Security Halt!
Welcome to Security Halt! Podcast, the show dedicated to Veterans, Active Duty Service Members, and First Responders. Hosted by retired Green Beret Deny Caballero, this podcast dives deep into the stories of resilience, triumph, and the unique challenges faced by those who serve.
Through powerful interviews and candid discussions, Security Halt! Podcast highlights vital resources, celebrates success stories, and offers actionable tools to navigate mental health, career transitions, and personal growth.
Join us as we stand shoulder-to-shoulder, proving that even after the mission changes, the call to serve and thrive never ends.
Security Halt!
Will Yeske | War Stories, Humor, and the Accountability of Leadership
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In this compelling episode of Security Halt!, host Deny Caballero sits down with author Will Yeske, a paratrooper and storyteller, to explore the power of humor, honesty, and community in healing from the trauma of war. Through candid conversations, they unpack the realities of military service, the emotional toll of combat, and the essential role storytelling plays in processing these experiences.
From accountability in leadership to the politics behind wartime decisions, Will shares a raw and unfiltered look at life on the battlefield and the transition home. They dive into the importance of seeking help, breaking the stigma around mental health, and building community support among veterans.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone who values authenticity, leadership, and the enduring bonds formed in war. It’s a reflection on service, sacrifice, and the healing that begins when veterans speak their truth.
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Chapters
00:00 The Power of Humor in Community
03:10 Building Productive Habits
06:03 The Journey of a Paratrooper
08:58 Processing Trauma Through Storytelling
12:12 The Importance of Seeking Help
15:00 The Ripple Effect of Sharing Stories
17:57 The Reality of Combat Experiences
21:06 The Collective Memory of Service
24:00 Navigating the Ethics of Storytelling
26:45 Accountability in Leadership
36:25 Controversies and Command Changes
39:53 Understanding Leadership Dynamics
42:54 The Politics of War
46:10 The Potential for Adaptation in Storytelling
51:06 The Reality of Combat and Complacency
55:15 The Human Cost of War
01:00:47 Building a Supportive Community
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Instagram: veteransuccessstory
Podcast: Veteran Success Story
Book: Damn the Valley
Produced by Security Halt Media
Security Odd Podcast. Let's go. The only podcast that's purpose-built from the ground up to support you Not just you, but the wider audience, everybody. Authentic, impactful and insightful conversations that serve a purpose to help you. And the quality has gone up. It's decent. It's hosted by me, danny Caballero. It's decent, it's hosted by me, danny Caballero.
Speaker 1:You have no idea how often our type of people that can make fun of us. It's our group, our community. We've survived because we know how to joke with each other. So I always tell people man, like I don't do it because, like I'm some, some fucking like, oh, I need you to book this link Because I don't have the capacity to like remember, and things come in and go like look, cognitive science basic. There's a chain of action that goes in to effect when you receive information and it's processed, it's stored up here for a short time before it moves in. And you can go through rehab, you can go through all sorts of great, great therapy to like, try to help and and you can coach and you can work on mindset and being present.
Speaker 2:but if your brain's fucked at some point, it's true, it's just something that you're not gonna remember this whole thing with, uh, you know, I, I did notice, like, if you go back and you set those backstops and you look at, hey, when were you most productive or when did you see a spike in how things were going in your life? And you, all right, what habits, what foundation did I have in place at that point? And you start looking and you go, oh, I was getting up earlier, I was taking a cold shower in the morning, I was meditating, you know, for 15 minutes a day or something like that, before everything started, and you come back and you start putting those habits back in place and you're going to notice like, ok, hey, this one's good, I should have held on to this one. Why did I let that slide? And you know, that's, that's just, that's just part of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, I got to use every tool at your disposal to make things work for you. That's how I did it immediately. Use every tool at your disposal to make things work for you, that's how I like to do it immediately. Immediately, I'm always like just please make a google alert, make or let me send you a cannelly link and lock this date in. Otherwise, no, a lot of stuff.
Speaker 2:Uh, if it's not in the calendar, like that's actually, I'm talking with one of the guys, uh, today one of the reporters and, um, our first meeting you know we've talked since then, but our first meeting together you know we've talked since then, but our first meeting together it wasn't in the calendar, it was kind of unofficial, so it just didn't happen. I'm like hey man, like are we still? And he's like, oh crap, I completely forgot, man, I'm sorry. And I was like, hey, this next one, let's put this one in the calendar, cause I do the same thing.
Speaker 1:You know that's what we did. What happened to me the other day? You know it just wasn't solid in the calendar for that time block. What are you gonna do? Yeah, man, yeah, it's, it's life dude. Happy little accidents, man, just move on, move along. Yeah, no big deal, man will uh excited to have you on here, man, it was a pleasure being on your show and to get you to come back and talk about um, your book and your life and experiences. Uh, name the book is damn the valley.
Speaker 1:Um, proud member of the finest division, 82nd airborne. Having a fellow paratrooper on the show is awesome because that's um, that's a proud lineage that we both belong to. And um, you know, we we tend to hyper focus on, like the elites, the warriors to find us and it's like right along there. There's something to be said about the 18 year old, the 19 year old kid that goes in for a year long deployment during the early years of the GWAT and cuts his teeth and is right there alongside I'm looking at a, you know, a 20 or mid twenties NCO that's supposed to be leading him and that that needs to be highlighted more. Those fine individuals that mentor and develop us, those chosen few that go to selection and move on. We didn't get there by ourselves. I mean, we made it through selection on our own. But behind and in every one of those NCOs, every one of those soldiers, is a long line of individuals that mentored, coach, coached and took that raw fucking product and turned it into something that could be a purpose and go forward. So, even though we make it there and end up somewhere by ourselves no, no that there's a long history of ncos that poured into us and developed us and there there's a long, long historic history of individuals that come from division.
Speaker 1:Those are arguably some of the best dudes I worked with. Uh, I have to be, you know it's, it's biased, I get it, I know it, but I happen to be very proud of I've served in the 82nd and, uh, my two, five and four PR individuals, especially cause. Uh, those guys, they're legends, man. Uh, the stories that I grew up listening, uh, just like in your book, they're larger than life, man. Yes, there's something more impactful about a young man that finds himself. He doesn't have fucking all the high speed gear, he doesn't have the ability to go out there and kid up himself with like the finest. No, he's out there doing the best he can and we need to.
Speaker 2:He's been through the suck yeah, been through the suck and that is that's.
Speaker 2:That's literally. You know we talked about that. Uh, man, I think I think we've talked about that on that end with you know what happened the first time around. You know selection is only. You know that's the gate, but you're always people don't realize that when they go there and it's it's once the veil has been lifted and you start realizing like, okay, selection just means like, you have the possibility of becoming an operator. And then from there you know, okay, you got it, you got your tab, but you're still on constant blast. You know it, it. You're constantly being selected to be on that, that team or that. All right, you're going to be on B team for now. Uh, before you move up to alpha team, you know, um, or maybe you get right into an ODA, but hey, you know you better be shit hot because you're in for it. You're in for it.
Speaker 2:I actually think that in in the book I did a good job. Uh, especially just from some of the reviews. I looked through the reviews recently and there was someone who said on there, this means I did it, perfect. Um, because it said you know, oh, fucking private thinks he knows better kind of thing, and I'm like money, all right, cool, cause the way that the book was written in there was like from the perspective of the lower enlisted, like if you think that I continue to think that way afterwards and stuff, no, I've learned since then and it's apparent in the later chapters. And then in the ending, the closing of the book, kind of comes this full circle of like hey, like I've been on this journey, in this path, but I'm fortunate to have been able to present this story and present it in this way. And really one of the most valuable things, too, is reconnecting with all those guys during building this thing. You know, it's one thing to be like, hey, I'm going to, I'm going to do this story.
Speaker 2:And the reason why I did it, from my perspective too, is there was a, there was a few reasons, um, but one of them was all right, I'm going to take the heat. Uh, you, you can't boil it down into all these guys. And so you could literally be like well, he screwed the story up, you know, and I'm like fine, I'll take it. Man, I'll take it. No, it's, it's, it's true, and there was actually from that too, just due to some of the things going on within the veteran community that um, no-transcript down. That that's his hobby. He does this investigative thing on the back end. He investigates Stolen Valor, and he looked through everything and he just came back and he was like dude, some of this stuff I know you've downplayed Just thank you for not being that guy.
Speaker 2:It's not all sensational. You presented it in this way of. This is what happened and I didn't present it in any sort of glorious way or whatnot. Some of it is downright gritty. Um, you have stuff in there to where some of these reviews and stuff are starting to come out. Like there was one of them Uh, I think the latest said if you have PTSD, just be careful, man, this book's going to trigger.
Speaker 2:You said if you have PTSD, just be careful, man, this book's going to trigger you. And that was also intentional and it was something that I worried about in making it and actually even sending the stuff out to the guys. I had one of the guys contact me back and say, dude, I'm here on my couch reading the chapters that I was involved in that you sent me and I'm getting the smells of the shit river. I'm getting the smells of the shit river. You know I'm getting the smells of the Argon Dob and I'm like looking around like what, what's going on here? Man Like and it's his olfactory nerves are bringing that back and that's one of the you.
Speaker 2:You probably know a little bit more about that and things where that's telling you, hey, there's trauma here and it's being triggered right now. But the way also that it was written, was it? The book ebbs and flows like a deployment does, like right. When it hits some of the extreme points, like it either goes off in a boring story or it throws like a funny anecdote out there. Um, so sometimes some guys did, they had to take it in in small doses. Uh, here and there guys you know anybody that I know who's been to combat overseas and stuff has been like every single one of them I've had to put that book down for a period of time, like whether it's been a week, a month, you know a day just hey, I need to put it down at that point and then come back to it. That's a conscious decision to pick it back up and reface those traumas and that's been some of the beauty behind all. I honestly think I didn't even.
Speaker 2:It wasn't until after it was written that I started realizing that that's what was happening there, and it was in some of the talks with psychologists because I was worried. I'm like, is this going to cause someone to go off the end, you know, and do something regrettable by reading this? And that was a, and still is, a, major concern of mine. Just because it does it, it forces you to look at things that you might have forgotten about during your deployment, cause I know some of that stuff after I wrote it down and that's another beauty within within writing and stuff. And that was, um, a conversation I had with, uh, the editor in chief of of lethal minds, russell Worth Parker. Um, you matter of fact, you should talk to him at some point. He's just phenomenal guy, but he works with writing therapy within, uh, the state of North Carolina, but it's he does zoom calls on it, so it's open, open to everybody, and he talks about on how you're actually processing, like your brain is thinking about it differently when you're writing this stuff down and it's slowing it down enough to actually process everything that happens.
Speaker 2:And there's portions in there to where someone's like, hey, I love the way you wrote about this in your book and I was like, huh, I wrote that in, I kind of forgot about that, and it literally was just like my brain afterwards was just at peace with that moment and said, hey, okay, now you understand what happened here and it's all right, it's going to be fine. It's been interesting to see and it's been really cool to see the whole thing progress and to see where it's at now and continues to go. It's been extremely rewarding, one of the most rewarding things I've done, and I encourage people all over like tell your story, don't hang your laurels on that story, but tell your story and remember your foundation, where you came from, because you should be proud of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you hit on a lot of things there and a lot of people don't understand.
Speaker 1:No, it's, it's good. This is what we do here Security hall, doing the right thing, the um, the. The way we process memories and why things become trapped is when you start getting that recall that you're smelling the JPA, you're maybe feeling your heart rate's increasing, you're starting to sweat, you're starting to get amped up. You're still living that as if it's happening. You've got to process it so it goes into the memory, so it's no longer trapped in you, as if something like boom, you're back in that place and there's tons of therapies out there that can help you do that. Em, emdr is something that I recommend a lot. But you're not going to get that by yourself sitting at home dealing with it. You have to find some vulnerability, find some courage, ask for help. It's simple, man. We're people that go into the unknown. We're men of courage and determination. If you're struggling with that, go get help. Man, hit me up, I'll point you in the right direction. Right now I'm going to give you one for free, 22 to zero. Hit up Dr Pamela Arnell, today, not tomorrow. If you're dealing with some of this stuff and you want to put it behind you right now, free chicken. I get no benefit from it. I just know they're an amazing organization and I know Dr Arnell, an amazing woman, shout out to you big mama, great, great resource, please do not wait. Don't wait any longer. You'll see a flash right here 22-0, hit them up today. Um, yeah, we need you. I can't afford to lose any more of you. Stay in the fight with us. We need you right now, yeah, but all these things can happen to us when we're watching.
Speaker 1:Right now, there's a, there's a, a, a really amazing movie. Uh, what is it? Uh, war, warfare, warfare. Um, and a lot of guys are reporting the same thing. Uh, our, our generation of guys you know our age that have been there and they're all talking about it and they're they're sharing the same stories. Wow, man, I'm fucking amped up. Man, let's explore that like and for us, for anybody listening.
Speaker 1:You can start going through this journey of exploring these things, and they don't have to haunt you, they don't have to be an extra 25, 30 pound weight in your back. You can just start writing the stuff out, start processing it, get to the point where you can write about it, talk about it, discuss it and then, if you're comfortable enough, share it, because one thing that will. That your book has done is not only it's helped you reconnect with the men that you serve with, but it's helped all of you look at this thing from a point of reference that it's no longer here. It happened, we went through this, we all made it. We got on the other side of it and now we can look at this project that our brother made for us as a testimony to his love and dedication to us. And he didn't put his face forward in it. He didn't make it about him, he made it about us.
Speaker 1:Now, imagine if every you know might not be everybody, it might not be all of us, but imagine just some of us, a fraction of us that served in the GWAT. We're willing to explore that, especially if you find yourself having a passion for this, if you're willing to explore it for a little bit and write it down and process it, maybe turn it into an art piece, maybe turn it into a play Shout out to Scott Mann Turn it into a movie Holy shit. And now you're helping others go through it. Because we talked about representation, that's a big thing. Today we need representation too, every last one of us and if you serve in that time period, if you serve in these units, if you're a part of the individuals in that book, how great does it?
Speaker 2:feel to know you go to Barnes and Noble and be like fuck, that's us. You went through that. So, danny, this is. You know, this is actually something that you were just saying, like hopefully more people are getting involved in stuff, and that was that was actually and has been. One of the most rewarding things is seeing the ripple effect, and you know we have.
Speaker 2:You know, back here there's damn the valley, but during, during, during that, during the buildup to the release, and then I think it was actually right after it was either right before or right after to where somebody reached out from one of the other platoons and I mentioned them in the book hearing gunfights every other day over there. And we're like man, we're here walking through these minefields, like sure we have these one-off incidents. Uh, it was mainly bombs, it was mainly bombs and suicide bombers and they tried a few, they probed a few assaults on us or, but anytime they got kinetic, we just stomped them. I mean, stomped them hard, and they were just like there's, there's no way we're going to take these guys down. So like let, and they were just like there's no way we're going to take these guys down, so let't even know this until much later, until I started doing the book research, that they breached the wall and this is something that we ran. People think out there during training, when the drill sergeants or whatever, you do a run or something, and then there's like a uh, an obstacle or whatever they got to do additional stuff. And then they're like, okay, now we're going on a follow-on mission and guys are like what the hell Like? And it's like, no, we're just trying to figure out number one, you, to see where your, where your end is, you know, and then how much further you can pass, go past that, because I had just done a four-hour it was a short patrol, but it was a four-hour combat patrol into one of the towns and we were back at the ECP doing our AAR. So, going back and talking about everything that happened, what we saw, did anybody else see anything? What could we have done better? And the freaking sky lights up and it's just kaboom, you get hit with the concussion and we're like what was that? And we knew it wasn't us, but it was there's conjecture that it was actually meant for us.
Speaker 2:Uh, at one point we had intel and we had pushed out our c wire and closed off one of the roads that came alongside the outpost and we pushed them to go around the whole field. And we're like, hey, you know, it takes an extra five minutes for the Afghans to run around. But you know, whatever that's their safety versus our or their convenience versus our safety, like that's what we're going with. And there was a donkey cart, you know, basically on the motorcycle. They came up and the one of the towers I heard it because I had the other, I was the RTO and I had one of the Motorola's and stuff too and like, hey, there's a, there's a little cart over here and they hit it with a green laser, you know, and it's sitting there looking at the C wire because we just moved it out the day earlier, so they didn't know it was there. And they're like you could see them like hesitate, like what the heck am I doing? And they turn around and it was like an hour or so after that they decided to hit.
Speaker 2:It was, uh, afghan. I think it was an Afghan prison at one time, but it was an ANCOP facility to where our guys from 1508 were staying with HHC and some of the scouts. And they did exactly that. I mean, they ran this donkey cart right up against the wall, detonated, you know, breached the wall and they literally had. And we thought it was RPGs and grenades and stuff. No, it was people, it was literally suicide bombers strapped up running into this compound and lighting themselves off. Like that's terrifying, that's like world war ii zombies call of duty moment, like that's insane. You know, yeah, and we come up to this afterwards. It's actually like the best way it really is.
Speaker 2:It's just like you have this full-on berserker coming at you and all of a sudden it explodes and the air is full of ball bearings and you know, nails and pieces of metal and stuff. Like what are you going to do? Like, how do you, how do you stop that? And we had, up to then, run across a few of them. We actually ran across at one point. The guys were, um, were shaving another dude in order to throw a vest on them. You, you know, we found the vest. They laid out some tarps and stuff. It was a HME producing facility kind of thing. They had the tarps laid out and shaven and we kind of just came across it and they were just like, oh, they picked up AKs, sprayed at us and then started running off. Once we returned fire. And you know, we found, I think think it was something like 40 or 50 or some odd detonators stuffed into a freaking tree. But they had these caches everywhere. No, it was crazy, absolutely wild.
Speaker 2:But getting back to the ripple effect of this, and through these stories and through telling this stuff, this other guy reaches out to me and he's like hey, I have someone from Charlie Company the guys across the river from you, second platoon, charlie company writing a book and he's been traveling the country reconnecting with the guys like in person sitting down doing recordings, doing interviews about everything that we've been doing, but we can't seem to find anybody who wants to publish it. Can you help us, can you coach us through this? And I'm like, are you kidding me? Absolutely. And then you know, within two weeks he's got a deal, he's got a call back from Casemate and you know, a year after that, here you go, devil's Playground, it goes right alongside Damn the Valley and since then he's coached somebody else and they have a book coming from the 101st that's going to be hitting the shelves, I think in mid-June, of the incredible to to no number one. You the hell you went through. But then you see the effects. But then you still see when these guys get together those bonds they don't, they don't leave, and through that and through connecting, I mean I've found I didn't know these guys from Adam beforehand and afterwards we've talked. I think it's really been like once a week since we started talking and since they got that to where you know, I've built in stuff with social with them or we've done stuff collaboratively.
Speaker 2:He's come on the podcast show. That's actually what started the efforts of the Veteran Success Story podcast. Was that whole deal. He was like I don't have enough SEO or enough episodes out there. I'm like let's do it, let's just put a track down. And it was goofy but I was like you know what? There's something with this. There's something with sitting down, talking with someone whose heart is in the right place and, you know, I kind of fell in love with that aspect of it, or the aspect of, hey, let's push each other through this or let's perpetuate this positive information out there in what's helped us out in some of the things that we've done, like cause other people. This is a lasting format. Once you put that track out there and it's uploaded to the cloud, if you will, it's out there forever so somebody can reach out and be like I wonder if he's got a topic on this. You know, and I'm really going through this, and now it's just like let's lay these tracks down for other guys to glean that knowledge. And why aren't we doing this in the veteran space? The self-improvement space is huge out there. Who's specifically doing it for veterans with their hearts in the right place, and that is what it's turned into and that's how meeting guys like you, danny man, it's been really rewarding on that end, too, is just expanding that network and finding the other guys out there who are truly trying to elevate the others around them.
Speaker 2:It's not. We've talked before about this. The arrow of responsibility, you know, was something that our command preached to us religiously. But when I went back to that lesson and started boiling down, like, who do you want to be talking to, or who do you want to, who do you want to associate with, who do you want in your bubble or in your circle? And is the arrow pointed towards them, or is the arrow pointed towards below them? And what I mean by that is not so much below them, but the people around them. Are they trying to elevate them through their efforts or is it? Hey, look at me, look at me, look at me Like. And once you do that and you see, like, how, what's behind the charge of that person, what, what are they constantly talking about? What are they putting out there? Is it elevating those around them? Is it elevating the mission or is it about them?
Speaker 1:It's very plain to see, once you do that down at that basic level, where someone's uh, where someone's heart truly is, yeah, man, I gotta, I gotta say like it's, uh, it's amazing to see the effects like this book has, and I have to imagine going through putting this all together, like how did you keep yourself, a in a good state of mind and, b being able to go back to it and approach it with present moment clarity, rather than getting pulled in to relive episodes within your own lived experience or to feel like you're taking on the weight of a lot of the subject Cause you had to do a lot of research? You have to dive in and be an investigative journalist pretty much, and that's hard, man. That's hard when you're from the community or from that culture. You understand it and having to you know understand it and having to you know make sure that you were approaching it from the right angle, being an honest broker how difficult was that?
Speaker 2:Honestly for someone and I'm not trying to toot my own horn here at all but I had to take a good look at character beforehand and say like, okay, this is not about you, this is about the guys and really honestly, that's. I even put that charge out there to them from the very beginning, when I was tossing it around, and I said look, guys, if I start to go by the waysideside or if I start to appear to just be talking about you know, if it's just about me, pull me aside and be like you know. So I literally put it out to them first and I put that backstop in and I said you know I'm not always the best judge of it, but I know you guys are always going to be looking because this story is about you and this is truly about you guys and I don't want to be a turd representation of that. You know it's, it's true. You know what?
Speaker 1:I mean.
Speaker 2:Like, why that right there, whether it's I think it was the. So the book launch down in Fayetteville at the airborne and special operations museum and we'll get into in a minute why why that was the location. But uh, for that book launch there was just, it was historical, it was the guys wanted it to be something that was putting this history, you know, and solidifying it and it's. But from that visceral level of somebody on the ground, they didn't want it to come from reports from a commander somewhere else. They didn't. You know, there was another book that was written from a Marine journalist and it was a great book, you know. I honestly I think he got a lot of the feel right. He talked to a few people and everything. But something about it didn't sit right with the guys and I think a lot of it just weighed along with. It wasn't someone that was there and they really felt protective of that story. Cause there's, there's so many stories out there that infantry guys and stuff could tell that they're just quiet about it because they're like there's nothing that comes from telling these stories. And I think they're starting to realize that there is actually something that comes from these stories. But it's got to be done right. It can't just be, uh, you know, glorifying any one person or any one action. It's, it's a team effort, you know, and it's through that man, I think, for two years I posted on social media for two years, daily pictures that were from there.
Speaker 2:I would have never been able to do that if it weren't for the guys. I initially reached out in the beginning and I was like, hey, the publisher asked for 30 photos and I just said yes, right off the bat, but I got nothing. I got five grainy photos from Facebook, like I'm going to need your guys' help, man. And they responded, but in droves, I mean the drive that I have on there and the amount of videos and the amount of pictures is incredible and it would not have happened without those guys backing it as well. And that's I always.
Speaker 2:Anything that's attributed to, to anything with this book, I mean, really goes to that. But at that museum thing, they said afterwards and I didn't even know, you know, they were like hey, well, what's your speaking fee? And I just kind of looked at them like what do you mean speaking fee? Like, like, you guys held the event for us, like thank you, you know. And they're like well, normally people get a speaking fee down here. I'm like, if I take a dime of that, like it's got to go back to the guy. So if you guys feel like you want to pay for something, like the guys that came out here for the event that were from that deployment, like pay for their dinner tonight, like that's all, that's cool, yeah, that were from that deployment, like pay for their dinner tonight.
Speaker 1:Like that's all, that's cool. Yeah, you know there's. There's something to be said about that. Right, like you, you have to walk a fine line. The book is a collective yeah, but, man, there's a lot that goes into that it is. It is something that is a tribute and for everybody. But at the end of the day, you wrote it, you put it together. So there is something to be said about finding a way to ethically be able to say like hey, like there's got to be, I got to be able to eat, I got to be able to put food on the table, I got to be able to take care of myself table. I gotta be able to, like, take care of myself. So I don't think you should be, you should feel guilty for taking, uh, being able to make revenue. Uh, because this isn't like a uh, a book that's highlighting you. I'm fucking number one paratrooper behind enemy lines, the only man able to save the, the pair have you read?
Speaker 2:read the Mexican standoff chapter. I mean, we're talking about literally where I created an international incident, you know, and I put it in there, that's life.
Speaker 1:That's a reality, man. It is. The more often than not you find yourself making mistakes in theater. I don't care who the fuck you are, I don't care, you've made mistakes, you've messed up, you've let infill and got lost in orchards trying to go to your primary koi. Yep, yes, yeah, like that shit happens. Like that shit happens. Yeah, but you adjust and you learn from it. Man, no one's a fucking tom brady every single fucking day there are a few individuals that are Captain America.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like shit happens, man. Like you got to fucking get there, you have to figure a way through it, you got to fucking take it. Like all right, like that's life, man. Like there are going to be situations where there's a Mexican standoff and it's like fuck dude, like what, what the fuck's going on. People lose their shit, people get so frustrated they threaten to kill uh, a freaking, uh, third third nation national working like it's, it's, it's, it's a crazy situation. You find yourself, as a young man, in a conflict that is just insane, absolutely fucking insane. When we look back and see what we accomplished, see where we were at with the, the limited guidance, the absence of complete there was, there was no fucking strategy to afghanistan. There wasn't, uh, petraeus, mad dog, all of them. They should all be recalled and they should be facing the judgment for leading a war and not having a strategy, not having a fucking final, definitive strategy, and it goes. It trickles all the way down to the point where you're just like, why are we going on this movement?
Speaker 2:nobody fucking knows some of them, yeah yeah no, no, that was actually one of the one of the concerns. In writing the forward, I had reached out to, uh, general ben hodges, who was the rc, uh, rc south commander at the time, and you know he actually knew exactly who we were. Uh, he had flown in and done the assessment on, um, what had happened over at the incident I talked about earlier with the donkey cart. Uh, so I mean, he was there and he knew exactly who we were. Um, when I started talking with him. But that first forward that he sent out, I mean it was, I was just like Whoa, this is like a complete teardown of the entire war of Afghanistan and I kind of had to pull him aside and be like he's sir, like look, you're not wrong.
Speaker 2:But this book, the focus is about the stuff the guys did on the ground and we got to find a good middle ground here and I feel that we did with the forward. I feel like what was put out was spot on. You know, and maybe at some time and I'll have to talk to him about it, you know maybe at some time I will just publish the original forward out there, you know and that's whether or not he wants to do.
Speaker 1:So. I think that's something that we have to go back and like, really like, understand and it's a benefit to us in a way that we can finally have some closure and knowing that the burden of that failure is not on the shoulders of the guy on the ground, it's on the leadership, senior leadership, the guys that were constantly high-fiving and be like yes, now I get my sweet defense contracting job. Guys like Millie. Guys like Millie, individuals that served for decades and knew there was no actual plan of action to win. We have to hold those individuals accountable and nobody's talking about it anymore, nobody's. We have to make this a thing where it's like known and it's not going to like. I have no, no assumption that anybody's going to ever be held liable for this, that nobody is going to be brought back. I understand that. What I would like is to make it a common discussion so that the young man or young woman who grows up reading history, understanding, goes to West Point, goes to these military academies and then is in charge, they understand the blunder that has continued to hot to happen since vietnam. Yeah well, fuck it, we just pull out. We didn't have a strategy we, we needed a fucking strategy. We needed a fucking strategy. And when you just constantly just fucking, just like I don't know, dude, just keep guys alive and uh say that we're eradicating poppy fields, just like I don't know, dude, just keep guys alive and uh say that we're eradicating poppy fields this year. I don't know what. The fuck. Figure it out, mitch, I'll see you high five. That's what it felt like. That's exactly what it felt like. But yet guys on our level are like hey, you're being held to the fire. You gotta state this in your con op as if, if it's fucked up, we're gonna fry your ass, captain or platoon sergeant. If you don't make sure it's executed up, we're going to fry your ass, captain, our platoons aren't. If you don't make sure it's executed properly, you're fucking done Like all the ownership, all the fucking like detail planning, analysis. Well, it's not on your con op. If it's, uh, if you're not maneuvering properly, it's here and there, then obviously you're a no-go. It's like motherfucker. Talk to your fucking boss. Why the fuck are we here Like I know what I'm doing, keeping my dudes alive and going after bad guys. But you got to figure out the grand scheme. They never fucking had it. I never fucking had it.
Speaker 1:They briefed green slides all across the board Afghanistan. We're perfect A&A best fighting force out there by and large. We've got some stories there. They've got great numbers here. Meanwhile motherfuckers aren't even showing up and they're like dudes are just fucking still getting paid like that's a crazy part. I hope we get those stories. I really hope we get the accountability stories of how fucked up it was. Um, there's one book I fucking read a while back. I need to find it. I'll put an episode description because it breaks down like irresponsible spending, the irresponsible leadership. For decades, just no one knew what the fuck was going on. Yet individuals on the ground were being held accountable for their missions, for their planning, like, yeah, so some of the and that's.
Speaker 2:That's actually. There was some controversy there in the background, not only like with us, but even the higher echelons, like that was. So the year we were there, that was the year where uh, mccrystal was removed okay, and then, right around that same time is our battalion command got removed. Both our commander and sergeant, major for Major for 2508 got removed and the story behind what happened there.
Speaker 2:I had to ride a fine line because, again, I didn't want that to be the focus. I knew that I could very easily have made that the focus and you know, every single Fox news and CNN correspondent and everyone else would come out in droves being like, oh yeah, like fuck the military, fuck the man, like look at this, look at this story here. And I was like no man. Like the guys are more important than that. That story was more important. Like, will we come around and write something about it? Well, I mean, I actually already have in a way. I started sending out a few chapters to guys and, matter of fact, I spoke with somebody else about doing a. You know I won't let the freaking cat out of the bag on that one.
Speaker 1:Yet I was going to ask him, like let's fucking spill the beans Heard first here with Denny Caballero.
Speaker 2:But no, I mean, that is like someone else in our battalion who knows the situation and can write. And, uh, we, we talked and we brought it forward to some of the people at the higher echelons and said, hey, like, look at this, and was this something that? You know? We're feeling that this would be a lot of healing for the guys If we brought it forward. Look at the truth that was brought forward in these. We didn't sugarcoat it. You know, we're feeling that this would be a lot of healing for the guys If we brought it forward. Look at the truth that was brought forward in these. We didn't sugarcoat it. You know, damn, the Valley and the devil's playground, those are not sugarcoated books. It it points some fingers.
Speaker 2:You know I even um spoke with the battalion commander that took over, uh, for us. It was Colonel Jones at the time, which then, you know, at the time of me writing the book, became one star general uh Jones and I. I spoke to him about it and I was like you know, I mean thanks for taking my call and thanks for talking. Um, I do want to hear your side, but I'm not presenting this story in this way. I'm presenting it in the guys on the ground but like, help me find what was happening with you there, because the guys on the ground quite honestly took that and it was almost like turning the artillery guns. They were just like all of the anger and all of everything that was happening to us on the ground. That frustration and anger turned towards him.
Speaker 2:Uh, and I spoke to him about it and I'm like a lot of guys freaking hated you. Uh, you know, I even put a there was a chapter in there to where I wrote about it, um, about an instance to where he came out on a patrol with us after and like you have my platoon sergeant yelling back at him in his psd I hope you hit a fucking landmine. Yeah, you know, like right out in front of the guys in the open, we're like whoa, did that just freaking happen? Like you gotta be kidding me. And he was very humble about it and we talked and he talked about his situation and understanding a little bit more about it. On that end kind of was like okay, I, I can kind of see your end too, I don't. You know, not everything here jives.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, I'm not getting the full warm and fuzzy, but I got it.
Speaker 2:You know, I get it there's more factors than I could see yeah, uh, it's.
Speaker 1:It's taking a long long. It takes a long time for guys to reach that point of being able to understand that, at at the end of the day, that's another human being like, and we don't understand the stressors the those dudes are are dealing with a whole bunch of different factors. Um, yeah, they're not the end all be all decision makers. That's not. That's not the truth. They're not the one they're. They're not the end-all, be-all decision-makers. That's not the truth. They're part of the problem. I'm not trying to excuse them, but we have to kind of be able to see that they can be some gray. Yeah, they can be a piece of shit. You have to make some bad calls, but they're still a human being at the end of the day yeah it's uh, it's hard man, it was also late.
Speaker 2:Well, no, and I'm later. Later down the road too, the there was other people, like someone else that was involved, you know, at the higher echelon level, not not division, but in between there it was someone else involved to where it came out down the road that everything that our battalion commander was saying was right. And when this person gets removed and their wife gets barred from post and this goes to court and I've seen the transcripts, yeah, I mean, this is this is it gets dirty, it gets dirt. Yeah, we're not going to go into it fully in this one, but, uh, I will say we're addressing it in in the possible next. So, and it's uh, the the title for that one.
Speaker 2:Honestly, the fitting title of what it looks like right now would be Fury, because it is. It's about what? Oh yeah, not only is it. You know that was our, you know we were to Fury. But if people knew the full extent of everything that happened in between the politics side, that happens within the military, and the repercussions of everything down the line of what happened, because it got political instead of being about war fighting, uh, would blow their freaking mind. And we're talking. You know people named where it's like. You know they're, uh, retired as a four-star and working with Cohen group. You know, making millions a year, and it's when you start putting that on blast. You got to start worrying about lawyer teams, or even are you just going to disappear?
Speaker 1:Yeah, man it's. It's kind of gross dude. The uh, the amount of individuals that are that are one day in uniform, the next are making millions of dollars as a?
Speaker 2:uh corporate uh advisor is fucking insane, insane. Yeah, you know, and that's that's where the need for this book, too, was like we're gonna solidify this, and we're gonna solidify it now, before the chances of it being taken advantage of by someone who wants to write their memoirs, or you you know, and that's the other thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yep, and we're like we got to get it down and get it down now. And the book worries some people out there because it is emphatically the truth, and the truth does not always, it's not always pretty, it's not rosy, and we're talking about the truth during a wartime engagement, hence the whole title. Damn the Valley, like coming into it. You know, that was a saying. I've got it on a. You know, I'm going to reach it, cause it's right under the camera here, but there's a hat.
Speaker 2:And they were made up during the deployment, but it was based off of a plaque as you entered, cop Johnston, named for specialist Jason Johnston, which was killed on the day after Christmas, uh, back in 2009.
Speaker 2:So December 26th 2009,. Um, you know, that was the plaque going in there, you know, and there was a symbol with a bunch of symbols of luck on there and underneath there was a scroll and the scroll read damn the Valley. And it became kind of a mantra out there of, you know, damn the valley, damn this place. This place is as horrible, you know, but you ain't stopping us, we, we, we sit in misery, that is. That was too fury, for for sure, like we were pushed hard and the training leading up to it was miserable, but at the same time, the command team that put it put us through that, and I mentioned this in the book too. At the same time, the command team that put it put us through that, and I mentioned this in the book too. It was one of the only times that I saw someone at that level out there, sucking alongside us almost as much as we were and that says a lot yeah, it does.
Speaker 1:Well, dude man, the uh that I mean, have you thought about going and uh trying to get this made into a movie or a netflix special? Because that's something that a lot of guys are, um, are starting to do shout out to uh triple nickel man like uh I always talk about doing.
Speaker 1:An amazing, amazing group of dudes shout out to ruben chris mcphee like you guys are fucking giants in my. In my view, dude, you're. You're changing the uh, the stereotype of what veterans are supposed to do after service. And, dude they're. They're coming out with their own freaking uh streaming app. Dude, they're developing their own. I'm not going to ruin or put too much out there, but they're taking black ops into this whole different thing, man, like highlighting our service members from the special operations world that are, you know, forgot about what they're doing for um roy pivinovich's family by highlighting his story. Because, bro, the fact that we don't have a full length feature film of this man's like military, like life and what he did after service beyond me. But that just it goes to show. Like man, like books like yours are powerful and they deserve to be turned into. Every like from just going from printing a graphic novel into a freaking netflix special to a movie. Have you thought about that? Is there anything in the works trying to make that happen?
Speaker 2:So I'm kind of agent shopping right now and again. That's why I actually talked with the guy who did Devil's Playground and we actually talked about that end and really to do it justice and we both kind of had movie stuff in mind but it was looking at it and saying like what do you think? And it honestly would be like a honest to God, if you wanted to do it right, it would have to be Yellowstone sized. I'm not kidding, because you're looking at trying to weave in. You have, damn, the Valley, which our situation on our end was much more psychologically taxing in the way of you never knew which step was going to be your last Charlie Company across the river from us. Their situation was landmines but combined with complex ambushes and a lot of kinetic freaking. Oh my God, the amount oficut type gunfight engagements was insane over there. So they have, and even within our own platoons, like there just was so many, each platoon had its own personality that was different and everything. So we really, in talking about it, we're like, if you want to get the correct character development and stuff, if they were gonna, if hollywood was gonna leave this to let us tell the real story and, honest to God, like I've talked with the operators and stuff that have come back and been like this all happened in a year. Like you gotta be kidding me. And I'm like dude, I'm telling you this was a deployment, that that, and an area that there was nothing else. You know, there was similar stuff, but it was set apart as one of those type of just hotbeds. Uh, and if you talk to the guys that were there before us 117 strikers, same thing they had a real rough go of it. The guys that followed on afterwards, what they did afterwards it was an artillery battalion combined with infantry, with infantry. Horrible idea, cause what their idea was is that we pushed out most of it and that they could put people in static positions to kind of hold it and having our expecting artillery guys to do the infantry job. Like we, when they started coming in, like we were just flabbergasted, like these guys were out of shape. Um, we were like I talk about it in there towards the end, and I'm not saying anything like down and on them, but we were like, if you came out here expecting that this was okay, like you're wrong and it was really coming back from a patrol, uh, and our guys. This was. The stark difference right here is our guys were doing the right thing.
Speaker 2:We got back and we immediately went into priorities of work. Everybody is first things first. All right, rust and dust your weapons, get some chow in your belly. If you got to do some personal hygiene depending on how long you've been out got it Freaking, get it done. Get your gear set up in a way to where, like, if you are called for qrf or if we get attacked like it is good to go, you throw it on and your shit is freaking lock and load and out the gate. You freaking go um. And that's how we were.
Speaker 2:And we got back from this patrol and all the guys are like, oh man, I really gotta freaking rack out. And we got in. I flipped one dude off his freaking bunk um, big old fat body and I was just like boom, like I'm like wrong answer dude, like you guys are going to die out here if you continue this way. And we got into him nasty and uh, brag has the same story on his like from their platoon and this other, uh, this other book the guy that is coming out with it said it in there. They were fucking assholes to us. It's like, yeah, because we had just spent six plus months in an area that was just I think it was right around nine in an area to where you had to be on it because you gave any little bit of complacency, it was exploited and exploited horribly and exploited horribly.
Speaker 1:Traditionally, that's something that has been talked about and described even within our World War II veterans Replacements that weren't switched on. You know intimately how fast you can become a victim. You have to keep the fuck that mindset of just coming in. I've seen it Just partying and having fun like dude. These guys have been here. They've been taking it to the enemy. They're proactive, they're fucking fighting, they're they're already a pro team and you come in here with fucking varsity or jv attitude like fucking grab ass, happy, overweight, not being switched on. Yeah, you're gonna get your shit pushed in because they don't want you to die like it seems brutal and it seems mean and you're being you're being a meanie. No, I'm fucking trying to save your life, dude.
Speaker 2:Yeah, trying to fucking save your life you're, you're in la la land, like yeah, it's well, that's why it's different move 200 meters past their, their static outpost. Like they started to allow the enemy to to dictate their movement. Like, instead of having whatever medevac come in and then continuing mission, they would just halt mission and, freaking, come back into the, into the outpost, to medevac them. And I'm like well, holy crap, wrong answer man. Like wrong, freaking answer left and right. And I, you know we saw it.
Speaker 1:Let you let the enemy dictate the pace. You're fucking done, dog. Like that's done, you're done it got so bad.
Speaker 2:You can look it up. Um, look up the uh, colonel david flynn, why I bombed three afghan villages, or why I flattened three Afghan villages. And so it was a little area called Tara Kalache and they came in and they leveled three villages. They just freaking, bombed carpet, bombed the whole freaking place, um, and that's what ended up ultimately quelling the Valley. It just eradicated everything. It's like man, I mean rebuilding and stuff that crazy enough you can go and look at. Um, it's a tourist destination. Now would I ever go there? Like hell?
Speaker 1:no, because I don't know what ordinance is just talking about this with with my wife last night, the, the and I'll. You know I hate to end it on this part, but I do. We are not talking about a conflict that ended decades ago. We're not talking about a nation that has progressed and developed. People are being brutalized, killed, raped, punished for merely being women. The Taliban's new rules like we thought it was bad before we got involved. Women can't be if there's women aren't allowed to be near each other. I think one of the rules is when it comes to prayer, women can't be within earshot of other women. If a woman like the, the cooking spaces for women aren't allowed to have windows, or places where women there's, there should be windows for women to look out of. Like we talk about advancing human rights and equal rights here in this country and and and people are so fucking ready to like cut each other's throats for equal rights and representation. I'm like, yeah, you know how good you have it.
Speaker 1:You, you understand that women are being stoned to death purely because they step outside of their home and they're not with with an escort, with a male representative of their family. They don't have rights, they don't have the ability to have health care, like I've seen some brutal, horrible fucking shit in that country and we just walked away from it. And here's the fucked up thing about it. What about all the female soldiers? Our lionesses, our csts developed a program and train and empowered women to be part of their mission set and those remarkable little tiny warriors that went on every mission with us to go out there and help us by talking and engaging with the women in these villages, in these compounds.
Speaker 1:What happened to them? We weren't able to get all of them out and we just fucking left them there to be brutalized, to be fucking, to experience what none of us could ever fucking imagine. And that, to me, is one of the greatest fucking atrocities of this thing. And I I cannot understand why we can't see the importance of being able to, like, hold people accountable yeah, I know that's like the horrible thing you deal on the positive end of things and stuff.
Speaker 2:But if you wanted to go down that route a little bit and so you should talk with Beth Bailey. She runs a podcast called the Afghanistan Project and she has a lot of contacts over there that she's very much in tune with what's happening over there. Crazy to hear some of the stuff back and understand that this is the repercussions of leaving that vacuum of power and not properly, you know, having an exit from that country or supporting our people one of the.
Speaker 1:I tried describing it last night. Thank you the the amount and this doesn't. I know that I'm not the only one dealing with this. To wake up and check your email, because I we talk about this, we engage about it. It's out there for people to hear. I get emails from individuals with team pictures from Afghanistan. Hey, I was with ODA XYZ. I need help. And they send in all their certificates of thank you for supporting us and pictures not from one oda team, pictures from fucking multiple years of dedicated service. I need help. I need help. And it's just picture after picture after picture after picture and then you recognize some of the fucking faces you know like what the fuck denny, I've actually had this to talk about ripple effect and stuff too.
Speaker 2:Um, I've had the same thing with with believe it or not, the book has afghan fans out there to where I've literally had someone do a motorcycle drive by of where, uh, cop, where was you know? Like I noticed the tri-walls and stuff and you this in. But he was 10 years old at the time when we were there. And to get back that they remember us and they remembered us standing tall and doing the right thing. They weren't frightened of us because they knew they had seen us bleed alongside the Afghan counterparts and stuff and they understood that these guys are here and what they're doing and stuff is something greater than themselves and they really respected that. It's a warrior culture. And to say that like here's this book that we wrote. But the ripple effect, not only within guys from our battalion or other people within the army that you know, there's ones that have been like man Argandab, like like I know that name, I serve there, I know someone who served there Like thank you for writing about this.
Speaker 2:But then also having Afghans and stuff reach out and heartbreaking as well, the same thing to where I so bad, to where I actually had to build into on social media bots that are like here's one, two and three, and if you are an Afghan seeking refuge and this, and that these are some organizations I can't personally do anything for you. I wish I could, oh my God, I wish I could. And and still, I still have people reaching out and saying, like you know, sir, can you help? Here's my credentials, here's me with these guys, here's this and that, and it's just like personally I can't. But if you go to those organizations like, that's all I have right now for you, like we'll see down the road, but and it's heartbreaking to hear and to hear about and to see personally- yeah, it's, it's, um, it's one of the worst things that has ever happened to our, our, uh, our generation of, of uh, veterans.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like, it's, like, it's one of the multiple things we're fucking dealing with, like our guys are fucking falling to the wayside with, with uh, suicide, drug addiction, alcohol addiction, um, and then we have to worry about the, the bonds that we'll never know, if our interpreter made it out, if our you know. The list goes on and on, um, oh, but to end on a more positive note, sorry about that, some real shit.
Speaker 2:These are some of the shit that goes on and on.
Speaker 1:That's what we deal with too. The consequences of our service are that we intimately get to know these individuals, and damn it if it doesn't impact us, all of us and we're not the only ones. There's individuals that are dealing with it on the front lines because they're running organizations that all they do is try to bring resources, aid, to our comrades that are trapped behind enemy lines. So by no means are Will and I the only individuals. And if you're dealing with it too, reach out, let's get a, let's get you connected to some resources that you can send to people or build it into your, your social media, so that it can be referred automatically to these individuals so they don't have to wait around. Um, so yeah.
Speaker 2:I'll say, too is one of the things that and I've spoken to I think I spoke to striker Meyer about it and stuff but I've also talked to a few of the oh yeah, oh my gosh, I know it right.
Speaker 2:And then just start seeing on getting some of the recognition from the larger shows and stuff, where I'm like you know, this is awesome, I see that and I'm like if you could go 30 years without telling your story, you know, and and having to wait that long, um, yeah, and just that guy has so much like energy and vitality. But talking with some of the vietnam vets, uh, I've been like, hey, how did you guys get through that end? Because I I do feel like there's some parallels on afghan. You guys live this. What worked for you guys? Because it's not just g y here. You know, I know world war ii and stuff are starting to. It's a little different of a situation, but some of these other conflicts and stuff.
Speaker 2:I look to those elders and say, hey, man, like what nuggets of wisdom here and everything do you have for us? Cause I'm listening, you know, I'm, I'm someone who my ear, I'm wide open for suggestions. This is a problem that we're facing in our veteran community today, especially with our generation, to where a lot of them seem almost jaded to not want to be part of uh organizations or part of anything like that has anything to do with that service. They've almost removed themselves from it and it's like that. I do think that that's the wrong answer, because one day that's going to come crashing back in Um, and I think that establishing these support networks and establishing these reaching out to the people that you served with at one point now and at least having a number for someone to call, is it's important.
Speaker 2:It's an important thing to do because, you know, why not start establishing that now, instead of 20 years from now? You know, wouldn't it have been good to know somebody along the way? So we're all in it together, and that's kind of the dirty secret that the army never, never tells us is that, hey, guess what? You are now tied for life, because that's really what it is.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, brother. I couldn't think of a better way to wrap this up. Man, the brotherhood is larger on the outside than it is in the team room. It is true. You can encompass. You don't have to just rely on just 12 guys, man. You can grow your team and your community and make it a powerful thing that you can lean on and then bring others in into the circle to support them.
Speaker 1:And big shout out to guys like Vinny Vargas who are doing that. Man, talk about an amazing thing that he's doing with, like the fuse and his, his initiatives. Dude, like the fact that somebody who's arguably had has had an amazing career on his own is willing to dive back into the void and say, not motherfuckers, we're all getting at this shit together. So shout out to you, vinny, and everything you're putting together, brother, like that is such a powerful thing to see. Uh, it's, it's not lost on me. And like man just absolutely cannot applaud him enough. That's why I'm giving him a free plug in Follow his podcast, everything that he's doing on Ironclad Media, his own show and he just started another one with the North Group. So check that out, will. Where can we get your book?
Speaker 2:Oh man, so you can get. I mean, you can either type in William Yasky or Damn the Um. I got it to the SEO point, to where that sucker's all the way up top. You can get on Amazon. You can go to damn the Valley bookcom If you want to sign copy from me. Um, I was just told the other day, now it's uh, I actually got a picture from my old platoon Sergeant who is retiring today. Actually, today is his last day. He's a final stamp. Today he sent me a picture of the book in clothing and sales and he was like you, freaking, did it like you hit the milestone, because that was one of his personal things is. He was like I want to see it in clothing and sales. Hell yeah, and it's there now. So I mean, you can go there, barnes and noble, anywhere where they carry books. Uh, ask for it, you can can get it on Amazon. It's on audiobook, matter of fact, you can. Actually, if you're a Spotify premium user, you can listen to it for free. Oh, hell yeah there you go.
Speaker 1:The link will be in the bio. Check it out. Do us a favor. Head on over to Will's podcast. What's the name of your podcast?
Speaker 2:Veteran success story.
Speaker 1:I know it's a mouthful Give it a like, a follow, a share, leave a comment or two, say whatever you want to say, damn the Valley with exclamation mark, or say, hey, I'm here because Denny said to Do anything you want, put anything you want in there. It helps guys like Will and myself grow. It helps promote his show on the algorithm. But, please, the most important thing you can do is go to YouTube, subscribe to that channel, leave a comment, share it with your friends and promote great veteran content, because it's not just about fucking douchebags like me that went off to do great things. We all came from an amazing background and I like to think that the greatest place that I could have ever stumbled upon was the fucking 82nd Airborne Division, because I got to run into guys like Paul Strobel, greg Baring, david Joy Salgado my man, man, I shouldn't have favorites as a team leader, but boy him. Paracas and Van Arsdale Some of the greatest soldiers I had the privilege of leading.
Speaker 1:And then you got guys like Adrian New York, fucking fantastic fister. Michael McKenzie, an amazing, fucking platoon sergeant. You got old Bartley Kennedy, an amazing officer. Then you have Bedford he was an amazing guy too. So many great leaders that poured into me. Oh, don't forget the giant redhead McClymon, great dude David Sowers. Tons of paratroopers.
Speaker 2:Big Hurt Carolyn.
Speaker 1:I'm going to keep going Just naming them. If I forget you, it's because I love you and I just don't have a good memory. But these individuals poured into me and if you look into every background of a great soft guy, there's probably like 75 individuals. Here's another one. First, aren't anger. Great fucking dude, always angry, always ranting, but a great fucking leader. I'm always done with my rant. What I want to say, and finish off with this podcast, is to say that we don't get to where we're going by ourselves. We get there by those that poured into us. And shout out to the 82nd 2504 Parachute Infantry Regiment home of the finest white devils. I'm.
Speaker 2:Denny Caballero Strikehold right.
Speaker 1:That's right. Thank you for tuning in. We'll see you all next time. Until then, take care. Thanks for tuning in and don't forget to like, follow, share, subscribe and review us on your favorite podcast platform. If you want to support us, head on over to buymeacoffeecom, forward slash SecHawk podcast and buy us a coffee. Connect with us on Instagram X or TikTok and share your thoughts or questions about today's episode. You can also visit securityhawkcom for exclusive content, resources and updates. And remember we get through this together. If you're still listening, the episode's over. Yeah, there's no more Tune in tomorrow or next week, thank you.
