So September eleven, two thousand one.
16:19.285 --> 16:21.266
[SPEAKER_01]: That was my sophomore year at West Point.
16:21.706 --> 16:22.987
[SPEAKER_01]: So keep in mind that the academies.
16:23.047 --> 16:25.288
[SPEAKER_01]: The first two years are actually free.
16:25.508 --> 16:28.950
[SPEAKER_01]: Meaning that you could stay at the academy for the first two years.
16:29.110 --> 16:34.953
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you leave before your first class of your junior year, you don't owe anything back to the military.
16:35.633 --> 16:37.233
[SPEAKER_01]: So first two years, free of charge.
16:37.934 --> 16:41.254
[SPEAKER_01]: Not eleven happened in the beginning of my sophomore year.
16:41.754 --> 16:45.095
[SPEAKER_01]: And so during that time, you're like, well, we are now going to war.
16:45.155 --> 16:53.937
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a reciting in Eisenhower barracks at West Point watching the planes fly into the Twin Towers and we're at West Point just in our north of New York City.
16:53.957 --> 17:04.940
[SPEAKER_01]: So all this carnage is happening and I could literally almost feel and sense the negativity in the world in that moment because you know you are very close in proximity to what is happening as we live in breathe.
17:05.540 --> 17:08.524
[SPEAKER_01]: There was an upperclassman got it full battle rattle.
17:09.445 --> 17:10.086
[SPEAKER_01]: Full battle rattle.
17:10.226 --> 17:11.788
[SPEAKER_01]: He got cat camoed up.
17:12.569 --> 17:21.401
[SPEAKER_01]: He got he had as in fourteen camoed up put on put on put on as they used you name it and was knocking on everybody's door saying we're going to war boys.
17:22.202 --> 17:23.204
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to war boys
17:23.891 --> 17:26.413
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to war boys because at that point we knew it.
17:26.573 --> 17:27.734
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody knew that we're going to war.
17:28.455 --> 17:37.922
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the most proudest things about my class that I could say is this, my sophomore year we all could have left most of us stayed only a handful left.
17:38.582 --> 17:41.765
[SPEAKER_01]: So we knew that we were entering West Point during a time of peace.
17:41.865 --> 17:45.908
[SPEAKER_01]: We're exiting at a time of war and we're all going to fight and nobody left.
17:47.286 --> 18:09.120
[SPEAKER_01]: see a lot of people try to use west point and use the academy is just to get the education and then move on they don't realize that no we're training you to be a warfighter when you enter during a time of peace a lot of times you know you kind of go to the mundane stuff we're going to go to go to JRTC we're going to go to NTC we're going to go to Ventenza Italy we're going to go hang out you know and we're coming out everybody's going back then
18:10.160 --> 18:12.202
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going from Fort Hood, and you're going to go to Baghdad.
18:12.223 --> 18:15.626
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to go from Baghdad to Fort Hood, and then from Fort Hood, you're going to go back to Baghdad.
18:16.067 --> 18:18.049
[SPEAKER_01]: Get your mind right, and most of us stayed.
18:18.630 --> 18:24.216
[SPEAKER_01]: Consequently, we lost Fort Teen in my West Point classmates in the Global War on Terror, and none of those brazed men saw the age of twenty-eight years old.
18:24.896 --> 18:30.563
[SPEAKER_01]: I bring them up frequently, because those guys, they're all by the way, they're a Fort Teen White guys.
18:31.653 --> 18:37.078
[SPEAKER_01]: And when they gave their last full measure, they didn't do it for black people or white people or Asian people or Hispanic people.
18:37.098 --> 18:38.800
[SPEAKER_01]: They did it for a my fellow Americans.
18:39.440 --> 18:43.964
[SPEAKER_01]: And their deaths is what actually really helps us shape the way I view the world today.
18:44.505 --> 18:46.667
[SPEAKER_01]: We are Americans first.
18:47.127 --> 18:48.889
[SPEAKER_01]: We all bleed together in this fight.
18:49.429 --> 18:56.232
[SPEAKER_01]: And so when you enter a time at war and you watch the Twin Towers fall and you're like, oh my gosh, like this is it.
18:56.272 --> 18:57.472
[SPEAKER_01]: This is where the word meets the road.
18:57.932 --> 18:58.352
[SPEAKER_01]: Get it up.
18:58.492 --> 19:06.535
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's go see all the race and all the all of the division, all of a sudden that goes away because we're on this fight together.
19:07.196 --> 19:10.737
[SPEAKER_01]: Now the question for me is I get asked as frequently why do I want to fly up patches.
19:11.708 --> 19:15.549
[SPEAKER_01]: At the time, you had to choice a fly for aircraft that I knew I wanted to go aviation.
19:15.909 --> 19:19.810
[SPEAKER_01]: So you could fly a Chinooks, black clocks, a patchies and coyote warriors.
19:20.390 --> 19:22.190
[SPEAKER_01]: But I knew I was going to go to Baghdad in this hot.
19:22.590 --> 19:24.291
[SPEAKER_01]: So which airframe has air conditioning?
19:27.091 --> 19:28.332
[SPEAKER_01]: This game will be a patchy boy.
19:28.372 --> 19:28.692
[SPEAKER_00]: What major?
19:28.712 --> 19:31.572
[SPEAKER_00]: Good evening, but you always knew you wanted to go aviation though?
19:31.713 --> 19:32.213
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I did.
19:32.393 --> 19:33.713
[SPEAKER_01]: Since my freshman year at West Point.
19:34.486 --> 19:36.068
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you go on some kind of a tour or something?
19:37.189 --> 19:38.690
[SPEAKER_01]: We did a tour and a black hawk.
19:38.950 --> 19:41.512
[SPEAKER_01]: We did we flew nap with the earth of the Hudson River.
19:41.872 --> 19:42.893
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's it.
19:44.054 --> 19:44.575
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's it.
19:45.035 --> 19:50.640
[SPEAKER_01]: And I realized, yeah, I'm definitely going to go aviation didn't grow up really wanting to be a pilot, but at that moment, I realized I wanted to do it.
19:50.800 --> 19:59.047
[SPEAKER_01]: And then also, you know, I drugged about the air conditioning because it was nice to have air conditioning in their patchy, but also realized that if I'm going to go to war, I want to shoot back.
20:00.193 --> 20:00.833
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to shoot back.
20:00.913 --> 20:03.294
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the Apache is a weapons platform.
20:03.414 --> 20:04.435
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't care anything.
20:04.455 --> 20:04.955
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't pick up.
20:04.995 --> 20:05.675
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't drop off.
20:05.715 --> 20:06.335
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not a bus.
20:06.755 --> 20:14.478
[SPEAKER_01]: We have hell fired missiles, rockets in a thirty millimeter chain gun, and you call us in to destroy the enemy with extreme prejudice, end of discussion.
20:14.899 --> 20:19.120
[SPEAKER_01]: And if I'm going to go get shot at, I want to make sure that I'm shooting back.
20:19.780 --> 20:21.161
[SPEAKER_01]: Literally, that was my decision process.
20:22.461 --> 20:23.862
[SPEAKER_00]: Would you, would you end up getting your degree?
20:25.180 --> 20:26.761
[SPEAKER_01]: from West Point or from West Point.
20:27.681 --> 20:30.782
[SPEAKER_01]: So I got my degree in leadership and management and mechanical engineering.
20:31.642 --> 20:39.584
[SPEAKER_00]: And as you come out of West Point, now since you're pilot, you're focused on being a pilot, but still you're going to be in leadership position.
20:40.284 --> 20:45.405
[SPEAKER_00]: What, how did you feel about your leadership, your specific leadership training when you're at West Point?
20:46.786 --> 20:47.306
[SPEAKER_01]: West Point.
20:49.281 --> 20:58.564
[SPEAKER_01]: But when I talk about being a well-rounded leader, and they are training you to be a leader to be an officer in the United States Army.
20:59.165 --> 21:03.506
[SPEAKER_01]: And so the biggest thing is you brought up earlier about, you know, do as I do not do as I say.
21:03.526 --> 21:06.087
[SPEAKER_01]: No, as a leader, you got to do as they do, too.
21:06.667 --> 21:07.947
[SPEAKER_01]: So that means you have to be proficient.
21:07.987 --> 21:09.328
[SPEAKER_01]: That means you have to be good at your craft.
21:09.348 --> 21:10.528
[SPEAKER_01]: That means you have to be in shape.
21:10.568 --> 21:11.968
[SPEAKER_01]: That means you have to be able to hang.
21:12.048 --> 21:16.329
[SPEAKER_01]: That means you have to when they see you, you have to be the first one in the room in the last one to leave.
21:16.349 --> 21:17.570
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to be the last one to eat.
21:17.590 --> 21:24.871
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to be the one that is the leader because you could talk to talk, but then if you don't walk the walk, well, then they're not going to believe it.
21:25.592 --> 21:31.073
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're not going to be the person that's willing to hang in there and stay with your guys and they're never ever going to fully trust you.
21:31.773 --> 21:35.514
[SPEAKER_01]: And so what West Point taught us is, look, you can't be a fat leader.
21:36.775 --> 22:00.625
[SPEAKER_01]: I had a military history teacher and he was a hard charger and that this is at the time before we had a you know this is to throw no shade at some all some heavy leaders that have kind of come around not going to give me names but at that thought this is you know two thousand and two he said this time never forget this brother he goes how many fat leaders are there how many fat heads of state are there
22:01.890 --> 22:08.775
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, if you can't take care of yourself and if you can't control your body, you can control what you look like, how can you possibly lead anybody?
22:08.795 --> 22:10.897
[SPEAKER_01]: And he goes, how can you lead your family?
22:10.917 --> 22:11.978
[SPEAKER_01]: You're free of not in good shape.
22:12.618 --> 22:16.701
[SPEAKER_01]: So you need to figure out what kind of regimen that you have to do to stay in shape.
22:17.201 --> 22:24.327
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't eat like a pig and you're if you're going to lead, make sure that you look the part because that's the first impression somebody's going to have with you is
22:26.578 --> 22:27.878
[SPEAKER_01]: This guy's this guy's sloppy.
22:27.898 --> 22:29.039
[SPEAKER_01]: This guy's a slopter.
22:29.519 --> 22:31.799
[SPEAKER_01]: What is he going to how is he going to tell me what to do?
22:32.319 --> 22:35.040
[SPEAKER_01]: So that physical piece of this is something that's awesome so that wasp one.
22:35.060 --> 22:36.841
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why you have a physical grade.
22:37.681 --> 22:38.601
[SPEAKER_01]: You have a PT grade.
22:38.921 --> 22:46.323
[SPEAKER_01]: You have a military grade and you have an academic grade that academic grade is weighted heavily, but the other stuff matters to in place to your overall GPA.
22:46.503 --> 22:54.047
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, one of the ways I explain that when I'm talking to young officers, especially, is I'll tell him, hey, when I was in, I was in the list of guy in the sealed teams, I was a new guy.
22:54.327 --> 22:55.387
[SPEAKER_00]: Didn't know anything, right?
22:55.948 --> 23:00.150
[SPEAKER_00]: But when my leader showed up four minutes late to something, I was taking notes.
23:00.290 --> 23:02.911
[SPEAKER_00]: When my leader forgot a piece of gear, I was taking notes.
23:03.171 --> 23:08.034
[SPEAKER_00]: When my leader didn't do, didn't know how to properly execute something with a weapon system.
23:09.254 --> 23:16.238
[SPEAKER_00]: I was taking notes, and it was just a degradation of, you know, look, not disrespectful, but a degradation of respect.
23:17.018 --> 23:23.942
[SPEAKER_00]: So you got to remember that all these people, and what I think really hurts people sometimes is they think people don't notice.
23:24.742 --> 23:26.963
[SPEAKER_00]: They think, oh, you know, no one will notice that I'm forming a slate.
23:26.983 --> 23:28.324
[SPEAKER_00]: By the way, I'm in charge, so it doesn't really matter.
23:28.364 --> 23:29.584
[SPEAKER_00]: No, no, no, no, no, no.
23:30.085 --> 23:30.825
[SPEAKER_00]: We're taking notes.
23:31.345 --> 23:33.126
[SPEAKER_00]: If you show up late, you go home early.
23:33.526 --> 23:36.468
[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody sees it and respect levels going down that whole time.
23:36.628 --> 23:36.988
[SPEAKER_00]: You got it?
23:38.009 --> 23:47.934
[SPEAKER_00]: I went and talked to West Point and man, I mean, what an incredible place of tradition.
23:48.334 --> 23:50.135
[SPEAKER_00]: But I remember walking into the
23:51.495 --> 23:55.217
[SPEAKER_00]: area where they have all the names of all the West Pointers that have been killed in combat.
23:55.517 --> 23:57.478
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just it takes your breath away.
23:59.219 --> 24:11.425
[SPEAKER_00]: Going there and talking and the way that they run their leadership, you know, you can see that's such a huge focus because they know leadership is the most important thing on the battlefield, but if there's any institution that knows that it's it's West Point.
24:12.105 --> 24:22.129
[SPEAKER_00]: And having those leadership discussions with those young, you know, soon to be officers that are heading out in the battlefield, it's just so important and what they're going to face.
24:22.149 --> 24:26.711
[SPEAKER_00]: And especially, you know, I guess the war's over now, but especially at that time, it was on.
24:26.911 --> 24:27.471
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, that's right.
24:27.831 --> 24:31.093
[SPEAKER_00]: So, so as you're, did you mind said,
24:31.793 --> 24:40.063
[SPEAKER_00]: because you also went through a transition of like you thought you're gonna go to whatever you said Spain and Italy or whatever else.
24:40.223 --> 24:48.894
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you connect the dots did you know from your dad from your sister that hey listen there's a lot of stuff on the periphery about being a going west point and being an officer
24:49.715 --> 24:51.596
[SPEAKER_00]: But you're a warrior.
24:51.816 --> 24:53.277
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to fight the nation's wars.
24:53.677 --> 24:57.160
[SPEAKER_00]: Had you made that connection and did it just get strengthened by September eleventh?
24:57.400 --> 24:58.000
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, yes.
24:58.060 --> 25:03.183
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think at some point when you raise your hand and you take that oath, especially you're a believe summer after going through all of that.
25:03.323 --> 25:11.088
[SPEAKER_01]: And then finally you go from a new cadet to a cadet, which is finally, you know, an academic year starts and you're done with it with summer training.
25:11.548 --> 25:12.269
[SPEAKER_01]: You realize that.
25:12.329 --> 25:14.270
[SPEAKER_01]: No, no, this is about the military.
25:14.290 --> 25:15.291
[SPEAKER_01]: This is about military service.
25:15.951 --> 25:19.554
[SPEAKER_01]: All the other liquis and shoes are great, but this is about military service.
25:19.574 --> 25:20.655
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what West Point is.
25:21.055 --> 25:39.048
[SPEAKER_01]: When you stand, when you stand in a parade in front of Washington, statue, every single weekend, when you have breakfast, lunch and dinner, you're standing at that formation, and you're living in Eisenhower, Barracks, and MacArthur Barracks, and Patton statue, which is in front of the library, and you're walking past all these landmarks.
25:39.409 --> 25:42.331
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
25:42.391 --> 25:43.892
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not the University of Texas here.
25:46.255 --> 25:48.557
[SPEAKER_01]: This is going to be a war fighting experience.
25:48.597 --> 25:51.220
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, the good thing about this is it's actually very well rounded.
25:51.281 --> 25:55.225
[SPEAKER_01]: And so you do get other experiences in academia that I really do appreciate.
25:55.846 --> 26:03.034
[SPEAKER_01]: But just a couple of weeks ago, a couple months ago, the president president Trump just appointed me to be on the West Point border visitors.
26:03.735 --> 26:23.867
[SPEAKER_01]: which I think which is a great honor and basically it's it's basically being like on the board of regents and you meet quarterly you get to kind of see kind of what's going on you have an insight look on how training is going to be in the future and just kind of you know to make sure that everything is copesthetic and so I have my twenty year reunion back in November and
26:24.507 --> 26:35.517
[SPEAKER_01]: to see these young people to see how sharp they are, even in an era that I know we always say the new era is always softer than it was when we went there.
26:35.577 --> 26:43.104
[SPEAKER_01]: I was actually pleasantly surprised and pleased to see the state of affairs of these young people and how they are going to
26:44.165 --> 26:51.647
[SPEAKER_01]: How we are more thing the way we fight battles in the future and how they are going to be a strong part of it and a part of that transition that we're watching right now.
26:52.147 --> 26:54.428
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was actually very, very pleased with what I saw.
26:54.448 --> 26:58.188
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there's going to be some major changes in the warfare coming.
26:58.349 --> 27:02.169
[SPEAKER_00]: Just as much as the machine gun, you know, as much as the tank.
27:02.750 --> 27:05.870
[SPEAKER_00]: These these drones and the disaggregated battlefield.
27:06.691 --> 27:10.952
[SPEAKER_00]: These are these are legitimate real changes that are happening before our very eyes.
27:10.992 --> 27:12.452
[SPEAKER_00]: So the next generation is going to have a
27:12.952 --> 27:16.057
[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to have it rough, and they're going to learn some lessons.
27:16.077 --> 27:20.583
[SPEAKER_00]: But they're proactively leaning into that right now, which they absolutely have to do.
27:20.643 --> 27:20.783
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
27:20.803 --> 27:23.687
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm glad that you're seeing that when you meet with them.
27:25.770 --> 27:26.411
[SPEAKER_00]: How's flight school?
27:27.072 --> 27:27.913
[SPEAKER_01]: Flight school is a good time.
27:28.762 --> 27:35.428
[SPEAKER_01]: because if I was there with basically a hundred of my classmates, so basically a hundred hundred, I think it was a hundred and we're roughly a hundred of them.
27:35.508 --> 27:38.731
[SPEAKER_01]: So about a ten percent of the class and I'm going aviation.
27:38.811 --> 27:49.962
[SPEAKER_01]: And you go there and you know, you start off learning on what's called a TH-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-S
27:50.282 --> 27:53.527
[SPEAKER_01]: You're learning how to fly helicopter, which is, I mean, coming on.
27:53.567 --> 27:54.909
[SPEAKER_01]: That's about as cool as it gets.
27:55.931 --> 27:58.635
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you transition to the aircraft that you're going to fly.
27:58.655 --> 28:02.681
[SPEAKER_01]: So you go from this little, you know, single-turbed engine aircraft to an Apache.
28:03.605 --> 28:08.146
[SPEAKER_01]: Bro, it's like, it's like more from a Honda Civic to a grocery store.
28:08.166 --> 28:12.388
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, you first sit in this, I remember the first time of you sitting in the cockpit.
28:12.688 --> 28:17.089
[SPEAKER_01]: And you're looking around and looking at this, they're like, okay, now I have really, really arrived here.
28:17.229 --> 28:19.050
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I felt like a complete badass.
28:19.170 --> 28:21.811
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely insane.
28:22.571 --> 28:23.691
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll never forget that moment.
28:24.792 --> 28:28.253
[SPEAKER_01]: But I really appreciate it.
28:28.913 --> 28:34.539
[SPEAKER_01]: going there with a lot of my classmates and we helped each other out in ways that's kind of it's kind of interesting.
28:34.759 --> 28:44.348
[SPEAKER_01]: You forged that bond together and then you're off learning how to fly together and I remember you know Adam's smooth was my was my roommate while I was in flight school.
28:44.388 --> 28:45.109
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean I love this guy.
28:45.149 --> 28:52.176
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a dear friend of mine to this day and just you know whenever we needed to pick me up whenever we needed help you like Adam was just always there.
28:52.216 --> 28:53.357
[SPEAKER_01]: He's really smart guy.
28:53.717 --> 28:55.238
[SPEAKER_01]: He was always really there to help me out.
28:55.538 --> 28:58.040
[SPEAKER_01]: And then also Adam was a big fitness guy too.
28:58.400 --> 29:02.903
[SPEAKER_01]: So he kept us, he kept all of our group accountable to make sure that we also just didn't just hang out.
29:03.283 --> 29:04.504
[SPEAKER_01]: We also worked out once in the gym.
29:04.544 --> 29:08.106
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a pilot and champion and at West Point and he was a complete stud.
29:09.627 --> 29:15.049
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, to have guys like that that were around you, it's like the adage iron sharpens iron still on men sharpens another.
29:15.509 --> 29:20.671
[SPEAKER_01]: We were in this fight together and then we also knew that we were all going to deploy it together as well.
29:21.211 --> 29:32.815
[SPEAKER_01]: So interesting point about when I went to bad dad, um, I was at, we graduated flight school and then usually you go to a unit if you get trained up in the unit and then you go down range.
29:33.335 --> 29:33.515
[SPEAKER_01]: Well,
29:34.335 --> 29:38.518
[SPEAKER_01]: We had a unit that lost two air crews, one to a mid air and one got shot down.
29:38.999 --> 29:43.582
[SPEAKER_01]: And so this unit of fourth ID was short for pilots.
29:44.603 --> 29:48.807
[SPEAKER_01]: So I got done with flight school and I didn't go to Fort Hood to train up.
29:49.127 --> 29:50.268
[SPEAKER_01]: I went straight to Baghdad.
29:51.842 --> 29:53.583
[SPEAKER_01]: So I went from flight school to Baghdad.
29:53.743 --> 29:57.083
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll never forget Lee Major was my I.P.
29:57.103 --> 29:58.044
[SPEAKER_01]: with my instructor pilot.
29:58.084 --> 29:59.544
[SPEAKER_01]: He goes, Wesley, I want to let you know.
30:00.184 --> 30:04.005
[SPEAKER_01]: You're getting ready to enter a space now where this range is now two way range.
30:04.706 --> 30:09.947
[SPEAKER_01]: So for you, you need to pay close attention when I'm teaching you right now because you're going right into the fire, literally.
30:10.407 --> 30:16.109
[SPEAKER_01]: I got trained up in Baghdad, flying around Camp Paji, and then I was out flying missions shortly after that.
30:16.849 --> 30:18.732
[SPEAKER_01]: So talk about frying pan and fire.
30:19.834 --> 30:24.220
[SPEAKER_00]: When I much, how much live fire range time do you get in your training backstage?
30:24.260 --> 30:30.309
[SPEAKER_01]: Quite a bit, quite a lot of the way that quite, I was absolutely and they do a pretty good job on on that piece of it.
30:30.389 --> 30:32.052
[SPEAKER_01]: But again, nobody's shooting back.
30:34.808 --> 30:35.488
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's all funny.
30:36.248 --> 30:37.769
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all funny games.
30:37.829 --> 30:38.909
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all funny games.
30:39.269 --> 30:39.789
[SPEAKER_01]: You get everything.
30:39.809 --> 30:44.570
[SPEAKER_01]: It's great up in the sights and you pull the trigger and you're knocking down targets and everybody's laughing.
30:44.590 --> 30:46.311
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's like, yeah, too close for business.
30:46.351 --> 30:48.111
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm switching the guns and it's all funny.
30:48.151 --> 30:58.933
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and then you're down range and you realize that that is a Russian made fifty caliber disco that's trying to take us out the sky and it's one o'clock in the morning and we got a shoot back.
30:59.413 --> 31:00.994
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a whole different conversation.
31:01.054 --> 31:02.294
[SPEAKER_00]: What year do you go on deployment?
31:02.614 --> 31:03.654
[SPEAKER_01]: I was a two thousand and six.
31:04.915 --> 31:05.095
[SPEAKER_01]: What?
31:05.535 --> 31:06.355
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was in Baghdad.
31:06.415 --> 31:07.296
[SPEAKER_00]: What month did you show up?
31:07.776 --> 31:10.457
[SPEAKER_01]: I showed up in February of that year.
31:10.477 --> 31:10.897
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
31:10.957 --> 31:11.837
[SPEAKER_01]: February and March of that year.
31:12.017 --> 31:14.798
[SPEAKER_00]: I was over down the road in Ramadi in the thousand six.
31:15.018 --> 31:15.198
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
31:16.879 --> 31:17.739
[SPEAKER_01]: I probably flew over here.
31:18.159 --> 31:18.759
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
31:18.799 --> 31:20.780
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a high likelihood.
31:22.080 --> 31:27.702
[SPEAKER_00]: We had we had a patchies rolling a couple times and they got like so much gunfire.
31:27.942 --> 31:28.642
[SPEAKER_00]: It was on Ramadi.
31:28.682 --> 31:29.523
[SPEAKER_00]: Ramadi was nuts.
31:29.563 --> 31:30.043
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that they
31:30.603 --> 31:33.264
[SPEAKER_00]: They left, you know, I actually have, I actually took pictures.
31:33.664 --> 31:36.304
[SPEAKER_00]: I was out and I was out in an Overwatch position.
31:36.524 --> 31:41.385
[SPEAKER_00]: I was in a combat outpost that was being built and income the Apache's because we had briefed them.
31:41.765 --> 31:43.006
[SPEAKER_00]: And I had met the Apache Post man.
31:43.026 --> 31:46.086
[SPEAKER_00]: They were, they said, they were a flying tank.
31:46.306 --> 31:46.826
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what they said.
31:46.846 --> 31:49.667
[SPEAKER_00]: They said, they said, there's a lot of bad guys out of there.
31:49.687 --> 31:50.727
[SPEAKER_00]: They said, we're a flying tank.
31:50.787 --> 31:53.628
[SPEAKER_00]: I said, hey, oh man, okay, let's go.
31:53.928 --> 31:58.669
[SPEAKER_00]: So they roll in from the IP and man, when they came in there, it was,
31:59.429 --> 32:05.396
[SPEAKER_00]: an ungodly amount of gunfire that lit them up and they rolled back out.
32:05.977 --> 32:06.718
[SPEAKER_00]: It was sketchy.
32:06.998 --> 32:07.899
[SPEAKER_00]: I was very smart now.
32:07.939 --> 32:08.660
[SPEAKER_01]: I wrote one night.
32:08.720 --> 32:09.821
[SPEAKER_01]: It was so bad.
32:09.841 --> 32:13.005
[SPEAKER_01]: It was right by solder city one night.
32:13.566 --> 32:18.972
[SPEAKER_01]: It was so bad that for a second in my mind, I thought to myself, this reminds me of the Fourth of July.
32:19.773 --> 32:23.654
[SPEAKER_01]: It reminded me of a grand finale of a Fourth of July fireworks parade.
32:23.974 --> 32:27.275
[SPEAKER_01]: And at one point, I was like, this is, you realize, well, dude.
32:27.916 --> 32:29.196
[SPEAKER_00]: I was saying, you realize you're the target.
32:29.216 --> 32:30.456
[SPEAKER_01]: Those are not fireworks, right?
32:31.497 --> 32:33.938
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, fucker factory increases exponentially, but.
32:34.218 --> 32:37.079
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you roll into Baghdad, you just get out of flight school.
32:37.359 --> 32:41.940
[SPEAKER_00]: You go straight to Baghdad and now they're like, okay, dude, welcome aboard.
32:41.980 --> 32:46.902
[SPEAKER_00]: You have a normal train up state side would be another what six months two years.
32:46.922 --> 32:47.722
[SPEAKER_00]: Two years worth of training?
32:47.742 --> 32:48.002
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course.
32:48.282 --> 32:54.605
[SPEAKER_00]: and that means, you know, you get to go out to the National Training Center and fly a bunch of missions and get all kinds of, you know, you get dialed in.
32:54.946 --> 32:59.208
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like going to grad school, you know, like it's how you get ready for deployment and you didn't get any of that.
32:59.488 --> 32:59.848
[SPEAKER_00]: None of it.
33:00.549 --> 33:01.169
[SPEAKER_00]: Right and combat.
33:01.889 --> 33:05.311
[SPEAKER_00]: So did the guys take you out and be like, okay, let's watch out for it.
33:05.471 --> 33:06.612
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you get some kind of in-dock flights?
33:06.632 --> 33:07.152
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course we did.
33:07.172 --> 33:07.773
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, of course we did.
33:08.013 --> 33:08.613
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, of course it is.
33:08.633 --> 33:10.274
[SPEAKER_01]: So first they put you in a tactical operating center.
33:10.334 --> 33:12.375
[SPEAKER_01]: They put you in the talk and make you a battle captain.
33:12.795 --> 33:14.496
[SPEAKER_01]: So you can figure out what the battle space looks like.
33:14.796 --> 33:17.498
[SPEAKER_01]: You understand kind of the battle rhythm, what's going on.
33:18.118 --> 33:20.159
[SPEAKER_01]: and you're like an assistant battle captain.
33:20.199 --> 33:24.521
[SPEAKER_01]: So you're on the radio, you're talking to the aircraft, where they're flying around, all these good stuff.
33:24.541 --> 33:26.461
[SPEAKER_01]: So at least you have an idea on how things work.
33:26.501 --> 33:29.102
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I did that for about a month, a month and a half.
33:29.182 --> 33:35.185
[SPEAKER_01]: But in the meantime, we're also doing just training flights around Camp Taji, where it was safe, getting your profession, all that good stuff.
33:35.685 --> 33:36.765
[SPEAKER_01]: And then they just cut you loose.
33:37.606 --> 33:43.328
[SPEAKER_01]: And then at one point, I never forget, this is the most tired I've ever been in my entire life.
33:43.428 --> 33:45.909
[SPEAKER_01]: I flew fifteen days straight.
33:46.949 --> 33:49.372
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't ever forget finally, I got that next day off.
33:49.392 --> 33:51.175
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think I slept for twenty four hours straight.
33:51.255 --> 33:53.017
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember just being exhausted.
33:53.037 --> 33:56.101
[SPEAKER_01]: Keep in mind, admission profile for us was about four hours.
33:56.621 --> 33:59.265
[SPEAKER_01]: But but it's four hours of concentrated flying.
33:59.325 --> 34:01.448
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's the equivalent to three X that.
34:01.908 --> 34:05.229
[SPEAKER_01]: That's basically the toll that it has on your brain because of the concentration.
34:05.849 --> 34:10.531
[SPEAKER_01]: De-confliction, talking to air traffic control, talking to the other aircraft, talking to the ground units.
34:10.631 --> 34:13.672
[SPEAKER_01]: And it is a focused four-hour mission profile.
34:13.932 --> 34:16.853
[SPEAKER_01]: And by the time you're done, your brain is completely wiped.
34:17.233 --> 34:21.035
[SPEAKER_01]: And then when you throw the stress on being in combat on top of that,
34:21.675 --> 34:23.177
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's what people don't understand.
34:23.257 --> 34:27.441
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, like, the mental stress of this might be my last flight.
34:27.581 --> 34:33.466
[SPEAKER_01]: Every time I took off, I said the Lord's prayer in the twenty-twenty-thirt song because I was like, let me get right with God.
34:34.407 --> 34:36.148
[SPEAKER_01]: before I take off, because this actually might be it.
34:36.668 --> 34:40.911
[SPEAKER_01]: Imagine the stressor of, this might be it on top of everything that you have to do.
34:41.211 --> 34:45.133
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the most important part of our job is to make sure that the ground unit guys got home safely.
34:45.593 --> 34:48.455
[SPEAKER_01]: So if I don't do my job, this is some ground guys might die.
34:48.755 --> 34:51.217
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's not gonna, that's unacceptable for us.
34:51.597 --> 34:53.478
[SPEAKER_01]: That's unacceptable for our mission.
34:53.898 --> 34:58.681
[SPEAKER_01]: And even if it means we sacrifice ourselves, it's our job to keep the ground guys safe.
34:59.241 --> 35:02.043
[SPEAKER_01]: Now the cool part about the patch was usually, usually,
35:02.583 --> 35:18.820
[SPEAKER_01]: when we sort of on station like the shooting stopped that that was actually in the guy love just just even hovering around if they're kicking down doors hey just just be in the periphery of a patchy pilot call it troops were in contact that's right right because when you guys showed up they weren't contacted anymore because that that's it's off
35:25.298 --> 35:40.048
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're do you remember it's your first time you're going out how do you feel the first time you're like okay, this is this is it go up and go on station and wait for the call to come from the first person ever asked me that Actually, and I remember that moment very vividly and I've never been asked that.
35:40.068 --> 35:40.388
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
35:40.569 --> 35:41.569
[SPEAKER_01]: It's fascinating.
35:42.090 --> 35:42.890
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember vividly.
35:43.070 --> 35:50.396
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember actually taking off and I remember being like okay, so now it's real and
35:52.217 --> 35:53.677
[SPEAKER_01]: You are hyper-focused.
35:54.357 --> 35:57.378
[SPEAKER_01]: You are realizing that this is the first time I'm trained up.
35:57.618 --> 35:58.018
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm ready.
35:58.178 --> 35:59.759
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what I've been trained to do.
35:59.779 --> 36:00.719
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what I've been fighting for.
36:00.739 --> 36:01.739
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been a battle captain.
36:02.019 --> 36:04.079
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, now it's time to actually perform.
36:04.600 --> 36:07.940
[SPEAKER_01]: And so you are on the edge of your, I was on the edge of my seat in the front seat too.
36:07.960 --> 36:10.521
[SPEAKER_01]: I was on the edge of my seat just trying to get everything right.
36:10.561 --> 36:11.381
[SPEAKER_01]: Didn't want to screw up.
36:11.401 --> 36:12.341
[SPEAKER_01]: Didn't, didn't want to mess up.
36:12.621 --> 36:16.302
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you're also thinking that every time you go out, you're going to get in a firefight.
36:16.802 --> 36:18.282
[SPEAKER_01]: So you're like, let's go.
36:18.302 --> 36:19.663
[SPEAKER_01]: And then that's not how it works.
36:20.063 --> 36:21.463
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's see you go out.
36:21.941 --> 36:24.642
[SPEAKER_01]: And I realized that I came back and landed nothing really happened.
36:24.662 --> 36:27.863
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a routine, you know, for our QRF mission or whatever.
36:27.903 --> 36:29.723
[SPEAKER_01]: And we went out and came back.
36:29.743 --> 36:34.265
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, okay, that was, I figured it out.
36:34.365 --> 36:35.325
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I'll be all right.
36:35.725 --> 36:39.246
[SPEAKER_01]: And the first probably five missions, you're very, just hypersensitive.
36:40.166 --> 36:44.848
[SPEAKER_01]: And then after that, you relax, you settle, you realize that, okay.
36:46.089 --> 36:48.091
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the mission profile, this is what we have to do.
36:48.151 --> 36:49.232
[SPEAKER_01]: We've planned out a few things.
36:49.252 --> 36:56.080
[SPEAKER_01]: It's gonna be a lot of downtime, but at the end of the day, you have to always be ready, but don't be nervous.
36:56.920 --> 36:59.123
[SPEAKER_01]: Cause if you're nervous, that's when you make mistakes.
36:59.899 --> 37:06.621
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, that's all fine and dandy, and then you have another come to Jesus moment once you get shot at for the first time.
37:07.221 --> 37:08.121
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'll never forget that.
37:08.161 --> 37:17.864
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember the first time I remember my very first mission, and I remember vividly the first time I got shot at, because then that's now a whole, the does like a whole, another level of stress that you're adding on to it.
37:18.164 --> 37:20.426
[SPEAKER_00]: So what would you see muzzle flashes?
37:20.546 --> 37:22.388
[SPEAKER_00]: What where you get hit the aircraft get hit?
37:22.548 --> 37:28.574
[SPEAKER_01]: Tracer tank, okay Tracer spacers like they don't make you talk a little bit.
37:28.755 --> 37:35.441
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll talk a factor which was really big and then so your first response that has denial like this isn't happening right?
37:36.402 --> 37:45.773
[SPEAKER_01]: And your back series usually the guy that's more experienced that I seen it before obviously he's like well Captain we're getting shot at now Lieutenant we're getting shot at now my big capitals there.
37:46.353 --> 37:51.539
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like oh, yeah, I see it and that for four seconds you're like now what do I do?
37:52.680 --> 37:54.501
[SPEAKER_01]: And that five seconds feels like an eternity.
37:55.341 --> 38:01.524
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you settle, you rely back on your training, you rely back on your TTPs, and then you get right back into what you're doing.
38:02.084 --> 38:04.145
[SPEAKER_01]: The second time you get shot at, there is no pause.
38:04.405 --> 38:08.467
[SPEAKER_01]: There is no, there is, and by pause, I mean, it's very, very quick the first time.
38:08.567 --> 38:11.648
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not, it seems like an hour, but literally it's probably like five seconds.
38:11.668 --> 38:16.230
[SPEAKER_01]: You're like, they weren't getting my two-way range, like, and that's like legit.
38:16.270 --> 38:17.851
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm here doing, it's just not a video game.
38:18.051 --> 38:19.271
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not a drill, right?
38:19.331 --> 38:20.572
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not a drill.
38:21.252 --> 38:29.855
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the second time the third time that after that, you realize your reaction is taking fire responding immediately, immediately.
38:30.516 --> 38:33.257
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'll never forget, I'll never forget that first time.
38:35.448 --> 38:37.650
[SPEAKER_01]: It's important to have those kinds of experiences.
38:38.031 --> 38:43.597
[SPEAKER_01]: It's important to always look back on that moment in life, because from then on, nothing is that hard.
38:44.358 --> 38:45.539
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing is that stressful.
38:46.340 --> 38:52.707
[SPEAKER_01]: I tell people all the time, Wesley, you know, you're a congressman, you're in politics, you know, it's pretty rough and I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not getting shot at.
38:53.047 --> 38:55.249
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was twenty four years old when I was doing that.
38:56.148 --> 38:57.189
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd be keep that in mind.
38:57.669 --> 39:02.134
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I am fighting a battle in an Apache at twenty four twenty five years old.
39:02.334 --> 39:09.220
[SPEAKER_01]: I am deciding who lives and who potentially dies at twenty four years old twenty five years old as a very young man.
39:09.621 --> 39:14.245
[SPEAKER_01]: So from there on my life is really stressing my life is really not that big of a deal.
39:14.765 --> 39:15.886
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing is that serious.
39:16.367 --> 39:18.208
[SPEAKER_01]: Now much of this regret of my wife every night again.
39:18.249 --> 39:20.451
[SPEAKER_01]: She kind of gets upset with me because I don't
39:22.652 --> 39:30.938
[SPEAKER_01]: It's very easy for me to rely back to those moments.
39:31.358 --> 39:32.759
[SPEAKER_01]: And everyone out again, we live a good life.
39:33.260 --> 39:35.882
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I talked about being an American, how blessed that we have it.
39:36.342 --> 39:42.766
[SPEAKER_01]: And every now and again, you kind of forget, you know, you kind of get a little soft, then, you know, we talked about that two little girls and a little boy.
39:43.627 --> 39:52.809
[SPEAKER_01]: And you start going through the day-to-day of life and you kind of forget those moments where things get hard and you find yourself getting spun up over something that really is not that significant.
39:53.249 --> 39:59.631
[SPEAKER_01]: And then before I go to bed at night, I think back to these two moments when I was twenty-four years old flying around in a patchy.
39:59.991 --> 40:01.071
[SPEAKER_01]: And you're like, you know what?
40:02.112 --> 40:02.832
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be just fine.
40:05.967 --> 40:14.012
[SPEAKER_00]: unique thing about the Apache and I don't know if this is only the Apache, but now so echo like normally when you're calling an aircraft fire.
40:14.933 --> 40:16.854
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a big protocol that you got to follow.
40:16.874 --> 40:21.517
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're calling fast movers overhead, you got to give them a nine line brief.
40:21.537 --> 40:24.059
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a bunch of really specific information that they need.
40:24.579 --> 40:27.181
[SPEAKER_00]: And it can be get pretty complicated.
40:27.880 --> 40:41.891
[SPEAKER_00]: But when you get in a patchy on the ground, or get a patchy in the air over, the army guys will just talk to the Apache, like they're talking to someone else with a rifle, or someone with a machine gun, like, no, the building to the far left, hit that one.
40:42.271 --> 40:53.320
[SPEAKER_00]: And Apache guys, since they're so close to the ground, and they're so in touch with the guys on the ground, it's almost like you have just another part of your infantry unit that's ready to lay it down.
40:53.340 --> 40:56.583
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's why guys love Apache's, because they can just make things happen.
40:57.283 --> 40:57.483
[SPEAKER_00]: What?
40:57.863 --> 40:58.924
[SPEAKER_00]: How is it for you?
40:59.244 --> 40:59.824
[SPEAKER_00]: You're in the air.
40:59.984 --> 41:00.724
[SPEAKER_00]: You're in the aircraft.
41:01.124 --> 41:02.405
[SPEAKER_00]: You hear these guys on the ground.
41:02.465 --> 41:06.766
[SPEAKER_00]: That's got to be like tormenting when you know that they're in bad situations.
41:07.286 --> 41:08.187
[SPEAKER_00]: And you want to help them.
41:08.267 --> 41:09.707
[SPEAKER_00]: And you're trying to understand what's happening.
41:10.167 --> 41:13.668
[SPEAKER_00]: Like what kind of mental place were you in when you'd start getting the call?
41:13.708 --> 41:14.889
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, we need, we need support now.
41:15.369 --> 41:16.509
[SPEAKER_00]: What was that like for you?
41:16.549 --> 41:18.330
[SPEAKER_01]: First thing, the most important situation awareness.
41:19.290 --> 41:24.072
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to know where the good guys are first and foremost, because the last thing that we want is fracture side.
41:24.812 --> 41:29.814
[SPEAKER_01]: So when we go weapons hot, you have to understand where the good guys are and where the bad guys are.
41:29.995 --> 41:31.095
[SPEAKER_01]: Number one, most important thing.
41:31.475 --> 41:33.416
[SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes you could hear the dress.
41:33.676 --> 41:38.759
[SPEAKER_01]: You could hear the sense of urgency that they're like, guys, we really need you to want to target like right now.
41:38.939 --> 41:40.960
[SPEAKER_00]: What's your primary, what was your primary way of
41:42.041 --> 41:43.161
[SPEAKER_00]: identifying friendly.
41:44.142 --> 41:48.425
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, they would give us a grid coordinate as to where they were eight digit grid coordinate.
41:49.005 --> 41:52.148
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, and then that's how we're usually able to easily identify them.
41:52.648 --> 41:54.709
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, sometimes they would use Tracer Fire.
41:54.829 --> 41:56.130
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm shooting right now.
41:56.210 --> 41:56.731
[SPEAKER_01]: Tracer Fire.
41:56.771 --> 41:58.412
[SPEAKER_01]: We are here shooting the direction of the enemy.
41:58.432 --> 41:59.833
[SPEAKER_01]: Boom, boom, boom, boom.
41:59.873 --> 42:00.653
[SPEAKER_01]: You were here in the radio.
42:00.673 --> 42:01.074
[SPEAKER_01]: They used it.
42:01.094 --> 42:02.995
[SPEAKER_01]: Tracer Fire would be like, okay, Roger got it.
42:04.956 --> 42:05.736
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we're gone side.
42:05.956 --> 42:11.498
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's just, you know, a few of the ways, but that's the most important thing is we're here to save friendly.
42:11.578 --> 42:15.719
[SPEAKER_01]: We are here to make sure that these young men get back to their families alive.
42:15.839 --> 42:18.119
[SPEAKER_01]: We aren't going to be the ones that that that eliminate them.
42:18.159 --> 42:20.420
[SPEAKER_01]: We have to be very, very cautious and first and foremost.
42:20.440 --> 42:25.541
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's that's the first and foremost important thing for any Apache driver was always who are the good guys.
42:26.521 --> 42:27.401
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't shoot the good guys.
42:27.821 --> 42:28.562
[SPEAKER_01]: We shoot the bad guys.
42:29.222 --> 42:29.782
[SPEAKER_01]: Most important.
42:29.882 --> 42:30.062
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
42:30.602 --> 42:33.783
[SPEAKER_01]: So, such a waste of awareness was something that we always had to be very, very mindful of.
42:34.103 --> 42:34.363
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
42:34.463 --> 42:39.424
[SPEAKER_00]: And it, it's really hard for people that haven't been in combat to understand how confusing the battlefield is.
42:39.644 --> 42:41.265
[SPEAKER_00]: It's very, it gets chaotic.
42:41.285 --> 42:50.807
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and I wrote about, I had, in Ramadi, there was probably one blue on blue, reported a week, reported.
42:51.147 --> 42:51.368
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
42:51.528 --> 42:51.968
[SPEAKER_00]: Every week.
42:52.148 --> 42:52.328
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
42:53.428 --> 43:08.740
[SPEAKER_00]: and not all of them had casualties but you know like hey you were shooting in our direction we were in this building of the you know the army is over here the Marine Corps over here that's how and it was there was situations where soldiers shot at humvies yeah like the al Qaeda or
43:09.180 --> 43:13.402
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't have humvies, you know, and humvies a very distinct profile of a vehicle.
43:13.462 --> 43:15.624
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not pretty hard to mistake something for them.
43:16.004 --> 43:18.385
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's how stressful it is.
43:18.625 --> 43:23.147
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the kind of decisions people are making and how confusing it can be when you're out there.
43:23.448 --> 43:29.131
[SPEAKER_00]: And so being in the aircraft overhead and you got these guys panning on the ground, you want to support them as much as you can at the same time.
43:29.971 --> 43:32.153
[SPEAKER_00]: Like rule number one, it's almost like a doctor do no harm.
43:32.273 --> 43:32.673
[SPEAKER_00]: That's right.
43:32.733 --> 43:34.955
[SPEAKER_01]: Rule number one, deal harm.
43:35.475 --> 43:40.579
[SPEAKER_01]: And this, like you said to us showing up a lot of times was just, it just all they needed to sometimes.
43:40.619 --> 43:55.831
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, sometimes we didn't even engage in it because there were, it was too close of contact, but the, but the comfort that they had knowing that we were overhead and how that, that shifted the entire battle, just by our presence being there, you know, I take, I take a lot of pride in that.
43:57.078 --> 43:58.559
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're up tempo.
43:59.059 --> 44:01.220
[SPEAKER_00]: I know you did, you just said you did fifteen days straight.
44:01.260 --> 44:01.701
[SPEAKER_00]: I won't win it.
44:01.721 --> 44:03.361
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't one day rest.
44:03.501 --> 44:06.143
[SPEAKER_00]: But generally speaking, you're fine every day.
44:06.503 --> 44:07.744
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they used it with it.
44:07.784 --> 44:14.227
[SPEAKER_01]: I think for us at that time, it was like, you know, four to five days on two days off, four to five days.
44:14.347 --> 44:15.008
[SPEAKER_01]: One to two days off.
44:15.368 --> 44:17.569
[SPEAKER_00]: And are you on a cycle of flying at night the whole time?
44:17.609 --> 44:18.870
[SPEAKER_00]: Or are you talking about the daytime?
44:19.490 --> 44:23.452
[SPEAKER_01]: We had like a rotating cycle to roll pilots on and off and we had to get our proper crew rest.
44:23.472 --> 44:24.893
[SPEAKER_01]: These eight hours all day good stuff.
44:25.359 --> 44:25.959
[SPEAKER_00]: What's the preferred?
44:26.820 --> 44:28.120
[SPEAKER_00]: It's better go out of night or during the day.
44:30.262 --> 44:32.923
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're going to, that's funny.
44:32.943 --> 44:34.344
[SPEAKER_01]: That's actually a really good question too.
44:35.044 --> 44:42.088
[SPEAKER_01]: So at night is when, at night time is when you saw the most engagements was at night.
44:43.989 --> 44:45.970
[SPEAKER_01]: The daytime though, you could see everything clearer.
44:46.450 --> 44:50.132
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you don't need in viewing night vision goggles, you don't need fear.
44:50.152 --> 44:52.033
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, there it is right there.
44:52.053 --> 44:53.233
[SPEAKER_01]: You could see it clear as day.
44:54.794 --> 44:58.076
[SPEAKER_01]: They could also, they hit him, he could also see you on the horizon during the daytime.
44:58.096 --> 45:00.116
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's when they would drop their weapons and move on.
45:00.156 --> 45:01.637
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're like, yeah, we don't want to deal with that.
45:01.657 --> 45:05.119
[SPEAKER_01]: What, what, what, police is dragging at that from like, right?
45:05.159 --> 45:07.000
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, like, we won't actually no part of that.
45:08.100 --> 45:13.763
[SPEAKER_01]: But at night is, is when you were, you were actually going to see a lot more, a lot more action.
45:14.723 --> 45:23.547
[SPEAKER_01]: So it just kind of, it just kind of depended, it does kind of depend on the battle rhythm and where you were, but at the end of the day, I mean, everybody at some point is going to, is going to, there's going to be some engagements.
45:24.593 --> 45:26.714
[SPEAKER_00]: And how long was your was this deployment in total?
45:27.415 --> 45:28.195
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, almost a year.
45:28.755 --> 45:28.895
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
45:29.116 --> 45:29.716
[SPEAKER_01]: So I got in.
45:29.756 --> 45:30.496
[SPEAKER_01]: I got a little bit late.
45:30.516 --> 45:31.317
[SPEAKER_01]: So it must have been for me.
45:31.357 --> 45:32.698
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like nine months, nine, ten months.
45:32.738 --> 45:33.798
[SPEAKER_01]: And so somewhere around there.
45:34.419 --> 45:42.003
[SPEAKER_00]: And as you're wrapping up, like as you're getting towards the end of deployment, are you starting to feel like that little short time disease or are you starting to like, well, maybe, you know,
45:42.303 --> 45:48.727
[SPEAKER_00]: I know you're saying the Lord's prayer, but you've been saying it for a bit saying it for a long time.
45:48.947 --> 45:56.971
[SPEAKER_00]: And at some point you start thinking, I always, I was with my guys, I would never tell them that this is the last mission because I always felt like that was a jinx.
45:58.012 --> 45:59.313
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, the guys, this is the last one.
45:59.673 --> 46:01.974
[SPEAKER_00]: So what I did is we kept doing missions, kept doing missions.
46:02.014 --> 46:04.915
[SPEAKER_00]: And when administratively we couldn't do it anymore.
46:04.935 --> 46:07.437
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like, hey, remember the last night?
46:07.477 --> 46:08.757
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that was it.
46:08.777 --> 46:09.077
[SPEAKER_00]: We're done.
46:09.217 --> 46:09.918
[SPEAKER_01]: And they're like, wow.
46:10.098 --> 46:14.140
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, because I didn't want anyone going out with like, this last one would be all paranoid and freaked out.
46:14.220 --> 46:16.901
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, just maybe I'm a superstitious or whatever.
46:16.941 --> 46:18.002
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's kind of the way.
46:18.182 --> 46:20.203
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like, hey, you know what, last night?
46:20.343 --> 46:20.763
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was it.
46:23.144 --> 46:27.328
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you start to feel any like pressure like, you know, because you're all, look, you're all in the dice every time.
46:27.528 --> 46:27.908
[SPEAKER_01]: Every time.
46:27.928 --> 46:29.810
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you start to think about that?
46:29.830 --> 46:30.350
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course you do.
46:31.491 --> 46:34.233
[SPEAKER_01]: That is a, that is a natural state of being a human being.
46:34.954 --> 46:42.420
[SPEAKER_01]: Especially when you know like, you know, we're, we're ripping out of here in about two weeks, which means that I've approximately three to four flights left.
46:44.156 --> 46:47.557
[SPEAKER_01]: and I want to go home and I want to get home in one piece and I want to get home safely.
46:48.177 --> 46:58.859
[SPEAKER_01]: But the mission is as important now as it was before you first got in country like that hasn't changed nor can you have a lapse of judgment because you still want people to get home.
46:58.899 --> 47:00.920
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, people do die on their last missions.
47:01.360 --> 47:03.080
[SPEAKER_01]: That has happened to feel my classmates.
47:03.421 --> 47:12.583
[SPEAKER_01]: Literally, they were they were doing less seat rights seat rides and one of my very dear friends is no longer with us because he was killed on his last mission before he was getting ready to come home.
47:13.263 --> 47:13.503
[SPEAKER_01]: And so
47:14.787 --> 47:16.228
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you train your mind?
47:16.708 --> 47:33.318
[SPEAKER_01]: And how do you train your brain and your early twenties on top of that and have the discipline and the state of mind and the fortitude to say, you have to be as focused right now knowing that you want to get home and hug your mom and hug your dad and and see your dog and do all this good stuff and see your family.
47:33.658 --> 47:36.600
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you screw this up, that ain't going to happen.
47:37.520 --> 47:44.948
[SPEAKER_01]: And in fact, it's even more important to be acutely aware of your surroundings than what's going on, but not to the point that you're nervous.
47:45.568 --> 47:46.910
[SPEAKER_01]: It goes right back to the very beginning.
47:47.250 --> 47:54.597
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like the state of mind and those last few flights is the same state of mind that you're kind of having a very beginning, but you can't allow that to creep in.
47:55.398 --> 47:55.879
[SPEAKER_01]: You can't.
47:56.560 --> 47:58.723
[SPEAKER_01]: What's going to be too nervous that it's some bad going to happen?
47:59.464 --> 48:01.787
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it's not even about me being able to do this.
48:01.827 --> 48:04.931
[SPEAKER_01]: Also keeping your soldiers focused.
48:05.732 --> 48:06.654
[SPEAKER_01]: I know you want to get home.
48:06.894 --> 48:07.835
[SPEAKER_01]: I know it's time to get home.
48:07.976 --> 48:08.977
[SPEAKER_01]: I know what you want to do.
48:09.398 --> 48:10.439
[SPEAKER_01]: I know we're two weeks out.
48:10.900 --> 48:11.601
[SPEAKER_01]: We're almost there.
48:11.901 --> 48:12.542
[SPEAKER_01]: We're almost there.
48:12.762 --> 48:16.024
[SPEAKER_01]: And fortunately for us, those last few weeks, no one was lost.
48:16.324 --> 48:19.785
[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone went off without a hitch of everyone performed accordingly.
48:20.806 --> 48:25.488
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's the mental gymnastics that you had to kind of put your mind through to prepare yourself especially at the end.
48:26.588 --> 48:28.349
[SPEAKER_00]: And how was coming back to America?
48:28.369 --> 48:30.890
[SPEAKER_00]: So now it's might've been in two thousand six till when you got home.
48:31.070 --> 48:33.371
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep, it was the end of two thousand six when I got home.
48:34.232 --> 48:37.133
[SPEAKER_01]: And I got home.
48:39.175 --> 48:42.637
[SPEAKER_01]: And for the first two weeks, you're still in combat brain.
48:45.559 --> 48:53.144
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, when I was in camp dodging, we're far up north, but every now and again, you know, they would have more to fire that would come in, you know, and hit our base.
48:53.744 --> 49:05.612
[SPEAKER_01]: And I remember one time, a couple hundred yards away, I mean, there was a hit a trailer burst in the flames and I woke me up and then you have to, obviously, you know, put on your, your flag jacket and then, you know, head to safety, head to shelter.
49:06.472 --> 49:08.573
[SPEAKER_01]: and you're not really asleep at night.
49:08.673 --> 49:12.253
[SPEAKER_01]: You're constantly always worried about something can happen.
49:12.654 --> 49:15.094
[SPEAKER_01]: You're thinking about that mortifier, you're thinking about the next mission.
49:15.374 --> 49:23.816
[SPEAKER_01]: You get back home for about two weeks and you're still in that mode and you realize that until my mom and my dad would say something to me like, Wesley, you're home.
49:24.236 --> 49:25.737
[SPEAKER_01]: It's okay, you're home.
49:26.157 --> 49:35.319
[SPEAKER_01]: And I remember I didn't completely decompress until two weeks later, I was sitting in church with my family, what my mom and my dad and I would sit next to them and then finally,
49:35.999 --> 49:36.500
[SPEAKER_01]: I relaxed.
49:38.241 --> 49:42.186
[SPEAKER_01]: I felt, oh, I felt the weight of no longer being in combat.
49:42.286 --> 49:43.827
[SPEAKER_01]: Finally, you're released from my body.
49:44.067 --> 49:47.371
[SPEAKER_01]: It was, it was almost, it was like a spiritual moment almost.
49:47.391 --> 49:51.495
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, and I remember being emotional and being like, I'm okay.
49:51.635 --> 49:52.096
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm okay.
49:52.236 --> 49:52.596
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm safe.
49:52.676 --> 49:53.257
[SPEAKER_01]: I made it home.
49:53.998 --> 49:58.102
[SPEAKER_01]: And then only to do that, to go back to forwardhood and to get training up for the next one.
49:59.771 --> 50:04.100
[SPEAKER_01]: like that is just like that is the rhythm.
50:04.801 --> 50:08.649
[SPEAKER_01]: I thank God every single day full of experiences in my early twenties.
50:09.908 --> 50:16.572
[SPEAKER_01]: I am so glad that I had to go through that through those moments in life at a very young age at a very early point.
50:16.612 --> 50:19.154
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why the military is so important, especially for young men.
50:19.634 --> 50:20.334
[SPEAKER_01]: It's critical.
50:21.095 --> 50:31.461
[SPEAKER_01]: It's critical to train your mind and to hone your craft and to put yourself in uncomfortable position, early on in life, because you used to being uncomfortable for the rest of your life in life is hard.
50:32.041 --> 50:37.165
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I think I realized a couple months ago, they built that into you by
50:38.168 --> 50:40.569
[SPEAKER_00]: little, they do exposure therapy.
50:40.649 --> 50:42.890
[SPEAKER_00]: Where the first thing you get is yell that by a, you know, a drone instructor.
50:42.930 --> 50:43.170
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
50:43.270 --> 50:43.590
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
50:43.610 --> 50:44.071
[SPEAKER_00]: Good yell that.
50:44.151 --> 50:44.331
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
50:44.351 --> 50:45.631
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, not too bad.
50:46.092 --> 50:49.113
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, you know, you got to climb that rope wall.
50:49.253 --> 50:51.094
[SPEAKER_00]: And you're like, oh, that rope falls a little hard to get over.
50:51.334 --> 50:52.414
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a little scary at the top.
50:52.434 --> 50:54.155
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you go over the cargo net, which is thirty feet up.
50:54.175 --> 50:55.075
[SPEAKER_00]: Then you're doing the slide for life.
50:55.135 --> 50:55.916
[SPEAKER_00]: Then you're repelling.
50:56.822 --> 51:13.288
[SPEAKER_00]: and then you're fast-ropping and each one of these things is a step into fear and you're each one of those you're overcoming the first the first bit of fear is tiny but it gets bigger and bigger bigger to you just learn how to overcome it learn how to overcome it learn how to overcome it and finally by the time you're jumping out of an airplane you're like oh I know what this feeling is it's called fear
51:14.371 --> 51:17.533
[SPEAKER_00]: I know what to do in response to it, and this is what I'm going to do this on my handle.
51:17.873 --> 51:18.614
[SPEAKER_00]: Now you're in combat.
51:19.414 --> 51:20.815
[SPEAKER_00]: You go, oh, oh, that little thing.
51:21.175 --> 51:21.916
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, I know what that is.
51:22.236 --> 51:22.636
[SPEAKER_00]: That's fear.
51:22.796 --> 51:23.577
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's how I overcome it.
51:23.917 --> 51:24.958
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't I don't back down from it.
51:25.158 --> 51:26.479
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't pretend it's not there.
51:26.639 --> 51:27.059
[SPEAKER_00]: I deal with it.
51:27.359 --> 51:28.660
[SPEAKER_00]: We go and we get to keep the mission.
51:28.860 --> 51:29.040
[SPEAKER_00]: Correct.
51:29.240 --> 51:32.342
[SPEAKER_00]: So they do a really good job in the military of teaching you how to do that.
51:32.723 --> 51:36.185
[SPEAKER_00]: If you take someone from zero to combat,
51:36.725 --> 51:40.228
[SPEAKER_00]: Like they're not they're gonna see that big monster fear and it's gonna freak them out.
51:40.248 --> 51:40.789
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not gonna do it.
51:40.989 --> 51:42.330
[SPEAKER_00]: So you gotta you gotta get used to it.
51:42.350 --> 51:44.332
[SPEAKER_00]: And the military does a very good job of doing that.
51:45.413 --> 51:57.284
[SPEAKER_00]: I've felt the same thing was for me was about a month after I got home and you know sitting there on the weekend and I woke up in the morning and I felt like good I felt like you know this sunny day I'm saying Diego.
51:59.185 --> 52:00.366
[SPEAKER_00]: What is what am I feeling?
52:01.187 --> 52:02.528
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, why do I feel good?
52:02.568 --> 52:06.070
[SPEAKER_00]: And I realized I didn't feel good of something because of something that was there.
52:06.771 --> 52:08.552
[SPEAKER_00]: I felt good of because of something that wasn't there.
52:08.912 --> 52:13.815
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was being worried about one of my guys getting wounded or killed, which is the worst, not in your stomach.
52:13.835 --> 52:16.157
[SPEAKER_00]: I made it last for months and months and months.
52:16.757 --> 52:18.058
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's just perpetually there.
52:18.098 --> 52:23.882
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you go home and it's gone, you go, wow, oh, I'm not, I'm not fearing the loss of one of my guys right now.
52:24.342 --> 52:26.684
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's a big weight off the shoulders.
52:27.174 --> 52:28.654
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you never let those guys go either.
52:28.974 --> 52:30.655
[SPEAKER_01]: You never let the guys that you served with go.
52:30.815 --> 52:35.056
[SPEAKER_01]: So a couple months ago, Brandon Bender, this is his name.
52:35.096 --> 52:35.976
[SPEAKER_01]: He was my crew chief.
52:36.376 --> 52:37.356
[SPEAKER_01]: He is no longer with us.
52:37.696 --> 52:39.017
[SPEAKER_01]: He passed away a couple months ago.
52:39.857 --> 52:43.298
[SPEAKER_01]: And I have a lot to develop going on.
52:43.358 --> 52:43.978
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm very busy.
52:44.338 --> 52:51.039
[SPEAKER_01]: But when I found that out, I went to the services in Georgia because I had to go because he was one of my guys.
52:51.299 --> 52:52.620
[SPEAKER_01]: He was one of my friends.
52:54.000 --> 52:57.442
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a corporal serving under me and he's a person that kept me alive.
52:57.462 --> 52:58.802
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a guy that fixed my aircraft.
52:58.822 --> 53:00.343
[SPEAKER_01]: He's the guy that was my confident.
53:00.383 --> 53:05.646
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a deer deer friend and to be the Florida's closure, you never let him go.
53:06.526 --> 53:07.987
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's not with us anymore.
53:08.087 --> 53:09.027
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll be the first to admit.
53:09.047 --> 53:11.749
[SPEAKER_01]: I wish I wasn't contact with him more.
53:11.809 --> 53:13.209
[SPEAKER_01]: I wish I could have said something.
53:13.269 --> 53:13.529
[SPEAKER_01]: I wish
53:18.433 --> 53:23.156
[SPEAKER_01]: As this guy says, you know, as his leader, I wish even this, and we haven't seen him in gears.
53:23.196 --> 53:25.918
[SPEAKER_01]: We have to start together in fifteen years, but he's still with me.
53:26.478 --> 53:27.379
[SPEAKER_01]: Brandon is still with me.
53:27.919 --> 53:38.406
[SPEAKER_01]: And so when you say somebody that you trained with, that you are in combat with, somebody that you are in charge of, it's not just, it's not just them in combat, it's them in life too.
53:39.206 --> 53:42.809
[SPEAKER_01]: Like like you build these relationships with people literally under fire.
53:43.290 --> 53:48.414
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm out there forget I landed from from a pretty rough mission and Brandon was there bringing me in and I gave him the biggest hug in the world.
53:48.774 --> 53:49.595
[SPEAKER_01]: He goes let me go.
53:50.235 --> 53:51.837
[SPEAKER_01]: I heard on the radio so I'm glad you're back.
53:52.357 --> 53:54.319
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm thinking like it, what's wrong with Brandon?
53:54.359 --> 53:56.761
[SPEAKER_01]: What's the guy that I'm all there for you looking at?
53:58.122 --> 54:04.544
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that kind of relationship is forged and steel and it's something that never goes away.
54:05.584 --> 54:10.146
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is not a shot to Brandon Bender or a shot out to Brandon Bender and his family, but I think of him often.
54:10.206 --> 54:13.507
[SPEAKER_01]: I think of him almost daily to this day because he's no longer here.
54:14.027 --> 54:22.750
[SPEAKER_01]: But that level of care and that level of, I want to make sure my guys get home and I want to make sure my guys prosper and that they stay alive.
54:23.090 --> 54:26.171
[SPEAKER_01]: That care becomes a greater feeling than taking care of yourself.
54:27.303 --> 54:27.443
[SPEAKER_01]: out.
54:28.124 --> 54:37.959
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd realize this our years ago, I had a guy named Tom Fife on the podcast and he was in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
54:38.019 --> 54:38.740
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a hard charger.
54:39.181 --> 54:42.506
[SPEAKER_00]: And you got a purple heart in World War II, Korea.
54:43.166 --> 54:43.707
[SPEAKER_00]: And Vietnam.
54:44.648 --> 54:49.392
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're talking, and we're talking, you know, when he was in World War II, he was like a, you know, he was a private.
54:49.432 --> 54:51.755
[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't know what was going on by the time he's in Korea.
54:51.795 --> 54:53.717
[SPEAKER_00]: He's now like a lieutenant.
54:54.477 --> 54:57.681
[SPEAKER_00]: And by the time we get to Vietnam, he's time commander Vietnam.
54:58.221 --> 55:01.945
[SPEAKER_00]: We're having this conversation, you know, and just awesome conversation with this hero.
55:03.584 --> 55:09.245
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, what's talking about, you know, kind of like the tactical military stuff, you know, which is, I love talking about it.
55:09.265 --> 55:09.905
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, what was your message?
55:09.925 --> 55:10.325
[SPEAKER_00]: What were you doing?
55:10.345 --> 55:11.166
[SPEAKER_00]: What was the uptempo like?
55:11.866 --> 55:15.086
[SPEAKER_00]: What were the techniques where the usual procedures were having that conversation?
55:16.047 --> 55:21.228
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, you know, I said, you know, how many casualties did you take when you were a battalion commander?
55:22.468 --> 55:24.948
[SPEAKER_00]: And so this is sixty years after the war.
55:26.429 --> 55:27.149
[SPEAKER_00]: And you got choked up.
55:28.229 --> 55:31.770
[SPEAKER_00]: And I thought to myself, I realized at that moment that
55:32.950 --> 55:35.192
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm always gonna feel that way about my guys.
55:35.512 --> 55:36.513
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's nothing wrong with it.
55:37.473 --> 55:41.036
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was a huge lesson learned for me because I've been able to share that with other people.
55:41.056 --> 55:45.619
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, hey, when you lose your friends, that's gonna leave a mark.
55:46.259 --> 55:55.906
[SPEAKER_00]: And especially being in the military, you're gonna lose your friends that are twenty-three years old, twenty-five years old, twenty-six years old that are gonna, they're not gonna get to experience what we get to experience.
55:55.986 --> 55:59.808
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe they didn't get that chance to have kids, they didn't get a chance to live the rest of their lives.
56:00.769 --> 56:02.070
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's going to hurt.
56:02.350 --> 56:02.470
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
56:03.251 --> 56:08.214
[SPEAKER_00]: And the best thing we can do, look, you're never going to, it's okay to say, oh, yeah.
56:08.615 --> 56:10.756
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I'll, I'll freak and shed a tear tonight.
56:11.196 --> 56:12.057
[SPEAKER_00]: Think about my friends.
56:12.497 --> 56:14.038
[SPEAKER_00]: Then there's nothing wrong with that.
56:14.078 --> 56:14.979
[SPEAKER_00]: It's perfectly okay.
56:15.739 --> 56:18.381
[SPEAKER_00]: And the best thing you, what, what you don't want to do.
56:19.622 --> 56:28.066
[SPEAKER_00]: is pretend that that's not there or dwell on it to the point where you're caught in the past and thinking about what would have could have should have been, right?
56:28.426 --> 56:29.386
[SPEAKER_00]: But you can't change the past.
56:30.167 --> 56:37.050
[SPEAKER_00]: So those are, I think it really important lessons and even what you're saying right now about your buddy, it's like, what do you do, you honor?
56:37.570 --> 56:37.930
[SPEAKER_00]: That's it.
56:38.050 --> 56:39.671
[SPEAKER_00]: You live your life for them moving forward.
56:40.332 --> 56:42.913
[SPEAKER_01]: You do what they what I would want them to do if that were me.
56:43.534 --> 56:44.654
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to want you to mourn me.
56:45.275 --> 56:46.716
[SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't want don't feel bad for me.
56:46.976 --> 56:48.096
[SPEAKER_01]: I met a better place anyway.
56:48.597 --> 56:50.678
[SPEAKER_01]: Please live your life to the fullest.
56:50.838 --> 56:55.701
[SPEAKER_01]: Just don't don't forget it and understand that there are a lot of people that are no longer here.
56:56.001 --> 56:59.964
[SPEAKER_01]: So we must continue to find ways to serve and live for them and they're stead.
57:00.937 --> 57:09.846
[SPEAKER_01]: They pay the ultimate sacrifice in the name of this country and the name of freedom and the name of and the name of growing and making a more making a better, more perfect union.
57:09.866 --> 57:10.847
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why they died.
57:11.187 --> 57:17.414
[SPEAKER_01]: So getting the business of doing that literally that's why I got in the politics or that's that's the what are the biggest reasons why.
57:18.154 --> 57:20.415
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, look, you know, you may not agree with me politically.
57:20.455 --> 57:28.378
[SPEAKER_01]: This, out of a third, but please know that my heart is in the right place to make a more better union and to continue to serve for those who are no longer here to serve for themselves.
57:28.658 --> 57:29.699
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what this whole thing is about.
57:30.079 --> 57:37.542
[SPEAKER_01]: When you opened up about people that weren't a military that's served now, no matter how you feel about them personally, keep in mind, we are the ones that said I'm willing to die for our country.
57:38.214 --> 57:38.614
[SPEAKER_01]: Hold on.
57:39.515 --> 57:43.720
[SPEAKER_01]: Show us a little bit of respect to you because that's actually real to us and most of you didn't do that.
57:44.821 --> 57:50.567
[SPEAKER_01]: So you made this agree that's politically, but you should respect where our heart is because we are the ones that I wouldn't believe for the country.
57:53.951 --> 57:55.132
[SPEAKER_00]: So you get home from this deployment.
57:55.692 --> 57:58.375
[SPEAKER_00]: What's what do you go into a work up prepare to deploy again?
57:58.415 --> 57:58.976
[SPEAKER_00]: Is that what happened?
57:59.342 --> 57:59.842
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, for sure.
57:59.982 --> 58:05.605
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's kind of, I mean, you, you take, obviously, there's, there's some downtime and then there's, you know, some obviously in T.C.
58:05.645 --> 58:07.686
[SPEAKER_01]: rotations and, and all that kind of good stuff.
58:08.367 --> 58:10.868
[SPEAKER_01]: But then after that, I actually didn't deploy the second time.
58:10.888 --> 58:15.510
[SPEAKER_01]: I actually was on rear attachment and then I actually, because I was, I was getting out the military.
58:15.530 --> 58:16.731
[SPEAKER_01]: I knew I was getting out the military.
58:17.151 --> 58:19.712
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I then did my last two combat deployment.
58:19.732 --> 58:24.175
[SPEAKER_01]: It's actually, it was considered to be combat and Saudi Arabia as the diplomatic liaison officer.
58:25.055 --> 58:30.980
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we did, I did the train up, then went to the Captain's career course, and they're from there, which is Saudi Arabia for two years.
58:32.041 --> 58:40.407
[SPEAKER_01]: This is where I got the true diplomatic political bug during the last two years in a military station in Saudi Arabia.
58:40.527 --> 58:43.270
[SPEAKER_00]: So explain what a diplomatic liaison officer is doing.
58:43.450 --> 58:48.634
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so one of the, one of the largest Apache contracts actually goes to Saudi Arabia.
58:48.674 --> 58:52.077
[SPEAKER_01]: Saudi Arabia is a big purchaser of a lot of our aircraft and a lot of our munitions.
58:53.017 --> 58:53.358
[SPEAKER_01]: And so
58:55.079 --> 58:59.942
[SPEAKER_01]: I was at that time I was doing four military sales for the military and Saudi Arabia.
59:00.382 --> 59:16.232
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we advised them on what they need, what their battle needs were, what their training needs were, coordinated with Boeing to figure out what a patchy model you need and the specs that she needed on the Apache to best fit your needs in Saudi Arabia as a diplomatic officer.
59:16.732 --> 59:19.054
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that's when I got exposed to the region as a whole.
59:19.575 --> 59:24.580
[SPEAKER_01]: And imagine being able to travel in that region as well as diplomatically as an officer.
59:24.620 --> 59:26.722
[SPEAKER_01]: I suppose to fly around back there.
59:27.963 --> 59:31.226
[SPEAKER_01]: The deep, the different, of course, it's been re-allowed away different than back then.
59:31.446 --> 59:33.428
[SPEAKER_01]: So are you saying a five star hotel or something?
59:33.648 --> 59:34.229
[SPEAKER_01]: Every not again.
59:34.249 --> 59:35.850
[SPEAKER_01]: It was that it wasn't terrible.
59:35.910 --> 59:36.431
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you wearing?
59:36.471 --> 59:38.693
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I was actually stationed on on an air force base.
59:38.713 --> 59:41.935
[SPEAKER_01]: So yes, it was a five star hotel for sure.
59:44.678 --> 59:46.019
[SPEAKER_00]: They know how to make those things happen.
59:46.619 --> 59:47.640
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you wearing a uniform?
59:47.901 --> 59:48.781
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, okay.
59:48.921 --> 59:50.563
[SPEAKER_00]: Every day drive it down to read out every day
59:50.683 --> 59:55.327
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you're interacting like with their squadrons of Apache's.
59:55.408 --> 59:55.728
[SPEAKER_00]: Correct.
59:56.028 --> 59:56.348
[SPEAKER_01]: Correct.
59:56.509 --> 59:58.991
[SPEAKER_01]: What they're with their equivalent counterparts.
01:00:00.032 --> 01:00:05.037
[SPEAKER_01]: One interesting fact was, so a zombie laden was from, you know, to bring this whole thing full circle.
01:00:05.077 --> 01:00:06.858
[SPEAKER_01]: He goes from Reon from Saudi Arabia.
01:00:07.499 --> 01:00:11.163
[SPEAKER_01]: I think, uh, eighteen or nineteen other twenty plus nine, eleven attackers.
01:00:11.663 --> 01:00:12.804
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:00:12.824 --> 01:00:13.665
[SPEAKER_01]: So keep that in mind.
01:00:14.346 --> 01:00:14.746
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, and so.
01:00:16.027 --> 01:00:21.337
[SPEAKER_01]: The bin Laden family is a construction family and then there's also a piece of them that funds terror.
01:00:21.938 --> 01:00:24.483
[SPEAKER_01]: So keep in mind when I was a Saudi Arabia is when we killed Midland.
01:00:26.238 --> 01:00:32.401
[SPEAKER_01]: So I was driving downtown to work with Saudi escorts and we were armed every single day going into work.
01:00:32.641 --> 01:00:38.083
[SPEAKER_01]: Because again, I mean, you don't know who wants to do armed to do harm to American soldiers.
01:00:38.123 --> 01:00:44.585
[SPEAKER_01]: And this was also, it was a different magic job, but also every day we drove in with Saudi escorts to keep that in mind.
01:00:45.186 --> 01:00:48.327
[SPEAKER_01]: So when the law was killed, we were going to work for two weeks.
01:00:49.877 --> 01:00:51.118
[SPEAKER_01]: We say on the base, they shut it down.
01:00:51.138 --> 01:00:51.979
[SPEAKER_01]: We just throw levels to it.
01:00:51.999 --> 01:00:53.240
[SPEAKER_01]: Brett level was way too high.
01:00:54.061 --> 01:00:55.121
[SPEAKER_01]: Brett level was too high.
01:00:55.762 --> 01:01:03.028
[SPEAKER_01]: What sympathizers are even within the role of Saudi land forces that viewed Bin Laden as kind of their hero.
01:01:03.068 --> 01:01:04.870
[SPEAKER_01]: And I know we're working together here.
01:01:05.310 --> 01:01:10.495
[SPEAKER_01]: But keep in mind, there are a lot of people that don't view us the same way, even though they're wearing the Saudi uniform.
01:01:11.055 --> 01:01:15.439
[SPEAKER_01]: And we know when I left an attacker's came from for two weeks that Brett was too high, we didn't go to work.
01:01:16.779 --> 01:01:20.381
[SPEAKER_01]: So keep in mind, this is what people have to understand about the world.
01:01:20.862 --> 01:01:27.686
[SPEAKER_01]: There are people that want to see the end of us, just by virtue of us being Americans, even some of our allies.
01:01:28.707 --> 01:01:31.649
[SPEAKER_01]: We have to be vigilant and understand that everybody doesn't want to sing Kumbaya.
01:01:31.749 --> 01:01:36.973
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody doesn't come from America and everybody doesn't have this Judeo Christian background that believes in the greater good.
01:01:36.993 --> 01:01:39.014
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not how a lot of countries work.
01:01:39.675 --> 01:01:43.918
[SPEAKER_01]: Keep in mind, when I was in Saudi, you're still doing public behindings and beheadings.
01:01:45.077 --> 01:01:48.678
[SPEAKER_01]: women were not allowed to drive when I was there.
01:01:48.998 --> 01:01:51.999
[SPEAKER_01]: They are now finally women were not allowed to operate a movie.
01:01:52.939 --> 01:01:54.879
[SPEAKER_01]: Like this is this is happening in the world.
01:01:55.339 --> 01:02:07.342
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that perspective that I have and living in another place and living in the Middle East for a long period of time is what gives me the ultimate appreciation for what we have right now.
01:02:08.042 --> 01:02:14.044
[SPEAKER_01]: And if anybody asks me why I am a conservative and a big part of that is not just because of my parents wearing group, I've seen the world.
01:02:15.435 --> 01:02:16.518
[SPEAKER_01]: We have it pretty good.
01:02:17.560 --> 01:02:19.785
[SPEAKER_01]: We have champagne problems in this country.
01:02:21.529 --> 01:02:22.993
[SPEAKER_01]: You people don't understand
01:02:25.454 --> 01:02:47.174
[SPEAKER_00]: really don't get it yeah and there's there's the cultural differences are very very difficult for people to understand and how dramatic they are you know like you said the handing you kind of threw that word out there like everybody knows what be handing means like oh you stole something we're cutting your hand off the discussion
01:02:47.694 --> 01:02:48.635
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:02:48.875 --> 01:02:51.918
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, you cheated on your, you know, husband or wife.
01:02:52.098 --> 01:02:52.359
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
01:02:52.379 --> 01:02:53.380
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to be stoned to death.
01:02:53.460 --> 01:02:53.760
[SPEAKER_00]: You're dead.
01:02:54.401 --> 01:02:54.621
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:02:55.181 --> 01:02:56.583
[SPEAKER_00]: These are different cultures.
01:02:57.043 --> 01:02:58.024
[SPEAKER_00]: Very, very different.
01:02:58.444 --> 01:03:05.531
[SPEAKER_00]: And one of the mistakes that we make as Americans is we think we can just, we think if they look at our culture that, oh, cool.
01:03:05.551 --> 01:03:06.072
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what we want to do.
01:03:08.121 --> 01:03:10.503
[SPEAKER_00]: And it just doesn't work that way.
01:03:10.803 --> 01:03:11.924
[SPEAKER_00]: It just doesn't work that way.
01:03:12.244 --> 01:03:19.848
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're going to change a culture, it takes generations, generations of persistent effort to change a culture.
01:03:20.509 --> 01:03:25.972
[SPEAKER_00]: Like generations, three, four, five generations before someone goes, oh yeah, I guess we're going to start to shift.
01:03:26.673 --> 01:03:29.775
[SPEAKER_00]: But they've lived the way that they've lived for thousands of years.
01:03:30.555 --> 01:03:37.081
[SPEAKER_00]: And you can't change that in five years, in ten years, in fifteen years, it takes generations to make those changes.
01:03:38.121 --> 01:03:40.183
[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, you might not be successful, by the way.
01:03:40.804 --> 01:03:44.307
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's a very, you know, there's a high likelihood that you don't be successful.
01:03:45.147 --> 01:03:48.150
[SPEAKER_00]: So understanding that from the get-go is very, very important.
01:03:48.830 --> 01:03:55.192
[SPEAKER_00]: And we seem to fantasize that, or I shouldn't say, we, but, yes, we.
01:03:55.772 --> 01:04:01.854
[SPEAKER_00]: A many people in America fantasize that we can change the world.
01:04:02.154 --> 01:04:04.455
[SPEAKER_00]: And we can change people's cultures and we can change the way that they think.
01:04:04.895 --> 01:04:07.956
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's not a, that's an arrogant attitude to have.
01:04:08.036 --> 01:04:08.236
[SPEAKER_00]: It is.
01:04:08.316 --> 01:04:08.816
[SPEAKER_00]: It really is.
01:04:09.116 --> 01:04:13.317
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's, it's cost us dearly in, you know, throughout his process.
01:04:13.337 --> 01:04:14.398
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of money and a lot of lives.
01:04:14.518 --> 01:04:14.738
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep.
01:04:15.078 --> 01:04:15.258
[SPEAKER_00]: Yep.
01:04:16.159 --> 01:04:19.422
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, you, you mentioned that you were doing these billets because you would, you were gonna get out.
01:04:19.742 --> 01:04:19.922
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
01:04:20.002 --> 01:04:22.564
[SPEAKER_00]: What made you make the decision that you're gonna move on from the army?
01:04:22.724 --> 01:04:24.706
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, my sister obviously made a career out of it.
01:04:24.966 --> 01:04:34.234
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, my, my dad did twenty plus years, but I, I wasn't a place to wear, especially I think after the early deployments, I mean, graduate, you know, my sister was, we hear that it was funny.
01:04:34.254 --> 01:04:38.217
[SPEAKER_01]: My sister's ten years older than me, graduated West Point, nineteen ninety three, and I beat her to Baghdad.
01:04:39.798 --> 01:04:41.240
[SPEAKER_01]: because she entered a time of peace.
01:04:41.620 --> 01:04:43.323
[SPEAKER_01]: She spent a couple of tours in Korea.
01:04:43.543 --> 01:04:44.985
[SPEAKER_01]: It kind of bounced around a little bit.
01:04:45.025 --> 01:04:47.968
[SPEAKER_01]: I went from West Point, Flight School, Baghdad.
01:04:49.070 --> 01:04:56.058
[SPEAKER_01]: So, and I wanted to have a family, and I kind of wanted to see what else was out there, and I realized that, shortly after that first deployment.
01:04:56.886 --> 01:05:02.550
[SPEAKER_01]: I realized, you know, I'm gonna do my job, I'm gonna do it, I can't once or about my time to the best of my ability, but I'm gonna go do something else.
01:05:03.010 --> 01:05:05.631
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, brother, I always want to be a politician in some capacity.
01:05:05.932 --> 01:05:19.020
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know how or where or when I was gonna get there, but I've always had a political bug and I've realized that unless you want to be a general, because no shade on generals, but you know, they can get pretty.
01:05:19.640 --> 01:05:40.859
[SPEAKER_01]: political actually to become a you know a general means you're playing a political game you have to play some games and I wasn't I didn't want to do it with the confesant military cuz I don't I don't like that but if I'm going to be a politician you have to get out go back home go get some more education go figure a life out and then see what opportunities present them now as you look at the political landscape and you see the
01:05:41.790 --> 01:05:49.377
[SPEAKER_00]: Number one, a lot of people that are in the political landscape, but number two, you see the bad people that are in there and you go, this is my perspective.
01:05:49.417 --> 01:05:54.101
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd say, well, I see a bunch of people that seem like disgusting human beings in the political world.
01:05:54.521 --> 01:06:02.808
[SPEAKER_00]: And then when I see good human beings in the political world, and I see how they get treated, how they get ripped apart, what part of your freaking mindset?
01:06:02.828 --> 01:06:04.890
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, that sounds like a good deal.
01:06:04.930 --> 01:06:06.091
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's go sign up for that gig.
01:06:06.851 --> 01:06:12.435
[SPEAKER_01]: This goes back to, if not me, then who?
01:06:13.175 --> 01:06:18.199
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is the problem that we have in politics is that a lot of good guys don't get in it for that very reason.
01:06:18.959 --> 01:06:22.982
[SPEAKER_01]: And so at some point, you got to be kind of the beacon of light to others to say, come on in.
01:06:23.322 --> 01:06:24.343
[SPEAKER_01]: The water is warm.
01:06:24.503 --> 01:06:25.944
[SPEAKER_01]: We need more people like you.
01:06:26.344 --> 01:06:27.705
[SPEAKER_01]: We need more veterans.
01:06:27.785 --> 01:06:30.927
[SPEAKER_01]: We need more younger people because our system is way too old.
01:06:31.307 --> 01:06:34.810
[SPEAKER_01]: Brother, I'm twenty years basically, twenty years both the average age of Congress.
01:06:35.490 --> 01:06:36.691
[SPEAKER_01]: and that's a damn shame.
01:06:36.711 --> 01:06:39.353
[SPEAKER_01]: So you have to keep in mind, laws are being made by people.
01:06:39.373 --> 01:06:40.654
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't keep people one retired.
01:06:40.674 --> 01:06:41.334
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't like them.
01:06:41.354 --> 01:06:41.555
[UNKNOWN]: I don't.
01:06:41.575 --> 01:06:41.775
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:41.795 --> 01:06:41.975
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:41.995 --> 01:06:42.215
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:42.235 --> 01:06:42.435
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:42.455 --> 01:06:42.655
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:42.675 --> 01:06:42.835
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:42.855 --> 01:06:42.996
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:43.016 --> 01:06:43.156
[UNKNOWN]: I don't.
01:06:43.176 --> 01:06:43.356
[UNKNOWN]: I don't.
01:06:43.376 --> 01:06:43.536
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:43.556 --> 01:06:43.836
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:43.856 --> 01:06:44.016
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:44.036 --> 01:06:44.176
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:44.196 --> 01:06:44.337
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:44.357 --> 01:06:44.497
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:44.517 --> 01:06:44.657
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:44.677 --> 01:06:44.837
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:44.857 --> 01:06:45.017
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:45.037 --> 01:06:45.237
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:45.257 --> 01:06:45.457
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:45.477 --> 01:06:45.618
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:45.638 --> 01:06:45.878
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:45.898 --> 01:06:46.058
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:46.078 --> 01:06:46.218
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:46.238 --> 01:06:46.378
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:46.398 --> 01:06:46.538
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:46.558 --> 01:06:46.698
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:46.718 --> 01:06:46.959
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:46.979 --> 01:06:47.279
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:47.299 --> 01:06:47.579
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:47.619 --> 01:06:47.879
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:47.959 --> 01:06:48.159
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:48.179 --> 01:06:48.340
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:48.360 --> 01:06:48.500
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:48.520 --> 01:06:48.680
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:48.860 --> 01:06:49.320
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:49.340 --> 01:06:49.540
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:49.560 --> 01:06:50.261
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:50.281 --> 01:06:50.441
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:50.461 --> 01:06:50.601
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:50.621 --> 01:06:50.801
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:50.821 --> 01:06:51.042
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:51.062 --> 01:06:51.302
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:51.322 --> 01:06:51.502
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:51.522 --> 01:06:51.662
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:51.682 --> 01:06:51.982
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't
01:07:05.900 --> 01:07:13.725
[SPEAKER_01]: When you have a four year old that's making laws, oh no no, I care because I'm gonna be around here in ten, twenty years and my children are gonna be around in the next ten, twenty years.
01:07:14.045 --> 01:07:20.149
[SPEAKER_01]: So I am fully invested and every vote that I take because I'm gonna be around to see it come through fruition.
01:07:21.049 --> 01:07:32.357
[SPEAKER_01]: So whenever you have a lot of older guys that aren't bought in, like a lot of military guys as well, that have kind of been, you know, very self-serving in the political spectrum, guys like me come around and we tend to rub people the wrong way.
01:07:32.617 --> 01:07:34.018
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm here for it.
01:07:34.858 --> 01:07:39.141
[SPEAKER_00]: Was there anybody any specific, because you said you wanted to be a politician?
01:07:39.221 --> 01:07:39.461
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
01:07:40.162 --> 01:07:45.365
[SPEAKER_00]: Was there any politician that you looked at when you were growing up or at any point in your life, you said, I have to good role model.
01:07:45.445 --> 01:07:47.567
[SPEAKER_00]: I like what that person that I'm going to follow in their footsteps.
01:07:48.181 --> 01:07:50.663
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, there were, by the way, I got asked that question the other day.
01:07:50.843 --> 01:07:51.744
[SPEAKER_00]: I drew a blank.
01:07:52.725 --> 01:07:54.426
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, no, I got nothing for you.
01:07:55.186 --> 01:07:55.647
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know what?
01:07:55.687 --> 01:07:57.008
[SPEAKER_00]: I did eventually think of later.
01:07:57.849 --> 01:08:01.091
[SPEAKER_00]: If I had to, if I had to state someone, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.
01:08:01.191 --> 01:08:01.491
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, wow.
01:08:01.731 --> 01:08:04.273
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, who was the governor of Maine.
01:08:04.374 --> 01:08:04.634
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:08:04.774 --> 01:08:10.959
[SPEAKER_00]: But you know, he was the hero of the Battle of Gettysburg and not just the hero of Battle of Gettysburg and he was a heroic guy that
01:08:11.619 --> 01:08:15.121
[SPEAKER_00]: freaking went back in the combat with a leather colossus.
01:08:15.141 --> 01:08:36.670
[SPEAKER_00]: 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, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
01:08:39.951 --> 01:08:54.381
[SPEAKER_01]: and what he was able to do during slavery during that time period and how he was able to get this country not as an elected official per se, but the influence that he had amongst political powers was something that I realized I wanted to be a part of.
01:08:55.401 --> 01:08:58.042
[SPEAKER_01]: And I always tell the story too about my family history.
01:08:58.102 --> 01:09:00.583
[SPEAKER_01]: My great-great grandfather was born in a plantation.
01:09:01.084 --> 01:09:02.524
[SPEAKER_01]: He was born on a rose down plantation.
01:09:02.544 --> 01:09:04.625
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about three miles north of Bataruj, Louisiana.
01:09:04.865 --> 01:09:06.086
[SPEAKER_01]: Look up rose down plantation.
01:09:06.166 --> 01:09:07.746
[SPEAKER_01]: It still exists today.
01:09:08.607 --> 01:09:13.729
[SPEAKER_01]: So you have a guy who is me, who is the great-great grandson of a slave.
01:09:14.469 --> 01:09:18.051
[SPEAKER_01]: Literally, not just me, but my brother and sister and I all went to us point.
01:09:18.971 --> 01:09:20.392
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a trick-laden through us point.
01:09:21.225 --> 01:09:23.028
[SPEAKER_01]: Lifted Robby Lee Berks, that we talked about earlier.
01:09:23.248 --> 01:09:36.769
[SPEAKER_01]: Lifted Robby Lee Berks, and I was the guy that Lifted Robby Lee Berks was like, wow, this is one hell of a country that not just me, my brother and sister, we've been black for our entire lives, but triculated through West Point.
01:09:37.149 --> 01:09:41.374
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm living in a robbery barracks and at no point where we evict them, this is one hell of a country.
01:09:41.774 --> 01:09:51.444
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I then go on to become a congressman for a white majority district that trumped a one by twenty plus points and I won by twenty seven points.
01:09:51.945 --> 01:09:53.847
[SPEAKER_01]: The great great grandson of a slave.
01:09:54.908 --> 01:09:58.411
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the progress of the greatest nation in the world.
01:09:58.771 --> 01:10:00.573
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't let anybody tell you anything different.
01:10:00.893 --> 01:10:07.359
[SPEAKER_01]: And so when I go back to thinking about Frederick Douglass and his famous saying of if there is no struggle, there is no progress.
01:10:07.939 --> 01:10:11.242
[SPEAKER_01]: We have to live through the struggles and that's applicable in everything in life.
01:10:12.343 --> 01:10:13.224
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to struggle.
01:10:13.664 --> 01:10:14.425
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to hurt.
01:10:14.745 --> 01:10:17.667
[SPEAKER_01]: It has to suck in order for there to be progress.
01:10:18.328 --> 01:10:20.470
[SPEAKER_01]: And we live in the world right now of instant gratification.
01:10:21.254 --> 01:10:22.335
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody wants it right now.
01:10:22.815 --> 01:10:24.536
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody, people have to keep in mind.
01:10:24.596 --> 01:10:28.579
[SPEAKER_01]: There are people that died for us to be sitting here right now.
01:10:28.980 --> 01:10:31.902
[SPEAKER_01]: And there are people that went through a lot for us to be sitting here right now.
01:10:32.382 --> 01:10:41.169
[SPEAKER_01]: And as a black man sitting here with the white man having this conversation, do you know that my great, great grandfather would never have the honor or pillage of sitting in a seat just like this?
01:10:41.629 --> 01:10:48.174
[SPEAKER_01]: And I soak it up and I love every second of it, because at the end of the day, we are the progress of this great nation.
01:10:48.834 --> 01:10:56.577
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the influence that Frederick Douglass had, I think, during that time period, and I want to make a very similar difference.
01:10:58.538 --> 01:11:00.058
[SPEAKER_00]: So what did that path look like?
01:11:00.078 --> 01:11:02.039
[SPEAKER_00]: So you decide you're going to go into politics.
01:11:02.699 --> 01:11:03.019
[SPEAKER_00]: Correct.
01:11:03.239 --> 01:11:05.000
[SPEAKER_00]: And when you in the army, or did you, I was out.
01:11:05.060 --> 01:11:05.660
[SPEAKER_01]: I was out.
01:11:05.680 --> 01:11:06.841
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's like, I got out there on me.
01:11:07.081 --> 01:11:08.321
[SPEAKER_00]: What did grad school grad school?
01:11:08.781 --> 01:11:10.122
[SPEAKER_01]: That grad school moved back home.
01:11:10.162 --> 01:11:11.742
[SPEAKER_00]: You did for what you get seventeen master.
01:11:15.231 --> 01:11:35.368
[SPEAKER_01]: When you're still single at that time still single because I was going to say yeah it was no woman would have allowed you to take three to last of a time still single yeah still single did three by the NBA a massive public administration in the masses of industrial labor relations at Cornell at a great education grade school had a really good time there, but here's the funny thing is very liberal as you know Coca-Cola New York is
01:11:36.598 --> 01:11:46.945
[SPEAKER_01]: It's very liberal so either you go to a school like that you come out liberal or you come out as conservative as you could ever imagine because you realize more conservative I would I would offer as a nation like I left there relax
01:11:49.782 --> 01:12:05.989
[SPEAKER_01]: I left Cornell the most conservative I've ever been in my entire life because I realize that I understand the liberal mind, I understand that they live in the world of sugarful and fairies and everlasting golf stoppers and William Walker's chocolate factory.
01:12:06.169 --> 01:12:13.152
[SPEAKER_01]: They live in this in this fake world that oftentimes can seem to be well-intentioned, but that's not the realities of the world.
01:12:13.772 --> 01:12:32.467
[SPEAKER_01]: So, we're able to learn to see how people think and then realize that, okay, how do I apply some of those addages to real life that I know that I've experienced that I can see and then how can I then be a vessel to help educate people in a far better way, especially given the conservative leanings that I have?
01:12:33.067 --> 01:12:34.168
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what Cornell did for me.
01:12:34.702 --> 01:12:37.044
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're sitting in classes all day long.
01:12:37.744 --> 01:12:43.108
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you become a master of the baiting, you know, big people?
01:12:43.688 --> 01:12:48.932
[SPEAKER_00]: And what, what approach was most effective?
01:12:49.112 --> 01:12:53.976
[SPEAKER_00]: Because, you know, I'm a huge proponent of the indirect approach, right?
01:12:53.996 --> 01:12:55.617
[SPEAKER_00]: This is BHL, they'll heart.
01:12:55.957 --> 01:13:02.782
[SPEAKER_00]: This is, you know, when I go in a combat, I don't want to attack you, you know, on your front, I want to come to the flank and, you know, not
01:13:03.382 --> 01:13:04.162
[SPEAKER_00]: face your defenses.
01:13:04.382 --> 01:13:05.082
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to say.
01:13:05.202 --> 01:13:05.983
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
01:13:07.123 --> 01:13:14.465
[SPEAKER_00]: And I find that a lot of times when I see people debating politically, they just go straight at someone.
01:13:15.345 --> 01:13:16.205
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you do that?
01:13:16.365 --> 01:13:18.406
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you had to have any success with that?
01:13:18.586 --> 01:13:26.288
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you find it was better to have conversations and find out what the common ground was and say, well, you know, oh, yeah, you want healthcare for people?
01:13:26.568 --> 01:13:27.648
[SPEAKER_00]: I want healthcare for people.
01:13:28.148 --> 01:13:29.469
[SPEAKER_00]: Look, how do you think we should do it?
01:13:29.629 --> 01:13:30.289
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll give it to him for free.
01:13:30.509 --> 01:13:33.031
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, well, where are we going to get, how do you, how are we going to pay for that?
01:13:33.051 --> 01:13:35.672
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you, like what approach you, how was it dealing with these people?
01:13:35.692 --> 01:13:50.961
[SPEAKER_01]: So you have to keep in mind too, the liberal mind sees someone like me and and tell you know who I am and I tell you've had a discussion with me or until you've talked to me, you have to keep in mind that the assumption for most liberals is that I'm black.
01:13:51.661 --> 01:13:57.505
[SPEAKER_01]: Therefore, I must be a Democrat and I must be liberal and that's sir was my advantage.
01:13:59.040 --> 01:14:00.541
[SPEAKER_01]: That was always my advantage.
01:14:00.961 --> 01:14:03.602
[SPEAKER_01]: Because you're going to start opening your mouth and making assumptions about me.
01:14:03.642 --> 01:14:07.545
[SPEAKER_01]: What asking you without asking about my background and where I came from and what my dad did.
01:14:07.565 --> 01:14:11.407
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was fat that I spent a lot of time to batch his church two days, two times a week.
01:14:11.447 --> 01:14:13.228
[SPEAKER_01]: And that don't get it twisted.
01:14:13.328 --> 01:14:16.749
[SPEAKER_01]: I might be black, but rather I'm as conservative as it gets.
01:14:16.769 --> 01:14:18.310
[SPEAKER_01]: So they're open their mouths.
01:14:18.410 --> 01:14:19.371
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Brian Babinus?
01:14:19.471 --> 01:14:20.431
[SPEAKER_00]: I do know Brian Babinus.
01:14:20.732 --> 01:14:22.332
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, he's, you know, so he's son.
01:14:22.493 --> 01:14:23.313
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he's son, Dave.
01:14:23.533 --> 01:14:23.713
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
01:14:24.314 --> 01:14:27.955
[SPEAKER_00]: And, uh, Blake got to ask one when Brian Babin won.
01:14:29.236 --> 01:14:32.778
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, you know, his, his election and became a representative down in Texas.
01:14:33.038 --> 01:14:37.540
[SPEAKER_00]: Someone asked, Dave, you know, hey, do you think that your dad is going to become more centrist now that he's won the election?
01:14:38.080 --> 01:14:41.282
[SPEAKER_00]: And, Dave, look at him and said, uh, my dad's a Southern Baptist.
01:14:41.302 --> 01:14:43.703
[SPEAKER_00]: That's who he is.
01:14:43.743 --> 01:14:44.483
[SPEAKER_00]: That's who he is.
01:14:44.543 --> 01:14:46.684
[SPEAKER_00]: That's who he is.
01:14:46.744 --> 01:14:47.224
[SPEAKER_00]: That's who he is.
01:14:47.264 --> 01:14:49.345
[SPEAKER_00]: That's, you know, that's the guy that's, that's who they elected.
01:14:49.365 --> 01:14:50.726
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's who he is as a, as a person.
01:14:50.826 --> 01:14:50.986
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:14:51.026 --> 01:14:52.267
[SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, similar, right?
01:14:52.287 --> 01:14:52.747
[SPEAKER_00]: Very similar.
01:14:54.528 --> 01:14:56.130
[SPEAKER_01]: And Brian Babin is such a nice guy.
01:14:56.250 --> 01:14:56.711
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, for sure.
01:14:56.751 --> 01:14:59.674
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a nice guy in the world and he is conservative.
01:15:00.995 --> 01:15:04.499
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, and also brother, you gotta lead with, you gotta lead with humor.
01:15:04.759 --> 01:15:05.720
[SPEAKER_01]: You gotta have a good time.
01:15:06.120 --> 01:15:07.722
[SPEAKER_01]: And don't take yourself so seriously.
01:15:08.322 --> 01:15:12.106
[SPEAKER_01]: And understanding that a lot of people there have a benevolent mindset.
01:15:12.807 --> 01:15:16.471
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think of the day they haven't had the kind of experiences that we've had.
01:15:17.031 --> 01:15:17.932
[SPEAKER_01]: They haven't struggled.
01:15:18.092 --> 01:15:19.132
[SPEAKER_01]: They haven't been shot at.
01:15:19.192 --> 01:15:25.235
[SPEAKER_01]: They really, they're just trying to figure out how to live a better life without having those very hard core experiences.
01:15:25.275 --> 01:15:31.798
[SPEAKER_01]: So I oftentimes will just let them talk for a little while and then ultimately I just dropped the hammer.
01:15:35.420 --> 01:15:36.722
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I like not this one.
01:15:37.122 --> 01:15:39.885
[SPEAKER_01]: Now today sir, I don't have that advantage anymore.
01:15:40.405 --> 01:15:49.855
[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone pretty knows who we're on lean when lean these days, but here's the best part and I say to everybody, I wish everybody could run for office.
01:15:50.055 --> 01:15:54.920
[SPEAKER_01]: I wish everyone could be a politician and here's why you find out who your friends are
01:15:56.102 --> 01:16:01.089
[SPEAKER_01]: You find out who respects you for who you are, not necessarily your political leanings.
01:16:01.129 --> 01:16:03.111
[SPEAKER_01]: You find out who your friends are.
01:16:03.151 --> 01:16:13.905
[SPEAKER_01]: You find out who would have conversations with you, not based on how they thought you should be in their mind, but who you really are as a human being and who you have always been.
01:16:14.802 --> 01:16:20.745
[SPEAKER_01]: And so what I found out very quickly is I've lost family members and I've lost friends, thank God, as you would say, good.
01:16:21.285 --> 01:16:23.046
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't need you in my life anyway.
01:16:23.426 --> 01:16:26.087
[SPEAKER_01]: You are a waste of time and a waste of space.
01:16:26.788 --> 01:16:30.810
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't have to put a flesh cover door man as far as I'm kind of that as far as I'm concerned at this point.
01:16:31.070 --> 01:16:31.590
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't need you.
01:16:32.270 --> 01:16:33.211
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a very good thing.
01:16:33.291 --> 01:16:34.631
[SPEAKER_01]: My circle is gotten so small now.
01:16:34.651 --> 01:16:35.312
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like a dot.
01:16:36.192 --> 01:16:41.416
[SPEAKER_01]: And the people that I now have that I rely on are my closest friends and my closest confidence.
01:16:41.736 --> 01:16:47.821
[SPEAKER_01]: And everybody else that jettisoned me because you don't like my political stances when you've never respected me anyway.
01:16:48.661 --> 01:16:52.584
[SPEAKER_01]: And I always knew you were a flaming liberal, but I respected you and we were friends.
01:16:54.065 --> 01:16:55.246
[SPEAKER_01]: That's so crazy.
01:16:55.586 --> 01:16:56.107
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I grew up.
01:16:56.127 --> 01:16:57.688
[SPEAKER_00]: My dad was a very conservative guy.
01:16:58.548 --> 01:16:59.169
[SPEAKER_00]: and soccer.
01:17:01.031 --> 01:17:04.215
[SPEAKER_00]: And, well, I mean, actually, I grew up in New England, right?
01:17:04.415 --> 01:17:05.216
[SPEAKER_00]: I grew up in Connecticut.
01:17:05.736 --> 01:17:07.698
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it is a little bit of a shocker.
01:17:08.399 --> 01:17:08.779
[SPEAKER_01]: I get you.
01:17:09.100 --> 01:17:17.309
[SPEAKER_00]: And, but like I remember when I was a kid, you know, we had probably four or five families that were all the big friend group, you know, all the parents were friends.
01:17:18.009 --> 01:17:21.392
[SPEAKER_00]: And various political leanings in there.
01:17:22.073 --> 01:17:29.779
[SPEAKER_00]: But I remember, you know, my dad had a guy, a guy that I grew up with, a guy that I looked at, you know, was like, like, like an uncle, you know, like one of those guys.
01:17:30.460 --> 01:17:32.542
[SPEAKER_00]: And this guy was far left.
01:17:32.722 --> 01:17:35.764
[SPEAKER_00]: And my dad and him, which said at the dinner table, we have dinner.
01:17:36.185 --> 01:17:37.166
[SPEAKER_00]: And they'd argue all night long.
01:17:37.186 --> 01:17:37.686
[SPEAKER_01]: It'd be great.
01:17:37.866 --> 01:17:38.347
[SPEAKER_00]: All night long.
01:17:38.947 --> 01:17:39.127
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
01:17:39.407 --> 01:17:41.449
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're still friends in this day.
01:17:42.069 --> 01:17:44.731
[SPEAKER_00]: A very, you know, conservative guy with a very liberal guy.
01:17:44.751 --> 01:17:44.931
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:17:45.412 --> 01:17:50.956
[SPEAKER_00]: Arguing all night long about everything in politics, you know, through the seventies, eighties.
01:17:51.176 --> 01:17:51.436
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:17:51.536 --> 01:17:51.996
[SPEAKER_00]: I was there.
01:17:52.377 --> 01:17:55.639
[SPEAKER_00]: I would watch them argue and I've leave because I didn't care because I was a little thirteen year old.
01:17:55.659 --> 01:17:55.759
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:17:55.779 --> 01:17:57.621
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a little throw stuff throw rocks to the right.
01:17:58.741 --> 01:18:04.505
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's like, it's sad when I hear you say that someone because of their friends with you.
01:18:04.786 --> 01:18:04.966
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
01:18:05.066 --> 01:18:05.947
[SPEAKER_00]: Their friends with you.
01:18:06.767 --> 01:18:12.734
[SPEAKER_00]: And then they see what your political stance is, and they decide they're not going to be friends with you anymore.
01:18:13.375 --> 01:18:13.775
[SPEAKER_01]: Unbelievable.
01:18:13.815 --> 01:18:14.616
[SPEAKER_01]: That to me is crazy.
01:18:14.796 --> 01:18:15.137
[SPEAKER_01]: It sucks.
01:18:15.337 --> 01:18:15.657
[SPEAKER_01]: It sucks.
01:18:15.737 --> 01:18:16.178
[SPEAKER_01]: It's sad.
01:18:16.558 --> 01:18:17.840
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm the first admit that I'm there.
01:18:17.860 --> 01:18:21.904
[SPEAKER_01]: I forget I have a friend out of friend of mine, and we were dear friends for a very long time.
01:18:21.964 --> 01:18:22.725
[SPEAKER_01]: Family friends, even.
01:18:25.208 --> 01:18:27.049
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we would hang out.
01:18:27.089 --> 01:18:28.990
[SPEAKER_01]: We were very, very close.
01:18:29.590 --> 01:18:32.632
[SPEAKER_01]: And then out of the blue, she sent me this text message out of the blue.
01:18:32.652 --> 01:18:36.474
[SPEAKER_01]: We had it spoken in a while and I could tell why, but I didn't really care.
01:18:36.494 --> 01:18:38.034
[SPEAKER_01]: I still felt like we were still friends.
01:18:38.575 --> 01:18:43.677
[SPEAKER_01]: Out of the black at this text message, just the most demeaning thing I've ever gotten in my entire life.
01:18:43.717 --> 01:18:45.878
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, who the hell do you think you are?
01:18:46.579 --> 01:18:51.001
[SPEAKER_01]: Or you could pick up the phone, we could have a conversation, but you won't even respect me enough to do that.
01:18:51.973 --> 01:18:58.378
[SPEAKER_01]: And since that's the last time we ever spoke on our speaker again, because I realized that you never respected me for who I was before.
01:18:59.218 --> 01:19:04.082
[SPEAKER_01]: And so for me, I look at it as, I feel you must have as a very tolerant person.
01:19:04.702 --> 01:19:09.666
[SPEAKER_01]: I have absolutely no problem with you being a flaming liberal in fact, which would be great friends.
01:19:10.206 --> 01:19:17.252
[SPEAKER_01]: When I find out from the other side of that, they are the ones that are the most rejecting of anything that doesn't fit their paradigm.
01:19:19.393 --> 01:19:19.913
[SPEAKER_01]: Damn this thing.
01:19:22.408 --> 01:19:26.490
[SPEAKER_00]: So you get done with college running for, how would you get a job?
01:19:26.650 --> 01:19:27.051
[SPEAKER_00]: What did you do?
01:19:27.171 --> 01:19:37.376
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I guess I got out of school, did some real estate stuff work for a home builder, and then there was a district in Texas and Houston that opened up.
01:19:37.436 --> 01:19:42.159
[SPEAKER_01]: So it was a long term, long talk conservative, been a red seat, George H.W.
01:19:42.199 --> 01:19:44.320
[SPEAKER_01]: Bush's old scene in Houston, Texas.
01:19:44.960 --> 01:19:49.083
[SPEAKER_01]: Congressional District seven, he flipped blue.
01:19:50.503 --> 01:20:11.701
[SPEAKER_01]: In two thousand and eighteen and I was living at home in Houston and I was like with this twenty-year incumbent loses I will never forget looking at my wife and being like so if this guy loses honey I mean I think we're going to be running for Congress against the Democrat because I think we get a good shot at winning and so long behold that night he lost I don't really look at my wife and being like well here we go
01:20:12.381 --> 01:20:15.543
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't think my first swore way in the politics was going to be, you know, I think it's Congress.
01:20:15.763 --> 01:20:22.388
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought it was going to be, you know, maybe state rep, states and her, you know, kind of commission or something like that.
01:20:22.568 --> 01:20:23.789
[SPEAKER_01]: PTA, PTA, PTA.
01:20:23.849 --> 01:20:25.370
[SPEAKER_01]: How did you feel about this?
01:20:29.032 --> 01:20:36.137
[SPEAKER_01]: My wife is a beautiful island who is supportive of me no matter what.
01:20:37.617 --> 01:20:39.198
[SPEAKER_01]: My wife is a pediatric nurse practitioner.
01:20:39.218 --> 01:20:40.359
[SPEAKER_01]: She has a doctorate in nursing.
01:20:41.280 --> 01:20:45.863
[SPEAKER_01]: She is a caregiver and she literally said, I'm not ever going to allow you to settle.
01:20:46.843 --> 01:20:49.226
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not ever going to allow you to settle what she told me.
01:20:49.946 --> 01:20:54.630
[SPEAKER_01]: And since then, she has had my back and been by my side throughout this entire journey of the entire time.
01:20:55.111 --> 01:21:00.636
[SPEAKER_01]: I have a six foreign two-year-old at home, and you could imagine, you know, it gets kind of busy when I'm on a hundred and thirty flights last year.
01:21:00.656 --> 01:21:02.137
[SPEAKER_01]: A hundred and thirty two flights last year.
01:21:03.178 --> 01:21:09.165
[SPEAKER_01]: Brother, I refuse to spend a weekend or spend any time longer in DC than I absolutely have to.
01:21:09.405 --> 01:21:17.054
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm the first, I'm the last one in, I'm the first one out and here's why I say that because I want to be spent as much time in my district as I possibly can.
01:21:17.595 --> 01:21:18.516
[SPEAKER_01]: I have a young family.
01:21:18.956 --> 01:21:20.477
[SPEAKER_01]: I want them to know who their father is.
01:21:21.017 --> 01:21:23.398
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm going to be there for the critical stuff to keep in mind.
01:21:23.718 --> 01:21:28.900
[SPEAKER_01]: My priority is my district and it is my family and it is my country number one first and foremost.
01:21:29.200 --> 01:21:32.261
[SPEAKER_01]: God country is very real to me, but family is very important too.
01:21:32.301 --> 01:21:35.282
[SPEAKER_01]: I think God smiles on those that are there for their families as well.
01:21:35.862 --> 01:21:45.686
[SPEAKER_01]: And so the idea of me being going to flood every weekend, never spending a weekend in DC and knowing that on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays of most weeks, so every week, it's just my life and those three kids.
01:21:47.695 --> 01:21:50.077
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a lot, especially to your old boy.
01:21:51.758 --> 01:21:52.519
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a man.
01:21:54.261 --> 01:22:03.829
[SPEAKER_01]: But the fact that she's very supportive, stands by me, allows me to do this, allows me to serve, allows me to spend time away from the family and is still a hundred percent bought in a wouldn't work any other way.
01:22:06.291 --> 01:22:08.953
[SPEAKER_00]: So you Roger up to say, you're going to run for that seventh.
01:22:09.273 --> 01:22:09.954
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, district.
01:22:10.574 --> 01:22:11.595
[SPEAKER_00]: And how that work out?
01:22:11.755 --> 01:22:12.196
[SPEAKER_00]: Alost.
01:22:13.316 --> 01:22:13.677
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you?
01:22:15.765 --> 01:22:30.217
[SPEAKER_00]: when you say up I'm running like what's the swarm of both praise and attacks that you get because I'm you know most some people looking all great we got a veteran here conservative we got a good candidate here let's run them they're happy and then the other side looks in you all what
01:22:30.837 --> 01:22:34.361
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, do they get private investigators out there digging through your dirt?
01:22:34.502 --> 01:22:35.102
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, do you know it?
01:22:35.122 --> 01:22:36.184
[SPEAKER_00]: They're looking through your trash.
01:22:36.224 --> 01:22:37.305
[SPEAKER_00]: They can take what you're throwing away.
01:22:37.345 --> 01:22:39.067
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, they got a little pretty clean life, you know.
01:22:39.588 --> 01:22:40.208
[SPEAKER_00]: For the most part.
01:22:40.248 --> 01:22:41.049
[SPEAKER_00]: They go back.
01:22:41.230 --> 01:22:43.032
[SPEAKER_00]: They had to go back to six grand.
01:22:43.072 --> 01:22:44.654
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's your where you gave a guy.
01:22:44.814 --> 01:22:47.297
[SPEAKER_00]: Or you didn't give a guy a bloody nose at your biggest crime.
01:22:47.557 --> 01:22:48.498
[SPEAKER_00]: You're in a pretty good spot.
01:22:48.919 --> 01:22:49.700
[SPEAKER_00]: You're pretty good spot.
01:22:49.900 --> 01:22:53.021
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, when our perfect, obviously, but I alluded to pretty clean life, I will say that.
01:22:53.461 --> 01:22:56.202
[SPEAKER_01]: And I will also say that you're right, they come for you.
01:22:56.222 --> 01:22:58.722
[SPEAKER_01]: You didn't realize, you don't realize until you actually put your name on that ballot.
01:22:58.842 --> 01:23:01.523
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why a lot of people that criticize me are saying anything about it.
01:23:01.603 --> 01:23:04.964
[SPEAKER_01]: I just kind of laugh and I'm being like, put your name on the ballot and see what happens.
01:23:05.044 --> 01:23:06.304
[SPEAKER_01]: But you won't ever do that.
01:23:06.625 --> 01:23:09.885
[SPEAKER_01]: Because you're rather sit behind your keyboard and talk a lot of trash.
01:23:10.025 --> 01:23:12.666
[SPEAKER_01]: But you're not going to put your name on the ballot.
01:23:13.146 --> 01:23:15.327
[SPEAKER_01]: I have the guts to put my name on the ballot.
01:23:15.747 --> 01:23:16.607
[SPEAKER_01]: So that says a lot.
01:23:16.667 --> 01:23:18.728
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is not for any Democrat or Republican.
01:23:19.448 --> 01:23:29.161
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, got a lot of heat, as you could imagine from the other side, but ended up getting to the primary without a run off the first time I ran, and then ended up losing that race by about three points.
01:23:31.254 --> 01:23:33.214
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the greatest thing that we're happy to me, it was losing.
01:23:34.175 --> 01:23:37.635
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is what I mean by, Frederick Douglass, if there is no struggle, there is no progress.
01:23:38.355 --> 01:23:42.016
[SPEAKER_01]: Because when you get challenged and you lose, you have to realize how bad do I want this?
01:23:42.556 --> 01:23:43.777
[SPEAKER_01]: Do I want to go through this again?
01:23:43.957 --> 01:23:45.377
[SPEAKER_01]: Am I going to run again?
01:23:45.817 --> 01:23:47.637
[SPEAKER_01]: When I lost, it made me a better father.
01:23:47.757 --> 01:23:49.138
[SPEAKER_01]: It made me a better human being.
01:23:49.338 --> 01:23:51.238
[SPEAKER_01]: It made me a more humbled person.
01:23:51.718 --> 01:23:53.059
[SPEAKER_01]: It made me a better husband.
01:23:53.439 --> 01:23:55.979
[SPEAKER_01]: It made me a far better politician.
01:23:55.999 --> 01:23:59.660
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I looked at everything that we did wrong, and then I made it right.
01:24:00.500 --> 01:24:06.146
[SPEAKER_01]: Lo and behold, as God would have it two years later, we get two new congressional seats in the state of Texas.
01:24:06.346 --> 01:24:07.247
[SPEAKER_01]: It's redistricting.
01:24:07.807 --> 01:24:12.672
[SPEAKER_01]: Keep in mind, when the first time I ran, I had no idea what the hell redistricting was.
01:24:13.253 --> 01:24:14.574
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I burnt the boat's brother.
01:24:14.654 --> 01:24:16.636
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm running for Congress and hello, hi, water.
01:24:16.796 --> 01:24:18.938
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm winning and the original backup plan.
01:24:18.958 --> 01:24:20.139
[SPEAKER_01]: Cleanable leaving backup plans.
01:24:20.179 --> 01:24:21.781
[SPEAKER_01]: The only backup plan I have is getting up.
01:24:22.001 --> 01:24:22.361
[SPEAKER_01]: That's it.
01:24:22.642 --> 01:24:23.442
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the only backup plan.
01:24:24.263 --> 01:24:32.470
[SPEAKER_01]: So I burned the boats and I was all in and I lost and I'm being completely rejected Did it take you by surprise or were the polls showing that you might lose or I didn't care about polls.
01:24:32.510 --> 01:24:32.950
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to win.
01:24:32.970 --> 01:24:34.091
[SPEAKER_01]: You thought you're going to win by me?
01:24:34.492 --> 01:24:34.832
[SPEAKER_01]: Polls.
01:24:35.773 --> 01:24:36.934
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
01:24:36.954 --> 01:24:37.094
[SPEAKER_01]: No.
01:24:37.975 --> 01:24:38.415
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm running.
01:24:38.655 --> 01:24:39.456
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not losing.
01:24:39.476 --> 01:24:39.736
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
01:24:39.896 --> 01:24:40.697
[SPEAKER_01]: Work by ass off.
01:24:41.097 --> 01:24:44.140
[SPEAKER_01]: Raise the most money that cycle of any other politician in the entire cycle.
01:24:44.720 --> 01:24:45.901
[SPEAKER_01]: Rain hard worked hard.
01:24:46.322 --> 01:24:46.822
[SPEAKER_01]: Can't be sure.
01:24:48.003 --> 01:24:52.305
[SPEAKER_01]: Two years later, a new district gets drawn in the greater Houston area.
01:24:53.066 --> 01:25:04.411
[SPEAKER_01]: And it just so happens that the precincts that I won in the previous election found them found their way to this new congressional seat in Houston, Texas, which I ended up running for in winning very handedly.
01:25:05.171 --> 01:25:12.555
[SPEAKER_01]: If God would have told me Wesley is going to take you four years to get here and not to, I would have never done it.
01:25:12.995 --> 01:25:14.956
[SPEAKER_01]: So talk about thank God for unanswered prayers.
01:25:15.536 --> 01:25:19.558
[SPEAKER_01]: God doesn't reveal things to you when you want to, is when you need it.
01:25:19.998 --> 01:25:23.540
[SPEAKER_01]: Because if I didn't know now, I would have had to lose and run again and but I didn't ever know it.
01:25:24.240 --> 01:25:34.064
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I got to make money and I just got married and I got a young family and I would have made all the excuses as to why I couldn't do what my destiny and what my will was to do.
01:25:34.585 --> 01:25:41.488
[SPEAKER_01]: But in working my butt off and losing, I realized that I built a brand and built something that two years later will come to fruition.
01:25:42.388 --> 01:25:46.110
[SPEAKER_01]: And that is something that I tell to my children and young people all the time.
01:25:46.810 --> 01:25:55.714
[SPEAKER_01]: Losing sometimes is the best in the internet wrap until you getting kicked in the teeth sometimes is the best in the internet wrap until you because either you're going to get up or you're not.
01:25:56.555 --> 01:26:00.977
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's the test of a man or a woman is what you do after you get kicked in the teeth.
01:26:02.438 --> 01:26:05.339
[SPEAKER_00]: When you're putting together that, how big is the team that's helping you run?
01:26:05.768 --> 01:26:07.989
[SPEAKER_01]: So he said, this was really interesting and learning.
01:26:08.009 --> 01:26:16.055
[SPEAKER_01]: So the first time I ran, it was a very robust team with a lot of consultants and a lot of people's hands in the cookie jar.
01:26:16.655 --> 01:26:20.638
[SPEAKER_01]: And the second time I ran, there wasn't very many hands in the cookie jar.
01:26:20.818 --> 01:26:25.601
[SPEAKER_01]: I found three very competent people, one of them is sitting right here in the back corner right now.
01:26:26.141 --> 01:26:34.484
[SPEAKER_01]: who are friends, who are loyal, who work their asses off every single day, who get up and they don't work for another client, or they don't work for other people.
01:26:34.764 --> 01:26:39.345
[SPEAKER_01]: They work for us in this brain and we're in this boat together, and I've known this man for almost twenty years.
01:26:39.965 --> 01:26:44.407
[SPEAKER_01]: I bring in a young guy to be my Chief of Staff and run the campaign that is just
01:26:45.287 --> 01:26:50.109
[SPEAKER_01]: Relantless and everything that he does and keep in mind talent is very hard to find in D.C.
01:26:50.489 --> 01:26:51.770
[SPEAKER_01]: Good talent is very hard to D.C.
01:26:52.030 --> 01:26:53.190
[SPEAKER_01]: Because the griffed is real.
01:26:53.570 --> 01:27:11.938
[SPEAKER_01]: People said I don't know anything in a paycheck, but you find two or three people that are all in, that are bought in, that get up every day, right, to fight for you and your brand, and these two men love this country, and they love this brand, and they get up with a fire under their ass that you wouldn't believe every single day, or then you could move mountains.
01:27:13.739 --> 01:27:16.700
[SPEAKER_00]: It really is the first time you had a bunch of people.
01:27:16.720 --> 01:27:17.601
[SPEAKER_00]: They wanted money.
01:27:17.621 --> 01:27:19.221
[SPEAKER_00]: They were collecting the paycheck.
01:27:19.241 --> 01:27:23.003
[SPEAKER_00]: They were crazy.
01:27:23.103 --> 01:27:30.727
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the amount of money that gets spent and wasted in the amount of money that literally is like it cost that much to make an ad.
01:27:32.048 --> 01:27:37.171
[SPEAKER_01]: It cost that much to make it cost that much to shoot a commercial to shoot a commercial.
01:27:38.191 --> 01:27:55.859
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I have a guy on my team and if you guys on my team, Matthew Tupolsky is a guy that can pop in a Zen, pop in a Zen, have a bourbon, and put together an ad that's better than any consulting firm could do, and he's one person.
01:27:57.100 --> 01:27:59.061
[SPEAKER_01]: Because he's motivating me and he wants to get it done.
01:28:00.041 --> 01:28:00.982
[SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of like you, I see.
01:28:01.242 --> 01:28:02.602
[SPEAKER_01]: You were on a lean operation.
01:28:03.103 --> 01:28:05.624
[SPEAKER_01]: When you have competent people, you could run a lean operation.
01:28:08.105 --> 01:28:09.446
[SPEAKER_00]: little zin for echo Charles.
01:28:09.466 --> 01:28:10.287
[SPEAKER_00]: So you win.
01:28:10.347 --> 01:28:11.729
[SPEAKER_00]: What's it like going to DC for the first time?
01:28:11.749 --> 01:28:13.390
[SPEAKER_03]: It's an honor of a lifetime.
01:28:13.530 --> 01:28:16.913
[SPEAKER_00]: It's an honor of a lifetime to represent
01:28:32.348 --> 01:28:58.598
[SPEAKER_01]: Almost a million people from my hometown that I grew up in that I keep in mind my district spans about an hour from north from the northern end to the most southern tip of it the most southern tip of is where I went to high school literally my high school border is the is a southern border where my parents grew up where I grew up in spring Texas that's the northern border basically of the district so I have the honor of representing my hometown the halls of Congress and What an honor?
01:28:59.158 --> 01:29:04.643
[SPEAKER_01]: to walk past where Abraham Lincoln set when he was in Congress every day.
01:29:05.483 --> 01:29:11.949
[SPEAKER_01]: What an honor to think about the lineage and the history of this country and our founding fathers and to be a part of the law-making process.
01:29:12.649 --> 01:29:22.438
[SPEAKER_01]: What an honor to be able to voice my opinions and voice to go pings of the district and front of God in the country every single day.
01:29:23.118 --> 01:29:33.327
[SPEAKER_01]: Like there is no greater honor than that, for people to vote for you and put you an office to represent them and what is the greatest constitutional republic that's ever existed.
01:29:33.808 --> 01:29:36.010
[SPEAKER_01]: Like that is an honor and spite of our flaws.
01:29:36.630 --> 01:29:37.351
[SPEAKER_01]: Keep in mind too.
01:29:38.212 --> 01:29:44.858
[SPEAKER_01]: I had one hell of a freshman run too because I was the first person in the country when President Trump ran a second time to endorse him.
01:29:46.510 --> 01:29:48.433
[SPEAKER_01]: So keep in mind, that was before it was cool.
01:29:48.753 --> 01:29:52.137
[SPEAKER_01]: So you want to talk about intestinal fortitude and taking some hits here.
01:29:52.177 --> 01:29:54.861
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, this was the rise of Rhonda Santa Signicie Haley.
01:29:55.161 --> 01:29:58.906
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was the person that said, nope, he walked up that wall, walked off that stage.
01:30:00.300 --> 01:30:08.084
[SPEAKER_01]: I was the first person to cut you to endorse him, and I stood by him, and I stood by that endorsement, which ended up being a really good bet on my part.
01:30:09.105 --> 01:30:14.748
[SPEAKER_01]: So I had so much friends from the year of Congress, I'm flying around for a long with the president.
01:30:14.968 --> 01:30:17.169
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm campaigning with him, and I went multiple times.
01:30:17.730 --> 01:30:19.271
[SPEAKER_01]: He came to my wife's hometown.
01:30:19.371 --> 01:30:20.871
[SPEAKER_01]: He came to Houston multiple times.
01:30:21.472 --> 01:30:25.314
[SPEAKER_01]: I am campaigning who is now the president of the free world.
01:30:25.814 --> 01:30:28.536
[SPEAKER_01]: Just this past December, he invited me to the Army Navy game.
01:30:29.216 --> 01:30:31.197
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm sitting there singing the National Anthem.
01:30:32.037 --> 01:30:34.358
[SPEAKER_01]: Twenty years removed from when I was on that field.
01:30:35.178 --> 01:30:36.038
[SPEAKER_01]: Twenty years to the year.
01:30:36.698 --> 01:30:39.799
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm looking at JD Vance, me and the president.
01:30:39.879 --> 01:30:41.400
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm singing the National Anthem.
01:30:41.440 --> 01:30:43.520
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm always, I mean, I'm always fighting back tears.
01:30:43.580 --> 01:30:45.381
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, this is absolutely insanity.
01:30:45.961 --> 01:30:47.742
[SPEAKER_01]: And then after that, we sing the National Anthem.
01:30:47.782 --> 01:30:49.782
[SPEAKER_01]: President Trump turns to me and he goes, Wesley, what are you doing?
01:30:50.262 --> 01:30:50.883
[SPEAKER_01]: For rest of the day.
01:30:51.623 --> 01:30:56.124
[SPEAKER_01]: I said what Mr. President, I was just going to go back home and he goes, do you want to fly back tomorrow?
01:30:56.144 --> 01:30:56.724
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll go with me.
01:30:57.245 --> 01:30:57.685
[SPEAKER_01]: Any lawn?
01:30:58.105 --> 01:30:58.565
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like,
01:31:00.743 --> 01:31:01.023
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
01:31:01.944 --> 01:31:03.425
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me check my schedule.
01:31:03.685 --> 01:31:04.366
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you're right.
01:31:04.426 --> 01:31:05.547
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, of course.
01:31:06.187 --> 01:31:06.747
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm sitting.
01:31:07.088 --> 01:31:16.755
[SPEAKER_01]: So after the game is over, getting the motorcade, get back on his plane, because at the time of Air Force, when he was using Air Force one, because he was just a candidate at the time, who just, who just won, he just won the election.
01:31:17.535 --> 01:31:21.858
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm sitting on the plane, sitting your cross on per president Trump, where you are right now, and he a lot of Musk is sitting right here.
01:31:21.898 --> 01:31:24.360
[SPEAKER_01]: The most powerful man in the world, and it just made it in the world.
01:31:25.301 --> 01:31:26.562
[SPEAKER_01]: And the only thing I could think about was,
01:31:27.382 --> 01:31:30.545
[SPEAKER_01]: I am literally living the dream of my ancestors.
01:31:31.545 --> 01:31:33.126
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care how you feel about politics.
01:31:33.847 --> 01:31:36.269
[SPEAKER_01]: This is quite a ride that I have been on.
01:31:36.629 --> 01:31:38.350
[SPEAKER_01]: It this is America.
01:31:39.151 --> 01:31:41.372
[SPEAKER_01]: Here's the best part about this about this whole story, brother.
01:31:44.593 --> 01:32:08.699
[SPEAKER_01]: The only flight out of Florida Fort Lauderdale at eleven o'clock at night after a full day of going to the Army to the Army Navy game spending the full day with a president and then landing back in Moralaga and trying to find a flight of Fort Lauderdale to get my butt back home to Houston that same day The only airline available was spirit airlines get some I go from truck force one
01:32:12.582 --> 01:32:12.768
[SPEAKER_01]: Hahaha!
01:32:13.788 --> 01:32:14.968
[SPEAKER_01]: to spirit airlines.
01:32:15.928 --> 01:32:17.209
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm in a three-piece suit.
01:32:17.269 --> 01:32:18.149
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been an overcoat.
01:32:18.569 --> 01:32:21.390
[SPEAKER_01]: I have pictures of me in the present that he signed on this plane.
01:32:22.190 --> 01:32:24.470
[SPEAKER_01]: Two MAGA has that he signed on his plane with him.
01:32:24.910 --> 01:32:30.551
[SPEAKER_01]: I just got off sitting next to, let's talk to planes sitting next to Elon Musk and President Trump.
01:32:31.252 --> 01:32:32.912
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I hear I have amongst the people.
01:32:33.792 --> 01:32:37.833
[SPEAKER_01]: And I realize that this is the dichotomy of life.
01:32:39.013 --> 01:32:41.934
[SPEAKER_01]: And by the way, no experience was better or worse.
01:32:42.654 --> 01:32:43.594
[SPEAKER_01]: They're just different.
01:32:44.653 --> 01:32:48.917
[SPEAKER_01]: And then sitting all spirit or a line flying back, if people were like, why you dressed up so nice?
01:32:49.057 --> 01:32:49.718
[SPEAKER_01]: Where'd you come from?
01:32:49.738 --> 01:32:52.100
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, do you want to hear a really wild story?
01:32:55.604 --> 01:32:56.725
[SPEAKER_00]: They're willing to be on the wrong.
01:32:59.503 --> 01:33:00.684
[SPEAKER_00]: I was at the Army Navy game, too.
01:33:01.684 --> 01:33:02.244
[SPEAKER_00]: I saw you guys.
01:33:02.264 --> 01:33:03.025
[SPEAKER_00]: I saw you guys, man.
01:33:03.385 --> 01:33:04.265
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah.
01:33:04.325 --> 01:33:06.787
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, damn, that's pretty cool.
01:33:07.647 --> 01:33:10.329
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to go this year there.
01:33:10.349 --> 01:33:11.609
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm going to go do this.
01:33:11.689 --> 01:33:14.391
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to go with the Travis Mending Foundation.
01:33:14.411 --> 01:33:14.951
[SPEAKER_00]: So great.
01:33:15.071 --> 01:33:16.612
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so it's pretty awesome.
01:33:16.652 --> 01:33:18.653
[SPEAKER_00]: And we do the whole tailgate thing.
01:33:18.733 --> 01:33:20.554
[SPEAKER_00]: And we could juggle fuel out there.
01:33:20.634 --> 01:33:21.915
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, it's awesome.
01:33:21.955 --> 01:33:22.195
[SPEAKER_00]: What a
01:33:22.935 --> 01:33:40.404
[SPEAKER_00]: What a proud tradition that is and I have time I go down and I like I see the midshipment and then I go see the cadets I like go and it's freaking nuts totally nuts because I mean I love the army and I love the Marine Corps and I love the Navy obviously and you know those there's
01:33:42.177 --> 01:33:43.177
[SPEAKER_00]: They know about me, right?
01:33:43.257 --> 01:33:43.698
[SPEAKER_00]: They teach stuff.
01:33:43.718 --> 01:33:44.758
[SPEAKER_00]: So when I show up there, it's freaking, it's epic.
01:33:44.798 --> 01:33:45.758
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just such an awesome experience.
01:33:45.778 --> 01:33:47.419
[SPEAKER_00]: See, you know, look at that scene, all the midshipmen.
01:33:47.999 --> 01:33:48.399
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I love it.
01:33:48.499 --> 01:33:49.119
[SPEAKER_00]: Who do you think's gonna win?
01:33:49.139 --> 01:33:49.500
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like America.
01:33:49.520 --> 01:33:50.260
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins that game.
01:33:50.280 --> 01:33:50.520
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:50.540 --> 01:33:50.840
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:50.860 --> 01:33:51.100
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:51.120 --> 01:33:51.440
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:51.460 --> 01:33:51.800
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:51.900 --> 01:33:52.241
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:52.261 --> 01:33:52.501
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:52.521 --> 01:33:52.881
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:52.901 --> 01:33:53.181
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:53.201 --> 01:33:53.521
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:53.541 --> 01:33:53.781
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:53.801 --> 01:33:54.281
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:54.301 --> 01:33:54.581
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:54.601 --> 01:33:54.882
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:54.902 --> 01:33:55.362
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:55.382 --> 01:33:55.742
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:55.762 --> 01:33:56.002
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:56.042 --> 01:33:56.302
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:56.322 --> 01:33:56.642
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:56.662 --> 01:33:56.902
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:56.922 --> 01:33:57.162
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:57.182 --> 01:33:57.422
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:57.442 --> 01:33:58.023
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:58.043 --> 01:33:58.303
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:58.323 --> 01:33:58.743
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:33:58.763 --> 01:33:59.043
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:33:59.063 --> 01:33:59.323
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:33:59.343 --> 01:33:59.603
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:33:59.623 --> 01:33:59.983
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:00.003 --> 01:34:00.263
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:00.283 --> 01:34:00.624
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:00.644 --> 01:34:01.404
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:01.424 --> 01:34:01.684
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:01.704 --> 01:34:01.964
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:01.984 --> 01:34:02.224
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:02.244 --> 01:34:02.484
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:02.504 --> 01:34:02.944
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:02.964 --> 01:34:03.285
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:03.305 --> 01:34:03.605
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:03.625 --> 01:34:03.905
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:03.925 --> 01:34:04.465
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:04.485 --> 01:34:04.745
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:04.765 --> 01:34:05.085
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:05.105 --> 01:34:05.445
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:05.465 --> 01:34:05.825
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:05.845 --> 01:34:06.106
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:06.126 --> 01:34:06.386
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:06.406 --> 01:34:06.666
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:06.686 --> 01:34:06.966
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:06.986 --> 01:34:07.406
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:07.666 --> 01:34:14.448
[SPEAKER_01]: This is, you know, what did the saying is, it's the only game that's played that everybody on the field is one of the die for everybody watching.
01:34:16.109 --> 01:34:17.469
[SPEAKER_01]: And that means a lot.
01:34:17.709 --> 01:34:17.930
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:34:18.510 --> 01:34:19.890
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:34:20.150 --> 01:34:22.411
[SPEAKER_00]: So you show up there.
01:34:23.111 --> 01:34:27.093
[SPEAKER_00]: What is it like when you're showing up now, you're a Congressman, you're elected, you're in, you're getting sworn in.
01:34:27.493 --> 01:34:27.953
[SPEAKER_00]: How's that feel?
01:34:28.882 --> 01:34:30.462
[SPEAKER_01]: So you have to keep in mind too.
01:34:30.602 --> 01:34:32.443
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's like, this is the capital.
01:34:32.503 --> 01:34:33.463
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, this is DC.
01:34:33.503 --> 01:34:35.403
[SPEAKER_01]: This is my office is in Longworth.
01:34:35.463 --> 01:34:39.844
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, you know, it's like a three minute walk away from the capital.
01:34:40.244 --> 01:34:41.065
[SPEAKER_01]: It's really funny, too.
01:34:41.085 --> 01:34:47.606
[SPEAKER_01]: You think of all the movies, you know, growing up that you would watch as you'd see on TV and you look at all the people that played all these political figures.
01:34:48.306 --> 01:34:49.506
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, what a f**k it's like.
01:34:52.187 --> 01:34:54.649
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like house a car to everybody got into house a car.
01:34:54.809 --> 01:34:55.730
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not like house a car.
01:34:55.770 --> 01:34:57.711
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not nearly as salacious as everyone thinks it is.
01:34:58.091 --> 01:35:03.716
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's the idea that people have been making movies about the experience that I am having right now.
01:35:03.756 --> 01:35:09.600
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember watching Eddie Murphy in the distinguished gentleman and I'm like, yo, I'm the distinguished gentleman now.
01:35:11.922 --> 01:35:12.702
[SPEAKER_01]: This is crazy.
01:35:13.923 --> 01:35:20.688
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is just the beginning of my political career starts here in the halls of the United States Congress.
01:35:21.549 --> 01:35:41.921
[SPEAKER_01]: you know like this is a story this is the American story this is the American Drake this is the this is the quintessential definition of the American spirit fire and so even on days that aren't as great even though days that are kind of mundane that are kind of rough I don't necessarily want to be up there some certain time that you could probably imagine
01:35:42.801 --> 01:35:51.883
[SPEAKER_01]: When one of my staffers picks me up and drives me to Capitol Hill every single day, it takes us down the street and you could see the Capitol dome peek through the trees.
01:35:52.583 --> 01:35:56.644
[SPEAKER_01]: And every day, I tap on a soda and I said, we have the honor of pillars of working in that building.
01:35:57.225 --> 01:35:59.685
[SPEAKER_01]: Still to this day, we get to work here.
01:35:59.725 --> 01:36:01.346
[SPEAKER_01]: We have the honor of working here.
01:36:01.746 --> 01:36:02.606
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't ever forget that.
01:36:03.706 --> 01:36:07.107
[SPEAKER_01]: And keep in mind, it's only four hundred and thirty-five of us that exist on the planet.
01:36:08.543 --> 01:36:12.085
[SPEAKER_01]: It's an honor that's been bestowed upon us by we the people.
01:36:12.845 --> 01:36:18.628
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't ever take it for granted and keep in mind, we work for we the people, not the other way around.
01:36:22.249 --> 01:36:23.530
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're looking at America now.
01:36:24.230 --> 01:36:29.012
[SPEAKER_00]: Actually, before I ask you that question, what's Trump like when you're hanging out with him?
01:36:30.173 --> 01:36:31.213
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a stand-up comedian.
01:36:31.853 --> 01:36:32.314
[SPEAKER_01]: He is.
01:36:33.374 --> 01:36:35.095
[SPEAKER_01]: The kindness guy, you know,
01:36:36.655 --> 01:36:43.097
[SPEAKER_01]: generosity and kindness is what comes to mind when I think about my personal interactions with President Trump.
01:36:43.777 --> 01:36:56.421
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of people, they see what's on TV and they see what the media says, but it's to tell you around them when you realize that, no, this is a man that really loves his country and is trying to operate the best interest of the country, end of discussion.
01:36:57.742 --> 01:37:00.463
[SPEAKER_01]: The fact of the matter is, is that I'll never forget, I'll walk on this plane.
01:37:01.543 --> 01:37:07.306
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm where he was like, a walk is like, hey, Wesley, go flying a front, go take this thing off, right?
01:37:07.346 --> 01:37:10.527
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sitting in the cockpit of his plane.
01:37:10.588 --> 01:37:11.728
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just like nice.
01:37:11.748 --> 01:37:12.268
[SPEAKER_01]: It's got the world.
01:37:12.288 --> 01:37:19.392
[SPEAKER_01]: And of course, there's McDonald's, uh, quarter pounded with cheeses, pizza, uh, uh, water burger in and out.
01:37:19.912 --> 01:37:22.393
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just, it's just, it's all junk food.
01:37:22.913 --> 01:37:24.613
[SPEAKER_01]: It looks like you're not gonna eat that, are you?
01:37:24.633 --> 01:37:25.713
[SPEAKER_01]: I said, it's a president for you.
01:37:25.893 --> 01:37:28.074
[SPEAKER_01]: I absolutely am ready every last bit of this.
01:37:28.134 --> 01:37:29.414
[SPEAKER_01]: This is my cheat day with you.
01:37:30.495 --> 01:37:44.398
[SPEAKER_01]: But my favorite story I brought about President Trump was we were campaigning in Iowa, where my wife is from, and we went to the Iowa State Fair, and I had my kiddos with me, and my oldest daughter, Los President Trump, and I really wanted her to meet him, and she went to meet him as well.
01:37:45.018 --> 01:37:49.502
[SPEAKER_01]: And you could imagine flying in on truck force one, ascending onto the Iowa State Fair.
01:37:49.562 --> 01:37:52.724
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's like, he's a rock star.
01:37:53.285 --> 01:37:55.386
[SPEAKER_01]: It is like the Beatles coming through time.
01:37:55.446 --> 01:37:58.149
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody just hundreds of people just started running.
01:37:59.049 --> 01:38:04.934
[SPEAKER_01]: And so he's in full truck mode shaking hands, flipping, you know, going through the flipping burgers and the pork chops, this and that.
01:38:04.954 --> 01:38:07.736
[SPEAKER_01]: And just doing this thing, just making his rise rather Iowa State Fair.
01:38:08.157 --> 01:38:09.938
[SPEAKER_01]: And finally, there was a break in service.
01:38:10.138 --> 01:38:10.699
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a break.
01:38:11.379 --> 01:38:15.042
[SPEAKER_01]: where he was kind of standing there, getting ready to go to his next destination.
01:38:15.502 --> 01:38:18.585
[SPEAKER_01]: And I tapped one shoulder, said, hey, Mr. President, real quick, my daughter is here.
01:38:18.645 --> 01:38:19.326
[SPEAKER_01]: He wants to meet you.
01:38:19.706 --> 01:38:21.147
[SPEAKER_01]: He goes, okay, well, where is she?
01:38:21.748 --> 01:38:24.370
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was, well, she's right down there because she's, she's five results.
01:38:25.270 --> 01:38:30.515
[SPEAKER_01]: He looked down, he goes, his shoulders, his disposition, everything changed.
01:38:31.375 --> 01:38:37.821
[SPEAKER_01]: Scoops up my daughter, gives her a hug, and says, I'm fighting for you, and so is your daddy.
01:38:38.061 --> 01:38:39.722
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to make sure you have a better future.
01:38:39.943 --> 01:38:40.443
[SPEAKER_01]: You're beautiful.
01:38:42.521 --> 01:38:46.264
[SPEAKER_01]: got a picture and set it down and then he went right back to Trump mode.
01:38:46.805 --> 01:38:48.867
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it was like it was like a machine.
01:38:49.427 --> 01:38:52.270
[SPEAKER_01]: But in that moment is when you realize, this man is a father.
01:38:52.290 --> 01:38:54.252
[SPEAKER_01]: This man is a grandfather.
01:38:54.272 --> 01:39:05.182
[SPEAKER_01]: This man is a human being who is trying to operate in the best interest of the country that made him and his family what he is today and it only happens in America.
01:39:06.554 --> 01:39:15.679
[SPEAKER_01]: And when you see these moments that I've got to experience with President Trump one-on-one, it's something that you realize, yeah, we've got to follow this guy.
01:39:16.339 --> 01:39:22.602
[SPEAKER_01]: And despite of what it, of doing what might say, and despite of all the noise and all the garbage, yeah, this is definitely the guy.
01:39:23.063 --> 01:39:27.185
[SPEAKER_01]: And it made it very easy for me to do that, especially after having those experiences.
01:39:29.679 --> 01:39:35.101
[SPEAKER_00]: I was flipping channels between MSNBC and Fox one time.
01:39:35.881 --> 01:39:39.602
[SPEAKER_00]: And it literally is like two different worlds.
01:39:39.903 --> 01:39:42.363
[SPEAKER_00]: The way that Trump gets portrayed.
01:39:43.704 --> 01:39:51.447
[SPEAKER_00]: When you see kind of the way he's been the way he gets treated, what's your, is it like a disgust?
01:39:51.807 --> 01:39:54.888
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it just like, oh, this is just the political, the way the world works?
01:39:55.728 --> 01:39:56.649
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a combination of both.
01:39:57.410 --> 01:39:59.111
[SPEAKER_01]: And it is the way the world works, unfortunately.
01:39:59.472 --> 01:40:00.773
[SPEAKER_01]: And it is the way politics works.
01:40:00.793 --> 01:40:02.054
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why it's a very dirty game.
01:40:02.615 --> 01:40:13.405
[SPEAKER_01]: But it also takes very skilled practitioners to be able to be a bridge to those that are willing to want a bridge for those that are willing to actually hear both sides of the story.
01:40:13.985 --> 01:40:15.246
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what I try to do.
01:40:15.527 --> 01:40:17.789
[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone knows that I'm in full support of President Trump.
01:40:18.189 --> 01:40:21.693
[SPEAKER_01]: But there's also a certain level of complexity that I try to approach this job with.
01:40:22.053 --> 01:40:25.316
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not just because I'm Mazda and I like Trump, which I am those things.
01:40:25.657 --> 01:40:29.320
[SPEAKER_01]: It's also because here's what makes sense and here's what's in the best interest of this country.
01:40:29.741 --> 01:40:31.242
[SPEAKER_01]: One example, I have daughters.
01:40:31.863 --> 01:40:32.543
[SPEAKER_01]: You have daughters.
01:40:33.508 --> 01:40:34.389
[SPEAKER_01]: We're growing ass men.
01:40:35.370 --> 01:40:37.312
[SPEAKER_01]: Men shouldn't be competing.
01:40:38.274 --> 01:40:40.756
[SPEAKER_01]: Biological men should be competing against biological women.
01:40:41.457 --> 01:40:42.418
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a sanity check.
01:40:42.839 --> 01:40:43.560
[SPEAKER_01]: It's very easy.
01:40:44.100 --> 01:40:45.302
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not even a conversation.
01:40:45.702 --> 01:40:47.685
[SPEAKER_01]: How are we even debating this right now?
01:40:48.325 --> 01:40:48.886
[SPEAKER_01]: Unbelievable.
01:40:49.346 --> 01:40:53.471
[SPEAKER_01]: What does President Trump do on day one or one of his first executive orders?
01:40:54.540 --> 01:41:01.282
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm in the White House and he is signing executive order to not allow biological men to compete against biological women.
01:41:01.642 --> 01:41:09.684
[SPEAKER_01]: Therefore, we are protecting our baby girls that you and I would die for and kill for our baby girls end of discussion.
01:41:10.244 --> 01:41:12.965
[SPEAKER_01]: And so when I look at a man that's willing to do that on day one,
01:41:13.325 --> 01:41:15.207
[SPEAKER_01]: and take all the heat all the garbage from the left.
01:41:15.247 --> 01:41:17.048
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you're not sensitive to the trans movie.
01:41:17.068 --> 01:41:18.269
[SPEAKER_01]: You're like, no, no, no, no.
01:41:18.770 --> 01:41:20.151
[SPEAKER_01]: We are playing these games.
01:41:20.171 --> 01:41:24.915
[SPEAKER_01]: That's just the right thing to do because it's simply common sense.
01:41:25.996 --> 01:41:27.618
[SPEAKER_01]: Joe Biden was present for four years.
01:41:28.378 --> 01:41:29.519
[SPEAKER_01]: He did not defend my baby girl.
01:41:30.760 --> 01:41:31.541
[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't do that.
01:41:32.321 --> 01:41:38.285
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of these guys don't have the guts to do just what the right thing is in spite of what the woke mob and mafia might say.
01:41:39.125 --> 01:41:46.910
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's just one minute skill example of a lot of examples that I can give of somebody that says, this is what is right.
01:41:47.310 --> 01:41:48.411
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to take the heat.
01:41:49.752 --> 01:41:50.112
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's go.
01:41:51.929 --> 01:41:58.854
[SPEAKER_00]: Have you been, a lot of people myself included say, you know, Trump wouldn't have lost in twenty twenty.
01:41:59.214 --> 01:41:59.895
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, good.
01:42:00.075 --> 01:42:01.236
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, right?
01:42:01.356 --> 01:42:04.738
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I mean, he looked at the world and said, okay, I see how it works now.
01:42:05.579 --> 01:42:12.363
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, the first time around, you know, you were looking at some of the people who was bringing in and you sort of, oh, well, that's an interesting choice.
01:42:12.804 --> 01:42:17.427
[SPEAKER_00]: But the second time around, it's like, it kind of was on.
01:42:17.767 --> 01:42:19.569
[SPEAKER_01]: And now, now I know what the bathrooms are.
01:42:19.709 --> 01:42:20.009
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
01:42:22.871 --> 01:42:38.620
[SPEAKER_01]: and he walked in there guns blazing he prepared for the previous four years for the second going around this goes back to me talking about why it's important to lose sometimes because when you lose you get to regroup and you get to come back stronger and better and better and that's exactly what he did.
01:42:38.920 --> 01:42:42.683
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean the first hundred days it was so funny trying to watch trying to watch the live was keep up.
01:42:42.843 --> 01:42:44.244
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean hell broke down with you brother.
01:42:44.424 --> 01:42:45.064
[SPEAKER_01]: I couldn't keep up.
01:42:45.564 --> 01:42:48.106
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean I would go to work the next day and try to know what's best so what are we doing today.
01:42:50.307 --> 01:43:13.900
[SPEAKER_01]: it was just he kept moving he's he's moving he's going he's moving he's going you look at the turf war the turf war by the way this is this is not a turf war that President Trump started we've been a turf war for decades we've just been getting ripped off in this war and then we would then turn to for our countries like China and India say yes please may I have another and then now we have leader that says no no no no no no no
01:43:14.620 --> 01:43:15.821
[SPEAKER_01]: No, no, you're going to pay.
01:43:15.841 --> 01:43:17.742
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to pay for this.
01:43:18.423 --> 01:43:24.407
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to pay to use what is the strongest economic force in the world, and that's the American consumer.
01:43:24.827 --> 01:43:25.748
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to pay for this.
01:43:26.328 --> 01:43:27.609
[SPEAKER_01]: So we've always been at war.
01:43:28.089 --> 01:43:31.452
[SPEAKER_01]: Now we just have a war fighter that's going to actually do something about it.
01:43:31.772 --> 01:43:33.994
[SPEAKER_01]: And now how is that turning off for us later?
01:43:34.014 --> 01:43:36.776
[SPEAKER_01]: It's working out pretty good for us if you ask me.
01:43:37.596 --> 01:43:47.638
[SPEAKER_01]: So imagine if he had lost, or if he had won that second time, he wouldn't have cleaned house the way that he did because he would have done the same thing that got him there.
01:43:47.958 --> 01:43:53.779
[SPEAKER_01]: That had a saying, what gets you here, if not necessarily what's going to get you there.
01:43:54.660 --> 01:43:58.000
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you don't change it, if you don't learn, then you're never going to get there.
01:44:00.041 --> 01:44:05.602
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're seeing obviously Trump making moves, making progress, moving things the way he wants, and what?
01:44:09.236 --> 01:44:17.919
[SPEAKER_00]: What, I guess, two-part question, you know, what, what do you think the threats to America are right now?
01:44:19.540 --> 01:44:23.261
[SPEAKER_00]: And then what do you think the strength of America that's going to help us overcome these threats?
01:44:23.281 --> 01:44:25.662
[SPEAKER_01]: So the greatest threat to us to me is our deficit.
01:44:26.482 --> 01:44:31.663
[SPEAKER_01]: And the fact of the matter is with thirty six trillion dollars and debt, we're running a two trillion dollar angle deficit.
01:44:31.744 --> 01:44:32.484
[SPEAKER_01]: That's unbelievable.
01:44:32.884 --> 01:44:33.804
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not sustainable.
01:44:34.684 --> 01:44:35.305
[SPEAKER_01]: And China.
01:44:36.645 --> 01:44:42.189
[SPEAKER_01]: Those are the greatest existential threats to me in my opinion to the country and the future of our babies.
01:44:42.810 --> 01:44:44.891
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what I try to fight against every single day.
01:44:44.911 --> 01:44:46.573
[SPEAKER_01]: And our President Trump is on the right path here.
01:44:46.993 --> 01:44:48.814
[SPEAKER_01]: We have to grow our way out of it.
01:44:48.934 --> 01:44:55.379
[SPEAKER_01]: We have to have exponential growth because we can no longer cut our way out of the spending rut that we've put ourselves in.
01:44:55.880 --> 01:44:58.402
[SPEAKER_01]: Hence the reason why we have the tariffs.
01:44:59.042 --> 01:45:02.023
[SPEAKER_01]: because we have to cut our economy loose.
01:45:02.683 --> 01:45:05.364
[SPEAKER_01]: We need to make sure that we have exponential growth.
01:45:05.844 --> 01:45:16.107
[SPEAKER_01]: We need to make sure that people are pointing up and paying their fair share if they're going to use the American consumer because the only way to get us out of this two trillion dollar angle deficit is to both cut government blow puts what are you trying to do.
01:45:16.547 --> 01:45:19.068
[SPEAKER_01]: and on top of that grow our way out of it.
01:45:19.708 --> 01:45:20.508
[SPEAKER_01]: He understands this.
01:45:20.868 --> 01:45:26.650
[SPEAKER_01]: And by the way, we can have the exponential growth if we are willing to make some difficult decisions now that's going to benefit our future.
01:45:26.990 --> 01:45:37.113
[SPEAKER_01]: And then of course, there's the juggernaut that is China and what they are trying to do in stealing our intellectual property and building up their military if we're not paying attention with be very careful with this.
01:45:37.493 --> 01:45:40.314
[SPEAKER_01]: They are building their forces faster than we are building ours.
01:45:41.694 --> 01:45:44.455
[SPEAKER_01]: Space Force that got made fun of him president started it.
01:45:44.715 --> 01:45:50.436
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, we're talking about what's going to happen in the future of war fighting Space Force is going to be a very serious.
01:45:50.456 --> 01:45:53.497
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to play a very serious role in how that looks moving forward.
01:45:54.037 --> 01:45:58.438
[SPEAKER_01]: So a president Trump has done something to set us up for the future and the right track.
01:45:58.938 --> 01:46:01.099
[SPEAKER_01]: Now we have to continue to grow and build on it.
01:46:01.139 --> 01:46:11.061
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to take leaders like me and many others of my vintage to ensure that we codify this year-end and year-out because we're at the point where we cannot go back.
01:46:13.343 --> 01:46:16.925
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you sleep at night thinking if we go back in the wrong direction?
01:46:16.945 --> 01:46:17.385
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course I do.
01:46:17.405 --> 01:46:17.866
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course I do.
01:46:18.106 --> 01:46:18.666
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course I do.
01:46:19.107 --> 01:46:20.648
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course I do because we have babies.
01:46:21.248 --> 01:46:21.808
[SPEAKER_01]: I have babies.
01:46:22.329 --> 01:46:25.371
[SPEAKER_01]: And I know that my life on this earth is finite.
01:46:25.431 --> 01:46:26.732
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not going to be here forever.
01:46:26.912 --> 01:46:31.315
[SPEAKER_01]: And so the greatest asset that we do have is our time and our babies.
01:46:32.536 --> 01:46:38.704
[SPEAKER_01]: We have got to set up this country for the exact same exponential growth that we have seen in the last few generations.
01:46:38.764 --> 01:46:44.412
[SPEAKER_01]: And just in my family lineage, it makes sure we had that same growth for them so they could have a more perfect union.
01:46:44.933 --> 01:46:46.294
[SPEAKER_01]: We're never going to be perfect.
01:46:46.875 --> 01:46:47.756
[SPEAKER_01]: We are all flawed.
01:46:48.297 --> 01:46:54.142
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you look at this country and look at what we have and what our problems are comparatively speaking, we're in a very good place.
01:46:54.542 --> 01:46:59.946
[SPEAKER_01]: But if we don't fight for the values of this country, every single generation that we're damned to lose them at some point.
01:47:00.567 --> 01:47:02.869
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is why I love what President Trump is doing.
01:47:03.289 --> 01:47:04.070
[SPEAKER_01]: We're fighting back.
01:47:04.730 --> 01:47:06.591
[SPEAKER_01]: We're fighting back on the culture wars.
01:47:06.931 --> 01:47:09.091
[SPEAKER_01]: We're fighting back on Sydney, Swiny.
01:47:09.291 --> 01:47:13.793
[SPEAKER_01]: And, and quite frankly, I thought she looked great in the American little jeans from being honest with you.
01:47:14.233 --> 01:47:15.633
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I guess they did.
01:47:15.673 --> 01:47:16.313
[SPEAKER_00]: But I like it.
01:47:16.434 --> 01:47:19.614
[SPEAKER_00]: But apparently they could get a world of my wife to do that photo shoot.
01:47:19.754 --> 01:47:20.735
[SPEAKER_00]: They used the next best thing.
01:47:21.635 --> 01:47:22.716
[UNKNOWN]: they did, you're watching him.
01:47:23.056 --> 01:47:25.137
[SPEAKER_01]: I understand mine too, they called mine second.
01:47:25.897 --> 01:47:34.721
[SPEAKER_01]: Emily was too busy with the kiddos, but the fact that we're even having these consequences is kind of tugging cheek, but this is the concept that we're actually seriously fighting against.
01:47:35.301 --> 01:47:37.062
[SPEAKER_01]: And then also I will end with this, but I'll say this.
01:47:38.543 --> 01:47:43.867
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the left is constantly trying to divide us along racial lines.
01:47:45.669 --> 01:48:03.804
[SPEAKER_01]: And that to me is a regression to a dark past that the same people that are trying to talk about, how they are trying to further people of color and do this and that are the same people that demonize me to know end for being a black Republican.
01:48:04.725 --> 01:48:06.966
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't respect my intellect.
01:48:07.006 --> 01:48:08.887
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't respect my acumen.
01:48:09.388 --> 01:48:13.650
[SPEAKER_01]: They look at me and look at the color of my skin and say, well, he needs to make a certain way.
01:48:13.690 --> 01:48:16.491
[SPEAKER_01]: And then if he's not worth it, you know, that guy's an uncle Tom.
01:48:16.792 --> 01:48:20.994
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, Uncle Tom, I mean, how about a cousin once removed or something?
01:48:21.074 --> 01:48:21.974
[SPEAKER_01]: Uncle was pretty tight.
01:48:22.014 --> 01:48:24.136
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, that's, that's what it close to the root, you know, guys.
01:48:24.656 --> 01:48:28.538
[SPEAKER_01]: But when I think about this country and why I am right now,
01:48:28.818 --> 01:48:34.780
[SPEAKER_01]: and the life that we get to live and the homogenous melting pot that we have as a country and as a union.
01:48:35.361 --> 01:48:36.301
[SPEAKER_01]: This is as good as it gets.
01:48:37.161 --> 01:48:40.102
[SPEAKER_01]: My dad would always tell me, son, I grew up in the Jim Crow era.
01:48:40.362 --> 01:48:42.183
[SPEAKER_01]: I had a difficult, you don't.
01:48:43.064 --> 01:48:48.586
[SPEAKER_01]: And what I don't want is I don't want liberals dividing this country based on that and we have come so far.
01:48:53.348 --> 01:48:58.710
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, if you sit there and look at the problems all the time and you focus on the problems all the time, you give the problems of life.
01:48:58.730 --> 01:48:58.990
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
01:48:59.030 --> 01:48:59.630
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
01:48:59.650 --> 01:48:59.850
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:48:59.870 --> 01:49:00.711
[SPEAKER_00]: Become your problem.
01:49:00.731 --> 01:49:00.991
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
01:49:01.271 --> 01:49:06.333
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you, like you said, if you're looking to the future and looking at where you can go and look at the solutions, those solutions become your life.
01:49:06.814 --> 01:49:13.457
[SPEAKER_00]: And it certainly seems like it would be a lot better for all of us if we looked towards a future and towards the solutions instead of continually
01:49:14.617 --> 01:49:18.559
[SPEAKER_00]: going back to the past, especially the negative parts of our past, which, you know, you certainly have.
01:49:18.579 --> 01:49:21.580
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like I talked earlier about, you know, you can lose your friends.
01:49:21.941 --> 01:49:22.141
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
01:49:22.481 --> 01:49:27.163
[SPEAKER_00]: And you remember them, you learn from it, but it makes you cherish what you have now.
01:49:27.183 --> 01:49:29.104
[SPEAKER_00]: It should make you cherish what you have now.
01:49:29.404 --> 01:49:30.625
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's the same thing with our country.
01:49:30.745 --> 01:49:32.065
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, oh, yeah, we can look at the past.
01:49:32.466 --> 01:49:34.907
[SPEAKER_00]: We learn from it, but we shouldn't dwell there.
01:49:35.247 --> 01:49:37.568
[SPEAKER_00]: We should look to the future where we can go and what we can do.
01:49:37.788 --> 01:49:37.968
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
01:49:38.969 --> 01:49:41.290
[SPEAKER_00]: Be a beautiful thing if we could move that in that direction.
01:49:41.594 --> 01:49:42.955
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, that's what I'm trying my best.
01:49:43.055 --> 01:49:47.159
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what this is what I try to get up and do every single day.
01:49:47.279 --> 01:49:50.442
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm the person that's going to be the first person to door.
01:49:50.623 --> 01:49:51.864
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to take the heat rounds.
01:49:52.004 --> 01:49:53.645
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm fine with that.
01:49:54.466 --> 01:49:54.867
[SPEAKER_01]: I can take it.
01:49:54.947 --> 01:50:00.232
[SPEAKER_01]: But what I also find out is you should see the direct messages I get, the DMs I get of people, young people.
01:50:00.812 --> 01:50:10.976
[SPEAKER_01]: that may not have the courage to be as, you know, as at the forefront of this battle as I am, but they say things like, hey, so let's, you know, sir, I got your back.
01:50:11.316 --> 01:50:12.836
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, I feel this way too.
01:50:13.156 --> 01:50:14.557
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for being a voice for me.
01:50:14.577 --> 01:50:19.219
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to ignore the vitriol that you see on X, which is just, it's a cesspool.
01:50:19.259 --> 01:50:20.979
[SPEAKER_01]: It's, it's just a mess.
01:50:21.339 --> 01:50:22.680
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not the reality, though.
01:50:23.720 --> 01:50:27.961
[SPEAKER_01]: And so somebody needs examples, we all need role models, and that's what leadership is.
01:50:28.441 --> 01:50:35.763
[SPEAKER_01]: It's stepping up and saying, you know what, I'm going to be a role model, and it's going to be difficult sometimes that people are going to say some really mean things about you.
01:50:35.783 --> 01:50:36.483
[SPEAKER_01]: But like, I mean, let's be real here.
01:50:36.503 --> 01:50:37.044
[SPEAKER_01]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:37.064 --> 01:50:37.564
[SPEAKER_01]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:37.584 --> 01:50:38.084
[SPEAKER_01]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:38.104 --> 01:50:38.664
[SPEAKER_01]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:38.684 --> 01:50:39.204
[SPEAKER_01]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:39.224 --> 01:50:39.784
[SPEAKER_01]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:39.804 --> 01:50:40.364
[SPEAKER_01]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:40.384 --> 01:50:40.945
[SPEAKER_01]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:40.965 --> 01:50:41.485
[SPEAKER_02]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:41.505 --> 01:50:41.985
[SPEAKER_02]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:42.005 --> 01:50:42.585
[SPEAKER_02]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:42.605 --> 01:50:43.085
[SPEAKER_02]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:43.105 --> 01:50:43.585
[SPEAKER_02]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:43.605 --> 01:50:44.085
[UNKNOWN]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:44.105 --> 01:50:44.606
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:44.626 --> 01:50:45.106
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:45.126 --> 01:50:45.606
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:45.626 --> 01:50:46.106
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:46.126 --> 01:50:46.606
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:46.626 --> 01:50:47.186
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:47.206 --> 01:50:47.686
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:47.726 --> 01:50:48.247
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:48.267 --> 01:50:48.787
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:48.807 --> 01:50:49.287
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:49.307 --> 01:50:49.847
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:49.867 --> 01:50:50.047
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain
01:50:50.343 --> 01:51:04.188
[SPEAKER_01]: Keep doing what I'm doing, and just staying mentally aware of what's going on, keeping your head on the swivel, and doing difficult things every single day just to keep you sharp.
01:51:04.228 --> 01:51:07.549
[SPEAKER_01]: So I had a, I had to start the pilot.
01:51:07.589 --> 01:51:09.870
[SPEAKER_01]: He said, Wesley, he was the same guy.
01:51:09.890 --> 01:51:10.730
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the lead major.
01:51:10.750 --> 01:51:14.812
[SPEAKER_01]: He goes, Wesley, you got to kill something every day in the matter of how small it just keeps the edge.
01:51:16.212 --> 01:51:18.013
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean he would go I say go kill him man.
01:51:18.194 --> 01:51:19.434
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just just like okay.
01:51:19.795 --> 01:51:20.795
[SPEAKER_01]: I got my kill in today.
01:51:20.815 --> 01:51:21.636
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like this dude.
01:51:22.116 --> 01:51:23.017
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like me for Larry.
01:51:23.037 --> 01:51:23.437
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all right.
01:51:24.157 --> 01:51:28.240
[SPEAKER_01]: And this kind of goes back to like staying fit staying being
01:51:29.665 --> 01:51:33.748
[SPEAKER_01]: being an example, being a role model, and getting up every day.
01:51:34.108 --> 01:51:36.010
[SPEAKER_01]: This is where fitness always comes to me too.
01:51:36.030 --> 01:51:39.832
[SPEAKER_01]: Like staying fit staying, staying physically fits so important.
01:51:39.932 --> 01:51:42.174
[SPEAKER_01]: As my favorite singer is from Ronnie Coleman.
01:51:42.214 --> 01:51:46.837
[SPEAKER_01]: He's like, everybody want to be your bodybuilder, but don't know by the way, I don't want to lift no heavy ass away.
01:51:47.798 --> 01:52:11.212
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like
01:52:11.292 --> 01:52:12.492
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he did.
01:52:12.993 --> 01:52:14.453
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's kind of what the future is for me, man.
01:52:14.493 --> 01:52:22.316
[SPEAKER_01]: And also just always keep in mind that the reason why we do this is for the country.
01:52:22.776 --> 01:52:24.276
[SPEAKER_01]: It is for we the people.
01:52:24.677 --> 01:52:26.737
[SPEAKER_01]: It is for my little babies at home.
01:52:26.797 --> 01:52:28.378
[SPEAKER_01]: It is for your little babies at home.
01:52:28.778 --> 01:52:34.720
[SPEAKER_01]: It's for the further, it's for the greater good and furthering the will of the greatest nation in the world.
01:52:35.140 --> 01:52:37.421
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying that because it's a slogan.
01:52:37.901 --> 01:52:46.929
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm saying that because I genuinely believe that it's been codified by by the blood of many of my classmates that I knew and love that no longer with us.
01:52:47.409 --> 01:52:54.395
[SPEAKER_01]: The second we start forgetting our why is when we go to hell on a hand basket and that just can't happen because we can't afford it.
01:52:57.209 --> 01:52:57.629
[SPEAKER_00]: No doubt.
01:52:58.269 --> 01:52:58.930
[SPEAKER_00]: Awesome stuff.
01:53:00.410 --> 01:53:01.210
[SPEAKER_00]: Where can people find you?
01:53:01.270 --> 01:53:03.531
[SPEAKER_00]: So you've got WesleyFertexas.com.
01:53:04.091 --> 01:53:13.314
[SPEAKER_00]: You got Instagram, you're at WesleyFertexas, Twitter, X and YouTube, you're Wesley Hunt TX, Facebook, Wesley Hunt.
01:53:13.414 --> 01:53:14.494
[SPEAKER_00]: That's where people can find you.
01:53:14.534 --> 01:53:15.235
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, follow you.
01:53:15.515 --> 01:53:16.055
[SPEAKER_00]: Listen to you.
01:53:16.375 --> 01:53:17.795
[SPEAKER_00]: Here you support you.
01:53:19.036 --> 01:53:20.356
[SPEAKER_00]: Echo Charles, what questions you got?
01:53:20.816 --> 01:53:22.697
[SPEAKER_04]: Can you tell me about the sneaker caucus?
01:53:23.497 --> 01:53:24.117
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, man.
01:53:24.157 --> 01:53:24.738
[SPEAKER_01]: Secret caucus.
01:53:24.758 --> 01:53:33.922
[SPEAKER_01]: So one of the, one of the, you know, the things and that everybody gets so wrapped around the axle and everything is so serious, especially right now and everything is very polarizing.
01:53:34.623 --> 01:53:38.925
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the one thing that we could all agree on is that, you know, sneakers are cool.
01:53:39.065 --> 01:53:39.225
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
01:53:39.865 --> 01:53:51.878
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's just where it is and like and I'm a big Jordan guy, you know, so I you know, I'm a I grew up in nineteen eighty one, you know, always tell people, you know, I grew up in an era where cash money and records was taken over for the nine nine and a thousand.
01:53:55.722 --> 01:54:09.771
[SPEAKER_01]: And here we are talking about Jay's and George's and everyone out again, to kind of go through the mundane, monotony of Congress, you know, to have a few, you know, young millennial guys that are like, hey, you know, we're going to spend a day every night again and we're going to work with George on the House floor.
01:54:10.072 --> 01:54:12.153
[SPEAKER_01]: It kind of breaks things up a little bit as though levity.
01:54:12.493 --> 01:54:17.497
[SPEAKER_01]: It's bipartisan who doesn't like George's on their free will Michael Jordan said Republicans, Bios sneakers too.
01:54:21.259 --> 01:54:23.040
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got to add that little flavor to it.
01:54:23.060 --> 01:54:28.624
[SPEAKER_01]: And also being a younger guy too, you know, one with more younger guys in my caucus is something that's just fun that we're able to do.
01:54:29.805 --> 01:54:30.645
[SPEAKER_04]: Without technical trials.
01:54:31.486 --> 01:54:36.129
[SPEAKER_04]: How much of the campaign add costs, the inflation, the inflated cost that you're talking about?
01:54:36.349 --> 01:54:37.269
[SPEAKER_01]: The campaign.
01:54:37.289 --> 01:54:39.991
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, remember you're like, hey, that much for a campaign at like one.
01:54:40.011 --> 01:54:44.254
[SPEAKER_01]: So what are we talking about in upwards of fifty to a hundred thousand dollars?
01:54:46.896 --> 01:54:48.397
[SPEAKER_01]: And they're not good ads.
01:54:49.038 --> 01:54:54.884
[SPEAKER_01]: And I could tell you that I'd good ads because turn a TV on and look at any typical ad that you see is a cookie cutter.
01:54:56.967 --> 01:55:06.897
[SPEAKER_01]: Just politician, sleeves rolled up here, makes for it's a blue shirt with something super imposing of background with their arms folded, you're saying.
01:55:07.698 --> 01:55:27.652
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm here at a fight for America and it's the most horrible thing you could ever it's most inauthentic thing that you could ever imagine but they print money on this stuff they print money on it and then on top of that then you get paid by doing the ad by which is you get a cut of that and the ad by is just scheduling the ads
01:55:28.813 --> 01:55:41.000
[SPEAKER_01]: These people you're you're giving away money that can actually go back into your coffers that could actually be invested back on TV furthering your brand And so my guys have have mastered all of the above and we'd handle everything in house
01:55:43.801 --> 01:55:49.767
[SPEAKER_00]: It that is the bull you had my act video guy over here echo was starting to think about maybe you need to start making it.
01:55:49.787 --> 01:55:53.991
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he's like fifty because you're right.
01:55:54.191 --> 01:55:56.453
[SPEAKER_01]: Why can't a short man?
01:55:56.593 --> 01:56:04.561
[SPEAKER_04]: Actually that really that it's what you the point is what you said is because I see those political ads and I'm like, probably I would that would take me like thirty minutes to do anything
01:56:04.761 --> 01:56:07.043
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, it's like, it's just Photoshop and you know some other stuff.
01:56:07.163 --> 01:56:07.783
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
01:56:07.803 --> 01:56:08.624
[SPEAKER_01]: They have paid actors.
01:56:08.644 --> 01:56:09.824
[SPEAKER_01]: They're paid actors are in it.
01:56:10.165 --> 01:56:11.566
[SPEAKER_01]: Then we wanted that he was showing the kid.
01:56:11.586 --> 01:56:13.527
[SPEAKER_01]: Then I even showed the politician some of these ads.
01:56:14.027 --> 01:56:22.633
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just paid actors saying that it's the guy dressed up at a farm and seemed like, well, for this guy, because he's like, dude, that's horrible.
01:56:24.549 --> 01:56:33.637
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the first time I ran, I experienced that second time I ran, my buddy Matt said, you know, Wesley, we're gonna let, we're gonna let Wesley hunt be Wesley hunt.
01:56:34.357 --> 01:56:35.378
[SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna let you be you.
01:56:35.599 --> 01:56:36.199
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the move.
01:56:36.399 --> 01:56:36.840
[SPEAKER_01]: That is it.
01:56:37.120 --> 01:56:38.961
[SPEAKER_01]: Authenticity, your authentic self.
01:56:39.142 --> 01:56:39.902
[SPEAKER_00]: It's better that way.
01:56:39.942 --> 01:56:42.084
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, if you lose that way, you lose that way.
01:56:42.104 --> 01:56:43.365
[SPEAKER_00]: If you win that way, you win that way.
01:56:43.385 --> 01:56:44.346
[SPEAKER_01]: You win that way, boom.
01:56:44.366 --> 01:56:44.947
[SPEAKER_00]: How it should be.
01:56:45.287 --> 01:56:46.428
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why I'm with President Trump, too.
01:56:47.369 --> 01:56:48.470
[SPEAKER_01]: He says authentic self.
01:56:49.070 --> 01:56:54.775
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know, I look at, I used to look at fighters, like MMA fighters, and there would be some fighters that would.
01:56:55.990 --> 01:57:21.571
[SPEAKER_00]: protect their records so they would they fight out very very infrequently and they'd have a really good record but then they're all the fighters that would just fight all the time and they would have a winning record and you kind of knew who they were right and what when you see what Trump does like who is going to go and just do interviews I mean just go open session interviews for hours like I'll be like oh cool I'll be like you're the White House I follow the White House on YouTube yeah and I'll see you know
01:57:22.352 --> 01:57:24.253
[SPEAKER_00]: President Trump, Trump, take questions.
01:57:24.313 --> 01:57:25.534
[SPEAKER_00]: And I've got a ten minute drive ago.
01:57:25.554 --> 01:57:25.954
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll listen to it.
01:57:26.234 --> 01:57:27.675
[SPEAKER_00]: No, he's out there for an hour and ten minutes.
01:57:27.715 --> 01:57:28.096
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, he will.
01:57:28.216 --> 01:57:29.677
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not, it's not ten minutes of him answer.
01:57:29.717 --> 01:57:32.779
[SPEAKER_00]: It's an hour and ten minutes of him answering questions.
01:57:33.059 --> 01:57:34.960
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's a guy that's just in the ring all the time.
01:57:35.440 --> 01:57:45.086
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, he'll say something that doesn't make sense or he'll quote something wrong and he'll jump all over and put it doesn't matter because he did, he said a hundred things.
01:57:45.787 --> 01:57:48.529
[SPEAKER_00]: And he got ninety of him right, ninety six of him right.
01:57:49.650 --> 01:57:54.673
[SPEAKER_00]: People will jump on the floor that he got wrong, but everyone's like, hey dude, you know, like you talk for an hour.
01:57:54.913 --> 01:57:55.014
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:57:55.034 --> 01:57:55.734
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care who you are.
01:57:55.774 --> 01:57:56.394
[SPEAKER_00]: You talk for an hour.
01:57:56.414 --> 01:57:57.195
[SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna say something.
01:57:57.215 --> 01:57:57.435
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:57:57.515 --> 01:57:57.775
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
01:57:58.055 --> 01:57:58.296
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:57:58.656 --> 01:58:01.157
[SPEAKER_00]: I got that one wrong, but he's just in the ring all the time.
01:58:01.478 --> 01:58:03.679
[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, when you're in the ring all the time, you get good.
01:58:03.699 --> 01:58:04.159
[SPEAKER_00]: You get better.
01:58:05.420 --> 01:58:06.241
[SPEAKER_00]: You get really good.
01:58:06.381 --> 01:58:06.901
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:58:06.961 --> 01:58:07.442
[SPEAKER_00]: No doubt.
01:58:07.602 --> 01:58:07.982
[SPEAKER_00]: No doubt.
01:58:08.202 --> 01:58:08.783
[SPEAKER_00]: What else, Echo?
01:58:08.943 --> 01:58:09.964
[SPEAKER_00]: No football questions.
01:58:10.105 --> 01:58:11.106
[SPEAKER_00]: Captain of the football team.
01:58:11.126 --> 01:58:11.486
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
01:58:11.507 --> 01:58:11.647
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:58:11.767 --> 01:58:13.669
[SPEAKER_01]: I was in high school back in high school days.
01:58:13.689 --> 01:58:14.511
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you play in college?
01:58:14.531 --> 01:58:15.992
[SPEAKER_01]: Did you play a little bit at West Point?
01:58:16.053 --> 01:58:17.434
[SPEAKER_01]: I played for the first two years at West Point.
01:58:17.454 --> 01:58:22.101
[SPEAKER_01]: Then realized I had a moment at West Point where we were playing Boston College.
01:58:22.161 --> 01:58:23.122
[SPEAKER_01]: It was my sophomore year.
01:58:24.043 --> 01:58:47.428
[SPEAKER_01]: and they had a running back boss and college name was Willie Green and Willie Green was six foot one two hundred thirty pounds wait he got drafted probably thirty fifth first round he wasn't animal four four forty I mean this dude and he kicked our asses it was a track me and I and I was sitting on the sideline and my neck was just breaking because it was looking back in this guy was just running out of the football field
01:58:48.008 --> 01:58:49.049
[SPEAKER_01]: I looked at Willie Green.
01:58:49.069 --> 01:58:56.332
[SPEAKER_01]: I was also running back and I said, you know, I've always pride myself in being a decent athlete, you know, but at the end of the day, uh, come to Jesus here.
01:58:56.612 --> 01:58:58.533
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not Willie Green and I'm not going to leak.
01:58:58.793 --> 01:59:01.354
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's talking me to focus on what I want to do with the flat patches.
01:59:03.455 --> 01:59:04.115
[SPEAKER_01]: You played running back?
01:59:04.315 --> 01:59:05.456
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the whole time.
01:59:05.716 --> 01:59:29.283
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, oh my whole life my whole life running back from from from pop on a pop Warner on up and the the important thing about sports and why my kids also play sports is it's critical Sports are very important for especially for young people to learn what it means to play on a team What it means to understand difference between being hurt and being injured which one are you and they are very different things?
01:59:30.363 --> 01:59:37.065
[SPEAKER_01]: And, it also teaches you the discipline of getting up and doing more than everybody else has to do if you want to play this sport.
01:59:39.645 --> 01:59:42.286
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the kind of stuff that I see missing in this next generation.
01:59:42.806 --> 01:59:50.208
[SPEAKER_01]: And, y'all would suggest you guys to, I mean, young people, and that's the individual sport, which is another level, because now it's on you.
01:59:50.888 --> 01:59:53.149
[SPEAKER_01]: Now it's Mono Emano, it's you first steal the person.
01:59:53.609 --> 02:00:04.593
[SPEAKER_01]: which is also a very important lesson to learn about how to prepare yourself to fight the battles not just in sports and just in jujitsu but the battles of life that you have to deal with every single day.
02:00:11.096 --> 02:00:28.762
[SPEAKER_04]: playing on a team football like they have unique positions where the wider receiver he can't just jump and play you know and the running you know like every once in a great while you'll see a guy who can play two positions or both ways but everyone's like whoa this is a big deal I try to write like like nobody wants it in generation
02:00:30.463 --> 02:00:39.654
[SPEAKER_04]: So it's really like, hey, you got to do your job because, bro, it's not like this other guy can just jump in and fill your, you know, when you make a mistake, it, like, it affects everybody.
02:00:40.535 --> 02:00:47.083
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just like combat, just like, you know, the guys, we have a mission as an, as a Apache guy, and I can't do what they do, and they can't do what I do.
02:00:47.583 --> 02:00:49.606
[SPEAKER_01]: But we both have to do our job, everybody goes home safe.
02:00:51.167 --> 02:00:52.948
[SPEAKER_01]: You learn these very, is a very simple value.
02:00:53.028 --> 02:00:54.248
[SPEAKER_01]: Very simple value.
02:00:54.308 --> 02:00:55.588
[SPEAKER_01]: You learn them in sports.
02:00:56.188 --> 02:00:56.988
[SPEAKER_00]: Do your job.
02:00:57.249 --> 02:01:00.609
[SPEAKER_00]: Do your job.
02:01:01.610 --> 02:01:02.090
[SPEAKER_00]: Good echo.
02:01:02.310 --> 02:01:02.750
[SPEAKER_00]: Still good.
02:01:02.810 --> 02:01:03.630
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, good to meet you.
02:01:03.710 --> 02:01:04.970
[SPEAKER_00]: Because it's been a pleasure brother.
02:01:04.990 --> 02:01:06.251
[SPEAKER_00]: Good meeting you as well.
02:01:06.291 --> 02:01:07.451
[SPEAKER_00]: Any other closing thoughts, man?
02:01:08.331 --> 02:01:09.151
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for all you do.
02:01:09.992 --> 02:01:10.812
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for your message.
02:01:13.397 --> 02:01:16.599
[SPEAKER_01]: good is something that we use in our house frequently.
02:01:16.779 --> 02:01:18.300
[SPEAKER_01]: I show my wife this a long time ago.
02:01:18.420 --> 02:01:20.221
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been obsessed with it for a very long time.
02:01:21.041 --> 02:01:25.803
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a mantra that we all need to adhere to and your messages is a very strong message.
02:01:25.924 --> 02:01:29.165
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a very good message and it's something that is positive.
02:01:29.926 --> 02:01:34.308
[SPEAKER_01]: It's based for who you are and it's something that we need to hear.
02:01:34.948 --> 02:01:40.051
[SPEAKER_01]: Something that our world needs to hear and the fact that you are even willing to have somebody like me on
02:01:40.711 --> 02:01:59.182
[SPEAKER_01]: on your platform, it's an honor to be here, and thank you for your service, and your continued service, and fighting what I think is the war and understanding what masculinity means, what it means to be a fighter, and what it means to be your best self, and the best version of yourself, and to become the best version of yourself, ain't easy.
02:02:00.342 --> 02:02:01.103
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not easy.
02:02:02.544 --> 02:02:03.584
[SPEAKER_01]: But there is no alternative.
02:02:03.744 --> 02:02:06.566
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to become that best person there yourself, and thank you for all you do.
02:02:07.046 --> 02:02:07.887
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, appreciate it.
02:02:07.947 --> 02:02:09.268
[SPEAKER_00]: And thanks for joining us.
02:02:09.568 --> 02:02:12.711
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, thanks for your service to our great nation.
02:02:12.931 --> 02:02:19.877
[SPEAKER_00]: Not only in the Army, not only protecting those troops on the ground and being there when they need them and scare in the end of the way at a minimum.
02:02:20.878 --> 02:02:21.919
[SPEAKER_00]: But thanks for what you're doing now.
02:02:22.139 --> 02:02:24.641
[SPEAKER_00]: As a member of Congress, put yourself back in the line of fire.
02:02:25.002 --> 02:02:26.063
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know that's what it's like.
02:02:26.123 --> 02:02:28.525
[SPEAKER_00]: I see from the outside what you guys go through.
02:02:29.085 --> 02:02:31.627
[SPEAKER_00]: And thanks for what you're doing to protect our way of life here in America.
02:02:31.667 --> 02:02:31.968
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
02:02:32.108 --> 02:02:32.448
[SPEAKER_01]: My honor.
02:02:32.508 --> 02:02:32.928
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, brother.
02:02:32.968 --> 02:02:33.269
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
02:02:33.389 --> 02:02:33.649
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
02:02:35.110 --> 02:02:39.093
[SPEAKER_00]: And with that, Congressman Wesley Hunt has left the building.
02:02:40.314 --> 02:02:44.256
[SPEAKER_00]: Definitely awesome to sit down and hear his perspective.
02:02:45.792 --> 02:02:46.753
[SPEAKER_00]: got a lot of energy.
02:02:46.953 --> 02:02:48.995
[SPEAKER_00]: He's fired up from got out of the vehicle.
02:02:49.035 --> 02:02:49.496
[SPEAKER_00]: He's fired up.
02:02:49.516 --> 02:02:50.196
[SPEAKER_00]: He brought me with him.
02:02:50.377 --> 02:02:51.958
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you want to pursue a fired up?
02:02:52.158 --> 02:02:53.880
[SPEAKER_00]: We're all fired up.
02:02:54.701 --> 02:02:56.803
[SPEAKER_00]: Part of that is he's getting after it, right?
02:02:57.103 --> 02:02:58.465
[SPEAKER_00]: Getting after it, working out.
02:03:00.186 --> 02:03:07.233
[SPEAKER_00]: And I understand that you've confirmed a protocol for intra workout scenarios.
02:03:07.454 --> 02:03:07.594
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
02:03:08.074 --> 02:03:09.596
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're doing two workouts.
02:03:09.896 --> 02:03:10.716
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, in a row.
02:03:10.976 --> 02:03:12.577
[SPEAKER_04]: So, this is when it counts.
02:03:12.637 --> 02:03:12.837
[SPEAKER_04]: Yep.
02:03:12.857 --> 02:03:13.337
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
02:03:13.518 --> 02:03:14.878
[SPEAKER_04]: So, jock of you, we got to hydrate.
02:03:14.898 --> 02:03:17.299
[SPEAKER_04]: Don't got creatine.
02:03:17.579 --> 02:03:18.219
[SPEAKER_03]: Mm-hmm.
02:03:18.239 --> 02:03:21.121
[SPEAKER_04]: Right, it's just seemingly like me and let's not think, yeah, we already knew we had hydrate.
02:03:21.361 --> 02:03:23.662
[SPEAKER_04]: But anyway, if you time it, so here's my routine.
02:03:24.882 --> 02:03:25.582
[SPEAKER_04]: Hydrate is a morning.
02:03:26.003 --> 02:03:30.024
[SPEAKER_04]: It's just how, let's drink a thing of water and then I go out on a little brook.
02:03:30.284 --> 02:03:30.945
[SPEAKER_04]: Sometimes run.
02:03:30.965 --> 02:03:31.485
[SPEAKER_04]: Mm-hmm.
02:03:32.625 --> 02:03:37.727
[SPEAKER_04]: And then if I have if time is kind of whatever, I'll do the live right after.
02:03:37.747 --> 02:03:38.147
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
02:03:38.368 --> 02:03:39.168
[SPEAKER_04]: But sometimes,
02:03:39.617 --> 02:03:41.100
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you mean if time is a little whatever?
02:03:41.280 --> 02:03:41.921
[SPEAKER_00]: What does that even mean?
02:03:42.422 --> 02:03:42.542
[SPEAKER_04]: No.
02:03:43.123 --> 02:03:44.486
[SPEAKER_04]: So you don't have time?
02:03:44.526 --> 02:03:45.027
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, yeah.
02:03:45.107 --> 02:03:47.431
[SPEAKER_04]: If you, if I'm like, hey, I'm not, I don't want to.
02:03:48.533 --> 02:03:49.413
[SPEAKER_04]: Look, please face it.
02:03:49.873 --> 02:03:53.215
[SPEAKER_04]: Sometimes you get stuff to do right after that, you know, like today.
02:03:54.655 --> 02:03:55.575
[SPEAKER_04]: But sometimes you don't.
02:03:55.675 --> 02:03:58.757
[SPEAKER_04]: So I can be like, I'll do the rock or whatever in the morning and then I'll work out in the afternoon.
02:03:58.777 --> 02:04:01.758
[SPEAKER_04]: So I'm full energy so I can get the most out of each workout.
02:04:02.278 --> 02:04:03.098
[SPEAKER_04]: That's my routine.
02:04:03.338 --> 02:04:04.538
[SPEAKER_04]: I know, not anyone's like that.
02:04:04.579 --> 02:04:04.879
[SPEAKER_04]: Whatever.
02:04:05.479 --> 02:04:11.381
[SPEAKER_04]: But if I'm like I want to get them both done in a row, sometimes the lift, which I do second, sometimes that suffers performance wise.
02:04:11.881 --> 02:04:12.881
[SPEAKER_04]: Because I went through, you know.
02:04:14.882 --> 02:04:15.503
[SPEAKER_04]: But this is what you do.
02:04:16.305 --> 02:04:19.250
[SPEAKER_04]: Hydrate during the rock or right after.
02:04:19.430 --> 02:04:21.053
[SPEAKER_04]: Hydrate and creatine mix.
02:04:21.213 --> 02:04:21.895
[SPEAKER_04]: Big S mix.
02:04:22.736 --> 02:04:23.217
[SPEAKER_04]: Good is new.
02:04:23.538 --> 02:04:27.244
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I mean, you're still sweating stuff, but it's like you're good as new.
02:04:28.220 --> 02:04:28.580
[SPEAKER_00]: I like it.
02:04:28.800 --> 02:04:29.421
[SPEAKER_00]: Good protocol.
02:04:31.062 --> 02:04:34.583
[SPEAKER_00]: If you need to get hydrate or creatine, go to jockelfield.com.
02:04:34.743 --> 02:04:35.344
[SPEAKER_00]: We also have protein.
02:04:35.364 --> 02:04:36.084
[SPEAKER_00]: We got everything that you need.
02:04:36.264 --> 02:04:37.225
[SPEAKER_00]: Jockelfield.com.
02:04:37.245 --> 02:04:37.845
[SPEAKER_00]: Go check it out.
02:04:37.865 --> 02:04:40.006
[SPEAKER_00]: We're also in a bunch of stores around the country.
02:04:40.046 --> 02:04:40.767
[SPEAKER_00]: You can find it.
02:04:41.987 --> 02:04:42.648
[SPEAKER_00]: It's what's good for you.
02:04:43.328 --> 02:04:46.830
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, origin USA, American made clothing.
02:04:48.011 --> 02:05:02.021
[SPEAKER_00]: talk about a lot of sacrifices that get made for America, and we talked about those who were Wesley Hunt today, but sometimes people forget that the sacrifice were made and go out and buy a pair of freaking pants that were made
02:05:02.741 --> 02:05:06.824
[SPEAKER_00]: In China, which by the way, Wesley Hunt pointed out as our biggest threat.
02:05:07.304 --> 02:05:08.065
[SPEAKER_00]: And yet we're giving a money.
02:05:08.525 --> 02:05:09.186
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's not give a money.
02:05:09.406 --> 02:05:10.747
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's keep the money right here in America.
02:05:11.828 --> 02:05:13.969
[SPEAKER_00]: Go to origin USA and get a pair of pants.
02:05:14.329 --> 02:05:18.733
[SPEAKER_00]: Would you wear on the, uh, you're saying you, you're saying that you were in the comfort zone on your flight to Hawaii.
02:05:18.933 --> 02:05:19.113
[SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
02:05:19.953 --> 02:05:20.514
[SPEAKER_04]: Standard.
02:05:20.994 --> 02:05:21.074
[SPEAKER_04]: Uh.
02:05:21.595 --> 02:05:22.235
[SPEAKER_00]: What would you wear?
02:05:22.875 --> 02:05:23.636
[SPEAKER_04]: Standard uniform.
02:05:25.597 --> 02:05:26.318
[SPEAKER_04]: Origin pants.
02:05:26.898 --> 02:05:27.519
[SPEAKER_00]: All the jeans.
02:05:27.779 --> 02:05:28.199
[SPEAKER_00]: Origin jeans.
02:05:28.299 --> 02:05:28.960
[SPEAKER_04]: Origin jeans.
02:05:30.331 --> 02:05:31.912
[SPEAKER_00]: Because there's a bunch of different kinds of pants now for them.
02:05:31.952 --> 02:05:32.152
[SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
02:05:32.473 --> 02:05:33.313
[SPEAKER_04]: You got the right.
02:05:33.514 --> 02:05:34.875
[SPEAKER_00]: The GTFO pants.
02:05:35.875 --> 02:05:36.396
[SPEAKER_00]: You got the...
02:05:38.106 --> 02:05:40.708
[SPEAKER_00]: those kind of canvas cotton ones.
02:05:41.368 --> 02:05:42.569
[SPEAKER_00]: Those are, those are pretty nice.
02:05:42.769 --> 02:05:42.929
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
02:05:43.690 --> 02:05:43.890
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
02:05:44.050 --> 02:05:46.131
[SPEAKER_00]: Factory G. That's a little bit of stretching them too.
02:05:46.191 --> 02:05:46.351
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
02:05:46.491 --> 02:05:48.453
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the fact that you're using this, yeah.
02:05:48.493 --> 02:05:49.693
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, both genes have stretching.
02:05:49.873 --> 02:05:51.014
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, and they're a little bit thicker.
02:05:51.034 --> 02:05:52.915
[SPEAKER_04]: Because me, like, you're wearing the factory genes?
02:05:52.975 --> 02:05:53.175
[SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
02:05:53.256 --> 02:05:53.816
[SPEAKER_04]: It's a Hawaii.
02:05:53.876 --> 02:05:54.516
[SPEAKER_04]: Too Hawaii.
02:05:54.556 --> 02:05:54.716
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
02:05:54.756 --> 02:06:00.280
[SPEAKER_04]: Because they put on the air conditioning and the plane, you know, to keep it cool.
02:06:00.560 --> 02:06:01.941
[SPEAKER_04]: And I'm going for max comfort.
02:06:02.001 --> 02:06:02.241
[SPEAKER_04]: I know.
02:06:02.902 --> 02:06:06.164
[SPEAKER_04]: But sometimes we forget that I'm kind of the connoisseur of comfort.
02:06:06.864 --> 02:06:11.509
[SPEAKER_04]: So you do that the factory genes of perfect amount of thickness, so it shields you from the air conditioning.
02:06:12.009 --> 02:06:12.850
[SPEAKER_04]: And here's the thing too.
02:06:13.150 --> 02:06:14.332
[SPEAKER_04]: So yeah, it's a science.
02:06:14.352 --> 02:06:15.453
[SPEAKER_04]: I got it done to a science so here.
02:06:15.593 --> 02:06:18.055
[SPEAKER_04]: And then the other thing I wear is that jacket.
02:06:18.115 --> 02:06:19.817
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, it's like it's kind of like a win break.
02:06:19.857 --> 02:06:20.518
[SPEAKER_04]: It's a word in one.
02:06:20.638 --> 02:06:21.699
[SPEAKER_04]: That black one that win breakers.
02:06:21.759 --> 02:06:22.680
[SPEAKER_04]: It's a whole perfect.
02:06:22.700 --> 02:06:23.201
[SPEAKER_00]: It's so jacket.
02:06:23.821 --> 02:06:24.001
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
02:06:24.021 --> 02:06:24.822
[SPEAKER_00]: That thing is good to go.
02:06:24.902 --> 02:06:25.743
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, hundred percent.
02:06:25.803 --> 02:06:27.165
[SPEAKER_04]: And then of course, the def course sucks.
02:06:27.825 --> 02:06:28.966
[SPEAKER_04]: No, yeah, okay.
02:06:29.086 --> 02:06:46.019
[SPEAKER_04]: It's the fact that I'm gonna let's see you in a form way to origin USA made in America hundred percent and then juggle store you can get some deaf core socks if you want yeah, yeah Available that I don't we got other stuff on there So we got the short locker, which is like as you know the subscription scenario every month you get a new design
02:06:47.099 --> 02:06:48.480
[SPEAKER_04]: So I thought of you for next month.
02:06:48.500 --> 02:06:49.280
[SPEAKER_04]: Let's do the same.
02:06:49.920 --> 02:06:52.001
[SPEAKER_04]: Let's just say it's Celtic in nature.
02:06:52.521 --> 02:06:52.921
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
02:06:53.382 --> 02:06:53.882
[SPEAKER_04]: It's a good one.
02:06:54.022 --> 02:06:54.742
[SPEAKER_04]: Also good.
02:06:55.142 --> 02:06:56.003
[SPEAKER_04]: So you don't good, right?
02:06:56.023 --> 02:06:56.723
[SPEAKER_04]: This one I'm wearing.
02:06:56.783 --> 02:06:58.424
[SPEAKER_04]: This is like the second edition.
02:06:58.504 --> 02:06:59.344
[SPEAKER_04]: Second version.
02:06:59.404 --> 02:06:59.824
[SPEAKER_04]: We'll say.
02:07:00.064 --> 02:07:00.224
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
02:07:00.724 --> 02:07:02.585
[SPEAKER_04]: I got the third version coming next month.
02:07:02.925 --> 02:07:03.345
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
02:07:03.445 --> 02:07:04.546
[SPEAKER_04]: So be on the lookout for that one.
02:07:04.566 --> 02:07:05.366
[SPEAKER_04]: And it's a Celtic.
02:07:05.966 --> 02:07:07.007
[SPEAKER_04]: No, that one's not Celtic.
02:07:07.287 --> 02:07:07.987
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure.
02:07:08.227 --> 02:07:09.348
[SPEAKER_04]: For next month is Celtic.
02:07:10.348 --> 02:07:12.629
[SPEAKER_04]: But the good just happens to be coming out next month.
02:07:12.649 --> 02:07:12.929
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
02:07:12.989 --> 02:07:14.890
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm saying, and that one's not Celtic.
02:07:14.950 --> 02:07:15.670
[SPEAKER_04]: That's, you know.
02:07:15.924 --> 02:07:17.365
[SPEAKER_04]: This is the third version, three point out.
02:07:17.485 --> 02:07:17.765
[SPEAKER_04]: Good.
02:07:18.525 --> 02:07:20.086
[SPEAKER_00]: There you go, jockelstore.com.
02:07:20.146 --> 02:07:23.127
[SPEAKER_00]: Dave Berks out of book coming out called Need to Lead, go check that out.
02:07:23.187 --> 02:07:25.628
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, we just released echelon front.
02:07:25.968 --> 02:07:28.909
[SPEAKER_00]: We just released a new Academy course.
02:07:30.229 --> 02:07:31.270
[SPEAKER_00]: It's about the ladder of alignment.
02:07:31.290 --> 02:07:32.730
[SPEAKER_00]: That's extreme ownership.com.
02:07:32.810 --> 02:07:36.972
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, that lateral line ladder of ladder of alignment.
02:07:37.252 --> 02:07:38.093
[SPEAKER_04]: All right, right.
02:07:38.173 --> 02:07:40.514
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so it's like a comprehensive course then.
02:07:40.754 --> 02:07:48.339
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, because this is one thing that can really jam people up to the parlance of echoed trolls is if we're not aligned on what we're trying to do.
02:07:49.059 --> 02:07:50.280
[SPEAKER_00]: How do we find alignment?
02:07:50.420 --> 02:07:54.662
[SPEAKER_00]: How do we confirm our alignment and how do we continue on with alignment?
02:07:55.102 --> 02:08:01.266
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but sometimes sometimes we aren't aligned and there's various levels that can happen at.
02:08:02.247 --> 02:08:04.548
[SPEAKER_00]: And when you're not aligned at a lower level, guess what you got to do?
02:08:05.362 --> 02:08:05.702
[SPEAKER_00]: find it.
02:08:06.062 --> 02:08:07.243
[SPEAKER_00]: Climb the ladder of alignment.
02:08:08.184 --> 02:08:08.444
[SPEAKER_00]: So.
02:08:08.564 --> 02:08:09.965
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, that, that one.
02:08:10.005 --> 02:08:11.266
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's a skill to that.
02:08:11.466 --> 02:08:12.427
[SPEAKER_00]: There's techniques around that.
02:08:12.487 --> 02:08:17.030
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, yeah, and a lot of times we don't, it's a kind of where you don't realize that you are aligned.
02:08:17.090 --> 02:08:18.391
[SPEAKER_04]: So that's when you get a climb the ladder.
02:08:18.691 --> 02:08:23.895
[SPEAKER_04]: And this is why I know this because when you explain it at the master, this is why it comes up.
02:08:24.255 --> 02:08:26.137
[SPEAKER_04]: This one is like, oh, they have like an agenda.
02:08:26.637 --> 02:08:30.780
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, like that group or that person that I work with or whatever, they have like, disagenda.
02:08:30.900 --> 02:08:34.483
[SPEAKER_04]: But then you're like, well, who's to say that's always bad, you know?
02:08:35.303 --> 02:08:36.324
[SPEAKER_04]: I have that ladder you find up.
02:08:36.725 --> 02:08:37.866
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's gonna be useful.
02:08:38.126 --> 02:08:43.411
[SPEAKER_00]: They're gender and people can have different competing agendas and that's actually okay.
02:08:43.431 --> 02:08:46.374
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, as long as we don't start undermining each other.
02:08:46.534 --> 02:08:48.616
[SPEAKER_00]: We have competing agendas on where we're going to have dinner.
02:08:49.157 --> 02:08:50.218
[SPEAKER_00]: Like we know, I want to go here.
02:08:50.238 --> 02:08:50.658
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to go there.
02:08:50.678 --> 02:08:52.900
[SPEAKER_00]: But we both want to eat, as you understand?
02:08:54.021 --> 02:08:55.122
[SPEAKER_00]: So let's eat.
02:08:55.543 --> 02:08:56.644
[SPEAKER_00]: Ashlandfront.com.
02:08:58.348 --> 02:09:01.249
[SPEAKER_00]: extremownership.com go check those out if you need leadership training.
02:09:02.029 --> 02:09:05.230
[SPEAKER_00]: Also if you want to help service members active and retired you want to help their families.
02:09:06.750 --> 02:09:11.571
[SPEAKER_00]: Check out Mark Lee's mom mom Lee's got an amazing organization.
02:09:12.571 --> 02:09:16.232
[SPEAKER_00]: If you want to donate or you want to get involved, go to America's mighty warriors dot org.
02:09:16.272 --> 02:09:17.973
[SPEAKER_00]: Also check out heroes and horses dot org.
02:09:18.033 --> 02:09:25.694
[SPEAKER_00]: Mike afink his program taking vets up into the mountains so they can find their soul and find the Jimmy Mays organization beyond the brotherhood dot org.
02:09:25.794 --> 02:09:27.555
[SPEAKER_00]: Check all those out if you want to connect.
02:09:28.816 --> 02:09:41.752
[SPEAKER_00]: You want to connect with Wesley Hunt on the internet, WesleyFertexus.com on Instagram, WesleyFertexus, Twitter, X, and YouTube, Wesley Hunt, TX.
02:09:43.047 --> 02:09:44.328
[SPEAKER_00]: and Facebook, Wesley Hunt.
02:09:44.688 --> 02:09:48.931
[SPEAKER_00]: For us, I'm at Jocco.com, and on social media, I'm at Jocco Willink.
02:09:49.952 --> 02:09:50.832
[SPEAKER_00]: Echoes at Echo Charles.
02:09:51.793 --> 02:09:56.156
[SPEAKER_00]: Just be careful, because you can waste a lot of time on social media if you're not careful, and you don't want that to happen.
02:09:56.456 --> 02:09:59.238
[SPEAKER_00]: Once again, thanks to Congressman Wesley Hunt for joining us tonight.
02:10:00.019 --> 02:10:01.480
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for sharing your experiences.
02:10:01.500 --> 02:10:02.701
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for sharing your lessons earned.
02:10:03.721 --> 02:10:08.825
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for your service and the Army, and thank you for your continued service in Congress.
02:10:09.225 --> 02:10:10.266
[SPEAKER_00]: It's much appreciated, brother.
02:10:10.306 --> 02:10:10.586
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
02:10:10.870 --> 02:10:23.579
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, thanks to our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines right now staged around the world right now as we speak, away from their families, away from their homes in order to protect our safety and our way of lives.
02:10:23.979 --> 02:10:25.941
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for your service and your sacrifice.
02:10:25.981 --> 02:10:34.107
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, thanks to our police law enforcement, firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, dispatchers, correctional officers, border patrol, secret service, as well as all of the first responders.
02:10:34.847 --> 02:10:39.530
[SPEAKER_00]: We are thankful for your service to protect us here on the home front for everyone else out there.
02:10:41.352 --> 02:10:42.913
[SPEAKER_00]: I saw a little comment from Wesley Hunt.
02:10:44.535 --> 02:10:51.161
[SPEAKER_00]: And he said this quote, the only thing that's preventing you from being anything you want to be in this country is you.
02:10:53.424 --> 02:10:56.607
[SPEAKER_00]: There are people that start off with way less and ended up with way more.
02:10:57.507 --> 02:11:03.053
[SPEAKER_00]: The fact that you are born in this country no matter how hard it might be for you, what's your excuse?
02:11:05.343 --> 02:11:14.606
[SPEAKER_00]: and do not allow people to have low expectations of you because you will live up to that in the quote.
02:11:15.047 --> 02:11:15.547
[SPEAKER_00]: So there you have it.
02:11:16.067 --> 02:11:26.931
[SPEAKER_00]: Set some high expectations and then meet them and you do that by not making excuses but instead as you can probably guess by taking your ownership.
02:11:28.552 --> 02:11:29.132
[SPEAKER_00]: That's all I've got.
02:11:29.472 --> 02:11:32.193
[SPEAKER_00]: For tonight, until next time, this is Echo and Jocco.
00:00.151 --> 00:03.846
[SPEAKER_00]: This is Jockel Pondcast number five-o four with echo Charles and me, Jockel Willing.
00:04.087 --> 00:05.031
[SPEAKER_00]: Be the evening, I go leading me.
00:06.942 --> 00:10.765
[SPEAKER_00]: The presence of veterans in legislative bodies is not merely symbolic.
00:11.646 --> 00:19.311
[SPEAKER_00]: Veterans bring to politics a distinct understanding of national interest discipline and a sense of responsibility shaped by their military service.
00:19.392 --> 00:29.379
[SPEAKER_00]: Their experience instills an ability to deliberate on matters of war and peace, security, and the burdens born by citizens in uniform.
00:30.560 --> 00:35.423
[SPEAKER_00]: when those who have sworn to defend the nation's laws also help make them.
00:36.184 --> 00:43.869
[SPEAKER_00]: The healthy integration of military and civilian spheres is enhanced, strengthening the very fabric of democratic governance.
00:45.670 --> 00:56.057
[SPEAKER_00]: The statesmen who has also been a soldier is armed not only with theories of national security, but with the tested realities of service and sacrifice.
00:57.024 --> 01:04.772
[SPEAKER_00]: His judgment about the requirements of policy is tempered by direct knowledge of the cost of war and the limits of force.
01:06.373 --> 01:20.207
[SPEAKER_00]: Military experience does not guarantee wisdom, but it provides an anchor against illusion and an appreciation for the discipline, unity and responsibility that preserve a free society.
01:23.355 --> 01:34.205
[SPEAKER_00]: those right there are some quotes from a book called The Soldier and The State written by Samuel P. Huntington who graduated from Yale served in the Army at the tail end of World War II.
01:35.366 --> 01:43.594
[SPEAKER_00]: Got a master degree from University of Chicago, PhD from Harvard and eventually became one of America's most influential political scientists and theorists.
01:44.800 --> 01:59.453
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's thoughts that I just read about the importance of veterans in our government are just as important than as they are now going from the military into the government provides a link between
02:01.330 --> 02:04.313
[SPEAKER_00]: both of those and grounds them both in reality.
02:05.714 --> 02:15.383
[SPEAKER_00]: It's an honor to have one of those veterans leaders here with us tonight to discuss his experiences on the battlefield and now in the political world.
02:16.464 --> 02:17.284
[SPEAKER_00]: in the halls of Congress.
02:17.544 --> 02:18.424
[SPEAKER_00]: His name is Wesley Hunt.
02:18.725 --> 02:30.247
[SPEAKER_00]: He's West Point graduate Army Apache pilot Iraq War veteran and now a congressman representing the thirty-eighth congressional district of Texas.
02:30.547 --> 02:32.348
[SPEAKER_00]: The great state of Texas as they say.
02:32.408 --> 02:33.808
[SPEAKER_00]: Wesley, thanks for joining us, man.
02:33.828 --> 02:34.288
[SPEAKER_00]: Great to meet you.
02:34.308 --> 02:35.288
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for having me on, brother.
02:35.488 --> 02:36.289
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you all very much.
02:36.489 --> 02:38.069
[SPEAKER_00]: Glad we can finally make this happen, man.
02:38.089 --> 02:38.389
[SPEAKER_00]: Be sure.
02:39.209 --> 02:40.350
[SPEAKER_00]: We you got a lot of stuff.
02:40.710 --> 02:41.710
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of experiences.
02:42.030 --> 02:42.810
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's get right into it.
02:42.830 --> 02:44.751
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk a little bit about your background growing up.
02:45.031 --> 02:45.211
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
02:45.231 --> 02:45.771
[SPEAKER_00]: What was that all like?
02:46.591 --> 02:49.013
[SPEAKER_01]: background growing up but as retired Lieutenant Colonel in the army.
02:49.033 --> 02:50.935
[SPEAKER_01]: What are you doing the army?
02:51.015 --> 02:52.476
[SPEAKER_01]: My dad was an agit general.
02:53.096 --> 02:56.499
[SPEAKER_01]: And so graduated ROTC as something university.
02:57.040 --> 03:03.605
[SPEAKER_01]: And then was active due to a little while, then with reserves for a while in Houston, Texas, where my brother and I and sister were basically our born and raised.
03:03.765 --> 03:04.446
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
03:04.506 --> 03:06.928
[SPEAKER_01]: So my sister is West Point, ninety three.
03:08.049 --> 03:12.252
[SPEAKER_01]: So she served twenty three years active duty, military intelligence officer deployed multiple times.
03:12.472 --> 03:18.235
[SPEAKER_00]: And she started she graduated in ninety three nine three she's more of my as she is your vintage.
03:20.177 --> 03:24.619
[SPEAKER_01]: So and now you know she retired lives lives in Houston is doing awesome.
03:25.140 --> 03:28.401
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm West Point two thousand and four so finish it was point
03:29.682 --> 03:42.090
[SPEAKER_01]: then did eight years active duty as a patchy driver, deployed to Iraq, flew fifty-five competent nurses in Baghdad, two twos of duty in Saudi Arabia, and then after that went to grad school at Cornell University, earned three masters the reason for years.
03:42.670 --> 03:47.193
[SPEAKER_01]: So the master's business public administration in industrial and labor relations moved back home to God's country.
03:47.253 --> 03:48.154
[SPEAKER_01]: That is Texas, sorry.
03:49.454 --> 03:51.116
[SPEAKER_01]: And then ran for Congress and now here I am.
03:51.276 --> 03:53.057
[SPEAKER_01]: And my brother is also West Point graduate.
03:53.597 --> 03:56.218
[SPEAKER_01]: So my brother, my brother is ten months and eight days, my junior.
03:56.398 --> 04:01.279
[SPEAKER_01]: So I always make sure that eight days are always delineated because it's very important to us for a competitive.
04:02.239 --> 04:04.259
[SPEAKER_01]: He is West Point, oh five.
04:04.279 --> 04:04.880
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
04:04.920 --> 04:07.260
[SPEAKER_01]: And then went into the Navy as a surface warfare officer.
04:07.280 --> 04:08.800
[SPEAKER_01]: So he was stationed out here in San Diego.
04:08.820 --> 04:09.060
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
04:09.341 --> 04:10.881
[SPEAKER_01]: And then with the Harvard Business School after that.
04:11.321 --> 04:13.301
[SPEAKER_01]: And so he's the only one that defected to the Navy.
04:13.321 --> 04:14.822
[SPEAKER_01]: He would give him a really hard time.
04:14.962 --> 04:19.903
[SPEAKER_01]: But then I realized when I was stationed at Fort Hood and I got back from my deployment, he invited me down to San Diego.
04:20.463 --> 04:26.525
[SPEAKER_01]: And this dude pulls up and it's BMW convertible and it's uniform beautiful women beautiful weather you name it.
04:26.765 --> 04:36.268
[SPEAKER_01]: It goes welcome to San Diego and I'm like Dammit You are the smart one for the Texas San Diego you you get it
04:36.588 --> 04:38.371
[SPEAKER_00]: That played a role for me to join in the Navy.
04:38.891 --> 04:40.593
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was looking at all the different special operations.
04:41.174 --> 04:42.636
[SPEAKER_00]: And I grew up as a kid.
04:42.676 --> 04:48.924
[SPEAKER_00]: I served in Maine, which is like there's not many surfers in Maine and there definitely wasn't many surfers in the in Maine in the eighties.
04:49.385 --> 04:52.809
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was a surfer and I looked at all the different special operations.
04:52.909 --> 04:54.872
[SPEAKER_00]: I was trying to figure out what to do.
04:55.652 --> 04:59.716
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you in the sealed teams, you were either stationed in Virginia Beach or San Diego.
05:00.197 --> 05:01.098
[SPEAKER_00]: Each one had surfing.
05:01.578 --> 05:04.501
[SPEAKER_00]: And I looked at all the place, all the other special operations you weren't surfing.
05:05.001 --> 05:06.943
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was one of the things.
05:07.063 --> 05:10.307
[SPEAKER_00]: And also because I was a water guy, you know, the sealed teams made sense.
05:10.367 --> 05:15.832
[SPEAKER_00]: But so when you were growing up, like at what age did you know the path you were going to take?
05:16.152 --> 05:17.994
[SPEAKER_01]: So we drove my sister up to West Point.
05:18.014 --> 05:19.355
[SPEAKER_01]: So she's ten years older than me.
05:19.375 --> 05:20.737
[SPEAKER_01]: They're my brother and our ten months apart.
05:20.797 --> 05:22.078
[SPEAKER_01]: Ten and ten, ten years, ten months.
05:22.579 --> 05:27.784
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I was about eight, seven years old when we drove for up to West Point for to do to do her pleap summer.
05:28.384 --> 05:31.347
[SPEAKER_01]: And we drove from Texas drove all the way up to West Point.
05:31.808 --> 05:38.074
[SPEAKER_01]: And then when you're there and you're at six, seven year old little boy and you see West Point for the first time, some gets locked in.
05:38.094 --> 05:38.715
[SPEAKER_01]: That's all it took.
05:38.975 --> 05:40.857
[SPEAKER_01]: That's literally all took and we tried to fight it.
05:40.937 --> 05:42.778
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we would say we're not going to go to West Point.
05:42.798 --> 05:47.843
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to go to my brother went to go to Harvard for undergrad and I went to go to University of Michigan and we would joke around.
05:48.043 --> 05:52.247
[SPEAKER_01]: But when it came down to it and when the rubber met the actual road, we were all who were up on the West Point.
05:52.267 --> 05:53.368
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's just kind of what it was.
05:53.448 --> 06:02.656
[SPEAKER_00]: So knowing though that at a young age that you wanted to go there, at least you wanted as an option, that had to get you focused because you're not getting into West Point without doing the work.
06:02.876 --> 06:09.363
[SPEAKER_01]: So the good thing is is that hell's focus you and then I had what I call parent privilege.
06:09.384 --> 06:10.545
[SPEAKER_01]: There is no privilege in this country.
06:10.565 --> 06:13.809
[SPEAKER_01]: There's only parent privilege and also the privilege of being an American.
06:14.049 --> 06:17.132
[SPEAKER_01]: Those are only two privileges that I would ever deem in this country today.
06:17.573 --> 06:19.715
[SPEAKER_01]: And so both of my parents didn't play games.
06:20.156 --> 06:23.359
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't have three West pointers coming from one house growing up in a soft home.
06:24.020 --> 06:25.781
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so my parents were very big on.
06:26.001 --> 06:26.962
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to serve this country.
06:27.002 --> 06:32.606
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to figure out how to preserve the lineage that got you here in the first place.
06:32.906 --> 06:34.427
[SPEAKER_01]: You are not going to be a victim.
06:35.088 --> 06:36.769
[SPEAKER_01]: My parents grew up in the Jim Crow era.
06:37.169 --> 06:42.052
[SPEAKER_01]: And they're looking at us and looking at guys like me and their sons and their daughters becoming West Point graduates.
06:42.072 --> 06:45.074
[SPEAKER_01]: He announced his congressman as Republicans and white majority districts.
06:45.515 --> 06:48.096
[SPEAKER_01]: And my parents were like, no, no, we don't, we don't play the games of the past.
06:48.136 --> 06:49.237
[SPEAKER_01]: We always look forward.
06:49.678 --> 06:53.000
[SPEAKER_01]: So you find a bit of service country, which is exactly what we all did at one point.
06:53.380 --> 06:57.623
[SPEAKER_01]: We were all in Baghdad at the same time during in two thousand six.
06:57.784 --> 07:00.165
[SPEAKER_01]: So I was by far the coolest flying patches.
07:00.846 --> 07:02.988
[SPEAKER_01]: That's how, like, so what?
07:03.768 --> 07:04.869
[SPEAKER_00]: Black one of you.
07:05.149 --> 07:05.850
[SPEAKER_00]: That's true.
07:05.970 --> 07:08.892
[SPEAKER_00]: As you looked at, you know, how did you map out?
07:08.992 --> 07:09.253
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
07:09.733 --> 07:10.694
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to West Point.
07:10.714 --> 07:12.215
[SPEAKER_00]: That means I need to get these kind of grades.
07:12.235 --> 07:13.836
[SPEAKER_00]: That means I need to get this and the SATs.
07:13.856 --> 07:17.999
[SPEAKER_00]: That means I need to get this type of leadership, kind of skills.
07:18.340 --> 07:19.421
[SPEAKER_00]: I need to play these sports.
07:20.021 --> 07:21.222
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you just package it up?
07:21.542 --> 07:22.283
[SPEAKER_00]: Was that your focus?
07:22.443 --> 07:27.667
[SPEAKER_01]: The good thing is it's like, this is what's about parents, like my dad and my mom, like, they were our sherpas going through life.
07:27.687 --> 07:36.273
[SPEAKER_01]: They were like, look, if you want to go to West Point, you have to do X, Y, and Z. But if you want to do anything excellent in this life, even if it's not West Point, this is what's required of you.
07:36.833 --> 07:39.235
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, yes, we had a, we always played a sport.
07:39.275 --> 07:42.737
[SPEAKER_01]: So I did, I went from football to basketball, basketball and running track.
07:43.178 --> 07:49.122
[SPEAKER_01]: All of our summers were filled with something spiritual, something physical, and something academic, every single summer.
07:49.662 --> 07:59.011
[SPEAKER_01]: And so you constantly push yourself to be a very well-rounded human being and the one thing about my parents that I really appreciate and one thing that I like about West Point is it's not just one dimensional.
07:59.532 --> 08:02.495
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to be good at everything basically.
08:02.995 --> 08:04.517
[SPEAKER_01]: There is a bar that you have to meet.
08:04.717 --> 08:07.860
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to meet a military bar and academic bar, a physical bar.
08:08.100 --> 08:11.964
[SPEAKER_01]: You can't just hit max out your SAT, but you can't lift your body weight.
08:12.304 --> 08:12.904
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not this.
08:12.924 --> 08:14.005
[SPEAKER_01]: That's just not going to work.
08:14.366 --> 08:20.230
[SPEAKER_01]: And so in areas that you are deficient, you have to work on those areas to get them proficient enough to meet the standard.
08:20.990 --> 08:22.892
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's kind of the house that we grew up in.
08:23.292 --> 08:25.253
[SPEAKER_01]: My brother was definitely more the Brainiac.
08:25.373 --> 08:30.217
[SPEAKER_01]: I was more of the physical guy and my sister was more the personality kind of person.
08:30.537 --> 08:35.080
[SPEAKER_01]: But we were actually pretty decent at everything and being well rounded human beings.
08:35.661 --> 08:37.562
[SPEAKER_01]: And that started in the home with my parents.
08:38.379 --> 08:41.862
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, a lot of people ask me questions about kids.
08:42.163 --> 08:43.964
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of, I've written a bunch of kids books.
08:44.024 --> 08:45.345
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people ask me questions about kids.
08:46.026 --> 08:53.152
[SPEAKER_00]: And if parents aren't careful, they can push their kids to a point where the kids go in the other direction.
08:53.953 --> 09:03.141
[SPEAKER_00]: Now part of that I believe comes from if you if you're a do what I say not what I do type person there's a higher chance that the kids will push against you.
09:04.081 --> 09:13.910
[SPEAKER_00]: But is there something that you saw on your parents that you looked and said oh yeah I can I can see that they're trying to help me well I always think the most important thing is if your parents if you know your parents care about you yes
09:14.670 --> 09:23.833
[SPEAKER_00]: then you know that they're pushing you for the right reason, but did you ever feel, did you ever get to a point where you're like, like, hey man, I know it.
09:24.013 --> 09:25.714
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey dad, it's summer.
09:26.534 --> 09:33.256
[SPEAKER_00]: I get spiritual, I get academic, I get physical, but I also want to, you know, take a break.
09:33.817 --> 09:34.797
[SPEAKER_00]: Did that ever enter your mind?
09:35.157 --> 09:35.297
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
09:36.077 --> 09:40.819
[SPEAKER_00]: And is that just because the environment that your dad showed you, your mom and dad showed you was like, hey, we're not doing that.
09:40.979 --> 09:41.259
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, sir.
09:41.640 --> 09:42.780
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's all about love, too.
09:43.301 --> 09:44.642
[SPEAKER_01]: And they came from a place of love.
09:44.882 --> 09:46.063
[SPEAKER_01]: And we had a good time.
09:46.143 --> 09:47.304
[SPEAKER_01]: They wanted us to have a good time.
09:47.404 --> 09:49.766
[SPEAKER_01]: My parents were my parents actually pretty fun people.
09:50.226 --> 09:55.290
[SPEAKER_01]: But when it came time when it came down to developing children, they had to say, I'm not your friend.
09:55.951 --> 09:56.772
[SPEAKER_01]: I am your parent.
09:57.452 --> 10:00.733
[SPEAKER_01]: When you were eighteen years old, then you can do whatever you want to do.
10:01.174 --> 10:04.775
[SPEAKER_01]: But then by the time you're a teen, you go up in this environment where the kicks have already been baked, brother.
10:05.115 --> 10:11.258
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you're going to start making decisions based on how you were raised to once you become an adult if they do it the right way.
10:12.138 --> 10:17.501
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, just being present, like my mom was the president of the PTF when I was an elementary school.
10:17.921 --> 10:24.804
[SPEAKER_01]: When I was in high school, I drove one hour one way, every single day, to attend a private school in Houston, Texas, one hour one way.
10:25.164 --> 10:30.546
[SPEAKER_01]: My dad would drive us drop us off on his way to work and then on his way back home, he would pick us up and take us back home.
10:30.966 --> 10:37.568
[SPEAKER_01]: And every now and again, I would look up on the, I'd be at football practice and I would look up and I would see my dad just standing in the distance watching.
10:38.308 --> 10:42.789
[SPEAKER_01]: Just to make sure that we aren't slacking off, to make sure that we are getting treated right.
10:43.109 --> 10:45.930
[SPEAKER_01]: And you realize that he's doing this because he loves us.
10:46.510 --> 10:47.911
[SPEAKER_01]: He's doing this because he cares about us.
10:47.951 --> 10:50.491
[SPEAKER_01]: He's doing this because he wants us best for his children.
10:50.731 --> 10:52.392
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think you have to respect the home.
10:53.318 --> 11:02.463
[SPEAKER_01]: And my parents were the, my dad especially with a kind of people that were like, look, you know, if, if you get locked up or you do something stupid, you get a DUI, I'm not getting you out of jail.
11:03.904 --> 11:04.564
[SPEAKER_01]: You're gonna stay there.
11:05.245 --> 11:06.125
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, are you little buddies?
11:06.145 --> 11:07.045
[SPEAKER_01]: They're dads, they're lawyers.
11:07.065 --> 11:08.706
[SPEAKER_01]: They're gonna, they're gonna come get it, get them out the next day.
11:08.726 --> 11:09.827
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.
11:10.107 --> 11:11.308
[SPEAKER_01]: You're gonna wanna stay there for a little while.
11:11.588 --> 11:12.608
[SPEAKER_01]: You're gonna remember what you did.
11:12.749 --> 11:17.371
[SPEAKER_01]: And when you think about that, and you're like, I don't really wanna go to jail, because my dad's gonna leave me there.
11:17.891 --> 11:18.772
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's not kidding.
11:20.032 --> 11:21.833
[SPEAKER_01]: He, the curl is not playing around.
11:22.353 --> 11:28.235
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's a sort of level of fear, but they didn't manifest itself in a former respect, especially Western still at a very young age.
11:29.895 --> 11:33.576
[SPEAKER_00]: And what was the biggest trouble you ever got in with the old man?
11:34.597 --> 11:35.437
[UNKNOWN]: Oh man.
11:36.637 --> 11:37.158
[SPEAKER_01]: There was.
11:38.665 --> 11:39.305
[SPEAKER_01]: I got in a fight.
11:39.566 --> 11:40.907
[SPEAKER_01]: I got in a fight in the sixth grade.
11:41.907 --> 11:46.691
[SPEAKER_01]: And when they found out about the fight, it wasn't my fault.
11:46.811 --> 11:47.711
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't start the fight.
11:47.812 --> 11:50.253
[SPEAKER_01]: And this was when I was in public school before I went to private school.
11:50.914 --> 11:53.055
[SPEAKER_01]: And then they kind of found out what happened in our fought back.
11:53.095 --> 11:59.700
[SPEAKER_01]: But my dad was more upset with me because I had kind of a bloody nose and a busted lip.
11:59.740 --> 12:00.921
[SPEAKER_01]: But the guy just had a busted lip.
12:00.941 --> 12:02.102
[SPEAKER_01]: But he didn't even have a bloody nose.
12:02.522 --> 12:06.405
[SPEAKER_01]: He was upset with me because he's like, that guy should also have a bloody nose like you do.
12:07.633 --> 12:08.955
[SPEAKER_01]: like you stick up for yourself.
12:09.175 --> 12:16.426
[SPEAKER_01]: You're a good kid and I'm not condoning fighting, but I'm also condoning needy to all so stick up for yourself and that kid needs to look as bad as you look.
12:16.586 --> 12:19.971
[SPEAKER_01]: You look, you know, I lost him up a little bit, but it wasn't enough.
12:23.472 --> 12:26.873
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the application process getting into West Point, that's rigorous.
12:26.993 --> 12:27.234
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
12:27.854 --> 12:32.455
[SPEAKER_00]: And as you show up there, you already saw your sister go, you knew you were in for.
12:32.796 --> 12:33.376
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course I did.
12:33.496 --> 12:37.377
[SPEAKER_01]: And we have visited, you know, there are a lot, and keep in mind, my sister is ten years older than me.
12:37.857 --> 12:42.099
[SPEAKER_01]: And so there's a saying at West Point, the history that we teach is made by those that we taught.
12:42.539 --> 12:52.303
[SPEAKER_01]: So my sister, my sophomore, my young, my sophomore junior year at West Point, she actually went off, got her master's degree in Applied Mathematics at Post-Nail of Graduate School.
12:53.063 --> 12:55.886
[SPEAKER_01]: and then was an instructor at West Point as a captain major.
12:56.307 --> 13:00.711
[SPEAKER_01]: While my brother and I were both pleaves were both freshmen and sophomores at West Point.
13:01.131 --> 13:02.573
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we were all there at the same time.
13:02.613 --> 13:04.255
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just salute my sister every damn day.
13:04.555 --> 13:05.476
[SPEAKER_01]: It was excruciating.
13:05.496 --> 13:10.441
[SPEAKER_01]: Because sometimes she would see me like a cross-to-quad and she was like, she's coming here.
13:10.461 --> 13:13.825
[SPEAKER_02]: She does the hike and foot looks like it's actually really hilarious.
13:14.605 --> 13:19.428
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, but we knew us coming our way and a lot of her classmates were actually our instructors as well.
13:19.969 --> 13:29.455
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, so it's nice to have that family, you know, unit up there to know what you're getting into, but the one thing about us was this when you start this journey and you start going down this path, you're going to finish it.
13:29.955 --> 13:37.298
[SPEAKER_01]: And my dad said, you can't leave once you start because you have to understand that you took the place of somebody that would have died to be in your shoes.
13:37.818 --> 13:40.379
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you quit, you're not quitting on yourself.
13:40.759 --> 13:44.621
[SPEAKER_01]: You're quitting on the person that wanted this slot that didn't get it.
13:45.201 --> 13:45.761
[SPEAKER_01]: So guess what?
13:46.202 --> 13:46.642
[SPEAKER_01]: Suck it up.
13:47.242 --> 13:49.043
[SPEAKER_01]: The ups, the downs, the highs, the lows.
13:49.063 --> 13:54.505
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to walk out of here a much better human being and a much better person, but you're not going to quit.
13:56.014 --> 14:01.264
[SPEAKER_01]: And that non-stop, like, don't quit attitude or something that my dad's still in all three of us.
14:04.510 --> 14:08.056
[SPEAKER_00]: Was there anything that was more than you expected when you got there?
14:08.216 --> 14:08.457
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.
14:13.307 --> 14:14.168
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.
14:14.408 --> 14:15.830
[SPEAKER_00]: I want the guys remember about bootcamp.
14:15.850 --> 14:22.297
[SPEAKER_00]: I was going through Navy bootcamp and one thing I was not prepared for is the complete not a lack of privacy.
14:22.677 --> 14:22.877
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah.
14:23.077 --> 14:24.799
[SPEAKER_00]: So you you're going to the bathroom.
14:25.059 --> 14:27.662
[SPEAKER_00]: You sit down on the toilet and you look to your right.
14:27.682 --> 14:30.665
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's a guy sitting there on the toilet next to you and you look to your left.
14:30.705 --> 14:33.348
[SPEAKER_00]: Same thing because by the way, you only got six minutes to use the head.
14:33.368 --> 14:33.448
[SPEAKER_00]: So
14:35.430 --> 14:38.152
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I was like, okay, I guess that's just the way it is.
14:38.232 --> 14:40.113
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, we're just one big happy thing.
14:40.133 --> 14:42.075
[SPEAKER_00]: We're a happy real close family around you.
14:42.695 --> 14:45.577
[SPEAKER_00]: What kind of thing, what shocked you were, where you kind of go, dang.
14:45.597 --> 14:46.798
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, this was happening.
14:46.898 --> 14:54.763
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, so when you go to West Point, you're doing an application process, obviously you're pretty sharp, you know, young man or young woman at the end of the day.
14:54.843 --> 14:57.405
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's what that's what's required to get into any academy.
14:58.066 --> 14:58.306
[SPEAKER_01]: And so
14:59.815 --> 15:01.037
[SPEAKER_01]: You think pretty oddly of yourself.
15:01.237 --> 15:11.330
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I was captain of the football team, but captain of the basketball team, and I was a class pre-fact and leader, and you know, felt pretty calm, you know, pretty cool down, pretty cool guy, you know?
15:12.071 --> 15:13.052
[SPEAKER_01]: You get the real eyes.
15:14.055 --> 15:14.855
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody's like that.
15:17.076 --> 15:19.457
[SPEAKER_01]: Like dude, you're not special.
15:19.857 --> 15:21.257
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you're not special.
15:21.557 --> 15:24.038
[SPEAKER_01]: And everyone gets treated the same way that first bleep summer.
15:24.478 --> 15:33.260
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it is a reprogramming of the way you view yourself and the breaking down of the individual to realize you are a part of a team and you are not special.
15:33.660 --> 15:34.661
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care what you did.
15:34.681 --> 15:35.781
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care how good you were.
15:35.801 --> 15:37.582
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care how badass we think you are.
15:37.982 --> 15:38.722
[SPEAKER_01]: You're all pleaps.
15:39.918 --> 15:40.559
[SPEAKER_01]: So deal with it.
15:40.959 --> 15:49.363
[SPEAKER_01]: And then not only that, our summers were, the cadre, they were upperclassmen that went through the same kind of program as well.
15:49.463 --> 15:52.145
[SPEAKER_01]: You know the upperclassmen were also pleased that they did play the summer.
15:52.545 --> 15:59.889
[SPEAKER_01]: And so there's a certain level of respect that you have to deal with, of breaking down the individual humbling the individual, then realizing that we're all in this together.
16:00.029 --> 16:02.210
[SPEAKER_01]: We'd better work together because nobody is special.
16:02.610 --> 16:05.112
[SPEAKER_01]: And that for me was the biggest, you know, kicking a teeth.
16:06.092 --> 16:07.633
[SPEAKER_01]: Come out thought I thought I was cool.
16:09.620 --> 16:11.021
[SPEAKER_00]: So you show up there in two thousand.
16:11.041 --> 16:11.641
[SPEAKER_00]: You go through pleaps.
16:11.681 --> 16:12.562
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm in freshman year.
16:13.162 --> 16:17.364
[SPEAKER_00]: What's what's it like on campus on September eleven, two thousand one?
16:17.624 --> 16:19.265
[SPEAKER_01]: So September eleven, two thousand one.
16:19.285 --> 16:21.266
[SPEAKER_01]: That was my sophomore year at West Point.
16:21.706 --> 16:22.987
[SPEAKER_01]: So keep in mind that the academies.
16:23.047 --> 16:25.288
[SPEAKER_01]: The first two years are actually free.
16:25.508 --> 16:28.950
[SPEAKER_01]: Meaning that you could stay at the academy for the first two years.
16:29.110 --> 16:34.953
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you leave before your first class of your junior year, you don't owe anything back to the military.
16:35.633 --> 16:37.233
[SPEAKER_01]: So first two years, free of charge.
16:37.934 --> 16:41.254
[SPEAKER_01]: Not eleven happened in the beginning of my sophomore year.
16:41.754 --> 16:45.095
[SPEAKER_01]: And so during that time, you're like, well, we are now going to war.
16:45.155 --> 16:53.937
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a reciting in Eisenhower barracks at West Point watching the planes fly into the Twin Towers and we're at West Point just in our north of New York City.
16:53.957 --> 17:04.940
[SPEAKER_01]: So all this carnage is happening and I could literally almost feel and sense the negativity in the world in that moment because you know you are very close in proximity to what is happening as we live in breathe.
17:05.540 --> 17:08.524
[SPEAKER_01]: There was an upperclassman got it full battle rattle.
17:09.445 --> 17:10.086
[SPEAKER_01]: Full battle rattle.
17:10.226 --> 17:11.788
[SPEAKER_01]: He got cat camoed up.
17:12.569 --> 17:21.401
[SPEAKER_01]: He got he had as in fourteen camoed up put on put on put on as they used you name it and was knocking on everybody's door saying we're going to war boys.
17:22.202 --> 17:23.204
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to war boys
17:23.891 --> 17:26.413
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to war boys because at that point we knew it.
17:26.573 --> 17:27.734
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody knew that we're going to war.
17:28.455 --> 17:37.922
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the most proudest things about my class that I could say is this, my sophomore year we all could have left most of us stayed only a handful left.
17:38.582 --> 17:41.765
[SPEAKER_01]: So we knew that we were entering West Point during a time of peace.
17:41.865 --> 17:45.908
[SPEAKER_01]: We're exiting at a time of war and we're all going to fight and nobody left.
17:47.286 --> 18:09.120
[SPEAKER_01]: see a lot of people try to use west point and use the academy is just to get the education and then move on they don't realize that no we're training you to be a warfighter when you enter during a time of peace a lot of times you know you kind of go to the mundane stuff we're going to go to go to JRTC we're going to go to NTC we're going to go to Ventenza Italy we're going to go hang out you know and we're coming out everybody's going back then
18:10.160 --> 18:12.202
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going from Fort Hood, and you're going to go to Baghdad.
18:12.223 --> 18:15.626
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to go from Baghdad to Fort Hood, and then from Fort Hood, you're going to go back to Baghdad.
18:16.067 --> 18:18.049
[SPEAKER_01]: Get your mind right, and most of us stayed.
18:18.630 --> 18:24.216
[SPEAKER_01]: Consequently, we lost Fort Teen in my West Point classmates in the Global War on Terror, and none of those brazed men saw the age of twenty-eight years old.
18:24.896 --> 18:30.563
[SPEAKER_01]: I bring them up frequently, because those guys, they're all by the way, they're a Fort Teen White guys.
18:31.653 --> 18:37.078
[SPEAKER_01]: And when they gave their last full measure, they didn't do it for black people or white people or Asian people or Hispanic people.
18:37.098 --> 18:38.800
[SPEAKER_01]: They did it for a my fellow Americans.
18:39.440 --> 18:43.964
[SPEAKER_01]: And their deaths is what actually really helps us shape the way I view the world today.
18:44.505 --> 18:46.667
[SPEAKER_01]: We are Americans first.
18:47.127 --> 18:48.889
[SPEAKER_01]: We all bleed together in this fight.
18:49.429 --> 18:56.232
[SPEAKER_01]: And so when you enter a time at war and you watch the Twin Towers fall and you're like, oh my gosh, like this is it.
18:56.272 --> 18:57.472
[SPEAKER_01]: This is where the word meets the road.
18:57.932 --> 18:58.352
[SPEAKER_01]: Get it up.
18:58.492 --> 19:06.535
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's go see all the race and all the all of the division, all of a sudden that goes away because we're on this fight together.
19:07.196 --> 19:10.737
[SPEAKER_01]: Now the question for me is I get asked as frequently why do I want to fly up patches.
19:11.708 --> 19:15.549
[SPEAKER_01]: At the time, you had to choice a fly for aircraft that I knew I wanted to go aviation.
19:15.909 --> 19:19.810
[SPEAKER_01]: So you could fly a Chinooks, black clocks, a patchies and coyote warriors.
19:20.390 --> 19:22.190
[SPEAKER_01]: But I knew I was going to go to Baghdad in this hot.
19:22.590 --> 19:24.291
[SPEAKER_01]: So which airframe has air conditioning?
19:27.091 --> 19:28.332
[SPEAKER_01]: This game will be a patchy boy.
19:28.372 --> 19:28.692
[SPEAKER_00]: What major?
19:28.712 --> 19:31.572
[SPEAKER_00]: Good evening, but you always knew you wanted to go aviation though?
19:31.713 --> 19:32.213
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I did.
19:32.393 --> 19:33.713
[SPEAKER_01]: Since my freshman year at West Point.
19:34.486 --> 19:36.068
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you go on some kind of a tour or something?
19:37.189 --> 19:38.690
[SPEAKER_01]: We did a tour and a black hawk.
19:38.950 --> 19:41.512
[SPEAKER_01]: We did we flew nap with the earth of the Hudson River.
19:41.872 --> 19:42.893
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's it.
19:44.054 --> 19:44.575
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's it.
19:45.035 --> 19:50.640
[SPEAKER_01]: And I realized, yeah, I'm definitely going to go aviation didn't grow up really wanting to be a pilot, but at that moment, I realized I wanted to do it.
19:50.800 --> 19:59.047
[SPEAKER_01]: And then also, you know, I drugged about the air conditioning because it was nice to have air conditioning in their patchy, but also realized that if I'm going to go to war, I want to shoot back.
20:00.193 --> 20:00.833
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to shoot back.
20:00.913 --> 20:03.294
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the Apache is a weapons platform.
20:03.414 --> 20:04.435
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't care anything.
20:04.455 --> 20:04.955
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't pick up.
20:04.995 --> 20:05.675
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't drop off.
20:05.715 --> 20:06.335
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not a bus.
20:06.755 --> 20:14.478
[SPEAKER_01]: We have hell fired missiles, rockets in a thirty millimeter chain gun, and you call us in to destroy the enemy with extreme prejudice, end of discussion.
20:14.899 --> 20:19.120
[SPEAKER_01]: And if I'm going to go get shot at, I want to make sure that I'm shooting back.
20:19.780 --> 20:21.161
[SPEAKER_01]: Literally, that was my decision process.
20:22.461 --> 20:23.862
[SPEAKER_00]: Would you, would you end up getting your degree?
20:25.180 --> 20:26.761
[SPEAKER_01]: from West Point or from West Point.
20:27.681 --> 20:30.782
[SPEAKER_01]: So I got my degree in leadership and management and mechanical engineering.
20:31.642 --> 20:39.584
[SPEAKER_00]: And as you come out of West Point, now since you're pilot, you're focused on being a pilot, but still you're going to be in leadership position.
20:40.284 --> 20:45.405
[SPEAKER_00]: What, how did you feel about your leadership, your specific leadership training when you're at West Point?
20:46.786 --> 20:47.306
[SPEAKER_01]: West Point.
20:49.281 --> 20:58.564
[SPEAKER_01]: But when I talk about being a well-rounded leader, and they are training you to be a leader to be an officer in the United States Army.
20:59.165 --> 21:03.506
[SPEAKER_01]: And so the biggest thing is you brought up earlier about, you know, do as I do not do as I say.
21:03.526 --> 21:06.087
[SPEAKER_01]: No, as a leader, you got to do as they do, too.
21:06.667 --> 21:07.947
[SPEAKER_01]: So that means you have to be proficient.
21:07.987 --> 21:09.328
[SPEAKER_01]: That means you have to be good at your craft.
21:09.348 --> 21:10.528
[SPEAKER_01]: That means you have to be in shape.
21:10.568 --> 21:11.968
[SPEAKER_01]: That means you have to be able to hang.
21:12.048 --> 21:16.329
[SPEAKER_01]: That means you have to when they see you, you have to be the first one in the room in the last one to leave.
21:16.349 --> 21:17.570
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to be the last one to eat.
21:17.590 --> 21:24.871
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to be the one that is the leader because you could talk to talk, but then if you don't walk the walk, well, then they're not going to believe it.
21:25.592 --> 21:31.073
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're not going to be the person that's willing to hang in there and stay with your guys and they're never ever going to fully trust you.
21:31.773 --> 21:35.514
[SPEAKER_01]: And so what West Point taught us is, look, you can't be a fat leader.
21:36.775 --> 22:00.625
[SPEAKER_01]: I had a military history teacher and he was a hard charger and that this is at the time before we had a you know this is to throw no shade at some all some heavy leaders that have kind of come around not going to give me names but at that thought this is you know two thousand and two he said this time never forget this brother he goes how many fat leaders are there how many fat heads of state are there
22:01.890 --> 22:08.775
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, if you can't take care of yourself and if you can't control your body, you can control what you look like, how can you possibly lead anybody?
22:08.795 --> 22:10.897
[SPEAKER_01]: And he goes, how can you lead your family?
22:10.917 --> 22:11.978
[SPEAKER_01]: You're free of not in good shape.
22:12.618 --> 22:16.701
[SPEAKER_01]: So you need to figure out what kind of regimen that you have to do to stay in shape.
22:17.201 --> 22:24.327
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't eat like a pig and you're if you're going to lead, make sure that you look the part because that's the first impression somebody's going to have with you is
22:26.578 --> 22:27.878
[SPEAKER_01]: This guy's this guy's sloppy.
22:27.898 --> 22:29.039
[SPEAKER_01]: This guy's a slopter.
22:29.519 --> 22:31.799
[SPEAKER_01]: What is he going to how is he going to tell me what to do?
22:32.319 --> 22:35.040
[SPEAKER_01]: So that physical piece of this is something that's awesome so that wasp one.
22:35.060 --> 22:36.841
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why you have a physical grade.
22:37.681 --> 22:38.601
[SPEAKER_01]: You have a PT grade.
22:38.921 --> 22:46.323
[SPEAKER_01]: You have a military grade and you have an academic grade that academic grade is weighted heavily, but the other stuff matters to in place to your overall GPA.
22:46.503 --> 22:54.047
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, one of the ways I explain that when I'm talking to young officers, especially, is I'll tell him, hey, when I was in, I was in the list of guy in the sealed teams, I was a new guy.
22:54.327 --> 22:55.387
[SPEAKER_00]: Didn't know anything, right?
22:55.948 --> 23:00.150
[SPEAKER_00]: But when my leader showed up four minutes late to something, I was taking notes.
23:00.290 --> 23:02.911
[SPEAKER_00]: When my leader forgot a piece of gear, I was taking notes.
23:03.171 --> 23:08.034
[SPEAKER_00]: When my leader didn't do, didn't know how to properly execute something with a weapon system.
23:09.254 --> 23:16.238
[SPEAKER_00]: I was taking notes, and it was just a degradation of, you know, look, not disrespectful, but a degradation of respect.
23:17.018 --> 23:23.942
[SPEAKER_00]: So you got to remember that all these people, and what I think really hurts people sometimes is they think people don't notice.
23:24.742 --> 23:26.963
[SPEAKER_00]: They think, oh, you know, no one will notice that I'm forming a slate.
23:26.983 --> 23:28.324
[SPEAKER_00]: By the way, I'm in charge, so it doesn't really matter.
23:28.364 --> 23:29.584
[SPEAKER_00]: No, no, no, no, no, no.
23:30.085 --> 23:30.825
[SPEAKER_00]: We're taking notes.
23:31.345 --> 23:33.126
[SPEAKER_00]: If you show up late, you go home early.
23:33.526 --> 23:36.468
[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody sees it and respect levels going down that whole time.
23:36.628 --> 23:36.988
[SPEAKER_00]: You got it?
23:38.009 --> 23:47.934
[SPEAKER_00]: I went and talked to West Point and man, I mean, what an incredible place of tradition.
23:48.334 --> 23:50.135
[SPEAKER_00]: But I remember walking into the
23:51.495 --> 23:55.217
[SPEAKER_00]: area where they have all the names of all the West Pointers that have been killed in combat.
23:55.517 --> 23:57.478
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just it takes your breath away.
23:59.219 --> 24:11.425
[SPEAKER_00]: Going there and talking and the way that they run their leadership, you know, you can see that's such a huge focus because they know leadership is the most important thing on the battlefield, but if there's any institution that knows that it's it's West Point.
24:12.105 --> 24:22.129
[SPEAKER_00]: And having those leadership discussions with those young, you know, soon to be officers that are heading out in the battlefield, it's just so important and what they're going to face.
24:22.149 --> 24:26.711
[SPEAKER_00]: And especially, you know, I guess the war's over now, but especially at that time, it was on.
24:26.911 --> 24:27.471
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, that's right.
24:27.831 --> 24:31.093
[SPEAKER_00]: So, so as you're, did you mind said,
24:31.793 --> 24:40.063
[SPEAKER_00]: because you also went through a transition of like you thought you're gonna go to whatever you said Spain and Italy or whatever else.
24:40.223 --> 24:48.894
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you connect the dots did you know from your dad from your sister that hey listen there's a lot of stuff on the periphery about being a going west point and being an officer
24:49.715 --> 24:51.596
[SPEAKER_00]: But you're a warrior.
24:51.816 --> 24:53.277
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to fight the nation's wars.
24:53.677 --> 24:57.160
[SPEAKER_00]: Had you made that connection and did it just get strengthened by September eleventh?
24:57.400 --> 24:58.000
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, yes.
24:58.060 --> 25:03.183
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think at some point when you raise your hand and you take that oath, especially you're a believe summer after going through all of that.
25:03.323 --> 25:11.088
[SPEAKER_01]: And then finally you go from a new cadet to a cadet, which is finally, you know, an academic year starts and you're done with it with summer training.
25:11.548 --> 25:12.269
[SPEAKER_01]: You realize that.
25:12.329 --> 25:14.270
[SPEAKER_01]: No, no, this is about the military.
25:14.290 --> 25:15.291
[SPEAKER_01]: This is about military service.
25:15.951 --> 25:19.554
[SPEAKER_01]: All the other liquis and shoes are great, but this is about military service.
25:19.574 --> 25:20.655
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what West Point is.
25:21.055 --> 25:39.048
[SPEAKER_01]: When you stand, when you stand in a parade in front of Washington, statue, every single weekend, when you have breakfast, lunch and dinner, you're standing at that formation, and you're living in Eisenhower, Barracks, and MacArthur Barracks, and Patton statue, which is in front of the library, and you're walking past all these landmarks.
25:39.409 --> 25:42.331
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
25:42.391 --> 25:43.892
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not the University of Texas here.
25:46.255 --> 25:48.557
[SPEAKER_01]: This is going to be a war fighting experience.
25:48.597 --> 25:51.220
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, the good thing about this is it's actually very well rounded.
25:51.281 --> 25:55.225
[SPEAKER_01]: And so you do get other experiences in academia that I really do appreciate.
25:55.846 --> 26:03.034
[SPEAKER_01]: But just a couple of weeks ago, a couple months ago, the president president Trump just appointed me to be on the West Point border visitors.
26:03.735 --> 26:23.867
[SPEAKER_01]: which I think which is a great honor and basically it's it's basically being like on the board of regents and you meet quarterly you get to kind of see kind of what's going on you have an insight look on how training is going to be in the future and just kind of you know to make sure that everything is copesthetic and so I have my twenty year reunion back in November and
26:24.507 --> 26:35.517
[SPEAKER_01]: to see these young people to see how sharp they are, even in an era that I know we always say the new era is always softer than it was when we went there.
26:35.577 --> 26:43.104
[SPEAKER_01]: I was actually pleasantly surprised and pleased to see the state of affairs of these young people and how they are going to
26:44.165 --> 26:51.647
[SPEAKER_01]: How we are more thing the way we fight battles in the future and how they are going to be a strong part of it and a part of that transition that we're watching right now.
26:52.147 --> 26:54.428
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was actually very, very pleased with what I saw.
26:54.448 --> 26:58.188
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there's going to be some major changes in the warfare coming.
26:58.349 --> 27:02.169
[SPEAKER_00]: Just as much as the machine gun, you know, as much as the tank.
27:02.750 --> 27:05.870
[SPEAKER_00]: These these drones and the disaggregated battlefield.
27:06.691 --> 27:10.952
[SPEAKER_00]: These are these are legitimate real changes that are happening before our very eyes.
27:10.992 --> 27:12.452
[SPEAKER_00]: So the next generation is going to have a
27:12.952 --> 27:16.057
[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to have it rough, and they're going to learn some lessons.
27:16.077 --> 27:20.583
[SPEAKER_00]: But they're proactively leaning into that right now, which they absolutely have to do.
27:20.643 --> 27:20.783
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
27:20.803 --> 27:23.687
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm glad that you're seeing that when you meet with them.
27:25.770 --> 27:26.411
[SPEAKER_00]: How's flight school?
27:27.072 --> 27:27.913
[SPEAKER_01]: Flight school is a good time.
27:28.762 --> 27:35.428
[SPEAKER_01]: because if I was there with basically a hundred of my classmates, so basically a hundred hundred, I think it was a hundred and we're roughly a hundred of them.
27:35.508 --> 27:38.731
[SPEAKER_01]: So about a ten percent of the class and I'm going aviation.
27:38.811 --> 27:49.962
[SPEAKER_01]: And you go there and you know, you start off learning on what's called a TH-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-Six-S
27:50.282 --> 27:53.527
[SPEAKER_01]: You're learning how to fly helicopter, which is, I mean, coming on.
27:53.567 --> 27:54.909
[SPEAKER_01]: That's about as cool as it gets.
27:55.931 --> 27:58.635
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you transition to the aircraft that you're going to fly.
27:58.655 --> 28:02.681
[SPEAKER_01]: So you go from this little, you know, single-turbed engine aircraft to an Apache.
28:03.605 --> 28:08.146
[SPEAKER_01]: Bro, it's like, it's like more from a Honda Civic to a grocery store.
28:08.166 --> 28:12.388
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, you first sit in this, I remember the first time of you sitting in the cockpit.
28:12.688 --> 28:17.089
[SPEAKER_01]: And you're looking around and looking at this, they're like, okay, now I have really, really arrived here.
28:17.229 --> 28:19.050
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I felt like a complete badass.
28:19.170 --> 28:21.811
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely insane.
28:22.571 --> 28:23.691
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll never forget that moment.
28:24.792 --> 28:28.253
[SPEAKER_01]: But I really appreciate it.
28:28.913 --> 28:34.539
[SPEAKER_01]: going there with a lot of my classmates and we helped each other out in ways that's kind of it's kind of interesting.
28:34.759 --> 28:44.348
[SPEAKER_01]: You forged that bond together and then you're off learning how to fly together and I remember you know Adam's smooth was my was my roommate while I was in flight school.
28:44.388 --> 28:45.109
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean I love this guy.
28:45.149 --> 28:52.176
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a dear friend of mine to this day and just you know whenever we needed to pick me up whenever we needed help you like Adam was just always there.
28:52.216 --> 28:53.357
[SPEAKER_01]: He's really smart guy.
28:53.717 --> 28:55.238
[SPEAKER_01]: He was always really there to help me out.
28:55.538 --> 28:58.040
[SPEAKER_01]: And then also Adam was a big fitness guy too.
28:58.400 --> 29:02.903
[SPEAKER_01]: So he kept us, he kept all of our group accountable to make sure that we also just didn't just hang out.
29:03.283 --> 29:04.504
[SPEAKER_01]: We also worked out once in the gym.
29:04.544 --> 29:08.106
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a pilot and champion and at West Point and he was a complete stud.
29:09.627 --> 29:15.049
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, to have guys like that that were around you, it's like the adage iron sharpens iron still on men sharpens another.
29:15.509 --> 29:20.671
[SPEAKER_01]: We were in this fight together and then we also knew that we were all going to deploy it together as well.
29:21.211 --> 29:32.815
[SPEAKER_01]: So interesting point about when I went to bad dad, um, I was at, we graduated flight school and then usually you go to a unit if you get trained up in the unit and then you go down range.
29:33.335 --> 29:33.515
[SPEAKER_01]: Well,
29:34.335 --> 29:38.518
[SPEAKER_01]: We had a unit that lost two air crews, one to a mid air and one got shot down.
29:38.999 --> 29:43.582
[SPEAKER_01]: And so this unit of fourth ID was short for pilots.
29:44.603 --> 29:48.807
[SPEAKER_01]: So I got done with flight school and I didn't go to Fort Hood to train up.
29:49.127 --> 29:50.268
[SPEAKER_01]: I went straight to Baghdad.
29:51.842 --> 29:53.583
[SPEAKER_01]: So I went from flight school to Baghdad.
29:53.743 --> 29:57.083
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll never forget Lee Major was my I.P.
29:57.103 --> 29:58.044
[SPEAKER_01]: with my instructor pilot.
29:58.084 --> 29:59.544
[SPEAKER_01]: He goes, Wesley, I want to let you know.
30:00.184 --> 30:04.005
[SPEAKER_01]: You're getting ready to enter a space now where this range is now two way range.
30:04.706 --> 30:09.947
[SPEAKER_01]: So for you, you need to pay close attention when I'm teaching you right now because you're going right into the fire, literally.
30:10.407 --> 30:16.109
[SPEAKER_01]: I got trained up in Baghdad, flying around Camp Paji, and then I was out flying missions shortly after that.
30:16.849 --> 30:18.732
[SPEAKER_01]: So talk about frying pan and fire.
30:19.834 --> 30:24.220
[SPEAKER_00]: When I much, how much live fire range time do you get in your training backstage?
30:24.260 --> 30:30.309
[SPEAKER_01]: Quite a bit, quite a lot of the way that quite, I was absolutely and they do a pretty good job on on that piece of it.
30:30.389 --> 30:32.052
[SPEAKER_01]: But again, nobody's shooting back.
30:34.808 --> 30:35.488
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's all funny.
30:36.248 --> 30:37.769
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all funny games.
30:37.829 --> 30:38.909
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all funny games.
30:39.269 --> 30:39.789
[SPEAKER_01]: You get everything.
30:39.809 --> 30:44.570
[SPEAKER_01]: It's great up in the sights and you pull the trigger and you're knocking down targets and everybody's laughing.
30:44.590 --> 30:46.311
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's like, yeah, too close for business.
30:46.351 --> 30:48.111
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm switching the guns and it's all funny.
30:48.151 --> 30:58.933
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and then you're down range and you realize that that is a Russian made fifty caliber disco that's trying to take us out the sky and it's one o'clock in the morning and we got a shoot back.
30:59.413 --> 31:00.994
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a whole different conversation.
31:01.054 --> 31:02.294
[SPEAKER_00]: What year do you go on deployment?
31:02.614 --> 31:03.654
[SPEAKER_01]: I was a two thousand and six.
31:04.915 --> 31:05.095
[SPEAKER_01]: What?
31:05.535 --> 31:06.355
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was in Baghdad.
31:06.415 --> 31:07.296
[SPEAKER_00]: What month did you show up?
31:07.776 --> 31:10.457
[SPEAKER_01]: I showed up in February of that year.
31:10.477 --> 31:10.897
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
31:10.957 --> 31:11.837
[SPEAKER_01]: February and March of that year.
31:12.017 --> 31:14.798
[SPEAKER_00]: I was over down the road in Ramadi in the thousand six.
31:15.018 --> 31:15.198
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
31:16.879 --> 31:17.739
[SPEAKER_01]: I probably flew over here.
31:18.159 --> 31:18.759
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
31:18.799 --> 31:20.780
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a high likelihood.
31:22.080 --> 31:27.702
[SPEAKER_00]: We had we had a patchies rolling a couple times and they got like so much gunfire.
31:27.942 --> 31:28.642
[SPEAKER_00]: It was on Ramadi.
31:28.682 --> 31:29.523
[SPEAKER_00]: Ramadi was nuts.
31:29.563 --> 31:30.043
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that they
31:30.603 --> 31:33.264
[SPEAKER_00]: They left, you know, I actually have, I actually took pictures.
31:33.664 --> 31:36.304
[SPEAKER_00]: I was out and I was out in an Overwatch position.
31:36.524 --> 31:41.385
[SPEAKER_00]: I was in a combat outpost that was being built and income the Apache's because we had briefed them.
31:41.765 --> 31:43.006
[SPEAKER_00]: And I had met the Apache Post man.
31:43.026 --> 31:46.086
[SPEAKER_00]: They were, they said, they were a flying tank.
31:46.306 --> 31:46.826
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what they said.
31:46.846 --> 31:49.667
[SPEAKER_00]: They said, they said, there's a lot of bad guys out of there.
31:49.687 --> 31:50.727
[SPEAKER_00]: They said, we're a flying tank.
31:50.787 --> 31:53.628
[SPEAKER_00]: I said, hey, oh man, okay, let's go.
31:53.928 --> 31:58.669
[SPEAKER_00]: So they roll in from the IP and man, when they came in there, it was,
31:59.429 --> 32:05.396
[SPEAKER_00]: an ungodly amount of gunfire that lit them up and they rolled back out.
32:05.977 --> 32:06.718
[SPEAKER_00]: It was sketchy.
32:06.998 --> 32:07.899
[SPEAKER_00]: I was very smart now.
32:07.939 --> 32:08.660
[SPEAKER_01]: I wrote one night.
32:08.720 --> 32:09.821
[SPEAKER_01]: It was so bad.
32:09.841 --> 32:13.005
[SPEAKER_01]: It was right by solder city one night.
32:13.566 --> 32:18.972
[SPEAKER_01]: It was so bad that for a second in my mind, I thought to myself, this reminds me of the Fourth of July.
32:19.773 --> 32:23.654
[SPEAKER_01]: It reminded me of a grand finale of a Fourth of July fireworks parade.
32:23.974 --> 32:27.275
[SPEAKER_01]: And at one point, I was like, this is, you realize, well, dude.
32:27.916 --> 32:29.196
[SPEAKER_00]: I was saying, you realize you're the target.
32:29.216 --> 32:30.456
[SPEAKER_01]: Those are not fireworks, right?
32:31.497 --> 32:33.938
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, fucker factory increases exponentially, but.
32:34.218 --> 32:37.079
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you roll into Baghdad, you just get out of flight school.
32:37.359 --> 32:41.940
[SPEAKER_00]: You go straight to Baghdad and now they're like, okay, dude, welcome aboard.
32:41.980 --> 32:46.902
[SPEAKER_00]: You have a normal train up state side would be another what six months two years.
32:46.922 --> 32:47.722
[SPEAKER_00]: Two years worth of training?
32:47.742 --> 32:48.002
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course.
32:48.282 --> 32:54.605
[SPEAKER_00]: and that means, you know, you get to go out to the National Training Center and fly a bunch of missions and get all kinds of, you know, you get dialed in.
32:54.946 --> 32:59.208
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like going to grad school, you know, like it's how you get ready for deployment and you didn't get any of that.
32:59.488 --> 32:59.848
[SPEAKER_00]: None of it.
33:00.549 --> 33:01.169
[SPEAKER_00]: Right and combat.
33:01.889 --> 33:05.311
[SPEAKER_00]: So did the guys take you out and be like, okay, let's watch out for it.
33:05.471 --> 33:06.612
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you get some kind of in-dock flights?
33:06.632 --> 33:07.152
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course we did.
33:07.172 --> 33:07.773
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, of course we did.
33:08.013 --> 33:08.613
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, of course it is.
33:08.633 --> 33:10.274
[SPEAKER_01]: So first they put you in a tactical operating center.
33:10.334 --> 33:12.375
[SPEAKER_01]: They put you in the talk and make you a battle captain.
33:12.795 --> 33:14.496
[SPEAKER_01]: So you can figure out what the battle space looks like.
33:14.796 --> 33:17.498
[SPEAKER_01]: You understand kind of the battle rhythm, what's going on.
33:18.118 --> 33:20.159
[SPEAKER_01]: and you're like an assistant battle captain.
33:20.199 --> 33:24.521
[SPEAKER_01]: So you're on the radio, you're talking to the aircraft, where they're flying around, all these good stuff.
33:24.541 --> 33:26.461
[SPEAKER_01]: So at least you have an idea on how things work.
33:26.501 --> 33:29.102
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I did that for about a month, a month and a half.
33:29.182 --> 33:35.185
[SPEAKER_01]: But in the meantime, we're also doing just training flights around Camp Taji, where it was safe, getting your profession, all that good stuff.
33:35.685 --> 33:36.765
[SPEAKER_01]: And then they just cut you loose.
33:37.606 --> 33:43.328
[SPEAKER_01]: And then at one point, I never forget, this is the most tired I've ever been in my entire life.
33:43.428 --> 33:45.909
[SPEAKER_01]: I flew fifteen days straight.
33:46.949 --> 33:49.372
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't ever forget finally, I got that next day off.
33:49.392 --> 33:51.175
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think I slept for twenty four hours straight.
33:51.255 --> 33:53.017
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember just being exhausted.
33:53.037 --> 33:56.101
[SPEAKER_01]: Keep in mind, admission profile for us was about four hours.
33:56.621 --> 33:59.265
[SPEAKER_01]: But but it's four hours of concentrated flying.
33:59.325 --> 34:01.448
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's the equivalent to three X that.
34:01.908 --> 34:05.229
[SPEAKER_01]: That's basically the toll that it has on your brain because of the concentration.
34:05.849 --> 34:10.531
[SPEAKER_01]: De-confliction, talking to air traffic control, talking to the other aircraft, talking to the ground units.
34:10.631 --> 34:13.672
[SPEAKER_01]: And it is a focused four-hour mission profile.
34:13.932 --> 34:16.853
[SPEAKER_01]: And by the time you're done, your brain is completely wiped.
34:17.233 --> 34:21.035
[SPEAKER_01]: And then when you throw the stress on being in combat on top of that,
34:21.675 --> 34:23.177
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's what people don't understand.
34:23.257 --> 34:27.441
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, like, the mental stress of this might be my last flight.
34:27.581 --> 34:33.466
[SPEAKER_01]: Every time I took off, I said the Lord's prayer in the twenty-twenty-thirt song because I was like, let me get right with God.
34:34.407 --> 34:36.148
[SPEAKER_01]: before I take off, because this actually might be it.
34:36.668 --> 34:40.911
[SPEAKER_01]: Imagine the stressor of, this might be it on top of everything that you have to do.
34:41.211 --> 34:45.133
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the most important part of our job is to make sure that the ground unit guys got home safely.
34:45.593 --> 34:48.455
[SPEAKER_01]: So if I don't do my job, this is some ground guys might die.
34:48.755 --> 34:51.217
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's not gonna, that's unacceptable for us.
34:51.597 --> 34:53.478
[SPEAKER_01]: That's unacceptable for our mission.
34:53.898 --> 34:58.681
[SPEAKER_01]: And even if it means we sacrifice ourselves, it's our job to keep the ground guys safe.
34:59.241 --> 35:02.043
[SPEAKER_01]: Now the cool part about the patch was usually, usually,
35:02.583 --> 35:18.820
[SPEAKER_01]: when we sort of on station like the shooting stopped that that was actually in the guy love just just even hovering around if they're kicking down doors hey just just be in the periphery of a patchy pilot call it troops were in contact that's right right because when you guys showed up they weren't contacted anymore because that that's it's off
35:25.298 --> 35:40.048
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're do you remember it's your first time you're going out how do you feel the first time you're like okay, this is this is it go up and go on station and wait for the call to come from the first person ever asked me that Actually, and I remember that moment very vividly and I've never been asked that.
35:40.068 --> 35:40.388
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
35:40.569 --> 35:41.569
[SPEAKER_01]: It's fascinating.
35:42.090 --> 35:42.890
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember vividly.
35:43.070 --> 35:50.396
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember actually taking off and I remember being like okay, so now it's real and
35:52.217 --> 35:53.677
[SPEAKER_01]: You are hyper-focused.
35:54.357 --> 35:57.378
[SPEAKER_01]: You are realizing that this is the first time I'm trained up.
35:57.618 --> 35:58.018
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm ready.
35:58.178 --> 35:59.759
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what I've been trained to do.
35:59.779 --> 36:00.719
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what I've been fighting for.
36:00.739 --> 36:01.739
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been a battle captain.
36:02.019 --> 36:04.079
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, now it's time to actually perform.
36:04.600 --> 36:07.940
[SPEAKER_01]: And so you are on the edge of your, I was on the edge of my seat in the front seat too.
36:07.960 --> 36:10.521
[SPEAKER_01]: I was on the edge of my seat just trying to get everything right.
36:10.561 --> 36:11.381
[SPEAKER_01]: Didn't want to screw up.
36:11.401 --> 36:12.341
[SPEAKER_01]: Didn't, didn't want to mess up.
36:12.621 --> 36:16.302
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you're also thinking that every time you go out, you're going to get in a firefight.
36:16.802 --> 36:18.282
[SPEAKER_01]: So you're like, let's go.
36:18.302 --> 36:19.663
[SPEAKER_01]: And then that's not how it works.
36:20.063 --> 36:21.463
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's see you go out.
36:21.941 --> 36:24.642
[SPEAKER_01]: And I realized that I came back and landed nothing really happened.
36:24.662 --> 36:27.863
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a routine, you know, for our QRF mission or whatever.
36:27.903 --> 36:29.723
[SPEAKER_01]: And we went out and came back.
36:29.743 --> 36:34.265
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, okay, that was, I figured it out.
36:34.365 --> 36:35.325
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I'll be all right.
36:35.725 --> 36:39.246
[SPEAKER_01]: And the first probably five missions, you're very, just hypersensitive.
36:40.166 --> 36:44.848
[SPEAKER_01]: And then after that, you relax, you settle, you realize that, okay.
36:46.089 --> 36:48.091
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the mission profile, this is what we have to do.
36:48.151 --> 36:49.232
[SPEAKER_01]: We've planned out a few things.
36:49.252 --> 36:56.080
[SPEAKER_01]: It's gonna be a lot of downtime, but at the end of the day, you have to always be ready, but don't be nervous.
36:56.920 --> 36:59.123
[SPEAKER_01]: Cause if you're nervous, that's when you make mistakes.
36:59.899 --> 37:06.621
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, that's all fine and dandy, and then you have another come to Jesus moment once you get shot at for the first time.
37:07.221 --> 37:08.121
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'll never forget that.
37:08.161 --> 37:17.864
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember the first time I remember my very first mission, and I remember vividly the first time I got shot at, because then that's now a whole, the does like a whole, another level of stress that you're adding on to it.
37:18.164 --> 37:20.426
[SPEAKER_00]: So what would you see muzzle flashes?
37:20.546 --> 37:22.388
[SPEAKER_00]: What where you get hit the aircraft get hit?
37:22.548 --> 37:28.574
[SPEAKER_01]: Tracer tank, okay Tracer spacers like they don't make you talk a little bit.
37:28.755 --> 37:35.441
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll talk a factor which was really big and then so your first response that has denial like this isn't happening right?
37:36.402 --> 37:45.773
[SPEAKER_01]: And your back series usually the guy that's more experienced that I seen it before obviously he's like well Captain we're getting shot at now Lieutenant we're getting shot at now my big capitals there.
37:46.353 --> 37:51.539
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like oh, yeah, I see it and that for four seconds you're like now what do I do?
37:52.680 --> 37:54.501
[SPEAKER_01]: And that five seconds feels like an eternity.
37:55.341 --> 38:01.524
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you settle, you rely back on your training, you rely back on your TTPs, and then you get right back into what you're doing.
38:02.084 --> 38:04.145
[SPEAKER_01]: The second time you get shot at, there is no pause.
38:04.405 --> 38:08.467
[SPEAKER_01]: There is no, there is, and by pause, I mean, it's very, very quick the first time.
38:08.567 --> 38:11.648
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not, it seems like an hour, but literally it's probably like five seconds.
38:11.668 --> 38:16.230
[SPEAKER_01]: You're like, they weren't getting my two-way range, like, and that's like legit.
38:16.270 --> 38:17.851
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm here doing, it's just not a video game.
38:18.051 --> 38:19.271
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not a drill, right?
38:19.331 --> 38:20.572
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not a drill.
38:21.252 --> 38:29.855
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the second time the third time that after that, you realize your reaction is taking fire responding immediately, immediately.
38:30.516 --> 38:33.257
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'll never forget, I'll never forget that first time.
38:35.448 --> 38:37.650
[SPEAKER_01]: It's important to have those kinds of experiences.
38:38.031 --> 38:43.597
[SPEAKER_01]: It's important to always look back on that moment in life, because from then on, nothing is that hard.
38:44.358 --> 38:45.539
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing is that stressful.
38:46.340 --> 38:52.707
[SPEAKER_01]: I tell people all the time, Wesley, you know, you're a congressman, you're in politics, you know, it's pretty rough and I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not getting shot at.
38:53.047 --> 38:55.249
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was twenty four years old when I was doing that.
38:56.148 --> 38:57.189
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd be keep that in mind.
38:57.669 --> 39:02.134
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I am fighting a battle in an Apache at twenty four twenty five years old.
39:02.334 --> 39:09.220
[SPEAKER_01]: I am deciding who lives and who potentially dies at twenty four years old twenty five years old as a very young man.
39:09.621 --> 39:14.245
[SPEAKER_01]: So from there on my life is really stressing my life is really not that big of a deal.
39:14.765 --> 39:15.886
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing is that serious.
39:16.367 --> 39:18.208
[SPEAKER_01]: Now much of this regret of my wife every night again.
39:18.249 --> 39:20.451
[SPEAKER_01]: She kind of gets upset with me because I don't
39:22.652 --> 39:30.938
[SPEAKER_01]: It's very easy for me to rely back to those moments.
39:31.358 --> 39:32.759
[SPEAKER_01]: And everyone out again, we live a good life.
39:33.260 --> 39:35.882
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I talked about being an American, how blessed that we have it.
39:36.342 --> 39:42.766
[SPEAKER_01]: And every now and again, you kind of forget, you know, you kind of get a little soft, then, you know, we talked about that two little girls and a little boy.
39:43.627 --> 39:52.809
[SPEAKER_01]: And you start going through the day-to-day of life and you kind of forget those moments where things get hard and you find yourself getting spun up over something that really is not that significant.
39:53.249 --> 39:59.631
[SPEAKER_01]: And then before I go to bed at night, I think back to these two moments when I was twenty-four years old flying around in a patchy.
39:59.991 --> 40:01.071
[SPEAKER_01]: And you're like, you know what?
40:02.112 --> 40:02.832
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be just fine.
40:05.967 --> 40:14.012
[SPEAKER_00]: unique thing about the Apache and I don't know if this is only the Apache, but now so echo like normally when you're calling an aircraft fire.
40:14.933 --> 40:16.854
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a big protocol that you got to follow.
40:16.874 --> 40:21.517
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're calling fast movers overhead, you got to give them a nine line brief.
40:21.537 --> 40:24.059
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a bunch of really specific information that they need.
40:24.579 --> 40:27.181
[SPEAKER_00]: And it can be get pretty complicated.
40:27.880 --> 40:41.891
[SPEAKER_00]: But when you get in a patchy on the ground, or get a patchy in the air over, the army guys will just talk to the Apache, like they're talking to someone else with a rifle, or someone with a machine gun, like, no, the building to the far left, hit that one.
40:42.271 --> 40:53.320
[SPEAKER_00]: And Apache guys, since they're so close to the ground, and they're so in touch with the guys on the ground, it's almost like you have just another part of your infantry unit that's ready to lay it down.
40:53.340 --> 40:56.583
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's why guys love Apache's, because they can just make things happen.
40:57.283 --> 40:57.483
[SPEAKER_00]: What?
40:57.863 --> 40:58.924
[SPEAKER_00]: How is it for you?
40:59.244 --> 40:59.824
[SPEAKER_00]: You're in the air.
40:59.984 --> 41:00.724
[SPEAKER_00]: You're in the aircraft.
41:01.124 --> 41:02.405
[SPEAKER_00]: You hear these guys on the ground.
41:02.465 --> 41:06.766
[SPEAKER_00]: That's got to be like tormenting when you know that they're in bad situations.
41:07.286 --> 41:08.187
[SPEAKER_00]: And you want to help them.
41:08.267 --> 41:09.707
[SPEAKER_00]: And you're trying to understand what's happening.
41:10.167 --> 41:13.668
[SPEAKER_00]: Like what kind of mental place were you in when you'd start getting the call?
41:13.708 --> 41:14.889
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, we need, we need support now.
41:15.369 --> 41:16.509
[SPEAKER_00]: What was that like for you?
41:16.549 --> 41:18.330
[SPEAKER_01]: First thing, the most important situation awareness.
41:19.290 --> 41:24.072
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to know where the good guys are first and foremost, because the last thing that we want is fracture side.
41:24.812 --> 41:29.814
[SPEAKER_01]: So when we go weapons hot, you have to understand where the good guys are and where the bad guys are.
41:29.995 --> 41:31.095
[SPEAKER_01]: Number one, most important thing.
41:31.475 --> 41:33.416
[SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes you could hear the dress.
41:33.676 --> 41:38.759
[SPEAKER_01]: You could hear the sense of urgency that they're like, guys, we really need you to want to target like right now.
41:38.939 --> 41:40.960
[SPEAKER_00]: What's your primary, what was your primary way of
41:42.041 --> 41:43.161
[SPEAKER_00]: identifying friendly.
41:44.142 --> 41:48.425
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, they would give us a grid coordinate as to where they were eight digit grid coordinate.
41:49.005 --> 41:52.148
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, and then that's how we're usually able to easily identify them.
41:52.648 --> 41:54.709
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, sometimes they would use Tracer Fire.
41:54.829 --> 41:56.130
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm shooting right now.
41:56.210 --> 41:56.731
[SPEAKER_01]: Tracer Fire.
41:56.771 --> 41:58.412
[SPEAKER_01]: We are here shooting the direction of the enemy.
41:58.432 --> 41:59.833
[SPEAKER_01]: Boom, boom, boom, boom.
41:59.873 --> 42:00.653
[SPEAKER_01]: You were here in the radio.
42:00.673 --> 42:01.074
[SPEAKER_01]: They used it.
42:01.094 --> 42:02.995
[SPEAKER_01]: Tracer Fire would be like, okay, Roger got it.
42:04.956 --> 42:05.736
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we're gone side.
42:05.956 --> 42:11.498
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's just, you know, a few of the ways, but that's the most important thing is we're here to save friendly.
42:11.578 --> 42:15.719
[SPEAKER_01]: We are here to make sure that these young men get back to their families alive.
42:15.839 --> 42:18.119
[SPEAKER_01]: We aren't going to be the ones that that that eliminate them.
42:18.159 --> 42:20.420
[SPEAKER_01]: We have to be very, very cautious and first and foremost.
42:20.440 --> 42:25.541
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's that's the first and foremost important thing for any Apache driver was always who are the good guys.
42:26.521 --> 42:27.401
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't shoot the good guys.
42:27.821 --> 42:28.562
[SPEAKER_01]: We shoot the bad guys.
42:29.222 --> 42:29.782
[SPEAKER_01]: Most important.
42:29.882 --> 42:30.062
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
42:30.602 --> 42:33.783
[SPEAKER_01]: So, such a waste of awareness was something that we always had to be very, very mindful of.
42:34.103 --> 42:34.363
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
42:34.463 --> 42:39.424
[SPEAKER_00]: And it, it's really hard for people that haven't been in combat to understand how confusing the battlefield is.
42:39.644 --> 42:41.265
[SPEAKER_00]: It's very, it gets chaotic.
42:41.285 --> 42:50.807
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and I wrote about, I had, in Ramadi, there was probably one blue on blue, reported a week, reported.
42:51.147 --> 42:51.368
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
42:51.528 --> 42:51.968
[SPEAKER_00]: Every week.
42:52.148 --> 42:52.328
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
42:53.428 --> 43:08.740
[SPEAKER_00]: and not all of them had casualties but you know like hey you were shooting in our direction we were in this building of the you know the army is over here the Marine Corps over here that's how and it was there was situations where soldiers shot at humvies yeah like the al Qaeda or
43:09.180 --> 43:13.402
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't have humvies, you know, and humvies a very distinct profile of a vehicle.
43:13.462 --> 43:15.624
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not pretty hard to mistake something for them.
43:16.004 --> 43:18.385
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's how stressful it is.
43:18.625 --> 43:23.147
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the kind of decisions people are making and how confusing it can be when you're out there.
43:23.448 --> 43:29.131
[SPEAKER_00]: And so being in the aircraft overhead and you got these guys panning on the ground, you want to support them as much as you can at the same time.
43:29.971 --> 43:32.153
[SPEAKER_00]: Like rule number one, it's almost like a doctor do no harm.
43:32.273 --> 43:32.673
[SPEAKER_00]: That's right.
43:32.733 --> 43:34.955
[SPEAKER_01]: Rule number one, deal harm.
43:35.475 --> 43:40.579
[SPEAKER_01]: And this, like you said to us showing up a lot of times was just, it just all they needed to sometimes.
43:40.619 --> 43:55.831
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, sometimes we didn't even engage in it because there were, it was too close of contact, but the, but the comfort that they had knowing that we were overhead and how that, that shifted the entire battle, just by our presence being there, you know, I take, I take a lot of pride in that.
43:57.078 --> 43:58.559
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're up tempo.
43:59.059 --> 44:01.220
[SPEAKER_00]: I know you did, you just said you did fifteen days straight.
44:01.260 --> 44:01.701
[SPEAKER_00]: I won't win it.
44:01.721 --> 44:03.361
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't one day rest.
44:03.501 --> 44:06.143
[SPEAKER_00]: But generally speaking, you're fine every day.
44:06.503 --> 44:07.744
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they used it with it.
44:07.784 --> 44:14.227
[SPEAKER_01]: I think for us at that time, it was like, you know, four to five days on two days off, four to five days.
44:14.347 --> 44:15.008
[SPEAKER_01]: One to two days off.
44:15.368 --> 44:17.569
[SPEAKER_00]: And are you on a cycle of flying at night the whole time?
44:17.609 --> 44:18.870
[SPEAKER_00]: Or are you talking about the daytime?
44:19.490 --> 44:23.452
[SPEAKER_01]: We had like a rotating cycle to roll pilots on and off and we had to get our proper crew rest.
44:23.472 --> 44:24.893
[SPEAKER_01]: These eight hours all day good stuff.
44:25.359 --> 44:25.959
[SPEAKER_00]: What's the preferred?
44:26.820 --> 44:28.120
[SPEAKER_00]: It's better go out of night or during the day.
44:30.262 --> 44:32.923
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're going to, that's funny.
44:32.943 --> 44:34.344
[SPEAKER_01]: That's actually a really good question too.
44:35.044 --> 44:42.088
[SPEAKER_01]: So at night is when, at night time is when you saw the most engagements was at night.
44:43.989 --> 44:45.970
[SPEAKER_01]: The daytime though, you could see everything clearer.
44:46.450 --> 44:50.132
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you don't need in viewing night vision goggles, you don't need fear.
44:50.152 --> 44:52.033
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, there it is right there.
44:52.053 --> 44:53.233
[SPEAKER_01]: You could see it clear as day.
44:54.794 --> 44:58.076
[SPEAKER_01]: They could also, they hit him, he could also see you on the horizon during the daytime.
44:58.096 --> 45:00.116
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's when they would drop their weapons and move on.
45:00.156 --> 45:01.637
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're like, yeah, we don't want to deal with that.
45:01.657 --> 45:05.119
[SPEAKER_01]: What, what, what, police is dragging at that from like, right?
45:05.159 --> 45:07.000
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, like, we won't actually no part of that.
45:08.100 --> 45:13.763
[SPEAKER_01]: But at night is, is when you were, you were actually going to see a lot more, a lot more action.
45:14.723 --> 45:23.547
[SPEAKER_01]: So it just kind of, it just kind of depended, it does kind of depend on the battle rhythm and where you were, but at the end of the day, I mean, everybody at some point is going to, is going to, there's going to be some engagements.
45:24.593 --> 45:26.714
[SPEAKER_00]: And how long was your was this deployment in total?
45:27.415 --> 45:28.195
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, almost a year.
45:28.755 --> 45:28.895
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
45:29.116 --> 45:29.716
[SPEAKER_01]: So I got in.
45:29.756 --> 45:30.496
[SPEAKER_01]: I got a little bit late.
45:30.516 --> 45:31.317
[SPEAKER_01]: So it must have been for me.
45:31.357 --> 45:32.698
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like nine months, nine, ten months.
45:32.738 --> 45:33.798
[SPEAKER_01]: And so somewhere around there.
45:34.419 --> 45:42.003
[SPEAKER_00]: And as you're wrapping up, like as you're getting towards the end of deployment, are you starting to feel like that little short time disease or are you starting to like, well, maybe, you know,
45:42.303 --> 45:48.727
[SPEAKER_00]: I know you're saying the Lord's prayer, but you've been saying it for a bit saying it for a long time.
45:48.947 --> 45:56.971
[SPEAKER_00]: And at some point you start thinking, I always, I was with my guys, I would never tell them that this is the last mission because I always felt like that was a jinx.
45:58.012 --> 45:59.313
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, the guys, this is the last one.
45:59.673 --> 46:01.974
[SPEAKER_00]: So what I did is we kept doing missions, kept doing missions.
46:02.014 --> 46:04.915
[SPEAKER_00]: And when administratively we couldn't do it anymore.
46:04.935 --> 46:07.437
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like, hey, remember the last night?
46:07.477 --> 46:08.757
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that was it.
46:08.777 --> 46:09.077
[SPEAKER_00]: We're done.
46:09.217 --> 46:09.918
[SPEAKER_01]: And they're like, wow.
46:10.098 --> 46:14.140
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, because I didn't want anyone going out with like, this last one would be all paranoid and freaked out.
46:14.220 --> 46:16.901
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, just maybe I'm a superstitious or whatever.
46:16.941 --> 46:18.002
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's kind of the way.
46:18.182 --> 46:20.203
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like, hey, you know what, last night?
46:20.343 --> 46:20.763
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was it.
46:23.144 --> 46:27.328
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you start to feel any like pressure like, you know, because you're all, look, you're all in the dice every time.
46:27.528 --> 46:27.908
[SPEAKER_01]: Every time.
46:27.928 --> 46:29.810
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you start to think about that?
46:29.830 --> 46:30.350
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course you do.
46:31.491 --> 46:34.233
[SPEAKER_01]: That is a, that is a natural state of being a human being.
46:34.954 --> 46:42.420
[SPEAKER_01]: Especially when you know like, you know, we're, we're ripping out of here in about two weeks, which means that I've approximately three to four flights left.
46:44.156 --> 46:47.557
[SPEAKER_01]: and I want to go home and I want to get home in one piece and I want to get home safely.
46:48.177 --> 46:58.859
[SPEAKER_01]: But the mission is as important now as it was before you first got in country like that hasn't changed nor can you have a lapse of judgment because you still want people to get home.
46:58.899 --> 47:00.920
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, people do die on their last missions.
47:01.360 --> 47:03.080
[SPEAKER_01]: That has happened to feel my classmates.
47:03.421 --> 47:12.583
[SPEAKER_01]: Literally, they were they were doing less seat rights seat rides and one of my very dear friends is no longer with us because he was killed on his last mission before he was getting ready to come home.
47:13.263 --> 47:13.503
[SPEAKER_01]: And so
47:14.787 --> 47:16.228
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you train your mind?
47:16.708 --> 47:33.318
[SPEAKER_01]: And how do you train your brain and your early twenties on top of that and have the discipline and the state of mind and the fortitude to say, you have to be as focused right now knowing that you want to get home and hug your mom and hug your dad and and see your dog and do all this good stuff and see your family.
47:33.658 --> 47:36.600
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you screw this up, that ain't going to happen.
47:37.520 --> 47:44.948
[SPEAKER_01]: And in fact, it's even more important to be acutely aware of your surroundings than what's going on, but not to the point that you're nervous.
47:45.568 --> 47:46.910
[SPEAKER_01]: It goes right back to the very beginning.
47:47.250 --> 47:54.597
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like the state of mind and those last few flights is the same state of mind that you're kind of having a very beginning, but you can't allow that to creep in.
47:55.398 --> 47:55.879
[SPEAKER_01]: You can't.
47:56.560 --> 47:58.723
[SPEAKER_01]: What's going to be too nervous that it's some bad going to happen?
47:59.464 --> 48:01.787
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it's not even about me being able to do this.
48:01.827 --> 48:04.931
[SPEAKER_01]: Also keeping your soldiers focused.
48:05.732 --> 48:06.654
[SPEAKER_01]: I know you want to get home.
48:06.894 --> 48:07.835
[SPEAKER_01]: I know it's time to get home.
48:07.976 --> 48:08.977
[SPEAKER_01]: I know what you want to do.
48:09.398 --> 48:10.439
[SPEAKER_01]: I know we're two weeks out.
48:10.900 --> 48:11.601
[SPEAKER_01]: We're almost there.
48:11.901 --> 48:12.542
[SPEAKER_01]: We're almost there.
48:12.762 --> 48:16.024
[SPEAKER_01]: And fortunately for us, those last few weeks, no one was lost.
48:16.324 --> 48:19.785
[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone went off without a hitch of everyone performed accordingly.
48:20.806 --> 48:25.488
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's the mental gymnastics that you had to kind of put your mind through to prepare yourself especially at the end.
48:26.588 --> 48:28.349
[SPEAKER_00]: And how was coming back to America?
48:28.369 --> 48:30.890
[SPEAKER_00]: So now it's might've been in two thousand six till when you got home.
48:31.070 --> 48:33.371
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep, it was the end of two thousand six when I got home.
48:34.232 --> 48:37.133
[SPEAKER_01]: And I got home.
48:39.175 --> 48:42.637
[SPEAKER_01]: And for the first two weeks, you're still in combat brain.
48:45.559 --> 48:53.144
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, when I was in camp dodging, we're far up north, but every now and again, you know, they would have more to fire that would come in, you know, and hit our base.
48:53.744 --> 49:05.612
[SPEAKER_01]: And I remember one time, a couple hundred yards away, I mean, there was a hit a trailer burst in the flames and I woke me up and then you have to, obviously, you know, put on your, your flag jacket and then, you know, head to safety, head to shelter.
49:06.472 --> 49:08.573
[SPEAKER_01]: and you're not really asleep at night.
49:08.673 --> 49:12.253
[SPEAKER_01]: You're constantly always worried about something can happen.
49:12.654 --> 49:15.094
[SPEAKER_01]: You're thinking about that mortifier, you're thinking about the next mission.
49:15.374 --> 49:23.816
[SPEAKER_01]: You get back home for about two weeks and you're still in that mode and you realize that until my mom and my dad would say something to me like, Wesley, you're home.
49:24.236 --> 49:25.737
[SPEAKER_01]: It's okay, you're home.
49:26.157 --> 49:35.319
[SPEAKER_01]: And I remember I didn't completely decompress until two weeks later, I was sitting in church with my family, what my mom and my dad and I would sit next to them and then finally,
49:35.999 --> 49:36.500
[SPEAKER_01]: I relaxed.
49:38.241 --> 49:42.186
[SPEAKER_01]: I felt, oh, I felt the weight of no longer being in combat.
49:42.286 --> 49:43.827
[SPEAKER_01]: Finally, you're released from my body.
49:44.067 --> 49:47.371
[SPEAKER_01]: It was, it was almost, it was like a spiritual moment almost.
49:47.391 --> 49:51.495
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, and I remember being emotional and being like, I'm okay.
49:51.635 --> 49:52.096
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm okay.
49:52.236 --> 49:52.596
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm safe.
49:52.676 --> 49:53.257
[SPEAKER_01]: I made it home.
49:53.998 --> 49:58.102
[SPEAKER_01]: And then only to do that, to go back to forwardhood and to get training up for the next one.
49:59.771 --> 50:04.100
[SPEAKER_01]: like that is just like that is the rhythm.
50:04.801 --> 50:08.649
[SPEAKER_01]: I thank God every single day full of experiences in my early twenties.
50:09.908 --> 50:16.572
[SPEAKER_01]: I am so glad that I had to go through that through those moments in life at a very young age at a very early point.
50:16.612 --> 50:19.154
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why the military is so important, especially for young men.
50:19.634 --> 50:20.334
[SPEAKER_01]: It's critical.
50:21.095 --> 50:31.461
[SPEAKER_01]: It's critical to train your mind and to hone your craft and to put yourself in uncomfortable position, early on in life, because you used to being uncomfortable for the rest of your life in life is hard.
50:32.041 --> 50:37.165
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I think I realized a couple months ago, they built that into you by
50:38.168 --> 50:40.569
[SPEAKER_00]: little, they do exposure therapy.
50:40.649 --> 50:42.890
[SPEAKER_00]: Where the first thing you get is yell that by a, you know, a drone instructor.
50:42.930 --> 50:43.170
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
50:43.270 --> 50:43.590
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
50:43.610 --> 50:44.071
[SPEAKER_00]: Good yell that.
50:44.151 --> 50:44.331
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
50:44.351 --> 50:45.631
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, not too bad.
50:46.092 --> 50:49.113
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, you know, you got to climb that rope wall.
50:49.253 --> 50:51.094
[SPEAKER_00]: And you're like, oh, that rope falls a little hard to get over.
50:51.334 --> 50:52.414
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a little scary at the top.
50:52.434 --> 50:54.155
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you go over the cargo net, which is thirty feet up.
50:54.175 --> 50:55.075
[SPEAKER_00]: Then you're doing the slide for life.
50:55.135 --> 50:55.916
[SPEAKER_00]: Then you're repelling.
50:56.822 --> 51:13.288
[SPEAKER_00]: and then you're fast-ropping and each one of these things is a step into fear and you're each one of those you're overcoming the first the first bit of fear is tiny but it gets bigger and bigger bigger to you just learn how to overcome it learn how to overcome it learn how to overcome it and finally by the time you're jumping out of an airplane you're like oh I know what this feeling is it's called fear
51:14.371 --> 51:17.533
[SPEAKER_00]: I know what to do in response to it, and this is what I'm going to do this on my handle.
51:17.873 --> 51:18.614
[SPEAKER_00]: Now you're in combat.
51:19.414 --> 51:20.815
[SPEAKER_00]: You go, oh, oh, that little thing.
51:21.175 --> 51:21.916
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, I know what that is.
51:22.236 --> 51:22.636
[SPEAKER_00]: That's fear.
51:22.796 --> 51:23.577
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's how I overcome it.
51:23.917 --> 51:24.958
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't I don't back down from it.
51:25.158 --> 51:26.479
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't pretend it's not there.
51:26.639 --> 51:27.059
[SPEAKER_00]: I deal with it.
51:27.359 --> 51:28.660
[SPEAKER_00]: We go and we get to keep the mission.
51:28.860 --> 51:29.040
[SPEAKER_00]: Correct.
51:29.240 --> 51:32.342
[SPEAKER_00]: So they do a really good job in the military of teaching you how to do that.
51:32.723 --> 51:36.185
[SPEAKER_00]: If you take someone from zero to combat,
51:36.725 --> 51:40.228
[SPEAKER_00]: Like they're not they're gonna see that big monster fear and it's gonna freak them out.
51:40.248 --> 51:40.789
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not gonna do it.
51:40.989 --> 51:42.330
[SPEAKER_00]: So you gotta you gotta get used to it.
51:42.350 --> 51:44.332
[SPEAKER_00]: And the military does a very good job of doing that.
51:45.413 --> 51:57.284
[SPEAKER_00]: I've felt the same thing was for me was about a month after I got home and you know sitting there on the weekend and I woke up in the morning and I felt like good I felt like you know this sunny day I'm saying Diego.
51:59.185 --> 52:00.366
[SPEAKER_00]: What is what am I feeling?
52:01.187 --> 52:02.528
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, why do I feel good?
52:02.568 --> 52:06.070
[SPEAKER_00]: And I realized I didn't feel good of something because of something that was there.
52:06.771 --> 52:08.552
[SPEAKER_00]: I felt good of because of something that wasn't there.
52:08.912 --> 52:13.815
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was being worried about one of my guys getting wounded or killed, which is the worst, not in your stomach.
52:13.835 --> 52:16.157
[SPEAKER_00]: I made it last for months and months and months.
52:16.757 --> 52:18.058
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's just perpetually there.
52:18.098 --> 52:23.882
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you go home and it's gone, you go, wow, oh, I'm not, I'm not fearing the loss of one of my guys right now.
52:24.342 --> 52:26.684
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's a big weight off the shoulders.
52:27.174 --> 52:28.654
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you never let those guys go either.
52:28.974 --> 52:30.655
[SPEAKER_01]: You never let the guys that you served with go.
52:30.815 --> 52:35.056
[SPEAKER_01]: So a couple months ago, Brandon Bender, this is his name.
52:35.096 --> 52:35.976
[SPEAKER_01]: He was my crew chief.
52:36.376 --> 52:37.356
[SPEAKER_01]: He is no longer with us.
52:37.696 --> 52:39.017
[SPEAKER_01]: He passed away a couple months ago.
52:39.857 --> 52:43.298
[SPEAKER_01]: And I have a lot to develop going on.
52:43.358 --> 52:43.978
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm very busy.
52:44.338 --> 52:51.039
[SPEAKER_01]: But when I found that out, I went to the services in Georgia because I had to go because he was one of my guys.
52:51.299 --> 52:52.620
[SPEAKER_01]: He was one of my friends.
52:54.000 --> 52:57.442
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a corporal serving under me and he's a person that kept me alive.
52:57.462 --> 52:58.802
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a guy that fixed my aircraft.
52:58.822 --> 53:00.343
[SPEAKER_01]: He's the guy that was my confident.
53:00.383 --> 53:05.646
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a deer deer friend and to be the Florida's closure, you never let him go.
53:06.526 --> 53:07.987
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's not with us anymore.
53:08.087 --> 53:09.027
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll be the first to admit.
53:09.047 --> 53:11.749
[SPEAKER_01]: I wish I wasn't contact with him more.
53:11.809 --> 53:13.209
[SPEAKER_01]: I wish I could have said something.
53:13.269 --> 53:13.529
[SPEAKER_01]: I wish
53:18.433 --> 53:23.156
[SPEAKER_01]: As this guy says, you know, as his leader, I wish even this, and we haven't seen him in gears.
53:23.196 --> 53:25.918
[SPEAKER_01]: We have to start together in fifteen years, but he's still with me.
53:26.478 --> 53:27.379
[SPEAKER_01]: Brandon is still with me.
53:27.919 --> 53:38.406
[SPEAKER_01]: And so when you say somebody that you trained with, that you are in combat with, somebody that you are in charge of, it's not just, it's not just them in combat, it's them in life too.
53:39.206 --> 53:42.809
[SPEAKER_01]: Like like you build these relationships with people literally under fire.
53:43.290 --> 53:48.414
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm out there forget I landed from from a pretty rough mission and Brandon was there bringing me in and I gave him the biggest hug in the world.
53:48.774 --> 53:49.595
[SPEAKER_01]: He goes let me go.
53:50.235 --> 53:51.837
[SPEAKER_01]: I heard on the radio so I'm glad you're back.
53:52.357 --> 53:54.319
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm thinking like it, what's wrong with Brandon?
53:54.359 --> 53:56.761
[SPEAKER_01]: What's the guy that I'm all there for you looking at?
53:58.122 --> 54:04.544
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that kind of relationship is forged and steel and it's something that never goes away.
54:05.584 --> 54:10.146
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is not a shot to Brandon Bender or a shot out to Brandon Bender and his family, but I think of him often.
54:10.206 --> 54:13.507
[SPEAKER_01]: I think of him almost daily to this day because he's no longer here.
54:14.027 --> 54:22.750
[SPEAKER_01]: But that level of care and that level of, I want to make sure my guys get home and I want to make sure my guys prosper and that they stay alive.
54:23.090 --> 54:26.171
[SPEAKER_01]: That care becomes a greater feeling than taking care of yourself.
54:27.303 --> 54:27.443
[SPEAKER_01]: out.
54:28.124 --> 54:37.959
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd realize this our years ago, I had a guy named Tom Fife on the podcast and he was in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
54:38.019 --> 54:38.740
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a hard charger.
54:39.181 --> 54:42.506
[SPEAKER_00]: And you got a purple heart in World War II, Korea.
54:43.166 --> 54:43.707
[SPEAKER_00]: And Vietnam.
54:44.648 --> 54:49.392
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're talking, and we're talking, you know, when he was in World War II, he was like a, you know, he was a private.
54:49.432 --> 54:51.755
[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't know what was going on by the time he's in Korea.
54:51.795 --> 54:53.717
[SPEAKER_00]: He's now like a lieutenant.
54:54.477 --> 54:57.681
[SPEAKER_00]: And by the time we get to Vietnam, he's time commander Vietnam.
54:58.221 --> 55:01.945
[SPEAKER_00]: We're having this conversation, you know, and just awesome conversation with this hero.
55:03.584 --> 55:09.245
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, what's talking about, you know, kind of like the tactical military stuff, you know, which is, I love talking about it.
55:09.265 --> 55:09.905
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, what was your message?
55:09.925 --> 55:10.325
[SPEAKER_00]: What were you doing?
55:10.345 --> 55:11.166
[SPEAKER_00]: What was the uptempo like?
55:11.866 --> 55:15.086
[SPEAKER_00]: What were the techniques where the usual procedures were having that conversation?
55:16.047 --> 55:21.228
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, you know, I said, you know, how many casualties did you take when you were a battalion commander?
55:22.468 --> 55:24.948
[SPEAKER_00]: And so this is sixty years after the war.
55:26.429 --> 55:27.149
[SPEAKER_00]: And you got choked up.
55:28.229 --> 55:31.770
[SPEAKER_00]: And I thought to myself, I realized at that moment that
55:32.950 --> 55:35.192
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm always gonna feel that way about my guys.
55:35.512 --> 55:36.513
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's nothing wrong with it.
55:37.473 --> 55:41.036
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was a huge lesson learned for me because I've been able to share that with other people.
55:41.056 --> 55:45.619
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, hey, when you lose your friends, that's gonna leave a mark.
55:46.259 --> 55:55.906
[SPEAKER_00]: And especially being in the military, you're gonna lose your friends that are twenty-three years old, twenty-five years old, twenty-six years old that are gonna, they're not gonna get to experience what we get to experience.
55:55.986 --> 55:59.808
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe they didn't get that chance to have kids, they didn't get a chance to live the rest of their lives.
56:00.769 --> 56:02.070
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's going to hurt.
56:02.350 --> 56:02.470
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
56:03.251 --> 56:08.214
[SPEAKER_00]: And the best thing we can do, look, you're never going to, it's okay to say, oh, yeah.
56:08.615 --> 56:10.756
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I'll, I'll freak and shed a tear tonight.
56:11.196 --> 56:12.057
[SPEAKER_00]: Think about my friends.
56:12.497 --> 56:14.038
[SPEAKER_00]: Then there's nothing wrong with that.
56:14.078 --> 56:14.979
[SPEAKER_00]: It's perfectly okay.
56:15.739 --> 56:18.381
[SPEAKER_00]: And the best thing you, what, what you don't want to do.
56:19.622 --> 56:28.066
[SPEAKER_00]: is pretend that that's not there or dwell on it to the point where you're caught in the past and thinking about what would have could have should have been, right?
56:28.426 --> 56:29.386
[SPEAKER_00]: But you can't change the past.
56:30.167 --> 56:37.050
[SPEAKER_00]: So those are, I think it really important lessons and even what you're saying right now about your buddy, it's like, what do you do, you honor?
56:37.570 --> 56:37.930
[SPEAKER_00]: That's it.
56:38.050 --> 56:39.671
[SPEAKER_00]: You live your life for them moving forward.
56:40.332 --> 56:42.913
[SPEAKER_01]: You do what they what I would want them to do if that were me.
56:43.534 --> 56:44.654
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to want you to mourn me.
56:45.275 --> 56:46.716
[SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't want don't feel bad for me.
56:46.976 --> 56:48.096
[SPEAKER_01]: I met a better place anyway.
56:48.597 --> 56:50.678
[SPEAKER_01]: Please live your life to the fullest.
56:50.838 --> 56:55.701
[SPEAKER_01]: Just don't don't forget it and understand that there are a lot of people that are no longer here.
56:56.001 --> 56:59.964
[SPEAKER_01]: So we must continue to find ways to serve and live for them and they're stead.
57:00.937 --> 57:09.846
[SPEAKER_01]: They pay the ultimate sacrifice in the name of this country and the name of freedom and the name of and the name of growing and making a more making a better, more perfect union.
57:09.866 --> 57:10.847
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why they died.
57:11.187 --> 57:17.414
[SPEAKER_01]: So getting the business of doing that literally that's why I got in the politics or that's that's the what are the biggest reasons why.
57:18.154 --> 57:20.415
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, look, you know, you may not agree with me politically.
57:20.455 --> 57:28.378
[SPEAKER_01]: This, out of a third, but please know that my heart is in the right place to make a more better union and to continue to serve for those who are no longer here to serve for themselves.
57:28.658 --> 57:29.699
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what this whole thing is about.
57:30.079 --> 57:37.542
[SPEAKER_01]: When you opened up about people that weren't a military that's served now, no matter how you feel about them personally, keep in mind, we are the ones that said I'm willing to die for our country.
57:38.214 --> 57:38.614
[SPEAKER_01]: Hold on.
57:39.515 --> 57:43.720
[SPEAKER_01]: Show us a little bit of respect to you because that's actually real to us and most of you didn't do that.
57:44.821 --> 57:50.567
[SPEAKER_01]: So you made this agree that's politically, but you should respect where our heart is because we are the ones that I wouldn't believe for the country.
57:53.951 --> 57:55.132
[SPEAKER_00]: So you get home from this deployment.
57:55.692 --> 57:58.375
[SPEAKER_00]: What's what do you go into a work up prepare to deploy again?
57:58.415 --> 57:58.976
[SPEAKER_00]: Is that what happened?
57:59.342 --> 57:59.842
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, for sure.
57:59.982 --> 58:05.605
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's kind of, I mean, you, you take, obviously, there's, there's some downtime and then there's, you know, some obviously in T.C.
58:05.645 --> 58:07.686
[SPEAKER_01]: rotations and, and all that kind of good stuff.
58:08.367 --> 58:10.868
[SPEAKER_01]: But then after that, I actually didn't deploy the second time.
58:10.888 --> 58:15.510
[SPEAKER_01]: I actually was on rear attachment and then I actually, because I was, I was getting out the military.
58:15.530 --> 58:16.731
[SPEAKER_01]: I knew I was getting out the military.
58:17.151 --> 58:19.712
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I then did my last two combat deployment.
58:19.732 --> 58:24.175
[SPEAKER_01]: It's actually, it was considered to be combat and Saudi Arabia as the diplomatic liaison officer.
58:25.055 --> 58:30.980
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we did, I did the train up, then went to the Captain's career course, and they're from there, which is Saudi Arabia for two years.
58:32.041 --> 58:40.407
[SPEAKER_01]: This is where I got the true diplomatic political bug during the last two years in a military station in Saudi Arabia.
58:40.527 --> 58:43.270
[SPEAKER_00]: So explain what a diplomatic liaison officer is doing.
58:43.450 --> 58:48.634
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so one of the, one of the largest Apache contracts actually goes to Saudi Arabia.
58:48.674 --> 58:52.077
[SPEAKER_01]: Saudi Arabia is a big purchaser of a lot of our aircraft and a lot of our munitions.
58:53.017 --> 58:53.358
[SPEAKER_01]: And so
58:55.079 --> 58:59.942
[SPEAKER_01]: I was at that time I was doing four military sales for the military and Saudi Arabia.
59:00.382 --> 59:16.232
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we advised them on what they need, what their battle needs were, what their training needs were, coordinated with Boeing to figure out what a patchy model you need and the specs that she needed on the Apache to best fit your needs in Saudi Arabia as a diplomatic officer.
59:16.732 --> 59:19.054
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that's when I got exposed to the region as a whole.
59:19.575 --> 59:24.580
[SPEAKER_01]: And imagine being able to travel in that region as well as diplomatically as an officer.
59:24.620 --> 59:26.722
[SPEAKER_01]: I suppose to fly around back there.
59:27.963 --> 59:31.226
[SPEAKER_01]: The deep, the different, of course, it's been re-allowed away different than back then.
59:31.446 --> 59:33.428
[SPEAKER_01]: So are you saying a five star hotel or something?
59:33.648 --> 59:34.229
[SPEAKER_01]: Every not again.
59:34.249 --> 59:35.850
[SPEAKER_01]: It was that it wasn't terrible.
59:35.910 --> 59:36.431
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you wearing?
59:36.471 --> 59:38.693
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I was actually stationed on on an air force base.
59:38.713 --> 59:41.935
[SPEAKER_01]: So yes, it was a five star hotel for sure.
59:44.678 --> 59:46.019
[SPEAKER_00]: They know how to make those things happen.
59:46.619 --> 59:47.640
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you wearing a uniform?
59:47.901 --> 59:48.781
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, okay.
59:48.921 --> 59:50.563
[SPEAKER_00]: Every day drive it down to read out every day
59:50.683 --> 59:55.327
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you're interacting like with their squadrons of Apache's.
59:55.408 --> 59:55.728
[SPEAKER_00]: Correct.
59:56.028 --> 59:56.348
[SPEAKER_01]: Correct.
59:56.509 --> 59:58.991
[SPEAKER_01]: What they're with their equivalent counterparts.
01:00:00.032 --> 01:00:05.037
[SPEAKER_01]: One interesting fact was, so a zombie laden was from, you know, to bring this whole thing full circle.
01:00:05.077 --> 01:00:06.858
[SPEAKER_01]: He goes from Reon from Saudi Arabia.
01:00:07.499 --> 01:00:11.163
[SPEAKER_01]: I think, uh, eighteen or nineteen other twenty plus nine, eleven attackers.
01:00:11.663 --> 01:00:12.804
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:00:12.824 --> 01:00:13.665
[SPEAKER_01]: So keep that in mind.
01:00:14.346 --> 01:00:14.746
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, and so.
01:00:16.027 --> 01:00:21.337
[SPEAKER_01]: The bin Laden family is a construction family and then there's also a piece of them that funds terror.
01:00:21.938 --> 01:00:24.483
[SPEAKER_01]: So keep in mind when I was a Saudi Arabia is when we killed Midland.
01:00:26.238 --> 01:00:32.401
[SPEAKER_01]: So I was driving downtown to work with Saudi escorts and we were armed every single day going into work.
01:00:32.641 --> 01:00:38.083
[SPEAKER_01]: Because again, I mean, you don't know who wants to do armed to do harm to American soldiers.
01:00:38.123 --> 01:00:44.585
[SPEAKER_01]: And this was also, it was a different magic job, but also every day we drove in with Saudi escorts to keep that in mind.
01:00:45.186 --> 01:00:48.327
[SPEAKER_01]: So when the law was killed, we were going to work for two weeks.
01:00:49.877 --> 01:00:51.118
[SPEAKER_01]: We say on the base, they shut it down.
01:00:51.138 --> 01:00:51.979
[SPEAKER_01]: We just throw levels to it.
01:00:51.999 --> 01:00:53.240
[SPEAKER_01]: Brett level was way too high.
01:00:54.061 --> 01:00:55.121
[SPEAKER_01]: Brett level was too high.
01:00:55.762 --> 01:01:03.028
[SPEAKER_01]: What sympathizers are even within the role of Saudi land forces that viewed Bin Laden as kind of their hero.
01:01:03.068 --> 01:01:04.870
[SPEAKER_01]: And I know we're working together here.
01:01:05.310 --> 01:01:10.495
[SPEAKER_01]: But keep in mind, there are a lot of people that don't view us the same way, even though they're wearing the Saudi uniform.
01:01:11.055 --> 01:01:15.439
[SPEAKER_01]: And we know when I left an attacker's came from for two weeks that Brett was too high, we didn't go to work.
01:01:16.779 --> 01:01:20.381
[SPEAKER_01]: So keep in mind, this is what people have to understand about the world.
01:01:20.862 --> 01:01:27.686
[SPEAKER_01]: There are people that want to see the end of us, just by virtue of us being Americans, even some of our allies.
01:01:28.707 --> 01:01:31.649
[SPEAKER_01]: We have to be vigilant and understand that everybody doesn't want to sing Kumbaya.
01:01:31.749 --> 01:01:36.973
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody doesn't come from America and everybody doesn't have this Judeo Christian background that believes in the greater good.
01:01:36.993 --> 01:01:39.014
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not how a lot of countries work.
01:01:39.675 --> 01:01:43.918
[SPEAKER_01]: Keep in mind, when I was in Saudi, you're still doing public behindings and beheadings.
01:01:45.077 --> 01:01:48.678
[SPEAKER_01]: women were not allowed to drive when I was there.
01:01:48.998 --> 01:01:51.999
[SPEAKER_01]: They are now finally women were not allowed to operate a movie.
01:01:52.939 --> 01:01:54.879
[SPEAKER_01]: Like this is this is happening in the world.
01:01:55.339 --> 01:02:07.342
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that perspective that I have and living in another place and living in the Middle East for a long period of time is what gives me the ultimate appreciation for what we have right now.
01:02:08.042 --> 01:02:14.044
[SPEAKER_01]: And if anybody asks me why I am a conservative and a big part of that is not just because of my parents wearing group, I've seen the world.
01:02:15.435 --> 01:02:16.518
[SPEAKER_01]: We have it pretty good.
01:02:17.560 --> 01:02:19.785
[SPEAKER_01]: We have champagne problems in this country.
01:02:21.529 --> 01:02:22.993
[SPEAKER_01]: You people don't understand
01:02:25.454 --> 01:02:47.174
[SPEAKER_00]: really don't get it yeah and there's there's the cultural differences are very very difficult for people to understand and how dramatic they are you know like you said the handing you kind of threw that word out there like everybody knows what be handing means like oh you stole something we're cutting your hand off the discussion
01:02:47.694 --> 01:02:48.635
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:02:48.875 --> 01:02:51.918
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, you cheated on your, you know, husband or wife.
01:02:52.098 --> 01:02:52.359
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
01:02:52.379 --> 01:02:53.380
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to be stoned to death.
01:02:53.460 --> 01:02:53.760
[SPEAKER_00]: You're dead.
01:02:54.401 --> 01:02:54.621
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:02:55.181 --> 01:02:56.583
[SPEAKER_00]: These are different cultures.
01:02:57.043 --> 01:02:58.024
[SPEAKER_00]: Very, very different.
01:02:58.444 --> 01:03:05.531
[SPEAKER_00]: And one of the mistakes that we make as Americans is we think we can just, we think if they look at our culture that, oh, cool.
01:03:05.551 --> 01:03:06.072
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what we want to do.
01:03:08.121 --> 01:03:10.503
[SPEAKER_00]: And it just doesn't work that way.
01:03:10.803 --> 01:03:11.924
[SPEAKER_00]: It just doesn't work that way.
01:03:12.244 --> 01:03:19.848
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're going to change a culture, it takes generations, generations of persistent effort to change a culture.
01:03:20.509 --> 01:03:25.972
[SPEAKER_00]: Like generations, three, four, five generations before someone goes, oh yeah, I guess we're going to start to shift.
01:03:26.673 --> 01:03:29.775
[SPEAKER_00]: But they've lived the way that they've lived for thousands of years.
01:03:30.555 --> 01:03:37.081
[SPEAKER_00]: And you can't change that in five years, in ten years, in fifteen years, it takes generations to make those changes.
01:03:38.121 --> 01:03:40.183
[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, you might not be successful, by the way.
01:03:40.804 --> 01:03:44.307
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's a very, you know, there's a high likelihood that you don't be successful.
01:03:45.147 --> 01:03:48.150
[SPEAKER_00]: So understanding that from the get-go is very, very important.
01:03:48.830 --> 01:03:55.192
[SPEAKER_00]: And we seem to fantasize that, or I shouldn't say, we, but, yes, we.
01:03:55.772 --> 01:04:01.854
[SPEAKER_00]: A many people in America fantasize that we can change the world.
01:04:02.154 --> 01:04:04.455
[SPEAKER_00]: And we can change people's cultures and we can change the way that they think.
01:04:04.895 --> 01:04:07.956
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's not a, that's an arrogant attitude to have.
01:04:08.036 --> 01:04:08.236
[SPEAKER_00]: It is.
01:04:08.316 --> 01:04:08.816
[SPEAKER_00]: It really is.
01:04:09.116 --> 01:04:13.317
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's, it's cost us dearly in, you know, throughout his process.
01:04:13.337 --> 01:04:14.398
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of money and a lot of lives.
01:04:14.518 --> 01:04:14.738
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep.
01:04:15.078 --> 01:04:15.258
[SPEAKER_00]: Yep.
01:04:16.159 --> 01:04:19.422
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, you, you mentioned that you were doing these billets because you would, you were gonna get out.
01:04:19.742 --> 01:04:19.922
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
01:04:20.002 --> 01:04:22.564
[SPEAKER_00]: What made you make the decision that you're gonna move on from the army?
01:04:22.724 --> 01:04:24.706
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, my sister obviously made a career out of it.
01:04:24.966 --> 01:04:34.234
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, my, my dad did twenty plus years, but I, I wasn't a place to wear, especially I think after the early deployments, I mean, graduate, you know, my sister was, we hear that it was funny.
01:04:34.254 --> 01:04:38.217
[SPEAKER_01]: My sister's ten years older than me, graduated West Point, nineteen ninety three, and I beat her to Baghdad.
01:04:39.798 --> 01:04:41.240
[SPEAKER_01]: because she entered a time of peace.
01:04:41.620 --> 01:04:43.323
[SPEAKER_01]: She spent a couple of tours in Korea.
01:04:43.543 --> 01:04:44.985
[SPEAKER_01]: It kind of bounced around a little bit.
01:04:45.025 --> 01:04:47.968
[SPEAKER_01]: I went from West Point, Flight School, Baghdad.
01:04:49.070 --> 01:04:56.058
[SPEAKER_01]: So, and I wanted to have a family, and I kind of wanted to see what else was out there, and I realized that, shortly after that first deployment.
01:04:56.886 --> 01:05:02.550
[SPEAKER_01]: I realized, you know, I'm gonna do my job, I'm gonna do it, I can't once or about my time to the best of my ability, but I'm gonna go do something else.
01:05:03.010 --> 01:05:05.631
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, brother, I always want to be a politician in some capacity.
01:05:05.932 --> 01:05:19.020
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know how or where or when I was gonna get there, but I've always had a political bug and I've realized that unless you want to be a general, because no shade on generals, but you know, they can get pretty.
01:05:19.640 --> 01:05:40.859
[SPEAKER_01]: political actually to become a you know a general means you're playing a political game you have to play some games and I wasn't I didn't want to do it with the confesant military cuz I don't I don't like that but if I'm going to be a politician you have to get out go back home go get some more education go figure a life out and then see what opportunities present them now as you look at the political landscape and you see the
01:05:41.790 --> 01:05:49.377
[SPEAKER_00]: Number one, a lot of people that are in the political landscape, but number two, you see the bad people that are in there and you go, this is my perspective.
01:05:49.417 --> 01:05:54.101
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd say, well, I see a bunch of people that seem like disgusting human beings in the political world.
01:05:54.521 --> 01:06:02.808
[SPEAKER_00]: And then when I see good human beings in the political world, and I see how they get treated, how they get ripped apart, what part of your freaking mindset?
01:06:02.828 --> 01:06:04.890
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, that sounds like a good deal.
01:06:04.930 --> 01:06:06.091
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's go sign up for that gig.
01:06:06.851 --> 01:06:12.435
[SPEAKER_01]: This goes back to, if not me, then who?
01:06:13.175 --> 01:06:18.199
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is the problem that we have in politics is that a lot of good guys don't get in it for that very reason.
01:06:18.959 --> 01:06:22.982
[SPEAKER_01]: And so at some point, you got to be kind of the beacon of light to others to say, come on in.
01:06:23.322 --> 01:06:24.343
[SPEAKER_01]: The water is warm.
01:06:24.503 --> 01:06:25.944
[SPEAKER_01]: We need more people like you.
01:06:26.344 --> 01:06:27.705
[SPEAKER_01]: We need more veterans.
01:06:27.785 --> 01:06:30.927
[SPEAKER_01]: We need more younger people because our system is way too old.
01:06:31.307 --> 01:06:34.810
[SPEAKER_01]: Brother, I'm twenty years basically, twenty years both the average age of Congress.
01:06:35.490 --> 01:06:36.691
[SPEAKER_01]: and that's a damn shame.
01:06:36.711 --> 01:06:39.353
[SPEAKER_01]: So you have to keep in mind, laws are being made by people.
01:06:39.373 --> 01:06:40.654
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't keep people one retired.
01:06:40.674 --> 01:06:41.334
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't like them.
01:06:41.354 --> 01:06:41.555
[UNKNOWN]: I don't.
01:06:41.575 --> 01:06:41.775
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:41.795 --> 01:06:41.975
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:41.995 --> 01:06:42.215
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:42.235 --> 01:06:42.435
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:42.455 --> 01:06:42.655
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:42.675 --> 01:06:42.835
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:42.855 --> 01:06:42.996
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:43.016 --> 01:06:43.156
[UNKNOWN]: I don't.
01:06:43.176 --> 01:06:43.356
[UNKNOWN]: I don't.
01:06:43.376 --> 01:06:43.536
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:43.556 --> 01:06:43.836
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:43.856 --> 01:06:44.016
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:44.036 --> 01:06:44.176
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:44.196 --> 01:06:44.337
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:44.357 --> 01:06:44.497
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:44.517 --> 01:06:44.657
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:44.677 --> 01:06:44.837
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:44.857 --> 01:06:45.017
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:45.037 --> 01:06:45.237
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:45.257 --> 01:06:45.457
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:45.477 --> 01:06:45.618
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:45.638 --> 01:06:45.878
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:45.898 --> 01:06:46.058
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:46.078 --> 01:06:46.218
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:46.238 --> 01:06:46.378
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:46.398 --> 01:06:46.538
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:46.558 --> 01:06:46.698
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:46.718 --> 01:06:46.959
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:46.979 --> 01:06:47.279
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:47.299 --> 01:06:47.579
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:47.619 --> 01:06:47.879
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:47.959 --> 01:06:48.159
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:48.179 --> 01:06:48.340
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:48.360 --> 01:06:48.500
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:48.520 --> 01:06:48.680
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:48.860 --> 01:06:49.320
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:49.340 --> 01:06:49.540
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.
01:06:49.560 --> 01:06:50.261
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:50.281 --> 01:06:50.441
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:50.461 --> 01:06:50.601
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:50.621 --> 01:06:50.801
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:50.821 --> 01:06:51.042
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:51.062 --> 01:06:51.302
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:51.322 --> 01:06:51.502
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:51.522 --> 01:06:51.662
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
01:06:51.682 --> 01:06:51.982
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't
01:07:05.900 --> 01:07:13.725
[SPEAKER_01]: When you have a four year old that's making laws, oh no no, I care because I'm gonna be around here in ten, twenty years and my children are gonna be around in the next ten, twenty years.
01:07:14.045 --> 01:07:20.149
[SPEAKER_01]: So I am fully invested and every vote that I take because I'm gonna be around to see it come through fruition.
01:07:21.049 --> 01:07:32.357
[SPEAKER_01]: So whenever you have a lot of older guys that aren't bought in, like a lot of military guys as well, that have kind of been, you know, very self-serving in the political spectrum, guys like me come around and we tend to rub people the wrong way.
01:07:32.617 --> 01:07:34.018
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm here for it.
01:07:34.858 --> 01:07:39.141
[SPEAKER_00]: Was there anybody any specific, because you said you wanted to be a politician?
01:07:39.221 --> 01:07:39.461
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
01:07:40.162 --> 01:07:45.365
[SPEAKER_00]: Was there any politician that you looked at when you were growing up or at any point in your life, you said, I have to good role model.
01:07:45.445 --> 01:07:47.567
[SPEAKER_00]: I like what that person that I'm going to follow in their footsteps.
01:07:48.181 --> 01:07:50.663
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, there were, by the way, I got asked that question the other day.
01:07:50.843 --> 01:07:51.744
[SPEAKER_00]: I drew a blank.
01:07:52.725 --> 01:07:54.426
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, no, I got nothing for you.
01:07:55.186 --> 01:07:55.647
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know what?
01:07:55.687 --> 01:07:57.008
[SPEAKER_00]: I did eventually think of later.
01:07:57.849 --> 01:08:01.091
[SPEAKER_00]: If I had to, if I had to state someone, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.
01:08:01.191 --> 01:08:01.491
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, wow.
01:08:01.731 --> 01:08:04.273
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, who was the governor of Maine.
01:08:04.374 --> 01:08:04.634
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:08:04.774 --> 01:08:10.959
[SPEAKER_00]: But you know, he was the hero of the Battle of Gettysburg and not just the hero of Battle of Gettysburg and he was a heroic guy that
01:08:11.619 --> 01:08:15.121
[SPEAKER_00]: freaking went back in the combat with a leather colossus.
01:08:15.141 --> 01:08:36.670
[SPEAKER_00]: 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, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
01:08:39.951 --> 01:08:54.381
[SPEAKER_01]: and what he was able to do during slavery during that time period and how he was able to get this country not as an elected official per se, but the influence that he had amongst political powers was something that I realized I wanted to be a part of.
01:08:55.401 --> 01:08:58.042
[SPEAKER_01]: And I always tell the story too about my family history.
01:08:58.102 --> 01:09:00.583
[SPEAKER_01]: My great-great grandfather was born in a plantation.
01:09:01.084 --> 01:09:02.524
[SPEAKER_01]: He was born on a rose down plantation.
01:09:02.544 --> 01:09:04.625
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about three miles north of Bataruj, Louisiana.
01:09:04.865 --> 01:09:06.086
[SPEAKER_01]: Look up rose down plantation.
01:09:06.166 --> 01:09:07.746
[SPEAKER_01]: It still exists today.
01:09:08.607 --> 01:09:13.729
[SPEAKER_01]: So you have a guy who is me, who is the great-great grandson of a slave.
01:09:14.469 --> 01:09:18.051
[SPEAKER_01]: Literally, not just me, but my brother and sister and I all went to us point.
01:09:18.971 --> 01:09:20.392
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a trick-laden through us point.
01:09:21.225 --> 01:09:23.028
[SPEAKER_01]: Lifted Robby Lee Berks, that we talked about earlier.
01:09:23.248 --> 01:09:36.769
[SPEAKER_01]: Lifted Robby Lee Berks, and I was the guy that Lifted Robby Lee Berks was like, wow, this is one hell of a country that not just me, my brother and sister, we've been black for our entire lives, but triculated through West Point.
01:09:37.149 --> 01:09:41.374
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm living in a robbery barracks and at no point where we evict them, this is one hell of a country.
01:09:41.774 --> 01:09:51.444
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I then go on to become a congressman for a white majority district that trumped a one by twenty plus points and I won by twenty seven points.
01:09:51.945 --> 01:09:53.847
[SPEAKER_01]: The great great grandson of a slave.
01:09:54.908 --> 01:09:58.411
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the progress of the greatest nation in the world.
01:09:58.771 --> 01:10:00.573
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't let anybody tell you anything different.
01:10:00.893 --> 01:10:07.359
[SPEAKER_01]: And so when I go back to thinking about Frederick Douglass and his famous saying of if there is no struggle, there is no progress.
01:10:07.939 --> 01:10:11.242
[SPEAKER_01]: We have to live through the struggles and that's applicable in everything in life.
01:10:12.343 --> 01:10:13.224
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to struggle.
01:10:13.664 --> 01:10:14.425
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to hurt.
01:10:14.745 --> 01:10:17.667
[SPEAKER_01]: It has to suck in order for there to be progress.
01:10:18.328 --> 01:10:20.470
[SPEAKER_01]: And we live in the world right now of instant gratification.
01:10:21.254 --> 01:10:22.335
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody wants it right now.
01:10:22.815 --> 01:10:24.536
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody, people have to keep in mind.
01:10:24.596 --> 01:10:28.579
[SPEAKER_01]: There are people that died for us to be sitting here right now.
01:10:28.980 --> 01:10:31.902
[SPEAKER_01]: And there are people that went through a lot for us to be sitting here right now.
01:10:32.382 --> 01:10:41.169
[SPEAKER_01]: And as a black man sitting here with the white man having this conversation, do you know that my great, great grandfather would never have the honor or pillage of sitting in a seat just like this?
01:10:41.629 --> 01:10:48.174
[SPEAKER_01]: And I soak it up and I love every second of it, because at the end of the day, we are the progress of this great nation.
01:10:48.834 --> 01:10:56.577
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the influence that Frederick Douglass had, I think, during that time period, and I want to make a very similar difference.
01:10:58.538 --> 01:11:00.058
[SPEAKER_00]: So what did that path look like?
01:11:00.078 --> 01:11:02.039
[SPEAKER_00]: So you decide you're going to go into politics.
01:11:02.699 --> 01:11:03.019
[SPEAKER_00]: Correct.
01:11:03.239 --> 01:11:05.000
[SPEAKER_00]: And when you in the army, or did you, I was out.
01:11:05.060 --> 01:11:05.660
[SPEAKER_01]: I was out.
01:11:05.680 --> 01:11:06.841
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's like, I got out there on me.
01:11:07.081 --> 01:11:08.321
[SPEAKER_00]: What did grad school grad school?
01:11:08.781 --> 01:11:10.122
[SPEAKER_01]: That grad school moved back home.
01:11:10.162 --> 01:11:11.742
[SPEAKER_00]: You did for what you get seventeen master.
01:11:15.231 --> 01:11:35.368
[SPEAKER_01]: When you're still single at that time still single because I was going to say yeah it was no woman would have allowed you to take three to last of a time still single yeah still single did three by the NBA a massive public administration in the masses of industrial labor relations at Cornell at a great education grade school had a really good time there, but here's the funny thing is very liberal as you know Coca-Cola New York is
01:11:36.598 --> 01:11:46.945
[SPEAKER_01]: It's very liberal so either you go to a school like that you come out liberal or you come out as conservative as you could ever imagine because you realize more conservative I would I would offer as a nation like I left there relax
01:11:49.782 --> 01:12:05.989
[SPEAKER_01]: I left Cornell the most conservative I've ever been in my entire life because I realize that I understand the liberal mind, I understand that they live in the world of sugarful and fairies and everlasting golf stoppers and William Walker's chocolate factory.
01:12:06.169 --> 01:12:13.152
[SPEAKER_01]: They live in this in this fake world that oftentimes can seem to be well-intentioned, but that's not the realities of the world.
01:12:13.772 --> 01:12:32.467
[SPEAKER_01]: So, we're able to learn to see how people think and then realize that, okay, how do I apply some of those addages to real life that I know that I've experienced that I can see and then how can I then be a vessel to help educate people in a far better way, especially given the conservative leanings that I have?
01:12:33.067 --> 01:12:34.168
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what Cornell did for me.
01:12:34.702 --> 01:12:37.044
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're sitting in classes all day long.
01:12:37.744 --> 01:12:43.108
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you become a master of the baiting, you know, big people?
01:12:43.688 --> 01:12:48.932
[SPEAKER_00]: And what, what approach was most effective?
01:12:49.112 --> 01:12:53.976
[SPEAKER_00]: Because, you know, I'm a huge proponent of the indirect approach, right?
01:12:53.996 --> 01:12:55.617
[SPEAKER_00]: This is BHL, they'll heart.
01:12:55.957 --> 01:13:02.782
[SPEAKER_00]: This is, you know, when I go in a combat, I don't want to attack you, you know, on your front, I want to come to the flank and, you know, not
01:13:03.382 --> 01:13:04.162
[SPEAKER_00]: face your defenses.
01:13:04.382 --> 01:13:05.082
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to say.
01:13:05.202 --> 01:13:05.983
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
01:13:07.123 --> 01:13:14.465
[SPEAKER_00]: And I find that a lot of times when I see people debating politically, they just go straight at someone.
01:13:15.345 --> 01:13:16.205
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you do that?
01:13:16.365 --> 01:13:18.406
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you had to have any success with that?
01:13:18.586 --> 01:13:26.288
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you find it was better to have conversations and find out what the common ground was and say, well, you know, oh, yeah, you want healthcare for people?
01:13:26.568 --> 01:13:27.648
[SPEAKER_00]: I want healthcare for people.
01:13:28.148 --> 01:13:29.469
[SPEAKER_00]: Look, how do you think we should do it?
01:13:29.629 --> 01:13:30.289
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll give it to him for free.
01:13:30.509 --> 01:13:33.031
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, well, where are we going to get, how do you, how are we going to pay for that?
01:13:33.051 --> 01:13:35.672
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you, like what approach you, how was it dealing with these people?
01:13:35.692 --> 01:13:50.961
[SPEAKER_01]: So you have to keep in mind too, the liberal mind sees someone like me and and tell you know who I am and I tell you've had a discussion with me or until you've talked to me, you have to keep in mind that the assumption for most liberals is that I'm black.
01:13:51.661 --> 01:13:57.505
[SPEAKER_01]: Therefore, I must be a Democrat and I must be liberal and that's sir was my advantage.
01:13:59.040 --> 01:14:00.541
[SPEAKER_01]: That was always my advantage.
01:14:00.961 --> 01:14:03.602
[SPEAKER_01]: Because you're going to start opening your mouth and making assumptions about me.
01:14:03.642 --> 01:14:07.545
[SPEAKER_01]: What asking you without asking about my background and where I came from and what my dad did.
01:14:07.565 --> 01:14:11.407
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was fat that I spent a lot of time to batch his church two days, two times a week.
01:14:11.447 --> 01:14:13.228
[SPEAKER_01]: And that don't get it twisted.
01:14:13.328 --> 01:14:16.749
[SPEAKER_01]: I might be black, but rather I'm as conservative as it gets.
01:14:16.769 --> 01:14:18.310
[SPEAKER_01]: So they're open their mouths.
01:14:18.410 --> 01:14:19.371
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Brian Babinus?
01:14:19.471 --> 01:14:20.431
[SPEAKER_00]: I do know Brian Babinus.
01:14:20.732 --> 01:14:22.332
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, he's, you know, so he's son.
01:14:22.493 --> 01:14:23.313
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he's son, Dave.
01:14:23.533 --> 01:14:23.713
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
01:14:24.314 --> 01:14:27.955
[SPEAKER_00]: And, uh, Blake got to ask one when Brian Babin won.
01:14:29.236 --> 01:14:32.778
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, you know, his, his election and became a representative down in Texas.
01:14:33.038 --> 01:14:37.540
[SPEAKER_00]: Someone asked, Dave, you know, hey, do you think that your dad is going to become more centrist now that he's won the election?
01:14:38.080 --> 01:14:41.282
[SPEAKER_00]: And, Dave, look at him and said, uh, my dad's a Southern Baptist.
01:14:41.302 --> 01:14:43.703
[SPEAKER_00]: That's who he is.
01:14:43.743 --> 01:14:44.483
[SPEAKER_00]: That's who he is.
01:14:44.543 --> 01:14:46.684
[SPEAKER_00]: That's who he is.
01:14:46.744 --> 01:14:47.224
[SPEAKER_00]: That's who he is.
01:14:47.264 --> 01:14:49.345
[SPEAKER_00]: That's, you know, that's the guy that's, that's who they elected.
01:14:49.365 --> 01:14:50.726
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's who he is as a, as a person.
01:14:50.826 --> 01:14:50.986
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:14:51.026 --> 01:14:52.267
[SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, similar, right?
01:14:52.287 --> 01:14:52.747
[SPEAKER_00]: Very similar.
01:14:54.528 --> 01:14:56.130
[SPEAKER_01]: And Brian Babin is such a nice guy.
01:14:56.250 --> 01:14:56.711
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, for sure.
01:14:56.751 --> 01:14:59.674
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a nice guy in the world and he is conservative.
01:15:00.995 --> 01:15:04.499
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, and also brother, you gotta lead with, you gotta lead with humor.
01:15:04.759 --> 01:15:05.720
[SPEAKER_01]: You gotta have a good time.
01:15:06.120 --> 01:15:07.722
[SPEAKER_01]: And don't take yourself so seriously.
01:15:08.322 --> 01:15:12.106
[SPEAKER_01]: And understanding that a lot of people there have a benevolent mindset.
01:15:12.807 --> 01:15:16.471
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think of the day they haven't had the kind of experiences that we've had.
01:15:17.031 --> 01:15:17.932
[SPEAKER_01]: They haven't struggled.
01:15:18.092 --> 01:15:19.132
[SPEAKER_01]: They haven't been shot at.
01:15:19.192 --> 01:15:25.235
[SPEAKER_01]: They really, they're just trying to figure out how to live a better life without having those very hard core experiences.
01:15:25.275 --> 01:15:31.798
[SPEAKER_01]: So I oftentimes will just let them talk for a little while and then ultimately I just dropped the hammer.
01:15:35.420 --> 01:15:36.722
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I like not this one.
01:15:37.122 --> 01:15:39.885
[SPEAKER_01]: Now today sir, I don't have that advantage anymore.
01:15:40.405 --> 01:15:49.855
[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone pretty knows who we're on lean when lean these days, but here's the best part and I say to everybody, I wish everybody could run for office.
01:15:50.055 --> 01:15:54.920
[SPEAKER_01]: I wish everyone could be a politician and here's why you find out who your friends are
01:15:56.102 --> 01:16:01.089
[SPEAKER_01]: You find out who respects you for who you are, not necessarily your political leanings.
01:16:01.129 --> 01:16:03.111
[SPEAKER_01]: You find out who your friends are.
01:16:03.151 --> 01:16:13.905
[SPEAKER_01]: You find out who would have conversations with you, not based on how they thought you should be in their mind, but who you really are as a human being and who you have always been.
01:16:14.802 --> 01:16:20.745
[SPEAKER_01]: And so what I found out very quickly is I've lost family members and I've lost friends, thank God, as you would say, good.
01:16:21.285 --> 01:16:23.046
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't need you in my life anyway.
01:16:23.426 --> 01:16:26.087
[SPEAKER_01]: You are a waste of time and a waste of space.
01:16:26.788 --> 01:16:30.810
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't have to put a flesh cover door man as far as I'm kind of that as far as I'm concerned at this point.
01:16:31.070 --> 01:16:31.590
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't need you.
01:16:32.270 --> 01:16:33.211
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a very good thing.
01:16:33.291 --> 01:16:34.631
[SPEAKER_01]: My circle is gotten so small now.
01:16:34.651 --> 01:16:35.312
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like a dot.
01:16:36.192 --> 01:16:41.416
[SPEAKER_01]: And the people that I now have that I rely on are my closest friends and my closest confidence.
01:16:41.736 --> 01:16:47.821
[SPEAKER_01]: And everybody else that jettisoned me because you don't like my political stances when you've never respected me anyway.
01:16:48.661 --> 01:16:52.584
[SPEAKER_01]: And I always knew you were a flaming liberal, but I respected you and we were friends.
01:16:54.065 --> 01:16:55.246
[SPEAKER_01]: That's so crazy.
01:16:55.586 --> 01:16:56.107
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I grew up.
01:16:56.127 --> 01:16:57.688
[SPEAKER_00]: My dad was a very conservative guy.
01:16:58.548 --> 01:16:59.169
[SPEAKER_00]: and soccer.
01:17:01.031 --> 01:17:04.215
[SPEAKER_00]: And, well, I mean, actually, I grew up in New England, right?
01:17:04.415 --> 01:17:05.216
[SPEAKER_00]: I grew up in Connecticut.
01:17:05.736 --> 01:17:07.698
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it is a little bit of a shocker.
01:17:08.399 --> 01:17:08.779
[SPEAKER_01]: I get you.
01:17:09.100 --> 01:17:17.309
[SPEAKER_00]: And, but like I remember when I was a kid, you know, we had probably four or five families that were all the big friend group, you know, all the parents were friends.
01:17:18.009 --> 01:17:21.392
[SPEAKER_00]: And various political leanings in there.
01:17:22.073 --> 01:17:29.779
[SPEAKER_00]: But I remember, you know, my dad had a guy, a guy that I grew up with, a guy that I looked at, you know, was like, like, like an uncle, you know, like one of those guys.
01:17:30.460 --> 01:17:32.542
[SPEAKER_00]: And this guy was far left.
01:17:32.722 --> 01:17:35.764
[SPEAKER_00]: And my dad and him, which said at the dinner table, we have dinner.
01:17:36.185 --> 01:17:37.166
[SPEAKER_00]: And they'd argue all night long.
01:17:37.186 --> 01:17:37.686
[SPEAKER_01]: It'd be great.
01:17:37.866 --> 01:17:38.347
[SPEAKER_00]: All night long.
01:17:38.947 --> 01:17:39.127
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
01:17:39.407 --> 01:17:41.449
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're still friends in this day.
01:17:42.069 --> 01:17:44.731
[SPEAKER_00]: A very, you know, conservative guy with a very liberal guy.
01:17:44.751 --> 01:17:44.931
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:17:45.412 --> 01:17:50.956
[SPEAKER_00]: Arguing all night long about everything in politics, you know, through the seventies, eighties.
01:17:51.176 --> 01:17:51.436
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:17:51.536 --> 01:17:51.996
[SPEAKER_00]: I was there.
01:17:52.377 --> 01:17:55.639
[SPEAKER_00]: I would watch them argue and I've leave because I didn't care because I was a little thirteen year old.
01:17:55.659 --> 01:17:55.759
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:17:55.779 --> 01:17:57.621
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a little throw stuff throw rocks to the right.
01:17:58.741 --> 01:18:04.505
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's like, it's sad when I hear you say that someone because of their friends with you.
01:18:04.786 --> 01:18:04.966
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
01:18:05.066 --> 01:18:05.947
[SPEAKER_00]: Their friends with you.
01:18:06.767 --> 01:18:12.734
[SPEAKER_00]: And then they see what your political stance is, and they decide they're not going to be friends with you anymore.
01:18:13.375 --> 01:18:13.775
[SPEAKER_01]: Unbelievable.
01:18:13.815 --> 01:18:14.616
[SPEAKER_01]: That to me is crazy.
01:18:14.796 --> 01:18:15.137
[SPEAKER_01]: It sucks.
01:18:15.337 --> 01:18:15.657
[SPEAKER_01]: It sucks.
01:18:15.737 --> 01:18:16.178
[SPEAKER_01]: It's sad.
01:18:16.558 --> 01:18:17.840
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm the first admit that I'm there.
01:18:17.860 --> 01:18:21.904
[SPEAKER_01]: I forget I have a friend out of friend of mine, and we were dear friends for a very long time.
01:18:21.964 --> 01:18:22.725
[SPEAKER_01]: Family friends, even.
01:18:25.208 --> 01:18:27.049
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we would hang out.
01:18:27.089 --> 01:18:28.990
[SPEAKER_01]: We were very, very close.
01:18:29.590 --> 01:18:32.632
[SPEAKER_01]: And then out of the blue, she sent me this text message out of the blue.
01:18:32.652 --> 01:18:36.474
[SPEAKER_01]: We had it spoken in a while and I could tell why, but I didn't really care.
01:18:36.494 --> 01:18:38.034
[SPEAKER_01]: I still felt like we were still friends.
01:18:38.575 --> 01:18:43.677
[SPEAKER_01]: Out of the black at this text message, just the most demeaning thing I've ever gotten in my entire life.
01:18:43.717 --> 01:18:45.878
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, who the hell do you think you are?
01:18:46.579 --> 01:18:51.001
[SPEAKER_01]: Or you could pick up the phone, we could have a conversation, but you won't even respect me enough to do that.
01:18:51.973 --> 01:18:58.378
[SPEAKER_01]: And since that's the last time we ever spoke on our speaker again, because I realized that you never respected me for who I was before.
01:18:59.218 --> 01:19:04.082
[SPEAKER_01]: And so for me, I look at it as, I feel you must have as a very tolerant person.
01:19:04.702 --> 01:19:09.666
[SPEAKER_01]: I have absolutely no problem with you being a flaming liberal in fact, which would be great friends.
01:19:10.206 --> 01:19:17.252
[SPEAKER_01]: When I find out from the other side of that, they are the ones that are the most rejecting of anything that doesn't fit their paradigm.
01:19:19.393 --> 01:19:19.913
[SPEAKER_01]: Damn this thing.
01:19:22.408 --> 01:19:26.490
[SPEAKER_00]: So you get done with college running for, how would you get a job?
01:19:26.650 --> 01:19:27.051
[SPEAKER_00]: What did you do?
01:19:27.171 --> 01:19:37.376
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I guess I got out of school, did some real estate stuff work for a home builder, and then there was a district in Texas and Houston that opened up.
01:19:37.436 --> 01:19:42.159
[SPEAKER_01]: So it was a long term, long talk conservative, been a red seat, George H.W.
01:19:42.199 --> 01:19:44.320
[SPEAKER_01]: Bush's old scene in Houston, Texas.
01:19:44.960 --> 01:19:49.083
[SPEAKER_01]: Congressional District seven, he flipped blue.
01:19:50.503 --> 01:20:11.701
[SPEAKER_01]: In two thousand and eighteen and I was living at home in Houston and I was like with this twenty-year incumbent loses I will never forget looking at my wife and being like so if this guy loses honey I mean I think we're going to be running for Congress against the Democrat because I think we get a good shot at winning and so long behold that night he lost I don't really look at my wife and being like well here we go
01:20:12.381 --> 01:20:15.543
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't think my first swore way in the politics was going to be, you know, I think it's Congress.
01:20:15.763 --> 01:20:22.388
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought it was going to be, you know, maybe state rep, states and her, you know, kind of commission or something like that.
01:20:22.568 --> 01:20:23.789
[SPEAKER_01]: PTA, PTA, PTA.
01:20:23.849 --> 01:20:25.370
[SPEAKER_01]: How did you feel about this?
01:20:29.032 --> 01:20:36.137
[SPEAKER_01]: My wife is a beautiful island who is supportive of me no matter what.
01:20:37.617 --> 01:20:39.198
[SPEAKER_01]: My wife is a pediatric nurse practitioner.
01:20:39.218 --> 01:20:40.359
[SPEAKER_01]: She has a doctorate in nursing.
01:20:41.280 --> 01:20:45.863
[SPEAKER_01]: She is a caregiver and she literally said, I'm not ever going to allow you to settle.
01:20:46.843 --> 01:20:49.226
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not ever going to allow you to settle what she told me.
01:20:49.946 --> 01:20:54.630
[SPEAKER_01]: And since then, she has had my back and been by my side throughout this entire journey of the entire time.
01:20:55.111 --> 01:21:00.636
[SPEAKER_01]: I have a six foreign two-year-old at home, and you could imagine, you know, it gets kind of busy when I'm on a hundred and thirty flights last year.
01:21:00.656 --> 01:21:02.137
[SPEAKER_01]: A hundred and thirty two flights last year.
01:21:03.178 --> 01:21:09.165
[SPEAKER_01]: Brother, I refuse to spend a weekend or spend any time longer in DC than I absolutely have to.
01:21:09.405 --> 01:21:17.054
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm the first, I'm the last one in, I'm the first one out and here's why I say that because I want to be spent as much time in my district as I possibly can.
01:21:17.595 --> 01:21:18.516
[SPEAKER_01]: I have a young family.
01:21:18.956 --> 01:21:20.477
[SPEAKER_01]: I want them to know who their father is.
01:21:21.017 --> 01:21:23.398
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm going to be there for the critical stuff to keep in mind.
01:21:23.718 --> 01:21:28.900
[SPEAKER_01]: My priority is my district and it is my family and it is my country number one first and foremost.
01:21:29.200 --> 01:21:32.261
[SPEAKER_01]: God country is very real to me, but family is very important too.
01:21:32.301 --> 01:21:35.282
[SPEAKER_01]: I think God smiles on those that are there for their families as well.
01:21:35.862 --> 01:21:45.686
[SPEAKER_01]: And so the idea of me being going to flood every weekend, never spending a weekend in DC and knowing that on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays of most weeks, so every week, it's just my life and those three kids.
01:21:47.695 --> 01:21:50.077
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a lot, especially to your old boy.
01:21:51.758 --> 01:21:52.519
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a man.
01:21:54.261 --> 01:22:03.829
[SPEAKER_01]: But the fact that she's very supportive, stands by me, allows me to do this, allows me to serve, allows me to spend time away from the family and is still a hundred percent bought in a wouldn't work any other way.
01:22:06.291 --> 01:22:08.953
[SPEAKER_00]: So you Roger up to say, you're going to run for that seventh.
01:22:09.273 --> 01:22:09.954
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, district.
01:22:10.574 --> 01:22:11.595
[SPEAKER_00]: And how that work out?
01:22:11.755 --> 01:22:12.196
[SPEAKER_00]: Alost.
01:22:13.316 --> 01:22:13.677
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you?
01:22:15.765 --> 01:22:30.217
[SPEAKER_00]: when you say up I'm running like what's the swarm of both praise and attacks that you get because I'm you know most some people looking all great we got a veteran here conservative we got a good candidate here let's run them they're happy and then the other side looks in you all what
01:22:30.837 --> 01:22:34.361
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, do they get private investigators out there digging through your dirt?
01:22:34.502 --> 01:22:35.102
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, do you know it?
01:22:35.122 --> 01:22:36.184
[SPEAKER_00]: They're looking through your trash.
01:22:36.224 --> 01:22:37.305
[SPEAKER_00]: They can take what you're throwing away.
01:22:37.345 --> 01:22:39.067
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, they got a little pretty clean life, you know.
01:22:39.588 --> 01:22:40.208
[SPEAKER_00]: For the most part.
01:22:40.248 --> 01:22:41.049
[SPEAKER_00]: They go back.
01:22:41.230 --> 01:22:43.032
[SPEAKER_00]: They had to go back to six grand.
01:22:43.072 --> 01:22:44.654
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's your where you gave a guy.
01:22:44.814 --> 01:22:47.297
[SPEAKER_00]: Or you didn't give a guy a bloody nose at your biggest crime.
01:22:47.557 --> 01:22:48.498
[SPEAKER_00]: You're in a pretty good spot.
01:22:48.919 --> 01:22:49.700
[SPEAKER_00]: You're pretty good spot.
01:22:49.900 --> 01:22:53.021
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, when our perfect, obviously, but I alluded to pretty clean life, I will say that.
01:22:53.461 --> 01:22:56.202
[SPEAKER_01]: And I will also say that you're right, they come for you.
01:22:56.222 --> 01:22:58.722
[SPEAKER_01]: You didn't realize, you don't realize until you actually put your name on that ballot.
01:22:58.842 --> 01:23:01.523
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why a lot of people that criticize me are saying anything about it.
01:23:01.603 --> 01:23:04.964
[SPEAKER_01]: I just kind of laugh and I'm being like, put your name on the ballot and see what happens.
01:23:05.044 --> 01:23:06.304
[SPEAKER_01]: But you won't ever do that.
01:23:06.625 --> 01:23:09.885
[SPEAKER_01]: Because you're rather sit behind your keyboard and talk a lot of trash.
01:23:10.025 --> 01:23:12.666
[SPEAKER_01]: But you're not going to put your name on the ballot.
01:23:13.146 --> 01:23:15.327
[SPEAKER_01]: I have the guts to put my name on the ballot.
01:23:15.747 --> 01:23:16.607
[SPEAKER_01]: So that says a lot.
01:23:16.667 --> 01:23:18.728
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is not for any Democrat or Republican.
01:23:19.448 --> 01:23:29.161
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, got a lot of heat, as you could imagine from the other side, but ended up getting to the primary without a run off the first time I ran, and then ended up losing that race by about three points.
01:23:31.254 --> 01:23:33.214
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the greatest thing that we're happy to me, it was losing.
01:23:34.175 --> 01:23:37.635
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is what I mean by, Frederick Douglass, if there is no struggle, there is no progress.
01:23:38.355 --> 01:23:42.016
[SPEAKER_01]: Because when you get challenged and you lose, you have to realize how bad do I want this?
01:23:42.556 --> 01:23:43.777
[SPEAKER_01]: Do I want to go through this again?
01:23:43.957 --> 01:23:45.377
[SPEAKER_01]: Am I going to run again?
01:23:45.817 --> 01:23:47.637
[SPEAKER_01]: When I lost, it made me a better father.
01:23:47.757 --> 01:23:49.138
[SPEAKER_01]: It made me a better human being.
01:23:49.338 --> 01:23:51.238
[SPEAKER_01]: It made me a more humbled person.
01:23:51.718 --> 01:23:53.059
[SPEAKER_01]: It made me a better husband.
01:23:53.439 --> 01:23:55.979
[SPEAKER_01]: It made me a far better politician.
01:23:55.999 --> 01:23:59.660
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I looked at everything that we did wrong, and then I made it right.
01:24:00.500 --> 01:24:06.146
[SPEAKER_01]: Lo and behold, as God would have it two years later, we get two new congressional seats in the state of Texas.
01:24:06.346 --> 01:24:07.247
[SPEAKER_01]: It's redistricting.
01:24:07.807 --> 01:24:12.672
[SPEAKER_01]: Keep in mind, when the first time I ran, I had no idea what the hell redistricting was.
01:24:13.253 --> 01:24:14.574
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I burnt the boat's brother.
01:24:14.654 --> 01:24:16.636
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm running for Congress and hello, hi, water.
01:24:16.796 --> 01:24:18.938
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm winning and the original backup plan.
01:24:18.958 --> 01:24:20.139
[SPEAKER_01]: Cleanable leaving backup plans.
01:24:20.179 --> 01:24:21.781
[SPEAKER_01]: The only backup plan I have is getting up.
01:24:22.001 --> 01:24:22.361
[SPEAKER_01]: That's it.
01:24:22.642 --> 01:24:23.442
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the only backup plan.
01:24:24.263 --> 01:24:32.470
[SPEAKER_01]: So I burned the boats and I was all in and I lost and I'm being completely rejected Did it take you by surprise or were the polls showing that you might lose or I didn't care about polls.
01:24:32.510 --> 01:24:32.950
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to win.
01:24:32.970 --> 01:24:34.091
[SPEAKER_01]: You thought you're going to win by me?
01:24:34.492 --> 01:24:34.832
[SPEAKER_01]: Polls.
01:24:35.773 --> 01:24:36.934
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
01:24:36.954 --> 01:24:37.094
[SPEAKER_01]: No.
01:24:37.975 --> 01:24:38.415
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm running.
01:24:38.655 --> 01:24:39.456
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not losing.
01:24:39.476 --> 01:24:39.736
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
01:24:39.896 --> 01:24:40.697
[SPEAKER_01]: Work by ass off.
01:24:41.097 --> 01:24:44.140
[SPEAKER_01]: Raise the most money that cycle of any other politician in the entire cycle.
01:24:44.720 --> 01:24:45.901
[SPEAKER_01]: Rain hard worked hard.
01:24:46.322 --> 01:24:46.822
[SPEAKER_01]: Can't be sure.
01:24:48.003 --> 01:24:52.305
[SPEAKER_01]: Two years later, a new district gets drawn in the greater Houston area.
01:24:53.066 --> 01:25:04.411
[SPEAKER_01]: And it just so happens that the precincts that I won in the previous election found them found their way to this new congressional seat in Houston, Texas, which I ended up running for in winning very handedly.
01:25:05.171 --> 01:25:12.555
[SPEAKER_01]: If God would have told me Wesley is going to take you four years to get here and not to, I would have never done it.
01:25:12.995 --> 01:25:14.956
[SPEAKER_01]: So talk about thank God for unanswered prayers.
01:25:15.536 --> 01:25:19.558
[SPEAKER_01]: God doesn't reveal things to you when you want to, is when you need it.
01:25:19.998 --> 01:25:23.540
[SPEAKER_01]: Because if I didn't know now, I would have had to lose and run again and but I didn't ever know it.
01:25:24.240 --> 01:25:34.064
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I got to make money and I just got married and I got a young family and I would have made all the excuses as to why I couldn't do what my destiny and what my will was to do.
01:25:34.585 --> 01:25:41.488
[SPEAKER_01]: But in working my butt off and losing, I realized that I built a brand and built something that two years later will come to fruition.
01:25:42.388 --> 01:25:46.110
[SPEAKER_01]: And that is something that I tell to my children and young people all the time.
01:25:46.810 --> 01:25:55.714
[SPEAKER_01]: Losing sometimes is the best in the internet wrap until you getting kicked in the teeth sometimes is the best in the internet wrap until you because either you're going to get up or you're not.
01:25:56.555 --> 01:26:00.977
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's the test of a man or a woman is what you do after you get kicked in the teeth.
01:26:02.438 --> 01:26:05.339
[SPEAKER_00]: When you're putting together that, how big is the team that's helping you run?
01:26:05.768 --> 01:26:07.989
[SPEAKER_01]: So he said, this was really interesting and learning.
01:26:08.009 --> 01:26:16.055
[SPEAKER_01]: So the first time I ran, it was a very robust team with a lot of consultants and a lot of people's hands in the cookie jar.
01:26:16.655 --> 01:26:20.638
[SPEAKER_01]: And the second time I ran, there wasn't very many hands in the cookie jar.
01:26:20.818 --> 01:26:25.601
[SPEAKER_01]: I found three very competent people, one of them is sitting right here in the back corner right now.
01:26:26.141 --> 01:26:34.484
[SPEAKER_01]: who are friends, who are loyal, who work their asses off every single day, who get up and they don't work for another client, or they don't work for other people.
01:26:34.764 --> 01:26:39.345
[SPEAKER_01]: They work for us in this brain and we're in this boat together, and I've known this man for almost twenty years.
01:26:39.965 --> 01:26:44.407
[SPEAKER_01]: I bring in a young guy to be my Chief of Staff and run the campaign that is just
01:26:45.287 --> 01:26:50.109
[SPEAKER_01]: Relantless and everything that he does and keep in mind talent is very hard to find in D.C.
01:26:50.489 --> 01:26:51.770
[SPEAKER_01]: Good talent is very hard to D.C.
01:26:52.030 --> 01:26:53.190
[SPEAKER_01]: Because the griffed is real.
01:26:53.570 --> 01:27:11.938
[SPEAKER_01]: People said I don't know anything in a paycheck, but you find two or three people that are all in, that are bought in, that get up every day, right, to fight for you and your brand, and these two men love this country, and they love this brand, and they get up with a fire under their ass that you wouldn't believe every single day, or then you could move mountains.
01:27:13.739 --> 01:27:16.700
[SPEAKER_00]: It really is the first time you had a bunch of people.
01:27:16.720 --> 01:27:17.601
[SPEAKER_00]: They wanted money.
01:27:17.621 --> 01:27:19.221
[SPEAKER_00]: They were collecting the paycheck.
01:27:19.241 --> 01:27:23.003
[SPEAKER_00]: They were crazy.
01:27:23.103 --> 01:27:30.727
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the amount of money that gets spent and wasted in the amount of money that literally is like it cost that much to make an ad.
01:27:32.048 --> 01:27:37.171
[SPEAKER_01]: It cost that much to make it cost that much to shoot a commercial to shoot a commercial.
01:27:38.191 --> 01:27:55.859
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I have a guy on my team and if you guys on my team, Matthew Tupolsky is a guy that can pop in a Zen, pop in a Zen, have a bourbon, and put together an ad that's better than any consulting firm could do, and he's one person.
01:27:57.100 --> 01:27:59.061
[SPEAKER_01]: Because he's motivating me and he wants to get it done.
01:28:00.041 --> 01:28:00.982
[SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of like you, I see.
01:28:01.242 --> 01:28:02.602
[SPEAKER_01]: You were on a lean operation.
01:28:03.103 --> 01:28:05.624
[SPEAKER_01]: When you have competent people, you could run a lean operation.
01:28:08.105 --> 01:28:09.446
[SPEAKER_00]: little zin for echo Charles.
01:28:09.466 --> 01:28:10.287
[SPEAKER_00]: So you win.
01:28:10.347 --> 01:28:11.729
[SPEAKER_00]: What's it like going to DC for the first time?
01:28:11.749 --> 01:28:13.390
[SPEAKER_03]: It's an honor of a lifetime.
01:28:13.530 --> 01:28:16.913
[SPEAKER_00]: It's an honor of a lifetime to represent
01:28:32.348 --> 01:28:58.598
[SPEAKER_01]: Almost a million people from my hometown that I grew up in that I keep in mind my district spans about an hour from north from the northern end to the most southern tip of it the most southern tip of is where I went to high school literally my high school border is the is a southern border where my parents grew up where I grew up in spring Texas that's the northern border basically of the district so I have the honor of representing my hometown the halls of Congress and What an honor?
01:28:59.158 --> 01:29:04.643
[SPEAKER_01]: to walk past where Abraham Lincoln set when he was in Congress every day.
01:29:05.483 --> 01:29:11.949
[SPEAKER_01]: What an honor to think about the lineage and the history of this country and our founding fathers and to be a part of the law-making process.
01:29:12.649 --> 01:29:22.438
[SPEAKER_01]: What an honor to be able to voice my opinions and voice to go pings of the district and front of God in the country every single day.
01:29:23.118 --> 01:29:33.327
[SPEAKER_01]: Like there is no greater honor than that, for people to vote for you and put you an office to represent them and what is the greatest constitutional republic that's ever existed.
01:29:33.808 --> 01:29:36.010
[SPEAKER_01]: Like that is an honor and spite of our flaws.
01:29:36.630 --> 01:29:37.351
[SPEAKER_01]: Keep in mind too.
01:29:38.212 --> 01:29:44.858
[SPEAKER_01]: I had one hell of a freshman run too because I was the first person in the country when President Trump ran a second time to endorse him.
01:29:46.510 --> 01:29:48.433
[SPEAKER_01]: So keep in mind, that was before it was cool.
01:29:48.753 --> 01:29:52.137
[SPEAKER_01]: So you want to talk about intestinal fortitude and taking some hits here.
01:29:52.177 --> 01:29:54.861
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, this was the rise of Rhonda Santa Signicie Haley.
01:29:55.161 --> 01:29:58.906
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was the person that said, nope, he walked up that wall, walked off that stage.
01:30:00.300 --> 01:30:08.084
[SPEAKER_01]: I was the first person to cut you to endorse him, and I stood by him, and I stood by that endorsement, which ended up being a really good bet on my part.
01:30:09.105 --> 01:30:14.748
[SPEAKER_01]: So I had so much friends from the year of Congress, I'm flying around for a long with the president.
01:30:14.968 --> 01:30:17.169
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm campaigning with him, and I went multiple times.
01:30:17.730 --> 01:30:19.271
[SPEAKER_01]: He came to my wife's hometown.
01:30:19.371 --> 01:30:20.871
[SPEAKER_01]: He came to Houston multiple times.
01:30:21.472 --> 01:30:25.314
[SPEAKER_01]: I am campaigning who is now the president of the free world.
01:30:25.814 --> 01:30:28.536
[SPEAKER_01]: Just this past December, he invited me to the Army Navy game.
01:30:29.216 --> 01:30:31.197
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm sitting there singing the National Anthem.
01:30:32.037 --> 01:30:34.358
[SPEAKER_01]: Twenty years removed from when I was on that field.
01:30:35.178 --> 01:30:36.038
[SPEAKER_01]: Twenty years to the year.
01:30:36.698 --> 01:30:39.799
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm looking at JD Vance, me and the president.
01:30:39.879 --> 01:30:41.400
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm singing the National Anthem.
01:30:41.440 --> 01:30:43.520
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm always, I mean, I'm always fighting back tears.
01:30:43.580 --> 01:30:45.381
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, this is absolutely insanity.
01:30:45.961 --> 01:30:47.742
[SPEAKER_01]: And then after that, we sing the National Anthem.
01:30:47.782 --> 01:30:49.782
[SPEAKER_01]: President Trump turns to me and he goes, Wesley, what are you doing?
01:30:50.262 --> 01:30:50.883
[SPEAKER_01]: For rest of the day.
01:30:51.623 --> 01:30:56.124
[SPEAKER_01]: I said what Mr. President, I was just going to go back home and he goes, do you want to fly back tomorrow?
01:30:56.144 --> 01:30:56.724
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll go with me.
01:30:57.245 --> 01:30:57.685
[SPEAKER_01]: Any lawn?
01:30:58.105 --> 01:30:58.565
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like,
01:31:00.743 --> 01:31:01.023
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
01:31:01.944 --> 01:31:03.425
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me check my schedule.
01:31:03.685 --> 01:31:04.366
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you're right.
01:31:04.426 --> 01:31:05.547
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, of course.
01:31:06.187 --> 01:31:06.747
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm sitting.
01:31:07.088 --> 01:31:16.755
[SPEAKER_01]: So after the game is over, getting the motorcade, get back on his plane, because at the time of Air Force, when he was using Air Force one, because he was just a candidate at the time, who just, who just won, he just won the election.
01:31:17.535 --> 01:31:21.858
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm sitting on the plane, sitting your cross on per president Trump, where you are right now, and he a lot of Musk is sitting right here.
01:31:21.898 --> 01:31:24.360
[SPEAKER_01]: The most powerful man in the world, and it just made it in the world.
01:31:25.301 --> 01:31:26.562
[SPEAKER_01]: And the only thing I could think about was,
01:31:27.382 --> 01:31:30.545
[SPEAKER_01]: I am literally living the dream of my ancestors.
01:31:31.545 --> 01:31:33.126
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care how you feel about politics.
01:31:33.847 --> 01:31:36.269
[SPEAKER_01]: This is quite a ride that I have been on.
01:31:36.629 --> 01:31:38.350
[SPEAKER_01]: It this is America.
01:31:39.151 --> 01:31:41.372
[SPEAKER_01]: Here's the best part about this about this whole story, brother.
01:31:44.593 --> 01:32:08.699
[SPEAKER_01]: The only flight out of Florida Fort Lauderdale at eleven o'clock at night after a full day of going to the Army to the Army Navy game spending the full day with a president and then landing back in Moralaga and trying to find a flight of Fort Lauderdale to get my butt back home to Houston that same day The only airline available was spirit airlines get some I go from truck force one
01:32:12.582 --> 01:32:12.768
[SPEAKER_01]: Hahaha!
01:32:13.788 --> 01:32:14.968
[SPEAKER_01]: to spirit airlines.
01:32:15.928 --> 01:32:17.209
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm in a three-piece suit.
01:32:17.269 --> 01:32:18.149
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been an overcoat.
01:32:18.569 --> 01:32:21.390
[SPEAKER_01]: I have pictures of me in the present that he signed on this plane.
01:32:22.190 --> 01:32:24.470
[SPEAKER_01]: Two MAGA has that he signed on his plane with him.
01:32:24.910 --> 01:32:30.551
[SPEAKER_01]: I just got off sitting next to, let's talk to planes sitting next to Elon Musk and President Trump.
01:32:31.252 --> 01:32:32.912
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I hear I have amongst the people.
01:32:33.792 --> 01:32:37.833
[SPEAKER_01]: And I realize that this is the dichotomy of life.
01:32:39.013 --> 01:32:41.934
[SPEAKER_01]: And by the way, no experience was better or worse.
01:32:42.654 --> 01:32:43.594
[SPEAKER_01]: They're just different.
01:32:44.653 --> 01:32:48.917
[SPEAKER_01]: And then sitting all spirit or a line flying back, if people were like, why you dressed up so nice?
01:32:49.057 --> 01:32:49.718
[SPEAKER_01]: Where'd you come from?
01:32:49.738 --> 01:32:52.100
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, do you want to hear a really wild story?
01:32:55.604 --> 01:32:56.725
[SPEAKER_00]: They're willing to be on the wrong.
01:32:59.503 --> 01:33:00.684
[SPEAKER_00]: I was at the Army Navy game, too.
01:33:01.684 --> 01:33:02.244
[SPEAKER_00]: I saw you guys.
01:33:02.264 --> 01:33:03.025
[SPEAKER_00]: I saw you guys, man.
01:33:03.385 --> 01:33:04.265
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah.
01:33:04.325 --> 01:33:06.787
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, damn, that's pretty cool.
01:33:07.647 --> 01:33:10.329
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to go this year there.
01:33:10.349 --> 01:33:11.609
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm going to go do this.
01:33:11.689 --> 01:33:14.391
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to go with the Travis Mending Foundation.
01:33:14.411 --> 01:33:14.951
[SPEAKER_00]: So great.
01:33:15.071 --> 01:33:16.612
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so it's pretty awesome.
01:33:16.652 --> 01:33:18.653
[SPEAKER_00]: And we do the whole tailgate thing.
01:33:18.733 --> 01:33:20.554
[SPEAKER_00]: And we could juggle fuel out there.
01:33:20.634 --> 01:33:21.915
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, it's awesome.
01:33:21.955 --> 01:33:22.195
[SPEAKER_00]: What a
01:33:22.935 --> 01:33:40.404
[SPEAKER_00]: What a proud tradition that is and I have time I go down and I like I see the midshipment and then I go see the cadets I like go and it's freaking nuts totally nuts because I mean I love the army and I love the Marine Corps and I love the Navy obviously and you know those there's
01:33:42.177 --> 01:33:43.177
[SPEAKER_00]: They know about me, right?
01:33:43.257 --> 01:33:43.698
[SPEAKER_00]: They teach stuff.
01:33:43.718 --> 01:33:44.758
[SPEAKER_00]: So when I show up there, it's freaking, it's epic.
01:33:44.798 --> 01:33:45.758
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just such an awesome experience.
01:33:45.778 --> 01:33:47.419
[SPEAKER_00]: See, you know, look at that scene, all the midshipmen.
01:33:47.999 --> 01:33:48.399
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I love it.
01:33:48.499 --> 01:33:49.119
[SPEAKER_00]: Who do you think's gonna win?
01:33:49.139 --> 01:33:49.500
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like America.
01:33:49.520 --> 01:33:50.260
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins that game.
01:33:50.280 --> 01:33:50.520
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:50.540 --> 01:33:50.840
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:50.860 --> 01:33:51.100
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:51.120 --> 01:33:51.440
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:51.460 --> 01:33:51.800
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:51.900 --> 01:33:52.241
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:52.261 --> 01:33:52.501
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:52.521 --> 01:33:52.881
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:52.901 --> 01:33:53.181
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:53.201 --> 01:33:53.521
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:53.541 --> 01:33:53.781
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:53.801 --> 01:33:54.281
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:54.301 --> 01:33:54.581
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:54.601 --> 01:33:54.882
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:54.902 --> 01:33:55.362
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:55.382 --> 01:33:55.742
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:55.762 --> 01:33:56.002
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:56.042 --> 01:33:56.302
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:56.322 --> 01:33:56.642
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:56.662 --> 01:33:56.902
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:56.922 --> 01:33:57.162
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:57.182 --> 01:33:57.422
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:57.442 --> 01:33:58.023
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:58.043 --> 01:33:58.303
[SPEAKER_00]: America wins.
01:33:58.323 --> 01:33:58.743
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:33:58.763 --> 01:33:59.043
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:33:59.063 --> 01:33:59.323
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:33:59.343 --> 01:33:59.603
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:33:59.623 --> 01:33:59.983
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:00.003 --> 01:34:00.263
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:00.283 --> 01:34:00.624
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:00.644 --> 01:34:01.404
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:01.424 --> 01:34:01.684
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:01.704 --> 01:34:01.964
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:01.984 --> 01:34:02.224
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:02.244 --> 01:34:02.484
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:02.504 --> 01:34:02.944
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:02.964 --> 01:34:03.285
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:03.305 --> 01:34:03.605
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:03.625 --> 01:34:03.905
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:03.925 --> 01:34:04.465
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:04.485 --> 01:34:04.745
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:04.765 --> 01:34:05.085
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:05.105 --> 01:34:05.445
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:05.465 --> 01:34:05.825
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:05.845 --> 01:34:06.106
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:06.126 --> 01:34:06.386
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:06.406 --> 01:34:06.666
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:06.686 --> 01:34:06.966
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:06.986 --> 01:34:07.406
[SPEAKER_01]: America wins.
01:34:07.666 --> 01:34:14.448
[SPEAKER_01]: This is, you know, what did the saying is, it's the only game that's played that everybody on the field is one of the die for everybody watching.
01:34:16.109 --> 01:34:17.469
[SPEAKER_01]: And that means a lot.
01:34:17.709 --> 01:34:17.930
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:34:18.510 --> 01:34:19.890
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:34:20.150 --> 01:34:22.411
[SPEAKER_00]: So you show up there.
01:34:23.111 --> 01:34:27.093
[SPEAKER_00]: What is it like when you're showing up now, you're a Congressman, you're elected, you're in, you're getting sworn in.
01:34:27.493 --> 01:34:27.953
[SPEAKER_00]: How's that feel?
01:34:28.882 --> 01:34:30.462
[SPEAKER_01]: So you have to keep in mind too.
01:34:30.602 --> 01:34:32.443
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's like, this is the capital.
01:34:32.503 --> 01:34:33.463
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, this is DC.
01:34:33.503 --> 01:34:35.403
[SPEAKER_01]: This is my office is in Longworth.
01:34:35.463 --> 01:34:39.844
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, you know, it's like a three minute walk away from the capital.
01:34:40.244 --> 01:34:41.065
[SPEAKER_01]: It's really funny, too.
01:34:41.085 --> 01:34:47.606
[SPEAKER_01]: You think of all the movies, you know, growing up that you would watch as you'd see on TV and you look at all the people that played all these political figures.
01:34:48.306 --> 01:34:49.506
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, what a f**k it's like.
01:34:52.187 --> 01:34:54.649
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like house a car to everybody got into house a car.
01:34:54.809 --> 01:34:55.730
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not like house a car.
01:34:55.770 --> 01:34:57.711
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not nearly as salacious as everyone thinks it is.
01:34:58.091 --> 01:35:03.716
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's the idea that people have been making movies about the experience that I am having right now.
01:35:03.756 --> 01:35:09.600
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember watching Eddie Murphy in the distinguished gentleman and I'm like, yo, I'm the distinguished gentleman now.
01:35:11.922 --> 01:35:12.702
[SPEAKER_01]: This is crazy.
01:35:13.923 --> 01:35:20.688
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is just the beginning of my political career starts here in the halls of the United States Congress.
01:35:21.549 --> 01:35:41.921
[SPEAKER_01]: you know like this is a story this is the American story this is the American Drake this is the this is the quintessential definition of the American spirit fire and so even on days that aren't as great even though days that are kind of mundane that are kind of rough I don't necessarily want to be up there some certain time that you could probably imagine
01:35:42.801 --> 01:35:51.883
[SPEAKER_01]: When one of my staffers picks me up and drives me to Capitol Hill every single day, it takes us down the street and you could see the Capitol dome peek through the trees.
01:35:52.583 --> 01:35:56.644
[SPEAKER_01]: And every day, I tap on a soda and I said, we have the honor of pillars of working in that building.
01:35:57.225 --> 01:35:59.685
[SPEAKER_01]: Still to this day, we get to work here.
01:35:59.725 --> 01:36:01.346
[SPEAKER_01]: We have the honor of working here.
01:36:01.746 --> 01:36:02.606
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't ever forget that.
01:36:03.706 --> 01:36:07.107
[SPEAKER_01]: And keep in mind, it's only four hundred and thirty-five of us that exist on the planet.
01:36:08.543 --> 01:36:12.085
[SPEAKER_01]: It's an honor that's been bestowed upon us by we the people.
01:36:12.845 --> 01:36:18.628
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't ever take it for granted and keep in mind, we work for we the people, not the other way around.
01:36:22.249 --> 01:36:23.530
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're looking at America now.
01:36:24.230 --> 01:36:29.012
[SPEAKER_00]: Actually, before I ask you that question, what's Trump like when you're hanging out with him?
01:36:30.173 --> 01:36:31.213
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a stand-up comedian.
01:36:31.853 --> 01:36:32.314
[SPEAKER_01]: He is.
01:36:33.374 --> 01:36:35.095
[SPEAKER_01]: The kindness guy, you know,
01:36:36.655 --> 01:36:43.097
[SPEAKER_01]: generosity and kindness is what comes to mind when I think about my personal interactions with President Trump.
01:36:43.777 --> 01:36:56.421
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of people, they see what's on TV and they see what the media says, but it's to tell you around them when you realize that, no, this is a man that really loves his country and is trying to operate the best interest of the country, end of discussion.
01:36:57.742 --> 01:37:00.463
[SPEAKER_01]: The fact of the matter is, is that I'll never forget, I'll walk on this plane.
01:37:01.543 --> 01:37:07.306
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm where he was like, a walk is like, hey, Wesley, go flying a front, go take this thing off, right?
01:37:07.346 --> 01:37:10.527
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sitting in the cockpit of his plane.
01:37:10.588 --> 01:37:11.728
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just like nice.
01:37:11.748 --> 01:37:12.268
[SPEAKER_01]: It's got the world.
01:37:12.288 --> 01:37:19.392
[SPEAKER_01]: And of course, there's McDonald's, uh, quarter pounded with cheeses, pizza, uh, uh, water burger in and out.
01:37:19.912 --> 01:37:22.393
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just, it's just, it's all junk food.
01:37:22.913 --> 01:37:24.613
[SPEAKER_01]: It looks like you're not gonna eat that, are you?
01:37:24.633 --> 01:37:25.713
[SPEAKER_01]: I said, it's a president for you.
01:37:25.893 --> 01:37:28.074
[SPEAKER_01]: I absolutely am ready every last bit of this.
01:37:28.134 --> 01:37:29.414
[SPEAKER_01]: This is my cheat day with you.
01:37:30.495 --> 01:37:44.398
[SPEAKER_01]: But my favorite story I brought about President Trump was we were campaigning in Iowa, where my wife is from, and we went to the Iowa State Fair, and I had my kiddos with me, and my oldest daughter, Los President Trump, and I really wanted her to meet him, and she went to meet him as well.
01:37:45.018 --> 01:37:49.502
[SPEAKER_01]: And you could imagine flying in on truck force one, ascending onto the Iowa State Fair.
01:37:49.562 --> 01:37:52.724
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's like, he's a rock star.
01:37:53.285 --> 01:37:55.386
[SPEAKER_01]: It is like the Beatles coming through time.
01:37:55.446 --> 01:37:58.149
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody just hundreds of people just started running.
01:37:59.049 --> 01:38:04.934
[SPEAKER_01]: And so he's in full truck mode shaking hands, flipping, you know, going through the flipping burgers and the pork chops, this and that.
01:38:04.954 --> 01:38:07.736
[SPEAKER_01]: And just doing this thing, just making his rise rather Iowa State Fair.
01:38:08.157 --> 01:38:09.938
[SPEAKER_01]: And finally, there was a break in service.
01:38:10.138 --> 01:38:10.699
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a break.
01:38:11.379 --> 01:38:15.042
[SPEAKER_01]: where he was kind of standing there, getting ready to go to his next destination.
01:38:15.502 --> 01:38:18.585
[SPEAKER_01]: And I tapped one shoulder, said, hey, Mr. President, real quick, my daughter is here.
01:38:18.645 --> 01:38:19.326
[SPEAKER_01]: He wants to meet you.
01:38:19.706 --> 01:38:21.147
[SPEAKER_01]: He goes, okay, well, where is she?
01:38:21.748 --> 01:38:24.370
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was, well, she's right down there because she's, she's five results.
01:38:25.270 --> 01:38:30.515
[SPEAKER_01]: He looked down, he goes, his shoulders, his disposition, everything changed.
01:38:31.375 --> 01:38:37.821
[SPEAKER_01]: Scoops up my daughter, gives her a hug, and says, I'm fighting for you, and so is your daddy.
01:38:38.061 --> 01:38:39.722
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to make sure you have a better future.
01:38:39.943 --> 01:38:40.443
[SPEAKER_01]: You're beautiful.
01:38:42.521 --> 01:38:46.264
[SPEAKER_01]: got a picture and set it down and then he went right back to Trump mode.
01:38:46.805 --> 01:38:48.867
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it was like it was like a machine.
01:38:49.427 --> 01:38:52.270
[SPEAKER_01]: But in that moment is when you realize, this man is a father.
01:38:52.290 --> 01:38:54.252
[SPEAKER_01]: This man is a grandfather.
01:38:54.272 --> 01:39:05.182
[SPEAKER_01]: This man is a human being who is trying to operate in the best interest of the country that made him and his family what he is today and it only happens in America.
01:39:06.554 --> 01:39:15.679
[SPEAKER_01]: And when you see these moments that I've got to experience with President Trump one-on-one, it's something that you realize, yeah, we've got to follow this guy.
01:39:16.339 --> 01:39:22.602
[SPEAKER_01]: And despite of what it, of doing what might say, and despite of all the noise and all the garbage, yeah, this is definitely the guy.
01:39:23.063 --> 01:39:27.185
[SPEAKER_01]: And it made it very easy for me to do that, especially after having those experiences.
01:39:29.679 --> 01:39:35.101
[SPEAKER_00]: I was flipping channels between MSNBC and Fox one time.
01:39:35.881 --> 01:39:39.602
[SPEAKER_00]: And it literally is like two different worlds.
01:39:39.903 --> 01:39:42.363
[SPEAKER_00]: The way that Trump gets portrayed.
01:39:43.704 --> 01:39:51.447
[SPEAKER_00]: When you see kind of the way he's been the way he gets treated, what's your, is it like a disgust?
01:39:51.807 --> 01:39:54.888
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it just like, oh, this is just the political, the way the world works?
01:39:55.728 --> 01:39:56.649
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a combination of both.
01:39:57.410 --> 01:39:59.111
[SPEAKER_01]: And it is the way the world works, unfortunately.
01:39:59.472 --> 01:40:00.773
[SPEAKER_01]: And it is the way politics works.
01:40:00.793 --> 01:40:02.054
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why it's a very dirty game.
01:40:02.615 --> 01:40:13.405
[SPEAKER_01]: But it also takes very skilled practitioners to be able to be a bridge to those that are willing to want a bridge for those that are willing to actually hear both sides of the story.
01:40:13.985 --> 01:40:15.246
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what I try to do.
01:40:15.527 --> 01:40:17.789
[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone knows that I'm in full support of President Trump.
01:40:18.189 --> 01:40:21.693
[SPEAKER_01]: But there's also a certain level of complexity that I try to approach this job with.
01:40:22.053 --> 01:40:25.316
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not just because I'm Mazda and I like Trump, which I am those things.
01:40:25.657 --> 01:40:29.320
[SPEAKER_01]: It's also because here's what makes sense and here's what's in the best interest of this country.
01:40:29.741 --> 01:40:31.242
[SPEAKER_01]: One example, I have daughters.
01:40:31.863 --> 01:40:32.543
[SPEAKER_01]: You have daughters.
01:40:33.508 --> 01:40:34.389
[SPEAKER_01]: We're growing ass men.
01:40:35.370 --> 01:40:37.312
[SPEAKER_01]: Men shouldn't be competing.
01:40:38.274 --> 01:40:40.756
[SPEAKER_01]: Biological men should be competing against biological women.
01:40:41.457 --> 01:40:42.418
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a sanity check.
01:40:42.839 --> 01:40:43.560
[SPEAKER_01]: It's very easy.
01:40:44.100 --> 01:40:45.302
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not even a conversation.
01:40:45.702 --> 01:40:47.685
[SPEAKER_01]: How are we even debating this right now?
01:40:48.325 --> 01:40:48.886
[SPEAKER_01]: Unbelievable.
01:40:49.346 --> 01:40:53.471
[SPEAKER_01]: What does President Trump do on day one or one of his first executive orders?
01:40:54.540 --> 01:41:01.282
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm in the White House and he is signing executive order to not allow biological men to compete against biological women.
01:41:01.642 --> 01:41:09.684
[SPEAKER_01]: Therefore, we are protecting our baby girls that you and I would die for and kill for our baby girls end of discussion.
01:41:10.244 --> 01:41:12.965
[SPEAKER_01]: And so when I look at a man that's willing to do that on day one,
01:41:13.325 --> 01:41:15.207
[SPEAKER_01]: and take all the heat all the garbage from the left.
01:41:15.247 --> 01:41:17.048
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you're not sensitive to the trans movie.
01:41:17.068 --> 01:41:18.269
[SPEAKER_01]: You're like, no, no, no, no.
01:41:18.770 --> 01:41:20.151
[SPEAKER_01]: We are playing these games.
01:41:20.171 --> 01:41:24.915
[SPEAKER_01]: That's just the right thing to do because it's simply common sense.
01:41:25.996 --> 01:41:27.618
[SPEAKER_01]: Joe Biden was present for four years.
01:41:28.378 --> 01:41:29.519
[SPEAKER_01]: He did not defend my baby girl.
01:41:30.760 --> 01:41:31.541
[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't do that.
01:41:32.321 --> 01:41:38.285
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of these guys don't have the guts to do just what the right thing is in spite of what the woke mob and mafia might say.
01:41:39.125 --> 01:41:46.910
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's just one minute skill example of a lot of examples that I can give of somebody that says, this is what is right.
01:41:47.310 --> 01:41:48.411
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to take the heat.
01:41:49.752 --> 01:41:50.112
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's go.
01:41:51.929 --> 01:41:58.854
[SPEAKER_00]: Have you been, a lot of people myself included say, you know, Trump wouldn't have lost in twenty twenty.
01:41:59.214 --> 01:41:59.895
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, good.
01:42:00.075 --> 01:42:01.236
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, right?
01:42:01.356 --> 01:42:04.738
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I mean, he looked at the world and said, okay, I see how it works now.
01:42:05.579 --> 01:42:12.363
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, the first time around, you know, you were looking at some of the people who was bringing in and you sort of, oh, well, that's an interesting choice.
01:42:12.804 --> 01:42:17.427
[SPEAKER_00]: But the second time around, it's like, it kind of was on.
01:42:17.767 --> 01:42:19.569
[SPEAKER_01]: And now, now I know what the bathrooms are.
01:42:19.709 --> 01:42:20.009
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
01:42:22.871 --> 01:42:38.620
[SPEAKER_01]: and he walked in there guns blazing he prepared for the previous four years for the second going around this goes back to me talking about why it's important to lose sometimes because when you lose you get to regroup and you get to come back stronger and better and better and that's exactly what he did.
01:42:38.920 --> 01:42:42.683
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean the first hundred days it was so funny trying to watch trying to watch the live was keep up.
01:42:42.843 --> 01:42:44.244
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean hell broke down with you brother.
01:42:44.424 --> 01:42:45.064
[SPEAKER_01]: I couldn't keep up.
01:42:45.564 --> 01:42:48.106
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean I would go to work the next day and try to know what's best so what are we doing today.
01:42:50.307 --> 01:43:13.900
[SPEAKER_01]: it was just he kept moving he's he's moving he's going he's moving he's going you look at the turf war the turf war by the way this is this is not a turf war that President Trump started we've been a turf war for decades we've just been getting ripped off in this war and then we would then turn to for our countries like China and India say yes please may I have another and then now we have leader that says no no no no no no no
01:43:14.620 --> 01:43:15.821
[SPEAKER_01]: No, no, you're going to pay.
01:43:15.841 --> 01:43:17.742
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to pay for this.
01:43:18.423 --> 01:43:24.407
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to pay to use what is the strongest economic force in the world, and that's the American consumer.
01:43:24.827 --> 01:43:25.748
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to pay for this.
01:43:26.328 --> 01:43:27.609
[SPEAKER_01]: So we've always been at war.
01:43:28.089 --> 01:43:31.452
[SPEAKER_01]: Now we just have a war fighter that's going to actually do something about it.
01:43:31.772 --> 01:43:33.994
[SPEAKER_01]: And now how is that turning off for us later?
01:43:34.014 --> 01:43:36.776
[SPEAKER_01]: It's working out pretty good for us if you ask me.
01:43:37.596 --> 01:43:47.638
[SPEAKER_01]: So imagine if he had lost, or if he had won that second time, he wouldn't have cleaned house the way that he did because he would have done the same thing that got him there.
01:43:47.958 --> 01:43:53.779
[SPEAKER_01]: That had a saying, what gets you here, if not necessarily what's going to get you there.
01:43:54.660 --> 01:43:58.000
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you don't change it, if you don't learn, then you're never going to get there.
01:44:00.041 --> 01:44:05.602
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're seeing obviously Trump making moves, making progress, moving things the way he wants, and what?
01:44:09.236 --> 01:44:17.919
[SPEAKER_00]: What, I guess, two-part question, you know, what, what do you think the threats to America are right now?
01:44:19.540 --> 01:44:23.261
[SPEAKER_00]: And then what do you think the strength of America that's going to help us overcome these threats?
01:44:23.281 --> 01:44:25.662
[SPEAKER_01]: So the greatest threat to us to me is our deficit.
01:44:26.482 --> 01:44:31.663
[SPEAKER_01]: And the fact of the matter is with thirty six trillion dollars and debt, we're running a two trillion dollar angle deficit.
01:44:31.744 --> 01:44:32.484
[SPEAKER_01]: That's unbelievable.
01:44:32.884 --> 01:44:33.804
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not sustainable.
01:44:34.684 --> 01:44:35.305
[SPEAKER_01]: And China.
01:44:36.645 --> 01:44:42.189
[SPEAKER_01]: Those are the greatest existential threats to me in my opinion to the country and the future of our babies.
01:44:42.810 --> 01:44:44.891
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what I try to fight against every single day.
01:44:44.911 --> 01:44:46.573
[SPEAKER_01]: And our President Trump is on the right path here.
01:44:46.993 --> 01:44:48.814
[SPEAKER_01]: We have to grow our way out of it.
01:44:48.934 --> 01:44:55.379
[SPEAKER_01]: We have to have exponential growth because we can no longer cut our way out of the spending rut that we've put ourselves in.
01:44:55.880 --> 01:44:58.402
[SPEAKER_01]: Hence the reason why we have the tariffs.
01:44:59.042 --> 01:45:02.023
[SPEAKER_01]: because we have to cut our economy loose.
01:45:02.683 --> 01:45:05.364
[SPEAKER_01]: We need to make sure that we have exponential growth.
01:45:05.844 --> 01:45:16.107
[SPEAKER_01]: We need to make sure that people are pointing up and paying their fair share if they're going to use the American consumer because the only way to get us out of this two trillion dollar angle deficit is to both cut government blow puts what are you trying to do.
01:45:16.547 --> 01:45:19.068
[SPEAKER_01]: and on top of that grow our way out of it.
01:45:19.708 --> 01:45:20.508
[SPEAKER_01]: He understands this.
01:45:20.868 --> 01:45:26.650
[SPEAKER_01]: And by the way, we can have the exponential growth if we are willing to make some difficult decisions now that's going to benefit our future.
01:45:26.990 --> 01:45:37.113
[SPEAKER_01]: And then of course, there's the juggernaut that is China and what they are trying to do in stealing our intellectual property and building up their military if we're not paying attention with be very careful with this.
01:45:37.493 --> 01:45:40.314
[SPEAKER_01]: They are building their forces faster than we are building ours.
01:45:41.694 --> 01:45:44.455
[SPEAKER_01]: Space Force that got made fun of him president started it.
01:45:44.715 --> 01:45:50.436
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, we're talking about what's going to happen in the future of war fighting Space Force is going to be a very serious.
01:45:50.456 --> 01:45:53.497
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to play a very serious role in how that looks moving forward.
01:45:54.037 --> 01:45:58.438
[SPEAKER_01]: So a president Trump has done something to set us up for the future and the right track.
01:45:58.938 --> 01:46:01.099
[SPEAKER_01]: Now we have to continue to grow and build on it.
01:46:01.139 --> 01:46:11.061
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to take leaders like me and many others of my vintage to ensure that we codify this year-end and year-out because we're at the point where we cannot go back.
01:46:13.343 --> 01:46:16.925
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you sleep at night thinking if we go back in the wrong direction?
01:46:16.945 --> 01:46:17.385
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course I do.
01:46:17.405 --> 01:46:17.866
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course I do.
01:46:18.106 --> 01:46:18.666
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course I do.
01:46:19.107 --> 01:46:20.648
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course I do because we have babies.
01:46:21.248 --> 01:46:21.808
[SPEAKER_01]: I have babies.
01:46:22.329 --> 01:46:25.371
[SPEAKER_01]: And I know that my life on this earth is finite.
01:46:25.431 --> 01:46:26.732
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not going to be here forever.
01:46:26.912 --> 01:46:31.315
[SPEAKER_01]: And so the greatest asset that we do have is our time and our babies.
01:46:32.536 --> 01:46:38.704
[SPEAKER_01]: We have got to set up this country for the exact same exponential growth that we have seen in the last few generations.
01:46:38.764 --> 01:46:44.412
[SPEAKER_01]: And just in my family lineage, it makes sure we had that same growth for them so they could have a more perfect union.
01:46:44.933 --> 01:46:46.294
[SPEAKER_01]: We're never going to be perfect.
01:46:46.875 --> 01:46:47.756
[SPEAKER_01]: We are all flawed.
01:46:48.297 --> 01:46:54.142
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you look at this country and look at what we have and what our problems are comparatively speaking, we're in a very good place.
01:46:54.542 --> 01:46:59.946
[SPEAKER_01]: But if we don't fight for the values of this country, every single generation that we're damned to lose them at some point.
01:47:00.567 --> 01:47:02.869
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is why I love what President Trump is doing.
01:47:03.289 --> 01:47:04.070
[SPEAKER_01]: We're fighting back.
01:47:04.730 --> 01:47:06.591
[SPEAKER_01]: We're fighting back on the culture wars.
01:47:06.931 --> 01:47:09.091
[SPEAKER_01]: We're fighting back on Sydney, Swiny.
01:47:09.291 --> 01:47:13.793
[SPEAKER_01]: And, and quite frankly, I thought she looked great in the American little jeans from being honest with you.
01:47:14.233 --> 01:47:15.633
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I guess they did.
01:47:15.673 --> 01:47:16.313
[SPEAKER_00]: But I like it.
01:47:16.434 --> 01:47:19.614
[SPEAKER_00]: But apparently they could get a world of my wife to do that photo shoot.
01:47:19.754 --> 01:47:20.735
[SPEAKER_00]: They used the next best thing.
01:47:21.635 --> 01:47:22.716
[UNKNOWN]: they did, you're watching him.
01:47:23.056 --> 01:47:25.137
[SPEAKER_01]: I understand mine too, they called mine second.
01:47:25.897 --> 01:47:34.721
[SPEAKER_01]: Emily was too busy with the kiddos, but the fact that we're even having these consequences is kind of tugging cheek, but this is the concept that we're actually seriously fighting against.
01:47:35.301 --> 01:47:37.062
[SPEAKER_01]: And then also I will end with this, but I'll say this.
01:47:38.543 --> 01:47:43.867
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the left is constantly trying to divide us along racial lines.
01:47:45.669 --> 01:48:03.804
[SPEAKER_01]: And that to me is a regression to a dark past that the same people that are trying to talk about, how they are trying to further people of color and do this and that are the same people that demonize me to know end for being a black Republican.
01:48:04.725 --> 01:48:06.966
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't respect my intellect.
01:48:07.006 --> 01:48:08.887
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't respect my acumen.
01:48:09.388 --> 01:48:13.650
[SPEAKER_01]: They look at me and look at the color of my skin and say, well, he needs to make a certain way.
01:48:13.690 --> 01:48:16.491
[SPEAKER_01]: And then if he's not worth it, you know, that guy's an uncle Tom.
01:48:16.792 --> 01:48:20.994
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, Uncle Tom, I mean, how about a cousin once removed or something?
01:48:21.074 --> 01:48:21.974
[SPEAKER_01]: Uncle was pretty tight.
01:48:22.014 --> 01:48:24.136
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, that's, that's what it close to the root, you know, guys.
01:48:24.656 --> 01:48:28.538
[SPEAKER_01]: But when I think about this country and why I am right now,
01:48:28.818 --> 01:48:34.780
[SPEAKER_01]: and the life that we get to live and the homogenous melting pot that we have as a country and as a union.
01:48:35.361 --> 01:48:36.301
[SPEAKER_01]: This is as good as it gets.
01:48:37.161 --> 01:48:40.102
[SPEAKER_01]: My dad would always tell me, son, I grew up in the Jim Crow era.
01:48:40.362 --> 01:48:42.183
[SPEAKER_01]: I had a difficult, you don't.
01:48:43.064 --> 01:48:48.586
[SPEAKER_01]: And what I don't want is I don't want liberals dividing this country based on that and we have come so far.
01:48:53.348 --> 01:48:58.710
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, if you sit there and look at the problems all the time and you focus on the problems all the time, you give the problems of life.
01:48:58.730 --> 01:48:58.990
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
01:48:59.030 --> 01:48:59.630
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
01:48:59.650 --> 01:48:59.850
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:48:59.870 --> 01:49:00.711
[SPEAKER_00]: Become your problem.
01:49:00.731 --> 01:49:00.991
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
01:49:01.271 --> 01:49:06.333
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you, like you said, if you're looking to the future and looking at where you can go and look at the solutions, those solutions become your life.
01:49:06.814 --> 01:49:13.457
[SPEAKER_00]: And it certainly seems like it would be a lot better for all of us if we looked towards a future and towards the solutions instead of continually
01:49:14.617 --> 01:49:18.559
[SPEAKER_00]: going back to the past, especially the negative parts of our past, which, you know, you certainly have.
01:49:18.579 --> 01:49:21.580
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like I talked earlier about, you know, you can lose your friends.
01:49:21.941 --> 01:49:22.141
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
01:49:22.481 --> 01:49:27.163
[SPEAKER_00]: And you remember them, you learn from it, but it makes you cherish what you have now.
01:49:27.183 --> 01:49:29.104
[SPEAKER_00]: It should make you cherish what you have now.
01:49:29.404 --> 01:49:30.625
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's the same thing with our country.
01:49:30.745 --> 01:49:32.065
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, oh, yeah, we can look at the past.
01:49:32.466 --> 01:49:34.907
[SPEAKER_00]: We learn from it, but we shouldn't dwell there.
01:49:35.247 --> 01:49:37.568
[SPEAKER_00]: We should look to the future where we can go and what we can do.
01:49:37.788 --> 01:49:37.968
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
01:49:38.969 --> 01:49:41.290
[SPEAKER_00]: Be a beautiful thing if we could move that in that direction.
01:49:41.594 --> 01:49:42.955
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, that's what I'm trying my best.
01:49:43.055 --> 01:49:47.159
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what this is what I try to get up and do every single day.
01:49:47.279 --> 01:49:50.442
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm the person that's going to be the first person to door.
01:49:50.623 --> 01:49:51.864
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to take the heat rounds.
01:49:52.004 --> 01:49:53.645
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm fine with that.
01:49:54.466 --> 01:49:54.867
[SPEAKER_01]: I can take it.
01:49:54.947 --> 01:50:00.232
[SPEAKER_01]: But what I also find out is you should see the direct messages I get, the DMs I get of people, young people.
01:50:00.812 --> 01:50:10.976
[SPEAKER_01]: that may not have the courage to be as, you know, as at the forefront of this battle as I am, but they say things like, hey, so let's, you know, sir, I got your back.
01:50:11.316 --> 01:50:12.836
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, I feel this way too.
01:50:13.156 --> 01:50:14.557
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for being a voice for me.
01:50:14.577 --> 01:50:19.219
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to ignore the vitriol that you see on X, which is just, it's a cesspool.
01:50:19.259 --> 01:50:20.979
[SPEAKER_01]: It's, it's just a mess.
01:50:21.339 --> 01:50:22.680
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not the reality, though.
01:50:23.720 --> 01:50:27.961
[SPEAKER_01]: And so somebody needs examples, we all need role models, and that's what leadership is.
01:50:28.441 --> 01:50:35.763
[SPEAKER_01]: It's stepping up and saying, you know what, I'm going to be a role model, and it's going to be difficult sometimes that people are going to say some really mean things about you.
01:50:35.783 --> 01:50:36.483
[SPEAKER_01]: But like, I mean, let's be real here.
01:50:36.503 --> 01:50:37.044
[SPEAKER_01]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:37.064 --> 01:50:37.564
[SPEAKER_01]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:37.584 --> 01:50:38.084
[SPEAKER_01]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:38.104 --> 01:50:38.664
[SPEAKER_01]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:38.684 --> 01:50:39.204
[SPEAKER_01]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:39.224 --> 01:50:39.784
[SPEAKER_01]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:39.804 --> 01:50:40.364
[SPEAKER_01]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:40.384 --> 01:50:40.945
[SPEAKER_01]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:40.965 --> 01:50:41.485
[SPEAKER_02]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:41.505 --> 01:50:41.985
[SPEAKER_02]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:42.005 --> 01:50:42.585
[SPEAKER_02]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:42.605 --> 01:50:43.085
[SPEAKER_02]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:43.105 --> 01:50:43.585
[SPEAKER_02]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:43.605 --> 01:50:44.085
[UNKNOWN]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:44.105 --> 01:50:44.606
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:44.626 --> 01:50:45.106
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:45.126 --> 01:50:45.606
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:45.626 --> 01:50:46.106
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:46.126 --> 01:50:46.606
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:46.626 --> 01:50:47.186
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:47.206 --> 01:50:47.686
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:47.726 --> 01:50:48.247
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:48.267 --> 01:50:48.787
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:48.807 --> 01:50:49.287
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:49.307 --> 01:50:49.847
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain't shooting that.
01:50:49.867 --> 01:50:50.047
[SPEAKER_00]: They ain
01:50:50.343 --> 01:51:04.188
[SPEAKER_01]: Keep doing what I'm doing, and just staying mentally aware of what's going on, keeping your head on the swivel, and doing difficult things every single day just to keep you sharp.
01:51:04.228 --> 01:51:07.549
[SPEAKER_01]: So I had a, I had to start the pilot.
01:51:07.589 --> 01:51:09.870
[SPEAKER_01]: He said, Wesley, he was the same guy.
01:51:09.890 --> 01:51:10.730
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the lead major.
01:51:10.750 --> 01:51:14.812
[SPEAKER_01]: He goes, Wesley, you got to kill something every day in the matter of how small it just keeps the edge.
01:51:16.212 --> 01:51:18.013
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean he would go I say go kill him man.
01:51:18.194 --> 01:51:19.434
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just just like okay.
01:51:19.795 --> 01:51:20.795
[SPEAKER_01]: I got my kill in today.
01:51:20.815 --> 01:51:21.636
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like this dude.
01:51:22.116 --> 01:51:23.017
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like me for Larry.
01:51:23.037 --> 01:51:23.437
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all right.
01:51:24.157 --> 01:51:28.240
[SPEAKER_01]: And this kind of goes back to like staying fit staying being
01:51:29.665 --> 01:51:33.748
[SPEAKER_01]: being an example, being a role model, and getting up every day.
01:51:34.108 --> 01:51:36.010
[SPEAKER_01]: This is where fitness always comes to me too.
01:51:36.030 --> 01:51:39.832
[SPEAKER_01]: Like staying fit staying, staying physically fits so important.
01:51:39.932 --> 01:51:42.174
[SPEAKER_01]: As my favorite singer is from Ronnie Coleman.
01:51:42.214 --> 01:51:46.837
[SPEAKER_01]: He's like, everybody want to be your bodybuilder, but don't know by the way, I don't want to lift no heavy ass away.
01:51:47.798 --> 01:52:11.212
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like
01:52:11.292 --> 01:52:12.492
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he did.
01:52:12.993 --> 01:52:14.453
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's kind of what the future is for me, man.
01:52:14.493 --> 01:52:22.316
[SPEAKER_01]: And also just always keep in mind that the reason why we do this is for the country.
01:52:22.776 --> 01:52:24.276
[SPEAKER_01]: It is for we the people.
01:52:24.677 --> 01:52:26.737
[SPEAKER_01]: It is for my little babies at home.
01:52:26.797 --> 01:52:28.378
[SPEAKER_01]: It is for your little babies at home.
01:52:28.778 --> 01:52:34.720
[SPEAKER_01]: It's for the further, it's for the greater good and furthering the will of the greatest nation in the world.
01:52:35.140 --> 01:52:37.421
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying that because it's a slogan.
01:52:37.901 --> 01:52:46.929
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm saying that because I genuinely believe that it's been codified by by the blood of many of my classmates that I knew and love that no longer with us.
01:52:47.409 --> 01:52:54.395
[SPEAKER_01]: The second we start forgetting our why is when we go to hell on a hand basket and that just can't happen because we can't afford it.
01:52:57.209 --> 01:52:57.629
[SPEAKER_00]: No doubt.
01:52:58.269 --> 01:52:58.930
[SPEAKER_00]: Awesome stuff.
01:53:00.410 --> 01:53:01.210
[SPEAKER_00]: Where can people find you?
01:53:01.270 --> 01:53:03.531
[SPEAKER_00]: So you've got WesleyFertexas.com.
01:53:04.091 --> 01:53:13.314
[SPEAKER_00]: You got Instagram, you're at WesleyFertexas, Twitter, X and YouTube, you're Wesley Hunt TX, Facebook, Wesley Hunt.
01:53:13.414 --> 01:53:14.494
[SPEAKER_00]: That's where people can find you.
01:53:14.534 --> 01:53:15.235
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, follow you.
01:53:15.515 --> 01:53:16.055
[SPEAKER_00]: Listen to you.
01:53:16.375 --> 01:53:17.795
[SPEAKER_00]: Here you support you.
01:53:19.036 --> 01:53:20.356
[SPEAKER_00]: Echo Charles, what questions you got?
01:53:20.816 --> 01:53:22.697
[SPEAKER_04]: Can you tell me about the sneaker caucus?
01:53:23.497 --> 01:53:24.117
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, man.
01:53:24.157 --> 01:53:24.738
[SPEAKER_01]: Secret caucus.
01:53:24.758 --> 01:53:33.922
[SPEAKER_01]: So one of the, one of the, you know, the things and that everybody gets so wrapped around the axle and everything is so serious, especially right now and everything is very polarizing.
01:53:34.623 --> 01:53:38.925
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the one thing that we could all agree on is that, you know, sneakers are cool.
01:53:39.065 --> 01:53:39.225
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
01:53:39.865 --> 01:53:51.878
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's just where it is and like and I'm a big Jordan guy, you know, so I you know, I'm a I grew up in nineteen eighty one, you know, always tell people, you know, I grew up in an era where cash money and records was taken over for the nine nine and a thousand.
01:53:55.722 --> 01:54:09.771
[SPEAKER_01]: And here we are talking about Jay's and George's and everyone out again, to kind of go through the mundane, monotony of Congress, you know, to have a few, you know, young millennial guys that are like, hey, you know, we're going to spend a day every night again and we're going to work with George on the House floor.
01:54:10.072 --> 01:54:12.153
[SPEAKER_01]: It kind of breaks things up a little bit as though levity.
01:54:12.493 --> 01:54:17.497
[SPEAKER_01]: It's bipartisan who doesn't like George's on their free will Michael Jordan said Republicans, Bios sneakers too.
01:54:21.259 --> 01:54:23.040
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got to add that little flavor to it.
01:54:23.060 --> 01:54:28.624
[SPEAKER_01]: And also being a younger guy too, you know, one with more younger guys in my caucus is something that's just fun that we're able to do.
01:54:29.805 --> 01:54:30.645
[SPEAKER_04]: Without technical trials.
01:54:31.486 --> 01:54:36.129
[SPEAKER_04]: How much of the campaign add costs, the inflation, the inflated cost that you're talking about?
01:54:36.349 --> 01:54:37.269
[SPEAKER_01]: The campaign.
01:54:37.289 --> 01:54:39.991
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, remember you're like, hey, that much for a campaign at like one.
01:54:40.011 --> 01:54:44.254
[SPEAKER_01]: So what are we talking about in upwards of fifty to a hundred thousand dollars?
01:54:46.896 --> 01:54:48.397
[SPEAKER_01]: And they're not good ads.
01:54:49.038 --> 01:54:54.884
[SPEAKER_01]: And I could tell you that I'd good ads because turn a TV on and look at any typical ad that you see is a cookie cutter.
01:54:56.967 --> 01:55:06.897
[SPEAKER_01]: Just politician, sleeves rolled up here, makes for it's a blue shirt with something super imposing of background with their arms folded, you're saying.
01:55:07.698 --> 01:55:27.652
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm here at a fight for America and it's the most horrible thing you could ever it's most inauthentic thing that you could ever imagine but they print money on this stuff they print money on it and then on top of that then you get paid by doing the ad by which is you get a cut of that and the ad by is just scheduling the ads
01:55:28.813 --> 01:55:41.000
[SPEAKER_01]: These people you're you're giving away money that can actually go back into your coffers that could actually be invested back on TV furthering your brand And so my guys have have mastered all of the above and we'd handle everything in house
01:55:43.801 --> 01:55:49.767
[SPEAKER_00]: It that is the bull you had my act video guy over here echo was starting to think about maybe you need to start making it.
01:55:49.787 --> 01:55:53.991
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he's like fifty because you're right.
01:55:54.191 --> 01:55:56.453
[SPEAKER_01]: Why can't a short man?
01:55:56.593 --> 01:56:04.561
[SPEAKER_04]: Actually that really that it's what you the point is what you said is because I see those political ads and I'm like, probably I would that would take me like thirty minutes to do anything
01:56:04.761 --> 01:56:07.043
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, it's like, it's just Photoshop and you know some other stuff.
01:56:07.163 --> 01:56:07.783
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
01:56:07.803 --> 01:56:08.624
[SPEAKER_01]: They have paid actors.
01:56:08.644 --> 01:56:09.824
[SPEAKER_01]: They're paid actors are in it.
01:56:10.165 --> 01:56:11.566
[SPEAKER_01]: Then we wanted that he was showing the kid.
01:56:11.586 --> 01:56:13.527
[SPEAKER_01]: Then I even showed the politician some of these ads.
01:56:14.027 --> 01:56:22.633
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just paid actors saying that it's the guy dressed up at a farm and seemed like, well, for this guy, because he's like, dude, that's horrible.
01:56:24.549 --> 01:56:33.637
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the first time I ran, I experienced that second time I ran, my buddy Matt said, you know, Wesley, we're gonna let, we're gonna let Wesley hunt be Wesley hunt.
01:56:34.357 --> 01:56:35.378
[SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna let you be you.
01:56:35.599 --> 01:56:36.199
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the move.
01:56:36.399 --> 01:56:36.840
[SPEAKER_01]: That is it.
01:56:37.120 --> 01:56:38.961
[SPEAKER_01]: Authenticity, your authentic self.
01:56:39.142 --> 01:56:39.902
[SPEAKER_00]: It's better that way.
01:56:39.942 --> 01:56:42.084
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, if you lose that way, you lose that way.
01:56:42.104 --> 01:56:43.365
[SPEAKER_00]: If you win that way, you win that way.
01:56:43.385 --> 01:56:44.346
[SPEAKER_01]: You win that way, boom.
01:56:44.366 --> 01:56:44.947
[SPEAKER_00]: How it should be.
01:56:45.287 --> 01:56:46.428
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why I'm with President Trump, too.
01:56:47.369 --> 01:56:48.470
[SPEAKER_01]: He says authentic self.
01:56:49.070 --> 01:56:54.775
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know, I look at, I used to look at fighters, like MMA fighters, and there would be some fighters that would.
01:56:55.990 --> 01:57:21.571
[SPEAKER_00]: protect their records so they would they fight out very very infrequently and they'd have a really good record but then they're all the fighters that would just fight all the time and they would have a winning record and you kind of knew who they were right and what when you see what Trump does like who is going to go and just do interviews I mean just go open session interviews for hours like I'll be like oh cool I'll be like you're the White House I follow the White House on YouTube yeah and I'll see you know
01:57:22.352 --> 01:57:24.253
[SPEAKER_00]: President Trump, Trump, take questions.
01:57:24.313 --> 01:57:25.534
[SPEAKER_00]: And I've got a ten minute drive ago.
01:57:25.554 --> 01:57:25.954
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll listen to it.
01:57:26.234 --> 01:57:27.675
[SPEAKER_00]: No, he's out there for an hour and ten minutes.
01:57:27.715 --> 01:57:28.096
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, he will.
01:57:28.216 --> 01:57:29.677
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not, it's not ten minutes of him answer.
01:57:29.717 --> 01:57:32.779
[SPEAKER_00]: It's an hour and ten minutes of him answering questions.
01:57:33.059 --> 01:57:34.960
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's a guy that's just in the ring all the time.
01:57:35.440 --> 01:57:45.086
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, he'll say something that doesn't make sense or he'll quote something wrong and he'll jump all over and put it doesn't matter because he did, he said a hundred things.
01:57:45.787 --> 01:57:48.529
[SPEAKER_00]: And he got ninety of him right, ninety six of him right.
01:57:49.650 --> 01:57:54.673
[SPEAKER_00]: People will jump on the floor that he got wrong, but everyone's like, hey dude, you know, like you talk for an hour.
01:57:54.913 --> 01:57:55.014
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:57:55.034 --> 01:57:55.734
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care who you are.
01:57:55.774 --> 01:57:56.394
[SPEAKER_00]: You talk for an hour.
01:57:56.414 --> 01:57:57.195
[SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna say something.
01:57:57.215 --> 01:57:57.435
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:57:57.515 --> 01:57:57.775
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
01:57:58.055 --> 01:57:58.296
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:57:58.656 --> 01:58:01.157
[SPEAKER_00]: I got that one wrong, but he's just in the ring all the time.
01:58:01.478 --> 01:58:03.679
[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, when you're in the ring all the time, you get good.
01:58:03.699 --> 01:58:04.159
[SPEAKER_00]: You get better.
01:58:05.420 --> 01:58:06.241
[SPEAKER_00]: You get really good.
01:58:06.381 --> 01:58:06.901
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:58:06.961 --> 01:58:07.442
[SPEAKER_00]: No doubt.
01:58:07.602 --> 01:58:07.982
[SPEAKER_00]: No doubt.
01:58:08.202 --> 01:58:08.783
[SPEAKER_00]: What else, Echo?
01:58:08.943 --> 01:58:09.964
[SPEAKER_00]: No football questions.
01:58:10.105 --> 01:58:11.106
[SPEAKER_00]: Captain of the football team.
01:58:11.126 --> 01:58:11.486
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
01:58:11.507 --> 01:58:11.647
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
01:58:11.767 --> 01:58:13.669
[SPEAKER_01]: I was in high school back in high school days.
01:58:13.689 --> 01:58:14.511
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you play in college?
01:58:14.531 --> 01:58:15.992
[SPEAKER_01]: Did you play a little bit at West Point?
01:58:16.053 --> 01:58:17.434
[SPEAKER_01]: I played for the first two years at West Point.
01:58:17.454 --> 01:58:22.101
[SPEAKER_01]: Then realized I had a moment at West Point where we were playing Boston College.
01:58:22.161 --> 01:58:23.122
[SPEAKER_01]: It was my sophomore year.
01:58:24.043 --> 01:58:47.428
[SPEAKER_01]: and they had a running back boss and college name was Willie Green and Willie Green was six foot one two hundred thirty pounds wait he got drafted probably thirty fifth first round he wasn't animal four four forty I mean this dude and he kicked our asses it was a track me and I and I was sitting on the sideline and my neck was just breaking because it was looking back in this guy was just running out of the football field
01:58:48.008 --> 01:58:49.049
[SPEAKER_01]: I looked at Willie Green.
01:58:49.069 --> 01:58:56.332
[SPEAKER_01]: I was also running back and I said, you know, I've always pride myself in being a decent athlete, you know, but at the end of the day, uh, come to Jesus here.
01:58:56.612 --> 01:58:58.533
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not Willie Green and I'm not going to leak.
01:58:58.793 --> 01:59:01.354
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's talking me to focus on what I want to do with the flat patches.
01:59:03.455 --> 01:59:04.115
[SPEAKER_01]: You played running back?
01:59:04.315 --> 01:59:05.456
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the whole time.
01:59:05.716 --> 01:59:29.283
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, oh my whole life my whole life running back from from from pop on a pop Warner on up and the the important thing about sports and why my kids also play sports is it's critical Sports are very important for especially for young people to learn what it means to play on a team What it means to understand difference between being hurt and being injured which one are you and they are very different things?
01:59:30.363 --> 01:59:37.065
[SPEAKER_01]: And, it also teaches you the discipline of getting up and doing more than everybody else has to do if you want to play this sport.
01:59:39.645 --> 01:59:42.286
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the kind of stuff that I see missing in this next generation.
01:59:42.806 --> 01:59:50.208
[SPEAKER_01]: And, y'all would suggest you guys to, I mean, young people, and that's the individual sport, which is another level, because now it's on you.
01:59:50.888 --> 01:59:53.149
[SPEAKER_01]: Now it's Mono Emano, it's you first steal the person.
01:59:53.609 --> 02:00:04.593
[SPEAKER_01]: which is also a very important lesson to learn about how to prepare yourself to fight the battles not just in sports and just in jujitsu but the battles of life that you have to deal with every single day.
02:00:11.096 --> 02:00:28.762
[SPEAKER_04]: playing on a team football like they have unique positions where the wider receiver he can't just jump and play you know and the running you know like every once in a great while you'll see a guy who can play two positions or both ways but everyone's like whoa this is a big deal I try to write like like nobody wants it in generation
02:00:30.463 --> 02:00:39.654
[SPEAKER_04]: So it's really like, hey, you got to do your job because, bro, it's not like this other guy can just jump in and fill your, you know, when you make a mistake, it, like, it affects everybody.
02:00:40.535 --> 02:00:47.083
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just like combat, just like, you know, the guys, we have a mission as an, as a Apache guy, and I can't do what they do, and they can't do what I do.
02:00:47.583 --> 02:00:49.606
[SPEAKER_01]: But we both have to do our job, everybody goes home safe.
02:00:51.167 --> 02:00:52.948
[SPEAKER_01]: You learn these very, is a very simple value.
02:00:53.028 --> 02:00:54.248
[SPEAKER_01]: Very simple value.
02:00:54.308 --> 02:00:55.588
[SPEAKER_01]: You learn them in sports.
02:00:56.188 --> 02:00:56.988
[SPEAKER_00]: Do your job.
02:00:57.249 --> 02:01:00.609
[SPEAKER_00]: Do your job.
02:01:01.610 --> 02:01:02.090
[SPEAKER_00]: Good echo.
02:01:02.310 --> 02:01:02.750
[SPEAKER_00]: Still good.
02:01:02.810 --> 02:01:03.630
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, good to meet you.
02:01:03.710 --> 02:01:04.970
[SPEAKER_00]: Because it's been a pleasure brother.
02:01:04.990 --> 02:01:06.251
[SPEAKER_00]: Good meeting you as well.
02:01:06.291 --> 02:01:07.451
[SPEAKER_00]: Any other closing thoughts, man?
02:01:08.331 --> 02:01:09.151
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for all you do.
02:01:09.992 --> 02:01:10.812
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for your message.
02:01:13.397 --> 02:01:16.599
[SPEAKER_01]: good is something that we use in our house frequently.
02:01:16.779 --> 02:01:18.300
[SPEAKER_01]: I show my wife this a long time ago.
02:01:18.420 --> 02:01:20.221
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been obsessed with it for a very long time.
02:01:21.041 --> 02:01:25.803
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a mantra that we all need to adhere to and your messages is a very strong message.
02:01:25.924 --> 02:01:29.165
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a very good message and it's something that is positive.
02:01:29.926 --> 02:01:34.308
[SPEAKER_01]: It's based for who you are and it's something that we need to hear.
02:01:34.948 --> 02:01:40.051
[SPEAKER_01]: Something that our world needs to hear and the fact that you are even willing to have somebody like me on
02:01:40.711 --> 02:01:59.182
[SPEAKER_01]: on your platform, it's an honor to be here, and thank you for your service, and your continued service, and fighting what I think is the war and understanding what masculinity means, what it means to be a fighter, and what it means to be your best self, and the best version of yourself, and to become the best version of yourself, ain't easy.
02:02:00.342 --> 02:02:01.103
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not easy.
02:02:02.544 --> 02:02:03.584
[SPEAKER_01]: But there is no alternative.
02:02:03.744 --> 02:02:06.566
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to become that best person there yourself, and thank you for all you do.
02:02:07.046 --> 02:02:07.887
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, appreciate it.
02:02:07.947 --> 02:02:09.268
[SPEAKER_00]: And thanks for joining us.
02:02:09.568 --> 02:02:12.711
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, thanks for your service to our great nation.
02:02:12.931 --> 02:02:19.877
[SPEAKER_00]: Not only in the Army, not only protecting those troops on the ground and being there when they need them and scare in the end of the way at a minimum.
02:02:20.878 --> 02:02:21.919
[SPEAKER_00]: But thanks for what you're doing now.
02:02:22.139 --> 02:02:24.641
[SPEAKER_00]: As a member of Congress, put yourself back in the line of fire.
02:02:25.002 --> 02:02:26.063
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know that's what it's like.
02:02:26.123 --> 02:02:28.525
[SPEAKER_00]: I see from the outside what you guys go through.
02:02:29.085 --> 02:02:31.627
[SPEAKER_00]: And thanks for what you're doing to protect our way of life here in America.
02:02:31.667 --> 02:02:31.968
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
02:02:32.108 --> 02:02:32.448
[SPEAKER_01]: My honor.
02:02:32.508 --> 02:02:32.928
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, brother.
02:02:32.968 --> 02:02:33.269
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
02:02:33.389 --> 02:02:33.649
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
02:02:35.110 --> 02:02:39.093
[SPEAKER_00]: And with that, Congressman Wesley Hunt has left the building.
02:02:40.314 --> 02:02:44.256
[SPEAKER_00]: Definitely awesome to sit down and hear his perspective.
02:02:45.792 --> 02:02:46.753
[SPEAKER_00]: got a lot of energy.
02:02:46.953 --> 02:02:48.995
[SPEAKER_00]: He's fired up from got out of the vehicle.
02:02:49.035 --> 02:02:49.496
[SPEAKER_00]: He's fired up.
02:02:49.516 --> 02:02:50.196
[SPEAKER_00]: He brought me with him.
02:02:50.377 --> 02:02:51.958
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you want to pursue a fired up?
02:02:52.158 --> 02:02:53.880
[SPEAKER_00]: We're all fired up.
02:02:54.701 --> 02:02:56.803
[SPEAKER_00]: Part of that is he's getting after it, right?
02:02:57.103 --> 02:02:58.465
[SPEAKER_00]: Getting after it, working out.
02:03:00.186 --> 02:03:07.233
[SPEAKER_00]: And I understand that you've confirmed a protocol for intra workout scenarios.
02:03:07.454 --> 02:03:07.594
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
02:03:08.074 --> 02:03:09.596
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're doing two workouts.
02:03:09.896 --> 02:03:10.716
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, in a row.
02:03:10.976 --> 02:03:12.577
[SPEAKER_04]: So, this is when it counts.
02:03:12.637 --> 02:03:12.837
[SPEAKER_04]: Yep.
02:03:12.857 --> 02:03:13.337
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
02:03:13.518 --> 02:03:14.878
[SPEAKER_04]: So, jock of you, we got to hydrate.
02:03:14.898 --> 02:03:17.299
[SPEAKER_04]: Don't got creatine.
02:03:17.579 --> 02:03:18.219
[SPEAKER_03]: Mm-hmm.
02:03:18.239 --> 02:03:21.121
[SPEAKER_04]: Right, it's just seemingly like me and let's not think, yeah, we already knew we had hydrate.
02:03:21.361 --> 02:03:23.662
[SPEAKER_04]: But anyway, if you time it, so here's my routine.
02:03:24.882 --> 02:03:25.582
[SPEAKER_04]: Hydrate is a morning.
02:03:26.003 --> 02:03:30.024
[SPEAKER_04]: It's just how, let's drink a thing of water and then I go out on a little brook.
02:03:30.284 --> 02:03:30.945
[SPEAKER_04]: Sometimes run.
02:03:30.965 --> 02:03:31.485
[SPEAKER_04]: Mm-hmm.
02:03:32.625 --> 02:03:37.727
[SPEAKER_04]: And then if I have if time is kind of whatever, I'll do the live right after.
02:03:37.747 --> 02:03:38.147
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
02:03:38.368 --> 02:03:39.168
[SPEAKER_04]: But sometimes,
02:03:39.617 --> 02:03:41.100
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you mean if time is a little whatever?
02:03:41.280 --> 02:03:41.921
[SPEAKER_00]: What does that even mean?
02:03:42.422 --> 02:03:42.542
[SPEAKER_04]: No.
02:03:43.123 --> 02:03:44.486
[SPEAKER_04]: So you don't have time?
02:03:44.526 --> 02:03:45.027
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, yeah.
02:03:45.107 --> 02:03:47.431
[SPEAKER_04]: If you, if I'm like, hey, I'm not, I don't want to.
02:03:48.533 --> 02:03:49.413
[SPEAKER_04]: Look, please face it.
02:03:49.873 --> 02:03:53.215
[SPEAKER_04]: Sometimes you get stuff to do right after that, you know, like today.
02:03:54.655 --> 02:03:55.575
[SPEAKER_04]: But sometimes you don't.
02:03:55.675 --> 02:03:58.757
[SPEAKER_04]: So I can be like, I'll do the rock or whatever in the morning and then I'll work out in the afternoon.
02:03:58.777 --> 02:04:01.758
[SPEAKER_04]: So I'm full energy so I can get the most out of each workout.
02:04:02.278 --> 02:04:03.098
[SPEAKER_04]: That's my routine.
02:04:03.338 --> 02:04:04.538
[SPEAKER_04]: I know, not anyone's like that.
02:04:04.579 --> 02:04:04.879
[SPEAKER_04]: Whatever.
02:04:05.479 --> 02:04:11.381
[SPEAKER_04]: But if I'm like I want to get them both done in a row, sometimes the lift, which I do second, sometimes that suffers performance wise.
02:04:11.881 --> 02:04:12.881
[SPEAKER_04]: Because I went through, you know.
02:04:14.882 --> 02:04:15.503
[SPEAKER_04]: But this is what you do.
02:04:16.305 --> 02:04:19.250
[SPEAKER_04]: Hydrate during the rock or right after.
02:04:19.430 --> 02:04:21.053
[SPEAKER_04]: Hydrate and creatine mix.
02:04:21.213 --> 02:04:21.895
[SPEAKER_04]: Big S mix.
02:04:22.736 --> 02:04:23.217
[SPEAKER_04]: Good is new.
02:04:23.538 --> 02:04:27.244
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I mean, you're still sweating stuff, but it's like you're good as new.
02:04:28.220 --> 02:04:28.580
[SPEAKER_00]: I like it.
02:04:28.800 --> 02:04:29.421
[SPEAKER_00]: Good protocol.
02:04:31.062 --> 02:04:34.583
[SPEAKER_00]: If you need to get hydrate or creatine, go to jockelfield.com.
02:04:34.743 --> 02:04:35.344
[SPEAKER_00]: We also have protein.
02:04:35.364 --> 02:04:36.084
[SPEAKER_00]: We got everything that you need.
02:04:36.264 --> 02:04:37.225
[SPEAKER_00]: Jockelfield.com.
02:04:37.245 --> 02:04:37.845
[SPEAKER_00]: Go check it out.
02:04:37.865 --> 02:04:40.006
[SPEAKER_00]: We're also in a bunch of stores around the country.
02:04:40.046 --> 02:04:40.767
[SPEAKER_00]: You can find it.
02:04:41.987 --> 02:04:42.648
[SPEAKER_00]: It's what's good for you.
02:04:43.328 --> 02:04:46.830
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, origin USA, American made clothing.
02:04:48.011 --> 02:05:02.021
[SPEAKER_00]: talk about a lot of sacrifices that get made for America, and we talked about those who were Wesley Hunt today, but sometimes people forget that the sacrifice were made and go out and buy a pair of freaking pants that were made
02:05:02.741 --> 02:05:06.824
[SPEAKER_00]: In China, which by the way, Wesley Hunt pointed out as our biggest threat.
02:05:07.304 --> 02:05:08.065
[SPEAKER_00]: And yet we're giving a money.
02:05:08.525 --> 02:05:09.186
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's not give a money.
02:05:09.406 --> 02:05:10.747
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's keep the money right here in America.
02:05:11.828 --> 02:05:13.969
[SPEAKER_00]: Go to origin USA and get a pair of pants.
02:05:14.329 --> 02:05:18.733
[SPEAKER_00]: Would you wear on the, uh, you're saying you, you're saying that you were in the comfort zone on your flight to Hawaii.
02:05:18.933 --> 02:05:19.113
[SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
02:05:19.953 --> 02:05:20.514
[SPEAKER_04]: Standard.
02:05:20.994 --> 02:05:21.074
[SPEAKER_04]: Uh.
02:05:21.595 --> 02:05:22.235
[SPEAKER_00]: What would you wear?
02:05:22.875 --> 02:05:23.636
[SPEAKER_04]: Standard uniform.
02:05:25.597 --> 02:05:26.318
[SPEAKER_04]: Origin pants.
02:05:26.898 --> 02:05:27.519
[SPEAKER_00]: All the jeans.
02:05:27.779 --> 02:05:28.199
[SPEAKER_00]: Origin jeans.
02:05:28.299 --> 02:05:28.960
[SPEAKER_04]: Origin jeans.
02:05:30.331 --> 02:05:31.912
[SPEAKER_00]: Because there's a bunch of different kinds of pants now for them.
02:05:31.952 --> 02:05:32.152
[SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
02:05:32.473 --> 02:05:33.313
[SPEAKER_04]: You got the right.
02:05:33.514 --> 02:05:34.875
[SPEAKER_00]: The GTFO pants.
02:05:35.875 --> 02:05:36.396
[SPEAKER_00]: You got the...
02:05:38.106 --> 02:05:40.708
[SPEAKER_00]: those kind of canvas cotton ones.
02:05:41.368 --> 02:05:42.569
[SPEAKER_00]: Those are, those are pretty nice.
02:05:42.769 --> 02:05:42.929
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
02:05:43.690 --> 02:05:43.890
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
02:05:44.050 --> 02:05:46.131
[SPEAKER_00]: Factory G. That's a little bit of stretching them too.
02:05:46.191 --> 02:05:46.351
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
02:05:46.491 --> 02:05:48.453
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the fact that you're using this, yeah.
02:05:48.493 --> 02:05:49.693
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, both genes have stretching.
02:05:49.873 --> 02:05:51.014
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, and they're a little bit thicker.
02:05:51.034 --> 02:05:52.915
[SPEAKER_04]: Because me, like, you're wearing the factory genes?
02:05:52.975 --> 02:05:53.175
[SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
02:05:53.256 --> 02:05:53.816
[SPEAKER_04]: It's a Hawaii.
02:05:53.876 --> 02:05:54.516
[SPEAKER_04]: Too Hawaii.
02:05:54.556 --> 02:05:54.716
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
02:05:54.756 --> 02:06:00.280
[SPEAKER_04]: Because they put on the air conditioning and the plane, you know, to keep it cool.
02:06:00.560 --> 02:06:01.941
[SPEAKER_04]: And I'm going for max comfort.
02:06:02.001 --> 02:06:02.241
[SPEAKER_04]: I know.
02:06:02.902 --> 02:06:06.164
[SPEAKER_04]: But sometimes we forget that I'm kind of the connoisseur of comfort.
02:06:06.864 --> 02:06:11.509
[SPEAKER_04]: So you do that the factory genes of perfect amount of thickness, so it shields you from the air conditioning.
02:06:12.009 --> 02:06:12.850
[SPEAKER_04]: And here's the thing too.
02:06:13.150 --> 02:06:14.332
[SPEAKER_04]: So yeah, it's a science.
02:06:14.352 --> 02:06:15.453
[SPEAKER_04]: I got it done to a science so here.
02:06:15.593 --> 02:06:18.055
[SPEAKER_04]: And then the other thing I wear is that jacket.
02:06:18.115 --> 02:06:19.817
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, it's like it's kind of like a win break.
02:06:19.857 --> 02:06:20.518
[SPEAKER_04]: It's a word in one.
02:06:20.638 --> 02:06:21.699
[SPEAKER_04]: That black one that win breakers.
02:06:21.759 --> 02:06:22.680
[SPEAKER_04]: It's a whole perfect.
02:06:22.700 --> 02:06:23.201
[SPEAKER_00]: It's so jacket.
02:06:23.821 --> 02:06:24.001
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
02:06:24.021 --> 02:06:24.822
[SPEAKER_00]: That thing is good to go.
02:06:24.902 --> 02:06:25.743
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, hundred percent.
02:06:25.803 --> 02:06:27.165
[SPEAKER_04]: And then of course, the def course sucks.
02:06:27.825 --> 02:06:28.966
[SPEAKER_04]: No, yeah, okay.
02:06:29.086 --> 02:06:46.019
[SPEAKER_04]: It's the fact that I'm gonna let's see you in a form way to origin USA made in America hundred percent and then juggle store you can get some deaf core socks if you want yeah, yeah Available that I don't we got other stuff on there So we got the short locker, which is like as you know the subscription scenario every month you get a new design
02:06:47.099 --> 02:06:48.480
[SPEAKER_04]: So I thought of you for next month.
02:06:48.500 --> 02:06:49.280
[SPEAKER_04]: Let's do the same.
02:06:49.920 --> 02:06:52.001
[SPEAKER_04]: Let's just say it's Celtic in nature.
02:06:52.521 --> 02:06:52.921
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
02:06:53.382 --> 02:06:53.882
[SPEAKER_04]: It's a good one.
02:06:54.022 --> 02:06:54.742
[SPEAKER_04]: Also good.
02:06:55.142 --> 02:06:56.003
[SPEAKER_04]: So you don't good, right?
02:06:56.023 --> 02:06:56.723
[SPEAKER_04]: This one I'm wearing.
02:06:56.783 --> 02:06:58.424
[SPEAKER_04]: This is like the second edition.
02:06:58.504 --> 02:06:59.344
[SPEAKER_04]: Second version.
02:06:59.404 --> 02:06:59.824
[SPEAKER_04]: We'll say.
02:07:00.064 --> 02:07:00.224
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
02:07:00.724 --> 02:07:02.585
[SPEAKER_04]: I got the third version coming next month.
02:07:02.925 --> 02:07:03.345
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
02:07:03.445 --> 02:07:04.546
[SPEAKER_04]: So be on the lookout for that one.
02:07:04.566 --> 02:07:05.366
[SPEAKER_04]: And it's a Celtic.
02:07:05.966 --> 02:07:07.007
[SPEAKER_04]: No, that one's not Celtic.
02:07:07.287 --> 02:07:07.987
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure.
02:07:08.227 --> 02:07:09.348
[SPEAKER_04]: For next month is Celtic.
02:07:10.348 --> 02:07:12.629
[SPEAKER_04]: But the good just happens to be coming out next month.
02:07:12.649 --> 02:07:12.929
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
02:07:12.989 --> 02:07:14.890
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm saying, and that one's not Celtic.
02:07:14.950 --> 02:07:15.670
[SPEAKER_04]: That's, you know.
02:07:15.924 --> 02:07:17.365
[SPEAKER_04]: This is the third version, three point out.
02:07:17.485 --> 02:07:17.765
[SPEAKER_04]: Good.
02:07:18.525 --> 02:07:20.086
[SPEAKER_00]: There you go, jockelstore.com.
02:07:20.146 --> 02:07:23.127
[SPEAKER_00]: Dave Berks out of book coming out called Need to Lead, go check that out.
02:07:23.187 --> 02:07:25.628
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, we just released echelon front.
02:07:25.968 --> 02:07:28.909
[SPEAKER_00]: We just released a new Academy course.
02:07:30.229 --> 02:07:31.270
[SPEAKER_00]: It's about the ladder of alignment.
02:07:31.290 --> 02:07:32.730
[SPEAKER_00]: That's extreme ownership.com.
02:07:32.810 --> 02:07:36.972
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, that lateral line ladder of ladder of alignment.
02:07:37.252 --> 02:07:38.093
[SPEAKER_04]: All right, right.
02:07:38.173 --> 02:07:40.514
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so it's like a comprehensive course then.
02:07:40.754 --> 02:07:48.339
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, because this is one thing that can really jam people up to the parlance of echoed trolls is if we're not aligned on what we're trying to do.
02:07:49.059 --> 02:07:50.280
[SPEAKER_00]: How do we find alignment?
02:07:50.420 --> 02:07:54.662
[SPEAKER_00]: How do we confirm our alignment and how do we continue on with alignment?
02:07:55.102 --> 02:08:01.266
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but sometimes sometimes we aren't aligned and there's various levels that can happen at.
02:08:02.247 --> 02:08:04.548
[SPEAKER_00]: And when you're not aligned at a lower level, guess what you got to do?
02:08:05.362 --> 02:08:05.702
[SPEAKER_00]: find it.
02:08:06.062 --> 02:08:07.243
[SPEAKER_00]: Climb the ladder of alignment.
02:08:08.184 --> 02:08:08.444
[SPEAKER_00]: So.
02:08:08.564 --> 02:08:09.965
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, that, that one.
02:08:10.005 --> 02:08:11.266
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's a skill to that.
02:08:11.466 --> 02:08:12.427
[SPEAKER_00]: There's techniques around that.
02:08:12.487 --> 02:08:17.030
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, yeah, and a lot of times we don't, it's a kind of where you don't realize that you are aligned.
02:08:17.090 --> 02:08:18.391
[SPEAKER_04]: So that's when you get a climb the ladder.
02:08:18.691 --> 02:08:23.895
[SPEAKER_04]: And this is why I know this because when you explain it at the master, this is why it comes up.
02:08:24.255 --> 02:08:26.137
[SPEAKER_04]: This one is like, oh, they have like an agenda.
02:08:26.637 --> 02:08:30.780
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, like that group or that person that I work with or whatever, they have like, disagenda.
02:08:30.900 --> 02:08:34.483
[SPEAKER_04]: But then you're like, well, who's to say that's always bad, you know?
02:08:35.303 --> 02:08:36.324
[SPEAKER_04]: I have that ladder you find up.
02:08:36.725 --> 02:08:37.866
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's gonna be useful.
02:08:38.126 --> 02:08:43.411
[SPEAKER_00]: They're gender and people can have different competing agendas and that's actually okay.
02:08:43.431 --> 02:08:46.374
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, as long as we don't start undermining each other.
02:08:46.534 --> 02:08:48.616
[SPEAKER_00]: We have competing agendas on where we're going to have dinner.
02:08:49.157 --> 02:08:50.218
[SPEAKER_00]: Like we know, I want to go here.
02:08:50.238 --> 02:08:50.658
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to go there.
02:08:50.678 --> 02:08:52.900
[SPEAKER_00]: But we both want to eat, as you understand?
02:08:54.021 --> 02:08:55.122
[SPEAKER_00]: So let's eat.
02:08:55.543 --> 02:08:56.644
[SPEAKER_00]: Ashlandfront.com.
02:08:58.348 --> 02:09:01.249
[SPEAKER_00]: extremownership.com go check those out if you need leadership training.
02:09:02.029 --> 02:09:05.230
[SPEAKER_00]: Also if you want to help service members active and retired you want to help their families.
02:09:06.750 --> 02:09:11.571
[SPEAKER_00]: Check out Mark Lee's mom mom Lee's got an amazing organization.
02:09:12.571 --> 02:09:16.232
[SPEAKER_00]: If you want to donate or you want to get involved, go to America's mighty warriors dot org.
02:09:16.272 --> 02:09:17.973
[SPEAKER_00]: Also check out heroes and horses dot org.
02:09:18.033 --> 02:09:25.694
[SPEAKER_00]: Mike afink his program taking vets up into the mountains so they can find their soul and find the Jimmy Mays organization beyond the brotherhood dot org.
02:09:25.794 --> 02:09:27.555
[SPEAKER_00]: Check all those out if you want to connect.
02:09:28.816 --> 02:09:41.752
[SPEAKER_00]: You want to connect with Wesley Hunt on the internet, WesleyFertexus.com on Instagram, WesleyFertexus, Twitter, X, and YouTube, Wesley Hunt, TX.
02:09:43.047 --> 02:09:44.328
[SPEAKER_00]: and Facebook, Wesley Hunt.
02:09:44.688 --> 02:09:48.931
[SPEAKER_00]: For us, I'm at Jocco.com, and on social media, I'm at Jocco Willink.
02:09:49.952 --> 02:09:50.832
[SPEAKER_00]: Echoes at Echo Charles.
02:09:51.793 --> 02:09:56.156
[SPEAKER_00]: Just be careful, because you can waste a lot of time on social media if you're not careful, and you don't want that to happen.
02:09:56.456 --> 02:09:59.238
[SPEAKER_00]: Once again, thanks to Congressman Wesley Hunt for joining us tonight.
02:10:00.019 --> 02:10:01.480
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for sharing your experiences.
02:10:01.500 --> 02:10:02.701
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for sharing your lessons earned.
02:10:03.721 --> 02:10:08.825
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for your service and the Army, and thank you for your continued service in Congress.
02:10:09.225 --> 02:10:10.266
[SPEAKER_00]: It's much appreciated, brother.
02:10:10.306 --> 02:10:10.586
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
02:10:10.870 --> 02:10:23.579
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, thanks to our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines right now staged around the world right now as we speak, away from their families, away from their homes in order to protect our safety and our way of lives.
02:10:23.979 --> 02:10:25.941
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for your service and your sacrifice.
02:10:25.981 --> 02:10:34.107
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, thanks to our police law enforcement, firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, dispatchers, correctional officers, border patrol, secret service, as well as all of the first responders.
02:10:34.847 --> 02:10:39.530
[SPEAKER_00]: We are thankful for your service to protect us here on the home front for everyone else out there.
02:10:41.352 --> 02:10:42.913
[SPEAKER_00]: I saw a little comment from Wesley Hunt.
02:10:44.535 --> 02:10:51.161
[SPEAKER_00]: And he said this quote, the only thing that's preventing you from being anything you want to be in this country is you.
02:10:53.424 --> 02:10:56.607
[SPEAKER_00]: There are people that start off with way less and ended up with way more.
02:10:57.507 --> 02:11:03.053
[SPEAKER_00]: The fact that you are born in this country no matter how hard it might be for you, what's your excuse?
02:11:05.343 --> 02:11:14.606
[SPEAKER_00]: and do not allow people to have low expectations of you because you will live up to that in the quote.
02:11:15.047 --> 02:11:15.547
[SPEAKER_00]: So there you have it.
02:11:16.067 --> 02:11:26.931
[SPEAKER_00]: Set some high expectations and then meet them and you do that by not making excuses but instead as you can probably guess by taking your ownership.
02:11:28.552 --> 02:11:29.132
[SPEAKER_00]: That's all I've got.
02:11:29.472 --> 02:11:32.193
[SPEAKER_00]: For tonight, until next time, this is Echo and Jocco.