The CrossFit Pittsburgh Podcast
We have been a CrossFit Affiliate since 2006. We are one of the originals. My wife and I opened our doors when I was home between deployments to Iraq. It's been an amazing adventure spanning thousands of miles between us over the course of 12 years deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. We formed amazing bonds. Lost good friends. And learned a lot about ourselves and our community. Throughout the course of this Podcast we will discuss all of that and more. We will talk about the people we have encountered along the way and the lessons we learned.
The CrossFit Pittsburgh Podcast
Episode 4b: Tel Aviv, Echoes of Conflict Experiencing Israel Through a Contractor's Eyes
Embark with us on a gripping sojourn into the heart of Israel's diplomatic security landscape, as I chronicle my experiences alongside Duke, a seasoned Diplomatic Security Service agent. Our mission: to navigate the treacherous terrain of Gaza, where the camaraderie of embassy staff interweaves with the high-stakes game of international relations.
Yet, the episode takes a somber turn as we recall the harrowing aftermath of an attack at Mike's Place, the resilience it demanded of our community, and how it starkly contrasted with the vibrancy of life's mundane moments. We wrap our journey with reflections on the evolving private security landscape and the personal growth we garner from our relentless pursuit of mission success. Join us for an episode that promises not just stories from the field, but a profound exploration of the human elements that shape our trials and triumphs.
And we're back. This is episode two, part B. So my wife, who is camera shy, did not wish to take part in the interview process here. So, anyway, there we were right. We land at Ben Gurion, van pulls up, old boy gets out sunglasses. I swear I think he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt Duke. His call sign was Duke and he would. He was a State Department Diplomatic Security Service agent and he would run our program for the first. I got several months right. Good guy had been around a lot and it was no secret that we were there to augment safe passage to and from gaza for diplomatic missions.
Speaker 1:Our counterparts in jerusalem would do the same thing for, uh, the west bank and jericho, you know and and probably, I'd say it's a good, it's 40 minutes from tel aviv to the gaza strip, probably a good hour or so from tel aviv to Jerusalem, and, um, yeah, so you know they would, unless there was need for crossover. You know, for augmented security, the Jerusalem team would largely run operations in the West Bank and, and, uh, Jericho, and we would take the Gaza Strip. So so Duke was our, our guy, like he would roll on missions with us. So we get there, and I swear it, it was a, it was like a Saturday Saturday, it was like a Saturday evening and it. What was wild, though, was he's like hey boys, all right, I'm, you know. I'm.
Speaker 1:Duke, nice, to meet you, this and this. He's like come on, just get in the vehicle. So we get in the vehicle, we go straight through passport control, boom, boom, boom, like right through the diplomatic line. We get stamped and processed and off we go. Our housing wasn't ready yet. They had apartments for us, but they weren't ready. So he's like well, we got you rooms at the Israel Hotel right across the street from the embassy, and the embassy is on the water, it's on the beach, it the water, it's on the beach, it is is beautiful. So there's a street in front and a street behind, but right across the street there's like a beautiful brick promenade that just goes like from one end to the other and just shops and little little um beach, uh, beach bars, like right down on the sand. You know, it's just pretty wild. It looks like somebody's uh down in the weight room, so might might hear a few crashes and and gr of look at me, look at me how hard I work. But it is what it is.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. What can you do? You can, it is what it is, right, anyway. So we get there, we do a quick drop the bags off in the hotel. So now, because of the way they're dealt, cheese and I end up in the same room at the hotel. So we got like five minutes, man, drop your bags, freshen up and meet downstairs because we're going to have a dinner, get to know Duke and talk about the next coming days.
Speaker 1:So we get into our room and, like I said, john was tall. Oh, it's behind me, for God's sake. So yeah, he's the one in the blue shirt on the far left, so you can see he's like almost a head taller than me, right? So we get into the room and he was just a good guy, man, a good guy. He, you know, walks down the hall. There's like a nice kitchen area here, nice sitting area here, hallway, bathroom, bedroom. He looks in the bedroom, comes back out into the hallway, he goes hey, brother, I'll flip you for the bed. Obviously there's one bed and I took one. Look at him. And I'm like john, take the bed, man. I'm like, look at me, I'll fit. I'll fit perfectly on the couch, like I'm not tall, you know, but I thought it was really like humble and very nice. Okay, I'll flip you. I'm like, flip me. I'm like, dude I, I I'll be comfortable here, you won't, you know. So I was all right, you know.
Speaker 1:So we, we put our stuff, you know, downstairs, we go, we go right across the street directly. Um, next to the embassy there was another hotel and next to that there was a little corner cafe called Mario's and, by coincidence, the owner's name was Mario. So we get there, nice guy, really nice guy, and uh, he's, you know, made these beautiful handmade pizzas, you know, and like we're sitting in this like private dining room which, when you see the place and after we got familiar with it, there are just sometimes you just want to come out swinging like a madman. Yeah, look at me, look at me, it is anyway. Um, yeah, so fantastic dinner.
Speaker 1:And duke has given us a brief, a lay of the land and what was very, very, very interesting too, and I know we're having fun, you know, with this and us and he was like guys. He said, you know, not too long ago, none of this was necessary. He said when foreign service officers, usaid personnel, when they had business to conduct in Gaza. They'd self-drive, They'd sign a vehicle out from the embassy pool, they would drive down, conduct their business. He said, I guess and I don't recall how many years he had been there, but they do rotations like any other government agent. And he said, you know, when I first got here, he's like they used to have like Fourth of July celebration for the embassy, have it at a beach hotel down in Gaza to. You know, again, the diplomacy being key. Like you know, you live up here, the embassy is up here, but you're fostering diplomacy, you know. So it was all good.
Speaker 1:But you know, those days were over. Now, all of a sudden, at the drop of a hat, you know, you could go down and you could set your clock by it. If there had been something in the news where, let's say, president Bush came out in support of an Israeli position, we'd be driving through on a mission and people would like throw stuff at us, you know. And conversely, you have a situation where maybe, you know, the White House's stand was in opposition of an Israeli policy, was in opposition of an Israeli policy. We drive through the same marketplace, you know, a week, two weeks later or whatever, and people are cheering and waving at us. So you realize that the volatility of it hinges, like on any number of things, but you know that was the need for the enhanced security for the, you know, us Foreign Service personnel you know.
Speaker 1:So we get there, we get a briefing, we have a great dinner and the plan is the next day we're going to go into the embassy, we're going to draw all of our gear and we have a mission on Monday and again getting back to, okay, well, there's skills you're supposed to have. And I think every one of us, in our own way, was kind of like okay, we get these weapons, there's no range we're not going to, we're not going to fire these weapons before Now. They've been fired, they're in the inventory. You know, there's not, we picked them up off the street. But the difference between a BZO, you know like, hey, these weapons have been BZO, that's, that's good, keep you in the ballpark. But I never, ever, did anything with any firearm for work purposes that I didn't take to the range and fire myself. I mean, I've never. So I think every one of us was kind of like, ok, but ultimately you play the hand, you're dealt and you support the mission, you know. So nobody said a word, nobody complained about it. But again, like you know, kudos to Jim.
Speaker 1:Jen criticizes me for this every so often. Well, I talk with my hands all the time on this camera. You make a motion. It looks like a thumbs up. A little cartoon bubble of a thumb shows up on the screen. I didn't know if that yeah, duh, right, what's in the recording too. So, and I'm not doing this, I'm not doing this, but if you throw two thumbs up, you get a burst of fireworks. So maybe we'll do that at the end of the episode, or or when I pull a fucking wily coyote and drop an anvil on this motherfucker. Maybe. Wait a minute, man, the coyote never wins, does he? So that, never mind, as you were, that'll go sideways real quick, you know, um, so anyway, yeah battle, battle.
Speaker 1:Zero. Like like a basic, like a basic zero. Like like the weapons been been zeroed.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah and and again, like for the most part, we didn't pick them up off the streets, we didn't, you know, buy them from some guy at a out of his trunk, so we had no reason to think that they wouldn't function properly or fire properly or that they wouldn't be zeroed to a. You know, they should have been good enough for any purpose, but we didn't fire them Right, and absolutely nothing we can do about that, cause there's no range.
Speaker 1:This wasn't like uh, like um and like one of the James Bond movies where there's like a tunnel under the embassy where we go right, you know, and then like there's your, you know that would have been kind of cool if you did have some type, even like a short range. You know that you could have just test fired, but we didn't. So neither had we driven the vehicles and these things that you learn right, level four armored Suburbans. And I remember this because each one of us because it was a small team, everyone had collateral duties. So, for example, when the two teams of four formed up, john Cheese and I were on opposite teams, right. So the breakdown of the teams there was it was Jim as our team leader, mark Parsons, dear friend of mine, and Mike and myself we were Bravo team, and then Alpha team was Swervin Cheese, kurt and an empty space because Mike didn't, didn't make the trip. So now we're waiting on his replacement. They're going to expedite the process, you know, so forth, so forth, but until they did we were one man down. So you know we draw our gear.
Speaker 1:The vehicles were level four armored vehicles, suburbans. But one of the things that we found out, and Chee's one of his tasks, he was the training counterpart on Alpha Team, but he was also in charge of the vehicles. That was one of his, I'm pretty sure one of his um, um collateral duties. I mean he had driven armor before, you know, as a member of dev group. Uh, actually, both of those units do a good bit of like very high risk um, uh close, like PSD, you know protective services If you remember, like the beginning of um Afghanistan before. Uh, you know protective services If you remember, like the beginning of Afghanistan before. You know. I'm not going to go down a political rabbit hole, you know, but before our allies were capable of protecting themselves, delta and Dev Group would be on opposite rotations. So you would have TF Green would be Delta, tf Blue would be Dev Group, and in addition to a lot of their other missions, one of the things they would do is they would assign a protective team to Karzai. And in fact this is kind of interesting when we were still at Crucible boom, like midday makes the news there's an attempt on Karzai's life and his security detail, puts down the threat and so forth and so forth. And sure enough, you know those were. I couldn't tell you at the time if it was green or blue, I don't recall who was there, but you know, as we're getting ready to go to Israel, like, this is another reminder like shit's happening, that's like happening real time, but that was a big deal.
Speaker 1:And somewhere somewhere in the archives it comes up every once in a while in my Facebook feed. Somewhere in the archives, it comes up every once in a while in my Facebook feed, there's a really cool picture of Jim in Beirut, lebanon, with the US ambassador, you know, on a protective detail and just so, like I said, I mean to me to be able to have learned from some guys like that. There's no school for that, you know, there's really not. So that's like right, hey, right on, you know. But again, you know, the, the, the personality is like here's Jim and he's just like what in the world did they send me? Right, but you would have never known it because he maintained his poise and his bearing and um, so we, we go on our first mission and again I mean just bad luck.
Speaker 1:But Mike draws, and the way we ran was you'd have an American driver, an embassy driver, in the first suburban, duke, he was our state department, he was, we were his guys. So he was in the right front seat, okay, the uh, the package, the USAID or foreign service officer would be in the backseat of that, the lead vehicle. And then we were the QRF, you know, the quick response force, the maneuver element, whatever you want to call it. So while Duke, the State Department agent, would have control of the package, jim had tactical control of the whole package of the mission package. Jim had tactical control of the whole package of the mission and he would ride right front in the Suburban and the three of us would do a rotation week to week was. You know, mike started off as the driver and I guess he had said that he had driven before. You know more than Mark and I. We did some motorcade operations.
Speaker 1:And this is something to the company that I'd worked for previously. We did a lot of schools, which was great, you know, from SUVs, suburbans, lincoln town cars, like the town car was, I guess, like a standard, you know, and I remember going through a really good driving school in Virginia and you know, it is it's, it's. You can't put a price tag on it. It was awesome, but we never drove armor. The dynamic's different and, like I said, just with the rifle, I could zero a rifle, hand it to you, it'll probably work. It'll probably work, but you should really zero it yourself. The smart person, the prudent person would zero it themselves. So, similarly, I'm like no, I understand how to do these evasive maneuvers. So, similarly, I'm like no, I understand how to do these evasive maneuvers. I remember every skill, every tactical maneuver, pitting. They're nuances, but they're things that I'm glad I know. Oh, you know, if the road's blocked and you have to ram right, I mean what makes sense? You know, am I going to hit that car in the front, where the engine is and where it's heaviest, or am I going to hit it in the tail, where it's lightest, and move it out of the way? Well, I'm going to hit the tail but move it out of the way. Well, I'm going to hit the tail, but guess what I have? I have airbags, right. So the prudent person in that type of situation would have disconnected the airbags. And you know, essential personnel are wearing their seatbelts. So if you're going to ram, you're going to give it a good push. You know also, if situation, time permits, you know, maybe don't hit it with the front of your vehicle, right. But again, you know, maybe don't hit it with the front of your vehicle, right, right, but again, you know things that look good on TV and things that how they translate. But now here we are, like 24 hours, 48 hours after. We know not even we hit the ground Saturday night, we're rolling Monday morning. So we had Sunday to get our gear. Do a quick. You know, here's a map. You know we don't know where we're going. And one of the things too and this is this is not funny and this is no kidding At the time the Palestinian Authority was in charge of the Gaza Strip.
Speaker 1:All right, it was like the governing body. They had their policing paramilitary arm. You know, and I'll never forget this State Department agents that briefed us before we rolled. One of them. Eric, just again, the best, these guys are the best. I remember him telling us. He was like, okay, he goes, when you see them, you'll know. And he was like they're going to meet us at the crossing and we'll follow them from point to point for the meetings of the day, them from point to point for the meetings of the day. So again, you know, like red flag number, whatever.
Speaker 1:At this point we're like all right, don't know these people. Right, they're supposed to be our counterparts in Palestine. Don't know them. Hamas was already active, right, they were more like a movement at the time, but they were gaining momentum and this was back in 2002. It's how long ago.
Speaker 1:But one of the things we found really odd was all right, we and again I mean I guess you go back to like ancient warfare right, all these are our counterparts. You know they're from, you know another clan, but they're going to lead us through the. How do you know? How do you know, until you know that this guy's not going to turn around and bite you in the ass? Well, you know, a year and a half later they did, because it was it. Anyway, we'll get there. But so, you know, here we go and we're like we've got weapons that haven't been fired. We're meeting an element that supposed to be our allies and they're going to lead us because the night before it's SOP, the night before we would send, we, the State Department, would send them our itinerary for the next day, oh, we're going to meet you at this time at the crossing, At the crossing, at the Erez crossing, where you would process through Subsequently we had several of us brought this up more than once Can we not enter from any of the other crossings, from north to south?
Speaker 1:Why don't we just and I get that the PA has to be involved tell them, we'll meet them on target, we'll meet them at the first venue. You know, at least let us get there. No, you can't do that. You know diplomatic relations. I'm like, okay, all right, so again, kind of put that off to the side. But you know, for right now, for the minimum weapons we haven't fired, like for all I know, I'm going to pull the trigger on one of those little flags that says bang is going to come out, the barrel, right.
Speaker 1:So okay, but I will say this though the personnel that we rolled with, you know, couldn't have asked for more. You know, duke knew his job, he knew his business and we were glad to have him there with us and I think he was glad to have us there, as you know, augmenting the security process. And again, you know, jim, jim knew his stuff, no doubt in cheese. You know, couldn't have asked for more. Mark, we didn't know each other. We're all total strangers, you know to this point. But Mark and Mike, Mike's driving there we go, mark and I are in the back and we're, you know, watching left, right and really it was so great, like you'd sit sideways. So you're looking out, you know, left and right and watching for anything unusual.
Speaker 1:But there was nothing covert about this. We're in clearly marked the was it CD? Charlie Delta, I think, was the prefix. Pretty sure that was it. But the license plates were alphanumeric and they're just like long rectangular, white with black trim and black alphanumerics was was the identifier for the US embassy and then the number, you know for the vehicle, diplomatic plates and all that which is super duper anywhere else. Right, but one, you kind of identify yourself.
Speaker 1:Two, you know they're not black suburbans because it's you know, the Middle East and it can be hot, but they're like a silverish gold kind of, you know, less heat reflective. One of the things Cheese pointed out real fast was um, he was like you know, guys, these are level four armor. I said that several times before and the point I'm getting to is they're heavy. There was nothing done with the hinges on the doors, right, they're standard factory hinges. So the additional armor didn't take into account like you've got. You got junior varsity hinges and you got a varsity weight capacity right In the in the door itself and the brake pads. So the brakes and the brake pads, right. So now you're trying to stop a heavy vehicle. Now, for us in Tel Aviv really didn't matter, you know, it's relatively flat, relatively flat and level. 40 minutes of interstate driving. And I remember Eric briefed us up on the Palestinian Authority. He goes oh, you'll recognize them. He's like sometimes, guys, they can look like the Keystone cops and he was like other times. You know, they're sharp, you know. And he said but you'll recognize them because they wear what the hell does? He call it Snake Plissken, camo from Escape from New York. Right, he goes, snake Plissken, just remember that he goes. And when you get there, when you drive in, he's like you remember the movie the Omega man with Charlton Heston. It was based on I Am Legend. Right, honest to goodness. He's like when you first get there, he's like you're going to be driving through and you're like, oh my God, like, look at this. And you know you find different reasons for this. I guess there is something in the like by Palestinian law, you don't pay taxes on a building if it's still under construction. So typically, what would happen in these new construction sites? They wouldn't finish them, so you'd still have like exposed rebar and concrete block and all this and it's like, ah, but it was, it was odd, you know, it was just kind of odd. Sometimes the streets are channelized, and you know. But I do know this and this is a fact I've been on trips where checks, money was given for infrastructure, for 7-Up. Oh yeah, today's meeting we're going to meet at the villa of the president or the owner of the seven up bottling company, and USAID is presenting a check for like a hundred million dollars or something astronomical, and I'm like Roger that. So this should benefit the people, right, and you get a hundred million dollars for your infrastructure and you get $100 million for your infrastructure and you're going to start bottling like a son of a bitch. You know it didn't go there, right. So you see that this is part of a process that you're like are we doing anything here? And I say that. Then I step back and I say you know what?
Speaker 1:For a long time I did believe yeah, we're keeping the people who are doing these missions, we're keeping them safe, right To the best of our ability. We're keeping the people who are doing these missions, we're keeping them safe, right To the best of our ability. We're keeping them safe. So, first day, you know, we roll on our mission, we get our objective, we do our thing, we're coming back out and I don't remember exactly what happened, but we get word. Hey, pick up the pace, get out.
Speaker 1:Any time there was any type of activity whether it was Palestinian on Israeli, israeli on Palestinian, anything like that the first thing that would happen very, very quickly was the borders would be shut down and secured. If it had been a type of retaliatory strike, because oftentimes there'd be mortar and rocket attacks from Palestine into southern parts of Israel Ashkelon, ashdod you don't want to be caught on the wrong side as a Westerner when that happens. So like, okay, expedite, no, boom, here we go. And again heavy vehicles not used to the weight ratio and the braking capacity. And all that, sure enough, boom, we hit the lead vehicle right. And I don't remember how far we got. I mean, those are.
Speaker 1:I remember the impact. I remember hitting, it wasn't bad. I mean it was just like, oh, we're going to, we're not going to make it Dang right, and of course Jim's just like you know, stoic, but it's all right, great. So, one thing and another, we get the vehicle to a point I think we just cross, loaded into the other vehicle and off we went. And then, sure enough, we had enough liaison personnel in the embassy to, hey, we're going to call a tow company, they're going to go down, bring the vehicle back to Tel Aviv. We'll use another one in the short term. But I do remember this, and these are like the highlights. I keep waiting to hear oh, my foot, my foot.
Speaker 1:But anyhow, one of the first things like maybe, as I recall, maybe even that night we had a really nice. Well, for quite a while we were still in the hotel. You know, I don't know how long a week maybe we get our apartment. Alpha team still didn't have. I think we got ours a little bit earlier. Ours was ready, theirs wasn't.
Speaker 1:So we had a really nice open floor plan, kind of like a loft and then a rooftop. It was only a four-story building so we had half of the top floor. The gentleman and his family who lived the other half owned a market on the ground floor. It was so cool. It was one of those like roll-up doors, you know, from side to side, top to bottom and year-round. The door to side, top to bottom and year round the door was like rolled up. And I remember the gentleman that lived right below us was an older gentleman and every evening like this to me was all part of the upside of it, the gentleman that lived below us. Every evening you'd see him in the store sitting at the counter playing chess with the owner and I mean, you know they got to know us and you know short order and and I'll tell you like we were always welcomed and treated like neighbors to the to the nth degree, to the to the best.
Speaker 1:When our guys were killed, I never experienced anything like it. I mean, you realize, like we've gotten to know each other in a short period of time, we've become very, very close and, again you know, everyone was neighborly, everyone was cordial. When our guys were killed, it took on almost like a, almost like a family level, like it was wild, it was surreal, and I think too, maybe a part of it was, and I'm getting way ahead. I'm getting way ahead, but it was just, it was nice, right. So here we are back at close to the beginning, and Jim's like all right guys. He's like everybody up on the roof, we have a team meeting. We're like oh man, we're fired already, you know. So we get up there, he's got a cooler full of Corona beer and we're sitting there and we're cracking beers and he's like all right.
Speaker 1:I want to go around the table. Everybody introduce yourselves, you know, tell us a little bit about yourselves so we get. You know, boom, boom, boom, we get all around the table. It's all good stuff. And Jim's like right, he goes. Well, I'll be honest with you. He was like I was kind of surprised with what they sent us. All right, he said I expected more specifically, I expected more special operations personnel. And he's like but and I'll never forget this to this day and I've used this more and more he's like but you go to war with what you got. And he was like so first order of business. He's like Rocky, find us in the thumbs up again. I love that little guy. If you could control that like, I'd put little eyes on him you know, thumbs up, pops up, he's got a face.
Speaker 1:He's like but, um, he's like Rocky, you're the, you know the team training officer. He's like find us a range, find us a range like right away. Um, he's like Mark Mark was um, like right away. Um, he's like mark mark was um, his primary collateral. He was a medical. And he's like want you to come up with a couple periods of instruction for um, emergency, emergency medical aid, right? He's like mike, um, you're driving the first week. He's like come up with a good presentation on, on, defensive driving. And there was no ifs, ands or buts. I mean like you would come up with it, you would present it, boom, so early on. Like I said, it was early on. Cheese is the trainer. You know the training officer for Alpha Team. So I get online and we find a shooting range which is not too far north of the embassy.
Speaker 1:And now in Israel. It's like Friday and Saturday are the weekends, right. So we decide we're like well, hey, if we get up early enough and get up there on Friday morning, we'll hit the range early. You and I will go advance it, check it out, meet with management, see how easily it would be for us to train there. Great, so we get there. And it's really not that, you know, there's not a lot of people there.
Speaker 1:It was a beautiful facility. I mean, they had pictures up all over the place of the Israeli Olympic team for, like what's the event called? Biathlon. Yes, yeah, for like what's the event called? Like, you know, when you Biathlon? Yes, yes, they had photographs of that. They had photographs of, like, their rifle team and that kind of thing. Very, very cool. And it was a nice facility. You had like indoor ranges, you had outdoor. It's like super. So we get there and, sure enough, as we're standing there waiting to meet with management, one of the guards from the US Embassy had his Israeli Guard Force. So one of the guards comes walking by and he's like hey guys.
Speaker 1:We're like, hey, buddy, what's up? And he's like well, my IPSC team is practicing here. And we're like, oh, OK, great, so what are you doing here? Oh, we're going to meet with someone to see if we could use the place to train. He's like, oh, yeah, come with me. So you know the person we talked to. They're not sure who to direct. Well, it wasn't like that, but our guy knew exactly who could hook us up. So he takes us in, introduces us. Hey, he goes, why don't you? He goes, you know, come on out and meet some of the guys. So we go out to the range and we're talking with some of the other shooters and all that, and what?
Speaker 1:What I found really, really interesting too, was none of us. When we got there, none of us spoke Hebrew. So we thought, hey, this is a great opportunity. Like we'll, we'll learn the language, right, what we found was when we would mingle with, like, younger people, they all wanted to speak English. So, like nobody, we didn't, we didn't learn. And God bless him.
Speaker 1:Man, john had this uh, I don't know if it was he didn't have a Texas accent at all Like he's. You know, you, I'm detectable, you know, non-issue, but when he would try to, oh, my God, god, I love him, I love him, I love him, I miss him every day. But he'd ask for a check. And you're like dude, I'm not even sure what you said, but it sounded so awkward like you were gagging. How do I say it? Let's wait a minute. Hashbon, hashbon, Hashbon, check, hashbon, right, bevakasha, hashbon, bevakasha, check. Please, like what? Like I'm not even sure that means anything, let alone what you think it means. You know, but he was just a good dude, but that's anyway, we get there right.
Speaker 1:And um, the the president of their club. He didn't speak english, so our guy from the embassy is translating for us and he's like, hey, uh, you know, nice to meet you this and this. And he's like, hey, well, you know, do you want to shoot with us? And both of us were like, you know, you never pass up an opportunity to shoot. But we're like, well, we didn't, we didn't bring anything, like we're not, you know, and that was that was kind of ought to. We didn't typically did not carry off duty. You know, we, we were credentialed to do so like we had our little you know, little permits or what have you, but as a rule we didn't so okay
Speaker 1:great. So we didn't bring anything. Oh, don't worry about that. He's like everybody here has extra gear, great. So someone gives john a glock, the holster and mag pouches. I get this tricked out and these are spare weapons, granted. So whoever I got, like my benefactor, like this is a spare, this is a custom 1911 in .40 caliber, custom, everything right. I have a holster for it, but I've got no mag pouch for the mags. So I take the spare magazines and I tuck them in my belt, right. So okay, here we go, we're downrange, we're listening to the
Speaker 1:briefing. I don't even remember the courses of fire off the top, but IPSC is kind of cool if you've ever seen it. I don't even remember what IPSC stands for international IPS, international pistol shooters associate club, anyway, ipsc. And of course is a fire. So they'll, they'll bring in like like doors on roller rolling casters and it's like okay, you know it's. You open the door and you step through and then you engage right, or you know knock down steel, you know poppers or any number of different
Speaker 1:scenarios. But what's very, very cool is it's super organized. The course of fire is already laid out. So you come up as the next shooter. You know the line range master will be like okay, on this course of fire, you will boom, boom, boom, okay, great. So at one point, and again it just goes to show you right, unfamiliar gear, never fired it before, not even. I don't even like the tolerances of this thing, I don't even know it yet. Right, chambered in 40 caliber, those rounds are not light, okay, and it's all customized and all this. So at the buzzer you will draw your weapon and you'll engage these plates, steel plates right, knock them down, super so here I am, I'm ready, right.
Speaker 1:I draw the pistol. As I'm coming up out of the holster, I bring my hands together, I just tap, the magazine release magazine falls out and it's, it's. It's like bright, I wouldn't say chrome, but like bright, stainless yeah. So as it falls, one I can feel it, because it's like you know, it's heavy, so I feel it. But I also see this like flash of, like silver, got around in the chamber, right. So as I'm coming on target, the magazine drops. I go, bam, I'm on the you know, I'm on the spare mag. Boom, boom, boom, boom, right. So ting, ting, ting, ting ting. I'm like Jesus, mary and Joseph, like that's embarrassing, right. So I hit the targets safe holster, you know lines, clear. I pick up the mag, you know range, ferry my gear, right. So we turn around to come back now like I'm gonna top off my magazine and we've still like they're hospitable, gracious, but we're still feeling like dude, we're the outsiders, you know so. We're like you know. So I I said the cheese, like as I'm loading I go man.
Speaker 1:How bad was that like I'm not looking at him. I'm like, how bad was that? And he's, you know, he's messing with his gear. He goes, dude, nice, he goes. You hit everything you aimed at and you got back in battery really fast. He's like good job. I'm like, yeah, you too. So he's, you know, again, he's just ting, ting, ting. He's killing it and we're, we're having fun.
Speaker 1:You know a couple of the other things we're like okay, you know, you at the buzzer you're facing up range. At the buzzer you turn, you move down, there's a table, um, your weapons unloaded, so you pick it up, load it and then engage through the door, through the window, whatever the scenarios. So we shot for a good while, you know, we shot for a good while with them. So the next thing, I know they invite us for refreshments. Like right in the next little room they had set up like coffee and you know, cookies or whatever. So we go over, we're making small talk and this and this and somewhere I still have this.
Speaker 1:I I've got to dig it out at some point. I haven't seen it in 20 years. So the president of the club comes over with our guy from the embassy and he says something to him in hebrew and then he says repeats to us. He goes hey, he'd like to know if you'd like to join our team, and I'm like I look at Cheese and I'm like dude, right, and Cheese is like yeah, you know, so we're like yeah, so they come out with these polo shirts.
Speaker 1:You know the Tel Aviv chapter, you know the Ipsic crest and all that I was like man, this is so cool.
Speaker 1:We made the team, you know. And so we went back. I couldn't wait to tell Jim. I was like hey, not only did we find the range, it's awesome, it's good for everything we need. And they invited me, and they invited us to shoot with him. We shot with him and we're on the team and he's just smiling. He's like all right, all right, but I think to the point, so we didn't work together before, we didn't go through the same schools before.
Speaker 1:So Jim made it a point, a priority, that we're going to go get these weapons tight and we're going to work small unit tactics and we're we use that facility so many times like we would go up with both teams together and we'd bring our vehicles into, like there was an interior, um, an interior outdoor range, so it was outdoor, but you'd be inside the compound, right, and I mean we would stage the vehicles like you know vehicular ambush or you know lead vehicles down, you know position the follow vehicle in support, move out, you know engage targets, downrange. And so we took what we had and we made the absolute best of it and the training that we didn't have together we got. We got it. We took it upon ourselves to make sure. You know, jim took it upon himself to make sure that we had that training and driver training.
Speaker 1:I mean, he identified an amusement park that was closed for the season and this guy would do all kinds of route reconnaissance on his own and you know, google searches and all this, and he was like all right guys. He said, you know, we're going to sign out some vehicles tomorrow, we're going to do some driver training, this amusement park and we're in this, like the roadway that leads up to it and then the, the traffic circles around it, and just, you know, I mean anything that we were lacking. He made sure that in short, short order, we built up those skill sets and I thought that made us. We even were able to um, they had some armored vehicles that were set to be scrapped, so they told us where they were, they allowed us to have them.
Speaker 1:And we did breaching exercises on them, which was incredible. I mean you know manual breaching tools that we carried sledgehammer, halogen bar. It was just great. I mean you know the vehicle's down and you've got, you know, americans in it. You can't get them out. So what do you do? You know, identify the weaknesses. Work the hinges with wedge and sledgehammer, work the weak points in the windows with the sledge and the halogen. And you know we learned that really fast. And again, you know you've got the talent and the skills, like Cheese had worked as a breacher before. And you know he was schooling us up on the use of the manual tools and everything and you know was schooling us up on the use of the manual tools and everything. And you know such was my mindset at 38.
Speaker 1:I was like yeah, man, I'll be the, I'll be the breacher. You know I love this, you know, so, carry a sledge and you know, just just go to work. But, like I said, you know you realize the magnitude of the situation and you realize the training available and maybe you strike that perfect balance where you're like, hey, what'd you do today. Strike that perfect balance where you're like, hey, what'd you do today? Are you kidding me, man? We breached armored vehicles, like that's what we did today. But it's all a very small piece and, you know, hopefully a skill set that you don't ever use. But you know, and I think, conversely too, and I will say this, I'm gonna wear mittens from now on when we do this, because every time I move, that little bastard pops up. But, um, so we start to.
Speaker 1:You know, we're getting a lot more range time and I'm like, all right, so a couple of us are running red dot optics on our rifles. So the next thing, you know, we buy them, we don't mount them, we get them to the range. The next available opportunity, boom, throw them on, and now you zero. So one of the guys on the team um wasn't jim or mark or cheese or kurt or vick. Vick was the replacement that they sent in for mike. Really good dude, really la county sheriff. And um, the guy had some some situational awareness. You could tell he wasn't like a public affairs officer, he didn't sit at a desk, I mean he definitely brought that with him, but there's a lot of good range time.
Speaker 1:So we get there, we zero our red dots Great. So now the one guy that didn't want one, now he decides he wants one. But he says to me in passing when we're back at the house hey, rocky, just make a list and order me one of everything that you got. And I'm like when monkeys fly out of my butt all right, order me one of everything you've got. Do you even know what I have? Or is it, gucci, that, like you see shit that's on my rifle that you think looks sexy and you want that? I'm like this isn't, this is an amateur hour, you know. And I mean like, yeah, we didn't. A lot of us did not come from spec ops, backgrounds or tier one units. But you know what? You're right here, you're right now and you're fortunate enough to be working with guys who did so. You want to put something on your rifle, find out what it is, how it works, use it, get good at it, because to me, that strongly suggests that you are going to be that guy that's going to put it together, have no idea how it works, you know, I mean, and one thing I will say about red dots. Uh, you zero it properly, these things will hit whatever they aim at, whatever it's on, that's what's going to get hit. I've had the lens on more than one red dot shattered and there's still enough of it to project that dot. The dot still works. So you know, but I wouldn't just slap it on and hope for the best, you know.
Speaker 1:But anyway, yeah, he wasn't with the team much longer either, but you know, as it turned out, we ran some good missions, ran some really good missions, and I don't know, you know, you just sometimes you reach a point where, well, personnel changes, right. So Jim had an opportunity to move on to Iraq, and I don't remember what time of year it was summertime, I recall and so he had already made his selection. Mark was his second in command. So Jim was Bravo one, mark was Bravo two, I was Bravo three and Mike was Bravo four. So, as it would turn out, you know, mark would slide into jim's spot and, um, jim ended up taking another uh position in iraq. So we're like, okay, super, I mean, he was missed, he was missed, but I think he I believe this with all my heart I think he left with the confidence that he was leaving the team in good hands because mark was an absolute professional and I think that's one thing too, that that I always appreciated. Mark had no military background at all and didn't matter a bit, because I think because of that, I think he drove himself harder than anybody else to make sure that he was absolutely on point all the time and Jim couldn't have picked a better number two, could not. I mean, this guy was all over it. And so Jim leaves.
Speaker 1:We had another replacement come in. I want to say he was LAPD. He wasn't a bad guy, he really wasn't. But I really don't think he had like the big picture. I don't believe he had the big picture and at the time, oh my God, this was crazy, I forgot about this Swervin kind of self-destructed.
Speaker 1:He kind of self-destructed because, just like with Mike back in there, oh something's wrong and school me up on the M4. In the first week it didn't really happen early, early on, when we were in the hotels. I think that gave enough separation after hours that it that didn't happen. But once they moved into their team house, within the first week that they were in their team house, every member of that team came to jim because jim was basically like jim was bravo one, swerving was alpha one, but Jim was in charge of both teams, right, every member of that team came to Jim separately and they were like Jim, do any of your guys want to move to alpha team? I can't stay there anymore. And Jim was like and I just saw him last fall he came up to visit. He was like we know, we know, right, I mean so Jim was like Christ. He was like this, no thumbs. Jim was like Christ. He was like this no thumbs.
Speaker 1:Jim was like Christ. He's like everybody's asking me to come to our team. He's like, and I'm telling them, if you can find one of my guys that's willing to go own your place, then yes, nobody's going to leave. And we didn't. But that was just indicative that their team leader was on a bit of, a bit of a power trip, you know, and I do remember this. So you know, jim calls a team meet, a joint team meeting, and he's like here's what we're gonna do, you know, and I don't recall any, I don't recall any hostilities between the teams per se. Um, kurt's a good guy. Haven't seen him in a while, but he's a good guy. Haven't seen him in a while, but he's a good guy. Vic, I had no issues with A hard, hard dude, but a good operator. Cheese was the best. We didn't have any animosity between us. I think what was happening was again, a poisoned team leader poisons the team. Then that creates tensions that spill over to both teams, right? So I remember Jim calling this meeting.
Speaker 1:We had an office that there wasn't a lot of room for us in the embassy, so we had our gear locker down in the basement with all of our secure comms and all of our kit. But we had an office across the street in the in a like the little thoroughfare of the Israel Hotel, where we'd stay. So we meet and Jim's like right, he's like I have nothing to say, he's like I don't. He said so here's how this is going to go. These are the rules of engagement for this meeting. He was like I will be the monitor and he was like you will each have your turn to speak. You will not speak when someone else is talking. You won't. If you want to have a, you know you. You want to comment on something, you wait. And then, when that person's done, we'll go around the room, one at a time, so everybody gets a chance to retort or not, and he's like but you will not interrupt. And he said when I say stop, you stop. He's like there won't be arguments. And if you do, he's like when I say stop, you will stop. Roger that. So here we go.
Speaker 1:Um, it gets to the other team leader and he comes off with this fucking pompous and he really was. He had just this body language Like sometimes in my less mature days I would have said he just has a punchable face, you know, but he had this very pompous kind of bearing he's like well, I have to tell you, I'm just used to working with all special operations personnel and when I got here, I have to say this was by way of explanation, like you know, I might have seemed to be a dick, but here's why Because you don't all come from a special operations background and I'm used to working with all special operations personnel. It's exactly how he said it. So he was a former special operations.
Speaker 1:No, and he didn't. Here's the thing he was not. He didn't say he was, it wasn't like fraudulent or anything like that. He did. I want to say Marine Corps counterintelligence and not Marine Corps Raider, not MARSOC. You know, he was like Marine Corps counterintel. I knew a couple of those guys over the years. One of them was a good dude and I only knew three, including him. The other two, I thought, were just full of themselves, extremely full of themselves, and then I wonder if you struck upon that little niche. That's kind of like you know what? We're kind of cool, we're not spec ops, but we're spec ops adjacent.
Speaker 1:You know at least that was my take on it and, like I said, one of them was a solid dude. I worked with him before 9-11 and for the same company I was with on 9-11. And he's, you know, to this day. I see him on Facebook. He's a good guy, you know. The other two, I'm, like you know, a little full of yourself there, aren't you? And here's my measuring stick right, I hope that hurt. I hope that hurt. I hope you hyperextended your xiphoid process or something. You never know that I failed out of medical school. I'm impressed Right.
Speaker 1:And I'm not sure you can hyperextend a x xiphoid process. I know you can damage it and anyway. Anyway, um, my experience has been this and I just this is tried and true and I've defended to anybody I've been able to work with a very, very large number of spec ops personnel, you know on both, any branch, any branch a lot of tier one personalities. My experience has been anybody needs help. These guys are there to help. There's no criticism. There's no, you know, there's none of that. There's hey, man, right, we're going to get it up to speed, we're going to work towards the goal. There's hey, man, right, we're going to get it up to speed, we're going to work towards the goal, right. Then there's that other kind that's like this guy I'm talking about and that brand I guess you could say, where it's like, yeah, man, like we did something different and like it's cool. You know it's cool. Be proud of what you did, be proud of what you did, be proud of what you did. But this mission, right here today, let's follow these mission parameters and you know, those of us who did all moved on to something bigger and better. All right, I mean, I thought that. But what was crazy was.
Speaker 1:So he gets done with his piece and it gets to me and I said, yeah, I've got something to say. I'm like, dave, I hear you loud and clear and I'm like so you address the fact that you know you're used to working with special operations personnel and you're wondering, excuse me, you're wondering why some of us are here and I'm like, but you're not special operations, you're not from any of those communities. Well, yeah, I know, but I'm like no, no, no, you know. But I'm like no, no, no, you know, but that's a big gap, you know. So I guess any one of us could turn that same phrase, right? Hey, you know, I've worked a lot of jobs with guys who had been special operations from all over the world. You know the UK, australia, you know the US, all branches, but you're not any more than I was, or him or him, you know. So when we just all focus on the mission, move forward, oh, no, you know, I get you and I'm like I fucking hope you get me. I'm speaking English and I'm speaking clearly. I'm not really sure how else to say it, but you know. But I think what was, what was wild, was it was, and it didn't, and it didn't get ugly. I mean, I just I made my point, you know, point counterpoint. I'm like I'm not and all I wanted to get across was I'm like what the hell did you just say, like that makes really no sense, but kudos, okay. So it's done. And I think you know I'm not sure what the takeaway was. I believe you know Jim wanted to give it the opportunity to get it all out there, to clear the air, so to speak.
Speaker 1:Well, shortly after that, we had a visit from, you know, dyncorp sent like some dude, and at that point and it wasn't because of that, it was a scheduled program it was like, well, how's it going, how's everything going? And, sure enough, everyone. Well, let me put it to you this way I was my position in the roster to go see him. A few guys had already saw him. So I get in and I'm like, yeah, he's like how's the housing? Oh, housing's great. You know how's the climate? Hey, climate's great. How's this? That's great. How's everything with that guy? And I'm like, oh, now I wouldn't have not. You know, how's everything with the team? How's everything with the inter team? You know, you can't not. I mean shame on you if you don't say something, because it was a big enough issue by then. But I didn't even get that opportunity by the time I got there like it had already been been aired.
Speaker 1:So he brings it to me. And I'll never forget this. He was like come on, mike, he's like you're a naval officer, you know, you're no stranger to leadership, what do you think? And I was like and here we go. And I was like, sir, it's no secret. I said you know, I think right now what we've got is like the well's already been poisoned.
Speaker 1:And I said, and you know, to Jim's, and I said, I'm sure you know this we already had. You know, how many meetings can you have? Right, how many meetings can you and I mean it this time no, no, no, okay, this is your last, last chance. And I said you know, we've had meetings, we've aired everything, we've got it all out on the table. And I said but I said I'm not sure it can be fixed, I'm really not.
Speaker 1:And he's like well, are you comfortable with him as a leader? And I'm like, no, sir, no, sir, I'm not. And I said I won't speak for anybody else. I said, you know, everybody had their chance, or will have their chance to talk to you. I'm speaking for me only, and I said and this is coming from someone who's not on his team right? I what happens? Hey, you know what? There's four of us on a team. There's a high likelihood that one day, your team's going to rely on my team and vice versa. You know, and you know at that time, jim was still with us, he was still the TL and you know I say this with 100% honesty he didn't prep us for any of that. He didn't say no, when you go in you know, hey, don't forget None of that.
Speaker 1:None of that, it's not his style. He was like, hey, man, these guys aren't stupid, you know, they see what's what. And the next thing, you know, he's moved, he's removed, sent somewhere else or whatever. And I'll never forget Vic, la County Sheriff, but prior to that he was a Marine. And there is a certain phraseology, you know, there's a bond across the board, all services there just is, you know, but Navy, marine Corps, you know naval terms, nautical terms, like that. And Vic I'll never forget.
Speaker 1:He said to me after it's over, he goes Rock, we just had a mutiny, that's basically what happened. He's like we had a mutiny, that's basically what happened. He's like we had a mutiny. He's like we went to, we bonded together and we had a mutiny. That's exactly what. Like he just got, we had a mutiny. And I'm like man, now you put a spit on it, like that. I'm like yeah, yeah, I guess maybe we did, but.
Speaker 1:And he's like, hey, he's like, don't get me wrong, he's like I'm just giving it a name. He's like you know, the, the decision was was right. But I mean so you know, looking at it again, how did he get there? Well, somebody knew somebody, or he, presented from a, you know, had a security clearance that was, you know, required for the position Um.
Speaker 1:I want to say, like his last, oh, I think he and cheese actually worked as instructors for um, for tsa, when there was a really big push on for air marshals. So you know, because john came from a tier one background and, and you know, dave was a, he was a very good shooter, he really was. But again, that's a piece of it. You know, it's one piece of it. It's like you know, I, yeah, I, I want guys with me that could help me win a gunfight, but I also want guys that can help me avoid the gunfight, so we don't have to win it, but if we do get into it, I'd like those guys. You know what I mean. I want that guy that can do both. But that was wild.
Speaker 2:Out of curiosity. I like hearing all this. Obviously that's why I'm here, but did you have an option to select Israel? What was they just sent an email.
Speaker 1:Well, again, he knew somebody. So did I, we all did. In fact, this was a small, small world. Mark had a colleague who put him in touch with folks at DynCorp league, who put him in touch with folks at DynCorp, and just so happened that this guy had been connected with Delta in some capacity. I don't believe he was an operator. I think he was, like, maybe you know, a part of the support community. I don't remember a hundred percent, but you know. Similarly, like you know, mark had his, had his, his mentor. You know I had mine.
Speaker 1:That was the next project that they were gearing up for and you know what. Really, looking back, I mean, that's a simple way, like that's how it happens. You know, like, so how do guys slip through the cracks? And you know what. Had mike loaded his magazine right? Had he been a little bit? You know, proficient and you know who knows who knows. But I also believe this you know, there are those moments where you're kind of like, all right, you're drinking from a fire hose. Now you know, there's skills that most of us had. Whether we were, you know, tier one or spec ops or not, there were skills that we had, that we brought to the table, whether we acquired them at a school somewhere or just training, training, training. Or, you know, for me, like years and years of working for a company who, while providing executive protection, spared no expense to put all of us through shooting schools, driving schools, you know you'd even and the more you did it, the more you'd learn. Like OK communications, you know you're going to take care of all the radios and and make sure that you know they're secure comms with our you know comms guy in the embassy. So you're our team liaison for that. So you know it's that. To me that was the fun part of it. There's like work but it wasn't, because it was enjoyable. But at the end of it you realize like why you're here. And it's not airsoft, you know. I mean it's not. People will get hurt if you're not on all the time.
Speaker 1:And one of the things that I will never forget, much like now, I would get up early in the morning and I'd hit the gym first thing. We'd get up early in the morning and I'd hit the gym first thing. And I remember one night Jim was like what time are we looking at here, brother? Yeah, we're wrapping up here pretty soon, but which sets us up for part three Because, remember, even though my beautiful bride created a small commercial break, this is still part two, a and B. I was going to give a thumbs up, but I don't want to. Actually, you know what, when we're done with this today, I'm going to give a double thumbs up and we'll see the fireworks, because it's goofy, but I do remember this and this would probably be a good place to stop.
Speaker 1:There was a bar on the seaside, right next door to the embassy. So when you'd go out the back exit or entrance of Marine Post number two, the backside of the embassy, there was a secure like courtyard. So we'd bring the vehicles up from the garage below, drive up, come around, pull into the courtyard and that's where we would load out all of our gear and then we'd roll out from there. Right next door directly was Mike's place and the story went as I recall. Mike was an American expat, expatriate American living in Israel, beautiful, I mean, it was a nice bar and the front was always open, you know. And and the front was always open and you're right out. There's a beaches out there, you know, beautiful and all that.
Speaker 1:So, uh, remember once Jim's just messing with me and he goes Rocky, how do you get up so early to go to the gym? And the only thing I could think I was like cause I'm in bed at seven, 30. Like are you kidding? You know, I'm like, I don't, I'm not a night person at that time. So, um, it's a Friday and he was like, hey, he goes cause you know a lot of times what would happen. And then I mean I remember this, like it's, it's kind of makes me, uh, it's kind of sad. But Mark and I were like this you know, we're friends with everybody, we all got along. We all got along really, really well. But he and I were like rarely apart, rarely. And so what would happen was like Mike kind of had his own thing, kept to himself a bit, and Jim was like you know, he'd grab a bite to eat here, sometimes together, sometimes not, but we'd usually come up with like a rally point, you know. So that night he said hey, guys, you know what I want to do tonight. He's like let's all, we're going to Mike's place, we're just going to go to Mike's place, we'll have some beers, like yeah, sounds great. So I'm home. Mark gets changed, he goes oh, hey, I'm headed over. You know, I'm going to link up with Jim. I was like, yeah, yeah, he goes, come on, man, get changed, you know, come over. I was like I will, I will. So and I'll never forget this man.
Speaker 1:I'm watching a TV. I'm watching like a DVD probably, of like I was watching Black Hawk Down. I remember that I was watching that movie, but it's one of those movies that like to me, like I liked it so much, I'll put it in again and go back to that chapter. So I'm on the couch and I'm watching and my phone rings and I'm like hello, and it's Mark. He goes, hey, man, where are you? And I'm like I'm still at the house. He goes, are you coming out, right? And I'm like, yeah, yeah, I'm coming. I said, look, man, quick shower, I'll be right there, like I'm thinking a shower, like I'll be refreshed. I'm out the door, I grab the pillow that I'm like sitting against you know. I kind of scooch down on the couch and I'm out, I'm out. Sleep monster chokes me out.
Speaker 1:The next thing, you know, my phone rings. Man, I startle because I'm like God, jesus, like I'm up, I'm up, I'm up. I'm like I fell asleep. Damn it, I'm up, I'm up, I'm up. I'm like I fell asleep, damn it. So I answer the phone and it's Jim and he goes Rocky, where are you? So I'm thinking he's going to bust my balls like we're at Mike's. Why aren't you here? Right, I go, I'm at the house. He goes are you alone? I'm like, yeah, I'm alone. He goes, is anybody to me? Stay where you are. He goes, keep trying to call mike and mark. He's like mike's place has been hit. He's like we got to find everybody. And he's like but don't you leave, you stay there. And I'm like gotcha. So it's all over the news.
Speaker 1:What ended up happening was two suicide bombers approached the door casually, right, and they both got like some type of uh like messenger bag or backpack. I believe they were both backpacks, but they approached separately and there was a security man at the door. Like SOP is common practice over there security man at the door. So you could have your backpack, but I have to check it right. So the security officer says you know, let me see your bag. So the first guy opens his bag and, as it's being checked, the second because the second guy gave enough of an interval, as if they weren't together. So, as a security officer is checking the bag of the first individual, the second guy runs for the door, runs right past guy number one, runs into the interior and sets himself off right, right in the middle of the place. Okay, well, the first guy, I guess at that point, is like fuck this. So he runs down the beach. Well, not the beach, the street.
Speaker 1:So now, in the midst of all this, jim gets a hold of Mike. Mark shows up at the house. So you know all these calls go in which way and which. Mark ends up at the house, jim gets a hold of Mike. We're all going to reconvene and I guess, in all of the ruckus, eric. Now, eric is a, you know, really solid dude. I mean, as as I don't, there's not a. There's no love lost between me and the State Department. There's not none. Right, except for a handful of guys. Right, duke was a good guy, but we didn't really work with him.
Speaker 1:When there was trouble, like it was in the beginning, when things were relatively smooth, eric took his position. When he switched out, he was getting ready to redeploy elsewhere, relocate, so Eric took over. So Eric was our go-to right. When Mike's place was hit, eric was our guy that would roll with us, our State Department guy that would roll with us.
Speaker 1:So he talks to Jim and he was like, all right, he's like latest word is that one of the bombers was shot by the embassy. And Jim's like, okay, he goes, jim, please tell me, it wasn't one of your bombers was shot by the embassy. And Jim's like, okay, he goes, jim, please tell me, it wasn't one of your guys that did it, because that could have opened up a whole other can of worms. Like it turned out, it was one of the Israeli guards for the embassy and you know I was like, hey, listen, it wasn't one of us legitimately. But Eric was like it was not funny, but he was like I thank God, all right, like thank God, it wasn't, because that that would have presented a whole other you know issue.
Speaker 1:But, um, yeah, man, and, and you know we lost friends of ours, you know people that we came to know, um, uh, wait staff there. You know friends of their. I mean, again, it was just spoke volumes to the community there and how we were just kind of like uh, made to be part of that, you know. But I mean to me, you know I get it. I understand people's um, um. We call it their doctrine, their belief system, their, their, what have you.
Speaker 1:But never in my wildest dreams did I think of anything like uh, you know, there's no honor in suicide bombing. There's not. And I I get it. You know martyrdom and all this kind of stuff and I'm like, yeah, but you know what it's also the act of a coward. I mean, you want to be a soldier, you want to be a warrior? There's a way to do that. Running into a civilian establishment, you know, and that's not it, that is not it. But yeah, that was kind of heavy and kind of dark.
Speaker 1:Meanwhile we've got an incursion into the box because it's time to train, all right. So where are we? Let's check the time. Oh my goodness, it's a minute and six. We. Let's check the time. Oh my goodness, it's a minute. A minute, that's a minute and six, that's an hour and six, plus the a little half hour before my beautiful wife.
Speaker 1:So, all right, guys, that's, uh, that's part two, all right. So, uh, more to follow. We're still in. We're still in israel, man. Yeah, we're still in israel. So, no, there's no way to expedite it, man. You know, it's gonna be like one of those sitcoms, though, where the part of of Frane will now be played by Burke. But no, I mean, I enjoy having you here with this. It's cool, and you asked for it. I did ask for it. All right, I appreciate you, brother. All right, everyone thanks for joining us, and if you have any comments, uh, too bad, because the comments are turned off because, uh, you know, frankly, I don't want to hear any militant nonsense, right? So keep it light and uh, that's all for now. All right, out.
