0:00

This is Jockle podcast number 472 with

0:02

Echo Charles and me Jockle Willing good

0:04

evening echo. Good evening. So we'd been

0:06

in Ramadi for a little over a

0:09

week I would say and we had

0:11

gone a big chunk of guys from

0:13

Tasking to Bruiser we'd gone over to

0:15

Camp Craigdoor which is on the east

0:18

side of Ramadi with the first of

0:20

the 506 Band of Brothers and we're

0:22

planning a big giant operation. a battalion-sized,

0:25

a battalion-sized operation. And we're going to

0:27

be there for a few days planning,

0:29

and then we're going to conduct the

0:31

operation. We're going to go home. But

0:34

we've been over in Kregador for maybe

0:36

like a day or two or something

0:38

like that. And as soon as we

0:41

got there, Camp Kregador was under attack

0:43

all the time through mortars and indirect

0:45

fire, but also the surrounding area, there'd

0:47

be IDs in place, there'd be rockets

0:50

launched at the base. And so as

0:52

soon as we got there. Of course,

0:54

we had a bunch of snipers in

0:56

task in a bruiser, so they have

0:59

towers around the perimeter of Camp Corregidore,

1:01

so we put snipers in the towers.

1:03

And pretty quickly, like couple seal snipers

1:06

killed some insurgents, putting IDs in and

1:08

whatnot. And so I was like the

1:10

first day we were there, first 24

1:12

hours they were there. So now we're

1:15

there and now I'm over talking to

1:17

one of the company commanders, the Charlie

1:19

company commander. This guy gunfighter six took

1:22

as a total pro just he's been

1:24

in Ramadi's been fighting has been leading

1:26

his troops They called him crazy Joe

1:28

is another nickname he had but his

1:31

call sign was gunfighter six I won't

1:33

say his name right now, but Hopefully

1:35

I'll have him on the podcast at

1:38

some point. Just a great guy and

1:40

his his Charlie company. They'd done a

1:42

massive amount of fighting. They'd taken a

1:44

massive amount of casualties and he was

1:47

just a outstanding professional soldier and combat

1:49

leader. And so I'm in with him.

1:51

him and we're

1:53

talking about how this

1:56

big operation is

1:58

going to take place

2:00

and the types

2:03

of things he was

2:05

doing. why I'm saying he's

2:07

so professional was, This was

2:09

before everyone had a helmet

2:11

cam and before everyone had, you

2:13

know, a GoPro on their

2:16

weapon and whatever, he had rigged

2:18

video cameras on his Humvees. or

2:20

at least his Humvee. and so he would

2:22

record every time he'd be out in the

2:24

city, he would record everything. And

2:27

then he'd come back and he'd watch

2:29

it. So, you know, he knew every wall

2:31

and every curb and every building and

2:33

he just would look at them and was

2:35

more familiar with the terrain in order

2:37

to be. as familiar with the terrain

2:39

as possible. And there's a bunch of

2:41

reasons for that. Are people having IEDs there? Is that

2:43

a place where they could build weapons caches? Is that

2:45

somewhere where he could maneuver or could maneuver? So he

2:47

just was that engaged. And

2:49

he understood the mission and his troops knew

2:51

the mission. So that's what we're doing. So I'm

2:53

sitting here with this guy we're in like

2:56

a little quonson hut where his company planning space

2:58

was. And as we're

3:00

in there, We hear like

3:03

a pretty good run of machine gun fire. Um

3:06

And, you know, I'm

3:09

trying to act cool, because I'm

3:11

trying to act cool. You know, you don't want

3:13

to act like a whoa, what the heck was that,

3:15

you know? So I kind of, you know, give

3:17

him a nod and he kind of gives me a

3:19

nod because he's trying to act cool too. know,

3:21

we're like two guys in the military trying to act

3:23

cool. And so then more machine gun fire comes.

3:26

I'm like, oh, okay. That's a lot. And

3:28

I still like and carry on like I'm

3:30

talking like it's no big deal and then all

3:32

of a sudden they're just a

3:34

boom, womb two massive

3:36

explosions which is RPG hits And when as soon

3:38

as the first one goes, you know We

3:40

start running and we go outside and when we

3:42

get outside where this quonset hut was it

3:44

was kind of on the border border was right

3:47

next to one of these towers where you

3:50

know, where we had perimeter security.

3:53

And you know, explosions, we come outside and

3:55

now there's kind of smoke coming out

3:57

of the tower. And

3:59

I look it. Crazy Joe and I said something said

4:01

something like, hey, don't worry about it, man.

4:03

I got snipers up in these towers. up in

4:05

these You know, as if to say, to say dude

4:07

don't worry. worry I this.

4:09

and right as I finished that that

4:12

sentence. of the bottom of the

4:14

bottom of and the And the sniper

4:16

tower was like concrete, kind of

4:18

like concrete pipes that were on

4:20

their side and had and had like

4:22

ladders or whatever stairs built inside

4:24

of it and a little thing

4:26

on the top. But it's thing on

4:28

a big but structure. And right as

4:30

I get done saying, don't worry

4:32

about it, I got snipers in

4:34

the tower. Right as I finished

4:36

that sentence, I got two guys come

4:38

pouring out of the bottom of

4:40

this tower pouring stumbling and stumbling and disheveled

4:42

and One of them, I instantly he's got red

4:44

hair he's got can see he's wearing a can

4:47

see he's know camouflage uniform and I know

4:49

it's one of my guys and I look

4:51

at I know his face of of looks like

4:53

look the look at his face and he kind of is understandable damn

4:55

I'm looking as I Look at

4:57

him, I'm can see as I look at him I can

4:59

see that his his rifle his sniper rifle had

5:01

been blown in half. half. And so

5:03

he had had one, it was dangling

5:06

from around his neck. The two

5:08

halves of halfs of his machine, of his dangling

5:10

around his neck because his weapon

5:12

had just been blown apart by

5:14

an RPG. just been blown apart by an RPG. He

5:17

was lucky to be alive. to be alive. And

5:19

that's And that's exactly what

5:21

had just happened. The happened. The fire to

5:23

get people's heads down. They fired down. at

5:25

this tower. our On those towers they

5:27

had. On those Uh, they had

5:29

basically basically like metal screen. like

5:31

almost like a chain link fence fence to stop RPGs from

5:33

coming in, but it would also detonate the

5:36

RPGs. And so that's exactly what the It detonated

5:38

in front of him and bone his weapon in

5:40

half. it He was lucky to be alive. And

5:42

then less than 24 hours later. his his weapon

5:44

in half he guy. to be alive

5:46

and then less than 24 hours later

5:48

that same guy the middle of

5:51

the of the blue. blue friendly fire

5:53

incident that that wrote about that

5:55

I wrote about wrote ownership extreme ownership

5:57

was in the middle of

5:59

that that he was on the rooftop.

6:01

He had hundreds. of

6:03

50 caliber rounds fired

6:05

at him from a distance of

6:07

about 35 meters. and

6:10

he was actually hit by a in

6:12

the face from one of those 50

6:14

cal rounds. and

6:16

then after that And

6:19

this is a story that Leif wrote about. This same

6:21

guy, Matt, fell probably fell 20

6:23

feet through a roof

6:25

onto his back. in the

6:27

street. and

6:30

he survived all these scenarios and

6:32

many more scenarios throughout his

6:34

throughout the of Ramadi and then

6:36

throughout the rest of his

6:38

career. uh

6:41

well It's

6:43

an honor to have them with us here tonight. sniper

6:45

machine gunner. lpo

6:47

chief senior chief, Frogman, and my

6:49

brother, Matt hasby matt Matt,

6:51

thanks for joining us, man. It's

6:53

a pleasure to be here.

6:55

that was, I will never forget

6:58

that moment, with how cool

7:00

I thought I sounded, and how

7:02

reality I got checked with. You

7:05

and me both. uh Right on.

7:07

All right, before we get into those

7:09

stories, let's talk about let's talk

7:11

about growing up. What was going on?

7:13

Born in no -dak Born in North

7:16

Dakota. uh the great white north is

7:20

a fantastic place to grow up. It's where

7:22

my family's from um born my mom

7:24

was single my dad decided to bounce. I

7:26

have a half sister and consequently about

7:28

the same age as me she probably wouldn't

7:30

have been cool with that either way so

7:33

uh yeah

7:35

he left um

7:38

my mom was an independent person.

7:40

She moved us to Arizona for a while.

7:42

We always kind of bounced back to North

7:44

Dakota. She married my dad, the only dad

7:46

I've ever known when I was two. And

7:49

what'd he do? He was

7:51

in the Air Force. he was a big

7:53

Air Force base in my not North

7:55

Dakota, and so my family's from Minot. He

7:57

came, he was in the Air Force,

7:59

and And I just got out, we decided to

8:01

stay in North Dakota. And yeah, she's a

8:03

good dude. What did he do for 11?

8:06

He, what did he do? Like did he

8:08

was really like a kind of like a

8:10

mechanic. And so he kind of did that

8:12

style of work all the way until he

8:14

retired. He actually ultimately became, before he retired,

8:16

he was the fleet manager at that Air

8:18

Force base. So he ran all the vehicles

8:20

as a civilian. Sure. And it was funny

8:22

because I would talk to him and he

8:24

would talk exactly like every fleet manager we've

8:26

ever had in the Navy where everybody's the

8:28

problem. I would try to like get it

8:30

to him like, you know, it's not that

8:32

big a deal if they do this. car,

8:34

he's like, hey, that's, that's not the procedure.

8:36

And I'm like, oh my gosh, that's why

8:39

they all think that way. Well, I'm unfortunate

8:41

to report to him that you are very

8:43

abusive to vehicles from the Navy for your

8:45

entire career. So we'll get to that later,

8:47

I'm sure. And so then what were you

8:49

like growing up? I, my

8:51

parents worked a lot. So we didn't have like

8:53

a ton of money because they were always working.

8:55

So it gave me a lot of free time.

8:57

So we also didn't have a lot of money

8:59

for babysitters. so when

9:01

I was, I don't know, maybe

9:03

in the first grade we moved to

9:06

Illinois. So my dad's family's from and

9:08

my mom, she was all in. And

9:12

yeah, I was, I was a problem

9:14

because I would get home from school. I'd

9:16

have about two hours by myself. And,

9:18

you know, I do, I got caught one

9:20

time. I was, I was trying to

9:22

start a fire in a bottle in my

9:24

living room. I don't know why. I

9:26

honestly don't know why. You know how you

9:28

have an urge to eat, let's say.

9:30

know what I mean? A human, a human

9:32

has an urge to eat. Or a

9:34

human has a, you get an itch on

9:36

your arm. You know have an urge to

9:38

itch that itch, right? There's

9:41

some people that they have an

9:43

urge to start fires. Like it's, it's

9:45

an actual thing. And I'm sure

9:47

that there must be some kind of

9:49

like instinct to that, right? Because

9:51

to survive as a species, you have

9:53

to have someone that knows how

9:55

to make fire, right? And so apparently

9:57

you had that gene. I

10:00

mean I was the theory was I was

10:02

like also be cool. or put it in this

10:04

bottle I'll be able to like control this

10:06

fire and then my mom came home like little

10:08

caught me in the middle And she's like

10:10

you're making a bomb That heats up that's gonna

10:12

explode and it's gonna be all kinds of

10:14

problems And I'd like to say that was like

10:16

the first time I didn't know She came

10:18

home another time the bushes were on fire in

10:20

front of the building like we lived in

10:22

like it was I was a problem I was

10:24

a real real problem. And how old were

10:26

you for that? I would say I was probably

10:28

around like between like first and

10:31

third grade. So So this And is when

10:33

you were living where outside of Chicago?

10:35

Yeah, I was living outside of Chicago. I

10:37

was getting bussed into this. Sketchy

10:39

school, so I up, I lot

10:41

of disabilities. I say I had ADHD

10:43

was an understatement. You have ADHD

10:45

that has ADHD, it's like ADHD squared.

10:48

Yes, and so Back then it

10:50

was like you were the bad kid,

10:52

so I spent a lot of

10:54

time in the classroom distracting others and

10:56

so you know, your desk is

10:58

facing the wall and so they one

11:00

class that they found of like

11:02

ADHD kids, I had to go was

11:04

like South Chicago, you know, it

11:06

was like. it was. Oh, so

11:08

they identified like a for real, you have

11:10

an issue Oh, yeah send you to a

11:12

special school. Yeah, well, you know, like the

11:14

special classroom, like when you're young and so.

11:16

I want these other kids that had it and It

11:19

was like school of hard

11:21

knocks. I remember my teacher,

11:23

her name was Mrs. A.

11:25

She drove a to school.

11:27

And these And these kids

11:29

were from diverse backgrounds.

11:31

I I think a couple of

11:34

parents were in jail, a couple

11:36

of prostitutes, like stories that growing

11:38

up, I had never realized what

11:40

was going on. And so these

11:42

were some broken individuals at the

11:44

time. And, Yeah, Mrs.

11:46

A, if if you got emotional, you

11:48

cried, she'd kick furniture into you. Like

11:50

Spartan kicked the desk into kids. like

11:52

Like it was great. like Like as

11:54

an adult with children now, that is crazy.

11:56

As a kid, I'm like, wow. she

11:58

must be really mad. My my parents weren't

12:00

like that, but Mrs. A Mrs. A was. And so,

12:02

so, that for a we did that for a

12:04

while, and then my mom decided, hey,

12:06

it was time to up north. back up north.

12:09

you when you you you move back up north and

12:11

no back? Probably was in the in grade. Yeah,

12:13

I remember, I moved back to North Dakota.

12:15

to North Mom wanted to, to I I think

12:17

she realized I had a lot of freedom

12:19

in Illinois, in Illinois, it's probably not the

12:21

best place for me, so not the best moved

12:23

me back to North Dakota me back to North Dakota

12:25

fields and all that other things where

12:27

I had a lot of space. I had a

12:29

to space less things to least to exactly last thing to damage

12:31

it's a more room to room

12:33

to things. so so we moved

12:35

back to North Dakota and that's

12:37

where we were until I

12:39

graduated. I graduated So did you continue down

12:41

the like path? I got I

12:43

got better in in North Dakota, I got

12:45

friends, there's a lot of freedom,

12:48

of what people think, like we

12:50

still ride bikes in the

12:52

winter, like that's how you get to

12:54

places, nothing's close. like because that's how you

12:56

I wouldn't say nothing's close I I

12:58

mean I wouldn't say like I was like

13:00

a great kid But I wasn't bad. more I had a lot

13:02

of fun. I I had a lot of fun.

13:04

around. I was running around. was also that

13:06

kid like my mom would find me

13:08

on my bike on miles out of the

13:10

city out another town in I was too cold

13:12

to ride home. So I'd call her

13:14

to come pick me up. She'd be super

13:16

to come pick But me up. She'd be it was good.

13:18

no, it was good. Things like that. like that.

13:20

was good, good, but. call

13:23

myself call myself a great student,

13:25

because I didn't really like. I don't

13:27

wanna try a lot. And so And

13:29

so learned if I never did

13:31

homework, I would just have to

13:33

ace the final. And and then I would get

13:35

a C. a C. And And once I

13:37

figured that algorithm, it it was over.

13:40

it was over. C's get That's it. That's it.

13:42

Once I figured that out, I

13:44

I was just that out, I was just like, coast

13:46

you into? sports were you into? I was

13:48

young, I into? tried a lot a

13:50

I hated them. it. I was I

13:52

was like in soccer soccer and I... You

13:55

You know, what's funny is I wasn't an aggressive kid.

13:57

kid. Like I I was like super shy,

13:59

wasn't aggressive. if like kids were getting in the mix,

14:01

know, all trying to fight over the ball. I'd like. all

14:03

kind of shy out. over the ball know.

14:05

You just like away and shy about how

14:07

you could set fire you'd shy away and like

14:09

think about how you get set so so what my mom,

14:11

when I was the right grade, she

14:13

put me in grade she put me that's all

14:15

we had in my nut. There's

14:17

nothing else. what we had What year

14:19

is this? There's nothing else anyways. I

14:22

I mean, if this is in is in like the

14:24

Is Is this the 90s? Oh yeah, mid 90s probably?

14:26

there's not a lot going on. Yeah. on.

14:28

Yeah. you can go to Jiu Jitsu

14:30

and MMA and MMA anywhere

14:32

in the country. anywhere in

14:34

the the But in the you're lucky to

14:36

have lucky to have Thai totally, totally. totally, totally,

14:38

and now my hometown, they have Jiu

14:40

have I'm like, I'm like, oh, lucky, lucky, lucky dudes.

14:42

But yeah, so yeah, so I did

14:44

Taekwondo that was like, honestly, it was

14:46

kind of my anchor. That gave

14:48

me a ton of discipline of I

14:51

had really good like Taekwondo instructors

14:53

that like kind of that into me of

14:55

like poured into know, kind of helped me

14:57

of it together a little bit it together

15:00

a wasn't starting fires anymore. starting fires I

15:02

just spent like I just spent I my, I

15:04

got. pretty good, was, I got went a

15:06

lot of went a lot of state tournaments,

15:08

a regional, like my parents would drive

15:10

me around to different my parents would drive me

15:12

around to the deal? Can Can you someone

15:14

in the head in Taekwondo? Let's say say you'd

15:16

say when you're 15 years old,

15:18

at what grade is that sophomore year?

15:20

Sophomore year, you're doing Taekwondo. Yup. Yep. How

15:22

How do you win a tournament? Do

15:24

you kick someone in the head?

15:27

you head? do you make them quit?

15:29

you knock them out? out? No, it's -

15:31

point based, right? points. and you have to

15:33

like, so so you're - you waited on

15:35

your ability to like to pull your punches and

15:37

kicks your you kick and you want to

15:39

like if you can tap them and pull

15:41

it back to like oh if a master tap them and

15:43

he can almost hurt somebody that so he can almost

15:45

hurt good like I got that it was

15:47

pretty good and I remember we were in

15:50

a tournament and I think I was I

15:52

was a I was a new black belt I

15:54

think me ask you this when you would

15:56

do a tournament against the guy belt.

15:58

and you doing that, like

16:00

you're both pulling your punches, did you

16:02

feel like If you won or

16:04

if he won, they would actually, like that

16:06

would translate to, if we got into

16:08

a real fight. that guy

16:10

probably would beat me or if we got

16:13

into a real fight. No, I'd be able

16:15

to beat him I'm saying does it was

16:17

it like translate if you and I were

16:19

taekwondo guys and we were in a taekwondo

16:21

tournament and I beat you. Would you walk

16:23

away like, yeah, that guy, he definitely

16:25

was quicker than me or he had better

16:27

combos than me. Or were you like,

16:29

yeah, but if this was a real fight

16:31

I would kick his ass. Oh, 100%,

16:34

like, yeah. was, I

16:36

remember I beat this kid and then he came back

16:38

and he beat me and he did a weird thing

16:40

where he could hold his leg up and like kick

16:42

it like almost like a machine gun and then he

16:44

would just kind of hop at you. And if you

16:46

did something he could like tap your head or tap

16:48

and so he was really good at this point system. I

16:51

knew in the street, I

16:53

was gonna, I could crush that

16:55

individual. Bad as be in

16:57

the street 13, let's go. What

17:01

about work, did you have to have

17:03

jobs? Yeah, so growing up, my mom,

17:05

she owned a, she owned a bakery.

17:07

And so she made like cookies and

17:09

cookie bouquets and cakes and things like

17:11

that. And so. Cookie bouquets? Yeah. Confirmed,

17:13

Echo Charles, that's a thing? Yeah, yeah.

17:15

Okay, I don't think kinds of bouquets,

17:17

all right. Yeah, yeah. And so I

17:20

worked there I was probably like old enough

17:22

to work and like, so my mom

17:24

and I didn't get along. Like it's not not we didn't get along. She

17:26

has a really good work ethic and when you're a kid

17:30

and she has an idea of what she wants

17:32

you to do and you have a different idea.

17:34

And since I'm not a real employee, I'm like

17:36

her son, I argue or I don't do it

17:38

as well. And so I did that till I

17:40

was like 16 and then I got a job

17:42

at Wendy's. How long did you work at Wendy's

17:44

for? Oh, mean, - Do know, I

17:46

worked at Wendy's, right? No. Oh, yeah. I worked at

17:49

Wendy's. So you and I have a little bit

17:51

of a freak here. Making

17:53

those square patties square patties. Did you

17:55

I work the grill I work the

17:57

grill. That's honestly why I went with

17:59

entry It must be the entry

18:01

level position. position. Yeah, is. It is. And why I

18:03

quit is because I I worked long

18:05

I never got the window got the and

18:07

you're just sitting there sweating over

18:09

this grill. sweating I was like, oh,

18:11

I hate this. I was like, oh, I by

18:13

that time by of time, I'd kind of like,

18:15

time, the I time I. I think I hit Wendy's, I

18:17

knew what I wanted to do, do, so

18:19

I was just killing time. So you knew

18:22

you wanted to go into Navy, you knew

18:24

you you wanted go to you hear about the

18:26

teams? How did you hear about remember it was a

18:28

Christmas, it was a Christmas, my dad got, so dad was a

18:30

big reader, reader, like, big into into Vietnam, always we'd

18:32

always watch some movies, I remember my mom

18:34

was nervous, when I was three, my dad would we'd watch

18:36

Rambo. She's like, I don't

18:38

think that's good. And he's like, oh,

18:40

it's fine He's worked out great, huh?

18:42

out great, huh? But he was way he was way

18:45

into these books. books. And so I

18:47

would, I would. read these things when he

18:49

read these things when he was done. And

18:51

you remember those old, like, like, They're like they're, two

18:53

inches thick. They're like 400 pages. And so

18:55

I'd read those. so I'd read And so one of

18:57

my uncles gave him Rogue Warrior. him I was

18:59

like, And I And so I got ahold of it

19:01

before he did. You know, got a Christmas time it

19:03

I started he was like, oh, I like this.

19:05

And so I started reading it and I

19:07

don't know what tipped my mom off. but

19:09

she didn't like it. like, oh, I way into this

19:11

book. It was I up all my time and

19:14

she's like, it, too much. know what So she mom

19:16

it away from me and I was like, it. I

19:18

old were you? I was like, I don't know

19:20

book came out mom to say she didn't

19:22

I had just got to the teams

19:24

it. when that book came out out. So

19:26

yeah I was probably seventh or

19:28

eighth grade eighth grade. And so I so I

19:30

got my allowance together, whatever money I my

19:32

at my mom's and I went and I went and

19:34

I bought a copy I then I read

19:36

it like in secret and then it was

19:39

over. over. Like I was I was like being able to

19:41

sue. Check. And then you're then you're just you're going to

19:43

school, you're going to school, you're just getting whatever

19:45

grades you can get, C's get degrees. Yep. Nothing nothing

19:47

else mattered in life but wanting to become

19:49

a team guy. That was it. And that's

19:51

like, okay, so I need to graduate, cool, that's

19:53

all I'm gonna do. I don't really like

19:55

school, I don't have a plan school. I it.

19:57

have a plan after it. Did you you go the the a

19:59

recruiter? I'm just like, hey, I want in. Yep, yeah,

20:01

I was in depth. I was in depth at like 17.

20:03

So was that your junior year? Um,

20:06

yeah, like right at the end of my

20:08

junior year. Okay, so you go in there,

20:10

you say I want to be a seal

20:12

and the guy's like, of course, yeah, you're

20:14

going to make a great seal because that's

20:16

what they tell them all. Well, and beyond

20:18

that, I got my buddy to join. Oh,

20:20

really? Yeah, and so both of us, he

20:22

didn't become a seal. But I was like

20:24

of Did he just join the Navy or

20:26

did he want to be a seal too?

20:28

I think he might have wanted to be

20:30

a seal. I don't know. I think I

20:32

was pretty persuasive at the time. And so

20:34

I was like, hey, we'll join together. And

20:36

cause what I got if he joined Navy

20:38

Swetsuit. Oh, and that seemed like a pretty

20:40

sweet deal for me at the time. You

20:42

wrecked that guy's life for a freaking Swetsuit,

20:44

dude. He's one of my best friends of

20:46

this day. Oh, you still talk to him?

20:48

Oh yeah, he did his four years. Honestly,

20:50

I think he romanticizes those four years because

20:52

I remember talking to him at the time

20:54

and he had to like live on the

20:56

ship. I mean, he's a great dude, but

20:58

he's back in North Dakota. He's got a

21:00

great family, but yeah, I got him to

21:02

join the Navy for that Swetsuit. That's

21:05

classic. And then what did you

21:07

do to prepare? So

21:10

every morning, and I almost can't believe I did

21:12

this, I would wake up at 5 .30 and one

21:14

of my buddies would come pick me up. We'd drive

21:16

to the Air Force Base cause I could get

21:19

on cause I was dependent. And

21:21

we'd swim. We'd swim every single morning and I

21:23

would do the 800 yards. And which is funny,

21:25

I didn't do the combat side stroke. I cause

21:27

did the breast stroke. When I went to Bud's,

21:29

I was the only one to do the breast

21:31

stroke, to do the screener. I did that too.

21:33

Yup, I did that too. Cause I hated the

21:35

sight. It would get water in my ear. At

21:37

the time, I went just hated it. And so I

21:39

would do the breast stroke every morning until I

21:41

knew I was good at it. And I would

21:43

run a little bit, but running in North Dakota

21:46

in the winter is almost painful because that's just

21:48

that freezing cold air. So I would do enough.

21:51

And then yeah, I would just, that's kind of what

21:53

I did. Were you doing pull ups, push ups, like

21:55

anything like that? Oh yeah, all the time. Pull ups

21:57

to this day have been my thing since I

21:59

was young. like. I was one of those kids, those know,

22:01

when you're in, know, when you're in like or

22:03

10th grade they do like the pull -up challenge and I was

22:05

always on the board for the school I like I could

22:07

get some of the most for the school

22:09

of like, I could yeah, that was my thing. the

22:11

And then, that, yeah, high school, thing. And then, so you

22:13

graduate high know, so now you're getting ready

22:16

to ship out. you're I was, ready so I

22:18

Yeah, I was, I'm in the delayed entry program

22:20

and I'm just trying to make it,

22:22

like just trying to stay out of trouble.

22:24

I was 18 at the time and

22:26

so. trying to You know, out of trouble. You You

22:28

have a amount of trouble in North

22:30

Dakota of you're 18, in Canada's right across

22:32

the border. when you're 18, age. right across the so

22:34

I'm just, I'm holding it together. age. then

22:36

so I'm think it was like a week

22:38

or two before we get ready to

22:40

deploy. it was like a week I get pulled

22:42

over, get I had a speeding problem. I get

22:44

pulled In North Dakota, when I was

22:46

growing up, In North Dakota, when I was growing up, there's,

22:48

North Dakota right now, it's a ton of oil, now,

22:51

Ton of oil, so we have problems North Dakota

22:53

like any other in but back then there wasn't. like

22:55

any it was just they would get you you or

22:57

everywhere. or And then I wouldn't pay my tickets. Cause

22:59

I was a kid, didn't, I didn't answer. You

23:01

know, I didn't find a mail I would, I'd get

23:03

a speeding ticket and then I'd forget about it. And

23:05

I got pulled over mail and the, get the officer's like,

23:07

Hey, you have a suspended license. I And I was

23:09

like, how is that possible? I like, you have like

23:11

three unpaid speeding tickets. And I was like, like, hey,

23:13

damn. have a suspended so And I like, how I'm

23:15

like, okay, so what happens? He's

23:17

like, I have to arrest you. And

23:19

I was like, unpaid speeding. And I was

23:21

far how far you from leaving? you from leaving?

23:24

I date like, like maybe like like nine

23:26

days. it was And it was close. I was

23:28

like, oh, this is not good. Cause you

23:30

know when you're going in the Navy. So

23:32

before I even, in the so I joined in

23:34

like the I challenge program. So I knew I

23:36

was going to the Like that happened. I

23:38

had to fill out a security form, how

23:40

many times to my tickets. That's already filled out.

23:42

I had to fill And now he's like, we're gonna

23:45

have to arrest you. And I'm like, many

23:47

So arrested, my me. And you know, I go

23:49

to, I go to jail. And I don't

23:51

know for, for my to Dakota. arrest you. I don't

23:53

know if it was scared a scared straight like

23:55

a lot of yelling of yelling fighting it was like

23:57

some crazy stuff going on and I remember

23:59

like like... I'm twic -, Tyquando back, black belt.

24:01

So So I'm like, all right, gotta

24:03

be hard. And they actually didn't put

24:05

me in the cell with the others

24:08

because I was a child, essentially. so

24:11

I remember that didn't know you were a black belt. They

24:14

didn't know the pain that I was bringing.

24:16

And so they're like, hey, do you wanna to

24:18

call man believes on the inside. And

24:22

so they're like, hey, you won't call your parents.

24:24

And I was like, not really. But I remember

24:26

my mom was actually opening up another bakery at

24:28

the time, so my dad was home. And

24:31

my dad was always like, he was like the tough love one.

24:33

And so I knew, I knew what he was going

24:35

to do. He wanted to, I knew he was like,

24:37

we're going to, it's going to be a lesson learned. And

24:39

so I call my dad and he's like, Hey, what's

24:41

up? And I'm like, Hey, I'm in jail. And And

24:44

What's funny is, he didn't seem

24:46

overly surprised. which should have been

24:48

like a red flag for me. And

24:51

he was like, what happened? I was like, I have

24:53

a suspended license. I didn't know it. And he was

24:55

like, okay. so what do they want? I was like,

24:57

well, I'm gonna have to stay in jail. It's like

24:59

a Friday night. So I'm like, I'm gonna gonna stay

25:01

till Monday or you can come bail me out. He's

25:03

like. Why should I come bail

25:05

you out? And I was like, well, cause I

25:07

don't want to be in jail. And he was

25:09

like, why is this my problem? And I'm like,

25:11

well, you can bail. I said this to my

25:13

dad, like, well, you can come or I'm going

25:15

call. my grandpa. you know, and he

25:17

was like, I'll be right there. And because

25:19

my mom wasn't home, I think really where his

25:22

problem lied was my mom. She was gonna

25:24

come home. My grandparents were gonna tell that they

25:26

bailed me out of jail. She was gonna

25:28

ask him why he didn't bail me out of

25:30

jail. So I think he was just saving

25:32

the pain from later. That would have been a

25:34

freaking gut chuck. He said, lesson learned, forget

25:36

about it. Yeah. not dealing with the rap. Yeah.

25:39

I just think he just didn't want deal

25:41

with mom. So my son was in jail and

25:43

you left him there to rot for the

25:45

weekend. 100%. And so he came. he me

25:47

out. And yeah, so.

25:50

and then I still, I almost, you know,

25:52

almost went to boot

25:55

camp. right right before I was going

25:57

to camp. I was in where you leave from

25:59

as far as North Dakota saw I was in

26:01

Dakota North had a buddy in college

26:03

I had a buddy in college, you and whatever university

26:05

is there. And he's like, hey, there's a

26:07

frat party. Do you want to

26:09

go? And I was like, you want to go?

26:11

And was like, yep. And to this frat party.

26:14

party and And another bunch of

26:16

kids drinking, smoking cigarettes. And I'm like,

26:18

hey, this is cool. this is so what

26:20

the cool thing was at this frat

26:22

is they would. would put out the cigarettes on

26:24

their on their arm. And I'm And I'm

26:26

like, that seems like an awesome idea. idea.

26:28

And plus you're tough. tough. Yeah, I'm super

26:30

tough, right? a And blackbell? Like, me. hurt me. And

26:33

so, you there, every smoke in know, and so I have the

26:35

cigarettes. And so I it out the cigarette a

26:37

I put it out of my arm.

26:39

what, you know, I wake up, I a few times. like a

26:41

day or two, I ended up going to, you know, anyway, time to

26:43

you know, I wake up I go into

26:45

medical checks, you're like a day or two, off

26:47

the ended up going to, make sure know, it's

26:50

time to leave, right? So I go, I

26:52

go into medical checks, you're taking your shirt

26:54

off that you're poking at you to make sure

26:56

you're ready that you can show up. that you can

26:58

show up. And he at me, at me and what's this?

27:00

And I was like, oh, I just I burn.

27:02

like, like, that's an open wound. You can't

27:04

go. an I was like, and so And I've

27:06

already said so my mom, I've already like, bye, son. Like,

27:09

Like and so And so I have have to call

27:11

my mom. And I have have to be

27:13

like, hey, hey, I can't go for go. two weeks. So

27:15

another two weeks. pick me up and I

27:17

to come pick me up and I

27:19

have to go home and heal and

27:21

I just weeks of two weeks of sulking. two

27:23

all I did. sulking. And then my buddy,

27:25

so how we, when I got the got the friend

27:27

to join, deal the deal was we got

27:29

to go to to together. together. He went

27:31

by himself. anymore. Not anymore. No, yep. But you got you

27:33

got that I got I got that sweet

27:35

sweatsuit and he had to go to

27:37

to boot camp by himself. Uh, so you leave for

27:39

for boot camp, How was, I can that boot

27:41

camp was quite a shock to your

27:43

system. shock to your camp, boot I almost think

27:45

boot camp was boot camp was worse than worst

27:47

time of my life like I

27:49

remember I got there that

27:51

night. They're like yelling and screaming

27:54

in people's face like yelling and screaming in

27:56

this is not good like did

27:58

I did? so so, you know and

28:00

then Immediately like put all these kids

28:02

into one area into one we're all immediately

28:04

sick And so so just

28:06

stayed sick for the next five weeks.

28:08

weeks And so like so in in formation, you're

28:10

supposed to keep your hands at

28:12

your side. I'm just like at your of

28:14

my face. like snots porn out of my I'm

28:17

not Hey you go to I'm Chicago? did you

28:19

go to it was the only one.

28:21

right, that's Yeah, because that by so the only one

28:23

I do that. And then finally I

28:25

my saving grace was, what my saving grace

28:27

was I my wisdom teeth pulled. pulled

28:29

And so when you get your wisdom your

28:31

you can sleep. people you can Do you get

28:33

isolated? No, you just get to go

28:35

in your Do And in basically it's like, it's

28:37

like two or three days of just

28:40

basically like drugged sleep. like it's so I did

28:42

that, of just unconscious sleep. And so I did

28:44

that went unconscious and emerged. Right And what what a you

28:46

go to? Cause you still had to

28:48

go to, this is back in the

28:50

day we didn't go to A school.

28:52

go to this So I went to, day. Yeah. Yeah.

28:54

So I went to aviation ordinance.

28:56

I put bombs on planes. didn't pick the

28:58

school. I recruiter did. the Cause he was

29:00

like, Hey, what school do you want to

29:02

go to? And I was like, was like, hey,

29:04

be SEAL. So what's the fastest school

29:06

there? to? And I was he was like being Amy Seel. So

29:08

didn't even know what it was. I

29:10

was like, cool, sign me up. How long

29:13

is it? He's like six weeks. I'm

29:15

like, I didn't I'm not going to, I'm not

29:17

going to quit. Like like, back on that,

29:19

that was not a is like, like, six weeks? I

29:21

was talking about this the other day. the

29:23

other day. you actually ran the

29:25

logical. numbers to see

29:27

what see what career path you

29:29

should take. the SEALs Joining the

29:31

SEALs would not compute. if

29:33

you put put into chat GPT, or one

29:35

of those AI those AI can

29:38

say, hey, you said, hey, got special

29:40

forces, Special Forces, got Air Force,

29:42

got Air Force CCT or got SEAL. Which

29:44

one of these? these has has the best

29:46

probability of me having a cool

29:48

life. cool life? SEALs would be be

29:50

the bottom. Because a lot of people

29:53

a lot of people quit and when you quit. you're

29:55

not doing a doing a job that

29:57

you're probably going be that engaged in.

29:59

in. So there's

30:02

not much logic and reason

30:04

behind selecting the SEAL

30:06

teams. unless you're just one of

30:08

those guys. You're that guy. You You're like, like oh,

30:10

the one I'm gonna do it's kind of It's

30:13

kind of strange that it works like that. It's,

30:15

yeah, it's crazy. And it's like

30:17

at your 18 year old mind, how

30:19

much like weight that decision has.

30:21

And when you want like, you see

30:23

these individuals go into buds that

30:25

are kids and then they quit and

30:27

they're like, and then realization hits

30:29

that they're like, oh my God, I'm

30:31

gonna be a gunner's mate on

30:33

a ship. And they're like, I didn't

30:35

even like being a gunner's mate.

30:37

Yeah. And you're like, what a sucks,

30:39

friend. And they still quit. Yeah.

30:42

All right. So you finished that school,

30:44

you showed buds anything that really shocked

30:46

you about when you got there? What

30:48

year is it by the way? 2001. so

30:50

9 -11 hit when I was in eighth

30:52

school. Oh, okay. And so all the

30:54

SEALs are training, we're getting ready, and it's

30:56

gonna be cool. 9 -11 hit, and then

30:58

we're like, oh, this is real. Like, like,

31:00

life's about to get real. Which

31:02

was kind of exciting for us, because now we

31:04

knew, like, as long as we pass Buds, odds

31:07

of us going to war are high. And I

31:09

mean, when you're a SEAL, that's, I mean, that's

31:11

a culmination, right? That's what you're doing. That's what

31:13

you want in life. And so, So yeah,

31:15

we get done, we get to

31:17

San Diego, and honestly, like, like, like,

31:19

what's the prize man versus, buds

31:21

is of chill when you show

31:24

up. Yeah, it is cool. it

31:26

is, bro. You you come into

31:28

San Diego, they drive you to

31:30

the quarter deck, they're like, cool,

31:32

here's your room, it's Friday or

31:34

whatever, you know, we'll muster up

31:36

on Monday, like, they lull you.

31:39

It's a sense of calm before

31:41

the storm. And then that storm

31:43

is hard. That's heavy. You

31:47

see did you do like did they call

31:49

it fourth phase or prep? like what was the

31:51

pre buds for you No, there was there

31:53

was no pre buds. you showed up It was

31:55

it was they had like the pre buds

31:57

was you checking in before first phase So, the

32:00

amount of time you had from first phase is

32:02

until the next class is Okay, started. that's what I

32:04

did too. It was like, yep, you show up

32:06

Okay, I went what they called it

32:08

too. phase. yep, was first phase, second phase, third

32:10

phase I then fourth phase meant called were getting

32:12

ready to start So there's if you phase, you

32:14

showed up three weeks before the class, you you

32:16

got three weeks. If you showed up, I

32:18

guess the most you could have showed up

32:21

ready phase at that time was

32:23

nine weeks long. had, if could up

32:25

up eight weeks prior and

32:27

had eight weeks of. of. fourth

32:29

phase. But that's what it that's

32:31

what it was. every day day was just kind

32:33

of a repeat. know, was like, oh, you

32:35

know, run, swim, run, run, swim, run, PT, do

32:37

do the O -course a little bit. It

32:40

was just like, there wasn't a progression

32:42

or anything. Right now a a much more

32:44

squared away system, you know, where you start

32:46

light squared go through this whole cycle before

32:48

you start light and you're going to

32:50

go through you, it was just, all right, cool. you

32:52

how much time did you have before you in

32:54

up in first phase? I think I had all

32:56

right, Three Three weeks like you said it you said

32:58

it was there's no control the proctor would

33:00

come out and it was just a out and

33:02

it was know now a seal e6 and And on how

33:04

much of a on he was that day

33:06

It was either we were hitting the surf

33:09

or it'd be a run we were like the

33:11

kind of or it day you know like and

33:13

o 'clock they're like hey go off eat and

33:15

walk around the beach, walk into Coronado

33:17

and you're like, this is all right,

33:19

hey go we go eat and walk is good. walk

33:21

So Coronado what class did you class

33:23

up this I started with three life is good.

33:25

239? Yes. 239? So you start in 239.

33:27

Was anything anything hard for

33:30

you in first phase?

33:32

phase? Before how week, let's let's say.

33:34

Honestly, where I kind of

33:36

paid was, was, I was better, but I

33:38

but I still came like... highly immature.

33:40

So like these officers are telling

33:42

me what to do. And do.

33:44

I'm like, what Why do you

33:47

know better than me? do you know better

33:49

than me? And I'm going to save everybody figuring it

33:51

it out. I was raised an

33:53

only child. child so I was

33:55

by myself. And so I had a

33:57

little had a little to to

33:59

authority. And so that was a

34:01

that was a steep

34:04

learning curve bad because I

34:06

was so like shell shocked. it wasn't bad of I

34:08

was so I went, I'm kind of this in all of

34:10

a sudden I went, I'm kind of

34:12

this in shape kid. And then all of

34:14

a sudden I very much wasn't like

34:16

where my weakness was was running. Like I

34:18

was the goon squad guy Like I was the

34:20

phase. guy in Like in boot Like in boot camp. reason

34:22

that I made the screener was I

34:24

failed the run the first time. And when

34:26

I came back, I had a buddy in

34:28

my boot camp class. was a good

34:30

runner it was and he had failed to swim.

34:32

had And I was like, well, you paced

34:34

me. well you pace me so so he me and

34:36

I passed I an with minutes of like

34:38

an out of like an it was like or it out

34:40

of 12. 1130 at a 12 And so I

34:43

got to and that was that was like my years.

34:45

It's weird cause you're built like a

34:47

runner. like a How tall are you? are you? Six-one? Yeah,

34:49

you're like long lean you look You look like you

34:51

should be able to freaking to freaking haul ass.

34:53

by the end of of I was I was top

34:55

10% but showing up up, like I said, in

34:57

North Dakota, it was cold. You didn't run

34:59

a lot. a lot and I also like I don't really

35:02

know how to run. so I was

35:04

in in first I had my roommate

35:06

came from Colorado and he was and

35:08

high like high distance runner. runner. And he

35:10

he would watch me and he's like, your form

35:12

sucks. run He's like, you run like a

35:14

runs, lots of arms, lots of legs. to run

35:16

and so he basically taught me how

35:18

to run distance cut movement down it's like, keep

35:20

your hands down by your waist, he, like him,

35:22

and movement down outside of what going legs

35:24

are running. I And he, ask I credit him

35:26

He got, he made it, he made it, he made it, he I was it, to

35:28

say it, he made it, he made it, he was going to ask

35:30

it, he he make it? he made prediction, he would it be

35:32

made, he made, enough, he got stress fractures the day before

35:34

he made, he made, he made, he made, he made, he he made, he made, out. made,

35:36

And And so he came back, ended up quitting in pre

35:39

I think he just knew too much. But knew so

35:41

anyway, he taught me to run, and that's kind

35:43

of that got me up to speed. that's kind of

35:45

and then you get into, to so the only challenge

35:47

you had was running only then you get into you

35:49

had was running and then that work out?

35:51

Well, no, week running, that that challenge

35:53

I had, before the 50 I had the

35:56

50, the 50 meter underwater. And so I don't

35:58

don't know what it was like I had this.

36:00

block Like I got in, you know, we do the we do the No

36:02

big deal. deal in the 50 I got in and I

36:04

got in, and I made it about 25

36:06

and almost died. And the instructor

36:08

looks at me, I get the he's

36:10

like, Matt, you have possibly the worst

36:12

underwater form I've ever seen. Cause you

36:14

know, do got to do breast stroke but you you

36:16

a drag. I was And I was like trying

36:18

I was trying to do it fast.

36:21

So I was just like like oxygen. and

36:23

so you And so you know, you have a few

36:25

times to try and I'm failing all these times.

36:27

And on the weekends I'm going to the pool pool

36:29

I don't you do the 50 do 50 the Navy at the

36:31

Navy once you pass it out once you these it out, so

36:33

I'm and finally it's the last time. finally it's the

36:35

last time. And I, these three guys get in and

36:38

I just step in front of them. in

36:40

I'm like, I don't care I'm like, You're not

36:42

going to fail me today. you're I don't want

36:44

to see anybody fail. It's not getting in

36:46

my head. So I get down, I do

36:48

my 50. I pass, you know, obviously no

36:50

big deal. 50, was you the transition that you

36:52

did in your head? deal. It was I got, it

36:54

was not moving. It was being, it was

36:56

being comfortable, not moving. You know, not do

36:58

the, you like to glide. It's need glide Yes, you the

37:00

glide. And that was kind of like the

37:02

kind of like that triggered. that triggered and the glide.

37:04

was as deep as possible. as possible And it

37:06

went fine. and And every single dude behind

37:08

me failed. I was like and that's was like that's

37:10

why I like I stepped I stepped in

37:12

front. I'm like, you're not failing in

37:14

front of me today. in front I don't

37:16

want that mental thing. So yeah. So

37:18

then yeah so then Fast forward I get I

37:20

get into Hell week hell week's Hell I'm

37:23

fine, but I'm a skinny dude. And

37:25

so down started to kind of shut

37:27

down where I I would eat, but

37:29

I wouldn't drink. so I would And so

37:31

I would drink water only when I was thirsty,

37:33

but I was so cold I wasn't drinking a

37:35

lot of water. drinking a lot of water and You

37:37

ever heard that when I I started

37:39

like when we do winter stuff type stuff

37:41

people would say, you need

37:43

to drink more water when

37:45

it's cold. And I'm just I'm just like,

37:47

can't not, that can't be true, bro, that

37:49

cannot be true. Cause when it's hot out,

37:51

bro, I drink water like crazy. And when

37:53

it's cold out, I barely drink water. And

37:56

so that's probably what, and I think it's

37:58

just psychological, like you don't feel, you're not. You

38:00

don't feel sweat. You're shivering. You don't feel

38:02

like drinking freaking cold water And

38:04

so maybe that played a role. Oh, a

38:07

hundred percent. And then it does

38:09

things like physiologically inside your body. And

38:11

so I wasn't drinking. And then we

38:13

did the, like the hard sand demo

38:15

pit run where it's like a

38:17

quick run and back. It's not supposed

38:19

to be a hard evolution. was before

38:21

Chow and I was dead last. I

38:23

hadn't been dead. Well, far into the

38:26

hell week is this? This

38:28

was Monday. Also it's

38:30

early in It's early, it's

38:32

early and so it's

38:34

Monday night and I just can't, like

38:36

I can't keep up. Like you're, you're digging. And

38:38

I, you know, like when you dig harder, you

38:40

can run a little faster. Like I physically can't

38:42

do it. And so because I was late, they're

38:44

like, we're going to do it again. Cause of

38:46

Matt, you know? And so they run again and

38:48

now I'm farther behind. And

38:51

they're like, oh, we got a weakness. We

38:53

founds, you know, like he, he can't, you

38:55

know? And so hold. And so we get

38:57

beat as a class. I'm not quitting. And

38:59

so I got pulled aside by an instructor I I and

39:01

got put on the decon showers. And

39:04

he put the boots to me, like I'm

39:06

on the floor. I'm jackhammering. like I'm like,

39:08

you know, I'm I'm like, making deals. God,

39:10

I'm like, God, I'm ready. I'm not gonna

39:12

quit, but if you want take me, it's

39:14

of like, Like, I'm okay with it, Like

39:16

I'm fine. And so I'm not quitting. And

39:18

finally, you know, we go into med checks

39:20

and they're like, hey, check him out Cause

39:22

they're going to, I'm like, I'm gonna get

39:24

more. And I knew something changed as they

39:26

put a blanket on and they give, they

39:28

me in the, the, the Paul socks. And

39:31

then all of a sudden, I went from one quorum

39:33

into three doctors. And I was like... Okay,

39:35

and then all of sudden I started getting food, and then they

39:38

started warming me up, and I instructor pops in, and they're like,

39:40

hey, is he coming back? And they're like. know, he's

39:42

on the first ambulance out. And

39:44

I think my core temp went down

39:46

to like 92 and then my pulse

39:48

ox was in the 80s. And what

39:50

happened was, I got sight summer's induced,

39:52

pulmonary edema and so my lungs were

39:54

filling up. And so one

39:56

of my lungs was like I think like

39:58

almost half full Damn, dude. dude.

40:00

I remember, and And I remember, when I I

40:02

remember when I got to was it was

40:04

funny. I was Cause I was so

40:07

jacked up and I I I was in in the

40:09

ER, and these nurses these nurses were awesome. And, uh,

40:11

me, they were looking at me and they're

40:13

like, what the hell happened to this guy?

40:15

And so, know, I know, like, I know, I with an what,

40:17

like, I just went with an ambulance. There's

40:19

no one there to explain like like, hell, going

40:21

on. going on. And so I get it. And

40:23

they're like, doing the they, they're doing the all over

40:26

and all over again. I am having all

40:28

these doctors are kind of panicking because like the

40:30

things are going wrong. I'm not breathing and I And

40:32

I remember me and come to me and they're like, need

40:34

we need to give you a catheter. I was

40:36

like I I was like, I don't know what that meant. And

40:38

so what would happen is I would keep falling asleep as

40:40

they were talking to me. were talking And so like they're like,

40:42

hey, we're gonna, you know. gonna you know Put a a

40:44

needle in your arm. I'm like, cool, I'd fall asleep

40:46

and they would poke me and I wouldn't notice. and

40:48

And she's like, hey, we're gonna put a catheter

40:50

in. I'm like, cool, and I fell asleep. And then,

40:52

hey We're gonna put a came to put the catheter and I

40:54

woke up, fell asleep scared then sat straight up and I'm

40:56

like, no, no, no, you can't do it. And

40:58

she was like, no, no, you said it was okay.

41:01

I was like, no, I'll do anything. And I

41:03

started like pleading. and I'm I started no No, deals, but I

41:05

was like, do you can't do this. And she's like,

41:07

no, no, it's gonna be fine. And I was

41:09

like, please don't. And I was like, you know, I

41:11

was like, I was like you can't and She was great. This nurse

41:13

is great. great, She of kind of and they put

41:15

it in and it's horrible. It is horrible

41:17

getting a catheter put in. in. never had

41:19

it I've and so it. I still remember this

41:21

day she when she put the catheter

41:23

and after it was in I had my

41:25

head I was sweating and she just

41:28

rubbed my I had my came up to the

41:30

bed and she just rubbed my hair and

41:32

she was just like like you just came up

41:34

to was five-year-old. it was the most she just rubbed

41:36

has ever done to me she I was

41:38

so like unhappy you like this unhappy little

41:40

kid it like the you okay mom like here

41:42

it's fine you're fine to me. And I was like, like,

41:44

So the worst thing was though, I

41:47

spent a week in the week in the

41:49

hospital. knew things were wrong I knew things

41:51

were wrong because like Navy I would have like

41:53

Navy people coming out of and they would like quiz

41:55

me they would like quiz me what happened.

41:57

like like, hey, did this happen during surf torture

41:59

they would used the wrong words, I didn't know who

42:01

they were. And so I'm like, defending butts. Yeah.

42:04

No, no, that didn't have, know, and so

42:06

I'm protecting him. And I remember, and it

42:08

must have been an officer as an adult,

42:11

I know this now. He came in and

42:13

like my little girlfriend was sitting there, sitting

42:15

beside the bed. And he was like, they would

42:17

come in twice, and I'd have to blow into this like mechanism where

42:19

I have to float this ball and kind of work my lungs back

42:21

out. And he's like, so, hey, how do you have to get better?

42:23

And I told him I'd blow in. He's like, so when do you

42:25

do it? And I was like, oh, the nurse. has tells me

42:27

to do it. And he's like, so you wait for

42:29

the nurse to come in And he kind of started

42:31

to grill me on the spot. And I still don't

42:33

know who this guy is to this day, but he

42:35

was like kind of like being kind of a dick.

42:37

And I remember I started sweating. Cause you know, I'm

42:39

in buzz. don't know who that guy is. And my

42:41

girlfriend at the time is like, who is this mofo? And

42:45

anyway, he ends up leaving. And so I, I

42:47

get out of the hospital. I get a ride back,

42:49

you get know, they, no one's there to pick me

42:51

up. So I wait like the duty driver comes

42:53

and picks me up. And the most painful thing I

42:56

duty picks And and was sitting in Bud's Medical and

42:58

the Hell Week class secures. So

43:01

all my friends are done. And I see them and

43:03

they look you know, they look horrible and they're

43:05

all beat up and they're cut up and I'm sitting

43:07

there and they just finished hell week and I

43:09

was... it was so painful

43:11

to like watch those guys.

43:13

And so, yeah, I'll never forget

43:15

that. How long did

43:17

it take you to recover? Did you get rolled

43:19

to one class? got rolled one class. I was one class.

43:21

right, That's not too bad. And it wasn't like.

43:23

Did you recover physically where you were like, all right,

43:26

I can pass runs now. like, yeah, and the medical

43:28

was super cool. They're like, so hey, the odds

43:30

of this happening, they, we went by, they're like, hey,

43:32

how much you drinking? And I was like, I

43:34

don't know. They're like, gauge it. And I was like,

43:36

maybe one cup over like the 36 hours. And

43:38

he's like, oh my God. And they're explaining. is like

43:40

when you're cold, the drink in the water actually like,

43:42

I guess not having water is one of the things

43:44

that like helped it happen. And so

43:46

they're like drinks tons. So when I did the

43:48

next class, I rolled into the next class and that

43:50

was like, life was the OIC. And when I

43:52

was in Hell Week, I drank water like it was

43:55

my job. And

43:57

no factor then next time. Yeah,

43:59

yeah. Got win. went through Week,

44:01

like made it, like, it

44:03

was fine, and, um... And

44:05

yeah, no fact. Oh, I'm sorry. No,

44:07

I made it four zero was my class. and

44:10

then late was four -1, so I hadn't met him yet.

44:12

So I went with 4 -0, no

44:15

factor through Hell first

44:17

phase, fine. and

44:19

we got into second phase. And then

44:21

how did you in second phase? Second

44:24

phase was okay. Like got in, like

44:26

I was fine, but I'd never dove

44:28

from North Dakota. it was never a

44:30

thing in my world. So a outside

44:32

of pool, so I was uncomfortable under

44:34

the water, like especially with diving. So

44:36

when I was in A I actually

44:38

got like my scuba license because I

44:40

thought that would help me. It did

44:42

not. And

44:44

so I was uncomfortable and I

44:46

was doing everything. But

44:48

like with a beet red face, like totally

44:51

uncomfortable, borderline panic. 100%, there was one point

44:53

where when I was doing something and I

44:55

got hit by an instructor and I did

44:57

a full load, like, you know, like when

44:59

you're like, you're about to like frog jump

45:01

up from the bottom of the pool, I

45:03

did a full load and I didn't do

45:05

it, but the instructor punched me in the

45:07

back of my head when I did it,

45:09

like, because I knew not to go up

45:11

because I mean, gonna A -G -E, right? I've

45:14

I a deep breath at depth. If I

45:16

was gonna go up, I'm gonna hurt. And

45:18

so I went panic and I like went to

45:20

the like balls of my feet to like

45:22

crouch. he was like oh this guy is

45:24

gonna skyrocket But I paused and then he

45:26

punches me, you know, and that's what they're

45:28

supposed to do right to like save me

45:30

and And That little interaction He'd never recover

45:33

like he was like hey, you're a huge

45:35

liability. Like did not like me Oh, and

45:37

so he was like he saw me as

45:39

like this liability, right? so could be borderline

45:41

panicker. Yep. So I we do pool comp

45:43

and I'm

45:46

fine, but - He gets

45:48

me. He gets me on the final,

45:50

like, you know. So you failed it a

45:52

couple of times? Um. No.

45:56

Yeah, yeah, yeah, have to give you a

45:58

different instructor. Yeah. And so sure he made sure

46:01

he was don't know if he I don't know if he

46:03

made sure, it. I'm saying it, he was my

46:05

instructor So the last one. So it passed, what was

46:07

it like three or four before the buddy you doing

46:09

the buddy stuff, But all that, You can always but it's

46:11

buddy stuff. You can always blame buddy stuff. else. can You can

46:13

bolt, that on you were gonna bolt, that wasn't during

46:15

you're going you were gonna bolt from the always it

46:17

was during gear exchange Oh, something like that. Yes, it

46:19

no, was right before you're, you're, when they give, they

46:21

give you kind of a, like, what this is

46:23

gonna be like. And so they give you like

46:25

a pseudo pool comp before you do all the

46:27

ditch and don stuff. And that was like the

46:29

bolt moment. you're, you're And so I do the the I

46:31

do all that. It's fine. And then

46:33

I get to the final, I know,

46:35

whatever the final, one was. And he was

46:38

my instructor. one was, and he put the boots

46:40

to me. so do he put

46:42

to this day, I failed,

46:44

right? and honestly to this day, I failed,

46:46

I get So I fail, I, um, whatever, I

46:48

when And into four, one.

46:50

I roll into four one, slave

46:53

C-O-I-C-O-I-C. I think he wished he

46:55

wasn't the OSCE my class, I still would say, because

46:57

you were in it. Yeah, you were in it?

46:59

I would still challenge Lafe, like, and not still challenge I

47:01

would like, hey, not this seems but I would

47:03

stupid, and seems pretty stupid. I'm 18, and be

47:05

my great ideas, know, he was a and with

47:07

my great ideas and he'd time he

47:09

was a mature be like, Matt, you, and Lafe's a really

47:11

time in the Navy. in like, like, like,

47:13

like, And so he would be like,

47:15

like, man, like, like, like, like, like, really like, like,

47:17

calm individual, but I know in my

47:20

life like, have taken him to a

47:22

few of his limits. like, like, and so anyway

47:24

so I we go all the way through to

47:26

pool comp again and go all

47:28

the way through to

47:30

pool comp again. single time that

47:32

instructor is my instructor and single

47:34

time. had He never breaks. but

47:37

he was a one time

47:39

where he had another instructor,

47:41

but he joined him. and this is

47:43

And so I knew this was wrong. a team this

47:45

is, again, it's so the team guys. so the

47:47

teams are letting this happen, but thank thank

47:49

God the the SEA, the E8, and the OIC and

47:51

the OIC out it out towards the

47:53

end. I first I first it all it all

47:55

the way I then I three, like, what is

47:57

it, you get three or get three chances. Yeah.

48:00

So then I failed it twice in a row

48:02

a row. that was like a red flag to

48:04

them. And they're like, Hey, how many times And they're

48:06

like, hey, how many And passed? times has Matt passed? And I, I live, time

48:08

every time. Like I was super comfortable. time. Like I

48:10

was super I'd been under the water. Like we'd

48:12

been hammering each other. Like Like I was good. like

48:14

we'd been And so, like you know, they had the

48:16

big windows under the pool. And so they

48:18

watched. the And so I get, I get my

48:20

final pool comp and he just, he works me

48:22

hard, but I'm ready. I do Like I

48:24

crush it. And so he gives me the He works

48:26

me hard. And so I so a deep deep and I remember

48:28

this whammy knot is you got your dive your dive gear on

48:31

going eventually they're going to give you a

48:33

problem. you They give you all these problems that

48:35

you have to solve have to And eventually they

48:37

give you a problem that you can't solve,

48:39

which is a knot in your gear is a

48:41

knot in your the with the hoses that bring

48:43

air to your mouth. They They give you a

48:45

problem that can't be solved and they call

48:47

it a whammy and they call And it's just

48:49

something you can't undo. And so I look

48:51

at it, I play with it. I've got

48:53

this deep breath and I'm like, this is

48:55

it. look at it, So, you know, you fold up

48:57

it, do it all perfectly. I I get

48:59

to the top, you know, and I'm like,

49:01

like, this or whatever you say. whammy knot, so he's

49:03

like, you fold up my gear, I do I'm

49:05

blown away. And I'm like, to the is

49:07

that possible? and And he was like,

49:09

you didn't try to take a breath. try

49:12

And I was like, a breath. bro. And so

49:14

this is so so I'm is Friday.

49:17

And so I'm like, that's it. You

49:19

know, I dream is over. we remember, chow

49:21

after that and I We went to after that

49:23

I my like, because I was like, cause

49:25

I didn't know who else to call, right?

49:27

right? I'm 18 years old, there's nobody else

49:29

to talk to. nobody else to I'm a kid. Like, yeah.

49:31

I call my mom and I'm like, Hey, I

49:33

think it's done. done. I'm literally fighting back

49:36

tears. Like dream is over. dream is over. And so it gets

49:38

so it gets to Monday. the I go

49:40

to the board and they're like, Matt, here's the

49:42

deal. We've never done this. I've never seen

49:44

this happen. this happen, but we watched you.

49:46

We're not going to We're not gonna roll you. We're not gonna

49:48

roll you. you. We're just to push you forward. push

49:50

you forward. And they're like, and they

49:52

didn't make and they didn't make the

49:54

for the instructor that it's like, be. what's going

49:56

to said, I said, Roger I continue

49:59

training. Damn. training. Jack, good times. Land

50:01

warfare, you roll out, all good,

50:03

San Clemente Island. you roll out,

50:05

all good, you graduate from When you went

50:07

through, did you graduate from big Like

50:09

the big, was the big graduation from

50:11

Buds? the big So you had the

50:13

big ceremony and the big flag and

50:16

all that stuff for graduating from Buds.

50:18

Yeah, Buds. we did Yeah, and then the

50:20

Buds where you got your SQT where you we

50:22

our trident because we got that was the

50:24

private ceremony at the SQT private And they

50:26

give you your the SQT building. And they give you your

50:28

bird. you get done with with they basically

50:30

they you hit the surf, they give

50:33

you a certificate that says you they and

50:35

then you go to SQT. There's no

50:37

ceremony whatsoever. says you it's, you graduate from

50:39

SQT. no And it's a big ceremony

50:41

with the families it's and the big flag and

50:43

all. And you get your bird that it's a

50:45

big Which is. with the than

50:47

it used to be. all that, the big flag

50:49

and all, and you get your bird was

50:52

actually too. Yeah. Which this point. Once I

50:54

got out of used to be. kind of

50:56

figured it out. SQT? Like I grew

50:58

up, I don't know what clicked. Buds

51:00

was a hard run for me. me.

51:02

Like I was immature most of the

51:04

time. most of the time, stories Lave can

51:06

tell you where, like I said, I

51:08

where like the most angry angry ever seen

51:10

Lafe was was when I made him

51:12

angry. And I know I've told I know I've

51:14

told you this before, second phase. phase. And, um...

51:16

Oh yeah, you like somehow took his life took his

51:18

life for his looking for his life jacket.

51:20

100% and I told him I told him I

51:22

didn't have it and then we

51:24

were late and that was the only

51:26

time he's ever ever like, I got got super

51:29

pissed at me, left, so was so

51:31

mad back back to yell at me

51:33

again. Dude, I, well, I remember angry Lafe, dude, I well,

51:35

I remember Lafe's really I mean, like, like, dude,

51:37

like, oh, now, really calm. Like, dude,

51:39

he's calm now. for He, he would,

51:41

he, he would have a temper

51:43

for sure sure for sure that... you you know,

51:45

especially like something goes wrong you know because the know,

51:47

because the thing is life cares about

51:50

stuff, you know? And when you care about

51:52

something doing something that's doing something

51:54

that's counter to what you care about,

51:56

like gonna get get pissed off and

51:58

frustrated and you know know, not nothing crazy. but

52:00

definitely, I you know, I would give him

52:02

shit because, know, I you know, his poker face,

52:04

you know, be talking to the boss or

52:06

something like that. be And the boss would

52:08

say something and maybe you know, maybe it

52:10

wasn't the best idea or something or

52:12

maybe he was gonna negatively like we're gonna

52:14

have to work, I don't know, we it

52:17

for the weekend or something idea or something, make

52:19

sense. And you could see like gonna face

52:21

would just like start going red and

52:23

I'd be like, I walk out start be like,

52:25

bro, your poker face is terrible. He's

52:27

like, or something, or just guy just doesn't make any

52:29

sense. I'm like, I know it doesn't

52:31

but like. Let's figure figure that out outside. So I always

52:33

gave a hard time to a hard You

52:35

know, to this day we joke

52:37

about day we joke about angry Lafe. Yeah, so

52:39

I can imagine. I can imagine

52:41

Angry Lave visiting upon,

52:44

upon, upon upon immature Matt. you

52:46

know? If I was

52:48

gonna talk about Angry Lave,

52:50

I'd have to talk about freaking

52:52

immature Matt, which is definitely

52:54

another character in this whole another

52:57

Yeah, they went whole, hand. old jam. Yeah,

52:59

they went, they awesome. in hand. Freaking awesome. But

53:01

no challenge or anything I ask

53:03

you to SQT? Um, no. Honestly, SQT went fine with

53:05

went fine with the exception of

53:07

one thing. thing. when we did we we

53:09

had like this big big warfare.

53:11

warfare and we did it with a buddy We did

53:13

it with a buddy first. I remember then I you

53:16

mean Land do you mean, Land Nav I'm

53:18

I'm sorry, Land Nav and so we do Land

53:20

Nav and do my buddy I have my buddy good

53:22

I I was pretty good. I picked it up

53:24

pretty quick. and so so just kind kind of followed

53:26

me and I was running it all day and

53:28

it was fine. He, was let me and I

53:30

wanted to and And so it was not a

53:33

big deal. and so it was And then the next

53:35

day was by yourself. day was And so.

53:37

and so And I And I just blew it

53:39

out. Like I it out, like I found

53:41

almost nothing. the whole day the whole day before, like

53:43

I was crushing it, like napping, not using not

53:45

using sometimes, I was into these, and I mean, it's

53:47

literally a stake in the ground, you know,

53:49

a you can't see it, it's a very

53:51

small thing. you can't see you guys in Alaska? very small

53:54

thing. Were you guys in Alaska or

53:56

are you in Laguna? Laguna. Laguna. and

53:58

I must I must found nothing. So they ask

54:00

UT guys are like, oh, we found your

54:02

weakness. Like you're not able to found your And

54:04

I you're not able to land figure it out. I I

54:06

couldn't figure it out And then I remember like,

54:09

he's like go find this point right now now.

54:11

And I find it and it was supposed to be

54:13

like 30 feet away for the life of me. I

54:15

couldn't find it. I was like, Oh my the I did

54:17

it again. Like I can't figure this out. was like, oh

54:19

So the next day comes again. Like I can't figure this out. Final.

54:21

it Like what you you just had like an epiphany. No,

54:23

No, I don't know what happened I I this day.

54:26

I do not know what happened that day I

54:28

don't know if I the declination up on my

54:30

compass Okay, and I I was kind of you know

54:32

a few degrees off in anything anything you know, I

54:34

do my thing I make sure everything's do my thing I

54:36

make I mean my thing I make sure that thing because I

54:38

was like what if I don't find any extra

54:40

time I I was done by like you .m. a few

54:42

Yeah off and no big deal but you they were like,

54:44

well, I guess you figure it out no I was

54:46

like, I do it I don't know deal. I do it I'll

54:48

take it day. I do it like makes me a I to this

54:50

Let's do it it. I do it. So then you end

54:53

up you you end up going

54:55

to Yep. How many guys many guys

54:57

from from your, your like was it

54:59

a pretty good crew of guys

55:01

was it like guys? guys like 10,

55:03

15 think it was like exactly

55:05

like I think 14 or

55:07

15 yeah and did you go

55:09

right into a platoon yep

55:11

I immediately got to team a

55:13

got immediately put in got and

55:15

Charlie platoon at this time the

55:17

crew that you had And Charlie Patoon

55:20

at this time, the crew that you had in there. your

55:22

platoon is a freaking

55:24

epic dude, just an epic

55:26

dude dude and like a maniac like just

55:28

maniac, awesome. In the

55:30

best in the best the best

55:32

positive way, just like a

55:34

maniac, stud athlete, like a

55:36

just a freaking awesome dude.

55:38

just a freaking awesome dude platoon chief your platoon

55:41

chief maniac. And again, I mean

55:43

that in the best possible way. that

55:45

the when you have, way know, so

55:47

when you have in a a platoon, and

55:49

they set them up this way

55:51

on purpose, purpose like you get to, when

55:54

when you're you're platoons at a

55:56

team, you'll be like, oh, I've

55:58

got oh Charles, Echo he's he's wild And

56:00

I'm going to put gonna put him with because cause

56:02

Matt is, you know, straight and narrow and you narrow up.

56:04

you pair them up or like, and you do

56:06

that, and do that with everything like, like, you know,

56:08

you know, really good really good at Land Warfare,

56:10

but Matt's really good at CQC. So we can

56:13

put them together Matt's, or, know, So we put him, so that's

56:15

what you do. You're building like a to Iraq a bunch of

56:17

times like, like, you know, like, deployed to Afghanistan. like, like,

56:19

So like, that's what you do. You're building like

56:21

a like, platoon like, like, there's checks and balances like, like, like,

56:23

like, So you end up with like, like, a

56:25

guy that's a little bit more like, like, like, Let's

56:28

say tight a little, you know, you know, Boy

56:30

Scout right? You want a Boy Scout

56:32

chief? right? You want a Boy Scout chief and

56:34

a Hell's Angel OIC or Boy Scout Boy Scout

56:36

OIC and a Hells Angel. So, so

56:38

you just kind of put it together.

56:41

kind of put it together.

56:43

But you had as freaking

56:45

Hell's Angel, Hell's Angel in

56:47

that how was that so

56:49

into that? Dude, it was. that?

56:51

It was, I mean, and I thought all

56:53

Platoons were like that in the

56:56

very beginning. the I was like, it was

56:58

all throttle, all gas, no break. Yeah. Like it

57:00

was, was, you know, cause the OIC, he

57:02

OIC, he was the first officer

57:04

I I said, full, full sleeves,

57:06

covered in tattoos, tattoos, and any

57:09

officer I'd seen before, I'd

57:11

seen before, the chief was, was he

57:13

was like, kind of of because

57:15

a new guy to a new guy, basically

57:17

their dad, but like, just no holds

57:19

holds was gonna He was either in the back of the head

57:21

in the back of the head or teach

57:24

you how how to do it the right

57:26

way every single time and you'll never forget

57:28

the lesson never again. the lesson ever again. so it was

57:30

honestly it was it was great. And then

57:32

of course, our new guys were

57:34

like, you know you've had Bob Holland on

57:36

here, Holland on here Chris Kyle The new guys,

57:38

the I'm sorry I knew which were absolute yeah

57:40

which were absolute status yeah and they just got

57:42

back from their platoon being a new

57:44

guy and they're like, oh, being a new

57:47

guy and It's like prison, like fresh

57:49

meat. it's like you're there. You're like, oh,

57:51

meat whatever you want. there you're like hoo yaw

57:53

And so want and so yeah it was it

57:55

it it was it was not like a

57:57

fantastic platoon the funny thing is I

58:00

almost got pulled from it, because from it

58:02

because I wasn't supposed to be in to

58:04

apparently. in supposed to be apparently. I was supposed

58:06

to hold in picked me. Z got was

58:08

the of me. Z was the chief. call

58:10

him Z. was the chief. Yes. Z was calling Z. Yeah. He

58:12

was the was the chief and he

58:14

picked me because I was a leadership

58:16

challenge. Like I got good marks good marks from

58:18

Buds, but when Bud, they're like, he's going

58:20

he's gonna argue. So he's like, he

58:22

actually wanted this leadership challenge, but they're

58:24

like, hey, he's squared away, but

58:26

you're gonna have to do some work.

58:28

hey, so he's like, great. away, but going

58:30

to put in more for

58:32

sure. to do some work. And so he's like, great. He's

58:34

going to put in work for me so he picked

58:36

me and They They figured out that we were in

58:38

the wrong the was actually me and a good buddy of mine.

58:40

Still to this day, he's a good friend of mine and they

58:43

were gonna switch us. Still he was like, hey, do you wanna switch?

58:45

a I was like, of like this, they

58:47

were though switch us. And Z, are scary hey, do

58:49

you and Rob are like, I holds

58:51

barred. I was kind of my personality

58:53

already. So I was like, I

58:55

like it here. are scary and he pulled

58:57

me in and that became my barred.

58:59

And what was your job? of my in

59:01

that first platoon. already. So I two jobs. I

59:03

was in the then the air air department. And Air was my

59:05

And air was my primary, was ordinance was

59:07

my secondary. then we And then we got a

59:09

couple other guys then then pick so I had to

59:11

pick. in the So air just got put in the

59:13

air department. the One of the new guys, the

59:16

was the primary he stayed He stayed primary. I

59:18

stayed secondary ordinance. basically all I had to

59:20

do was when I went down there, I

59:22

had to help him with when I went down my

59:24

primary department was air. So my first school

59:26

was where And would you walk in the

59:28

platoon there so my first school was in was you walk in the platoon

59:30

so you're a pig when I got to

59:32

the platoon, I yeah because when I was like, hey,

59:34

to the wanna go to the chief was like hey I

59:36

did I did not want to go to go to college school. And

59:38

I know guy, a and I get it I get it.

59:40

And just there's a reason a wanted to go

59:43

and there's a reason you didn't I know

59:45

And so didn't. I know. And so this also like

59:47

the war was starting to kind of kick

59:49

off and I was like off, radio I don't

59:51

I don't to be by somebody and have them

59:53

use the radio by And so I was

59:55

like use the the And so I do you want to

59:57

go I said the you want me to

59:59

do do, do. And he was like, he was like,

1:00:01

what do you want to do? And I just repeated it again.

1:00:04

And he's like, Matt, you're really making this hard. And I

1:00:06

was like, this hard. And I was you

1:00:08

need, I'll do. you need, I'll he's like, you're going to be

1:00:10

a like, then. I was like. to be a pig under then. I

1:00:12

he give the comm that. one of

1:00:14

the other new guys? Yeah, that

1:00:16

ended up being the guys? guy ended being the

1:00:18

it. Cool Yeah. Got it. Got it. Cool. All right. So

1:00:20

right, so now a workup. How's workup. besides

1:00:22

freaking the rails crazy. And the funny thing

1:00:24

like funny thing like when you do a workup

1:00:27

you you do a like you

1:00:29

realize like. kind of relearning

1:00:31

a kind of so a cycle. So when

1:00:33

we went through training, it wasn't like.

1:00:35

when you Like when you started running trade

1:00:37

at like how like professional turned into into like back

1:00:39

back then there wasn't a lot of

1:00:41

checks and balances. So I remember we

1:00:43

got to our first block, which was

1:00:45

Sauk. which was Salk. So we're running around cities.

1:00:47

cities. And so it's very different when

1:00:49

you're carrying a pig in the city

1:00:51

than when you are at you at land

1:00:53

warfare. And the heavy machine gun, the only

1:00:55

time I'd ever shot one before I was a

1:00:57

heavy machine I was a heavy machine gun I

1:00:59

just did a squt and I just shoot fam

1:01:02

rounds like what 200 rounds? You're like, no So I remember

1:01:04

I get the gun and they're like

1:01:06

cool the gun and so I cool, it up

1:01:08

and I'm like hey, how do I

1:01:10

put this ammo on the gun? I'm

1:01:12

like, hey, no box. put this ammo on the gun? There

1:01:14

was no and I remember Bobby Bobby too,

1:01:16

he was a he gunner, and he

1:01:18

was like, he your box? And I

1:01:20

remember I was like, what's a box?

1:01:22

I remember I was like, what's a box? like, you

1:01:24

don't know? you don't I had no clue

1:01:26

what this box is. And so so

1:01:28

I was like, no. And then I

1:01:31

got I of mad. And this was,

1:01:33

And this This was not great. so so I

1:01:35

remember I got, you got, you know, like do this

1:01:37

have to like do this weird thing

1:01:39

throughout the day where it's kind of

1:01:41

like strung around an arm like Rambo like

1:01:43

links are and links are So we get

1:01:45

done with the day and the the new

1:01:47

guys in, none of the new guys

1:01:49

had in, One guy did guys had a

1:01:51

box and his because guy was, his new guy

1:01:53

was the one who got Bob's one who

1:01:55

got box. There was other ones. was no other now a

1:01:57

was now a was like, he was like

1:01:59

what bring my box. box. And so I so I

1:02:01

was like, great. And so they're kind of laying

1:02:03

into me. And I, and I into of snapped. I'm

1:02:05

like, why the hell would I know? I've

1:02:08

in my the hell would I know? In my 22nd fam

1:02:10

shoot? And you when know when you say

1:02:12

something you to take it back it I

1:02:14

see the fire the the old in

1:02:16

eyes is they were like as spoke

1:02:18

up he spoke up. I was like oh

1:02:20

that like, oh, your first trip trip.

1:02:22

Yeah. very first. Running your sock on sock on your

1:02:24

first ain't gonna go good for a brother.

1:02:26

Yeah. And I and I remember I had about three

1:02:28

had about three people almost inside my

1:02:30

face 10 10 seconds and immediately like back down

1:02:32

down it, paid for it a little bit.

1:02:34

little And then I went about building a

1:02:37

box out of like out of like whatever like

1:02:39

material I could find and then ran

1:02:41

the rest of the trip with it.

1:02:43

Never let that happen again. And every

1:02:45

single trip for the rest of my

1:02:47

career when the new guys are going

1:02:49

out and like, do you have a

1:02:51

box? for the rest so yeah, that

1:02:53

was that was guys were going I'm like you

1:02:56

have a box. And so yeah that any

1:02:58

big challenges that you faced during

1:03:00

CQC or anything like that you

1:03:02

warfare? CQ or anything like that or

1:03:04

was, was good. Like

1:03:06

good. I really enjoyed CQC

1:03:08

kind CQC, kind of clicked like the,

1:03:10

you know, the the geometry of it

1:03:12

going through of it going And I took

1:03:14

it to heart. Like I was that guy, that if

1:03:16

I made a misstep going in the house, when

1:03:19

the day was ended, I would just stay at the

1:03:21

kill house and I would go in times each leg,

1:03:23

going through the front door. Like

1:03:25

I loved it. stay at the

1:03:27

kill house and I would go

1:03:29

100 could run the gun. going

1:03:31

through the As a new

1:03:33

guy, I remember this trip. I

1:03:35

I was, um, You know, we you get new guys,

1:03:38

instructors put a a lot of pressure, put a lot

1:03:40

of stress on them. And I remember I

1:03:42

had this one instructor chasing me around. So

1:03:44

I'm running the around. gun. It's the degrees.

1:03:46

So I'm just keeping it going. I'm

1:03:48

keeping it. And he is on top

1:03:50

of me. it He's like, it, let's get

1:03:52

this going. Get your gun up. And

1:03:54

I just go this go on top. your

1:03:56

gun up, I can't keep it going fast

1:03:58

enough. And he he is... all over me. know

1:04:01

know exactly the person I'm talking

1:04:03

about and he is legendary is legendary

1:04:05

for land And I remember I remember for

1:04:07

like getting in your head. in your

1:04:09

head yeah like get in your head. in

1:04:11

your Part of your is like

1:04:14

him. him yeah if you you can not

1:04:16

fight him does does, but like you

1:04:18

like, you made it, you know? I remember he

1:04:20

was I remember he was I me and

1:04:22

I had 100 rounds left. I And so

1:04:24

I had to put it in my box.

1:04:26

And I remember he's like, get it,

1:04:28

load it up. loaded up And then I just threw it

1:04:30

it out onto the I just took the just took the threw I

1:04:32

just threw it the the range and I looked at

1:04:34

him at I was like, two things are gonna happen. are going

1:04:36

to We're gonna fight. to fight. Or you're gonna stop

1:04:38

yelling at me. I didn't say that, me. I I just knew those

1:04:40

were one of the two things that were gonna happen. the two things

1:04:43

that were going to a miracle, a he walked out, walked out.

1:04:45

picked up my rounds, rounds. He he handed him to

1:04:47

me, he didn't say a word. say a word. And then

1:04:49

he just shifted focus to somebody

1:04:51

else. And I think he's like, to

1:04:53

that one's done. else. And I think he's that

1:04:55

was, and I remember I got back

1:04:57

done. And was like, hey, Matt, come

1:04:59

here. and I I was like, got back and, you

1:05:02

know, the what's up is like, And he's

1:05:04

like, so. And I You can't be be

1:05:06

throwing your rounds up in desert, up, Chief?

1:05:08

Hey, part of our job is being

1:05:10

cool under pressure. They do this on

1:05:12

purpose. And hey, Matt, I say here. dad, he

1:05:14

did a great job. up, they didn't

1:05:16

crush me for that. They were just

1:05:18

like, hey, learning lesson. lesson. Yeah. you're stressed like

1:05:20

that, you don't get to break. And

1:05:22

I was like, hey, check. And I

1:05:24

like, again. And you go. happened again. There you

1:05:26

guys go on deployment? did guys, go in when

1:05:28

we were rotating through. was when we were

1:05:30

your deployment in the Pacific in Iraq. So war, your

1:05:32

then half your deployment in Iraq. half your

1:05:34

the And weird thing is, this is because

1:05:36

everyone thought the war was gonna be over.

1:05:38

We better get everyone to Iraq. We

1:05:40

got the chance to get people to Iraq,

1:05:42

get everyone to Iraq. the war a little

1:05:45

bit of the to be over. Right? Yeah. Because it it

1:05:47

doesn't make sense. sense to be like, be like,

1:05:49

we'll we'll send this platoon for three months

1:05:51

to Iraq, and and then we'll bring a different

1:05:53

platoon for three months. three months. doesn't

1:05:55

make sense. sense. The only way you can only

1:05:57

way you can justify we want we want to get more g-

1:05:59

- - to Iraq so we'll send them there

1:06:01

for three months. for three but that's what

1:06:03

we did. That's what you guys did.

1:06:05

we did. and so you went to, Yeah, and so

1:06:08

we went to Zambawanka, the

1:06:10

old PI, and so we're And so we're on

1:06:12

this buried in in the Philippines. there

1:06:15

ain't in the Philippines there ain't nothing

1:06:17

around and it was all

1:06:19

the snipers all the Iraq, went

1:06:21

to Iraq. And this is

1:06:23

when Fallujah kicked off. reading after reading

1:06:25

And Chris is is in your platoon tune.

1:06:27

Yeah. Chris Kyle, but for those of you

1:06:29

that don't know. So Chris

1:06:31

is in your platoon and he's

1:06:33

one of your snipers. and he's

1:06:35

one of your snipers shit talks the

1:06:37

best of them. the Like, best of

1:06:40

them right up there, dude. dude.

1:06:42

He bring it. bring And so

1:06:44

now he's over there, there

1:06:46

with the other the other the that

1:06:48

you guys have. that you totally.

1:06:50

He's over there. He's just

1:06:52

doing God's work He's we're

1:06:54

just reading all these after -actions

1:06:57

about after-actions and all these

1:06:59

guys and they're just all these

1:07:01

epic battles. It's just like these epic

1:07:03

we're in flusia, it's just And we're

1:07:05

in day and we're just working out every a

1:07:07

hut down by the water. And

1:07:09

I say hut, mean by was

1:07:11

just like, it was surrounded

1:07:13

by chicken wire. was It was

1:07:15

90 degrees by 7 a .m.

1:07:18

like, sucked. so we're, it's like a good time while

1:07:20

you're absolutely where it's

1:07:22

like a good time while you're

1:07:24

absolutely miserable be all you want

1:07:26

in life is to be in

1:07:28

the mix. and And we're reading these

1:07:30

and we're depressed. And did a this

1:07:32

time, the leadership. rotate us up a

1:07:34

good job at like they would rotate

1:07:36

us up to get good we'd say in

1:07:38

a nice hotel, blow good meals we just

1:07:41

like blow off steam. So we weren't

1:07:43

in this do And we'd do about once

1:07:45

a month. They'd keep at least two

1:07:47

guys would rotate together. rotate together. Um, and so yeah,

1:07:49

so yeah, it was, it was long,

1:07:51

but. was just, just

1:07:54

It was, to all it was was

1:07:56

just just to get to Iraq, just

1:07:58

kind of like building up, steaming. Yeah. And

1:08:00

then you get there so then

1:08:02

you you do three months in

1:08:04

the Pacific and then it's boom over

1:08:06

to Iraq And would you guys

1:08:08

go you guys go, Baghdad? Yep, yep, we we rolled

1:08:10

right into Baghdad. And then what

1:08:12

was your what was your mission?

1:08:14

mission? were DAAs, thank the the Lord because

1:08:16

our sister platoon went to do

1:08:18

the PSD mission, mission so they so they

1:08:20

were protecting I don't know whoever

1:08:22

and we got and we got DAs. doesn't

1:08:24

surprise me with who our chief

1:08:26

me with who our chief and who our OIC was. If

1:08:28

not doing the doing the PSD mission, then

1:08:31

again our platoon was our platoon was,

1:08:33

didn't realize this till later like

1:08:35

we were monsters were made

1:08:37

up of like of like... perfect

1:08:39

element of like monsters. Like

1:08:41

there wasn't somebody in the platoon

1:08:44

there wasn't % that was like, um,

1:08:46

you know a question mark.

1:08:48

It was you built this platoon

1:08:50

question wreak havoc. was you And

1:08:52

so yeah, we just, we did

1:08:54

a ton, a ton of so yeah, we

1:08:57

just we did a ton a ton

1:08:59

of DAs was what was on

1:09:01

a DA? job on a D. luckily

1:09:03

right before we deployed, we

1:09:06

deployed I got got the opportunity to skip pre

1:09:08

-deployment leave and go to Breacher go to breach your school.

1:09:10

all the new guys, they're like, the new guys.

1:09:12

you never get a school as a new

1:09:14

guy. at went to as a new school where they

1:09:16

learned how to pack parachutes learn new as my

1:09:18

only school. as a new was my so they're like,

1:09:20

hey, there's these spots there's all four new guys

1:09:23

platoon in our platoon like, we've got four spots we

1:09:25

wants to go to spots who So we all

1:09:27

skipped pre -deployment leave, went to Virginia, went

1:09:29

to Breacher School. And I mean, it was

1:09:31

awesome. But I couldn't think of a better

1:09:33

thing to do during pre -deployment leave than go

1:09:35

play with Explo... Sips for a month. play

1:09:37

with finally got to make bombs. month. Yeah,

1:09:39

you finally got I was like, oh, I'm

1:09:42

in my element and so I

1:09:44

got out there I was a so I

1:09:46

got out I was a new guy

1:09:48

and on our very first very first came

1:09:50

to the like, came to me and he's like,

1:09:52

hey, your lead And I

1:09:54

was like, Hell yeah. pumped were you

1:09:56

dude? freaking I was super pumped and

1:09:58

then super scared. then super- Cuz it wasn't

1:10:00

that I knew I knew like you just

1:10:02

to make a mistake like to make right?

1:10:05

And I had never been right the wire.

1:10:07

I have never seen bad guy land.

1:10:09

I was on I have never seen bad so

1:10:11

now we're going into bad guy land,

1:10:13

never having seen things into I'm about to

1:10:15

be the lead things and I'm about

1:10:17

to be the lead I remember that is

1:10:19

a lot. It is a lot,

1:10:21

right? so. a lot right and so what was

1:10:23

funny about that first time that first time was

1:10:26

it didn't go as planned. was planned so I'm

1:10:28

in in the courtyard. I'm getting

1:10:30

getting ready to put put the explosives

1:10:32

on the door and on the door. climb

1:10:34

over the and we had to climb over

1:10:36

the fence coming the chief was coming over

1:10:38

the fence and fell into the gate.

1:10:40

metal gates, so those like gates. so everything's up.

1:10:42

And so me and And so everything's up. And

1:10:44

so in the courtyard with of the old guys

1:10:46

who was in the courtyard with me,

1:10:49

we look at each other okay, we we're

1:10:51

like, we better get this on. And

1:10:53

so I'm I'm going to put the

1:10:55

strip on the door, on the the door. answers

1:10:57

the door. And then, you know, it's that know, it's

1:10:59

that moment of realization where he looks

1:11:01

at you and you look at him

1:11:03

and you're like, uh uh-oh. And both of

1:11:05

us I think had the exact same

1:11:07

expression same kind of surprise, kind of kind of

1:11:09

like, but kind about to happen. about then

1:11:11

I just. And so then I just him. know, and

1:11:13

I'm in the house now, and then

1:11:16

it turns into a huge and flood

1:11:18

and it's chaos, but. it's chaos, but... It It

1:11:20

went down you know no factor, I do another

1:11:22

do another rage, but yeah, that first

1:11:24

one did not go as planned. had

1:11:26

had it planned out my head and

1:11:28

then I think think I'm wrestling the

1:11:30

guy with explosives in my hand and

1:11:32

to make sure I don't blow myself

1:11:34

up blow was crazy. and crazy good times. the

1:11:36

way it goes way it goes down first off. And

1:11:38

what was your And what was your where you

1:11:40

were you guys every day every day, every

1:11:42

couple of days? Was it pretty

1:11:44

good op -tempo as far as as hits?

1:11:46

hits. It wasn't Ramadi for sure, but

1:11:48

I would I would say two to two to

1:11:50

three times a week. So we were busy

1:11:52

were busy because it was early in

1:11:54

the war. the war. There were lots of targets

1:11:56

and we were chasing everything down. know, you you

1:11:58

remember you get Intel on. somebody, you were there

1:12:00

within hours. and so so we turning and burning and it

1:12:02

were turning and burning. And it was awesome

1:12:05

because I got so much like I was

1:12:07

the gave me He gave me guys would breach guys would

1:12:09

we would but they would, we would do two

1:12:11

to three hits a night sometimes. And so

1:12:13

they would give us a lot of runs

1:12:15

at being being So we got to do

1:12:17

a lot of. to do a lot of hits, of

1:12:19

a lot of lot of blowing and so it just

1:12:21

made us really good. it just made us really good yeah

1:12:23

hell yeah but that was only a three

1:12:25

month period. was time to go home.

1:12:28

period was, it was quick. And so. did

1:12:30

that Did that? to back to

1:12:32

the beach. When? you and your new guy

1:12:34

did you and

1:12:36

your would get called, your little

1:12:38

crew would get called the

1:12:41

sisters kids, your little crew

1:12:43

would get called come kids, right? Did

1:12:45

that come from pick did it pick

1:12:47

up the next next platoon? that

1:12:49

that was that platoon. So So where

1:12:51

we we got that name is

1:12:53

when we were doing a a

1:12:56

workup. And this is where Breacher

1:12:58

School locks in is doing our

1:13:00

doing our final so we

1:13:02

remember we And so locked down on you remember, we

1:13:04

used to get locked down on out in and

1:13:06

this would be a bass out in Southern California.

1:13:08

And it was kind of for the most

1:13:10

part vacant, like. like just a a

1:13:12

bunch of buildings left, left vacant. And so be out

1:13:14

be out there for 10 days, nothing

1:13:16

else to do. And so you just

1:13:18

sit around and this is before like

1:13:21

like cell phones and all that other stuff.

1:13:23

So So like reading a lot of books. lot

1:13:25

of And so we would drive around

1:13:27

this, this empty base essentially, and there

1:13:29

would be like be like old base old buildings.

1:13:31

And so we're like, Hey, what's happening?

1:13:33

they're like, Oh, I think to tear

1:13:35

all this down. And so like, I think they're

1:13:38

going to tear all so down. And so head like,

1:13:40

cool. Let's help the cause. So

1:13:42

one afternoon Yep. get done and we're

1:13:44

bored and we're like, afternoon we Let's

1:13:46

go out and we're bored and we're like, hey,

1:13:48

let's go out practice and

1:13:50

practice breaching. And shockingly enough,

1:13:52

objective point of view, nobody said

1:13:54

anything as as the new guys

1:13:57

got all the breaching equipment, all

1:13:59

the sledge hammers. the Hoolies, the

1:14:01

chainsaws, the Kwikisaws, and we

1:14:03

loaded them up into trucks,

1:14:05

and not trucks, Humvees, And

1:14:07

then we just drove away. like Like,

1:14:10

checks like in the thing is,

1:14:12

I remember the guys watching us and

1:14:14

just being like, yeah, cool, man.

1:14:16

I don't know what's going on. And

1:14:18

then we proceeded to rip the

1:14:20

lid off of that base. And we,

1:14:22

and we, um, I

1:14:25

remember. And

1:14:27

it was like, I think we

1:14:29

breached every single door in a four

1:14:31

block area and know, they have

1:14:33

those like duplexes. And it would be,

1:14:35

we would breach it and then

1:14:37

we'd go inside and then we'd breach

1:14:39

those doors. And then we drove

1:14:41

a Humvee through a sliding glass door

1:14:43

of a building into the living

1:14:45

room. And then we videotaped all of

1:14:47

this by the way. And then

1:14:49

we have a videotape of a toilet

1:14:51

getting thrown out of the second

1:14:53

story window onto the ground. And

1:14:56

then three more times. And then my

1:14:58

face coming out, be like, did you

1:15:00

get that? And just the most damning

1:15:02

evidence. And then they had these old

1:15:04

houses that they hadn't moved away that

1:15:06

were on pillars. And

1:15:08

so geniuses, we took sledge hammers to

1:15:10

those pillars and it knocked those

1:15:12

houses off, which almost crushed us. Inconsequently,

1:15:14

we like jumped out of the

1:15:16

way all on video. And

1:15:19

so and so think, again, we think

1:15:21

we're doing nothing wrong. We're like, hey,

1:15:23

this is old, like nobody cares what

1:15:25

we do here. Yeah, and just to

1:15:27

give you some context. Like, so you

1:15:29

go to these bases that are shut

1:15:31

down and you'll go and do a

1:15:34

hit. on one of these

1:15:36

buildings and you will legitimately breach the

1:15:38

doors, trash the thing, freaking whatever you're

1:15:40

going do. And you know, it's a

1:15:42

house and there's a hundred more of

1:15:44

them. And so in your mind, you're

1:15:46

like, well, yeah, we did this yesterday

1:15:48

to random house. Like, oh, okay, let's

1:15:50

go practice some more. Cause it is,

1:15:52

it is practice. It's also like if

1:15:54

you're freaking Matt Hasby and and you're

1:15:56

a breacher, it's like fun, you know?

1:15:58

That's like, There's something

1:16:00

about breaking glass, like breaking shit,

1:16:03

and you're like, oh, it's

1:16:05

fun. like oh so, technically speaking, it's

1:16:07

I'm just just trying to explain, it's not like

1:16:09

you it's not like you in some like neighborhood you're in

1:16:11

a place where this is what happens. is This

1:16:13

is what happens. what You know, we used

1:16:15

to have it down here by the it

1:16:17

down here by the by in San Diego, those

1:16:20

places that are condemned areas. Well, we used

1:16:22

to go and train in those areas

1:16:24

and we do this exact same thing. If

1:16:26

we can drive we'd through front doors, like

1:16:28

we would do that stuff. And so

1:16:30

is I'm just trying to give you some

1:16:32

context. do that stuff. And so this, I'm just this

1:16:34

is coming from. This is

1:16:36

totally normal. Echo Charles, about like I guess

1:16:38

it wasn't quite as as normal is

1:16:41

you know, you hope it was

1:16:43

because at some point what happened quite as

1:16:45

we learned as, you know, was a was, because

1:16:47

at some point, what of those guys that we

1:16:49

know fix everything up a Navy, who was

1:16:51

pictures of us from like a far?

1:16:53

So there's like these grainy like these

1:16:55

pictures that made its way back while

1:16:58

we were training like the next

1:17:00

day while we were training like the next day and

1:17:02

then it became it became into question,

1:17:04

how dilapidated and how how a

1:17:06

band in these buildings were buildings

1:17:08

were and I know today I know still

1:17:10

they're still so they so they weren't.

1:17:13

I But I think it got pulled into

1:17:15

like, hey, we may have to use these

1:17:17

in the future. the And so then it got

1:17:19

real, real real fast. it went all the And it

1:17:21

went all the way up. It went all

1:17:23

the way to the and And then it was

1:17:25

like, be they wanted They were

1:17:27

going to fire people. fire people and Luckily our

1:17:29

senior enlisted advisor at the time

1:17:31

was the ops master chief of the

1:17:33

team so we had some pull and had

1:17:35

some he's he's freaking good to he's he's

1:17:37

gonna good to go and

1:17:39

he's gonna I mean he's the boys

1:17:42

Yeah, I mean he's legendary

1:17:44

and so of it and gets

1:17:46

in front of it and of

1:17:48

it and At the the time the

1:17:50

chief was our nickname for him was the milkman for

1:17:52

him was the he put his when he'd

1:17:54

put his had I on he looked

1:17:56

exactly like a like a he

1:17:58

was not was not you was

1:18:00

not not like a boy type leader. He

1:18:03

very rule, very rule driven. And so

1:18:05

very rule driven. got like, hey,

1:18:07

we gotta fire all. And first of first

1:18:09

of all, the chief's like, you can't. can't, I mean,

1:18:11

literally clean me out of new guys.

1:18:13

We'll be guys. We'll be Like we'll

1:18:15

have 12 dudes. 12 And so he was

1:18:17

like, like, well, me what happened. He's like,

1:18:19

I sent him on breacher He's like, I got

1:18:21

in front of it and he took the

1:18:23

entire our chief got in Now that's

1:18:25

also not free. he took so, hit.

1:18:28

He saved us, us, we we got

1:18:30

A slap on the wrist, on the

1:18:32

happened. the team

1:18:34

from the team. was not so much inside

1:18:37

the platoon. much And I will

1:18:39

say though, I the next say though, by couple

1:18:41

of black eyes and shaved heads of

1:18:43

black eyes were, we were

1:18:45

training again were training platoon

1:18:47

was tasked to solve

1:18:49

the problem, which they

1:18:51

happily did. which they happily did.

1:18:53

All right, you do you

1:18:55

do that deployment that

1:18:57

you did that you did half

1:18:59

have in PI, half back from

1:19:01

that come then you

1:19:03

roll into roll into second

1:19:05

platoon, sticking with Charlie

1:19:07

Platoon. with Charlie platoon, this is gonna

1:19:09

be now be now tasking a bruiser.

1:19:12

So BTF Tony comes in as

1:19:14

your as your platoon takes over as the

1:19:16

platoon commander. as the I come in

1:19:18

as the task unit I come in as

1:19:20

the task unit commander. You a

1:19:22

bunch of of your. a bunch

1:19:24

of the of the one guys

1:19:26

stayed, including Chris, including Chris

1:19:28

then and then and a a

1:19:30

few others then then all that so

1:19:33

guys, you oh that, the so where'd you you

1:19:35

get the nickname sisters kids because was that, that that

1:19:37

That was the incident? Cause it was

1:19:39

like, you know, when you're like, know, my

1:19:41

sister's kids are always causing problems. Yeah, are always

1:19:43

causing I get that part. And that was,

1:19:45

that was really And that was born. where

1:19:47

that, that incident that kind of became the was

1:19:49

we kind so you had, the was it kids.

1:19:51

three or four of you guys. was four

1:19:53

of us, yeah. there's Four of you guys

1:19:55

that were the you kids. And the sisters that's

1:19:57

kind of how I remember being introduced to

1:19:59

you guys. because your chief became

1:20:01

the SEA for a bruiser and so

1:20:03

then so then I kind of

1:20:05

got the deep on you guys on you

1:20:07

guys freaking great guys, freaking great guys but but

1:20:10

they're you know we you know, we gotta

1:20:12

keep an eye on them and whatnot

1:20:14

and so so that's what happens. So

1:20:16

now you roll in and then

1:20:18

by the way, and then you

1:20:20

get the new guys. you get now your new

1:20:22

guys of which You got Biggles and

1:20:24

you got Johnny Kim, Johnny Kim who you know

1:20:26

talked about on here before, and

1:20:28

then a few other new guys

1:20:30

as well. a few other new guys as well.

1:20:33

So you roll into that, what's

1:20:35

your your impression when the

1:20:37

transition happens? the I

1:20:39

mean, so we were stoked just to not be

1:20:41

new guys. It was a rough go. to not the

1:20:43

thing is I It was a rough turned.

1:20:45

and the thing is in kind we course

1:20:47

we turned in kind of course. Spanked kids, spank kids. And so

1:20:50

I think wasn't super pumped about that. But about

1:20:52

that, but not being the new were just not

1:20:54

being the new guys anymore like

1:20:56

we were like we finally have the

1:20:58

power kind of the thing is was

1:21:00

kind of stolen from us because back

1:21:02

in the day You know you

1:21:04

did your one platoon then most of

1:21:06

those guys left But we kept a

1:21:09

ton of our one who are now who

1:21:11

are now, two platooners. And so we got like

1:21:13

this this that we became these middle

1:21:15

half new guys Wompal tuners where we still had

1:21:17

and Bob and some Bob and some other guys

1:21:19

and we're like, it, it. We thought

1:21:21

we would And the power. still had And so

1:21:23

we always still had under like, we're

1:21:25

always still under somebody's thumb and so

1:21:27

probably a little bitter about that. that. And so

1:21:29

yeah, it was good so stoked. And it was good

1:21:31

end up, We like said, you end up with some checks and

1:21:33

balances then you end up, know, you

1:21:36

got said, you end up with

1:21:38

some checks and balances freaking maniac, freaking maniac,

1:21:40

freaking maniac. maniac, freaking maniac, But then

1:21:42

you know, who's like, you know, he's

1:21:44

You know, he's gonna, he's gonna pull the

1:21:46

in, right? right? the SEA, who's have the then you have

1:21:48

a maniac, but then you have me the

1:21:50

I'm gonna pull the reins you So you

1:21:52

end up with a little bit more checks

1:21:54

and balances, not that, you You

1:21:57

know. was It was always perfect. you

1:21:59

know, you know, there's still are going to

1:22:01

happen, but that's kind of how we

1:22:03

rolled into of how we rolled into the And

1:22:05

then at our first trip was land we

1:22:07

start, we start getting after it. was land

1:22:10

I and we start getting And

1:22:12

it was awesome, like. and it was awesome, like

1:22:14

I said, I said, I, when I I thought we

1:22:16

were monsters in the first one, first nothing.

1:22:18

The second one nothing, the second one

1:22:20

was aggressive. And I remember being

1:22:23

I remember being kind of nervous about Leif

1:22:25

coming in. in. Leif and I had history.

1:22:27

wasn't bad history, but it wasn't like,

1:22:29

you know, like you said, I was like you

1:22:31

know Leif was hot. And so when he

1:22:33

came in, I was like, lathe was hot and so

1:22:35

when he came it was good. oh and uh no it

1:22:37

was it was held the line, man.

1:22:39

was late held the line not mess around.

1:22:41

We weren't allowed to be slow. around

1:22:43

we weren't allowed to be slow

1:22:45

like uh... it was was was it

1:22:47

was rough. I i i i i hadn't I'd I'd

1:22:49

been to sniper school, but they made me a heavy

1:22:52

carry a heavy gun for Land Warfare, and

1:22:54

I did it with absolute and discontent, like Like, I

1:22:56

was pissed. Because I went I went to sniper school,

1:22:58

sniper skills, and I'm like, I I get away

1:23:00

from that from gun. And then they're like, hey,

1:23:02

it's Land Warfare, you're gonna carry a heavy gun.

1:23:04

And I was like, so pissed. But then

1:23:06

I ended up, I ran it well, so I

1:23:08

got put in Life And I was like, and Life

1:23:11

would even talk about it. He'd be like, dude,

1:23:13

you pull away from me when we were

1:23:15

running. And I was Lake's squad. And I was so

1:23:17

goddamn angry. Like, it. that's the only thing that

1:23:19

ran away from me when by hate.

1:23:21

That was it. impressive. I was like,

1:23:23

that so god but angry. Like, that's

1:23:26

was good. thing that ran

1:23:28

that gun. And BTF Tony, who was like born

1:23:30

at Nye Island. Oh man. So he's he's

1:23:32

just like I mean, anyway, he's an

1:23:35

I mean Like he knew

1:23:37

absolute tactician going knew everything that was

1:23:39

going on but he loved a scary

1:23:41

a scary point you know, I

1:23:43

remember you know workup the then and then

1:23:45

those like after work up trips and

1:23:47

all that and he would start planning

1:23:49

them to go to Nile and planning him to

1:23:51

go to Nylen. like oh God. And the greatest training

1:23:53

environment imaginable. True statement. And it is

1:23:56

True It is And it is, right? Right? It is. It is.

1:23:58

It know, this was also early in the

1:24:00

is. lots of money, like we were like, we

1:24:02

wanted to go to Tennessee and Kentucky and

1:24:04

Washington DC and all these like super fun

1:24:06

places. Tony's like, no, the desert. That's where

1:24:08

we need to be. And I was like,

1:24:11

oh, man. So it was, you couldn't learn

1:24:13

from a better person though. Yeah. Yes, when

1:24:15

Johnny Kim showed up. at Nyland is a

1:24:17

first trip and he showed up late because

1:24:19

he was a new guy that you know

1:24:21

you mentioned new guys don't get any schools

1:24:23

and that's totally true except for Johnny Kim

1:24:26

somehow it gets to go to sniper school

1:24:28

and so he shows up late to Nyland

1:24:30

and I remember I just talked to the

1:24:32

chiefs all three of them like hey guys

1:24:34

don't be doing any dumb shit like we

1:24:36

don't know the new guys like if you

1:24:39

have hazing taking place and the new guy

1:24:41

ends up being not you don't want the

1:24:43

guy in the in the team then he

1:24:45

can kind of hold that over you right

1:24:47

so you can put yourself in a precarious

1:24:49

position so we had kind of had that

1:24:52

conversation I'm talking to you like hey guys

1:24:54

like just freaking be professional with these new

1:24:56

guys blah blah blah blah blah blah says

1:24:58

the task of you commander I literally walk

1:25:00

inside because we were out on the range

1:25:02

having that conversation I walk inside and I

1:25:05

think it was Chris actually is like Like,

1:25:07

hey Kim, go meet the commander! And Johnny's

1:25:09

like looking around, has no idea what's going

1:25:11

on, and he's like right there, and he

1:25:13

points at me, and Johnny comes running over,

1:25:15

and I look at him, you know, like,

1:25:17

hey man, nice to meet you, and he

1:25:20

looks back at me, he's like, it's great

1:25:22

to meet you, so you can see you,

1:25:24

I was like. Dude, he looks like a

1:25:26

little shocked right now. And then I look

1:25:28

and like there's hair. There's like hair, like

1:25:30

he's had a hat on, but there's like

1:25:33

hair on his collar. And I go, good,

1:25:35

and I just knew I was like, they

1:25:37

just freaking beat his ass and shaved his

1:25:39

head. And I was like, it's good to

1:25:41

meet you too, dude. Like, welcome aboard. I

1:25:43

was just like, God damn. This is how

1:25:46

it's gonna be. There was no greater sin

1:25:48

that Johnny could. than going to

1:25:50

sniper school school without his input

1:25:52

input to that. he

1:25:54

just got sent and

1:25:56

we came and we're

1:25:59

like, we're you think

1:26:01

you're awesome. you're awesome. you

1:26:03

know, we're all all so,

1:26:05

so, because we went went to

1:26:07

sniper school, but because

1:26:09

they needed needed so

1:26:11

much in Iraq, Iraq, they

1:26:14

made another sniper school.

1:26:16

school. And it it was just like a lot of the lot

1:26:18

of the guys. guys through all the sniper, we went through the we went

1:26:20

through all the had the through the suites, we had the sniper

1:26:22

JP we had the guns it, and we i went through

1:26:24

it and we got a lot of work but we

1:26:26

didn't get any of the love like we were

1:26:28

kind of like through the bastard kids of like that

1:26:30

went through this like, well, you know, we did all school where they're

1:26:32

like well we didn't go through you you know we did pick

1:26:34

we did all that stuff but they're like well

1:26:36

you didn't go through the other we're so we're not

1:26:38

going to know if we're going to count it and

1:26:40

we're like count it, Bro and so so

1:26:42

so so gets the gets deal

1:26:44

and then Johnny with the

1:26:47

real deal the just like

1:26:49

We think that you're

1:26:51

gonna you're coming here gonna

1:26:53

you're know special Kim a

1:26:55

humble guy in which makes

1:26:57

it worse guy too which makes

1:26:59

it worse because you're almost more irritated about

1:27:01

that Because you like that's the way things

1:27:03

work. You know that interested Yeah, so so

1:27:05

we another another thing, you started showing

1:27:07

up, because because I I would would never make

1:27:09

the do Jiu-Jitsu jiu I feel like I you

1:27:11

that's imposing, know, impose the power I don't

1:27:13

impose the but for structure over the boys,

1:27:15

Like if but for officers, I felt

1:27:18

differently. Like, if you're gonna be an

1:27:20

officer and you're in my know, you're

1:27:22

me, you're gonna know how to fight.

1:27:24

so know how you know, like, And so

1:27:26

I, you know, like officers, 0500 at the the

1:27:29

team, out and we're out, in and we're trained

1:27:31

in trained in Jiujitsu. you know, some of

1:27:33

the e heard about that. Of course,

1:27:35

an open invite. So you so out.

1:27:37

What made you, how'd out what made you that

1:27:39

scenario. into that it was it was when Lafe and

1:27:41

Stoner did the at Nyland and I remember And

1:27:43

I remember almost it was almost like

1:27:45

a fight was happening. I remember walking

1:27:47

down the hallway at desert desert training

1:27:49

center and you hear this this crazy

1:27:51

like like it's literally literally like a know and

1:27:54

so in there, you know? And so

1:27:56

you're like, oh, what's going on?

1:27:58

I so gotta get in there. there And

1:28:00

Lafe and Stoner are like in this

1:28:03

almost pseudo unskilled like death battle. Oh,

1:28:05

for sure. And so, yeah. And so

1:28:07

I was like, oh, this is awesome.

1:28:10

And so I saw that and then

1:28:12

like, that was it. Like from then,

1:28:14

like, I, that's when we started training,

1:28:16

like we trained out there, are five

1:28:19

30s in the, the breezeway at team

1:28:21

three. I still remember, I can still

1:28:23

like vividly to this day, like, turn

1:28:26

in the corner. And it always sucked

1:28:28

when you beat us because you'd be

1:28:30

like disappointed. Because you know it's 530,

1:28:33

you're trying to get there, you're making

1:28:35

it, and you of course are up

1:28:37

at like four. And so you're like

1:28:40

standing out in the breezeway waiting for

1:28:42

people. And you like turn the corner

1:28:44

to like see if I can beat

1:28:47

Jaco and you're standing there like, hey.

1:28:49

And you're like, well, glad you showed

1:28:51

up. Finally, I was almost ready to

1:28:54

leave. And you're like, I know, I'm

1:28:56

sorry. Um, no, I, that honestly was

1:28:58

the most fun. Like, there's no, like,

1:29:01

challenges or anything like that. I mean,

1:29:03

you're, once you get done with your

1:29:05

first workup, the second one's gonna be,

1:29:07

should be pretty smooth. Um, there's not

1:29:10

like, oh, I, I made it through

1:29:12

CQC or Land Warfare, and now I'm

1:29:14

not gonna make it. That doesn't happen

1:29:17

very often. No, that honestly was the

1:29:19

most fun. Workup that we had like

1:29:21

that was awesome like awesome. The stories

1:29:24

are still legendary Yeah, and we were

1:29:26

kicking ass too So it's like the

1:29:28

trade-at guys when you're doing good and

1:29:31

you know this from being in trade-at

1:29:33

when it's when the when the troop

1:29:35

is doing good like trade-ets Having a

1:29:38

good time too when the troop is

1:29:40

doing bad trade-ets pissed and everything sucks

1:29:42

and it's like this the whole thing

1:29:45

turns into a nightmare, but when you're

1:29:47

kicking ass and Trade that's freaking stoked

1:29:49

and you're working like you want to

1:29:52

work as harder than trade at once