#37 - From Marine Corps Bonds to Farming Reflections: A Journey of Resilience w/ Chris Mann

Chris's journey from central Washington to the battlegrounds of Iraq and Afghanistan is one of transformation, resilience, and brotherhood. With an impulsive decision in 2004, Chris embarked on a path that would test his limits and forge lasting bonds. From the rigors of boot camp in San Diego to the camaraderie amidst the chaos of combat deployments, Chris shares a tapestry of experiences filled with humor, hardships, and humanity. We explore the dynamics of military life, from the antics of drill instructors to the harsh realities of war zones, painting a vivid picture of life as a Marine.

As the story unfolds, Chris offers a candid look at life aboard a naval ship, navigating the challenges of deployment, and the camaraderie that emerges in the most unlikely places. With tales of fuel theft, train station mishaps, and unexpected encounters with wild dogs, this episode balances the tension of military operations with moments of levity and ingenuity. Chris also sheds light on the unique interactions with interpreters and the cultural nuances encountered in conflict zones, revealing the complexities and unpredictability of military service.

Transitioning back to civilian life, Chris reflects on the journey of reintegration and the surprising paths it has taken him. From government work to finding solace on a small farm, his story is a testament to the adaptability and enduring spirit of those who've served. We delve into how Chris has leveraged his experiences to support veteran-owned businesses, highlighting the significance of community and giving back. Through this episode, listeners will find inspiration in Chris's ability to embrace new challenges and find fulfillment beyond the battlefield.

Chapters

• 0:09 Military Experience and Recruitment Process
• 6:53 Rifle Range and Drill Instructor Antics
• 15:39 Boot Camp Hazing and Female Instructors
• 22:28 Revis and Recruiter Stories
• 33:46 Hawaii to Kuwait Deployment Experience
• 36:23 Life and Adventures on a Ship
• 46:02 Life on Ship During War Deployment
• 54:55 Combat Deployment and Loss
• 1:06:24 Turp Incidents and Post Deployment Reunion
• 1:12:49 Fuel Theft and Blackhawk Mission
• 1:23:00 Demolition Missions and Comradery
• 1:32:49 Train Station Mishaps and Recon Dogs
• 1:45:05 Embassy Partying and Gurkha Guards
• 1:48:58 Gurkha Warriors and Unsanitary Conditions
• 1:57:21 Base Life and Food Supplies
• 2:04:42 War Zone Rules of Engagement
• 2:15:09 Traditions and Brotherhood in the Marines
• 2:19:50 Transitioning Out of the Military
• 2:23:14 Military Transition and Farming Therapy
• 2:33:02 Supporting Veteran-Owned Small Businesses
• 2:41:58 Hydro Dam Project Hype Man

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

dude, you're rolling through town.

Speaker 3: 0:11

Chris, never thought we'd have this for a while so it was just coincidence, you just 100 coming through town to pick up some christmas gifts for your, for your company, and here we are.

Speaker 1: 0:21

I was like, dude, gotta, gotta come over, so why don't we just jump right into it? Man, cool, let's give you, get you, give yourself a little intro. Um, you've done some pretty cool stuff in the military. You're doing some awesome things. Now you give back to the veteran community a little bit. All the above, let's uh, yeah, let's hop into it um, I'm chris man.

Speaker 3: 0:39

Uh, born in washington state, did eight years in the marines. Uh did deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan and uh got out and did a lot of charity work with wishes, and now I work for the federal government again. Federal government again, again, again again how was?

Speaker 3: 0:55

Washington growing up apart, uh, central Washington so kind of. It's called Wenatchee, dead center of the state, a lot of agriculture, kind of not on the terrible side of the state. There are some interesting parts of that state. Yeah, the the state's wonderful. If you're east of the Cascades, okay, it's great. It's pretty conservative. It's a lot of agriculture, farming, outdoor stuff, hunting, fishing. We just get screwed with all the politics of seattle having every, every bit of the population. So growing up there was awesome. You know it's small town. It's grown a lot since then because we we've got hydro dams, so cheap energy, yep, so all the data centers and all the tech companies moved in. You know, essentially forcing locals out. But uh, other than that I mean the town's great. I love going back there to visit. So, yeah, just kind of always been in washington. Other than the military, what year did you join the marine corps?

Speaker 1: 1:50

uh, 2004 okay, so we're what month? Okay, so we're right on september 11th.

Speaker 3: 1:55

Actually I stepped on deck. September 11th really footprints and everything.

Speaker 1: 1:58

I was like hell yeah okay, so what made you join? What was your reason for joining the marine corps?

Speaker 3: 2:05

so originally. So I swam in high school, okay, and so I was actually joining. My uncle was coast guard, so I was actually depping into the coast guard to do rescue swimming. And when I got down to the recruiter and everything and he's like, yeah, we totally do it, it's a one-year wait. And I was like, yeah, I know myself and idle hands are the devil's playground and I knew I'd be in jail before that one year. And so I went in and I had two buddies that were like, oh, we depped into the marines, you should blah, blah. I walked in, the marine recruiter was like let's hear what he has to say. And he's like, walked in, I had long shaggy, like stoner skater hair and he's like get out, you wouldn't make it. And I was was like right out the gate, yeah, a hundred percent Jedi mind trick. And I was like, no, I'll do it. Oh, yeah, no, I'm in. And like 26 days later I was on the way to bootcamp.

Speaker 1: 2:51

God recruiters are the most craftiest human beings on the planet.

Speaker 3: 2:54

He played me to a T knew exactly what I didn't need to hear. But then it, you know, I was like I was kind of like a fuck up and I would quit things. I would start something and quit it, and so then I'd get like my buddies back oh, we'll see you in a few weeks, You're going to quit. And it's like, okay, fuck these motherfuckers. So that was pretty much it. It was like you know, obviously boot camp is hard, but at the same time it's like one of the most entertaining three months of my entire life.

Speaker 1: 3:22

Okay, so you're a West Coast Marine. Yes, San Diego. So you guys are getting issued sunglasses and sunscreen and everything right.

Speaker 3: 3:30

Watching the airplanes fly.

Speaker 1: 3:32

every day, you guys get to go to baseball games I heard Allegedly I didn't, Apparently not me.

Speaker 3: 3:38

I got fire watch a lot, oh yeah, and I got overnight, yeah, but no, it was like I'd never been to California. I'd never been to California, I'd been out of Washington like to Oregon, so it was just really a wild experience with that. And then, of course, I grew up. It's ag, so it's Mexicans and white in Wenatchee. I'd never met a black kid in my life.

Speaker 1: 3:58

Really, until boot camp Really.

Speaker 3: 4:05

So it was like super wild, that it was like you just get the weird diversity and you're like it's forced assimilation, I guess. But then you think back and like man, dude, those are some crazy memories like. And then you think about the drill instructors that you're like dude, they, they knew how to play games enough to not get in trouble but enough to get the point across sometimes I swear I I'm waiting to get a drill instructor on here.

Speaker 1: 4:26

I have to. They are the most sadistic human being on the planet. Yeah, they love it, they love it see, I feel that the majority of them love it, but then there's the other part that just absolutely hate being on the drill field. Yes, and those are the ones that are straight birth from lucifer's asshole and they just, they're just.

Speaker 3: 4:47

Their whole job is make your life hell for however long they have you and you have no idea what's even going on as you're a young kid.

Speaker 1: 4:53

No, okay, day one of boot camp. What's it like? San diego? What's the san diego checking in and receiving, like you know, because paris island, you're locked away, like once you go through yeah, there's, no, there's no finding you, that's it.

Speaker 3: 5:05

Yeah, so it's. I mean, fly all day, arrive at san diego's airport, met by the receiving drill instructors instantly, and it's like in the airport. Oh yeah, at the airport, okay, at the at. Like, you don't even make it to the? What is it called? The? What's that organization? Ufo, uso? Okay, you don't even make it that far you're like following along. You're like okay, I gotta go.

Speaker 1: 5:25

And you just hear I'm screaming like this please don't let this be for me, like you want that guy yeah, so instantly on the bus.

Speaker 3: 5:34

The, the depot is you. It holds a, a field or a fence with the airport, yet they drove us around san diego for like 45 minutes. Do they really head down everything so you're tucked, not knowing where you're going?

Speaker 1: 5:49

you don't realize you went literally a block they just drive you guys around, drive you around, okay, this is okay, okay, I swear, they're just showing you off, but it's still like disorient.

Speaker 3: 5:57

If you try to like dip out, okay, then you realize like the next morning you're like that's the airport right there, wait, I landed right. Yeah, like I see guys leaving Every day. You watch. That might be the hardest thing about San Diego is watching planes fly out every day and you're like two months, 29 days and four hours, but yeah, so they just run you around and then obviously it's like 8.30, 9 o'clock at night, shave your head, take, just run you around and then obviously it's like 8, 30, 9 o'clock at night shave your head, take your stuff, issue you like the base, you know, two camis and your c-bag and then run you around all night allegedly getting shots and stuff, but it's just just destroy you. Just. You're so smoked after like the first, just exhausted. You know, and hindsight, I would have slept on the plane, but I was so like oh man, kidding a candy shop, I'm going to be a Marine?

Speaker 1: 6:46

Stupid yeah yeah, dumbass. Yeah, 100%. Should have slept 100%. How are your drill instructors?

Speaker 3: 6:53

So we had one dude, the sadistic Satan's asshole, yup, got relieved halfway through our first month and everyone was like thank god. Then he became a senior in a different. So it was actually like it was all like theater, I'm sure, but he became a senior. And then we got the young guys. But like our uh, when they come to heavy, yeah, cool dude, I mean he was intense as a fucker, but it was one of those like you could tell he was respected by the other general instructors because if he said something none of them would do, I mean, even from like other platoons. He kind of was like that, right below the seniors, like the seniorest of, like the, you know, okay, cool dude.

Speaker 3: 7:38

And then our senior didn't really come around much because it turned out he'd gotten assaulted by a recruit like a year before and it like shattered his whole face up and everything, like butt stroked a bunch of times with a rifle at the range. Yeah, we found all this out when obviously I didn't know it until we got back and my mom's like, oh, this was your drone instructor we get. We heard stories about him and I'm like what do you mean? Like read the articles. It was like, oh no kidding, just straight. Dude on the range just snapped, snapped and just started, and it was before he was a senior, so he was actively involved and it was just like, oh, that dude's damn, no wonder we didn't see him much. He was probably doing like medical stuff. Where's your guys's rifle range? Uh, edson range? So at camp pendleton so they bus you.

Speaker 3: 8:20

Oh yeah, so we do the first month, which is is pretty much, you know, basic, you know a confidence course, some PT learning drill for the first month, and they've switched it up now. But the second month we did field month, go up to Edson range for an entire month, so we would do the humping, the rifle range, everything up there for an entire month I didn't know that. And then third month they'd bring us back down final drill uniforms, everything like that. I guess they've since switched it up to where they bus them up to do the Reaper at the end. So they get their Eagle of an Anchor.

Speaker 1: 8:56

That's cool, I guess At the top of the mountain and then they come down, do it on the parade, deck Us.

Speaker 3: 9:02

It was like cool we, we've been absolutely murdered and now we have to come back for another month and then wait. So seeing it the way they rearranged it now, it's like that would have been so much cooler. Like bus us back up there, let us do the final. You know the reaper finish it and then get the ega that I was like that'd be way better, but you know I didn't have.

Speaker 1: 9:23

so how's the rifle range for you guys? I mean because you have. I mean you're around Camp Pendleton so you're not like we're isolated. Yeah, especially on Parris Island the rifle range is even farther tucked away, so you're by yourself. That was some of the worst times on the rifle range for me.

Speaker 3: 9:39

So they made a rule, phase two, on the range no hazing Really, because we don't have live rounds. They weren't risking it, they weren't allowed to yell Really. Oh yeah, it was one of those like I think they've had some people like pop off or something, because it was like one, you know, like one of the newer DIs would start yelling. You'd see, like all the heavies like come over, no shit, bring it down a bit, and so yeah, so we couldn't, as long as we were on the range, no hazing, no real scream. Like they would talk with a very firm tone, but it was like they just would wait, wait till you turn your rifle in and then you're dead.

Speaker 1: 10:19

For the rest of the day oh okay, okay, I thought you were mad while you were up there.

Speaker 3: 10:25

No, no, just on the range, edson Range, the actual base, the little camp is, all hell breaks loose. Oh, I bet. I mean there's places you can hide, they'll tell you. I mean, i-5 goes right through the middle of it, yeah, and so they'll be like you want to leave Right there? There's no fence, there's the highway. Go where was that's in range?

Speaker 3: 10:43

okay, so coming down south of las pulgas, north of del mar, you know the naval, you know the naval sign that says like on a courage where the old cats are across the street oh, okay, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, all right, it's in range okay, and so yeah, I mean a month up there and it's just, it's dirty, it's dusty, it's windy, and then you get the coastal breezes though I was there November, so you get that nice California coastal breeze in the morning. Just everybody with pneumonia and stuff, yeah right. But yeah, I mean good memories though.

Speaker 1: 11:14

Dude, we were on the rifle range once with recruits and I'll never forget this kid. He goes, sir, there's somebody at my target and we're everyone's in the prone. We're standing behind and that's live fire this. You know the the markers, yeah, you know what?

Speaker 3: 11:34

not this.

Speaker 1: 11:35

Well, you know like the pin shot marker fell off and the recruit panicked and climbed out of the pits. They're so dumb and it's reaching and we're all standing there watching this kid climb out of the pits, as it's the whole right, the whole line of fire is going on and this kid climbs out of the pits and grabs the the marker and dips back down and then the target goes down and pops back up with the marker back in it and they ceased fire. Oh yeah, all hell breaks loose. Everybody's going wild. They end up, you know, going down and the kid comes out sitting in a cart on a golf cart, you know one of the ones.

Speaker 3: 12:13

What happened? Never saw him again.

Speaker 1: 12:14

Must have tripped never saw him again. He disappeared right there on the spot. Yeah, that was one of the wildest things on the range there. Dude, they had me. I'm gonna have my buddies on that. I was in boot camp with I had to drill with a trash can at on the range, so I was I was on fire watch I'd take the trash out. You know the metal trash cans, oh yeah so like the squad base here.

Speaker 1: 12:40

And then there's this giant parade deck like a grinder behind it, like ginormous. Yeah, the dumpster is in the farthest corner, so I'm just walking, not thinking of anything. No, I'm like walking across like diddy bop in middle of the night's pitch black little private marshall just fucking off. As usual, I'm dumping the trash in the trash can and I'm walking back and I'm dude, I'm like like taking my like. Yeah, this is my three more hours of this on, it's my freedom, I get.

Speaker 1: 13:09

I get five minutes to think to myself. You know, for once I don't have a drill instructor just chewing my ass, dude. I'm just like not thinking anything of it. All of a sudden I just hear like in a drill instructor voice, poor arms, and I'm like there's no way he's like someone's drilling out here right now.

Speaker 1: 13:28

Like he's drilling, he's like bitch. I look up and there's my drill instructor on the third deck screaming at me and he yells at me like poor arms again. And I'm like with this trash, can this asshole starts just calling off all the rifle maintenance or rifle commands for drill. I'm out there to the winds marching reverse Dude.

Speaker 3: 13:50

You thought you were having a good time.

Speaker 1: 13:51

Bro and I'm just boom, boom, boom with this trash can, a metal trash can. Lid's falling off of it. I'm putting it back on. He's drilling me around right, so he drills me to the bottom steps. He's like put the trash can down, bitch. And I'm like put it down. I'm like what the fuck You're going to get yours Marches me over. So we were lead series and we didn't follow series. And dude, for some reason, the rivalry between lead and follow. I don't know if the drill shakers hate each other or what, but it was embedded in us. He marches me over there and stops me and he's like follow swallows, tell him. And I'm looking, I'm like sir. He's like bitch and I'm like follow swallows. He's like louder, I'm standing outside their squad their squad, three squad base, screaming, follow, swallows.

Speaker 1: 14:35

I don't even know what it means like I'm just screaming, for all of a sudden lights start turning on and all the squad base, all three doors, boop, boop, boop, you know, like a zombie movie. When they get overrun, recruits start pouring out of the squad base. I'm standing there at attention, screaming, follow, follow. I look back at my drill instructor. He goes run and I hear the panic in his voice. He's about to get me beat up. I straight dude, I was clearing and I could hear them. I was straight like zombie apocalypse movie. I could hear these kids just running and I'm like clearing flights at the same time and I dive the squad bay. I fly in there, skid across the floor, the all, the every recruit in their, in their beds, because we were there. They could hear everyone's dying, laughing and I was just like they're like motherfucker just got me killed.

Speaker 1: 15:31

He's just like get back to work, bitch. And I was like this is big, the upper broom room start doing something. I was like what in the hell? They're sadistic, Almost got me killed.

Speaker 3: 15:39

We had a kid Kind of looked like Buddy Lee.

Speaker 1: 15:45

That's what they called him like dungaree kid big yeah, fishbowl glasses.

Speaker 3: 15:47

They put him in a trash can. Oh god, made him drill hopping around and they called him rtd2 oh my god and all he was allowed to respond was beat, beat, beat, diddle, diddle, diddle the whole I mean when we're doing like you know, like in the squad base or I don't want to do rifle shit. And then there's him. You start trying, try to hold your bearing with the fucking little friendly looking fat you can't.

Speaker 3: 16:06

No, no, you know, they're just like look, you know, there's one of them, someone's like all right, he laughed, he laughed, they're all dead oh yeah, take a note.

Speaker 1: 16:15

Did I was getting hazed one time. I might have told this before, but I was, uh, I was. I didn't know how to, I didn't know. I graduated boot camp and didn't know how to disassemble and clean an M16.

Speaker 3: 16:29

Believe that or not, my rack mate, that makes sense because there was a lot of hazing going on during that time of the day.

Speaker 1: 16:34

Oh, my rack mate knew my combo and would undo his and undo mine. So when they would prepare for rifle maintenance and everybody was like, prepare for rifle maintenance, I'd prepare for rifle maintenance. And everybody's like, prepare for that man, I'm like I would my prepared for rifle maintenance. I start taking my cover off, undo my blouse, empty my pockets and I'd go stand on the quarter deck waiting to get hazed and I would just stand there and it got to the point and this was all the whole boot camp, all from day. I was that recruit that they would take to all the battalions when a new battalion pick up and that I did the demonstration. So every week when a new battalion picked up, the drone starts to be like let's go and I just follow him around.

Speaker 1: 17:10

He'd be walking, I'd be running behind him, we'd yeah and I'd be standing there.

Speaker 3: 17:13

You walk at the world's fastest pace.

Speaker 1: 17:14

Yeah, where I'm running and I'm six, three and I'm still running to keep up with this dude, with the five, two mexican dude they were just hauling ass, follow series, lead series with all three decks and I would just get hazed.

Speaker 1: 17:23

And now I was the demonstration marine for until I graduated boot camp. And I graduated and I did not know how to disassemble my rifle because I never learned how to clean a gun or anything, even on the rifle range. It was insane, and so I you couldn't break me, so I, we got this new drill instructor like three quarters of the way through.

Speaker 1: 17:41

He was young, like just got just graduated school didn't know how to count down, he'd be like 100 to one and like he's like what the fuck? Like, yeah, like I haven't even gotten a sock off yet. He didn't even bend over to get your blouses off yet. So he's hazing me one day and he couldn't break me, like I was just a machine on the quarterback. And he says something to me and I looked up with a smile and he grabs his cover and it bam, hits me at the top of my head and it falls right in front of me. That son of a bitch had a note, a schedule, written inside of his cover and I'm over it and I'm reading it. And it was like it was. No, it was like zero, zero, wake the recruits, zero, six30. Slay the hoes. Marcia chow, slay the hoes, march home, back to squad base, slay the hoes. I was like this motherfucking, we're getting slayed, no matter what?

Speaker 1: 18:32

that's what I was, like you guys could be perfect, and you're still and they already had it scheduled in and I was just like I'm telling you they gotta fill the day. Yeah, what do you do with 70 kids that just fucking off all day?

Speaker 3: 18:45

Yeah, so I had to go to training down in MCRD. We had one of my work. We had to go and it just happened to be at MCRD.

Speaker 1: 18:53

This is on the civilian side. Yeah, on the civilian side.

Speaker 3: 18:54

Last year I went down there. So they've co-integrated MCRD San Diego. Now it used to be just males all females went to paris island. Yeah, now they have female drone instructors, female recruits, everything on paris island, okay, and but it was so wild because it was january, which I guess that's their slow time. Yeah, but it was like 30 recruit platoons tiny like, because we're feeling like that.

Speaker 3: 19:17

Third, like I'm talking three that's a good or a bad thing because it's less kids to screw up Less that are going to slip through the cracks, but you can't get away with nothing but you can't get away with anything.

Speaker 3: 19:28

And so I had me one of my guys and then two of my regional officers with me and I'm like I saw them taking a recruit away and I was like, get in the car, get in the car, we're going to go drive over there. I'm in federal plates, I'm going to do whatever I want. Drove over parked and just watched this female just getting smoked and one of the senior guys he's a retired Marine, the other one was Army had never seen hazing before Like that way and he's like, is she going to stop? And I was like, yeah, she's got probably five minutes in. Girl, got up, put her blouse on. Nope, starts over down again. I'm like just watching this female drill instructor just murder really and I was like at least some things are still dude, they're still doing it the female drill instructors at parrot.

Speaker 1: 20:19

They were the scariest because it's the shrill high pitch you were, so you were brainwashed the eyesore to everything, and so we didn't. We'd never cross paths with the females, only on the rifle range. That's the only time you ever saw female recruits, or at church everybody was religious on that boot camp. I found jesus out here everybody finds jesus because there's a one spot on that whole entire place. You can't get messed with those. Church services are maxed every week.

Speaker 3: 20:46

Everyone's like my little light, with a little moonbeam you know, I'm all I was like. I'll be the prayer leader, the lay leader, whatever, like. Give me another two and a half hours after church I'll lead service.

Speaker 1: 20:57

I don't care what I'm doing, I don't give a shit, I'm going to church. But um, I'll never forget. We're walking out of the chow hall and we're getting formation and I was I was squad four squad leader at the time, before I got fired from that so I'm in the front and this kid comes out of the chow hall and there's these two female drill instructors standing there and he's running and he stops and looks at them both. It goes good afternoon gentlemen. And like double salutes them.

Speaker 1: 21:25

I was like that doesn't look right, and I know I'm new, but that's not how you double salutes them and oh my god, and then they're just screaming at him.

Speaker 1: 21:37

But you're so used to saying I sir there's, they're like fucking that, and so he couldn't and like so every time you'd see a female journalist or a company like ma'am, ma'am, ma'am, ma'am, and they're like got a problem, no, sir, and you're like fuck, like there was no matter how you tried to prepare yourself for saying ma'am couldn't ever happen, you were just so brainwashed from sir jesus, yeah, boot camp, dude, dude.

Speaker 3: 22:00

it's when you think about like, remember, like the people that couldn't march foot, foot, you know, like I can't force myself to not walk normal and to see some of the stuff that some of those kids do, you're like ooh, how, how's your brain making you do that?

Speaker 1: 22:16

Why can't you figure this out? Just walking, just walk, just walk.

Speaker 3: 22:19

Take a longer stride.

Speaker 1: 22:19

That's it, full 30. That's it Full 30. That's it, full 30. When your arm is following your leg, you're not a moose, how are you not? I had a kid next to me. His name was Revis. I'll never forget him. I couldn't probably tell you five people from my boot camp, but this dude is ingrained in my soul. We would be marching at night and he was one of those. They called him. What was the? The gomer pile. They called him gomer pile and they'd flip his cover up and he had these big glass.

Speaker 1: 22:49

I felt bad like looking back at it now like I was like damn dude but bullied bad at boot camp by the drone like. But he was just. I would love to have known his mos because there's no way this dude was infantry or anything like active.

Speaker 1: 23:02

That's the one he, you know, yeah, he's the one and probably stormed a bunker and kicked in all these doors and he's probably got a fucking bronze star or something now. But yeah, he couldn't march and he would. He would like swing his arms. So when we'd be marching in the morning, we have our flashlights. Yeah, and you know paris island. We're on there, january, where do we go?

Speaker 2: 23:22

yeah, jan, yeah so it's cold shit. Winter hours are cold.

Speaker 1: 23:27

The only reason this dude's in my brain, because he would swing his gorilla arms. And this dude, he's a big guy too, he's just this big, dumb animal. And he somehow would rake his flashlight with my knuckles, but not like once. No, like every other, every couple. And he would just no, like every other, every couple. And you just dude, like, it finally came a time and you know the fuse is short, we're marching and he whacks me and I look at him, like do it again. Yeah, like do it again.

Speaker 1: 23:56

And my flat moonbeam flashlight for anybody wondering what a moonbeam is the dumbest nickname for a what was a pen and ink stick or something. Anyways, it's in this hand. So I like marching and I'm like, and I'm like and I'm watching him and I'm timing him, dude, and he does it again and I cock back, boom, and I hit his hand so hard it knocks his flashlight out. He, you just like, get this drill instructor. That comes from behind just rips him out of formation. I felt kind of bad, but it was one of those things. Every time we marched anywhere after dark or like in the early in the morning, the chow or whatever he would just scrape his flashlight down my knuckles and, oh my god he was just like walked, like he had like heavy brief, like.

Speaker 1: 24:42

Eeyore, he would just slumber and he would get us in trouble all the time. It was so bad. The whole walk with discipline. It was so bad. Whenever we had to do competition drill and stuff, they'd make him sit out.

Speaker 3: 24:55

He was on fire watching the platoon.

Speaker 1: 24:57

They would make him be Yep. I'm like.

Speaker 3: 24:59

They're not risking their scores, no Like. Who is this? This dude was.

Speaker 1: 25:03

Is this just an ape? He was probably a perfect Marine. He was missing a chromosome or two, like he just couldn't run, he couldn't Like. When he's like dude, like I'm like, where are you from? Like this is the Dominican Republic? Probably? No, I don't know what he was. He wasn, was he wasn't, he was a mix of something. But good Lord, I just would. I remember looking at him like this is what you wanted him to do, huh.

Speaker 3: 25:27

It might be lack of options, though, too Like probably wasn't going to college.

Speaker 1: 25:31

Just imagine the most IT tech dude ever that, like, has never left his mom's basement and one day was like I want to be a Marine. He magic, the gathering's been fun. Yeah, now I'm gonna join the marines. Yep, and that was it, and so I'll never forget him.

Speaker 3: 25:50

The only reason I remember his name is because he used to whack my knuckles with his flashlight right and it would just oh yeah, so mos. So started out as the 03 okay, and lap moved to 0431, which is the logistics and embark. Okay, because I wanted to have a career after well, I wasn't gonna do 20. That was the big thing. Okay, it was like set yourself up for success what made you want to go infantry?

Speaker 1: 26:08

did you even know what you were getting yourself?

Speaker 3: 26:10

into really. No, I wanted out of wenatchee, okay, literally, and it was like I. He could have probably been like, hey, you want to be a open contract. You'll probably, you know, be like a space station sniper and I'd have been like, yeah, sounds great, I didn't care, I wanted out, find me a job that had an opening.

Speaker 1: 26:29

Yeah, that was it fastest out of that's literally like 30 days I wonder if recruiters have a harder time now because a lot of vets, especially marines I can speak for marines don't go infantry. No well, nobody did any research, especially like right after 9-11 people People were like just sign me up, just sign me up, let's go. I'm one of them. Just, let's just go. What?

Speaker 3: 26:47

quota do you have? And it was like you know the recruiters are playing 4D chess. They're like, okay, I'm going to hold you back for a month so I can make my quota. It's a house of cards with them.

Speaker 1: 27:08

Oh, for sure, you know. And then they're like, oh, I want to be infantry, like yeah, but I can get you out of here earlier.

Speaker 3: 27:11

If you become an ammo tech and you'll be with the infantry, yeah, or yeah, combat, yeah, you're gonna be a a child. How did you sell somebody on that one? That's the one I've always been a little curious like. Did you sell them or were you like, all right, look, you barely passed the asvab.

Speaker 1: 27:23

You can make a PB&J. That's what we're going to give you. You can put this tray of already pre-made shit in a steamer.

Speaker 3: 27:33

That's what you're Literally like. I've always wondered if, like somebody like I'm sure there's some people like culinarily, they're like oh, I want to go to.

Speaker 1: 27:39

There's no way. There's no way.

Speaker 3: 27:45

I'm trying because I know a buddy of mine that I was in with and when, when I got assigned to mef towards the end of my career, he was god I think. He was a gunner, a master sergeant, and he was a cook by trade and I had never met a cook. I was like, and he was a good dude. You know totally, you know, but it was like I, did the recruiter have to work hard or was it like a? This is what we can do for you.

Speaker 1: 28:07

I wonder if a lot of them are open contracts. That's what I'm wondering.

Speaker 3: 28:09

Ours wasn't an open contract, Open contract like I don't care or I'm not qualified for 99.6% supply or cook.

Speaker 1: 28:18

But what I'm saying now is like do you think it's hard now that these kids are smart and research everything, Like?

Speaker 3: 28:25

they know what job Like. Oh, I want to do this job. Which branch of service has anything close? I want a bonus, that's the big one. I got a re-enlistment bonus. I got a re-enlistment bonus, that's it.

Speaker 1: 28:37

Yeah, I would never even have thought of asking Do I get an incentive for joining the?

Speaker 3: 28:40

Marine Corps. I was so desperate to get out of there. Yeah, like it was, like they could have been, I could have left 5,000 on the table, 10,000. Who knows, didn't even ask.

Speaker 1: 28:48

Yeah, I didn't ask shit because my recruiter dude he whited out on my and I can say this now I'm sure he's out in Rancor now, but that dude I tore my meniscus in high school playing ball and I had chronic asthma growing up. Asthma growing up that like went away and everything. Yeah, it was just well when we left and moved to upstate new york.

Speaker 1: 29:07

That's when I just literally overnight, like cleared up fresh air but it's in my medical records, like I used to end up at the hospital and it was fibrillator thing, breathing all night like I'm talking horrible asthma as a cat. He sat me down after hours. He had me come in and he sat me down and he was like you want to be a Marine? I was like, yeah, like I'm going to get out of here. And he's like you need to shut the fuck up. What I'm doing right now will take both of us down. He was.

Speaker 1: 29:31

I was like, oh shit, he's like white Dude, literally like he cut little pieces of paper, taped them, photocopies, everything. It was perfect. And he's like you never had asthma, never tore your meniscus, do you understand? I was like, yeah, roger, that and right. And he that's when he warned me. He's like if you, when they do the amnesty period, you're gonna see people that stand up because you shut your fucking mouth. And that's what I was talking about with frank. I want to. Obviously they're sweating and they're like we know everything and he's like they don't know shit. If they knew, you would not be there. And all these kids were raising their hand.

Speaker 3: 30:04

I was like, oh, my god, it's funny too is like, you know how they're like. Oh, how many times did you smoke weed like okay, first off it was high school. I smoked every damn day. Anytime I could get 20 bucks together, right, but no, I only did it like twice experimentally yeah, on my car then the amnesty period. We know you've smoked. I'm like like sweating dudes were God.

Speaker 1: 30:22

I'm like sweating Dudes were raising their hands, Should I admit Like oh, they're going to drug test me.

Speaker 3: 30:27

Like, wait a minute, I'm clean, like I've been clean for a couple of weeks.

Speaker 1: 30:31

Yeah, long enough. Long enough for niacin to work.

Speaker 3: 30:33

Yeah yeah. My recruiter was like but this dude didn't give a fuck, he was going through a divorce, he just wanted to party. So recruiter's leave was fucking great, we'd come in, he'd be drunk, passed out on the couch.

Speaker 3: 30:57

Yeah he'd sleep at the office because his wife was like she didn't want anything to do with him and so it was like didn't want anything to do with him, and so it was like that's a perfect scenario 100. Just, uh, do whatever you want, try to bring in some leads, I'm going to bed, kind of thing. And then the junior recruiter who that dude? I feel bad, but he eventually tried to kill me in the recruiter. He showed up to the recruiting office with a trunk full of guns and luckily the security cameras picked it up. What we bullied him because I met him when I was on boot leave.

Speaker 3: 31:29

Then I came back like a year and a half later and I was, yeah, two deployment lance corporal, okay, got 30 days of boot leave. Was like, yeah, after my, after my second appointment, I was like, yeah, go back, do some recruiter assistance, just chill out, so you're salty assault. And he hadments, no, nothing, and he was a sergeant and I was like I'm going to take full advantage of this. And we I don't want to say we bullied him, but we bullied the shit out of him. And then he, yeah, he pretty much was like he snapped and was going to kill me and the recruiter, oh my God.

Speaker 3: 32:00

And he then got picked up by the cops because he had a trunk full of fucking fully loaded guns outside of his office, like waiting for us to show up for the day. I had just gone back to my unit so I was like, oh no shit. Dude snapped and it was like one of those like years later we bumped into him because I was at the casino home. You know, I was out by then it was a Marine Corps birthday and so me and the recruiter met up, had a, had a few drinks and he walked in. He's like, oh, a shot for all the marines except that fucker over. I'm like shit, here we go still remember, you still held it oh my god, the recruiter dude.

Speaker 3: 32:34

You just get fucking with him. I'm like dude, let it go, like I'm not trying to actually have to fucking smoke this dude this time and it was just like no shit. There must have been more blood with them than anything, but I definitely like pushed, oh yeah a little bit I mean it was like what are you gonna do?

Speaker 3: 32:51

like you haven't deployed? Yeah, I've been in for an eighth of your fucking time and kind of thing, but yeah, kind of a cocky shit. Weird how the marine corps does that, right he breeds that yeah.

Speaker 1: 33:05

So after you got out for career duty what unit? What did you go to first?

Speaker 3: 33:07

so first unit was first battalion third marines out in hawaii okay, you got stationed in hawaii, so I got, yeah, it was great, wonderful, not gonna lie, because again kid that had I'd been to san diego and now I'd been washington and california and I was like, oh, never been to hawaii, awesome, minus being 18 and not being able to do anything on that island. But it was like I mean you go surfing it's like the total life.

Speaker 3: 33:36

But it was like show up, literally showed up to the unit, out flew out straight straight to the three, to the mu they, the Mew.

Speaker 1: 33:44

Oh, so you didn't even get a chance to. How long were you?

Speaker 3: 33:47

in Hawaii for oh in Hawaii.

Speaker 1: 33:51

Two months so you get out of boot camp, go home on recruiter's assistance straight to Hawaii. Two months later you're.

Speaker 3: 33:58

SOI and then, straight over Hawaii, show up, check in with the rear detachment commander and everything. We don't know what we're going to do. We don't know what we're going to do. Boop, I'm gone On a flight over to Okinawa.

Speaker 1: 34:10

What's Okinawa like?

Speaker 3: 34:13

So when I went that time it was not because I was like oh, we're on the ship, workups, mew and everything like that. Oh okay, and then we got back from back to Hawaii, so it was nothing really.

Speaker 1: 34:21

So you just did a normal Mule.

Speaker 3: 34:22

Just a normal well, not even a normal. We went into Fallujah for that, so that was the 31st that went in. Oh, so, 1-3 was heading over, and then they went to. Okinawa? Yeah, they were on the 31st Mule, so they don't do any of the West Coast Mules, because the Hawaii is technically part of like West Pack and pack, and so it falls under um third marine division, okay, or is it? Yeah, it's third marine division and so that falls under okinawa's purview, hawaii.

Speaker 1: 34:49

so you flew straight to okinawa and got on the moon there how long were you in okinawa for?

Speaker 3: 34:56

total 14 days, 15 days, just enough time to get acclimatized and you're on the ship, then I'll have to go helicopter onto the ship did you go straight to iraq or kuwait into kuwait.

Speaker 1: 35:05

You didn't hit any ports on the way not that I can.

Speaker 3: 35:08

I mean, I was fucking like shell, shocked like I'm 18 going. Fuck, am I? Where am I in the world right now? All I knew is we were deploying and it was like, oh man, so we didn't really do my. I mean, I was a boot, it was dude, you know. Yeah, I was mostly on fire watch and sitting down in gear watch in the bottom of a ship, like it's miserable.

Speaker 1: 35:26

Yeah, you didn't hit any ports Like you didn't do anything. Oh, no, no like Liberty ports?

Speaker 3: 35:30

no, so you left.

Speaker 1: 35:32

Okinawa and went straight to Kuwait. How many days at sea was that, Do you remember? I mean, it's got to be a couple weeks, right.

Speaker 3: 35:38

I think it was like yeah, it was like 17, 18 days at sea. Yeah, straight across, it's just straight shot over gross yeah, with a bunch of dudes that I'm a boot and they're you don't know anybody nobody. I know the boots that I showed up with, and that's it. And it was like you're about to get my life's about to suck and it was just like wait, wait, hadn't met squad leaders, nothing, had no time to bond with these guys, nothing and so you, you're stuck on ship.

Speaker 1: 36:07

Did you have a bunch of seniors that were deployed before you?

Speaker 3: 36:10

No, because it was the start of all the wars, so nobody had deployed, so it was kind of a first for everyone.

Speaker 1: 36:14

Okay, so you have that going for you.

Speaker 3: 36:16

Yes, but it's still like they're about to reenlist or have just reenlisted or just got a fat bonus. Because so your life is fucking miserable, the worst and the best, because you can't escape, can't do anything, I can't go anywhere, I can watch their gear while they go to chow and then hope to make it down for chow at the back end they'd forget about you all the time yeah yeah, then you've been on a ship, I've done two muse how easy is it to get lost, oh

Speaker 3: 36:45

he could disappear, dude I'm like, especially if you don't know, at night where the all the navy people that I could ask anything are gone it's just a bed. Yeah, I'm like just find something and like I don't remember up left, you know down right too, I'm like yeah because it's just stairwells and hallways.

Speaker 3: 37:05

Yeah, stairwells and hatches and it's like I'm yeah, this is, this is dumb, uh-huh, I don't. I hate it being on ship I loved being on ship. I'm too tall I'm too tall and I'm too big for those bunks. Oh, the coffin racks. Oh my god like I don't have I don't have any sort of like anxiety about it, but I like to sleep on my side. Oh, for sure, your shoulders touch.

Speaker 1: 37:26

Good, I feel you on that yeah, and it's just like the.

Speaker 3: 37:29

I mean going around like the, rocking like best sleep. I've probably ever gotten on a ship, but other than that it's like I, you couldn't pay me to get on another ship so you know, hildebrandt, I thought you might have known him by.

Speaker 1: 37:42

So him and I, my second deployment, he was like one of the most senior sergeants. On that, he was the senior, most senior sergeant in our platoon. So in our, in our birthing, all of them were like four coffin racks, yeah, four and four. Right, I think. Yeah, it was four and four, and then four and four, four, and everywhere, well, one section where it was a wall and they did three racks, and so hilda and I were boys and he was like you're racking with me.

Speaker 1: 38:06

So he took the bottom bunk, I took the top one and we left for gear. We left the middle for a tv and gear and everything so, and then we had a wall, so we didn't even have other rack mates on our side of us, so we would literally set up like your own little mecca. And then I I oh god, this is who I was I'm laying in my rack one night, and you know we didn't. So it was a top, so you didn't, I had a lot of extra room but there was pipes and everything above you. Like you know, I had probably, like you know, right foot and a half to.

Speaker 1: 38:37

I could sleep to read it wasn't a normal coffin rack where I couldn't sleep on my side, like my first appointment sucked. And so I'm laying there in this rack one day and I'm like, I'm like at night, and I'm like what is this? It's just a rubber tube, you know big rubber tube, and I'm like I'm feeling it. I'm like it never moves. It was never vibrating, like there's water in it or anything, and I'm like what the fuck is this? But it was always cold, like really cold, and I start tracking it one day and I go so the grunts, because you have nothing better to do on ship.

Speaker 3: 39:07

Right, I'm a sergeant, I didn't do shit no, we're like leaving one.

Speaker 1: 39:11

So the grunts were in the very bow of the ship. Like if you open the top the bow on the deck there's a hatch that you open. That was the grunts birthing. So, like when we were in rough seas, the water would come through that hatch, fill the grunts birthing and then ours was the wall behind them so it would go down the hallways and they'd all have to move their shit in our birthing. That's ship life. But I track it and it comes out and it goes into the birthing, the grunts birthing, and it's an AC pipe and I'm like, oh, fuck this. And I think we're in the suez canal at this point. Like it's 150 degrees. You can't flush your toilets the whole way through the suez canal. They'd let you flush once a day. So like what? Oh, because it's what?

Speaker 1: 39:53

the pure they have because they dump everything into the ocean but they couldn't dump it into the suez gotcha. So because we're going to egypt at this point and so there's miserable, and I'm, I'm laying there one day and I have this knife and I, I just like, I'm like fuck it, I'm doing it. I'm like, please, god, don't be water, like don't be water. And I'm like like pushing and it goes pop and I pull out. It goes like ice air just pouring out on me. Dude, the hold my curtains would blow Like walking in my curtain would blow, like oh man, I need a blanket. The grunts were always bitching about how hot it was.

Speaker 1: 40:30

I never said shit, bro never said shit every time yeah, ac's out and here mine is just blowing, and then we put a curtain up, so we just, we had this ice box, we're in hoodies and sweats, sweatpants, and the grunts got their freaking doors open.

Speaker 3: 40:46

They got fans, big fans, in the hallway and I'm just laying there combat boots and just freaking the fucking pt tropical extra blankets. I'm trying to sleep with extra blankets tonight because I'm freezing one guy in the in the suez canal that got a cold.

Speaker 1: 41:00

Yeah, exactly, come out I'd go to chow all bundled up. People were like where the fuck is this dude working? And I'm laying in my rack. Yeah, dude, I screwed the grunts the whole, the whole entire time on ship. I took all the AC's nobody said anything, because it cooled down our whole birthing so nobody nobody said anything, yeah, so I ended up making out on that one. I was like thank god, I was so nervous though.

Speaker 3: 41:26

Oh yeah, that would have been a water line or something.

Speaker 1: 41:28

Oh, done so every time we'd go to leave. There's no way you can have like, oh, that's a, that's a puncture, oh for sure. So we'd go to leave and so I didn't ever want them to catch it, so I would just electrical tape it a couple times and go back to normal. We'd get back on it, undo it, but I ended up cutting an X in it and opening it up. So it would just blast it on me, blasted, no, I ended up making a hole in it.

Speaker 3: 41:56

Dude those ships are, so it's funny how they work so efficiently, for how old they are Amazing. There's not really that much modifications. There's not really that much like modifications. Like, yeah, I mean there's the tech stuff in, like the, the command center and stuff, but other than that, like those ships are just straight up bare bone, bare bones, steel and yeah, you literally can track. You can track the ac line all the way through the fucking ships.

Speaker 1: 42:16

I would hate to be an electrician.

Speaker 3: 42:17

I mean, there's probably got to be 500 miles of cables on those things but and then they're gonna have to splice and cuts and turns and yeah, dude we, we were um my first deployment.

Speaker 1: 42:27

You know how they do blue green, blue green. I don't know if you guys did any vert reps when you bring on supplies on ship did you ever do?

Speaker 1: 42:33

those we would be. I can remember we would be in the middle of the ocean one day and all of a sudden you'd walk out because I didn't smoke but I'd always go out and smoke breaks with my buddies, hang out and shit. We just pull up one day and there's a there's like a civilian, like naval ship next to us out at sea. They'd shoot the line over and they pull the cables.

Speaker 3: 42:50

I have seen that before so I had to do fleet week okay san francisco yeah it was the last time I was like I don't want to give a shit, I don't know, I'll drive, I'll meet you guys up there.

Speaker 1: 42:59

I'm not trying to do six days no, to go to san francisco, no but they did.

Speaker 3: 43:03

Like one of those would you call it a vert.

Speaker 1: 43:05

I think they're called vert reps.

Speaker 3: 43:06

Yeah, they bring over mail food and you'd like watch it like across, like the, yeah, the wire.

Speaker 1: 43:11

Well we'd line up green, blue, green, navy, marine, navy, marine. And you would have to like, oh yeah, chain, you know, daisy, chain all these supplies. Well, we do this one time and like we're unloading these giant crates of eggs, like like chicken eggs, they're like, oh, we're getting fresh eggs. Oh, fuck yeah, dude, we're getting fresh eggs and we're all pumped, you know, because they give you those that, those saltpeter powder yeah powder and they just mix it. It's like spongy and bubbly and shit it has no flavor and so we're all excited.

Speaker 1: 43:41

We never get these eggs and we're unloading cases of upstairs, so I end up talking to my ass and the officer's deck, and so I ended up asking my lieutenant. I was like yeah, I was like, sir, you guys got eggs up there. Well, he's like oh yeah, we have fresh eggs every day, we get cooked how we like, and I'm like so you guys are just getting shit on.

Speaker 3: 44:00

Enjoy the slop, peasant not for long.

Speaker 1: 44:04

So the next vert rep comes up and the word. And so at this point I talked about in the past, we, uh, there was a navy guy on the ship. He ended up like picking on one of the grunts, we beat him up not we isn't us, but like the grunts beat him up, tied him to a pole, all this crazy shit, right. So they ended up. The navy wasn't even allowed in the bow of the ship, but like where we would vert rep on, it would come through right all the way through to us, and then it'd wind up to the top, like somehow. However, however, the birthing, the ship was set up but, um, we start unloading eggs, bro. We start tossing eggs up flights of stairs and they're rolling back down. Dudes are kneeing them, kicking them throat. There's yolk pouring out of these giant cases that have just eggs in stacked inside of them. We fucked up every box of eggs that went on that shit, because we weren't getting any of them. I mean, we would, we would steal these.

Speaker 1: 44:56

I stole a case of paydays. It was like 50 pounds. It was this giant box like I saw in our birthing. So how it worked was when we were loading the supplies. The commissary was right down the hall from us and then they went to the chow hall there, but our birthing was one flight of stairs up and then forward, so we would have guys up top and so, as we're getting things, the stairs are technically to my back, so I'm the guy that's like whatever anybody wants. And so I got this box of paydays and I just go yeah, and I would just throw things behind me and then I have two or three guys up top.

Speaker 2: 45:31

They'd snatch it. They knew their job straight to the birthing.

Speaker 1: 45:34

Tuck it away, we're good, nobody would say anything. Yeah, and so give it a week or two, and then we'd start selling that shit, bro. We were. Everybody at the bow of that ship, including the grunts, were shitting straight paydays like dudes. Be like bro. I should have paid it and asked me to. It was straight paydays, straight up. We took everything, bro. We robbed that ship. We didn't care. Like you're not gonna leave us alone.

Speaker 3: 45:59

You know who's gonna get blamed for it the supply guy not us.

Speaker 1: 46:02

Yes, falling overboard, uh-huh. I love ship life, dude. Ship life is like prison.

Speaker 3: 46:07

Yeah, I could see that it's very you know you got your free time, you get your check-ins and then it's go back and do whatever you want yep, you're locked up all day.

Speaker 1: 46:15

You work out, you sleep, take a nap, do it again repeat always had nice gyms, or at least decent like practical gym.

Speaker 3: 46:21

Well, not bad functional gyms wasn't bad.

Speaker 1: 46:23

Yeah, yeah, I had enough to get the job done. That's I mean, that's where I put all my size on was on ship. Yeah, you need to work out to the way to the wave, right?

Speaker 3: 46:30

that's the hardest part is like bench pressing like do not drop this, do not drop this yep, oh, you're trying to.

Speaker 1: 46:36

Oh yeah, you want to talk about like an? Internal core workout like stabilizer muscles on fire and then you're repping and also you're like, oh, because the ship would ship drop comes up a wave, it goes back down. It was.

Speaker 3: 46:47

That was always weird, that, yeah, the weird feelings, or even like you don't even realize it, and all of a sudden you're like standing, like if you stand still for too long, oh yeah. And also you're like, oh, what the fuck like if you're constantly moving. You don't really notice it, unless it's like bad seats, yeah. But when it's like, oh, I'm just kind of chilling you're sitting there, it's like, oh, I'm gonna here, it comes, kind of thing. And then you get off ship and you get the vertigo after that. It's like the ship lays or whatever. It's like your sea legs. I'm starting to get nauseous again. The next night it's like damn so.

Speaker 1: 47:19

You didn't hit, you didn't go through the equator, you didn't get your shell back or anything nothing that sucks you just went straight to kuwait straight over, yeah straight over? Did you go to the kuwaiti naval?

Speaker 3: 47:28

base the. We just came in on the port because we had all of our vehicles and everything we just offloaded and fucking mobbed in. What year was this? Oh, four early, oh four?

Speaker 1: 47:38

no shit, yeah, so so you guys are ready to rock and roll. So this is right after the initial invasion. Right after it. Yeah, how? What was that like?

Speaker 3: 47:48

the wild west really, I mean it was. It was kind of one of those like obviously, like no armor, no nothing you guys are running soft shells, soft shells for everything so, but this is pre-ieds, uh, yes and no, okay, like they were figuring it out, but like mines were the big one, it was mine.

Speaker 3: 48:04

Okay, and there's mines everywhere, no matter what, because those countries they bury them, that's all they do. Um, but it was the same thing with, like, iraq and afghanistan, because afghanistan was 05 and it was like soft shells. They would like we had the high backs and instead of the tarps, we just put like a steel, like half inch steel sidewalls. You can still see out like be in the back of a troop carrier, yeah, just be looking around sniper's wet dream. And then a little bit of a little bit of metal on the sides, some sandbags on the floor.

Speaker 1: 48:37

No, not even that.

Speaker 3: 48:38

I didn't even do that, no no, nobody wanted to dig um, this is 2004. Five on this one. Okay, four was put constant, put a. Put a thing, a constantino wire on the front of your hood yeah there's your, uh, there's your. That's to pick up anything that'll protect you this is a spool of constantino wire logic. Yeah, there was no. No, anything like we didn't have, I mean we didn't have what are they called the warlocks or the? What were the? They were supposed to put the emp emp out was?

Speaker 3: 49:05

oh yeah I think so. Warlock was the original one, but we didn't have them on all our vehicles, so it'd be like okay, you have to stagger them, yep, and hope there's enough. You're close enough in your dispersion that you're covered. Who's drawing the short straw? Driving the non? Yeah. Alright, three out of the five systems are down, so we're going to stagger it, stagger it, stagger it out and there'll be a bubble.

Speaker 1: 49:25

that's that's just stay within the bubble so you don't get blown up yeah, don't, don't get too far behind and don't get too far ahead.

Speaker 3: 49:32

Yeah, where's that in the ring? Commercial dust and dark. Yeah, I can't see. I've ran into fucking where they would like you'd have like the dirt roads and there would put like all of a sudden on the left side we'd all be rolling hard on the left and it's so dusty and I just ran right into like mounds of dirt. Yeah, just you shit. Yeah, couldn't see a thing and somebody rolled by. I'm like you good, like, yeah, I had one. We couldn't even shut our door. We had it, uh, cargo strapped from the other door to hold it shut were these soft shell ones with the frame?

Speaker 3: 50:02

no, it was it was a, it was a set, like they put the metal door. Okay, but it was uh, didn't latch, it was still a troop carrier.

Speaker 3: 50:08

Yeah, they put the metal door, okay, but it was Didn't latch. It was still a troop carrier, yeah, but yeah, the door didn't latch and like the mechanism like that hard, like really piece of shit like the cable, yeah, yeah, yeah, and so couldn't shut the door. So it was literally run a ratchet strap through the little side window around to this other door and that's what'll hold you. So so good luck getting out, unless your buddy, your fucking co-pilot over here, undoes the ratchet so you can get out. Janky shit, it never surprises me, no. And then, of course, we're running tri-folds and stuff Like we got what's a tri-fold? The old flak jackets.

Speaker 1: 50:40

Oh, yeah, okay.

Speaker 3: 50:43

None of the over the top fancy stuff, yet Tri-folds with like I mean it's just like, just just dirtbag stuff.

Speaker 1: 50:48

yeah literally like the hammy downs. It's crazy to think that like that's how they prepared their us as out their military troops, like that's how they just sent us off to war. Yeah, like straight one level above, like vietnam gear literally.

Speaker 3: 51:04

I'm pretty sure I like used a better flag jacket in boot camp for like swim qual yeah than what I had for the fleet until second deployment. We finally got like the nicer trifle yeah coyote trifle.

Speaker 1: 51:17

Yeah, yeah, all right, still dog shit. How long were you guys in kuwait when you, when you landed a couple of weeks, oh, so you got to acclimatize workups, get workups, get everything settled. What's the atmosphere in your, in your platoon? I mean, obviously you have. No, are you learning people at this point? Are you still just getting hazed every day? No, not even the hazing.

Speaker 3: 51:36

It was literally a lot of just I was just the bitch. Okay, it was just bitch work. Like you know, we're we're going to be convoying in because and so it's just one of those, like you know, get fuel, get stuff ready, get gear checks, I mean it's just boot work.

Speaker 3: 51:50

It's just there's no, no, anything like I mean I it was so weird because, like that's such like a blur, because it was like you know, I'm 18, I've never experienced anything like this before. Yeah, and I don't know what's about to happen. Yeah, it's like okay, cool, we're going to iraq, like shit.

Speaker 1: 52:08

So you go from washington to san diego boot camp, to hawaii, straight to okinawa on a ship, to iraq or to kuwait within a matter of less than six months.

Speaker 3: 52:21

Seven months, that's wild. Yeah, it was like. That's why. Okay, we'll call it like baptism by fire. Yeah, I mean, it was one of those like I had no idea what I was gonna do, like after first deployment, gets back and it's like we'll call it like baptizing by fire.

Speaker 3: 52:28

Yeah, I mean it was one of those like I had no idea what I was going to do. Like after first deployment gets back and it's like, okay, we're going to start workups, we're going to Afghanistan now. Now I know guys, you know, now I've got a chance to all. Right, these are the type group that I'm, that I'm going to be with. And then I mean it was like boom, we're back. Five months workups, started workups, yeah, and we did six months of workups and then went and ripped out one of our sister battalions in Afghanistan.

Speaker 1: 52:58

So it was like that was probably honestly, that was probably my favorite deployment too.

Speaker 3: 53:03

Well, what was Fallujah like? At that point I don't want to skip Fallujah. Fucking hell, why Patrolling every day, kicking doors, doors, like no idea what I'm doing, just being told what to do. And it was just kind of that wild west, like they had the mission, they wanted the city, they'd given the orders get out, you know. But then it was like all the I think it was like jordanian, not jordanians, uh, syrians were coming in, yeah, back, backfilling all this. And it was just. It was wild because they're well with me. It was like do what you're told and you know kind of thing. It was wild because they're well with me. It was like do what you're told and you know kind of thing. But it was like I couldn't imagine like being leadership as far as that goes, like having to think about like okay, we go through this door, there might be a guy that tosses a grenade, like you know.

Speaker 1: 53:40

We had like Was it a lot of action for you guys in Iraq?

Speaker 3: 53:43

Yes, really, yeah, we had I mean, we had guys, which is kind of a bummer. He didn't get the Medal of Honor but he should have. He jumped on a grenade in a house. They said that because he was shot in the head when he entered the house, that his reflexes pulling the grenade to him wasn't. Do you remember his name? Rafael Peralta? Really yeah, he was a sergeant and everyone that was there knew it, and these people, I believe you know when they say it that he grabbed it, not that you know he was brain dead and a muscle reaction to pull, you don't?

Speaker 1: 54:15

they pulled that bullshit on a guy like that.

Speaker 3: 54:17

Yeah, what was his name? Uh, rums, not rumsville who was the secretary of the navy.

Speaker 3: 54:22

I can't remember the guy's name, but, yeah, they named a ship after him and now he's, you know, a naval cross he was in your platoon no, he was in my battalion, okay, yeah, but it was like so, guys, guys that I knew and I, when they say that we're in the house with him, yeah, you know he saved our lives, and it's not. And yet the navy and the marine corps said no, he'd been shot in the head first. So it didn't. It was a involuntary muscle reaction to grab a grenade, what doesn't seem like something you're you know kind of thing, and so they kind of.

Speaker 1: 54:51

They fucked him on that damn yeah, what was your first firefight like as a 18 year old kid? Do you remember?

Speaker 3: 54:57

no, it was a blur. It's one of those like you know how adrenaline you just kind of you think about it after and you're like it wasn't it like a lot of it was. You'd hear it before, because I was never, I was never, point. Okay, I'm buddhist, I didn't know anything. It was just don't die, yeah, and then shoot that wherever where everybody else shoot, fucking shoot and just hope that. I mean literally, dude, I was, I had no idea what I was doing. I mean it was just one of those like patrolling, getting a firefight, you know, contact left, all right, everybody's to start seeing where everybody just fucking start to shoot. Really, mag dumping there was. I mean it was like small city and then we had the industrial parks and stuff, but it was just different. Yeah, it wasn't like and I didn't have to go out as much because I was a boot and so it was like they leave us back. You know they want the guys who are trained.

Speaker 1: 55:48

I get that and you're on a Mew, so you're not there for a full year. No, we were there for four months.

Speaker 3: 55:53

So that's quick, quick, quick. Their total Mew, I think, was seven months, maybe eight tops, oh, okay, and half of it was spent. Kind of it was quick, it was like a baptism by fire, but not enough to where I'm going to learn anything Like there was no, there was no like okay, hey, here's how a mission's actually going to work.

Speaker 1: 56:15

By the time you were even close to getting in a groove. You guys were already pulling out.

Speaker 3: 56:18

Already, we're gone. Yeah, heading back home so. Afghan was a completely different story. 100%, because now there was like you've had time to bond with these guys. You've got new boots that have come in. You know, I've got, you're the senior, I won't go that far, I'm still boot. Okay, I was just pinned lance, corbel. Oh, because you did. You did back to back to back, okay. So I pinned on lance right before we deployed again. And who'd you deploy with one three again?

Speaker 1: 56:43

oh, okay, so you stayed in the same unit.

Speaker 3: 56:44

Yeah for those two, okay, and then or for Okay, and then Afghanistan ripped out. It was a six-monther, but it was just weird because that one was. I was reading a book. Actually, my parents gave me a book before I left called the Kite Runner, and it's written by an Afghani man named Khalid Hussani. Okay, so they gave me this book.

Speaker 3: 57:08

It's like hey, you're going to Afghanistan, here's a book about Afghanistan and it's this guy's story about growing up like pre-Russia, pre-russian invasion talking about how beautiful all these places are and how this town that I'm sitting in, looking at this shithole, is this vacation mecca, with all this beautiful grape know uh, or olive plants, and I'm like fucking where.

Speaker 3: 57:31

So you're in the locations where this guy's where he, yeah, where he's reading and he's writing about that was like, oh, we go on vacation there and I'm looking at like fuck, you couldn't pay me to come. I guess I am getting paid to be here, but it was just so different. But you could see, like, okay, I could see that, like you can tell the bazaars or you know, like the farmer's fields, but like, so that was kind of interesting. That was like the first three weeks I was there. I was reading that book, just because we were doing left seat, right seats, and I was on fire watch or gate guard, yeah, and so I'd sit at this back freaking, hesco, those like four by four, hesco, hesco, jack shack and watch into darkness and a farmer's field and what part of afghan were you in?

Speaker 1: 58:12

uh, jalalabad. Okay, so what's?

Speaker 3: 58:15

the terrain like there um, eastern cascade, it's kind of that. You had that eastern oregon, eastern washington that you have like the cascade mountains okay. We had those in the distance where we actually had bases up in there, but then a lot of it was desert, river, kind of sage. It's kind of, I guess, kind of like Central Washington, central Oregon Okay, that kind of landscape where you'd have like the rolling, like basalts and stuff and then rivers going through it and then all of a sudden it would just get into like tall, sheer mountains and you guys were doing a lot of operations out of the mountains or you guys were in flats, so both we had.

Speaker 3: 58:56

So the battalion was split throughout a bunch of areas. Jaff, the airfield, was the actual like where the battalion was, and then I can't remember which company was it like Kyber Pass, which was, if I'm not mistaken it was, a passage between Pakistan and Afghanistan, okay, and so they were kind of doing it. A lot of dudes were coming over, a lot of dudes trying to come over, so they were shutting down the border pretty much.

Speaker 1: 59:18

So were you guys getting into it a lot over there, or what?

Speaker 3: 59:22

A lot, a lot of IDF. Okay, mortars, they had one of the fobs or a cop way up. It was called Camp Blessing, but you had to roll through IED Alley, which was just an ambush central, every time you came in or out. Hillside on both side, rode through the middle of it to get to the base. So the perfect ambush, a hundred percent.

Speaker 1: 59:43

So they just lined the road with IEDs and as soon as you hit them, you're in it.

Speaker 3: 59:57

Yeah, it was like day. I think we took our first casualty on that deployment day six really.

Speaker 1: 59:59

Yeah, it was worst part, was a good friend of mine, and so who was it if you want me.

Speaker 3: 1:00:01

Yeah, his name was, uh billy brixey, so it was from louisiana, good dude kind of the guy that kind of take. You know, you get that one like he's an older, he was like 22, 23, but a pfc and then a lance, so like a little bit older, but like takes you under your wing. You know, when we got back he was like introducing me to people and took me out to like bars and stuff and like would you know, it was just like the good, like older brother, like how a senior, not like I'm gonna murder you and haze you, just like a good, like mentor, cool dude. And then so him and his platoon went up to blessing and that was where they were at and yeah, I don't say it was like a week, I think we were in country for like a week. What happened to him? Id double stacked, and so the platoon there revived him a few times before they got him on the bird and they just couldn't. They couldn't uh keep him alive, kind of thing.

Speaker 1: 1:00:51

So yeah, that's just rough a weekend. What's that do to morale in the platoon?

Speaker 3: 1:00:56

oh, well, I got that was. I got benched after that because our my staff sergeant came in and we were already asleep. I didn't even know that anything would happen. You know had gone down because there we were, probably a three and a half hour convoy away. We'd split out through all these cops and I get my staff started, wakes me up, was like yo, come out here.

Speaker 3: 1:01:13

I'm like all right, what's going on? He's like hey, just so, you know, your boy, he got fucked up. I was like what do you mean? He's like I'll let you know more, but just know, he, he got fucked up. And I was like fuck, what the fuck? So then I'm not going back to bed. And I just was sitting there on the port, just like we had like a little fucking stoop outside of our tent and I was like he comes back, he goes, yo, he goes, come walk with me. I'm like this dude like murdered me every single day, like haze the shit out of me, just would. I mean you're a piece of shit fucking. You know, I think he called me. He called me a woo, a waster of oxygen. I never heard that one dude.

Speaker 1: 1:01:51

He'd be like where's my woo?

Speaker 3: 1:01:52

where's the woos? And there was two of us it was me and my buddy who were just shitheads okay young shitheads.

Speaker 3: 1:01:57

But he's like, he's like come here, shithead, let's take a walk. And I'm like fuck that tone, yeah. And he's like yo, he goes, your boy didn't make it and and he like he was like totally cool and like it wasn't like the. Oh shit, this is your fucking crusty ass. 18 year old staff sergeant who hates fucking everything because he keeps getting passed over. This is like a dude who's like hey, you know, take a minute, take your, you know. Well, I went straight into our Terps tent and just started it, but you wouldn't fight your terp yeah no, no not just mine.

Speaker 3: 1:02:27

There's a whole tent full of them you wouldn't fight her, throw it. I just started throwing hands I didn't know, I because, like, that's my first death that I'd ever like, that. I was intimately like involved, like this is a friend, like there's like, okay, yeah, we took some, we took some some hits, but this was like the first where it's like oh shit, personal yo, yeah like one. Those like damn, that was my boy.

Speaker 1: 1:02:49

So you went and fought the fucking Afghan troops. I just went through there all asleep.

Speaker 3: 1:02:51

I just started throwing hands and flipping cots. So then I'm fucked for the next like six weeks. What the hell, are you? Doing? Filling up fuel tanks and fucking walking around escorting the jingle trucks everywhere, Just can't bitch. Filling, just can't bitch filling. Filling sandbags up, taking them to the other side, emptying them, filling them back up, bringing them back, making dirt move. Just I was just fucking, I was good, good, good you deserve it.

Speaker 1: 1:03:17

These poor turbs that's it, poor turbs are trying to help.

Speaker 3: 1:03:20

They didn't do a fucking thing, they didn't do anything wrong and it's, and I knew I'd fucked up, but it was just like one of those like saw red and was like oh for sure, it's all. That made sense to me at that point, like it wasn't. Like I said, they might have been involved, probably not, but yeah, we didn't have like the you know like back in the like in later on the points you'd get terps who had been around the block for a minute okay, yo this guy was with two, three and then, yeah, three, four and tenth scout or tenth mountain.

Speaker 3: 1:03:47

No, we had like straight-up dudes who couldn't speak English and it's like yo, I don't know if I trust these guys. Like they don't even have tactical gear, they're in the man jammies. So it was like I'm thinking these were like the scummier. Like you know, these weren't like good Terps, they were like the wheeling and dealing, probably for both sides, like the wheeling and dealing, probably for both sides.

Speaker 1: 1:04:10

We had a Terp. This dude was. This was my first experience of like how disgusting human beings truly were. I'm in a debrief and we got this new Terp and he's living on my vehicle. I don't know why I always got the new Terps living with me. A couple of them were cool, this dude was not. I come back from a debrief. I was the tennis driver. He was.

Speaker 3: 1:04:32

He rode on my vehicle, so did you guys, did you guys run tracks the whole time? Or we guys like mounted like uh, humvees and wraps and shit no, no humvees.

Speaker 1: 1:04:41

But depending on the mission, most of the time we were ground or humvees. We'd parked our tracks majority. So at this point we were running a vehicle control point in and out of a city Built a berm all the way around the city. Only way in and out was through us. But anyways, I do this debrief and I come back and my crewman's like yo, we need to talk. And I'm like what he's like? Come in here and I get in the back of the track and I'm like what's going on? He's like hey, and this guy's name was Pauly. He's like Pauly. He's like tell Bam what you just told me. And he's like oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he goes into this story and he's like, oh, you is sleeping in my vehicle, like on the floor in my vehicle, for the last like couple weeks. And I'm just like fuck like hell, no, right, as soon as he finishes up a story, my lieutenant like flips open the back hatch and I'm like sir, come on in.

Speaker 1: 1:05:44

I'm like paulie tell tell the sir what you just told me. And he tells him dude, this dude, I'm gonna go to hell for the shit we fucking did to this guy, but we made him sleep outside. I mean, I'd wake him up every morning, you know, you know the heskos, how they had that.

Speaker 1: 1:06:00

We call them the candy canes, the big metal that would hook them together yeah, bro, I would pick one of them up in his sleep bag and just check to see if he was alive every morning. Like we couldn't get rid of this guy, Like he was horrible. They bring in like barbecue pork one night. Eat up buddy. Yeah, I was feeding this dude doubles Like. And then somebody sits down next to him and be like Paul, you know that's pork, right. He's like no, no, it freaks out. But yeah, dude out. But yeah, dude. He was like bragging about how I won't even go into the details on this but like and people are gonna be like, yes, fuck that we did to him.

Speaker 1: 1:06:30

But like, if you heard, no, like no, it's not what this dude, how he was bragging about like the details of what happens to these kids, of what they do, and how it's completely acceptable. Yeah and bro, as soon as that next log train came through, we shipped his ass out. Yeah, that's it was. It was horrible, but like for us is like grunt units, amtrak units, things like that. We're not getting like the tier one operator right terms that you see in movies.

Speaker 3: 1:06:53

Yeah, you're not, they're they're carried eight, you're not gonna get the dude. That's gonna haul you back to the base. No, this dude.

Speaker 1: 1:06:59

When we first got him, he was so, he was so fucking stupid. I'd be like paulie ask him where he's coming from, and he would look at at the Iraqis and be like where are you coming from? I'd be like Arabic, ask this motherfucker. In Arabic I could do this. And then he'd be like, oh no, no, no. And then the guy would tell him back and then he would tell me in Arabic I'm like English, like you, tell me in English, ask him, and why does he have all this in his car? Why do you have this in your car? I'm like dude. I was just like I can't handle this shit. And then that's once we found out all that. I was like this guy's got to go.

Speaker 1: 1:07:32

It's time to go, got to go, and then we ended up getting this kid. He was like 18 years old. Probably you know the ex -boyfriend of your old turp? No, yeah, his whole family was murdered. He ran one night he escaped while they were murdering. His whole family ran until he found a Marine unit. They'd let him in, told him the story, said he wanted the help. He ended up going through the whole process, got vetted, ends up getting stuck with us. He was like 19, 18, 19 for all years.

Speaker 3: 1:08:03

Like he's no longer a practicing Muslim.

Speaker 1: 1:08:05

I'm sure he actually no longer a practicing muslim. I'm sure he actually not a religious guy. He lives in michigan running a gas station. I'm I want to like reach out. Yeah, I've followed him on facebook for years but uh, I, just I, he.

Speaker 1: 1:08:15

We detained this dude. One day came through. He's wanted for um, blowing up like coalition you know the old bat system we'd scan and all that. This dude comes up. He's like super wanted and we've like told this guy, we're like we named him ford lincoln mercury was his name. That's all he could say in english was ford lincoln mercury. So that was his name.

Speaker 1: 1:08:34

And uh, probably we got this dude detained and I'm like I'm like ford, be his ass. And he's like, no, no, no, I'm like kick him. Like he was just so soft. You know, he was just a child and um, so finally we're like working him up. He's getting the courage and he has a mask on and everything. He's all scared that they're gonna find him. And finally he's like, okay, okay. And then he goes around the corner and he lets out the most feminine, god-awful, curdling scream that you've ever heard in your life.

Speaker 1: 1:09:02

Like the dude, the bad guy's like like looks at him and four just kicks him over. He like falls over because he's flexing like ankles and hands behind his back and like the guy falls was looking at him and this kid just takes off running like crying. I was like, okay, we're, we're done with that. But he ended up sticking with us for the deployment. He was a good turt, but as far as like had your back, absolutely not like. You just stuck him in the back and call him up, but when you need him we did not have the best turps like, but that was just hilarious. We we would just beat this kid up so bad, like just just mess with him, but like did like get him like one of us. He was just so like frail and didn't know what was going on, but we did not have the best experience with turps yeah, they're.

Speaker 3: 1:09:42

That's. The funny thing is like everybody's like, oh, we loved our turps. I fucking hated most of my yeah, like the same thing. It's like you're not gonna trust them. No, like you can be cordial, yeah, but I'm not gonna trust you the only turp we had that was legit.

Speaker 1: 1:09:55

We got on our second employment um.

Speaker 1: 1:09:57

He was kuwaiti oh, so yeah, was his name really different he and I, and because that's when we were working a lot with that, we were training the iraqi police and the iraqi army to like start taking, like you guys need to learn right. So and we put him in charge of all of them because and he'd come to be like bam him, him, him, no good go, I'll be like, and they'd be gone. And he just, just every day he was like nope, this guy, and so he was the only one that was trusted. I almost actually shot him one night.

Speaker 3: 1:10:24

We're on post on purpose no, his motherfucker snuck up on us. I almost, I almost shot him. He Snuck up on us.

Speaker 1: 1:10:28

I'm gonna shoot, I'm gonna shot him. He snuck up on one of our posts that me and my boy were standing on in the middle of the night. We're watching this dude creeping through and her like, oh, they were gonna smoke this dude, so we're waiting for him. And this motherfucker at the last minute like literally, as we go to hit this dude, he's like baby. I'm like fucking ishmael. He's like eyes. He was over at the. We had another, the grunts. We were running a vehicle control control point and the grunts had the entrance control point.

Speaker 1: 1:10:53

That motherfucker snuck off. I was drinking with the other terps over there. We didn't even know. He snuck back in the middle of the night. We almost shot him. We're like get your fucking ass in here. Like where have you been? He's like he's all drunk, all tore up. I'm like what is going on? We're in a war zone. This dude sneaks back. Literally almost murked our turf in the middle of the night because he sneaks back and pulls his little mask off. The only reason we didn't shoot him sooner is because we couldn't see a weapon on him. That was the only thing that saved him.

Speaker 1: 1:11:17

When he went and snuck out. He didn't bring his AK with him because we let him carry an AK. I actually have a picture that's what Instagram band the one he's in one of the pictures that I posted with ak. So this is the dude that's in michigan, right? Now, oh, okay, this I wish, dude, I wish I could yeah the young kids in michigan that's cool, at least you got.

Speaker 3: 1:11:34

At least you got some sort of like does?

Speaker 1: 1:11:42

he came over on a refugee status. You think I have no idea. There's like a couple years. Like after um, out of the military I get a facebook request friend from from ford. He kept his first name, it's I mean it has a big name but it has like for lincoln in it, and so I actually gotta see if I still follow him.

Speaker 1: 1:11:54

He's still got it. But yeah, last time I checked he's running a 7-eleven or a gas station or some shit in michigan. I was like, oh good for you, right, we chatted for a while. I'm sure I could pull up his um, his, dude, he's got a long hair. He's like this grown-ass man now. It's cool and I think, dude, it's like it's a great way if you want to get a visa or citizenship, as long as they actually, you know, honor that agreement for sure you know, for sure there's that one, but yeah, no, that's that was.

Speaker 3: 1:12:20

Yeah, that was the crazy part, was like that, and then, after I finally got ungrounded, we'll say yeah, yeah, let's get back um, but I mean for that.

Speaker 3: 1:12:28

I mean, I'm not gonna lie, though, grounding wasn't awful, wasn't terrible, because the scumbag army dude that I had to help out around the the base yeah, the they're. They're what they call bulk fuel guys. So he'd be like oh yeah, you're gonna receive this fuel. There's 5 000 gallons in that tank. If you don't receive 5 000 gallons when you download it, let me know. I'm like yo, this guy's only got 4400 gallons. Like there's 600 gallons. It didn't evaporate, it's fucking jp8. Yeah, he'd come over and you just see him start doing this. And I was like what are you doing? Let's just get it. He's getting paid out difference from the drivers. So because if he didn't sign, 5 000 gallons received, they don't get paid, but they've sold some gas. So he was just like. I was like just slinging gas dirt

Speaker 3: 1:13:11

he's no, he's just slinging differences and he would offset it in his uh expenditures for the day. Oh, I had to fill this generator, that generator, so we just add a couple extra miles and it would all eventually even up on paper. No, we definitely were probably missing like 100 000 gallons by the time that guy left. But, dude, like anytime the the truck, because you know they'd be like, oh, every one of the the valves on their trucks, you know they put a seal on it, like an actual, like click seal, and yet you're missing. And he'd be like, no, no, no, 5 000 gallons. You're like no, bro, there's 4 600, according to the is this an iraqi or an army guy, or?

Speaker 3: 1:13:47

army, us army, us national guard dirtbag okay but they were just. I mean, he was just. I don't understand. He's selling what he would, so if he didn't sign, so they would bring the truck in who's? They the, the afghan driver.

Speaker 1: 1:14:02

So these were like locals, okay, that were transporting fuel from bagagram all the way to our place.

Speaker 3: 1:14:09

And these big 5,000 gallon tanks, the jingle trucks, right, mm-hmm, and they would sign. So obviously, when Bagram would seal them, they would certify 5,000 gallons entered your truck when he would download them because he had his fuel gauge and everything.

Speaker 3: 1:14:22

Yep it would read it all, it would be like 4,700. Like, oh, 300 gallons disappeared but all the seals are intact. These guys know how to get in their truck, so they're stopping along the way selling some diesel. They always had US cash on them, always, so they're paying off the army dude. Paying him off for him to say, yeah, I received 5,000 gallons.

Speaker 1: 1:14:39

So the Afghanis are slinging fuel out on their way up and they're paying off the army dude and then paying off the army dude to fucking sell like 100 bucks here, 200 there, why not?

Speaker 3: 1:14:49

everything like that. And he's like dude, easy money you just write off a little bit, you know, like, oh, I had to give, you know he, because he was filling up. He was the one fuel tank for the, for our base, so every vehicle that came in got filled up, every generator that needed, you know our floodlights, everything, yeah. So he was wheeling and dealing, making it look legit, like, oh yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:15:10

So instead of 50 gallons, he's writing 100 gallons off. Uh-huh exactly. Damn I bet you that dude left with a stack.

Speaker 3: 1:15:17

Good for him. I'm not going to say I had to send money home because I couldn't make it through customs because there was so much but there was a lot. But it got to the point where it was like they brought an empty truck in and wanted me to fill it and I was like uh-uh, get him the fuck off this base Too much Like 5G's cash in an envelope and I'm like the Afghanis wanted you to fill it up, wanted me to fill an empty tank.

Speaker 3: 1:15:39

They brought an empty tank in and we're like yo, I was like nah, like I would have done it.

Speaker 1: 1:15:46

Oh, dude, I was so scared. Fuck the government, bro. And everything. I was so scared though you waste so much shit.

Speaker 3: 1:15:51

Well, it was like, okay, I could do a hundred bucks here, a hundred bucks there. How am I going to fucking hide 5,000 in crisp hundreds? Yeah, so you guys weren't in Amtrak.

Speaker 1: 1:15:58

You could hide anything. That's the and that.

Speaker 3: 1:16:04

So I'm. My mom couldn't figure out why I mailed so many jars of peanut butter home. That works like. But it was like. One of those like that was when it was like okay, I'm, this, is like my six weeks, my timeout's over, I'm gonna start going back out and doing shit. Yeah, and they were like okay, cool, you're gonna. You're gonna do uh, puck, pickups. Oh what so? They call them detainees now.

Speaker 1: 1:16:25

So personnel's under personnel, under custody oh my god, dude the acronyms in the military, dude yeah well, and then we got told we couldn't use that anymore because it's insensitive. You can't call them pucks.

Speaker 3: 1:16:36

Yeah, like all right, but so I would, when they would uh capture somebody like an actual, like known uh one, you know, like the, not just somebody they suspected. It was like this is a known target, me and my boy would hit Blackhawks, fly out at night, receive, then take it to a SOTABAD where they'd get interrogated. What?

Speaker 1: 1:16:56

is that like You've got to feel operator as fuck doing that stuff?

Speaker 3: 1:17:00

Yeah, it's one of those like hell, yeah, here I go. I was running just a 9 mil because it was like shit, be quick, hop out, receive any intel that they, that they uh collected, and then take this freaking, hooded, freaking little man, get him in the thing, fly off and same thing you're all in night vision and everything. It's like. This is pretty dope, until the one time we received a guy and his hands were cuffed in the front they're always supposed to be in the back, you know. So we can. And we're sitting and I look back and my boy, pooh, is sitting next to the guy. Is this a nickname, pooh? No, it's not a name, it's P-O-U-G-H. Okay, literally.

Speaker 2: 1:17:37

Yeah, like some Poor guy got it at a boot camp, for sure. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:17:41

But I look back and the guy's got his hand over him like that back and the guy's got his hand over him like that he was trying to try to detain me.

Speaker 1: 1:17:51

yeah, because his hands, he could totally move, is he?

Speaker 3: 1:17:52

flexi cuff or handcuff flexed. Okay, yeah, no handcuffs, it was just zip ties, not even like flexi cups. They were like literally like zip tie loops together, because that's all they had. They were out in the middle of, yeah, uh, a mission and everything, and I look over, I'm like what?

Speaker 3: 1:18:04

the fuck, and this is in the back of a Blackhawk In a Blackhawk. So the crew chief I was turning around talking to the crew chief and he just goes ugh and looked back and it was like, oh shit, my buddy's like trying to like, fight and like and all I have is a nightmare. So I just walked up and fucking buffalo stamped him and he stopped for a second, just enough time, and I was like holy fuck, like that could have gone bad quick, just because his hands, I mean.

Speaker 3: 1:18:36

He was like he was like hands around the neck of dude and he was like you know, because we're in the blackhawks tied, you know the seats, I mean shit, dude. It was like but same thing, you're right, you feel operators fucking like. Oh yeah, I'm hop off the hop off, escort him all the way to the dudes that don't have name patches or ranks on, but Kami's. I'm like, oh man, what do you guys do? What is this job? Yeah, and then you never see the guy again.

Speaker 1: 1:18:58

I've been burning shit for the last four months. What do you guys do?

Speaker 3: 1:19:02

I've moved sandbags and made three different piles. What do you do? You have a beard, exactly, dude, yeah, different piles.

Speaker 2: 1:19:07

What do you do? You have a beard? Yeah, exactly, dude.

Speaker 3: 1:19:08

Yeah, dude comes out part of the military, straight up, like perfectly crisp camis, I'm like. But no rank, not even, doesn't even say us marines on it. Like nothing, I'm like. What is that?

Speaker 1: 1:19:17

how often were you flying? Is that your sole purpose? You weren't even that. Was it the?

Speaker 3: 1:19:21

whole second deployment was just that, really that, and I mean we did a couple of convoys like. It was just kind of like of like you're an extra body, yeah, yeah, yeah, and you're going to move sandbags and dirt because I pissed off my staff sergeant. At least once a day.

Speaker 1: 1:19:32

Did you ever have to burn shit? Were you guys burning shit at that point or no?

Speaker 3: 1:19:34

No, there we had the locals doing it. We did in Iraq.

Speaker 1: 1:19:43

I did on my third deployment, or my Iraq in 08?

Speaker 3: 1:19:46

Yeah, how boring was that. It was ripouts dude. Well, actually that was a good deployment too, because I was in a leadership position at that point. So I was a corporal and I got attached. I was with 12th Marines at the time, so the artillery unit, and they were like yo, we're standing up a truck platoon, You're going to attach to 3-4. And my chief warrant officer, who I worked for in the mobility side, is like they have nobody that is deployed in that truck platoon to include the lieutenants, the staff, sergeants, the sergeants.

Speaker 1: 1:20:13

In 2008?

Speaker 3: 1:20:14

None of them had deployed. They were all 12th Marines like admin number two guys, so they weren't doing? They weren't. They were with the headquarters regiment, so they weren't ripping out with battalions unless battalions needed bodies. And so I was like you know what, and this was like during this was recall time too. Okay, so guys were getting recalled because we're still, you know, so I volunteer and I'm like you know what. Whatever, one more time, let me go get a re-enlistment bonus. I'm right at that, right at that time they pulled.

Speaker 1: 1:20:42

This is going into year. So five, four, okay. So you're re-enlisteding for your second term. I extended.

Speaker 3: 1:20:49

I extended in, uh, extended to do the deployment so I could re-enlist over there. Got it? So, yeah, 2008, okay, eight, nine, let's see when did we get back 2007? Eight, eight, nine, I don't know that that whole country blurs. Yeah, and that was, it wasn't, it wasn't a. There was no like, no gunfights, no, nothing. And I was trying because I was on a mobile. We tried, I tried to find fights anywhere. We could Nothing, nothing. The most we heard was they were celebrating and they shot in the air. It was just running miles Convoy security. We were escorting KBR trucks. We'd go pick up the, uh, the, the, what are they called? The monitors. So the monitors flew into ramadi. We're up at.

Speaker 3: 1:21:34

Hit our other battalion, you were in hit yeah, I was at hit and then our other. The other half of the battalion was split up at hit the etha, so we had two aos during that time because it was so slow. They were kind of demobbing so I demobbed demob in, so I demobbed.

Speaker 1: 1:21:52

Um, hawk, lania, all those like bro you took that was, so we took over. Okay, so hit, we took over. Hit from the army. The we were at the train station. Okay, next to milk lake, right? Yeah, that little fucking shit creek.

Speaker 3: 1:22:00

Oh god, it smells so bad I can't eat hummus anymore because of that. Creek really smells the same to me yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:22:05

It smells like dead rotten bodies.

Speaker 3: 1:22:07

Well, yeah, I mean that's kind of what hummus. It kind of gets me on.

Speaker 1: 1:22:10

So the army had hit. So we were at hit. But there was a base in the city, in the city by the mosque right above the hill too. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:22:19

So we just called them cop one, cop two, cop three, cop four. We didn't even give them names at that point because we were tearing them all down, no shit. But it was like so my whole platoon's job was we had well, okay, so we had this. The guy's a fucking dipshit, he had never deployed, he was a sergeant, he was 3-4's motor team guys and I get a platoon full of boots and I'm like, oh God, this is going to be interesting. I'm the only guy that's deployed. Then I show up, three guys get recalled. One dude I deployed with early on he was a fucking corporal got out after fallujah, so I at least. Okay, hey, we're hawaii guys, we were one, three together. Fuck yeah, I know you, you know me. They didn't want to do anything. The guys all got recalled. They didn't literally like, they wanted to sit on the base and just collect their seven month deployment what do you?

Speaker 1: 1:23:05

how are you guys tearing?

Speaker 3: 1:23:06

down. We were like I mean, I'm talking like straight up, demilitarizing the old bases. Are you guarding shit? No, we were just straight up like I would escort in, like the heavy equipment guys they would have. We'd have like the one of those, the lvs's with heavy equipment and forklifts and bulldozers and everything, and they were just they were ripping hesco barrier walls down.

Speaker 1: 1:23:25

So it was all like it was like comms, everything already pulled out at this point, or you guys, they were slowly they were doing that and then we would come through and tear everything else down.

Speaker 3: 1:23:35

So it was like super logistics. But I was like I was in charge of the platoon and we had gun trucks because all we did was security. I had two mraps, two up armored humvees and an up-armored 7-ton and we would just run it. And I was just trying. I was trying to get these guys and nothing. Nothing Couldn't get them a combat action weapon to save their life.

Speaker 1: 1:23:56

So you weren't even having any fun or nothing. Was it fun like de-milling shit?

Speaker 3: 1:24:00

It was a lot of fun because I saw a whole bunch of different sides of this country. I mean, I went up to Haditha Dam. Haditha was rad. You guys demilled Haditha. That was where the other half of the battalion was. So first half of the deployment we demilled the southern AO, so HIT and all the cops down there, the train station right there by the shit creek, all of it Demobbed it all. Gave it to an army unit that was training the Afghan National Guard or National Forces, whatever they go by. So the Army took over just a little portion of what was left of hit and we pretty much were demobbing everything. Then we rolled up to Haditha and helped them demob Haqqaniyah and all those little cops, they had Dude.

Speaker 3: 1:24:40

We built Haqqaniyah Barwana Sinjik yeah all those we started demobbing all of them, haditha ended up not being as demobbed as we they, because it was like one of those like they say they want to demob and then they build it right back up, like the next unit's, like no, when we got to haditha, you can walk the outside up the dam, because the chow hall was on the top oh see, we were.

Speaker 1: 1:25:05

I never went into the dam so you know the lot that was the big. There was like a motor pool lot below haditha way down way down on the.

Speaker 3: 1:25:14

That was where you crossed over the dam.

Speaker 1: 1:25:17

You had the. You'd go over the dam and then go down like this little road and you'd be in these lots below haditha and then the chow hall. These motherfuckers would make well at first, when we first started going. You can walk up the ramp. So the side of the dam, the concrete like this, the side of the walls.

Speaker 1: 1:25:35

Yeah, you can get up to the because the chow hall was at the. The chow hall was at the very top. Then they some dumbass marine fell off the side and almost died. And then they had. You had to go inside and dude all the way to the top of the dam and then you'd be starving and you eat your chow up there.

Speaker 3: 1:25:52

By the time you walked your ass all the way back down, you'd be fucking hungry again see, that was we got really lucky because they just brought us in k rats, because we were on the road, so much yeah they would just we'd get back on deployment and it'd be in our birthing area we had, and then like the where were you guys staying in Haiti? In the lot down. So in the lot. Yeah, they had. Uh, they had tents and shit down there. No, we had in 08 we had uh, I had like I stayed in a building, I had my own.

Speaker 3: 1:26:18

So you guys are right by on the water then, yeah, so let's see. Here's the the face of the dam. Yeah, we came in from the south, yeah, and then right there, oh, we were like right towards yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:26:28

I never had to go, I never had to go up and over it. Okay, I we came in from the south, yeah. And then, right there, oh see, we crossed over the dam to the other side. I never had to go up and over it.

Speaker 3: 1:26:32

Okay, I know where you guys were, and so, yeah, we were down right at the entrance, so we could just rip in, rip out.

Speaker 1: 1:26:37

Okay, so we would go in and stage there and then we would run like a mission out of there, Gotcha. But we were ripping. Barwana at that point to haditha restart every supplier. Whatever we needed to do eat warm chow and then go out of there and the chow. Haditha was always good man. They always had good shit at haditha well and that was why I like.

Speaker 3: 1:26:54

So that was the best part about that deployment was like I was. So I was, I relieved that sergeant from three work. He got us lost on a deployment and shattered two axles, flooded a vehicle because he just he was inept. And then he panicked, set up a security, oh, and I'm like, oh my god bro, like first off, we haven't even seen a person in two and a half days, like stop freaking out. So we eventually were like yo, I'll run the deployment, I'll run the convoys, you, you stay, you, you you stay in the cop, you know, you, you stay with the lieutenant and that was when it was like it was funny to watch the, the, his, his troops that worked for him in the rear and their loyalties shift, oh for sure, to to platoon daddy who was gonna run them.

Speaker 3: 1:27:35

And I mean we I think we had maybe one day off a week I was like, dude, where do we got to go? Next? Who needs an escort? Like I was trying to get them get them into it.

Speaker 3: 1:27:44

Just something taught them all on all the gun systems and everything was like yo, you're gonna be my gunner until the battalion gunner's like yo, you're rolling out a lot. Let me jump in on that old crusty dude. Yeah, half a lit cigar and all right, he'd hop up in the gun truck and he's like let's go. Oh shit, and he would just roll around with us. But yeah, I just could not, could not find a firefight to save my life.

Speaker 1: 1:28:06

I, I'd say not much was happening in 08. Dude, when we took over HIT from the Army because I was on the lieutenant's vehicle. We were rolling in the middle of the night and we were at the train station, not the base but the train station yeah down like three miles down the road.

Speaker 1: 1:28:24

And so I didn't even know there was a base there for like half the time we were in HIT. That's awesome. And then we end up going to resupply at a fuel station. We pull into a base and that's when I saw we hadn't seen or smelled a woman.

Speaker 1: 1:28:35

Oh yeah, and then we end up rolling in and we're filling up what year was this oh five, oh okay, oh five, oh six, oh, we during oh five and we rolled into oh6 and we had females attached to us too, so we had, because it was a truck platoon so we had female drivers nothing.

Speaker 3: 1:28:52

They were all that. When they split the unit me and I took a handful of three fours dude their motor t guys down south. All females were up at hawk on the uh haditha at the dam like keep them out of here. Yeah, keep them up there. Of course they got in trouble there, that's the psyops freaking eye in the sky saw him sunbathing naked on the top of their fucking connexes or something yeah, see, we didn't like they were good operators like they were all truck drivers yeah one of them was like the, the motor t, uh, the wrecker driver and stuff.

Speaker 3: 1:29:19

Okay, they, I mean they, they held their own. I can't, I can't knock them too much, but they didn't go on maybe a quarter of the missions that my guys did because they, if they didn't have a breakdown or if they didn't have a resupply at one of the cops, they didn't leave the base. So they were there all the time they had. Their rooms were built up. So when we got pulled up there it was like they're living the life.

Speaker 3: 1:29:43

Oh man, I was like what the fuck y'all like? Go out like once a week, and then my guys started getting bored and then the devil's, you know, idle hands. And now, dudes are fucking chicks. I'm like bro.

Speaker 1: 1:29:54

I am a hundred percent anti women in that and in any, yeah, Anything in those environments it's purple dude, there we had, um, we had a guy in our deployment.

Speaker 1: 1:30:04

He was one of the. We had a guy on our deployment. He was one of the. He was like a grunt, but he wasn't I don't know. He kind of was like a floater, like a PRP, like provisional rifle platoon kind of thing. He would just jump in like the, the convoys, but he was hooking up with this chick, this other Marine, and they were in the last vehicle, bro, they would stop in the desert For a quickie, for a quickie, for a quickie do their thing, and then mob to catch back up to the, to the convoy, and he was like telling us every day he was just do, was, had pictures, video, everything. And I'm like you're telling me this is good for the atmosphere, this is this is good for his morale.

Speaker 1: 1:30:40

Yeah, his morale you know and so. But, dude, when we took over from the army, from hit we roll in in the middle of the night and it was really weird because the train station, they had the concrete. You'd go under the bridge and you make that that sharp left, that sharp left, and then you had the the. I don't know if it was still the same, but we had concrete barriers at that point.

Speaker 1: 1:31:02

Oh, yeah, so you do the snake. And then you went down the road and then there was another, I think, security checkpoint.

Speaker 3: 1:31:07

Then you were and then you went down the road and then there was another, I think, security checkpoint.

Speaker 1: 1:31:09

Yeah, it was like the Army's actual checkpoint there. It would go into the compound. And so we roll through and I'm lead, vic, and I'm just like winding through with our vehicles and there's nobody. And I'm like what the fuck is this? Like there's nobody here to check us or whatever. We just roll up. So then we go down there was like a stretch At the at the time it seemed like maybe a couple hundred yards it could have been shorter go to the next checkpoint and there's a tower, another snake barriers, and we roll through that.

Speaker 1: 1:31:32

There's nobody there either. And my lieutenant's like is this weird dude? I'm like I was just thinking that like over the intercom and I'm like what, what's going on? He's like just keep going. So then I, we pull up and there's all these vehicles, humvee, seven tons, everything all lined up right outside, like where the train station. The tracks were on this side, but on the front side, where you would almost walk into the train station. Yeah, all these vehicles are lined up and they're all running. You can see the IR lights on the inside and everything. Dude, the Army knew we were coming to relieve them. We thought we were going to do left seat, right seat, they're going to walk us through. They were just ready to rip out. They're all in their vehicle, staged like rolling. My lieutenant hops out, meets their lieutenant. They talk for a couple of minutes. Does one of these whatever guys were standing out there get in the vehicle?

Speaker 1: 1:32:23

there you go, the whole convoy takes off my lieutenant standing there, then my gunny was out there at that point, A couple other staff and COs and I'm watching my MG's like what the fuck is going on. I'm like this is weird.

Speaker 3: 1:32:33

This doesn't seem right.

Speaker 1: 1:32:35

Climbs back up the truck, plugs back in his comm help and he's like, well, I guess it's ours now. And I'm like, yeah, the Army's like there's no left seat, right seat. They just said good luck, and it's ours now. So we take over the train station. Right, we're just, you know, sitting there and doing our security. We got mortar teams with us, we got a grunt unit, all that stuff. We're there for a little while.

Speaker 1: 1:33:09

And we get a call one day of a resupply from the CH-53s. They're going to come in and drop like chow and water for us. So we get the call. They're like, hey, a couple minutes out, lock up hatches. We everybody bunk, you know, hunkers down, secures everything. And we hear the birds like, as soon as we see them coming, we're locking everything up and they just come right over the top. These motherfuckers first off, drop it. Yep, dude, hey, tactical baby. That pallet was of water was scattered like 200 yards, dude, mres were just blowing up everywhere. The craziest part I opened the hatch and I opened it up and there's this kid staring at me and he's just like standing there staring. I'm like looking at him and I look down one way and I open the hatch of all the way. I looked down the other way.

Speaker 1: 1:33:48

The army never filled the hesco barriers surrounding the train station so when that the birds came in, knocked him straight and it dominoed in the whole thing. The our whole perimeter was empty the whole entire time. We were sitting there. We had no idea. The best america's fighting force yeah, you want to about awkward? We're all just sitting there like Asalaamu Alaikum, good evening, neighbor, just give us a minute. Give us a minute. Tomorrow this is going to like weigh down, yeah, the time out. So it was a shit show. Then we're up like dude all night for days, security filling HESCOs like things, army like even as high and dry, like that. But yeah, that was, that was an interesting time, like this. Literally, this kid like kicks a soccer ball into over the hesco barrier and just the whole thing fell over.

Speaker 1: 1:34:35

We had no idea that's yeah that's they're the best I watched a uh, I watched a recon team get attacked by, get attacked by this pack of dogs and hit. It was one of those things where I was watching.

Speaker 3: 1:34:50

That was the only shots I took in that whole moment. You had dogs there.

Speaker 1: 1:34:55

Trash dogs.

Speaker 1: 1:34:56

Dude when we got to hit, you can tell where every unit was in the city, patrolling at night. Dogs would be lighting up. Oh yeah, within two weeks it was crickets. There was not a single dog barking anywhere. But before the eradication of the shit dogs, I'm sitting one day and I'm watching. There was a train station, there was milk. We called it Milk Lake or whatever. It was just this lake of death. And then it was like a road and then it went up on this hill Because we were there for the elections, the very first election. So that's what our job was. We took over and had to do the polls and dip the fingers and all that to give the Iraqis their freedom and all that bullshit. And so I'm sitting there, yeah, I'm sitting there and I'm watching this recon team.

Speaker 1: 1:35:46

They're all like Tactical as fuck yeah Like they got their. They got their long guns in their packs, of course, and they got you know all this shit.

Speaker 3: 1:35:54

I'm like they're going to go home and look at themselves in the mirror. Yeah, I'm like. Look at these douchebags.

Speaker 1: 1:35:58

Exactly, and I look and there's like this pack of just dogs, like the shit not like little mexico chihuahua dogs like this is dogs, we also fight mountain lions.

Speaker 3: 1:36:10

Yeah, we've been fighting since forever.

Speaker 1: 1:36:14

And so these dogs are on this side of the hill, these these team of recon, and they're all like lined out and I'm watching it. I'm like yo, I like tell my crew and my lieutenant like yo, you guys are gonna see this and we're all watching. And sure shit, dude, this main dog like stands up and is like you can tell he's like sniffing and I'm like it's about to go down, dude, this pack of dogs starts working its way up and as soon as they make eye contact, it was like on, and this recon team was not ready, not ready for it, and these guys just turned and these dogs are just you can hear this and these guys are just running. They got long guns hanging, they got all these packs and shit. They chased this fucking recon team all the way back as far as we could see, just ran out of there. These dogs all come back, tails curled proud of themselves, proud as shit we're like get a boy, we were cheering for the dogs.

Speaker 1: 1:37:06

For sure, our recon team was badass, but yeah, dude, it was hilarious just watching it all unfold I was like, here we go.

Speaker 3: 1:37:13

It's like the simple things you're gonna find such pleasure in, like watching you run away from a fucking, probably rabies infested dog oh, 100.

Speaker 1: 1:37:21

Like you know those things, some of them are wild man. They're so gross everywhere I got. The one of the only fun things I got to do was go on a patrol with a canine unit.

Speaker 3: 1:37:33

Dude, watching those dogs works insane. These ones were shit oh perfect Attached to the AAV guys.

Speaker 1: 1:37:39

Yeah, they were tracks, like we're getting. We're getting. Like what do you guys need a dog for? Well, it was like, hey, you got to go with these engineers. Well, it was like, hey, you gotta go with these engineers. I'm like what the fuck's an engineer like, you know? Like why do I have like smart people, yeah. And so, dude, we got to go out and they had a brody, my old service dog. I named it after this. This dog, it bit the shit out of me in iraq. Actually, the first time I got introduced to this dog, I come out of a we had these bunkers bill. I come out and this guy just showed up and they're like yo bam, this dog humps on command. It humps on command. I'm like, no, it doesn't. They're like, oh, it's badass. The guy's like, yeah, stick your leg out. I'm like you know. And he gives it like this command and it like tries to hunt my leg, but the leash is all wrapped around it. He's like no, no, no hold on.

Speaker 1: 1:38:19

It was like dude, you gotta watch, you gotta watch, it's hilarious. So he like, undoes the leash and he's like, and he does this command in this fucking dog. Dude, I got little bird calves as it is, so it fit like my whole leg in his mouth. I couldn't walk. For two weeks I was limping it like it fucked me up bad.

Speaker 3: 1:38:39

I'm not going to lie, I find pleasure in watching those dog bite videos. Oh for sure, like I hung out with a girl for a little bit. She was a dog trainer Training on bites, and it's like you want to put a suit on. No, no, I want to watch it. Oh, I want to watch it all day. I'll read that dog on all day long. Cop videos cut the dog. I'll watch it all day. I don't care. I don't even care if the guy's in the wrong or the right dude, if I was a king dog yeah, real quick, you're not even gonna hear me warn you.

Speaker 3: 1:39:02

Once stop, please stop, please stop get them like oh watching a dog chew I love watching any dogs work. It's awesome shit. We've gone hog dog and stuff, like we've seen them, the whole different variety of dogs.

Speaker 1: 1:39:16

We had some pretty good dogs in afghan, like at the embassy, when I was there for doing that and uh, we had this one dog. His name was blue, was a pipple, the most beautiful pipple to this day I've ever like. I love this dog. I actually have a picture of it. So the front gates right outside, like masood circle at the embassy, you know to go into the front gate.

Speaker 1: 1:39:36

You have the big holes, yeah well they got the the rope on them so you could pull them back down one night. I'm fucking with this dog, dude. Keep in mind this is us embassy and they had a pit. They had all kinds of dogs bro.

Speaker 3: 1:39:50

That's dope, though it was badass.

Speaker 1: 1:39:52

And we instantly bonded. So I would like every night that dude was on post he would just come find me and just give me his dog. It was literally like having your own pet companion in.

Speaker 3: 1:40:03

Afghan, that'd be pretty fun.

Speaker 1: 1:40:04

That'd be awesome. I'm fucking with this dog at the front gate and I got him all worked up and he's just like going crazy. I'm talking, dude, his head oh yeah, like like a pumpkin. He had like a 20 inch skull on him, and I got that rope, because there were there were the big, thick, like you know, rope to pull the the front gates up and down at the embassy, and I got them all riled up, and but those things have like a, those giant concrete blocks that counterbalance it. Dude, he grabs it and I let go. Dude, this fucking pit bull is. They don't let go, though, but he's doing like that.

Speaker 3: 1:40:37

We're his bodies.

Speaker 1: 1:40:39

And I'm laughing so hard I can't. The doctor is like yo, get him down, dude. This dog is just 20 feet in the air and he's not letting go either I could not, I couldn't even breathe bro. I'm going to be like fuck dude.

Speaker 1: 1:40:53

I'm like I'm sorry he's like you can't hang out with my dog anymore and he's got to unlock the gate because I'm outside of the perimeter, I'm outside of the last gate of the MC and so he's here and trying to undo sit down, dude. I got a call immediately in the shack like get your ass up here. Like they show me this picture. He showed me the security camera and there's this fucking pit bull like 20 feet the air and I'm just bent over laughing.

Speaker 3: 1:41:16

I was like hey can I get a copy of that?

Speaker 1: 1:41:19

oh god, bro, it was one of the funniest moments. I ended up getting fired shortly after that, but yeah, it was. It was one of those moments, dude, with that dog, like I love. I have a picture with me in Afghan with this dog. It went with me everywhere.

Speaker 3: 1:41:31

So were you contracting then? Yeah, that's not nice.

Speaker 1: 1:41:33

Yeah, I was the biggest turd of a contractor ever, bro, I took nothing serious.

Speaker 3: 1:41:39

Well, the problem is everybody thinks contract and then they think, oh, tactical, not always Like 99% of it, aren't? That's so stupid I know a buddy that he's been a. He's been a private contractor. He's gonna retire. He's like 38. He's made well over millions oh, for sure has. He comes back like two weeks a year and goes back. That's nice, oh man, he's. Yeah, he's paid.

Speaker 1: 1:42:01

He's like all he does is fix his equipment, fixes stuff yeah, dude, to be like a generator mechanic or something like that, or to have a mechanical. Oh, and be a contractor if you didn't have a family, bro.

Speaker 3: 1:42:13

Oh yeah, gone well, drone pilot now, because the money's back again you know prior, like 2012, 13, 14, when it was like, oh, you can go over and make like 100 g's.

Speaker 1: 1:42:23

It's like, yeah, that's a lot of money, what I was doing, I think, but what about them?

Speaker 3: 1:42:28

300K contracts.

Speaker 1: 1:42:29

Yeah, where are those, you know?

Speaker 3: 1:42:30

like gone are those, but they're kind of coming back a little. But not I mean, you can make a good living. Most of it's tax-free. That's the nice part.

Speaker 1: 1:42:38

Not though.

Speaker 3: 1:42:39

You have to spend.

Speaker 1: 1:42:41

A certain amount of time over there, right, don't quote me like 280 days a year out of the country. So dudes like yeah, so if you come back and swipe, you have to even like our rotation. We're 105, 105, 35 here, and but you, that's what they tell you. You think it's tax-free? It's not. I had to pay afghan taxes. Um, yeah, dude, I had my work visa, my work afghan visa, because you get it all in there and you're afghan taxes yeah, what is?

Speaker 3: 1:43:05

that like fucking seven rupals. Dude. Your paychecks were fat paychecks, but like you look through them and you're like what?

Speaker 1: 1:43:10

the fuck is this like? Why am I? Because you're doing the math off your hourly and like you're trying to add it all up and back. Then we had like electric time cards, so you'd log in and everything log into. You're like damn like you do the math at work. Because you're sitting on shift at night right waiting for nothing to happen. You add it up and get your paycheck. You're like this is not even close. It's like a kid, like your first paycheck. You're like I'm so rich.

Speaker 3: 1:43:30

Then you get it worked 40 hours and I make eight dollars.

Speaker 1: 1:43:32

So I'll get what are taxes? Yeah, that's what it was like on contract. So you have I don't quote me on how many days you have to be gone, but a lot of guys would fly to like some other countries that didn't weren't falling under the us.

Speaker 3: 1:43:44

There was like a loopholes, oh yeah I'm like by the time vacation, like in between, instead of taking their coming back to the states, you'd go to their wife out and go on a vacation.

Speaker 1: 1:43:52

By the time you do all that, it's like I'm just going home so but I ended up getting fired, so I didn't have to worry about any of that shit but uh is the embassy in cabo, though, is like, is it nice?

Speaker 3: 1:44:01

like is it a nice building or is it kind of an afghani building?

Speaker 1: 1:44:04

no, the embassy was dope. Yeah, well, so they had two embassies. They had the old, original embassy, then they built a new one which was inside the compound as well same compound okay, it was dude that that was one of the shittiest jobs working in afghan on that contract. It sucked like you had security for the embassy.

Speaker 3: 1:44:24

You're like, you're treated as a cockroach yeah, you're, you're a turd, and it's all these dignitaries and staff assistants that they, in their mind, they think, because they went to georgetown, that they're brilliant, but they're like 21 year old kids 22 year old kids I think.

Speaker 1: 1:44:37

So you have the embassy, or had the embassy, I guess, and you had the outer perimeter, but then there was this alleyway that went down the back of the embassy and then there there was all these little mini. They're like big homes in a way, but those were other countries' embassies, like Mongolia.

Speaker 3: 1:44:53

Oh, yeah, not like the prime countries.

Speaker 1: 1:44:56

Yeah, they were just little mini embassies. Well, dude, like they throw ragers. If people knew what tax dollars paid the parties at embassies, that's what you were saying. Fucking, I'm talking wasted Di embassies. Fucking, I'm talking wasted diplomatic people wasted trashed at the embassies. They would fly all night. You're standing on post the fucking inside the barracks like the, the little, the tout or the apartments is just like do they have?

Speaker 3: 1:45:20

because, like they have, like they have the I and I guys there too, so they have the marine house, which which I never, ever remember really seeing them like I wonder if, because that's like an active combat zone, they don't have like the marine house, like I'm sure they did.

Speaker 1: 1:45:33

But, like you know, I mean like it's not like they weren't anywhere where we were.

Speaker 3: 1:45:36

That's what I mean, that's for sure they're not the same, like they're not in their dress blues and they're like in cammy's, like on posts or yeah, they were somewhere but we never dealt with them.

Speaker 1: 1:45:45

And uh, but yeah, dude, they would get fucked up and in country in country then they would. We would like one of the shitty posts. You're on this back little alleyway because there's all afghani military and stuff. So we had to watch those dudes. Of course there'd be like these, these three or four drunk ambassadors, staff, assistants, whatever they were young women trashed and theseking to be kidnapped.

Speaker 1: 1:46:09

Dude, the little post that they'd make you sit in, it was tiny, oh yeah, just a shack. It had a fridge and it was just a shack with a little table and a green notebook for your notes. But it looked down the wall, down this alleyway, and then we had another guy at the other end on another post. So we, we looked, we can monitor everything that's going on the back side of the embassy, right, these women would be so trashed from partying be two or three o'clock in the morning they come stumbling up to the shack because that was the only way out, was the shortcut, and I'd be like ladies, you, you probably shouldn't walk down this alleyway, like look, and the steps were like they'll steal contractor steps, so you just wait, they would just fall down them every time. So you're down there helping them and they would just wobble their way down into the dark, into these alleys and into Afghan, and I would.

Speaker 3: 1:47:00

We'd be like what the we'd be calling it like US, or they weren't all.

Speaker 1: 1:47:04

They were going to other US so they were just, they had all autopilot heading wherever they just wanted to go. Party at another embassy, jesus Dude. We'd be standing in the front gate because my buddies were canines and I'd be out there chilling with them, like on your time off. Some chick would just come running in with her little iPod, pull out her ID and I'm like you're going to end up on Al Jazeera getting your head cut off with a spoon and some kid doing it.

Speaker 3: 1:47:32

Dude, that's so weird, like that level of like complacency.

Speaker 1: 1:47:35

And here we are. That's what.

Speaker 3: 1:47:36

I'm saying, like I'm over here, like okay, let's, do we got visual? Do we got a flyover? Bro, they're so clueless, you, because they haven't had to. They think that the embassy is like safe, this is perfect. Yeah, it's probably dangerous. They haven't seen anything. It's a different world.

Speaker 1: 1:47:54

I've never experienced anything like that. We were living in Karzai's. He had these generals and they built. They were called villas but they were almost like apartments but they were really tall and straight up. We lived in those and it was us. I believe the cia, then x at the time, or whatever blackwater ended up changing their name to academy yeah, it was academy, then it went to something else or they change it yeah or before academy.

Speaker 3: 1:48:22

It was like a one-letter word or whatever, so it was black. And then what's his last name? V, maybe it was V or X or something.

Speaker 1: 1:48:29

So it was us three in this compound with Gurkhas. Dude, those are some bad motherfuckers.

Speaker 3: 1:48:36

They weren't dude.

Speaker 1: 1:48:37

No, again, we did not get the top tier Gurkhas. You want to hear about Gurkhas, bro? Okay, let's get into Gurkhas. The history of a Gurkha.

Speaker 3: 1:48:48

Fascinating Warriors 100%.

Speaker 1: 1:48:51

Cool shit, lobbing heads off. They got this cool knife. They guard the Queen of England, blah, blah, blah. So when I'm doing this research on Gurkhas, I'm like, oh, I'm going to be here with all these warriors, warriors, stone cold killers, nepal warriors, or wherever these dudes are from, paul warriors or wherever these dudes are from, the high mountain apes no dude, this busload shows up of like these farmers with beer bellies and shit and they have no clue what they're doing. We have to teach them everything.

Speaker 1: 1:49:17

These dudes were so unsanitary we had to share like community bathrooms with them. They would be in there blowing snot everywhere, leaving shower babies all over the place, bro, and they would just they were. It was the most unsanitary conditions I've ever lived with the Gurkhas. We all had dysentery because of these dudes. I just I would used to call Brent on the phone like, please, this shouldn't be anything. I'm crying because I lost. I lost like 20 pounds in 15 days over there dudes are, you could piss through, you could shit through a screen door dude, everybody was just throwing, because of the gurkhas, snot everywhere because they would get off before us. We'd have to debrief and also so they would run straight to the showers and by the time we got in there, bro it was. I've never seen so much semen and snot everywhere from the, so these weren't like tier one like the tier two the embassy was scraping bro and these dudes are like doing our watch.

Speaker 1: 1:50:19

We catch them sleeping everywhere. We would just have to give them. I got stuck, I got in trouble. So they made me be a driver for the diggers. She has docked the story and, uh, I love that guy so I load up. We're in like these. So they made me be a driver for the Gurkhas. You should ask Doc this story.

Speaker 3: 1:50:29

Oh Jesus, I love that guy.

Speaker 1: 1:50:30

So I load up. We're in like these Mad Max buses and I got stuck and they load up like 50 Gurkhas on the bench seats in the back of this thing and I was having a bad day, dude, and I brake checked these guys and you could hear them just stacking. You could hear all the moans and the groans and shit and I was in trouble. So I was already pissed off and we kept pulling in the embassy and I'm fucking like around them, really throwing them a bit Slamming into the concrete barriers.

Speaker 3: 1:51:04

Was Doc a contract there?

Speaker 1: 1:51:05

Dude, that's where Doc and I met. No, I was on contract and these guys get out. They're like no more tribe, no more tribe. They all complained on me and I got more trouble. Yeah, dude, I was so sick and like I got, it was horrible. That was horrible living conditions. And then I ended up moving out to the villas because I got a bunch of trouble and they shipped me out to the villas to get away from the kirkus because I was like dude, kirkus were like my like oh, I hated kirkus man. Like they just. These guys sucked bro, like they just. And then we get like a log trainer come in, we get resupplied in the little compound. They're like locusts. I'm like, oh, yeah, they're just gonna fuck, yep.

Speaker 1: 1:51:41

So that was my experience with kirkus. There were some cool ones there and I got to get to know, but I'd say 90 percent of them were like these old farm dudes and dads, yeah, three years, and then like they'll have dad bods and didn't even know anything because, like well, they know, they were straight farmers.

Speaker 1: 1:51:55

They hadn't. They didn't even know how to use like weapons. We had to train them on how to use basic firearm skills, and so that's why I was like this sucks, yeah, because you read up and we're gonna be getting these gurkhas and you got these warriors.

Speaker 3: 1:52:06

So, like, there's this dude that I followed on. I followed him on instagram for a long time but he was a gurkha and then went to actual british special forces, okay, became like an actual legit operator um, not a gurkha attached to and then got out, retired and then decided that he wanted to go climb all the tallest mountains in the whole wide world. Okay, and so like watching him, it's like, dude, that you know the same thing. You're like fucking gurgle, that dude's a warrior, that guy's a killer, blah, blah. And then you hear that you're like, oh, it's kind of disappointing, yeah it was.

Speaker 1: 1:52:36

It was the old bait and switch. Damn, I mean, he's usually like losing. I closed one guy in the gate one night. You know, those gates at the embassy are giant and they're when they're going, they Well, I would just like boom, boom. So the gate would just and like, and so it was like a game. They would look and see who was running the gate. I'd be like you ready. They'd be like you know. So they're like diving through the gate because you're bored as shit.

Speaker 3: 1:52:58

Like what else are you doing in Africa? What else do you have to do?

Speaker 1: 1:53:00

You're not patrolling, you're not really quick and dude the gate like crushes his pack and like half his back and he's like it's like three in the morning they're doing a shift.

Speaker 2: 1:53:14

He's like screaming. I'm like trying to open the gate really fast, it's like my bad, I'm bad.

Speaker 1: 1:53:15

Hitting close, yeah, like gave him some candy and shit. It was like oh, shut the fuck up, so wait.

Speaker 3: 1:53:18

So what were they there to do? Security or just? They were doing all wanted to be involved.

Speaker 1: 1:53:24

They were kind of security. We were all outer, perimeter and mobile everything and they were like the ones that were like in the gates and, um, all the little doors and all that shit, internal, like they would just open it for people, I guess.

Speaker 3: 1:53:38

But yeah, dude, it sucked man like I wonder how much they were getting paid enough compared to like you guys, because like exchange rates got to be something different for like.

Speaker 2: 1:53:47

Oh, these dudes are like oh, these, you know what I mean. Like oh yeah, cool, these dudes are banking.

Speaker 3: 1:53:49

They're going to come over for like six weeks. We're going to give them $40.

Speaker 1: 1:53:52

They're coming from some village in Nepal and they're in Afghan right now $40, and they're good for the year, mm-hmm For sure.

Speaker 3: 1:53:58

They didn't. Yeah, I was. I mean, I don't, I was, I got. It is crazy, though, like their, their hearts have, like, they're like, their hearts are bigger because, so, because they grew up in the high elevation, their hearts pump harder and that's why they're able to like sherpa, all these mountains and everything, because it's like they're acclimatized to that low oxygen. So when you bring them down lower to sea level, they get even like. That's why their whole history is like they couldn't, they wouldn't quit because they're not having a, their heart wasn't having to pump it out to work. Yeah, and like their, their chambers have like, like their, their, their hearts are bigger than, like, you know, the average person's, like a fist or something like that. Yeah, theirs is like bigger.

Speaker 1: 1:54:42

Oh shit yeah again.

Speaker 3: 1:54:43

That was my deep dive down because of this dude's mountain climbing story. I was like let's learn about the nepali freaking sherpas, yeah let's go deep dive that.

Speaker 1: 1:54:51

For a while I was super excited to work with like this other country, these warriors and yeah, no, it didn't didn't work like that at all.

Speaker 3: 1:54:58

It's a bummer. I met one and he was attached to. It was saber, it was a. It was pretty much the uk's, or no, it was germany, germany or uk. It was their blackwater and they had well, they had a german dude, a jew and a gurka.

Speaker 3: 1:55:12

It was like a bad joke, yeah, but they were like yeah this big giant german guy and then this dude who was a krav maga fighter, okay, and then this little like five foot one, and I'm like they're little people, who's this guy? And they're like that's a killer. And I'm like, no, this won't hit too. They were, they were in the, they were on hit with us and they would just come and go as they pleased. We would fix their vehicles because they were running just like up armored, freaking toyotas, yeah, and they would come in to like, bring us like steak and lobsters if we fix their vehicles. Because I had the mechanics, but they were always like this little guy, he's a killer, don't even look him in the eyes, kind of thing. I'm like, no, no way. And they're like I'm scared of him. And I'm like, bro, you are 6'6 and German and you're scared of this little 5'1?

Speaker 3: 1:55:58

Like okay, it could have been blowing smoke up my ass too but the reputation in the history is like these dudes are crazy.

Speaker 1: 1:56:07

We had a couple. There were guys that were in charge, were legit and I ended up becoming friends with them. I actually have one of their knives. A guy gifted me one of their traditional Gurkha knives. I can't remember the name of it, but it's shaped, it's got a bow to it. But yeah, that was a wild time, but they were probably. Everybody was sick. Everyone was sick that's the worst.

Speaker 3: 1:56:26

I think the only thing, the only bad thing I got was like some weird like foot fungus from whatever the water is, the showers, oh, like the crud foot. I've still got it like it's like probably never gonna go away. Yeah, it's just one of those like well, yay, it's here. I'm pretty sure it was actually when we stepped into the hit puddle, like in in that creek, it flooded once. We had to walk across it. No way, dude, it's probably that Dude, anybody that's been to hit knows exactly that smell.

Speaker 1: 1:56:54

Yes, it was. I thought it was just they just dumped dead bodies in it. Was it like milky white when you were there?

Speaker 3: 1:57:01

It would depend. So it would be like creamish and then it would go like dark, like he was like oh, everybody dumped their shit, because all it was with their shit creek, it was their irrigation and runoff and probably dead carcasses of whatever they ate. It's just who knows the diseases that were living in that creek smell so bad it's.

Speaker 3: 1:57:20

Again. I can't eat hummus because of it. Like it's really something with that. I don't know if it was like sometime when we drove through it, but it like that garlicky, hot shit thing and like some like store-bought crappy hummus I can do just fine because it really doesn't have much smell, but like if you go to like an actual, like restaurant and turn on these real traditional hummus. That's weird. I get it and I was like no thanks, like that was a weird one.

Speaker 3: 1:57:47

No, I could probably force myself to do it, but it was like the first time I did it. It was like I know right where I'm at right now.

Speaker 1: 1:57:53

Really, yeah, super weird, that's interesting.

Speaker 3: 1:57:55

And it was that train station Because we would drive by it. We would either go if we weren't going to the train station, we'd go through town, go up to that mosque, to the cop on the through town, or we'd take a right, go out that road for like 25 miles and we had another cop out there at a school. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was I was I zipped around there? Like I said, I was trying to get those guys into a firefight any way I could what main road was that?

Speaker 1: 1:58:19

was that like bronze?

Speaker 3: 1:58:20

yeah, bronze, yeah. Bronze and gold were my two. No, not gold. Bronze, uranium, no. What was the? What was the main one that went to? I think it was just bronze. Bronze went from ramadi to haditha. I think that was bronze, and then I don't even know I can't even remember all the roads.

Speaker 3: 1:58:47

I know, everybody knows, route Bronze, Because that was like when we would go to Bagram, we'd go to not Bagram but Al-Asad, al-asad, bro, anytime I'd be like, oh, we got to go to Haditha. I'd be like, grab your swim shorts, boys, we're going Get some stock up Yep Get some chow Go to the swimming pool Dude they had a basket of robins there. Yeah, they did everything. Everything.

Speaker 1: 1:59:10

We'd go back to resupply there. We weren't allowed. Did you guys stay at Ten City?

Speaker 3: 1:59:15

So we had our own little like motor pool up. So it was like an old, abandoned. It was an air wing Like an air Okay, like a, not like a full enclosed one, but it was just so we had when we, when we finally were like ripping out, they gave us rooms in where rct5 and like all like in the main part of the base we had like little like uh, five man, like little kwanzaa, hut things, but our all our gear when we, when we'd come in, it would be like one we'd park at the chow hall. One person sat in the truck with all the weapons and then somebody would bring them chow. It was all of them. Who's drawing shorts draw. So it was like we never really like stayed, but we would just roll around the whole base Anywhere we wanted to go. All right, we're going to the pool, cool, who doesn't want to swim?

Speaker 3: 1:59:59

Oh, I don't want to swim Cool, you carl's jr yeah, burger king, or burger king, not carl's jr burger king, baskin robbins. What was that coffee the? They didn't have green, green bean coffee, I mean that was there, that was pre-us yeah, yeah, so we were staying in tent city over by flight city by the flight line, not flight city.

Speaker 3: 2:00:22

By the flight line she was way out there, and so we would steal a bus, those little those little buses the one that, for some reason, they all said, wagner loves cock on every one of them, like every bus that was carved in somewhere, dude we uh, yeah, we would.

Speaker 1: 2:00:37

That's where, because we would have any of our vehicle maintenance.

Speaker 1: 2:00:41

We were over by the flight line right and that's when I found out that the army had um a supply lot over there and they had those black fleeces, all the bears and I bear ones, yeah, and I cut a hole in the army in the fence one night and I went in there and they had all of them labeled and I just started hawking larges, extra larges and two extra large over the fence because we couldn't get through the hole we cut. So we're throwing them because my buddies blew his engine on his track and so we were over there and so we stock them. We filled everything in there and then we ran, we ran. We were the only. Everybody was asking like where we got them.

Speaker 1: 2:01:14

But then we had the little tool, you know, the little safety wire pliers oh yeah that lock and then he has a little thing you pull in it so we sealed back up the gate so whenever we need anything we just go back and reopen it and we would just leave with staff would be like yo bam, give me one week, but like, what's your size? I'm taking size orders, but yeah, dude, al-assad, that's when that base is huge too you don't realize it's like 14 minutes just to get.

Speaker 3: 2:01:37

Once you go through the first checkpoint and then you got like 14 minutes before you get to another check, what's like didn't.

Speaker 1: 2:01:43

They didn't have any checkpoints when we were there it was just just there was. Just they would lay Abrams tank block in the road and then they just had speed bumps and that's what it looked like we just slow you.

Speaker 3: 2:01:52

Oh yeah, so we would. So there was main side. They were a little bit more worn down by that.

Speaker 1: 2:01:56

Yeah, there was main side Al-Assad. That's where the Burger King Pizza. Hut the PX and all that shit was there. We were fucking all over by the flight line on the other side. So mongolian grill yeah, they had a mongolian grill there. Dude, we used to go to the chow hall with a grenade box. My crewman, I'd make him carry this grenade box and they had the hula bars those oh yeah, the freaking apple, cinnamon, hula bars and stuff.

Speaker 1: 2:02:20

They're delicious we would stock that up with hula bars, brown sugar, pop tarts and rip it. So every time we go back we would just carry a grenade box to the chow hall. And then one day there's the crusty, like colonel or whatever, standing out there like knife-handed people tried to yell at me one day.

Speaker 3: 2:02:36

I was like fuck off, dude, like I've had a hot chow we got constantly because we'd go in there and like, if we didn't have a way, like everybody's hungry. We only got a half hour, yep every. All right, take your rifles in and like constantly. Like who the fuck are these dirty motherfuckers? I mean, I'm like you know they're in clean, they have laundry, and I mean just dirty camis. My hair is probably as long as it is right now. We had to wear gators because we were shaving.

Speaker 3: 2:03:01

That was the big one and they'd be like, and we'd be in like frog suits and like the like the, the fire retardant stuff yeah it's like why? Aren't you wearing all your gear? You don't have name tags on your frog gear. It's like it's because it's on my flat jack. You fucking poke you know, but same thing. We go through and be like all right, everybody gets a handful of something. So like you're on honey buns, you're on freaking peanut butter.

Speaker 1: 2:03:22

Oh, it is those packs of peanut butter had to Otis Spunkmeyer blueberry muffins, the muffins, and then then the flat cinnamon rolls we had to you. Just, I mean you know when you're coming back that's it, and it's like that's a morale booster. I was just. You want to talk about morale, dude, when you get back to your vehicle and you know you're leaving base and you got. You got a case of cinnamon buns and you get snacks, snacks. I don't care, send me off on a fucking suicide mission.

Speaker 1: 2:03:49

I got a blueberry Otis Spunkmeyer muffin.

Speaker 3: 2:03:51

It's amazing how good the the the smallest things. Yeah, change the whole day. It could be the worst convoy ever. Like fuck, we had three breakdowns, but I got a honey bun.

Speaker 1: 2:04:02

Mm-hmm, it's a good day. Oh, Vic's down. Everybody should start opening up wrappers.

Speaker 3: 2:04:08

He's hearing the wrappers in the back. Going on the radio Is that static. No, I'm like eating a honey bun on the radio. Eight half your supply. Get back to Haditha Before we made it out.

Speaker 1: 2:04:17

Yeah, dude, do you remember leaving from like Haditha? Okay, so this is funny that you know this. So, going from like Haditha back to al-assad, that you were in the middle of nowhere, driving forever, this is a crazy story. I fell asleep and we were the rear vic. It was me and my and my crewman my lieutenant had already gone back, so it was just us two. So we took, we took rear vic. We're in a convoy, something goes down and we're in the middle and it's that stretch where, like, you would just see like a random kid walking and you're like the fuck's. It's that stretch where you would just see a random kid walking and you're like what the fuck is this kid doing out here? No civilization. For hours, something happens. I don't know if it was a false IED, maybe that's what it was. We fall asleep. I was like yo bring me with my crew man. I was like hey, you got it, I'm taking a nap.

Speaker 3: 2:05:11

I'm sitting on the top of my vehicle in the hatch. Just oh, you guys were on like a, like a, like a halt in it yeah, completely like he's driving.

Speaker 1: 2:05:13

You're just like no good night. Oh, I fell asleep all the time driving like middle of the night, I'm swerving off roads never.

Speaker 1: 2:05:17

And uh, I gotta start there anyways. I have the hatch open. You know the amtrak, it's like a big bowl for the hatch, so you can just get inside of it, you get your flack, just right. It props you up and you can fall asleep. Sun's out, dude, we haven't slept in forever. I'm out, dude, all of a sudden I'm, I go. There's no one around, they left gone. I look over my crewman. Actually, it would have been right here. I look at him. He's assed out, break, break, fit. He wakes up. I'm like fucking go. Like that's the first thing. I say Go. He's looking. He's like what happened? I'm like go. And he just unlocks it. Dude, we're ripping through gears. Fourth gear, fifth gear, lockout, whatever Amtrak has. I don't remember but screaming, and it's not like I could be on the radio, like hey where are you, hey? Where'd you guys go, oh?

Speaker 1: 2:06:07

boy.

Speaker 3: 2:06:08

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:06:09

I'm like we're done, yeah, we're done, dude, we're flying. I'm talking like 15 minutes of wide open, pinned, and then the road kind of wide.

Speaker 3: 2:06:20

Yeah, because it went through into the desert on the left.

Speaker 1: 2:06:22

Yes, so we see where all the track know when the tracks turn make the leave the rubber on the road like go, go, go, go, drift the corner and we drive for like another five minutes better. We're like 20 minutes out, dude, pat flying. I look through the day and I can see the, the, the tracks, the vehicles going and, dude, we just get right back in the line, bro, never said a word, never said.

Speaker 1: 2:06:50

You guys wouldn't even have been in trouble technically I mean, some dude could just walked up and yeah, he's like dude look at these guys looking for a cock to fly out of the air.

Speaker 3: 2:07:01

Yeah, imagine this is mine.

Speaker 1: 2:07:03

Now I haven't now, now we're the captain. Now, yeah, bro, that was. That was one of those like oh shit moments where you wake up and your convoy's gone and we're sitting there like I'm like oh, you're, we're done.

Speaker 3: 2:07:14

Real quick, we are done.

Speaker 1: 2:07:16

That's dude, that's so wild, that was going back from like haditha bar one drive, though that's the thing like you don't really think about. It's like it's not even just that it's a long drive. It's like you're stopping. You're stopping every 20 minutes for 30 to 40 minutes. There's an ied in the run.

Speaker 3: 2:07:31

You're like there's no fucking ied, just go. We haven't had an ied. All fucking deploy, and then they got away for eod.

Speaker 1: 2:07:35

Oh, eod's backed up.

Speaker 3: 2:07:37

That shit sucked it's not, it's literally the mre I threw out yesterday. Yeah shit, in that gatorade bottle three weeks ago. It's the same one. Notice it's brown yeah, like god, yeah that was.

Speaker 1: 2:07:47

That was a scary moment, yeah, that especially in 05.

Speaker 3: 2:07:51

Yeah, I could see that okay. Yeah, like I'm thinking, I'm trying to imagine, in 08 I'm like I would have probably just like bought a house there or something no like we had to. Like we had to uh on our seven tons for like that last one when I, when I attached up to the, the uh haditha dam I was now no longer the lead dog anymore because there were staff sergeants Still had never deployed, but it was like, whatever, this is their show. So I'll be the good NCO, become lead gunner or the front gun truck commander, anything like that.

Speaker 3: 2:08:26

So they were really heavy into like running seven tons. I didn't run seven times. I was like worst straight security down south. Now they were doing like actual, like truck platoon stuff and it was like, okay, we got the mine sweepers on the front of these vehicles, fuck those things. But you want to see kids get out of the way and give them a little love tap if they're moving too slow. Oh yeah, in the road, like we're going like four miles an hour and this guy's walking in the middle of the road, I'm like yo hit him with the fucking minesweeper, hit him and then flow, shift it sideways, hit him, sits on it, fucking fling him side, fling people off those things are intimidating as they are, like if you didn't know what it was.

Speaker 3: 2:09:02

Yeah, if you're looking at it you're like what the fuck? Because we have them all lit up too. They all had lights on the front, like, oh yo, you see it coming at you. You're like that's mean. Looking like whatever is coming at me is scary, yeah, but dude again, no, no anything's. They got so bored to the point to where the gunners would like if a vehicle didn't get off the road. They were just shooting pin flares out of just shit and flares, dude.

Speaker 1: 2:09:23

I shot probably a thousand flaring players. I shot pen flaring players.

Speaker 3: 2:09:26

It's not your money, give them a warning.

Speaker 1: 2:09:30

Oh shit, Dude, we had clusters. Oh yeah, Big pop clusters. You'd shatter a windshield if you hit a car over those.

Speaker 3: 2:09:37

But that was it. That was the whole Geneva Convention. I was like you've got to give them a warning, had to flag, so it'd be like you'd see our gunner that like okay, he'd have his pen flaring. He'd be like, yeah, game warning.

Speaker 1: 2:09:48

That was crazy, the rules of engagement, how everything changed from military age. Male with a shovel on a dirt bike, kill on sight and then it goes to wave a flag at him, shoot a pen flare. Shoot a pen, flare, shoot a cluster. Three warning shots into the ground, three into the grill Then into the drivers, then you can go to windshield.

Speaker 3: 2:10:12

By that time it's like they're here.

Speaker 1: 2:10:13

And you expect the Marine to do that in a checkpoint. Yeah, like three or four snake barriers.

Speaker 3: 2:10:20

And they're closing 300 yards. In what eight seconds?

Speaker 3: 2:10:25

But you're not getting that fast and so we started skipping. It's like flag somebody else flares. So like if we had two guys, like unless you're really gunner, like if we were on a stop or like a checkpoint, it was like all right, one guy would. As soon as a vehicle came on the corner, he flagged right away, real quick, and then if they kept, like within like seconds, it's like pen flares don't even care about the clusters and then just start shooting engine blocks. Because it's like pen flares Don't even care about the clusters and then just start shooting engine blocks. Because it's like I'm not going to let you guys get hurt over stupid rules.

Speaker 1: 2:10:49

They're just trying to get dudes killed over there. A hundred percent. You're in a war zone and you want me to wear even a flag.

Speaker 3: 2:10:55

That's it. Some dude that can't even read, yeah Well. And the other one is like oh, we had warning signs, can't read. And there's 50 different dialects over here.

Speaker 1: 2:11:10

Nothing like like I'm pretty sure we probably offended his mother with oh for sure. Well, dude, we sent a couple of our guys um, one of my boys to this day, dude. He goes and spends like months in this arabic class and we get over there and he goes to our socket and they're like looking at him. It was a completely different dialect and it was like what are we doing? And then they have these signs. They're like nobody's stopping this motherfucker doesn't know what he can't read they literally the flag is probably more efficient.

Speaker 1: 2:11:34

Yeah, like they're just staring at us. You distract them for a minute. God bro, the rules of engagement were wild over there and they really they.

Speaker 3: 2:11:41

You're right, they were, they were a hindrance to where it's like I'm shocked more people didn't get. Oh for sure, because of those rules. Like for sure I understand. Like, okay, you're trying to. You know you don't want collateral damage and you don't want the wild west again like that was. You know that was probably bad publicity, but it's like, first off, we shouldn't have been there anyways. But what are your thoughts on that? I'm okay with afghanistan, I'm not okay with iraq. So you?

Speaker 1: 2:12:07

why? What's the difference? Just because?

Speaker 3: 2:12:11

the actual, like terrorism cells that were actually confirmed in like the 90s in afghanistan. I'm good with that, like I'm. I'm all right with us going in and fucking them up as like a retaliation. I'm good with that. Iraq I never could get. I was going to cash those paychecks but it was one of those, like you know, who, who? Who are the? Who are we fighting? Who are the? You know why are we here?

Speaker 1: 2:12:34

why are we?

Speaker 3: 2:12:35

yeah, why did we just destabilize a country just to fuck it up even worse and like the, I don't know. I just I was never. I just I couldn't wrap my head around iraq. I understand that there were threats there there's threats fucking everywhere you go, but I just well, I mean invade somebody else's country, that's it like I, I just couldn't do it.

Speaker 3: 2:12:54

Like iraq never sat well with me, afghanistan I can justify in my okay, you know I mean, but again you're I. I said it the day we pulled, or like probably months before we pulled out of afghanistan. Like well, to a buddy I said nobody will ever win Afghanistan, you will never take that country. Fuck, no, the Russians couldn't do it, we couldn't do it. Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan. Nobody can take that country. That is their dirt. Their rooted.

Speaker 3: 2:13:18

Yeah, they know the mountains. The best we can do is hope to stay alive and give them a good fight. But yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:13:27

It's interesting, man. I've talked to a lot of veterans about yeah, I never liked. Iraq. Some guys are. They're set that we were there making a difference.

Speaker 3: 2:13:37

Find me the weapons of mass destruction. That's what I'm saying. That's I never See.

Speaker 1: 2:13:48

But again, I'm not privy to all that either I was.

Speaker 3: 2:13:49

you know, know me, ape me, do this kind of, yeah, we're just so.

Speaker 1: 2:13:50

It was true, we're told you know, but again, but we did a lot of good. Yes, you know, there was a lot of good that happened in iraq, you know, as far as helping the communities and hearts and minds and all that bullshit. But yeah, man, like, looking at like, at this stage of my life, it would be tough for me, like if I had a son, it would be tough for me to support him joining the military.

Speaker 3: 2:14:07

Oh yeah I've told, I've told countless of like my parents friends that they have like high school age kids. They're just graduating. They're like, hey, he's thinking about joining the military. Will you talk to him? I'm like sure, absolutely, you know, I'd love to talk to him.

Speaker 1: 2:14:18

Join the coast guard but it's so hard, dude, being a marine I know I'm so torn because I'm proud when I hear people are like, hey, I'm joining the Marines.

Speaker 3: 2:14:27

I'm like that's badass. Yeah, good for you. What are you doing? What job? I'm going to the infantry. Please don't do that. Yeah, well, I don't know, maybe it might be a little bit different now.

Speaker 1: 2:14:37

But that's where I'm so torn and it's so iffy because even if it was, let's say this ukraine shit pops off. Or russia pops off, right, north korea, like what for? For what right? Like for like I'm gonna go send my son to go fighting trenches that's not our fight, that that one.

Speaker 3: 2:15:01

I would never support any of our troops going to.

Speaker 1: 2:15:03

You know, but I understand, but find me a war that's been justified like legitimately. We know 9-11 was us. I'm gonna say I'm a tin hatter on that right. We could blame it on whoever we want, I'm still trying to believe it wasn't.

Speaker 3: 2:15:18

But I mean, you were, you were in, I, you were in new york when that happened. Yeah, I remember waking up for school, I was in class and seeing the videos and like I was like waking up that morning to go to school. Yeah, when tower one got hit, my mom woke me up and it was like why, the first off woman, I have four hours till school, nice try and she's, and then tower two and it's like something's fucking changed.

Speaker 1: 2:15:43

But you're right, a lot of it doesn't add up but it was a good way to get us like, bring the country together and rah, rah and I'll say dude g-dub.

Speaker 3: 2:15:49

That was probably the best that we're gonna get you we're gonna find you and we're gonna get you.

Speaker 1: 2:15:53

It's like yeah, I mean, this country had, the whole country had goosebumps, and that's where all of us were like sign me up.

Speaker 3: 2:15:59

That was, oh a thousand the, the patriot patriotism level was yes, and that was what it was like. I knew I was gonna join the military after I was not gonna go to college. I didn't necessarily know it was gonna be the marines. But you know, if I again, I'll still tell people join the coast guard 100 or the air force, go to the air force. Join the coast guard hell, join space force.

Speaker 1: 2:16:17

Yeah, you might get bullied a little bit but but you're gonna have a really good quality of life after god.

Speaker 3: 2:16:22

You're not a marine, I know, and that's the thing is like I there are some like I've met a few like my uh, one of my my uh, really good childhood friends is a wrestling coach, yeah. So then you see some of the apes that he trains and you're like, oh, that one's joining the marines. I'm like that checks out. Yeah, he'll do fine, yeah, but I don't know it's just weird dude.

Speaker 1: 2:16:41

It doesn't even matter who you are like. You talk to these navy seals and green berets. They're like oh, I'm Berets, and they're like oh, I'm so cool and you're like. So tell me the story how you were going to join the Marine Corps.

Speaker 3: 2:16:48

Yeah, Just to piss them off a little bit, All of them bro.

Speaker 1: 2:16:52

I don't care what title you have. You're not a Marine.

Speaker 3: 2:16:54

At the end of the day, the funny thing is they all have great stories about how like and you know I mean, you hear all these options it's like you're doing the most with less and, whether or not like you're okay, we're not tier one guys, we're not super cool, fucking just marina just just dudes dirtiest minds cleanest.

Speaker 1: 2:17:18

What was the ronald? Reagan's cleanest bodies or uniforms or something like that. Yeah, I mean, they're like it's. That's the tough part. It's you knowing and been through what we do and what we've done, the customs, the courtesies, the traditions. That's what separates the Marine Corps from any other branch. I don't care how prideful you are in any branch, you will never have the honor, the traditions, everything that the Marine Corps just beats into you and it's so bad.

Speaker 3: 2:17:47

You're going to learn to love it and we're going to make sure you love a hundred percent and you don't have a choice.

Speaker 1: 2:17:51

Like when I got out of the Marine Corps I hated the Marine Corps, I wanted nothing to do with it. But then like, obviously I've done my time back into it, whatever. But it's like did brett will even be like god. Like nobody compares to marines, like when it comes to brotherhood, camaraderie, traditions, like and you know it's just you can tell there's so much of a difference that that's instilled in us. I hope it's still like this in the marine corps and that's what every branch has. This whatever right, like cool, but at the end of the day, like the traditions of the marine corps run so deep no other branch can touch that, yeah there's.

Speaker 3: 2:18:30

I mean I went to the the dav the disabled american veteran like our local chap. So a guy that in my group, my therapy group, was like hey, marine corps birthday, what are you doing for the birthday ball? I was like nothing, probably. He's like we're having a dinner, come to dinner. He's like all right, cool, show up. There's. There was two Korean Marines, korean War Marines. That's dope Bro, old, I mean like 1930-somethings on their jackets they're like 50-somethings. I was like dude, these are some old-timers.

Speaker 3: 2:18:58

But it was like okay, we're all. All of us have been out, right. I was shocked. I wasn't the youngest. I wasn't the youngest by one year. I wasn't the youngest.

Speaker 3: 2:19:05

I was 40 years old and I was going to have to almost be the youngest to eat cake and I was like never have I had to do that. But there was a guy younger but it was like the same thing, it's like the tradition, it's like, oh man, that dude in his mind is still right there. You know, like that fucking, what is it? Something like that.

Speaker 3: 2:19:21

58, 52, something like that a long time ago and this guy still in his mind can remember the freaking, the Halls of Montezuma, everything. They sing it all the way through and it's like, oh, the whole Marine Corps hymn, the whole hymn, yep, and they knew it all, everything it's like oh man, my grandma used to call me after I joined the Marine Corps.

Speaker 1: 2:19:42

she would call me on the Marine Corps birthday and sing me the Marine Corps hymn. My grandma.

Speaker 3: 2:19:46

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:19:47

Dude, that's exactly. You know, that's just, it's, it's wild and that's what I. That's what's so hard and where I'm torn, like I wouldn't. I wouldn't support any of my kids going into the military. But it's like, if you're going to be that stubborn asshole, you better go be a Marine. Right but at the same time politically wise. Why are we in this war? Can we justify it? Is it makes sense, like are we just going to send our you know?

Speaker 3: 2:20:09

are we just going?

Speaker 1: 2:20:09

to yeah our kids over to another generation.

Speaker 3: 2:20:11

Exactly, yeah, exactly, dude. That's well, and you know I was thinking about. That is like if we go to war now, we're going to be one to two years of learning on the fly and casualties yeah, good luck, because it'll be all over tiktok well, dude, I was watching these tiktok videos of these like corporals and sergeants carrying their chicks down the marine corps.

Speaker 1: 2:20:38

That sniper, sniper, that video, motherfuckers have one run these dudes are screwed dude.

Speaker 3: 2:20:43

They don't even nowadays they don't even get the national defense ribbon when they graduate boot camp. You see these groups. They slick.

Speaker 1: 2:20:50

Yeah, these guys are. I see these group pictures on TikTok videos and stuff I'm watching. There's not one warfighter in the whole entire platoon. No, they're like maybe their first sergeant. And he deployed when he was like those were our guys.

Speaker 3: 2:21:02

That's the weird thing. My boots are all like. I got like two. Oh, I'm retiring next year. I'm like my sergeant.

Speaker 1: 2:21:09

Just dude, I just had a conversation.

Speaker 3: 2:21:10

I would have retired last month if I would have stayed in yeah, mine was um january I'm glad I didn't january and then like charles, we both know you just got out, just got out and retired and this january would be.

Speaker 1: 2:21:21

January 12th would be my retirement. Oh man, that's wild. Yeah right, I'm good 100.

Speaker 3: 2:21:27

Yeah, I read a post the other day.

Speaker 2: 2:21:29

I don't think my body would have made it not gonna lie.

Speaker 1: 2:21:32

I don't think I I think I don't know. I feel like I fucked my body up even more being out of the military you're probably right.

Speaker 3: 2:21:37

Then you gain weight too, yeah, so then it's like at least I was in shape and like running.

Speaker 1: 2:21:42

And my heaviest I was in the marine corps. I was 298 in the marine corps. Yeah, dude, it was stupid. Oh yeah, I've talked about it. I'm very open with that. I'm pretty open about it. Too giant, but yeah, so it's like I'd be gonna retire. But, dude, I'd much rather live this life 100% yeah, I mean it's fun.

Speaker 3: 2:22:00

Like I said, I love you know, I love my history and I love what I've done, but it's like I've had so much more fun not being in the military and I can look back fondly but it's like, yeah, but see, if I wouldn't have, I wouldn't have met x, I wouldn't have met y, I wouldn't know all these dudes wouldn't be sitting here.

Speaker 3: 2:22:16

You know, wouldn't I wouldn't have even done vet trips. You know, wouldn't even, you know, wouldn't even gotten involved with wishes, nothing. And so, honestly, I wouldn't have my property if I hadn't been in the military.

Speaker 1: 2:22:26

So it's like Okay, so you do your deployments and then you transition out.

Speaker 3: 2:22:34

I mean, dude, what was that like? That was difficult because obviously I had my close group of friends when I left. Your boys, yeah, my boys. And now I come back and they're married and they have kids and I'm still a single dude.

Speaker 3: 2:22:44

Like I made it, my goal was stay single while you're in the military Until you know you're going to make it a career. Be single, don't have any distractions. Like, and I was deploying so much, like I would break up with a chick I was dating before deployment Because I didn't want like, and my whole like in my mind was if I don't come back, you don't have to worry about that. If it's, you know, if you're single when I get back, then it's probably meant to be and they never were. So it's like you know it's around the base, she ain't going to stay single long. So I got out and it was just one of those like I kind of.

Speaker 3: 2:23:14

It took me a while to figure out that you get emotionally stunted when you're in the Marines, like in the military period, because it's like you're on these, these paths and you go this way and at a 45, where your friends are still on this straight path, that you know they've got their career. They've got, and now you're kind of getting out and starting over. So that was tough for me. I mean, I'd party, I was still trying to party, but it was like I didn't have the the boys weren't there, so it was like I'm home and it'd be like, oh cool, I have to go to college class and then I'd go get drunk on like a Friday.

Speaker 3: 2:23:51

It was just, I don't know, it was just weird and not, you know, not the healthiest transition. But you know it was like, did that? Eventually? It was, you know, it was working for a few electrical contractors and stuff. In between college Finished my associates and was like, fuck, it's kind of one of those shitter off the pot. I'm making pretty good money working for this union contractor or I can go to college and just stop working, go full-time to college. My whole goal was. This was still when. I was like rah, rah, like I can do this, I'm, I'm gonna go work for the secret service or the cia or the fbi. That was kind of. The goal was get my degrees that I needed and I'd already met with recruiters. So I was like, okay, I need a either a psychology degree or criminal justice degree, either one. Then I can go and go to FLETC and get in with a federal agency.

Speaker 3: 2:24:37

Continue on with my life, went to college, had a good time, you know. Three, three years finished my bachelor's, got degrees in psychology and criminal justice and my last semester I was working on all my secret service uh, paperwork and okay, your school seats a year out. I was like, fuck a year, I need a job. Like I'm about to graduate college, I'm losing my gi bill at this point. I was like, fuck, I need a job, I can't wait year.

Speaker 3: 2:25:06

And a buddy of mine that I served with in 2005, who's a gunny now at the Warfighter College, puts a job posting on his Facebook and was like yo, if anybody's looking for a federal job in Yakima, washington, call this dude. And I'm like that's how you ended up back up there, that's it. I was in Poland and I was just like like, well, fuck, I have a year to wait. So I call this guy. And he's like I was like, hey, I buddy of mine posted that you've got a federal job. Like talk to me, what do we got? I, I need, I need a job. And he's like, well, tell me about you. And we talked for a bit and he's like, yeah, you'll just come over and you'll be doing like property management for this federal asset. And I was like, well, what do you mean? And he's like well, he's like you'll coordinate demolitions and constructions and kind of project management, but without the title and then you'll deal with contractors are coming in and doing work on our facilities. I was like, okay, what agency are you? I have no idea. I've never heard of the Bureau of Reclamation. He's like think Grand Coulee Dam and all the water and controlling like irrigation flows. And I was like, oh okay, I grew up in an ag town. I get what irrigation you need. So I was like, all right, man. I was like, look, here's the deal. I was like I'm waiting on a school seat for the Secret Service and he's like give me a year, come work when you. When you got your school seat, you now have your foot in the door. You'll get paid a little bit more because you'll be a quick. You know they'll have to step you up. And I was like all right, deal, I'll give you one year. So I've moved to.

Speaker 3: 2:26:32

Yakima started. Like two weeks after I graduated college. We had it all timed out, perfect, and about nine months into it I was like what do I want? Well, when it was certain administration that it was like yeah, yeah, do I want to be serious? Service for that administration? Right, and my body started really like falling apart.

Speaker 3: 2:26:50

I noticed like little bits of like mental health issues and I was like starting to like because I quit drinking. That was the big one. I quit drinking, and so then I'm starting to notice things. I was like, okay, maybe I don't need to go back into like any sort of combat arms specialty. I was like, plus, I have a pretty good job, it's pretty chill. I get a lot of, you know like, flexibility on, like working from home when I want. So I just decided to stick it out and I enjoy, you know, I enjoy working for this agency. Just, can you know, working with farmers and that's where you've been ever since. Yeah, good for you, man. So I've been there for five years now, or four years coming up on five, and because of like, because it's a federal to federal, yeah, I'm able to buy my military time into my retirement for that so really, I've got like 13 years and I retire with a 30.

Speaker 3: 2:27:34

yeah, it's not bad, yeah and I mean yeah, I mean you know the job's chill, I've learned it to where it's like everyone's like well, are you gonna apply for other jobs? I was like why, like I'm, I know my job here. What, what do I? Why I'm not trying to chase promotions, I don't good, yeah, I'm good. And that was like my.

Speaker 3: 2:27:53

When I bought my property. It was like and I bought my house, it was like, okay, this is my shit, or get off the pot. I either chase some promotions or I buy the house and I stay here. And it was like I found this property was like I gotta have that's a pretty dope spot, dude. I freaking love it. Like old log cabin, small, it's like 1200 square feet, pat surrounded by all the pastures and everything, and it's bordering a hundred thousand acres of a wilderness area that's a sagebrush wintering grounds for elk and deer. So it'll never be developed anything past. I'm the end of the road. Nothing will get developed past. So it's like there's no growth past it, so it's just like heaven and you found your gardening.

Speaker 1: 2:28:31

You started that.

Speaker 3: 2:28:32

I started, I tried, I tried real hard yeah, no, it was like uh yeah, I wasn't very good at it.

Speaker 3: 2:28:38

I still need to figure out tomatoes, peppers I did really well peppers I got, I've got yeah I've got gallon ziploc bags in my freezer because I haven't figured out what to do with them all. Yeah, peppers did good, obviously. Peas, snap peas, all those did really good. Tomatoes didn't do so much, not at all. And then I had a second. So I had my. I called that like my main garden, but then over by my, the entrance of my property, the, the former owners had planted wild onions. So I they popped up and I was like, oh cool, I've got onions. Well, I guess maybe I'll build some garden out here. I had my fruit trees out there and I planted all my pumpkins and squash and everything and corn out there and corn did okay, the pumpkins and all the gourds were throwing fruits and I was like, okay, cool, they're it. And all of a sudden we had like this weird freak freeze. Everything just died.

Speaker 3: 2:29:31

I was like oh sweet so so that happened, yeah, but no, it was fun. I mean, it was like I could see the frustration, but like the okay, the, the whole, like going out and just like pulling something off and like eating it and they're like that's dope.

Speaker 1: 2:29:46

I agree, you know, and it's very calming, it's great therapy, yes, so calming, going out and just like pulling something off and like eating it and they're like that's dope, I guess you know.

Speaker 3: 2:29:50

And it's very calming. It's great therapy, yes, so calming. Going out and I was like trimming and you know like, yeah, like my zen time until you look at something that's covered in fucking aphids.

Speaker 3: 2:29:58

That's yeah, 100, yeah it's. It was just one of those like it was so much fun and it was like one of those, you know, like I've never had anything where I could like sit and like look like that's mine. I did that you know, so like I've got my cows and I had chickens, you got everything got chickens. I inherited, uh, inherited alpacas. I really, yeah, I've got five alpacas so that yeah, I was.

Speaker 3: 2:30:24

Uh, I was experimenting with the potency of some psychedelic mushrooms. Okay, I was trying to see how potent they were because I was going to make microdose caps for a guy. Okay, I had to figure out if these are strong or if they're not. It's sound logic. Okay, intergalactic off of like one cap.

Speaker 1: 2:30:44

Did you buy these no?

Speaker 3: 2:30:45

Apparently, I got a phone call from my uncle and he's like hey, my neighbor has these alpacas During this time you're tripping on troops.

Speaker 3: 2:30:52

Yes, what do you think about them? And I was like I'm not buying alpacas. He's like, no, he'll bring them to you and give them to you for free. I was like let me call you back. He's like, okay, I'll let him know. I woke up the next morning to a text hey, we're on our way. Who, who is what what? What do you? What do you mean? He's like I'm bringing those alpacas to you. I was like the fuck did I do? So I start going through my phone, like so then, yeah, I had five alpacas show up. Why you do not answer your phone while you're in the middle of an intergalactic journey? Yeah so, but I mean they're chill.

Speaker 3: 2:31:31

Like I had the space for them, like I had. I had this one pasture that the old owners had their goats in and I hadn't had any. So I, their goats had ate it down to like nothing. And so come springtime, I was like okay, all I did was water it and just let it grow. I had like foot and a half tall grass in there and I was getting, if I didn't do that, I was gonna move the cows in there and just kind of rotate them through, yeah. But then it was like fuck, I've got this area, why not? You know, at worst I'll kill them, eat them, sell them, whatever you know they're.

Speaker 3: 2:32:01

They're kind of chill they're entertaining, yeah dude, they like fight and spit at each other and like I've got five females and for some reason they're all lesbians, apparently because they just hump each other and really oh yeah, it's super weird.

Speaker 3: 2:32:12

They're just bizarre little like long-necked sheep that just walk around and eat and spit. They spit at you, no, no, because really the first time they hawked at me I spit right in their face and it's like a dominance thing. It's like really, yeah, dude, I've literally spit loogies in their faces. What, dude, I don't. They're weird animals that is interesting and here's the weirdest thing that I learned is they only, they all collectively agree to shit in one spot?

Speaker 1: 2:32:35

Oh, I've seen that, I've heard of guys.

Speaker 3: 2:32:44

They'll pack like guys that use them for your garden.

Speaker 1: 2:32:46

I learned that recently too. So you just have a pile of manure.

Speaker 3: 2:32:49

Oh, I haven't cleaned it up in a while, but yeah if the chickens don't get it, I can scrape up five ten-gallon buckets by the end of the year. That's nice. But it's all in one space. Yeah, it's freaking super great, so I'm having them. She sell the fiber or whatever, if somebody wants it, if somebody wants to like learn to spin yarn.

Speaker 1: 2:33:07

She just bought me some fucking alpaca jacket the other day like order for me. I was like why do I need this for? But yeah, it's pretty soft stuff. They're soft if you make some money off of them yeah, well, that's what I figured is like one.

Speaker 3: 2:33:17

I'm not in anything. I got them for free. Yeah, at worst I could sell. I looked online like those people that sell alpacas are multiple hundred dollars for them. It's like at worst I'm sitting on a couple thousand bucks yeah. But their fiber is like 50 bucks an ounce. What or 50 bucks? Is it a pound or an ounce? 50 bucks a pound yeah, I still feel like that's a lot, a lot For the raw. So I mean they'll spin it and make more out of it, but it's like just the raw oh, I'd be slinging alpaca for for sure, that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 3: 2:33:45

It's like so I've got a guy. He'll come in the spring, before the summer he'll shear them out and then I'll figure out from now till then if I can find like some old spinster that wants to buy it. I'm sure you can find something, yeah, well, yeah, so I mean it's just kind of been a new whole bunch of experiences and it was like I knew that it was going to take away from like doing vet hunts and like my free time, which turns out I have none now because I get home and it's a little farm. Yeah, I got, I've got things to do at night. Then the garden took, you know.

Speaker 2: 2:34:13

So I was like hey, I get it now, dude I get it.

Speaker 3: 2:34:17

but yeah, it's fun. It was just kind of one of those, like you know, end of the day you sit down and it's like hit a cigar and uh, yeah, just sit on the porch and just look and just it, it's quiet, it's slow, it's I don't know. It's like it's something I never thought I would have. I guess, you know, and I wouldn't have happened if I hadn't done the military. So exactly, yeah, kind of went full circle, and I saw that and I was like oh which?

Speaker 1: 2:34:41

one, the platoon guys dude.

Speaker 3: 2:34:43

I love them.

Speaker 1: 2:34:43

I'm going to have him on. He's actually coming out here not too long from now. His story is wild and that's why I have to get him Like from Marine to Detroit, Michigan. Police officer gets shot in the line of duty. His partner got shot in the head, which his partner, unfortunately, I think, just took his life not too long ago, which is super tragic. But but like the fact that he's got out and did it, dude he, I hit him up. I think it's something we're gonna do. Different on this podcast is I want to start shouting out like mill lawn yeah, you know local.

Speaker 1: 2:35:15

Like not even local, just small businesses for veteran owned and law enforcement, if we can help guys along the way, like you know. Granted, I'd love a sponsor be able to pay for everything, but you know for. But you know, as far as these like little mom-and-pop companies or a small business veteran owned, like why, why not? It's a platform. So, yeah, he hit me up. And then obviously, the girls baked you, um, um, a bijourno sourdough loaf I had to open. It was sweating because it was hot when I put it in there, so it'll be fresh when you go to your hotel room tonight. You can munch on that all night. Pepperoni mozzarella it does not suck, no, it actually fucks.

Speaker 3: 2:35:51

So um, these guys, they did a lot with us, even before you even were involved. They were hooking up wishes and yeah, that's how.

Speaker 1: 2:35:58

That's how I got to know these are these are.

Speaker 3: 2:36:00

Actually. I have, like I don't know, probably 10 cigars left from cool I enjoy, I enjoy them a lot. And the guy's just a nice guy Like yeah, I like that he does, he's a vet and he does stuff, and it's like totally like selfless. Like here, can you just like share it? Like he'll message me randomly Like, can you just like share this? I'm like bro, of course One, I'll do anything to help you guys Like, especially if the easiest thing I have to do is go and share easy. It's hard for some, I know it's weird. It's hard for some because nobody wants to see anybody like, nobody wants to see people succeed, succeed when they're like it's, it's like I don't know. I hate that. I hate that mentality because it's guess what he's not taking away from you. No, you're not even in the right. You know. You guys aren't even in the same fucking space. And even if you were, yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:36:43

Yeah, it's interesting, but he's a really cool dude man. I'm excited to get him on and get his story. He's got an incredible story. Veteran-owned, lawn, leo-owned. I think he still is active-duty cop. I could be mistaken.

Speaker 3: 2:36:54

He might be still a cop, but yeah, man, I mean, why not?

Speaker 1: 2:36:57

I hit him up, you know, and he actually reached out. I was like dude, if you ever so. Yeah, so every guest gets a cigar, veteran from a veteran and love it, gets to go home a loaf of bread and yeah, so I want to share the wealth. So I'm going to start putting it out on the social. As far as, like veteran companies, apparel companies, things like that, if somebody's just out there grinding in their garage, dude, a vet, made this table. He's an army vet, really, right here, local. Yeah, I love that, knock this out. Brit found him online on like facebook marketplace. Didn't even know he's a vet. I showed up and I was like what's your story? I'm gonna have him on all tatted dude, looks dude, looks like straight out of prison. I mean not judging, but you could, you know, you ever see the guy and you're like he's got some stories. Yeah, I'm literally loaded in my truck. I turn, I'm like what's your story? Like I had to ask I'm like, I have it.

Speaker 1: 2:37:41

I like what branch and he's like army. I'm like I fucking knew it just by looking at him. But yeah, army dog built this guy. I'm gonna tag him when we get him on and so. But yeah, I just want to be able to highlight right veteran companies or law enforcement like firefighters, cops, whatever, if they're trying to make it and they got a freaking cigar company or t-shirts like dude send it well wear it on, put it on, give it to guests, whatever.

Speaker 1: 2:38:02

So until we take off big enough to actually land a sponsor. But but um, someday someday. No, I'm not worried about it. I mean it'd be nice to be able to pay my daughter for the work she does.

Speaker 3: 2:38:11

But you live for free. Yeah, you're welcome.

Speaker 1: 2:38:14

Welcome, got a roof over your head, this is, this is your, this is your rent. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 2:38:20

Yeah, so no, this is dope though that's. I've actually a buddy of mine does woodworking, like he's got a uh, what are they called? The miller or the the planer? Okay, he does. He's making me my dining room table because I was like I never wanted to like buy a dining room table until it was like the one that I'm like, yeah, I have to have it. And I called him. I was like yo, I was like I need you. I was like show me your rough cuts. I was like I want a raw cut table like this, like my dining room table yeah, so he's building.

Speaker 3: 2:38:45

He's like, okay, I've got this one, this one or this one. Do you want the spilled uh, epoxy in the middle and stuff like a like a river through?

Speaker 1: 2:38:50

I was like, no, just give me like I do too but like, just like the raw cut wood.

Speaker 3: 2:38:56

But it's gonna have the bark on it though still oh, I like that.

Speaker 2: 2:38:58

So it's gonna be live edge or whatever. Yeah, live edge or what yeah yeah and so he's gonna be doing that.

Speaker 3: 2:39:02

I'm like, so of those like he told me the price and I was like, okay, but that's all right, it's my dining room table and it's my friend, he's a small business.

Speaker 1: 2:39:11

He's a vet, he's a firefighter. Yeah, that's the problem. Nobody supports the homies anymore, man.

Speaker 3: 2:39:16

Well, and like I never even asked, I told him how much do you want? Don't I don which you want, bro, tell me, tell me what your price is for that just get it done.

Speaker 1: 2:39:25

Man support the friends that's it sure that's the thing, man. It's kind of frustrating is. You know, I've said it before and I'll always say like nobody hates successful vets more than vets, yeah, and it's like some of the biggest support I get from people I don't even know and it's like I know these dudes for years in the court not even. I mean, I have some friends like that are like dude, he shares my shit all the time.

Speaker 3: 2:39:47

He's a homie, you know, and that's just it. He'll be like, even if it's not funny, he'll react.

Speaker 1: 2:39:51

Yeah, and that's all it takes to support somebody. It doesn't. It's like, oh man, I can't afford it. You don't have to afford it. If you have to do it takes zero energy, zero dollars, like nothing, to hit the share button and just put a link on it on your page and as far as people that share it, you have no idea what that does to help, or just the boost that it gives somebody, that somebody's sharing their product.

Speaker 3: 2:40:25

It's not even like an algorithm boost. They're like oh dude like because they're eventually like and that's the whole thing is like, you're eventually gonna have somebody's gonna be like I gotta have that. That's pretty rad. You know like somebody that not even following that person, or you know yeah, it's all it takes, man, if people did more of that.

Speaker 1: 2:40:43

That. That's the the benefits of social media that I wish more people just understood it takes nothing to share. One of your friends posts right product, anything and just that way, and it could lead to one sale which motivates that guy to continue to do it rather than be in some dark area or stressing, thinking like he's a failure, like like I've got all this stuff and I haven't made one sale.

Speaker 3: 2:41:09

What am I doing?

Speaker 1: 2:41:09

wrong. Share your homies shit, that's it. You don't, even if you can't afford it. I get it. Not everybody has the financial ability to be able to support some crazy stuff. I understand that. But, dude, share somebody stuff you never know who's going to see it and like it, and it might blow up, might go viral. Dude might be successful overnight because of it happens every day, definitely.

Speaker 3: 2:41:29

Well, dude, thank you for coming on thanks for having me, man, it was fun glad you came to town and we got to shoot the shit a little bit.

Speaker 1: 2:41:35

Make sure you send you home with a cigar and some bread. Yeah, dude, this was a good conversation it was man it was fun little bit. Yeah, I mean, fuck, we'll do it again. I'm sure you'll be rolling back through town soon and probably it'll probably be another like I'm in town for seven hours.

Speaker 3: 2:41:50

What are you doing? Let's do it again. Go, go, get, go get the big rig and come pick me up at the hotel again yeah right. You have no idea the fuck. We'll call it like street cred that I got from that guy because that black dude that was like taking all the selfies, yeah he's a big dog at cooley. What's cooley grand, cooley dam it's like, it's like the big hydro dam that powers pretty much the west yeah, he was like they need any power work done out there. I'm working on it, bro okay I'm working on it, we're.

Speaker 3: 2:42:16

We have to wait and see what the new administration does, because they tend to not fund as much of our projects. Okay, so they're all freaking out, right now, but uh the uh like texts and emails like yo, how do we get one of those? We need to buy them for our security forces. Blah, blah, blah. Call Chris Mann, call him. I'm like dude, please don't call me. That's hilarious.

Speaker 3: 2:42:38

But, dude, like he sent like a mass email out to everybody. He was like check this vehicle out. That this dude who I've never met rolled up and picked up this dude. I'm like, oh my god, the thing is wild. Dude, yeah, but nobody exaggerates. Like they'll hype you up to where you're like yo, it's like calm down, richard. Like no, that guy's the ultimate hype man. I met him like five minutes, yeah, of the day before oh, really no I never met him before.

Speaker 3: 2:43:02

Until we had our, I thought you guys were boys. No, dude. I met him that day spent spent the day together doing our meetings and our proposals, and then happened to sit at the hotel and I was like yo, richard, you got to come check this thing out real quick, and that's it. That's as much as I know the guy. That's cool, but he's like the ultimate hype man. Now, there you go. That's all it takes, all right.

Speaker 1: 2:43:20

Cool dude.

Speaker 3: 2:43:20

Coming up. Oh, oh my.

Speaker 1: 2:43:21

God, that's right. My hips, my hips, you ready, yeah right, oh good Lord, dude.