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 5: Gaza
"Echo" Frayne joins us on a journey that is anything but ordinary. Today, we peer into the shadowed world of diplomatic security in conflict zones, starting with a tale of an anti-tank mine at Erez Crossing laid by Hamas. The tension couldn't be higher as we explore the fraught dynamics within elite security teams, and the resilience of individuals like John Banchizio, whose leadership steers life-and-death decisions amid chaos and danger.
Our conversation then transports you to the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, painting a vivid picture of the chaos reminiscent of the Mogadishu standoff. You'll be on the edge of your seat as we recount the strategic disguises, the silent coordination of air support, and the profound courage of DSS Agents like Vaughn and Eric. The stakes are palpable, and the narrative is a raw reminder of the complexity and rapid-fire decisions essential for survival in one of the world's most volatile professions.
But it's not all about strategy and survival. We also delve into the deeply human side of these operations, sharing the emotional toll these events take on the operatives and their loved ones. You will hear about the comfort found in the camaraderie and humor amid adversity, and how individuals like Jim and Linda Rosenblum provide strength and solace in the darkest of times. Join us for this profound discussion on the trust, safety, and unbreakable bonds formed on the front lines—a true testament to the indomitable human spirit.
And we are back, and with me again is Echo Frame.
Speaker 2:I'll take it. I'll take it.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you know when you're talking about shit. That's not funny. It's got to be a little bit funny. So, as we left off, the last time we were at the Erez Crossing, which is the checkpoint, the northern checkpoint to the Gaza Strip on the Israeli side and quick recap we had one of our teams from the embassy in Tel Aviv was hit by an anti-tank mine. It was laid in the roadbed by Hamas Excuse me, it was laid in the roadbed by Hamas, excuse me. And this was all subsequent to an attack on another agency's team in July. So this was October and July. Our sister agency takes an attempt on them did not result in loss of life. So just to reiterate this, because it's kind of a sticking point for me definitely, we worked with some really, really awesome State Department Diplomatic Security Service agents, some fantastic ones. Well, this particular mission was supposed to be my team. The night before we got tasked with what was deemed to be a higher priority, higher risk mission. So we switched the pieces right, switched out the board a little bit. So now, last minute, there's a team supposed to be an elite protective services team, from wherever they come from, and State Department MSD Mobile Security Detachment, mobile Security Douchebags, kind of what they turned out to be, and I say that with all sincerity because I've worked with some of the best that that agency had to offer. These guys were not it.
Speaker 1:To start it off, john Banchisio, who was the team leader of Bravo team at that time. He was just such a good guy. So he's excited, he's going to take this mission and I guess that's the irony of it. It's like we operated as one team would take hot seat and it would take any mission that came up that week. The other team would be standby, but it just speaks to the character where nobody really liked to sit out. So you know, thursday I'm sorry, tuesday night, the night before the attack, you know another call comes in. It's supposed to be a higher risk mission. So the hot seat team, which was Alpha Team, we take that one, which means Bravo Team takes the one we were supposed to take. So be it.
Speaker 1:Now this MSD detachment is up in Jerusalem. They're new, relatively new in country, so their instructions are they're going to ride along with our teams, get a familiarity to the Gaza Strip Super. So John is given their number, told to call their team leader. He calls them up. So John is given their number, told to call their team leader, he calls him up. And again, john was outgoing friendly, funny, good, solid dude. He calls him up and he's like hey is this so-and-so?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm John Parchesio, you know, team leader from Tel Aviv. Yada, yada, I was told to give you a call and at some point early in the conversation this guy says to him are you a contractor? And John said, oh, yes, I am okay. What's that have to do with? Anything, right? And John says, well, yes, I am. At that this State Department guy says, well, have your RSO call me. I don't talk to contractors. And he hangs up on him. Right, excuse me, but so he hangs up on him.
Speaker 1:So john calls our state department guys. He says, hey, this is what happened. So they call up the msd team leader, they straighten him out and they agreed a rendezvous the next day at the yad mordecai truck junction, which was like their version of uh, of uh, breezewood, I guess you could say. You know, it was like um ashdod ashkelon, uh, some of the beach communities along, uh, you know the, the prior entry into gaza. So that's where they linked up. We weren't going to be moving for a little bit longer. You know, we were still in tel aviv. So, long story short, um, john configures the, the motorcade. Now he still has, you know, tactical command, and these guys are only along for familiarization. So, uh, and and we covered this the last time, but I really want to review it for anybody that missed that one in a in a three-car motorcade, a standard.
Speaker 1:You know you're not trying to fool anybody motorcade embassy suburbans. You would have a lead vehicle, you would have your high value pack in the middle vehicle and then you would have your follow vehicle. So the lead and the follow are kind of like your maneuver elements. You know the lead is going to clear the way, follow will move as it has to and ultimately your only goal is to cover the package, right. So the way we always ran with two vehicles was the high value pack is up front with the State Department agent from our embassy in Tel Aviv, an embassy driver, and these guys were intimately familiar with the Gaza Strip, the good, good guys, embassy staff, and then we, the contractors. We would follow and the team leader in the follow vehicle would have tactical control of the mission, right. So making the right call, john, was like look, you guys are along for the ride. You don't know the streets, you've never been here before. You're going to be in the third vehicle. We'll be in the middle Like we're going to roll as we always do Package up front us, behind them. You'll be our gun truck, our maneuverability. You're like a trailer. You know Well what it did for the trigger man on the device was.
Speaker 1:It gave him a perfect picture of a three-vehicle motorcade. He made the assumption that the high-value pack was in the middle and when the first vehicle rode over, the X second vehicle got over our guys, boom, he command, detonates it and destroys the vehicle. So I think I already covered our response time. We got down there as fast as we could. We had Alpha Team intact. We took with us a State Department agent who jumped in another vehicle at the embassy and drove down with us. Steve is his name, very, very. He had just gotten in country, quiet, reserved, just like strangely quiet, but he was just a good and it's coming from somebody who's not strangely quiet but very solid operator, good guy, guy, but very, very quiet. And you know and for the life of me I don't remember the makeup, who else was in his vehicle on the way down, I don't remember. But we get down to the Erez Crossing and it's things that you remember like oddities. You know that you remember like oddities, you know that you remember. We get down on site, um, we get. Yeah, vic was our team leader. Okay, uh, former LA county sheriff. Prior to that he was a marine and when we got word that the there was a Palestinian ambulance bringing the, the sole survivor, back to the crossing, we, we were like, okay, great. So Vic looks at me, he was Alpha 1, and I was Alpha 2. He looks at me and he's like Rock, you're taking over. He's like when?
Speaker 1:And a lot of things happening at the same time. Right, we had our IDF Israeli Defense Force Liaison Officer, a really, really good guy. I'll call him Captain Joe. His name really was Joee captain at the time. So he comes over and and I, I I told him about this months later, at we were at a party, uh, in tel aviv, and I said, man, I have to ask you something. This is going to sound weird. He said, yeah, what's that? I said that day, we're, we're, we're planning to. You know what are we going to do next? What's happening? You know we don't know where the other three bodies are. Um, we to you know what are we going to do next? What's happening? You know we don't know where the other three bodies are. We know that.
Speaker 1:You know the last we heard was three dead, one living. We know that Oscar is inbound, simply because the only thing that happened was there was a Palestinian ambulance that was coming out of one of the refugee camps and there was a and I don't remember which was which. One was waterside, oceanside, and the other one was inland, but virtually right across from one another. The attack occurred almost in between the two of them, on the road, the single main road that leads into gaza city. So, um, by coincidence, this palestinian ambulance just came up over the hill, sees the wreckage and he sees one man moving around on the street right. So they pick him up, they take him to the hospital, they get him cleaned up, stabilized and then they make contact, you know, their people make contact with the IDF at the crossing. They're like, hey, we have a survivor, we're bringing him back. No word yet on the other three. So all this is spinning right.
Speaker 1:So vick says to me he's like rock, you're in charge. He's like there's a. There was a medical helicopter orbiting like 500 feet overhead. It wouldn't land until oscar got to the landing zone, because they wanted to coordinate this fast, like they're gonna land, cross over and off they go, you know, to get him to the nearest hospital. It's like, okay, great, and I remember thinking that I was like you know, to get him to the nearest hospital. It's like, okay, great. And I remember thinking that I was like you know, yeah, man, I got you.
Speaker 1:But first things first, like, where are the other guys? Like we've got three unaccounted for, so super. So in the interim we get a call from the embassy, right. But as this is happening, joe is right beside me and he was like, okay, he's like we want to brief this. You know, first, you know the the. There are no more survivors, but the bodies, right, what's next?
Speaker 1:As I'm talking to him, it's kind of like I hear what he's saying and I'm comprehending it, but it was almost like, you know, like in a fog a little bit, wah, wah, wah. You know, like in a fog a little bit, but I do remember this clearly he was in his everyday uniform, which would be like Marine Corps, army, navy we all have a different name for it, but in the Navy we would have called it working khakis, like at the officer and NCO level, working khakis. So it would be like khaki trousers, khaki short-sleeve shirt okay, he was in that equivalent and we're like um, green trousers, like the us army green. Okay, like green trousers, not fatigues. But you know, crisp pleat, you know uh, what do you call it um?
Speaker 2:um, yeah, like they're ironed out. Yeah, yeah, just like pristine.
Speaker 1:I dress, dress trousers, but like a uniform, right, right and an open collared, light green shirt with his shoulder insignia and his beret. And we saw him in that all the time, like that was his everyday uniform, I kid you not. In less time than it took me to turn and take a phone call, right, I turned back around same guy. He's now standing beside me in fatigues a helmet, body armor and a rifle and I'm like play a cartoon almost like you turn right I kid you not.
Speaker 1:When, then again, I did that, stuck in my head I was like what? And? And I realized like I didn't black out and the phone call wasn't that long. Right, one of the first calls I got was from the RSR, the regional security officer at the embassy, and he had recently arrived and replaced you know, they do a rotation and this guy was legit. This guy was legit, ironically, he was one of the founding members, as I recall the story. He was one of the founding members of their MSD.
Speaker 1:Recall the story he was one of the founding members of their MSD when they realized there was more of a need for more capable, more tactically sound security detachment for some high risk posts. He was one of the founding members and you could tell I mean, you could tell the way he carried himself, you could tell his sense of humor, his bearing. He was a good guy and I guess what ended up happening was he. I don't know who he called first, but I think he attempted to call Vic. Vic's not answering because he's on a helicopter, right, so he calls me and I remember still looking for the bodies.
Speaker 1:We had every reason to believe they were at the hospital. That was our next like okay, the ambulance came and picked up Oscar. He makes a call. They had to have sent more. They took him to the hospital. In fact, I think we may have gotten word that they were. The other three bodies were taken to the hospital in Gaza City.
Speaker 1:Now, we had been all over Gaza City for the last year and a half, right? So you bet, everything worth knowing where it was. We already taken gpa, coordinate and gpa yeah, see what I mean and you know what this, seriously, this is only coffee with a little cream and honey, because I got a sore throat. Gps we've taken. Gps hits on everything worth knowing where it was right. Um, so in my mind I'm like like well, the mission's clear, we're getting cleared, we're going to roll into the city, you know, take an alternate route and we're not waiting for anyone, we're not being escorted by the same assholes that would have led our guys into an ambush, right, because that's you have to be a genius to figure that out the Palestinian Authority, who had already been infiltrated by Hamas. That was 20 years ago. That was 20 years ago, when Hamas was still kind of pretending to be like a group for the people and all that. So we're going to go get our guys. That's it. You know, we didn't have to be told.
Speaker 1:Now the embassy's thinking the same thing and I remember this. It gave me like I don't know, like I can't say, chills. I mean, it was just, it was what I was thinking, right, and Mark was like he's like Rocky, get those boys. This will not become another Mogadishu. And I'll tell you like he hit right on that because it was running through my head. I was like man, I can't imagine, because we're already getting feedback, we're already getting word that there's a crowd of 400 to 500 at the attack site and they're like celebrating in the wreckage, you know, throwing bumpers and shit up in the air and hooting and hollering right. And I'm like, okay, all right, that's how this is going to go. Well, no, they're not going to turn this into Mogadishu. We're not going to have our boys dragged through the fucking streets of Gaza City.
Speaker 1:And I was like, okay, so now, as this is percolating, I turned here's, here's Joe, and you know, from his, from his everyday office apparel. Now he's in his, his kit, and I'm like what? Now, interestingly enough, we put a pin in that. But months later, when I was able to say, hey, I can't get this out of my head Like. But months later, when I was able to say, hey, I can't get this out of my head, like, how did that happen? And he starts laughing and he goes oh Rocky. He said you know, he's like, I realized what we were going to do. And he said you know, he's like I didn't have my weapon, I didn't have anything he's like and I didn't want to go back to my office. It was too far. He ran across the parking lot, ran into the processing center, looked around and I wasn't familiar enough with Israeli rank devices at the time.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:It wasn't his uniform. He looked around, he found a soldier that was roughly his size. He goes you come here, they switched clothes and I guess, or he took the kid's clothes I mean boots and all clothes, I mean boots and all you know, boots and all. And then I guess the kid had like a you know a sweatsuit or something in his locker. So he went and changed but, um, what, what was really kind of wild at that point.
Speaker 1:So we've got our, you know, we got our, our general orders. Don't let this turn into another mogadishu. I'm like, yeah, roger, that. So now I come back out and I've got, uh, steve, kurt, nason myself. Steve was from the embassy, um, kurt and nason were my teammates and I said, um, all right. I said who've we got available? Like, who've we got available? Because we're gonna one. I'm like you know, punching the uh, get the gps location. We got to roll in the hospital's, the place to go. How we're going to load them up, what we're going to load them into, we'll figure that out when we get there, but we got to go fast.
Speaker 1:Next thing, you know, I get tapped on the shoulder. It's joe and he's like rocky. This is general so and so and I'm like, sir, well, he didn't speak english and I don't speak hebrew, right? So joe's translating, and I kid you not. We lay a map out over the hood of a suburban and he was like, okay, he's like we've got a gunship orbiting at, you know, between 500 to a thousand feet, you know helicopter gunship. He's like we've got special forces 300 meters inland. And he was like, when you make your move, what we're going to do, and I mean this is no bullshit.
Speaker 1:Now there was a and you know how I feel about first and last names, right, vaughn was the RSO who was on that mission, right, one of the best, most solid guys I've ever known. So I want to be crystal clear when I throw dirt, I know exactly who I'm throwing it at. It's not these guys, right. So Vaughn was one of the Tel Aviv RSOs who would roll with us quite often. Eric, in the center of that picture up there, he was one that we rolled with most of the time, but again, in part of the rotation. He was one that we rolled with most of the time, but again in part of the rotation. His time on the road with us had come to an end. Vaughn had kind of stepped into that role. Well now Eric was back, still part of the project, but he was really operating it at the next highest level back at the embassy.
Speaker 1:And this actually becomes kind of funny in a minute. I did not know this for 20 years. I just he was able to come up. He and Jim were in country last October for the 20th anniversary. Just by coincidence it was lined up with the 20th anniversary just a little bit after the 20th anniversary of the attack and I did not know this until then. But while all this is going on, like all I can tell you is my piece of it from being where I was on the ground Well, well, everybody had their piece. Jim was already in iraq, okay. Eric was back at the embassy coordinating efforts. So like, okay, great.
Speaker 1:So now one thing in another, translating through joe the general says okay, these are the assets we have for you. We've already launched a gunship. It's orbiting between 500 to a thousand feet. It'll be above you when you move in, roger, that now we have no direct communications with them, right, right. Nor do we have direct communications with the sf assets you know, concealed like 300 meters inland joe, levy and vaughn. Now Vaughn had already been. He was in the lead vehicle when this attack happened. So he reloads, right, they get in an IDF armored vehicle with a driver and they follow us. That's their plan. They're going to follow us at a safe distance so that if we get in the shed, I make a radio call. Vaughn picks it up, joe hears it because he's right beside him. He relays exactly what I say to Vaughn whatever we need, you know we're in.
Speaker 1:And listen, I'm not stupid, right? This is not a movie. There is no such thing as a. Well, that's not entirely true. I was reluctant to call for gunship support because, whatever happens, we're going to be right in the middle of it, right, right, it's not like an airstrike where you could go. There are 50 meters to my east. You know what I mean. You're going to be in the middle of it. So that would have been the last. But listen, in that moment, you know, such was my mindset at that time, in that moment, you know, such was my mindset at that time, there's no doubt about it, we weren't going out quietly and if that was the call, that would have been the call, you know, and I think I would have gone out with a smile on my face, thinking all right, fuckers, you know you're going to pay dearly. I think the special forces option would have probably been maybe more practical, but at that point we're still. You know, our plan right now is they're at the hospital. We've got to go get them.
Speaker 2:Go. So just to be clear, so just put everything into my mind here. So the convoy with John gets hit, correct. Middle vehicle gets hit. There's no follow-up attack at that time. There's not like, no, no fighters running out anything to clean up the survivors, no, Okay, no Okay.
Speaker 2:No. So then we have three casualties, one injured, and those three casualties are taken to the hospital and then maybe under good pretext, but you think, maybe what's going to happen to reference Mogadishu is that folks are going to parade the bodies around as a sort of I don't know a display of four of success or something exactly whatever you want to say, exactly, and I'll tell you, I think, what.
Speaker 1:What concerned me the most was and again, you know, I mean, you could, you could certainly jump to conclusions, right, but and if I maybe I didn't say this, or if I did, maybe I wasn't clear they had already, they being the the crowd that came out of the refugee camp on the water side, the beach side, they had already converged on the attack side and as they were like literally celebrating through the wreckage, my concern was it just, it was in my head. I couldn't. I'm like, I'm not counting it out as an option. It's just a matter of time until they find out where the remains are and they make their way there, or even once word travels, you know you're going to. What I didn't want to do was I didn't want to have to fight my way into and out of the city, right, but and this probably in hindsight or not hindsight, I mean, I know how it, you know I've carried this for 20 years, but to someone else it might sound stupid, all right, but there's no way. Fuck, they were not getting left behind. Fuck, they were not getting left behind Alive or dead. So what I kept thinking was I'm saying yes to everything right now. Greenlight us, let us roll, because the longer we stay here, all that had to happen was someone changed their minds. All that had to happen. And I mean I, I've got respect for this.
Speaker 1:The rso, at the time mark, it would have been very difficult for me to not comply if he had said stand down, right, he was that kind of guy. It would have been physically impossible had he said that, because the israelis would have shut down the checkpoint and not allowed us to cross right. So, that being said, I was like yes, sir, yes sir, like in my mind. I'm like, before somebody changes their mind, let's go, because once we roll, I'm not coming back. I mean, you can call me back and I'll have a radio malfunction or we all will right, right, that you could work around. You know, there's, there's a little bit feasibility. And if not, then you face the music. When you're back, you know, but but to, to, not. You know, hey, the border's closed, you're not going anywhere. We, we didn't want that to happen, right? So we're like okay, we got this, um, but in the meanwhile, what was really, really messed up now? Now, bear in mind like I want to tell this part of the story now, because this is what happened chronologically. I didn't find out about this until later. So now you got all these moving parts right. We're coordinating with the embassy, we're coordinating with the idf, and it wasn't lost on me even in that moment that Joe and Vaughn are, and I realized I'm like, ok. So Vaughn was in the lead vehicle. The gun truck right behind him blew up. He was the one Boom, boom, boom, making the next calls, all right To get back to safety, and then to jock up and go right away to do it again to support us.
Speaker 1:There's nothing in the world I can say about this guy. That would be enough. There's not, there's not. He's got his own station now, the last I heard, and I wish him all the best and and he is just. That's. That's what. That's what guys in that line of work should aspire to, to emulate, that's that's what. That's what guys in that line of work should aspire to, to emulate. That's what they should want to. That should be the role model, okay. So, matter of fact, he's the one that took me aside later and filled me in on everything that I'll tell you now, because this is chronological. Okay.
Speaker 1:So primary mission of of, uh uh, psd personal security detachment. Nothing happens to that high-value package. That's the mission. That is the mission, okay. So now remember the order. Right, there's Vaughn and the high-value pack in the lead vehicle with Paul, the embassy driver, and our guys in the follow, and then the high-speed wonder kids in the third vehicle the minute boom detonation takes right. So Paul is like anybody else. Paul's like what the hell right? So Vaughn, in his own words, as he told me, he looks in his mirror and he just sees black smoke. Can't see anything else, doesn't see anything else. Now, the next thing you think you would see, unless they took out both vehicles, there's got to be another vehicle coming through that smoke any minute. There's not. So and and you know again, this is as I heard this from vaughn paul says what do we do? It's not a bad question. I don't challenge that question. I don't say what do you mean? What do we do? Hey, man, he's the driver, you're in charge, what do we do? And vaughn was like okay, so you're thinking like this pretty fast. He's like gaza city, straight ahead.
Speaker 1:We don't know, as your earlier question, is there a secondary follow-on attack, if you recall in that story from july that first thing that showed up when our guys and they were, they were, they were buzzed, they I can't say they were out cold, but they were they were rocked. When they came to directly across the street, in front of them was a Palestinian Authority police vehicle, Two jokers getting out with their AKs. Again, were they getting out in an aggressive fashion to come finish the job? Or were they getting out with their weapons Because, hey, there was just an attack? You know, maybe, maybe they were good guys and they just went to stage there, you know, for whatever I don't know good guys and they just went to stage there, you know, for whatever I don't know. But there there wasn't, you know.
Speaker 1:So now vaughn's like are we driving in to a, a bigger ambush? You've got camps on both sides there. And and again, I want to be crystal clear on this you know we worked in gaza for two years. We met a lot of palestinians. You know there are regular working class people there as well. There are.
Speaker 1:And right now, what's going on globally, what's going on in israel? I do feel for the civilian population that gets caught up in it, 100, I mean you. You have to understand that. But at the same time we quickly degenerate from pro-palestinian to pro-Hamas because now they're like the fucking Robin Hoods of Palestine or some bullshit to anti-Semitism at a level higher than I've ever seen it in my lifetime, to anti-American sentiment. Okay, you know, it's a slippery slope, right, right, and the irony of it is under the very banner of freedom that we provide. So I'm a little, I'm a little slow to accept that, right, but so vaughn's like, stop the vehicle, turn us around, go back.
Speaker 1:At that point you got a shit sandwich and, as, as my friend white boy said, first time I ever heard this expression was from him and, if you recall, he was with us for a while and left like six weeks prior. You know, due to, well, due to, to think about it, it's not like he was clairvoyant but everything we all, all the, all the concerns we had led up to that moment, time and place, predictable, roger, that Easily being led, you know, by the Palestinian Authority that had, at that time probably been compromised, right. So all the red flags that you know we had all seen. But you know, chris was the one who was vocal and pointed it out and I will never forget. I don't want to speak ill of the dead, but you know, as I told you, roger passed away from natural causes after that sometime.
Speaker 1:But the smug arrogance. I'll tell you what you don't like it. There's the door and it wasn't funny and I didn't really laugh out loud because I didn't want Chris to leave, right, but that smug son of a bitch if you don't like it, Chris, there's the door and right then.
Speaker 1:And there he's like well, all right then, consider this my two-week notice. And, true to his word, he was gone, you know, but yeah, so he used to say it. He was like when you get a shit sandwich, take a big bite. So here we are, and you know, vaughn's like okay. So, tactically, what's the? You got a refugee camp to the inland, you got one to the seaside, gaza City, straight ahead. The refugee camps, the threat that they presented was the ease for a hostile element to blend in with a local population. Right, because, again, most of the people that were at the attack site once that celebration got underway, they were just kind of like I hate to say it like pawns on the chessboard. You know, they were just in it, right, and why are you doing that? I don't know, because he's doing it Woo-hoo.
Speaker 2:You get a mob mentality, exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly so. Vaughn says you know, turn us around, get us out of here. So they turn around and they drive back and it's still smoke and fire and debris everywhere. Now there's no sign of the MSD guys, None One vehicle. It looked like somewhere, I have pictures of it, but it was literally mangled. This was a level 4 Suburban, like just twisted and mangled right. No sign of another Suburban, no sign of the MSD element.
Speaker 1:So Vaughn gets on the radio and I don't know what call sign they gave themselves. But, um, you know, let's say it was like cat, like counter-assault team or something. You know, he's like cat. You know this is lead. Where are you? The team leader comes back on the radio and he says we're clearing the path to the north. Clearing the path to the north. They were not two kilometers inland, I mean two kilometers south of the crossing. There is nothing to the north.
Speaker 1:Now, on the other hand, well, what if the attack was coming from there? Highly, highly unlikely, because it's desolate, like I said, I can still see it in my mind to this day. It's desolate, not to say it couldn't, but it's desolate. Like I said, I can still see it in my mind to this day. It's desolate not to say it couldn't, but it's highly unlikely you would have been coming from the israeli side. Yeah, you know, they ran, they turned and they ran and that's exactly what happened. And, vaughn, you know, as this is happening, they're still moving right now. Paul the driver, as you can imagine, um, paul's a good man, he was a driver, he wasn't tactical, he wasn't a special agent, he was a driver and we had been there for a year and a half and we really bonded, you know, like he was a friend of ours, you know, and I think that was very hard for him to comprehend, um, so, but to his credit man, credit man he stayed in the fight and got him out right. But Vaughn's on the radio and as they're driving by, he sees the bodies laying in the street among the wreckage and he sees a couple of them moving and he was like Cat, this is lead. He's like get back here. You've got americans on the ground, get back here. No, the reply was no, they're not coming back.
Speaker 1:I'm like now, we didn't know any of this. We didn't know any of this at that time. We I don't know if I mentioned this the last time or not, but when we rolled in to the checkpoint, before everything that I just told you before, that we rolled on site before we linked up with Joe, before I briefed with the general, before Vic said hey, you're in charge, I'm going to. You know, I'm going with Oscar. I look over and I see those guys. We didn't even know who they were at that moment.
Speaker 1:I was like who are those guys? And I don't remember who told us they're like oh well, they were in the third vehicle. I'm like, oh, right on, I don't know Were they hurt, was their vehicle disabled? And that's one of the things in motorcade operations. You know if you are too close to the vehicle in front of any vehicle could damage, you know the vehicle's too close proximity to it. So I don't know what's happened, right?
Speaker 1:So at that point we're like okay, we're getting ready to go back. Who do we have? What vehicles do we have? So we've got two Suburbans. Steve came down with us from the embassy. He's like yeah, I'll go. And the simple, simple reason for taking two vehicles if anything should happen to one, we're not running out, right. So we're like okay now. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but this was somewhat embarrassing. We had just gotten a new deputy regional security officer, drso, and so new that we had yet to meet him, like our team had not crossed paths with him. He's new to the embassy, not new to the state department. Good guy, you know good guy, but we hadn't met him yet. So these suburbans have three seats, three rows, three rows. I couldn't tell you how far away from the embassy we were.
Speaker 1:This is backing up a bit, far away from the embassy we were this is backing up a bit. We get in the vehicles to roll. Vick's in the front seat, kurt's driving, nason and I are in the back and we're monitoring our radios like for updates. And 40 mile drive from tel aviv to the aires crossing and we're running fast. But it wasn't tactical, like we're not, like you know looking, you know, for we're rolling. I don't know what possessed me. It's like I felt something behind me. I turn around. There's a guy sitting behind me, never said a word, right, and I, literally I go who are you? And he introduces himself. He goes oh, I'm so-and-so the DRSO. I'm like sir, you know, and I'm thinking like why wouldn't you say like hey guys, I guess he got in our Suburban in the courtyard at the embassy before we rolled.
Speaker 1:And you know, just to his credit, man, he's going with us and I appreciated that. It was great. So all this is happening, right, get the phone call. Now we need assets. And in my mind I'm thinking, well, we're going to go get these guys, like, let's go Before we can even move. It was Joe, it was Captain Levy, and I'm trying to remember the time frame because in my mind we're Joe, it was Captain Levy, um, and I'm I'm trying to remember the timeframe because in my mind we're pressed, we've got to go, we've got to get to the hospital, get our boys and get out before anything changes.
Speaker 1:I take a walk over and I said, um, hey guys, you know and there I mean some of them, as I recall, and this is, you know, sometimes when you're blinded by pure hatred, like I am, things get a bit foggy.
Speaker 1:What I don't forget was this, though it was an odd makeup I go over and there were a couple of the guys sitting on the steps that just looked like probably rather not take them anyway, right, you know, like they look visibly shaken, but not like no man, I'm good, I'm good, yeah, uh, they look like they would be of no use, and I don't mean that in a bad way or facetiously, they just look shaken to the point that we need to leave them here. The team leader still seemed like a dick right and I was like hey're going to roll back in who's coming. This guy kind of doesn't step up to me, almost aloof, like that's what kind of? Made me even more pissed, was almost dismissive and he speaks for everybody. He goes, we're not going. And I said something In hindsight I wish I would have said it with more intent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I think it came out very matter of fact, right, and I was like, all right, well, I don't see you there, I don't want to see you again. And I turn around and, like you know, it sounded in my mind, like in my mind I was like, and if I don't see but it probably was more glib, you know like, well, I don't want to see you again, you know, off we go. The next thing I know and again it's not like I'm not trying to like we weren't like the Keystone cops, everybody was, you know, from Mason to Kurt. Kurt's ready, he drove down, so he's making sure the vehicle is ready to go. Steve's making sure his vehicle is ready to go. Mason's ready to go. Steve's making sure his vehicle's ready to go. Nason's like working the gps, like hey, you know the hospital in gaza city, what are the coordinates? Let's bring it up like we're gonna make this quick alternate route. I don't think he knew nason. I don't think he knew that.
Speaker 1:I went over and asked because the next thing I know, I speak to joe, we come up with. All right, this is what we're going to do. I turn around, n Mason comes back over and he goes these fucking guys aren't going with us. And I mean I didn't think it was funny at the time but looking back I guess it was kind of funny, because Mason was just still, to this day, man, he's a good guy. But I guess he didn't realize I had already asked and I didn't tell him. He goes over and he's like hey, you know, like, grab your shit, we're getting ready to roll. And they said no again, hey, these fucking guys aren't going with us.
Speaker 1:I'm just like in the midst of all of this, like we're just about to roll, and the next thing, you know, my phone rings and I'm like okay, you know again, like, is this the embassy? I don't recognize the number. I answer the phone and it's Jim. Now Jim's in Iraq. So I'm like you know, hello, this is Rocky. And he's like Rocky, it's Jim. Dude. I tell you what? At that point I felt like I held it together, didn't shed a tear, was completely and totally focused, didn't shed a tear, was completely and totally focused as soon as I heard him on the phone.
Speaker 1:I was like you know, and he's like what's going on? And I was like they're gone, brother. And I was like bravo, team's been hit.
Speaker 1:And I said we're at the aires crossing right now and he was like roger that now what was kind of wild was we had already had the brief with the general, everything ready, but the green light like go right. And I was like. So I said you know, vic took off in the helicopter with Oscar. I said we're still looking for the other three. I said you know, I think they're at the, I think they're at the hospital waiting for, waiting for word, right? So, roger, that, and uh, you know which again it was. It wasn't really small talk or anything, but what was wild was now I'm getting the wave like hey, you know, come here, I go, jim, we're about ready to move. I think I got to go and I remember just like it was yesterday and I'll remember it till the day I die. He goes, all right, listen. And like it was like everything stops, like listen. And I was like, yeah, he goes, you know what you have to do. He goes, take a deep breath and do it. And I was like Roger, that I got this. And he's like I know you do. And later he would tell me he was like I had both of your numbers in my phone and I knew that the teams had been split up. And he's like when word went out that a team had been hit in the Gaza Strip. He's like, brother, I had two numbers in my phone. He goes I knew one of you would answer and one of you wouldn't. And I was like, yeah, that's accurate. So, while this is going on and this happened a lot faster than the retelling of it it's kind of boom, boom, boom. In the meanwhile I'm thinking, here we go, we're rolling to the hospital. Next thing, you know the wave, I'm getting the call. I'm getting. They're like stand down the other three. And this really, and kind of dovetails into the part that Eric told me this last October that I did not know. Know, while we were still waiting, are we going to the hospital? Let's get the bodies right. Like we're ready to roll.
Speaker 1:Eric is on the phone with the palestinian authority from the embassy. Okay, he's at the embassy. He's calling gaza and they're giving him this kabuki jug fuck of. We don't know where they are, what. We heard an ambulance, but you heard an ambulance picked them up. You're in charge, find them right. So eric says to them he goes listen, motherfucker, he was like you know what drone strikes are? Right, he's like I'm telling you right now, if anything happens to one of those bodies, I will call in a fucking drone strike on your headquarters within the minute. And then meanwhile he's telling us that and he goes. He didn't know, I didn't have access to that, like he had no way of knowing that that's not gonna happen. And he's like here I am threatening him with a drone strike.
Speaker 1:I was like that's cool man right on like I wish I'd have known that I would have probably had a little bit more swagger. You know, on the on the ground at the time, you know, see this, I got eric on speed dial, you know. But, um, yeah, he threatened them with a drone strike, but but I guess what ended up happening. So you know, I'm getting motion like hey, come here, come here, okay, great, he's like they're on their way here. I'm like what, what? What's happened? So the hospital, I guess, between the threat of the drone strike and more the reality of the, of the I hate the word optics, but you know the threat of the drone strike. And hey, if that crowd does come to the hospital, they're not going to be indiscriminate, they're probably going to trash the hospital in an attempt to get to the guys and then that's going to be all over the news and then, whatever, you know, blow for fucking liberty. These guys think they, struck by killing three Americans, is kind of going to go out the window if it's followed up with some like Somali, like savagery, you know. So we're like, ok, they're coming back. And I have to tell you, like you know, in that instant I was kind of, you know, like almost a mini, like adrenaline dump, like you're go, go, go, then stop. But in the meanwhile and this is just tactically very, very sound there is no way the IDF was going to let one, let alone three, palestinian ambulances cross over unchecked. So they're like okay, here's what we're going to do. They're going to bring the.
Speaker 1:I think I told you there was like maybe a couple hundred meters of no man's land between, like where you would cross the Israeli point, and then like desolate, and then there was like a gate arm with a couple Palestinian soldiers, you know. So what they would do was one at a time. They would send an ambulance halfway. They would send an ambulance halfway. They needed somebody who knew the team to visually identify the bodies, acknowledge and then send them up one at a time. I was like, well, I'll do it. So I kind of just double-time it down into the middle of nowhere, right, and I'm standing there like an idiot. Here comes one ambulance. They open the door, I look and I'm like, yeah, that's, that's johnny lind. So, okay, roger, that, um, and if you know what, if I'm not mistaken, I went down on foot because I didn't know any better. Right, well, no, shit, right behind me comes an israeli ambulance. So now the plan's making more sense, right? Because here I am, like I'm thinking I'm going to identify it and give him a thumbs up. No, they kind of cross-loaded. You know, palestinian ambulance. Here, israeli ambulance pulls up. Beside it, corman from the IDF gets out. I identify the first body. I'm like, yeah, that's John Lind. They're like, okay, so I could spell that for me, yeah, sure. And like, okay, so I could spell that for me, yeah, sure, so he. He fills out, you know, his, his paperwork, little little clipboard packet. They cross load the stretcher from one to the next and, um, you know, boom, off they go. I still wait, both ambulances, they, they kind of turn, you know, palestinian goes back that way, israeli goes that way. I'm standing there. Next one comes up. Next idf ambulance comes down. Next one is mark right, I positively identify him. Third one's john branchizio. All good, right.
Speaker 1:So now the last of the ambulances returns. I double time it back up to the border. I'm thinking, well, let's grab our shit, let's head back to the embassy, because now no next of kin had been notified. There's a lot that we have to do, okay, but in the meanwhile the powers that be decide that they want to investigate the attack site, right? So the DRSO who was in the third seat, he's on the phone with the embassy now and he says to me he's like look, I know you guys have had a very rough day. And he was like but we're considering this a crime scene and I have to go take pictures for investigation.
Speaker 1:And at that moment it was kind of in my head, it was like surreal, you know. And I remember I said to him I was like Sir, listen, I said you're the investigator, not me, right? And I said but you do understand that that crime scene's already been overrun. I mean, four or 500 civilians have already like partied through the wreckage. And I said so I would think any evidence you could get would be contaminated by now. And he was like well, I still have to try. And I was like no, roger, that and I wish I could say this with more um, like nobility of purpose.
Speaker 1:But there wasn't. You know my whole thing was all right. You know americans just got killed. You're going to go in there. Highly likely there's going to be violence. I'm going to kill every motherfucker that I can. That's how today, that's how my afternoon is going to go, and that's what was on my mind and I wish I could say, you know, for the cause, or for the, you know, for discovery of truth or something. There wasn't any of that. It truly was not one of my better moments.
Speaker 1:But again, you know, a skeleton crew it was Steve Nason, myself, same loadout that we described myself, same loadout that we described and, to their credit, as advertised, the idf vehicle stayed, yeah, a couple hundred meters behind us. But, uh, I mean you want to talk about you know? Um, uh, totally outgunned. I mean, this is an idf, a marked idf vehicle, with two soldiers in it and Vaughn simply to communicate and relay our need for help. I'm like, man, this is, in hindsight, probably one of the dumbest things we ever did, tactically speaking. But and the only thing that was, you know, the most important thing, with the limited assets we had, and I just kept repeating this I was like all right, steve, you're driving one vehicle. I said, kurt, you know you've got the other one. I said, guys, once we get in, and we were told that the again, the fucking, oh, the Palestinian authority has the scene secured. Fuck those guys. That's going to probably be the first few people. I shoot, you know so.
Speaker 1:But they had a perimeter around the wreckage keeping the crowd at bay and I said, um, all right, when we get down there, drive into the perimeter. And I said, before anybody cracks a seal, gets out of the vehicle, drive into the perimeter, turn the vehicles around facing out and remember to leave side by side, but leave enough distance that both interior doors can open, because we got to move fast. You don't, oh, I can't, get in and it becomes a, you know, a clown show. So we roll in and, just crazy, there are familiar faces that stand out simply because, you know, like the old, you're probably man, you're probably too young to even remember Sesame Street. One of these things is not like the others, right?
Speaker 1:So, news crews we would run into news crews all the time and there was a news crew from norway, I remember, because they were both like seven feet tall, blonde hair, fair, you know, the reporter was a female, the cameraman was a male and both, like you know, look like, um, look like any of the crossfit games athletes from iceland, you know, like, like. And in that crowd, and again like, appropriately dressed, like the female, was across the board, like they would always wear like headscarves out of respect, you know, but your headscarf or not, you still see, you know, bright blonde hair, you know, and I remember that in this sea of, like, olive skin, dark hair, as soon as we get out of the vehicle, the first thing I see is that reporter and I'm like like this just happened. Like this, literally, this just happened. Were they covering another story or what we'll come to find out?
Speaker 1:Hamas put out the word to all the news services that something big is happening in gaza this morning. You think, like anybody had the courtesy to give us a heads up. But I understand that that's all part of like, um, what is it responsible journalism or some bullshit like that? Right, oh, we can't share that. Oh, fuck you. You know, next time you get your ass kidnapped, don't call us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'd make sure that we'd go anyway, but you know, it was just, it was odd, it was very, very odd. But so we get out, and we didn't get out with an aggressive posture, but we got out like, fully armed. You know, like I think I mentioned to you before, it was almost laughable. I'm not poking fun at the SOPs, you know, the SOPs for diplomatic security are a bit different. This is, we're not hostile towards Palestine at that time, you know, or any time. I mean they've never been an enemy of you know what I'm saying like an official enemy state. So we would have a pistol covered, you know, concealed, and the rifles and body armor would always stay in the truck you know, in the gun bag in the truck.
Speaker 1:Well, not this time. I mean, we were kitted up and expecting the worst. So we get out. And now, as I recall well, first and foremost, the drivers never get out of the vehicle, ever. So the limited assets that we had, and rightfully so, because if the driver gets out and if the driver goes down, now who's driving? What's happening? So kurt and steve stayed in their respective vehicles. We hit the ground it's nason, myself and the drso, and that was it. And we're moving around, and the drso's got his digital camera and he's click, click, clicking.
Speaker 1:And I mean, I do understand in hindsight there was a fucking crater, like you wouldn't believe where the device went off. The remains or parts of the Suburban were, you know, there was like a piece of it that was still together, but the rest of it was scattered all over, you know, and he's taking pictures and you could see like there was. It was scattered all over, you know, and he's taking pictures, and there you could see like there was, just everything had been overrun. Well, then what starts to happen is the crowd starts to throw rocks. Never saw anything like it in my life.
Speaker 1:All right, the volume, the volley and the damage that they did. I mean, you know, think about this the vehicles are armored so you're not going to hurt anybody inside, but, you know, a rock thrown at an appropriate enough distance, these things are hitting the metal skin of the vehicles and like, not just denting but, like you know, putting holes in the metal right, right and, as I recall and this was just divine intervention, man, nobody got hurt. Everybody but me got hit, and not for any reason, wasn't like I was some kind of super ninja, it was, you know the hand of God, you know just wasn't. And nobody got hit. Bad, you know a couple guys, you know, I think.
Speaker 1:I think I'm not sure who, if it was nation or the DRS, so gotta go glancing, blow off the head, you know a couple guys, you know, I think um, I think I'm not sure who if it was nason or the drso guy got a little glancing blow off the head, you know, with a rock, nothing, nothing to put him down. But that's the essence of it, right? It's not a matter of throwing rocks for harassment, it's throwing rocks to bring you down. You get hit, you go to the ground, then you get overrun, and that's how it works, right? So after and and again, what made me think of this? I didn't. I didn't think what started to happen was that we're surrounded.
Speaker 1:So the first volley comes from what would have been my right-hand side, and again to his credit. You know, nason and I are both orbiting around the DRSO, kind of trying to like. Moving targets are harder to hit, but we're trying to move in such a way that the deputy is always between us, right. So high volume is coming from this direction. In hindsight it might have looked funny, but it wasn't the intention. High volumes coming from here. So I raise my rifle and I turn and I sweep the crowd. As I do, the entire crowd drops, all right, great. Now the volume of rocks picks up from behind me. So I turn and I lift my rifle and I sweep that side right. So wherever the heaviest volume was coming from, I just sweep. Never fired a round, but as soon as I'd come, guns up they would drop.
Speaker 1:And the craziest thing and I remember this like it was yesterday, about my third turn, you know we're constantly taught I'm like Nason, you know, tell him we've got to go Like this isn't going to last forever right On my third, like one, two, three, this time I scan over the crowd drops and I see three fuckers right in the middle, maybe 50 yards away from me. They don't drop, they're like this and I'm like that's it, that's it right there Instigators within the crowd keeping everybody else fired up because civilians will drop. Civilians who have been exposed to that type of potential violence would just get down. These guys were the initiators, the instigators, and you know what it did. And I didn't see a weapon. You know that was the thing I was kind of like. Well, shit, man, I trust myself enough to take that shot.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:But you know, and at that point it was just you know, then, like my, they realized I'm not pulling the trigger and then it was kind of like they're getting less and less apt to drop the volume picked up and I'm like we have got to go. And that was it. I think even the deputy realized at that time he was like let's get out of here.
Speaker 2:You know, there's not much more for him.
Speaker 1:No no, nothing, he. What was crazy, though, was and I don't remember who asked for it I think the idf did, because there was a liaison between the IDF and the Palestinian Authority, and they're like, hey, what was in the vehicles, besides your teammates, what was in the vehicles? And I was like, well, I mean, you got full gear, loadouts, times, four operators, right. So you got four M4s, four Glock 19s. I couldn't tell you Like our minimum loadout. I could tell you that but nobody carried the minimum, the minimum.
Speaker 1:No one carried the minimum. So now you're looking at magazines. You know how many rounds per. You know how many mags per tear gas canisters. You know any? Any personal effects were long gone, gone, I mean, we recovered wallets and identification, but there was no. You know, surprisingly, no one traveled with cash.
Speaker 1:I guess you know um, but I do remember this, when they brought back the wreckage uh and, and you know, again, the problem I had with state were the clowns that you know, made that I don't talk to contractors, and that little goofy bastard, you know that's it. That's where my problem begins and ends. You know, made that I don't talk to contractors and that little goofy bastard, you know, that's it. That's where my problem begins and ends. You know the ones that we worked with, the Yvonne, eric, mark. You know the deputy. I mean I could have asked for more, could not have asked for more, and they were. So I don't know what the word is, I don't know what the word is.
Speaker 1:They showed such foresight when they sent a flatbed truck to recover the vehicle. They had. You know the military like camouflage nets that they have. They sent one of those down with it. So when they loaded the wreckage on the flatbed and strapped it down, they would have the netting over it so it wouldn't draw unnecessary attention. You know you don't want it to be a spectacle. So we get a call and they said hey, do you want to come to the embassy here? The vehicle they just I don't know where they sent that, but again, I believe they actually sent it back to the States for forensic investigation.
Speaker 1:But they had folding tables in one of the conference rooms at the embassy with all the guys' belongings on it, and I do remember that and this was just not using my head. We get there, we start looking through their things and I'm like, okay, I remember taking Ziploc bags and I was like, all right, we'll divide these. This is Mark's wallet, put it in here. And I go, that's a key chain he always carried. And boom, and I'm touching all the stuff and it's emotional. So you're touching the stuff and you're starting to cry. And I'm starting to cry and I'm rubbing my eyes and all of a sudden I'm like, oh sweet, fuck, the tear gas canisters had gone off in the explosion. So now there's tear gas residue over everything and you know, nobody's gloved up like well, I'm just picking stuff up and bagging it, you know. And I'm wiping my eyes and I'm like that was a rude, rude little awakening. But um, yeah, I mean I, I will never forget that. It was just the most. Um, it was just, it was bizarre, you know.
Speaker 1:But on the drive back, I remember I'm like, okay, vic asked me before he took off and he said listen, I'm going to give you a phone number. It's my brother in LA. He was like as soon as you get a chance, please call him, because this thing is going to take, however long it takes, and the news will not release the names until next of kin are notified. So in the meanwhile, my family, his family, every one of our families, is like well, is that my son, is that my husband, is that my? You know? So I was like, yeah, yeah, no problem, no problem. So, long story short, you know we get back. I told um kurt and nason. I was like, guys, listen, man, get to a phone call, call your families now, let them know. You're okay. First phone I got to, I called vick's brother. I still hadn't called my wife yet. You know, um, I didn't know.
Speaker 1:I think I told that story the last time, where my sister threw dumb luck in a pair of oakley sunglasses. A friend of hers saw me on television choking a reporter, and you know what, if I saw him again and he did the same thing, I'd fucking choke him again. But um, yeah, that was that's that's. You know I, I it's bad enough as it is, but we're trying actually, when, when that whole choking, alleged choking incident occurred, um, we're trying to get the lone survivor off of an ambulance so that he could be put on a medical helicopter, so that he could be flown, you know, for life-saving, you know medical care, and these assholes are trying to push us out of the way to get a good shot. I'm like, oh, you'll get one, you'll get one, but anyway, I didn't realize that my parents already knew and I didn't know that Jennifer didn't know. You know, because again, it's all kind of processing pretty fast.
Speaker 1:But I will share this part of the story because this is something that just things that you don't Jump rope. There's a training going on on the second deck. There's a training going on on the second deck and, uh, got some, got some tie tie fighters up there doing some jump rope. It's very rhythmic, kind of cool, you can probably hear that. But um, it's better than the tire flips. Tell you what, when you're sitting down here and the tire flips start, I'm like diving for cover.
Speaker 1:But um, at the time my wife was a membership director at a beautiful health club here in Pittsburgh that is no longer even here, right, it was the health club that I worked at as an undergrad at the University of Pittsburgh and, of course, when I was an undergrad at the University of Pittsburgh, my wife was in junior high grad at the University of Pittsburgh. My wife was in junior high, so we didn't know each other, but I worked there as an undergrad. She worked there, didn't you know? We didn't know each other, of course, after I left for the Navy, but she was then, at that time, a membership director at the club and her office was, you know, right in the main area, like um, like in, I guess, the lounge area. I guess you know they had like a big sofa cafe, um blast in you know, racquetball courts, pro shop, membership office, right next to like the sitting area with their flat screen TV and all that. So only after the fact I get her on the phone and she's like hey, honey, what's up, how are you? You know she had no idea what happened, so she thought this was just a regular call, so now I have to tell her. Well, she obviously she's shaken up.
Speaker 1:And when I was able to talk I said listen, I don't have a lot of time, I just want you to know I'm okay. You know I've got a lot to do right now, so all right. Well, when I talked to her. Later on she said, you know, she's like this was so strange. And she was like but Jimmy, and it was a family owned, husband and wife owned a racket club or health club. And I and I will say this first and last name because I will never forget this Jim and Linda Rosenblum, pittsburgh, natives, dear, I consider dear friends to this day. All right, and I I worked there as an undergrad.
Speaker 1:Jim was the owner, like basically I worked for him when I was a kid, you know, and uh, when he saw the news he knew where I was and he knew the magnitude of it. Again, no names are released. So he came downstairs from his office, he went to the front desk and he told the girl at the front desk. He said listen, if a call comes in for membership, put it through to jennifer. If a call comes through and asks for her by name, you call me first. Because he was convinced that if they reached out to her at work, he doesn't want her to get that news by herself. But then don't believe that it was that he didn't trust the young lady at the desk.
Speaker 1:He stayed in the lobby all day. He like took Jen, was like it was so weird, because they usually had the news on, I guess he took the remote and put on like pbs or like turner classics, like something that, no, no news would break into, you know. So he changed the channel, took the remote and just hovered around that, that lobby lounge area all day, until you know, until she found out. So I always, uh, you know, it's those things that, in the grand scheme of things, I of course had no idea, no way of knowing, but it's those things that speak volumes, you know, about the character of the people that we cross paths with. I think you know, but it's crazy. So we got back. Did you know? As much communication, as many calls as had to be? And the next thing, you know two of our people.
Speaker 1:Well, roger, from Jerusalem, he came down with a dear friend of ours, maxie Williams, right, one of the best guys I've ever known, and they both came down and they get a moment with me as when we, when, basically when we rolled up to the embassy, you know, and Max was a big, big, scary dude, you know he comes over, he just grabs me in a bear hug and he's just, you know, holding on and I'm and at that point I think what happens is you, you get so much adrenaline going through you during the course of a day, like that, you know, and and then it just drains you and then you know, adrenaline dumps and now, like, your emotions are just right and I'm like just a mess, you know, and so we kind of calm down, recover, you know, and all this and um, he was like rock. He was like would you give me your pistol? And I'm like, what the fuck would you give me my pistol? I'm like sure you know it's clear. Here you go, he goes all right, he's like now I'm gonna tell you this because I want you to know.
Speaker 1:And then he basically laid out a very quick version of the story and I'm like, and now I'm thinking like what the fuck did you take my? You think I just run amok and like started shooting people in the embassy. I'm like no, but I thank you, you know, because you're probably you know what I mean like safety first right. But uh, and I remember digesting it for a minute, and roger, and again too, you know, in that moment I mean you know two versions. Right, none of that story, but the version of roger where if you don't like it.
Speaker 1:chris, there's the door and really like if he didn't tee it up like that, it wouldn't have been as funny. When chris just went all right, this, my two, you know, that kind of had that dick move, kind of had to happen in order for that response to be so classic, right, but you know, in this moment he was like I don't know if he was trying to be fatherly or trying to be helpful or whatever, but he's like man, you know what Rocky he's like. It's enough to know that they're going to have to live with this. And again, like he's trying to, I'm like, dude, check. Like right now I don't give a fuck, because here's the thing I still have my pressing matter in my pressing task.
Speaker 1:At that moment, um mark had a girlfriend, uh, and a beautiful, uh, wonderful israeli girl. And um, uh, born in israel, grew up in boston, family moved back to is and she was just the sweetest, most wonderful girl. And I'm like, oh no, she's not next of kin, so nobody's going to tell her, it's going to make the news. And I'm like, well, that's not going to happen, that is not going to happen. And then I'm like, now you start to scramble, because I'm like well, wait a second, I don't have her phone number. Why would I have my best friend's girlfriend's phone number? That's how guys don't become best friends anymore. You know what I mean. You know me well enough to know that I have stupid. Do you remember? It was a mobile phone carrier it might have been Verizon, t-mobile or whatever Years ago. Years ago, it was like you could have five people on your plan.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, the five, the five. Yeah, t-mobile Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:And two guys are sitting there talking and all of a sudden it's like the Mariah Carey secret lover Ringtone Secret. He's like why is my girlfriend in your phone?
Speaker 1:but yeah, I'm like, so I, I really I'm like, okay, wait a minute, wait a minute. When an american citizen starts to date a local working in a foreign embassy, you've got to fill out forms, um, like letting the embassy know that you're in contact, close contact with a foreign national, and I'm like okay, I'm like, if need be, I'll get her contact information from that. And I'm like, oh, my god, I'm like he filled that out a while ago and I know she just moved. She had just recently moved. So does, is there a phone number on the form? I didn't. I never did one of those. I don't know, you know.
Speaker 1:And then all of a sudden it hits me. I'm like, about a week or prior, I get a call from an unknown number. Like I had a number I don't recognize. I answer it, it's Mark, and I go, hey man, I go, what? Like I had his phone number saved. It should have come up. He goes man, my battery died. He's like this is a TARS phone phone.
Speaker 1:I'm like, great, well, I didn't save it under her name, but it was still in the call log. So I just went scroll, scroll, scroll, and I didn't get numbers from people I didn't know. So like scroll, scroll, scroll there, it is Right. So, um, I do remember. Uh, max was still with me and uh, so I call her up and he and God bless him, man, he was like, he was like rock, he's like how about I stay here with you tonight? And in that moment I'm not really thinking. But I'm like man. I lived in the same house, we, we, when we reconfigured the teams, we didn't move houses, so I was still in the house. I was in when I was bravo, but now I'm alpha team living with the other three Bravo guys, right. So never occurred to me Like he's like man.
Speaker 1:Maxie he's like man, why don't I, uh, why don't I just stay with you, you know, why don't I just stay here tonight? And I was like no, brother. I said, listen, we got, you got a big day tomorrow. Like we got to be back here to prepare everything for the service at Plainside, their side. Their bodies are going to be flown back home and then we're going to follow one, each, you know, to escort them to their homes. And I said, did you bring a change of clothes? He's like no, I didn't bring anything. And I'm like, well, you sure as shit not going to fit in any of my stuff, you know. So I said, but if you don't mind, I said would you go with me, you know, to give the news to a tar? And he said, sure, so he drives me over.
Speaker 1:And and I called her first because I I remembered her new apartment, because mark and I had helped her move some stuff over, but I didn't know, I don't remember the unit, right. So we pull up. I call her from the street and she was like rocky. And I'm like hey, sweetie. I said are you home? And she said I am. She's like where is he? And I was like can I come up and she was like sure, and I'm like honey, I don't remember what number it is. So she tells me we get up.
Speaker 1:And I remember I remember standing in her kitchen and she's on one side of the room, I'm on the other and maxi's right over here and she's just looking at me and she was like where is he? And frayne, honest to god, like I couldn't say it, I like I couldn't form the words, and I remember just standing there staring at her and in my mind I'm thinking all right, any second now max is going to tell her, or my silence is going to cause her to figure it out herself. And I swear to god, like the instant hung, like like days, you know, and nobody said anything. And finally I just I knew like I've got to do it and all I could think to say I was like honey, he's gone, you know. And then, of course, you know she reacted the way you would expect. And, um, I remember thinking, and I think it was Max that suggested it. He was like listen, and I remember thinking and I think it was.
Speaker 1:Max that suggested it. He was like, listen, you know, we don't want to leave you here, you know. And she was like, well, we, you know, called her parents, right? So she called her parents, we stayed with her until they drove over and picked her up to take her back to their house, you know. And then Cheese had a fiance who lived, um further north, and she got word, of course, and then she was coming in to his apartment and I was like, okay, well, you know, I'll, I'll, I'll meet her there, Cause then, uh, she called my number and Elizabeth Elizabeth was her name is her name and, um, I was like, hey, I'll meet you over at, I'll meet you at John's, you know. And I was like, hey, I'll meet you over at John's. And she was like well, a friend of mine, a friend of ours, is going to meet there too, so she'll probably be there when you arrive.
Speaker 2:I said okay.
Speaker 1:Well, it turns out, their friend was a British bartender at another place that we used to go to quite often, and Emma is her name. She was just a wonderful, wonderful girl and we used to joke around. There was a show, a British TV show, called the Avengers not the superhero Avengers, they were more like spies or whatever. But there was a female in the Avengers called Emma, emma Peel and I was like, hey, I'm Rocky and she's like I'm Emma.
Speaker 1:And she goes, oh, emma Peel and Rocky Balboa, and I was like it sounds better with a british accent, you know. But what was wild was like, you know, she's just one of the regulars, you know, we were regular customers and she was a a very nice, uh, oh, young andrew just showed up. It is time almost for us to sign off. But yeah, man, that that part of it was far worse than anything, that anything I think we faced all day. You know, I was able to spend a lot of time, you know, with Atar until her parents came, and then I spent quite some time with Lisbeth, and then over the next few days, you know, we had the Plainside Memorial Service at Ben Gurion. They flew the boys into Dover, delaware, for processing, and then that's where three of us flew. But we were able to bring Attar and Lisbeth with us because they you know, each of them flew to the home of record for the memorial service. And it's just wild because and strangely enough, mark was from New Jersey, so from Delaware, alan flew to Missouri with Johnny Lind, vic flew to San Antonio with John, and then for me I remember the conundrum the planning is like the, the mortuary is like. Well, I mean, from where we are in delaware to drive to the nearest airport to fly to new jersey. We're better off driving, so we're like, right on man. So instead of a hearst, which I thought was more appropriate, they they loaded uh mark into a van, more just a plain panel van, you know, like a hearst inside but a van, just a plain panel van. You know, like a hearse inside but a van on the outside. And I had a rental car and driving up to New Jersey, you know, from Delaware to New Jersey in mid-October, and I remember being on the interstate and I pass a line, you know, welcome to New Jersey. And fucking Bruce Springsteen comes on the radio and I'm just like man, this is the most fucked up drive I've ever taken in my life, you know. But yeah, man, I mean you know. So I think the craziest part about it is looking 20 years ago at that experience and seeing what's happened and how Hamas has grown in power over 20 years. And they're everything that they tried to be, you know. They're everything that they, you know, intended to be when they were pretending to be this benevolent group, you know.
Speaker 1:And yeah, I think for the next episode we'll fill in some gaps, because there were. You know there were some things that happened on the ground. You know, again, just telltale, signsale signs. You know that led up to it. But, um, you know the follow-on is oscar the, the only survivor from that ambush. He and I deployed together to iraq the following July. Yeah, yeah. So this guy had a broken leg, broken back was just pretty bad, recovered full mobility and was able to deploy again the following July. So, crazy, crazy. And the next episode, when I tell about the time he and I were ambushed together, I will never forget my dad was like, wait a second. He's like that's the same guy that got blown up in Israel. I was like, yeah, dad, it is Only this time I was right beside him. He goes, son, he's either the luckiest or unluckiest man I've ever heard of. He's like so I don't know to tell you to stay close or far away, just not sure you know.
Speaker 2:But uh, all right, man. Well, thank you for that. Yeah, no, I think that was definitely another heavy discussion there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was, it was wild, it was wild. So, all right, thank you all for tuning in and, uh, if this was a little bit more than you expected, cowboy, the fuck up. All right, we're out. Wait, I want to see the little thumb icon, see, that would have cheered me up today and it's not happening now. All right, we're out.
