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
Tel Aviv, Part 3: Gaza
When the chaos of Gaza City's front lines collides with the unseen battles of diplomatic security, it's not just about surviving—it's about understanding the price of protection. This account, as raw as the wounds of war, pulls back the curtain on the relentless dance with danger that shadows every step of a security agent's journey. From the unnerving aftermath of suicide bombings to the tense reliance on the Palestinian Authority, this episode offers a rare window into the lives of those who stand guard over international peace, where the difference between ally and adversary can blur in the desert heat.
Step into the covert world of international operations, where political movements morph into authoritarian regimes, and the 'shoot me first vest' is less humor and more harsh reality. Our conversation travels from the rooftop observations of devastation to the complexities of a security standoff. Then, we shift to the personal, where old military bonds persist beyond the battlefield and reintegration into civilian life proves to be another mission in itself. The narrative unfolds, revealing the emotional toll and constant dangers that define the path of those who serve in the shadows.
With each chapter, the stakes rise, from a chilling escape from a potential attack to a tension-filled team room where warnings go unheeded, and the cost is measured in lives. We're reminded of the weight of every decision, the split-second choices that carry life-altering consequences, and the sobering challenge of maintaining vigilance in the face of ever-present threats. This episode isn't merely a collection of war stories; it's a tribute to the unseen heroes who navigate the treacherous currents of international conflict, and an invitation to honor their service by listening to their stories.
And we're back All right with me again is Frayn, I think, where we left off the last time was the suicide bombing at Mike's Place, the bar restaurant right next to the US Embassy there in Tel Aviv. And in our time in Israel, prior to that, we had seen a few suicide bombings and they would hit the the types of, like the high-value targets that you would imagine. I remember one particular was a Sunday afternoon and we were in our apartment and you just hear this low order, you know, boom, like off in the distance and we headed right up to our like a rooftop patio and we got up there and you could like look right out over the city and see, like the, you know, the smoke plume and, um, a couple times, open air markets, you know things like that. But, um, you know, for us this was the closest to home that it had ever been in that it was literally, you know, right next door to the embassy, on the beach side, uh, a place that we would go to frequently. We'd go there for lunch or dinner or what have you, and we made friends with the staff there over the time, the months, the year that we had been there prior. So that was a bold move. It was an absolutely bold move.
Speaker 1:But this entire time and I might have referenced this in the last episode, but at the time the Palestinian Authority was the ruling body, the governing body in Gaza or in Palestine, west Bank, jericho, gaza and there was an absolute Hamas undercurrent coming on strong. This was 20 years ago, right, I mean 20 years ago, but they were still coming on strong. This was 20 years ago, right, I mean 20 years ago, but they were still coming on strong. And we firmly believed that. The Palestinian Authority. Well, they acted. I think we talked about this too. They acted as our hosts, for lack of a better word. They acted as our hosts when we would go on missions in Gaza and, not to get into too much detail, but when we would do like a diplomatic security mission, you know, in support of the State Department, we would roll in embassy vehicles with the CD I think CD was the prefix on the license plates and that would identify it as an American embassy vehicle. So you know, you're not trying to fool anybody, you're on a diplomatic mission. So they would be our security escort, I guess you know, escort, once we'd crossed the border into Palestine, they would.
Speaker 1:And because of that and this was something that we all had a problem with, from our internal leadership all the way down to the newest guy on the team you know it's not one of us that thought it was not a bad idea I mean, the night before a mission, you're giving your itinerary to a questionable element, but under the umbrella of the Department of State and their diplomacy initiative. That's what it is, that's what the embassy exists for. You can't very well tell and that's what we were told. We said you know, let's, let's, let them meet us at the first meeting place. You know, is it, is it more or less likely that they're going to attempt something in the heart of Gaza City? And who knows? I mean, you figure that out, you've achieved something. But I think our point with that was we're time and place predictable. We enter at the same, you know, the northern from the Erez crossing, which was the controlled checkpoint, from there and you'd cross right over into Palestine every time, every mission, time and place predictable, because we send our itinerary and they know where we're going and what times we'll need to be there. And we already believed, wholeheartedly, we believed, that they had already been corrupted, infiltrated, that there were guys in the PA that were wearing two hats, working for Hamas and working.
Speaker 1:I don't remember if I mentioned this or not, but we went to a convention center for lack of a better word in the heart of Gaza City. We had gone to a convention center and we were doing a rotation. We were doing a rotation. We were doing a rotation where one person, the State Department officer that was with us a State Department agent at that time was a really good guy. He was inside with the package. One of us would stay in the lobby area, say, you know, with him or close enough to him, him, so we weren't in the meeting room, but, um, and then at this particular time we were rotating. So I was the one who was kind of in the entryway to the convention center. So I'd get eyes on eric, our state department counterpart, and you know head nod across the hallway or down the hall or whatever.
Speaker 1:This particular moment. You know I kind of rove around. So uh, q and uh and mark were both in the suburban. They were in our vehicle, mark was driving, q was in the passenger seat with him and you know I had relieved him shortly before.
Speaker 1:So I step outside and I'm at the top of the steps and I'm looking out onto the parking lot and I can see our guys right there. You know, clearly, this taxi drives by and this is normal, this is normal stuff. This taxi drives by and it is riddled with bullet holes I mean, it's just like riddled with bullet holes and it drives by like it's, and it is. It's a normal, everyday occurrence, you know. So that's kind of stuff that at first it surprised you, then after a while it didn't. You know.
Speaker 1:So, as I'm standing out there, it's a beautiful sunny day and this white van pulls into the parking lot, then another one, then another one. It's not, they didn't roll in hard or aggressive, they roll in. All of a sudden, the panel doors slide open and these young, what we would now call know military age males, they just, you know, disembark the vehicle and they start pulling out all these flag, flagpoles and banners. And it's a hamas rally. It's a hamas rally that had booked the venue for that day. So we're about wrapping up as they're rolling in.
Speaker 1:And it was surreal. It was like a deranged comic book or something it really was. It's like we know who they are, they know who we are, but at that time it's like, well, you know, we're going to have open hostilities right here, right now. I mean, okay, you know, so be it, but I don't even know, I don't have the words. So be it, but I don't even know, I don't have the words. We weren't at open warfare with them, but we knew how bad they were and what they were. But I think at that time they were still trying to appear as an element for the people, kind of thing, for our listeners. There's a couple people downstairs right now in the gym who are supposed to be training. I don't know what they're training. They're training the jaw muscles. Anyway, get to work.
Speaker 1:But listen, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love having our little studio up here in the office above the gym. It kind of keeps it fun. But you know not to and I don't mean to diminish this, I'm not trying to be funny, but I think what was happening it's just my opinion and I think it is accurate At that time they still had the or trying to present the illusion of being like for the people right?
Speaker 1:Well, fast forward 20 years. There's no surprise to any of us. But in a, in a uh, a fair election, they become the governing power. They, they, they defeat the palestinian authority in a vote. Then they systematically start to eliminate anyone in the Palestinian Authority. That was any challenge to them in the past. I mean, you know you don't have to be a genius to see that coming. You know you do not have to be a genius. I mean we're talking like eliminate, like wholesale murder. You know, sometimes individuals, sometimes the whole family. You know that's a fact. So essentially and I don't say you know, we helped, but the United States and this is the double-edged sword the United States was very, very vocal about supporting free elections in Gaza. Okay, that's great, you know, free elections in a country that it doesn't matter how free or fair the elections were, even if they were, hamas won. They systematically eliminated after they won, after they won, so that they couldn't come back or resist or try any kind of change.
Speaker 1:Change, um, and that's in a sense. If you want to look at it that way, hamas has rapidly become like the next isis. You know, and it's, it's just, it's. It's unbelievable, it's unimaginable in my mind how it came from that to this. But it did, you know. But in that moment, here I am at the top of the steps and now I'm watching. It was like the circus, you know, where the little car pulls up and all the clowns get out. So it's like one, two, three vans and all these clowns get out. Right, and I'm not by myself, because I know my guys are right there and there's not that many of us, but I wouldn't have traded places with anybody, not in that moment.
Speaker 2:How many guys were there? Was it just you four? Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:That was it. That was it. I mean, we were outnumbered.
Speaker 2:But you were heavily armed, right.
Speaker 1:By State Department standards. By State Department standards, we were heavily armed. I had a pistol and three magazines. But listen though, here's the thing, though, and this is legit I mean, you know, in that moment, are these guys armed? I mean, no, they did not roll out. You know slung AKs and you know, like that, they didn't.
Speaker 1:But you know, it becomes that thing too, and I remember, you know vividly, I've, over the years, before I ever, ever served in in israel, um, you would always see, you know, the west bank or gaza, and and the, the image that's just burned in my head is like how, how could israeli soldiers open fire on a crowd? I mean, they, they were only throwing rocks. Well, in October of 2003, I was in the center of about 500 jokers who were throwing rocks. Throwing rocks is the first wave. Throwing rocks is to get you down and then they will overrun you and they will tear you apart. So there's the answer to your question how can you? Because you can. You know, know that's it. But you know, in that moment it wasn't even that.
Speaker 1:Actually, it did get funny, because now we're on earpieces, right, so nobody can hear the radios but us. And now these guys come, they start coming up the steps, not aggressive, not anything like that, but as they're walking up the steps, I'm I'm by myself, I'm like prime, you know. So they start to, like, you know, get in a semicircle around me and one guy's like oh, hello, my friend. You know, like this and that, and I'm like, hey, how's it going? You know, oh, what brings you here? And I'm like just came for a coffee. You know, I came for a coffee and ridiculously, ridiculously and I think we all agreed with this our uniform.
Speaker 1:right, we would wear like cargo pants, collared shirts, because in a fucking gunfight a collar makes a difference I guess you know, but no, I don't disrespect that You're to present a more professional appearance and so we would wear collared shirtso shirts, you know, were acceptable, but we were encouraged to cover up everything. So we started to wear like, um, like a photographer's vest, you know?
Speaker 1:I mean, yeah, like yeah yeah, so you have, like your whatever pockets for everything. We started to call those and it's actually dark humor, but in hindsight, right, we called it the shoot me first vest, right, like not fooling anybody, you know, I don't know, you know, nobody ever thought that we should sling a camera around our neck, like maybe that would add to the picture.
Speaker 2:Interesting. Let's have a coffee camera around our neck, like maybe that would add to the picture.
Speaker 1:Interesting, that's good coffee. So when?
Speaker 2:you were rolling with the state department, so you were in my mind. I was envisioning you. You know heavy, like you know all the rifles, body armor, everything like that well, our our typical loadout.
Speaker 1:We would have, um, a gun bag, you like a kit bag. We all carried M4s. So our standard loadout was Glock 19 pistol. I always carried three spare magazines, just a better number than two. Your radio, your personal comms Glock 19, an M4. But because of the parameters, the M4 was always to be kept in the bag in the truck, right In the event that it was needed. You would have access to it and I'm like, yeah, well, let's just hope that you get to it when you have need for it.
Speaker 1:Now, if Secretary of State at the time was Condoleezza Rice and we did a couple missions when she was in country in support of her mission, and those times, depending on your role in the package, you might be like out on perimeter M4 slung, you know, a higher profile, higher, higher value target. You know you hate to put it like that, but so that would. It would vary. But really you know like you were, on a day to day, low profile, very cordial, very amicable. But then the crazy part too was I remember going to a meeting once and and again. You know you always go expecting the worst, right, prepare for the worst and then expect. You know, back it up from there. But we're in an office building in Gaza City and in the hallway, just just, you know again, state Department guys, at the door where the meeting is occurring, down the hall is one of our guys, downstairs are the two suburbans Lead vehicle has an embassy driver, follow vehicle had one of our guys. So, you know, the other three of us would be mobile and you know, in this particular case, as I recall, eric was at the door in front of where the meeting room. I was down the hall, one of my other teammates was in the stairwell, one of our other teammates was at the entrance. So, like I could see you, you could see him, he could see Q and Q could see to the vehicles, and then we'd, we'd rotate.
Speaker 1:So I'm in the hallway and I've got, you know, line of sight to Eric and all of a sudden this jabroni comes out of another office and just starts talking shit, like, like pissed off, and I'm like, oh bro, did I like date your daughter or something like what are you? What's your problem? You know? And of course, yeah, I didn't say anything, of course, but I didn't even understand what he was saying, but it was the body language and the tone. Essentially, you're getting a strong vibe, like you know, these guys are here and I don't like it.
Speaker 1:So I just kind of, you know, mosey on down the hall like it's an everyday thing and I said to eric I was like what's, you know what's happening? And and he was, he was much more, uh, mature than I was, you know, because he's just like easy, like don't, and you know he was right. He was absolutely right because, you know, in my temperament he's just like easy, like don't, and you know he was right. He was absolutely right because, you know, in my temperament he's pissed off. You know, maybe he's pissed off at you know, some some wrongdoing that happened to. Uh, all right, we've got, we've got people coming upstairs. Maybe they want to be guests on the show. Who knows, who can say. But you know, in that regard, I understand it.
Speaker 1:But at the same time, my first thing was well, was this guy going to be a problem? You know, because if he and another thing too is, it was nothing to see armed civilians I mean, we're out in front of a venue like this one I'm talking about one particular day and this, you know, military age male goes right down the middle of the street with a slung M4 with a sniper scope on it, just, you know, just walking along like it's an everyday thing, and he's just, we're not out in the country, it's not a hunting rifle. I'm like what the shit? But that was the norm. You know, that was the absolute norm. But you know, things like that would happen quite a bit, and I think for us it all kind of fed into that circle of like, just incongruous, unpredictable in a place where abnormal is normal. Right, you know. So you go, all right, we got to do something to tack, stack the deck a little bit more in our favor. Um, but okay, the 430 class is about to start. So here's what we should do. Let's play it by ear. We'll continue along. If it gets too loud, if it gets, you know, rocking or whatever, maybe we'll go join in the workout.
Speaker 1:I don't know who's to say, who's to say, who's to say, because you know why, you never know. But I will tell you this If you're not training, if you're not preparing yourself, shame on you, because somewhere right now, a true believer is training to kill you. That's no shit. All right, don't believe it. You know, and I've never been a conspiracy.
Speaker 1:I think there's a world of difference between being prepared and being considered a prepper, right, a prepper, I'm like a prep, prep for what you know, prepare for everything you know. I don't mean to slurp, but I'll tell you what this is Black Rifle, power Llama, I think so. Power Llama yeah, I am, I was going to say this, but you could read it right off the package and I wouldn't do it justice. I am detecting a hint of grilled peach, jasmine and something else. That's quite tasty, but it really is. It's good coffee, black rifle coffee. But so, you know, like I said, the abnormal becomes the norm. And you know, like I think we talked about this the last time too.
Speaker 1:You know, we rolled out on our first mission never having fired our weapons. Now we were, you know, given them by state, and they assured us that, hey, they've been. You know, they've been BZO'd, they've been fired. That's great, but not by me, not by you, you know, not by our team. But our first order of business, you know, one of the first things that Q told, told me to do was find a place, find a range right, and we, we did. We were always training, which was fantastic.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't have traded that experience for anything in the world. I mean, uh, I've seen I've thankfully never been a part of a project like it but I've seen other projects or heard about them where good enough is good enough and I'm like, well, not when my life or yours or any member of my team is in the balance. You know, I'm not going to have to explain to someone's wife or mom or brother, you know, oh yeah, well, you know, we went over and we were ready, but man, shut up there's. And that was an eye opener because once I got, you know, when we were on this project, it was just us. It was just us. The only other contractors we ever came into contact with worked for another government agency and those guys were legit. They were legit. So you know, my first time out of the gate I was pretty spoiled. I worked with some great guys. Well, couple cycled through but they self-destructed, they just self-destructed, but a couple others, like I said, we didn't waste any time, we made the most of it.
Speaker 2:Right. So, if we go back. How did this scenario resolve itself, with the disgruntled gentleman who came out in the hall yelling yeah.
Speaker 1:So what ended up happening was one of the members of the office that we were there to see. I guess he heard the loud voice, you know, not voices, because I mean, I just made it clear to Eric I was like what the fuck is this, you know? And he's like Rock easy, I swear, and God bless him. He is a friend to this day, a dear friend, but I probably gave him some gray hair because it's like what I remember most is that smile and he would just go rock easy, easy and I'm like easy, like this is between me and you, like I'm not like pulling my blade, like I got this guy, but he's a good dude, good dude. But, um, what ended up happening was a member from the host's office stepped out into the hall. He heard what was, you know, the raised voice. So he goes across the hall, he has words with this guy and, as he's walking back towards, us.
Speaker 1:I remember vividly and you know it's weird, the stuff you remember. I remember there was a big window at the end of the hall. The hall was dimly lit For all I know the power may have even been off in the hallway but a big window at the end of the hall, so we were almost in shadow, you know. And I remember, as the host member walked back toward us, I remember eric going hey, like they gave justin by name, he's like what, like what's happening, like the universal, like what's happening. And then in in english. Then the host says oh, you know, he has a problem with westerners.
Speaker 1:You know this and that and I will tell you when we used to drive in on, again, diplomatic missions right, you could set your clock by it If anything had recently happened in the news where America office of the president came out in favor of the Palestinians, maybe it was even in a statement. When we would drive through Gaza City on the way to a meeting, going through the marketplaces and whatnot, civilians on the street would like wave at us, yell, hey, you know if, if the office of the president, you know, was critical and in or appear to be in favor of the Israeli government, they'd throw shit at us, you know, and.
Speaker 1:I don't laugh at it, but it was surreal. You know, one minute they're cheering, the next minute they're throwing cantaloupes at us. I'm like, okay, you know. I mean sorry, but I believe that was really the root cause of it. And listen, I don't for a minute take that lightly, I don't. I mean I've said this over and over and I don't need to repeat it again, but I will.
Speaker 1:All the difference in the world between supporting the Palestinian citizenry because right now you got some good people there, like you have everywhere, just like when the Russians rolled across the border of Ukraine, you know you've got civilians caught up in someone else's mess I really think that the despicable part, or big part of it, is when you have Hamas. Leadership will look you right in the eye and say just about a week ago I don't remember the news service, but there was a leader of Hamas who was interviewed the interviewer actually said to him he said with all these civilians suffering, you've got miles of tunnels under the city and bunkers. Why not let them take refuge there? This joker didn't even bat an eye. He looks right at the reporter and he was like Like almost, as if to say how could you ask such a stupid question? He was like well, those are for the Hamas fighters. So, you know, there's no level of care, there's no level of concern for the civilian population.
Speaker 1:Now, having said that, I don't mean to sound like well, if they don't care for their people, why should we? Because we're human. That's why, that's exactly why, you know, when you can fill yourself so much with hate that you lose sight of the fact that, you know, like I'll show you, I don't care how many of my own people I have to kill to make my point. That's an ideology that I think most Westerners don't understand. You know, I don't like it, and neither do I understand it, but I've seen it enough to kind of just let that flow by and stay focused, because when you have an opponent like that, an adversary like that, they're capable of anything, you know, but, yeah, I mean. But what I do remember, though, about getting back to the top of the steps there at that convention center, and I'm surrounded right byestinian version of like boys to men, you know, and uh, or no new kids on the you know, I mean like a boy band only like militant, you know.
Speaker 1:So they're like oh my, yeah, what brings you here? What do you? I'm like, hey, I came for the coffee. So now I hear through my earpiece hey, rocky, you're making friends up there. Now I don't want to like, because that's a rookie mistake, you know. Like you get a transmission and then you like look to where you know, and I'm like, yeah, you know, and I'm just kind of like real discreetly, like keying my mic, and I'm like, yeah, good friends, you know. And so they're like oh, you know, my friend and this and this and all. I keep thinking, as I'm like you fuckers. Better, I hope the doors are unlocked and you've got one hand on the handle, because you know, because in my mind I'm thinking well, what's about to happen?
Speaker 2:here. I don't know.
Speaker 1:You know these guys going to, is this going to be like smiles until they make a move? And I remember thinking I'm like the two guys right in front of me were small and I was up a step above them and I'm like, well, I I'm gonna launch myself straight at these two and and just go to work, because what right? I mean like there's strength in the middle of the crowd at that point. Right, I'll just grab one and not let go. But uh, yeah it was it was goofy.
Speaker 1:It was goofy, but speaking english with you.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, um, but you know, like I, like I said, the situation deteriorated from incidents like that to July of 2003. All right, we had and it's interesting too I think I might have described this once before where, the way the embassy was set up, you had post one at the front entrance, post two at the back there's always a United States Marine at each of those entrances and post two opened out into a courtyard. We would bring our vehicles. Whoever drove that week would bring the vehicles up from the underground garage, come through the entrance, like the security would drop the bollard, would come through, we would load up in the courtyard so we're not out in public, and then, out the exit off, we would go on our mission, right?
Speaker 1:So one morning another agency was just coming in as we were leaving. So I'm walking for the door, I've got my guitar bag, I've got my gun bag, watch out, I'm walking for the door. I've got my guitar bag, I've got my gun bag, watch out, I'm armed. Just let me drop this, unzip it and make sure I'm ready to go, but anyway. So I'm walking out and I see this guy's coming in. He's like taking up the whole hallway. I'm like holy smokes. So as we get closer to one another, you know, like you don't know him, he doesn't know you, but like you're both in the same gym, so you're like man, I go to the 5 30, he goes to the 6 30. So you see each other enough, your familiar face. So when you get close to another, what happened? How you doing, how you doing right?
Speaker 1:so we get the bro nod, right and as we, as we pass in the hallway, we do the, the bro nod and all of a sudden this big giant of a man right in front of me turns into this little kid and he goes Rocky. Now I see the smile and I go oh my God, danny, we had worked together for a private company out of northern Virginia a few years prior. So, you know, I run right into him and I'm like oh, he's like what are you doing here? And I'm like what are you doing here? Right, so, real quick, we exchanged numbers because we were rolling and they were just coming in. So, anyway, that's more for later, but in this moment it was he and his team leader. This is July of 2003.
Speaker 2:All right, In fact excuse me.
Speaker 1:When I ran into him in the embassy it was probably June, probably like weeks prior, and, you know, came back from that mission. We'd exchanged phone numbers. I went over. Their hotel was right next door, like is the embassy Mike's place on Beachside, and then I don't remember the name of the hotel, but it was like almost adjacent to the embassy and they always stayed there. So I went up to meet him. And this is the same day. Now this is hours later.
Speaker 1:So I walk in, I meet his team leader, two of his teammates and him. First thing the team leader says to me is a guy named Mark. Really good, dude. He goes. So Danny tells me you want to come to work for us? And I'm like and in that instant I didn't even have to think about it I was like, yes, I do. And he was like well, all right then. All right. Then he goes. Well, look, and I'll never forget this. He goes this is jimbo and this is bode. And I'm like hey, guys, and this just to give you an idea of of the machine that supports this.
Speaker 1:Right, danny and mark were staff members of this particular agency. Right, and in the in the vernacular they they would like refer to them as like blue badgers, right, like you're a blue badge. So your ID badge has your photo and it has all your alphanumerics, but the border around your photo is in blue, hence your badge is blue. Remember my colors? Jimbo and Bodie were contractors. They worked for two different companies. Now picture the demand where you don't have enough staff members. So you got to go to contract, which is the norm. I mean, it became the norm, right, hell, even the State Department. That was contract because the State Department did not have enough agents in the Diplomatic Security Service. So they went to contracts and we filled that one. So they were both what they would call green badgers, right?
Speaker 1:Green badge is you are fully cleared at the TS, at the top secret, sci, secret compartmentalized information, ts, sci and whatever other like you would be read on for, but you're fully cleared, you're green. The only differentiation there is you're not staff. So at a glance you can, okay, that guy's direct hire, that guy's a contractor, but they all work for that entity. Yellow badge was a secret clearance. So those would be your guys who would be more like assigned to physical security of the compound. They wouldn't be read into everything, but they would be cleared at the secret level. And then your red badges would be like your uncleared third country nationals, so that would be like your local workforce okay, that you know they would come in and do like whatever right Grounds keeping and things like that but you would always see a minimum of a yellow badge supervising them because they're not to be unattended anywhere on the compound or anything like that. I didn't really have that in Israel at all. I would see that more when I got downrange Now, just as a little caveat, and we'll address this at some future point.
Speaker 1:But the agency that I worked for was a sister agency to this one I'm telling you about now. So we had brown badges, right. So brown badge a brown badge was could have been either blue or green, didn't matter. When that agency saw brown, they realized that like okay, oga if you've ever heard that expression other government agency, which I used to always chuckle at that Other government agency Well, I guess the US Forestry Department is OGA, right, but I mean what Brown meant or indicated on their watch on their compounds was you are fully cleared at the tssci level, you have full access, um, but you're not like you're that. You're a sister agency, you're not them, yeah. And we're like yeah, roger, that you know it did.
Speaker 1:It turned out, I swear to god. There were times that it reminded me of the, the what's a card game, uno, you know, I mean, you start dealing them out. There's all kinds of different colors. I'm like I don't even know what the hell that means, you know. But um, anyway, so I became good friends with mark and in this first, I mean his first meeting, he was like okay, he goes. So jimbo works for blackwater and he's like bode works for mvm and he, you know, at that time they were both major players in the contracting game, right, and they had so much demand that neither of those two companies could keep up with it. So they were like okay, you know, we've got.
Speaker 1:And my understanding was, in some other theaters of operation they might have broken it down geographically when they're like okay, you know, in this operating, uh, you know, in this operational theater, mvm handles all that. You know, in this one, blackwater handles all that. But um other times they were like nope, it's a mix. And so in the same again I keep saying this in the same meeting, and mark was just like bam, bam, bam. He's like well, here's how simple this is.
Speaker 1:He goes danny says you're a good guy, that's good enough for me, and I would come to find out later on that that is the only way to go. It really really is, because if you're willing to put your name on someone, you've already done like a lot of due diligence, because a lot of guys look good on paper and then you start to work with them and you're like, oh my God, like this is Hello, yeah, sure. So you know, when you start to look at it like that, you realize fast. You're like, oh, I mean, this guy got screened, this guy was cleared, not challenging any of that. But at the same time I'm working with him now and he's a moron.
Speaker 1:So you know, this is no bullshit and I'm jumping tracks here a little bit, but we had this one joker had, you know, an impressive background, right, we're doing live fire drills downrange in Iraq on a range outside of Baghdad, downrange in in iraq on a range outside of baghdad. And this particular drill, simulate vehicle taking contact from the driver's side, contact left. So pop out the off contact side first. Man out takes a position up, use using the engine block as cover. Right now, necessity dictates, right? These were fully armored suvs at that time and at that ao. These were our ford excursions, and I only.
Speaker 1:This is not funny, man, at all. I only say this because one no one got hurt um, totaled a vehicle, totaled a vehicle by dumb luck, then denied. He did it in front of everybody. There's only us, there's nobody else. There's no grassy knoll, there's no. Was there a second gunman? You know, yeah, we're all gunmen, but he's on this drill. So this joker pops out, the passenger side, comes around and it did not help that he was very, very short, and I don't mean that as a criticism, but the vehicle is high, he's short. The vehicle also has a turbo package on the engine, which means that the particular hood had like a scoop on top exactly right.
Speaker 1:So he comes around and he pivots and he comes up over the hood. Okay, great, bam bam, bam, bam bam. Okay, great, you know. The second man out takes up position on the tail. Bam bam bam. They, you know, accurately engage targets, downrange, okay, index, right. So now we regroup.
Speaker 1:One of my teammates goes uh, boys, who shot the hood? Who shot the hood? Like, what are you talking about? Like we were all watching, we were all like standing off. Sure enough, you get up to that position on the hood and you look and there are like three One just kind of creased the hood and, you know, kept going.
Speaker 1:The other two actually kind of like you could see where they skidded across the hood but then penetrated that scoop. You know what I mean, penetrated that, that scoop, or you know what I mean. So now, well, starter up, no go, we lift the hood. Well, what happened was the bullets that penetrated actually ended up damaging the, the turbo on top of the engine. You know when? Just, I mean I'm a mechanic, right, but in training, how do you explain that? Right, and we did have more vehicles. But now we're like okay, well, let's take it to the KBR garage. Kellogg Brown and Root KBR was the mechanic that serviced our vehicle. Excuse me, I don't condone lying, but I'll tell you this. I was like there's no goddamn way we're going to go to this garage and tell this mechanic that we shot our own vehicle, right, and they all ask hey, what happened? You know I'm like, oh God, you know. Well, this asshole put three rounds in the hood on purpose. I would like to think, not, you know, but that's just that silliness, but anyway, so you know.
Speaker 1:At that time, you know, back in the hotel, mark is saying well, this is what's what. And he said the smart play for you would be this Apply for direct hire if you're interested. If you're interested, apply for direct hire, but also apply for a contract position with both of these companies, because you'll essentially triple your chances. He said, you know, the blue badge is kind of finicky because sometimes they hire very fast, other times it can take forever, it's a long process. And he said but you know, he said both of these guys, bodhi and Jimbo, both have their packages in for blue badge. And I was like, okay, great, and Jimbo, both have their packages in for for Blue Badge. And I was like, okay, great, you know. So, um, that was like June time frame, october, within a few months I would. I would rotate back home and start that process.
Speaker 2:So yeah, now when you saw Danny in the hallway, did you know? Did he tell you what he, what the group or organization he was working?
Speaker 1:for oh, yeah, okay, so it wasn't a complete surprise, no, but what was funny, though, was this like OGA, right In Israel at that time, they worked for political research. They were in the Office of Political Research. Ambiguous, and this is something that you can remember, this, something ambiguous enough to be boring that nobody would ever ask you about. Think about, picture this this is always your litmus test Picture you're on a plane and there's somebody beside you, and this is one thing I will never forget.
Speaker 1:An instructor told us this when I was a very, very young man Gentlemen, believe me, trust me, none of you are as good looking as you think you are. So when a woman that normally wouldn't look at you twice sits down and strikes up a conversation, she is a foreign intelligence officer. Bank on it, right, I didn't have to be told that twice. Even with my ego, I did not have to be told that twice. I was like, yeah, check, absolutely absolutely so, but yeah, but, like I said, so, political research. So so what do you do? Oh, or worse, you're not in an airplane, you're at a cafe in country, and obviously you're from the embassy. Oh, so what do you do? Well, you're already done. Oh, I work for the Office of Political Research. That sounds so boring, I'm going to move on. You know, but yeah, and he was, he was their resident bulldozer. I mean you know, but uh, yeah, and he was, he was their resident bulldozer.
Speaker 2:I mean just a really good-natured guy, just a good dude, very, very good dude with a lot of colorful stories now, did you have to say, did people ask you what you were doing and did you have to be a bit clandestine at that time?
Speaker 1:this is how clandestine we were, okay, in Israel. Oh, god damn man. So look at this picture right here. The guy on the far right with a slick back hair all right, that's Mark. I don't know what the hell possessed him, and I'm listen, he's no longer with us, right? We lost him in October of 2003. So I'm going to blame him for this and because I think it was him, he came up with the story that we were Canadian hockey players.
Speaker 1:Why are we in Israel, right off? He's like are you kidding? He's like, well, hockey's not that big a sport here, but and they actually did have a couple leagues further north in Golan, like the Golan Heights. He's like, oh, we're here to see if we can get this started, you know. He's like we're forming a league and he's like, oh, yeah, we. And he wouldn't really do a strong accent, but he'd go yeah, rocky and I, we're from Ontario, yeah, and he's like hockey, we play hockey. And I'm like, well, I do like hockey, you know, and I guess we could talk the talk a little bit about it. But yeah, we were Canadian hockey players. I'm like what would possess you to come up with that? And he did over a beer. He was like bro, look he goes. None of us are small, you know. Like again, you don't talk hockey in canada, you will be found out, but in tel aviv you probably get away with like, oh, are you kidding, that's offsides. You know, you never see a game on tv.
Speaker 2:It's, it's always you always football, soccer, I mean, but yeah so yeah, I just think that's interesting because I know one of my favorite movies, sicario, josh Brolin's character says he's A DOD advisor. Yeah Right, she asked the main, the protagonist, she asked.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:It's a DOD advisor Right.
Speaker 1:Right, and I don't know if you knew this and I'm telling it, I'm telling it all Emily Blunt played the female FBI. I believe she was right. In the movie, that character was actually based on my cousin, actually based on my cousin who worked for another government agency and ran some similar mission profiles. You know, and yeah, I just found that out recently and I was pretty impressed by that, pretty impressed by that cuz.
Speaker 1:Love you if you ever hear this, not naming any names, but yeah, true story, yeah, true story, true story but, yeah, dod advisor, right, um, but what was what was really wild and I would like to finish this part, uh, tonight. So we would see these guys constantly, especially now, because you know they're almost like hey man, you know, rocky's coming over, you know yeah, and I'm like yes, this is so cool, you know, and I don't know.
Speaker 1:I just I. First of all, you know 9-11 had already happened. It's what brought me to contracting to begin with and I wouldn't have traded that for anything. You know, I think I mentioned this previously. Excuse me, on um, on 9-11, the first call I made was was home, obviously I was, I was in northern virginia, but I, I called my wife and um didn't even know what had happened. Yet by the time. You know, I got her on the phone and the see it on the television at the same time. So when I hung up with her, the first thing I did was I called the Navy offices at the Pittsburgh Federal Building where I came through in the first place, and before they could even get back to me and they got back to me the next day I got a call from another friend of mine who was like hey, would you be interested in coming to work for us? It got me into contracting almost immediately. So you know, you know what it was.
Speaker 1:But, um, you know I wouldn't have traded it because on my first deployment to baghdad I ran into and you know, just by timeline I see this guy in the dining hall with navy wings, right navy wings, and his rank insignia and I'm like, wow, had I stayed in, I would have been a lieutenant commander by now myself. And I'm like, you know navy wings, they don't just give those away. So I'm like my close to my year group. So now I don't want to be a stalker but, as fate would have it, we're walking opposite directions and I can read his name tag and I'm like Cheatham, cheatham. I'm like I know that guy and we came through Pensacola together. So I worked my way over and I was like, excuse me, now bear in mind, right, he's all short hair, squeaky clean, you know, naval officer in a flight suit, and I'm not know, I mean my hair's grown out long and my beards and this is funny too. A little segue, because this is funny as hell my beard was not nearly this gray at the time, not nearly, I don't know, I think it was gray at all, you know, um, but it was, you know, longer, fuller, long hair, but again, everything's a dead giveaway. On the lanyard you wear, you know, like the ID carrier, and again the alphanumerics, like we had virtually like unlimited access. So look at the way you look having the access that you have, it's a safe bet. That's like, oh, I don't know who he is, but he's supposed to be here and you know you're fully armed and you know, um, it's just how it was.
Speaker 1:But I approach him and I was like hey, I said um, you know, you mind, if I ask you. I said when did you come through pensacola? And he was like, oh, I came through in 1989. I was like no kidding, and I smiled and I was like aocs, aviation officer, canada school. He said yeah, and I was like what class were you in? And he was like I started with 1789. I was like so did I. And he's like now, depending on what badge it was, they don't all have your real name on it, right? Well, this one did, because it was my common access card. So he does a double. He's like, oh, my God, he's like how are you?
Speaker 1:So we ended up my friend who was with me for dinner there. He and I ended up sitting with Don and his friend, you know, and what was interesting is by no means a criticism, it's not. But what was very interesting was again, had I been able to get back to active duty? You know, the aircraft I flew in the Navy had been decommissioned already and I gave up my flight status before I left active duty. I served my last year on active duty. I was under temporary orders to EOD Mobile Unit 2 at Little Creek.
Speaker 1:So you know, I really had no command to speak of. I had not gone to tech school. I wasn't an EOD tech. I was kind of like I would have been had I been reactivated. I would have been put into some staff or support position somewhere, and I think that would have probably made me want to shoot myself in the foot. You know, I just can't. I couldn't imagine that. This is awesome. Now we got it rocking upstairs. Yeah, we got people over our jumping rope overhead on the second deck and a good workout going on downstairs. So anyway, we'll wrap this up shortly here, but I do want to finish this story because it's a precursor to when things get really bad.
Speaker 1:So you know I'm excited. I've run into a good old friend. He's introduced me to his network. That network has already encouraged me to get started on, you know, the next chapter. So I'm pretty pumped, you know, in a way I almost felt like and I don't know why it's such an obscure reference, but like you're a junior in high school, you've already been accepted to college. Right Varsity Letterman, you're doing good man. You're gonna coast through that summer and then hit your senior year Like a wild man because, like you're set, you're going.
Speaker 1:That's kind of how I felt at this point. I was like, right on, man, I'm still doing a good mission, but I've already started the process. You know, the application process has begun and what was super was I've got two blue badgers kind of making the introductions in-house. I've got two contractors, each with one of the biggest providers of contract security in the global war on terror. Each of them going hey, you know what, send your resume to this address, email address. I'm gonna follow it up with an email myself. So I'm like this doesn't get any better. It really doesn't.
Speaker 1:So now, july, uh, 2003, we get word. Hey, grs team just took a hit. We're like, well, it took a hit. Like how bad. Well, nobody was killed, but they're on their way back now, right on, we'll come to find out. The vehicle that got hit was Mark and Danny. Okay, so they get back.
Speaker 1:I think we caught up, maybe the next day. And I remember talking to them face-to-face good dudes, solid dudes and they're like man, you know, we'll be glad to tell you what happened. And if you want to debrief like, we'll give you a thorough debrief because you know they're coming after us Like that, I think. As I recall, I think that's where it became public knowledge that Hamas had put a bounty on all of us. You know, any American operatives working in Gaza, 50,000, and that's just how fucked up I was at the time. Right, I hear the dollar value, and it pissed me off. I was like 50,000? That's it. Well, strap in, motherfucker, because it's going to get bumpy, you know, and I just, I just don't know. I mean, my mind at the time was a little bit different. I'd still be insulted, I really would. I'd be like it's not enough, you know. But that's when we found out that.
Speaker 1:So now again, think about what we talked about earlier. Right, this little boy band a farce that they're playing like there's a community rally and, oh, we have our cute little green flags with all this bullshit. That's the tip of the iceberg. I hate to use such a cliched expression, but that's the tip of the iceberg. You present yourself as like we're here for the people. You are not. You're there to further your own hate-filled agenda. That's a fact and I want to put a pin in this because I want to tell this story too, just so anybody listening doesn't think that this is not bias, this is having. You know, I do have a bias, a bias born of experience and firsthand knowledge. This is an actual fact, this happened.
Speaker 1:There was a suicide bombing that took place inside the Erez checkpoint, where you would process to come across, and the way they did this was and out of all respect, cultural respect only females would inspect females, only males would inspect males. So this Palestinian female civilian comes through and she's apparently pregnant. She's in a burqa, you know full, you know cultural, from like the hood to the robe. And, with all respect, the IDF female says oh yes, ma'am, please come this way. So they bring her through the turnstile. She gets inside to the processing center. Inside the processing center, she clacks herself off. She's not pregnant, she's wrapped in a suicide vest, right, an S-vest. She clacks herself off. Well, it obliterates. I don't remember how many were killed, I didn't have the stomach to check it up again online but she completely vaporizes the IDF soldier, the female who's in front of her, and just did carnage right.
Speaker 1:So shortly after that we happened to be at ares and we're going through the same processing location, but it was that was. We didn't have to go through, we were in the incoming to see where it had happened. That's the, the. The state department package that we took down that day was there to whether consult or what have you now all you can smell now is fresh paint and pine salt. I remember that like vividly, that strong pine cleaner and fresh paint. And as they're talking business and you and again, a debrief of how it happened. We had heard it and heard it. We knew how it happened.
Speaker 1:I go over to similar to like the window over here, right, and it's Lexan, like a ballistic glass, and something catches my eye and there's like a metallic, like sparkle. So I walk over and I look and no shit, there's a bb in the glass, like it looks like it was poured in there, and one of our host officers from the idf sees me like right up on the glass, like I'm mesmerized by this, and he comes over and he says oh, rocky, he said you saw that and I was like joe, like he was like yeah, and I mean he didn't have to say it, I mean picture. So you've got an improvised explosive device, whatever. You're probably like a, like a semtex or a c4 component, something like that. But you know, anything's fair game. Ball bearings are popular bbs, right? Anything that's going to provide spread, uh, blast, right? Well, imagine how hot and fast that thing's traveling. So it's hot enough that when it impacted the lexan it was hot enough that it melted itself into it. Well, there's no way to get it out. So you know, you leave it. But, um, so that's, you know, that's what it is.
Speaker 1:Okay, now the backstory on it all. Right, this is how fucked up the, the pathology, the, the mindset. This woman was a wife, you know, just a palestinian wife, mother, um, her husband was a true believer, right, legitimately true believer. So the plan that he orchestrated, along with his leadership, was to put his wife in a position that she had no way to save herself, to redeem herself, except through this right. So what they did was it was this whole dog and pony show like a fabricated, another member of their group or their cell started to pay attention to the wife, started a little flirtatious behavior with her. Maybe, I don't know, I couldn't tell you their domestic partnership prior, but you know, maybe he was just, maybe her husband was just a dick to begin with.
Speaker 1:All right, long story short, this character essentially seduces her like a courtship. A courtship seduces her and then, oh, big surprise, gets found out. Well, getting found out was the right, because now there's no way that she could redeem herself other than some great act of sacrifice. So she is essentially misled, victimized, like, for all intents and purposes, that's fucked up, right, and she commits this act and she takes her own life and how many other lives in the process. Now, I don't know that there's a measure for hatred that deep. I really don't, you know, but this is the mindset that you're up against.
Speaker 1:Okay, so now you know, they put a bounty out on us and you know, like, childishly, like to me, that's where I kind of check myself, because I'm like dude, you're pissed off that they didn't put a high enough bounty. Well, here's a woman that's minding her own business, who gets radicalized by her own husband. What do you do with that? I don't even know, I don't know. So now, and this is where again you know, the same leadership, the same group of people that would not allow us to use different points of ingress. Well, no, they're our hosts, you know, okay, great.
Speaker 1:So we go to our side of the house and we say, hey, you know that ambush, that just occurred, right. Oh yeah, we heard about that. Oh yeah, you ever watch Mel Brooks? Yeah, right, I didn't get a harum father, that guy, that's kind of what it was. Right Now, the guys that ran with us every day, the guys that worked with us, they understood the value of let's get a harum father, that guy, that's kind of what it was right now.
Speaker 1:The guys that ran with us every day, the guys that worked with us, they understood the value of let's get a firsthand debrief from the men who were there what their bosses tell them. Oh no, no, no, we don't want to debrief from them, because if they give us a debrief, then we'll owe them. I'm like you know what said from the fucking safety of your desk. You know why don't you come out, put your fucking coffee down, come out and roll with us. Then tell me that you don't want every bit of intel that you could possibly get. You know, but being us and jim was still our leader at the time he was like rocky fuck.
Speaker 1:That set it up, and you know, of course we. We left and, yes, sir, we got it, we got it, we get back outside or whatever, and jim's like Rocky set it up. So they came to our place and they debriefed us, and this was just got to give credit where credit is due. This was pretty slick, all right. So this particular mission they were escorting a technician down to take a look at a communications tower. All right, this is they being Danny and Mark.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly yeah yeah, danny and Mark, political research, not the hockey players. So they get through the checkpoint. They get maybe one or two kilometers down the road. There's a house that sits up on this hill. The tower is on that property. Now, they used to do this as part of their routine. They would check up on this. So this particular day they roll in.
Speaker 1:And in Mark's own words and I remember this like it was yesterday he was like all right, so there's a driveway that goes up to the house. There's a gate. He's like now, the gate's always, always open. There's an earthen hillside on both sides. So the driveway goes up, but there's like dirt walls, that kind of contour up and away from that driveway. He's like at the top of the hill there's the house. Around the house and down the back side of the hill is um rows of fig trees. Okay, there's a tree in the front yard. He's like anytime, every time, and, as he's telling us this from memory, we're like oh yeah, I know exactly where that is, like the gate. I've never noticed the gate because it's always open. Right, there's a tree in the front yard, a nice big shade tree. There's always a donkey tied to the tree. Couldn't tell you why. Maybe they use it for other shit, but usually it's always there in the light of day. That's his little duty station, like the donkey's, there, right, and there's two little kids, a boy and a girl. They would run around. There's a swing on the tree and they're playing back and forth, like kids everywhere will do right.
Speaker 1:So this time they pull into the driveway, the gate's locked. Now they have access, just in case they had access. But so they get up. You know what? I couldn't tell you from memory if it was locked, but it was closed. It's never closed. That day it's closed.
Speaker 1:So Danny's driving Mark is in the right front. He gets out, he goes over, he opens the gate. They drive up the hill. There's no donkey, there's no kids Super. There's no donkey, there's no kids Super duper, not really thinking anything. Yet the entire property had been plowed over. Now the trees are still there, obviously and I couldn't tell you what season, I don't know figs that well, but whatever, the trees are there, but all of the ground, the entire back hillside, had very, very recently been plowed over. Okay, so great. Uh, technician gets out, he does his deal, they get back in the vehicles and they go to leave.
Speaker 1:As they drive through the gate, booms, a command detonation, explosion, all right. Now picture this. They're coming down the driveway, there's a bomb planted in the dirt in the hillside on the driver's side. The only thing that saved their asses was the guy who planted the bomb planted the face of it parallel to the dirt, parallel to the dirt, okay. So when it blew and it was command detonated, so the fucker on the trigger was close enough, watching this the whole time, just like what happened three months later in october when they killed our guys. All right, but in that time, every act like this is training for the next one, it's practice for the next one, even if, if it succeeds, you know what could we do better, right? So now picture this as this goes, the project, I guess vaporization, like in that instant you get every ounce of oxygen and air like sucks out, right. Well, that chokes out the engine. So now the vehicle stalls, stops.
Speaker 1:Lexan, ballistic glass. It's broken but it's not out, right. Like the glass cover is like shattered but it's still on. Now, in their own words, they're both knocked like, they're buzzed Like. Whether they're out cold or not, I couldn't tell you, but I remember Mark telling this part of the story, like Danny's behind the wheel and he's rocked. And I remember Mark telling this part of the story like Danny's behind the wheel and he's rocked.
Speaker 1:Mark was closer to the device so he's kind of, you know, he's out there's and then Mark's like I couldn't tell you because it wasn't long. He kind of like, oh, and he's like, but the first thing I remember seeing directly across the street now, it wasn't there when they pulled in directly across the street, facing them is a palestinian authority police vehicle facing them, pointed at them, and mark's like I don't know if they saw me moving in the vehicle or not, I would doubt that they did because, again, the crushed glass, you know, around, both of the doors open. These two jokers get out of their vehicles, ak's, you know, at the ready, and they start coming across the street to them. Now, give it, devil's advocate, all right, there's an explosion. These guys might have just pulled up. Oh, you know, this is a routine stop, we'll post up here, right? I would believe not, and then back up from there, right, but in the meanwhile.
Speaker 1:So mark's first reaction is a right reaction, excuse me. He pops the door open of the vehicle. Is a suburban, an embassy vehicle pops the door open and we used to refer to this part as like the v right. So from your windshield bow here, when I open that door, here's my the door frame. So now this v right here, because the door is ballistic, so is the window, so is the windshield and the engine compartment. So he kind of pops out with his m4 and he yells get the fuck back. Whether they spoke english or not, everybody understands like yo, get back, right.
Speaker 1:Well, he said that their reaction was such like it was suspicious enough in that maybe they were just happened to be there. His point and I buy this completely, his point was, if they just happened to be there, would they not be approaching with a bit more urgency, cautious urgency, like, hey, I'd be guns up because I'm like, is there a secondary attack? You know this is the precursor. When I got hit in 2004, that's exactly what was happening. Ieds or VBIDs would make the first contact and then there'd be a secondary follow-on either a high-speed approach from vehicles if you're on an interstate, highway, roads, whatever, or in our, and that's for another time. But so I get that. I understand that you know approach with caution. Understand that you know approach with caution. But you know guns up and ready, but the way mark's, you know, in his take on it you got to defer. I mean, I know he was just rocked by an explosive, maybe possibly semi-conscious, but in the meanwhile I'm like there's something about their bearing that just made the neck on the back of his hair stand up like something's not right and he was like get back, get back. And you know he's like danny, start the truck. You know he does, he, he starts it. He was able to get them far enough away.
Speaker 1:I don't remember if they self-recovered or if they just got to the checkpoint and then swapped out a vehicle, like like we had to do previous, but, um, it was a legitimate attempt, it was 110 targeted american personnel and at that point we're like, okay, so, uh, you have to be a smart man, right, bounties out on all of us. They just made an attempt on our sister agency. What the fuck they're coming after us, right? Nothing changed. Nothing changed in our protocols, nothing. The only thing we had a really good dude who came in uh, chris, a really, really good guy, and um, he didn't go through crucible with us. This guy was tier one, didn't need to go through crucible with us, but he came on board um and and and, like maybe the first two days, he already identified everything that we had already been fighting. We don't get enough trigger time, we don't get enough training time. We're rolling with questionable SOPs. Why in the world are we still doing this?
Speaker 2:There was no change to the operating procedures.
Speaker 1:Right, none, none. And I don't remember how long he was with us because he came in as a replacement, but then he ended up staying and, you know, had a great time while he was there. He's a good guy, a solid operator, just a good tactician all the way, you know, across the board. But I will never forget, we had kind of like a come to Jesus meeting with our leadership from Jerusalem, our contract leadership, and you know they send like the big boss, roger. He's no longer with us either, but I think he like fucking died of old age or something. I don't know.
Speaker 1:But he wasn't a bad guy. I think he was just a little bit too focused on the company objective and not, maybe, about what's happening around us. You know, and Gaza and Jerusalem were two different rhythms. They really really were. You know, west Bank operation we supported a few operations there, but Gaza was just a different flavor altogether. You know, and I'll never forget we're sitting in our team room and you know Roger's like okay, no, I just want to. You know, let's air our grievances, I want to hear from everybody.
Speaker 1:I don't know if he even talked like that, but that's my Roger voice and he's like I want to hear from everybody. So Chris steps up and he was like right, and in short order he laid it out like we've been talking. You know we're rolling time and place, predictable. We don't know that we can trust our counterpart. You know and I know we don't work for department of state. We support their mission, but if they're not listening to us, they need to listen to somebody because and I remember chris said this exactly he's like somebody's going to get killed. And roger looks right at him and he's like well, if that's the way you feel, chris, there's the door. And at that moment chris looks at him and he goes okay, roger, he was like well, then, consider this, my two week notice, I'm leaving.
Speaker 1:And he did two weeks to the day he was out and, uh, matter of fact, see the big guy in the middle of the row standing Right in the center, white polo shirt. That's him. That's him, good dude, good dude. But you know, made his point, fell on deaf ears and he left Six weeks later. You know, our guys are killed. So this might be a good spot to stop. We can talk about that another time.
Speaker 2:All right Sounds.
Speaker 1:good, all right Sounds good, all right, brother, all right, thank you, all right, everyone Out.
