#51 - The Last Real Marines: A Raw Conversation About War, Friendship, and Growing Up w/Peter Charles

Two veterans sit down for a no-holds-barred conversation that takes listeners on an extraordinary journey through Marine Corps life during the Global War on Terror. This episode captures lightning in a bottle as these old friends reunite to share stories that balance on the edge between hilarious and harrowing.

The conversation begins with Charles recounting his troubled childhood - from witnessing domestic violence and navigating juvenile detention to finding salvation through foster parents who showed him what real family support looks like. His transformation from delinquent teenager to dedicated Marine demonstrates how military service provided structure and purpose for a generation of young men seeking direction.

What follows is an unvarnished look at Marine Corps culture during wartime deployments. The raw honesty with which they discuss boot camp experiences, combat missions, and the infamous "flight deck time" - where Marines would gather under the stars on naval vessels to process their experiences through conversation - offers listeners rare insight into the psychological reality of military service. Their descriptions of accidentally rupturing oil pipelines in Iraq, barely escaping mortar attacks, and navigating the complex dynamics of platoon life reveal aspects of war that official accounts often sanitize.

Throughout their exchange, dark humor emerges as the essential coping mechanism that helped these Marines survive unimaginable stress. The constant pranks, inside jokes, and storytelling weren't just entertainment - they were psychological survival tools that forged unbreakable bonds between service members facing life-threatening situations daily.

Beyond the war stories lies a powerful testament to friendship. Despite years apart, these veterans pick up their conversation as if no time has passed, demonstrating the lifelong connections created through shared hardship. Their discussion about how the Corps has changed, whether they'd want their children to serve, and plans for family vacations together shows how military brotherhood extends far beyond active duty.

Join us for this remarkable conversation that serves as both historical record and therapeutic reflection - a window into a world few civilians understand but all should appreciate.

Chapters

• 0:00 Episode Introduction and Reunion
• 2:21 Broken Home: Charles' Troubled Childhood
• 9:31 Finding a Home: Foster Care and Meeting His Wife
• 18:46 Joining the Marines: Boot Camp Adventures
• 32:05 NJP and Early Marine Life Troubles
• 44:20 Deployments and Combat Experiences
• 1:04:57 Wog Day: Naval Traditions and Hazing
• 1:18:40 Legendary Practical Jokes and Platoon Stories
• 1:32:13 Pranks, Fights, and Brotherhood Bonds
• 1:51:48 Reflections on Marine Corps Changes and Family Life
• 2:02:02 Final Thoughts and Future Plans

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:09

Why are you already looking at the camera non-stop?

Speaker 1: 0:13

Oh, you're going to put on a show for everybody. That's what we're doing.

Speaker 2: 0:17

We're going to have a counter. I'm moving up. See, you're already staring at the camera again.

Speaker 1: 0:22

I don't know how this works. Are we starting? Is this it? Oh, his game face is on. I'm moving. See, you're already staring at the camera. Again You're staring at the camera. I don't know how this works. Are we starting? Is this it? Oh, his game face is on. I'm sorry.

Speaker 2: 0:31

This is going to be the biggest shit show episode that we do. I'm not used to this.

Speaker 1: 0:34

You didn't give me a dry run. I don't know what.

Speaker 2: 0:36

I'm doing. We don't do dry runs. This is it, bro. Matches Charles, welcome to the show. We're, uh, we go back quite a ways, buddy, a long time.

Speaker 1: 0:47

A lot of trouble, a lot of stories.

Speaker 2: 0:48

We did two deployments together. And then you quit, I quit, I'm a quitter, you're one of them. No, I got tenure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you, you ended up life in it. And uh, no, I meant you were one of them, as in calling people quitters for getting out.

Speaker 1: 1:05

Yeah, I did in a jovial way, though I wouldn't. No, you're one of those guys, though, but anyways um good mustache guy is gonna be all right, I'm attacking, oh, james mustache guy.

Speaker 2: 1:15

Something I like to do is well, let's start this show. Something I like to do is I give every guest a gift to go home with. Yeah, some cigars, yeah, so you'll be getting some cigars to go home with. He's a Marine cop in Chicago got shot in the line of duty. Pretty incredible guy. We're going to have him on the show, so I want to make sure everybody gets to go home.

Speaker 1: 1:38

And then C-State Coffee is a recon Marine and he's here, a local guy, you don't have to do all that con marine and uh, he's here, local guy, and so I've watched all your podcasts.

Speaker 2: 1:44

I already know about this this is for the new people. This isn't for you.

Speaker 1: 1:46

Well, chris really likes that stuff, so I'm a big fan oh chris man yeah, yeah, a little shout out single ladies yeah, chris man, he's single anybody looking.

Speaker 2: 1:58

So I am not sorry, I just want to throw that out there yeah, you are been married. You're one of the ogs guys that made it through the whole, through the gauntlet, I think there's only three of us out of that platoon that are still married yeah, yeah, no, all right, charles, now that we got that out of the way and you just brush it off like it was nothing, let's just jump into your childhood hold on, let's pull back.

Speaker 1: 2:21

Why did you, why did you quit the?

Speaker 2: 2:23

marine corps. Yeah, I was fucking time for me now it's my show, oh, it's your show yeah, no childhood.

Speaker 1: 2:30

I mean, I don't know where you want me to start where'd you grow up where you from, up in the bay area haystack, you know oh god, don't do that bay area.

Speaker 1: 2:38

Uh, I was from a broken home so I was back and forth between, like hayward, san jose, melpita, sacramento, stockton to oregon, to back. I went a lot of back and forth, a lot of why? Just a rough childhood and parents got divorced. I don't want to talk about the details, but they were. They were not compatible. So I think like eight or nine months after I was born I'm not really specific on dates they divorced.

Speaker 1: 3:04

My mom got me and my brother moved into like a dusty trailer park. She remarried some guy I mean it's really depressing, that's fine Like some guy that works at a tire shop with like three teeth. His name was John. He was real abusive, really Beat my brother up a lot, never touched me. I was like a boy's boy outdoors, kool-aid stains, playing with maggots, running around throwing rocks, like like a boy, and my brother was the opposite. Uh, which is fine, uh, but we're just two polar opposite people. I got along really well with my stepdad. My mom got beating so bad that my first memory of of knowing I didn't want to be around my mom. I was like four years old and she tried to kill herself on pills. We jumped out the window of the camper, and this camper is like a bunk bed and then it's like a classic tiny little tin camper that you'd pull in a car. We hopped out the window, ran to the liquor store, called 911, went to a battered women's shelter for a few months. That was an interesting experience. But I got to see a lot of what a kid shouldn't see and I realized like, all right, I'm in this, like in an area in the Bay Area to where I mean it's a lot of diversity, I'll put it so not a lot of white kids, so I had to blend in. I was friends with a lot of Hispanic groups no-transcript, skipped all of seventh grade, didn't go one day Really. And the capping point where I moved away from my mother and living with my mother and my brother in Newark, california. I didn't say I didn't deserve punishment because I skipped the whole year.

Speaker 1: 4:44

My mom found out and I saw her moving. She was cooking, walking right by the kitchen and I'm like we're living in like a townhouse and I'm like, oh, she's about to put that work on me Because she's a real physical woman and I'm like, oh man. So I'm like usually I jump on top of the roof because it's a flat roof I can hide from her. And she came in, turned her rings around and just whop, whop, whop, just hooked me up a two-piece. I passed out. She smacked me awake and I was like I want to call my dad. My parents are deaf so we had a TTY. It's like a typewriter that you put the phone on old school. So I typed to my dad like I need you to pick me up and he's like I'll be on my way. He was in Sacramento and we were in Hayward, so I don't know how many hours of a drive that is like a few hours Came and picked me up on this way over. The power went out Like she was bad with managing money and stuff like that.

Speaker 1: 5:33

I moved with. My dad still had trouble, got into problems in Sacramento. He was living in Sacramento. Same type of problems there Sacramento stock in areas were all real shady in the 90s. It probably still is. I don't know my type of people. They're cool, but there was just a lot of problems. I was a follower as a young kid. That quickly changed after all my trouble. But moving on fast-forwarding, my dad buckled me down. I started going to school. I stopped skipping. There wasn't really a point. I started realizing it. What were you doing every day when you would skip school? What were you doing every day when you would skip school? I'd leave and then wait till my mom went to work, and then I'd come home.

Speaker 1: 6:05

Really, or I'd go Like I was a really bad person. I'd like start fires at apartment complexes, like in the woods. I just did really bad stuff and I knew I was doing it, so it's kind of crappy, but I didn't know any better.

Speaker 2: 6:18

It's like you are your environment.

Speaker 1: 6:21

Yeah. So and I was still a young kid. I was like 11, 12. And as I got closer to 15, or not even then 13, my dad moved us. He noticed there was a lot of problems in Sacramento with me. I got in a couple of fights in school because my parents are deaf. I always had to defend them. I laugh about it now and we joke around about deaf jokes because I came from a deaf family and I know sign language and all that. I got really emotional about it and I was super emotional and people would make fun of my mom. So it was fights. I got in fights constantly. Sometimes I'd get beat up, sometimes I'd win, I got jumped. I just grew up fighting nonstop and it was exhausting. So I told my dad one day I'm like all right, I can't take it in Sacramento anymore. There's a lot of gangs Like I'm having problems. He sold the house because he owned multiple houses and we moved up to Oregon, oregon's where it went all downhill. It hasn't gone downhill yet.

Speaker 1: 7:12

Well, he moved me into an area, 82nd and Johnson Creek. The area's called Felony Flats A lot of what we call clucks. They're tweakers Like. They stay up all night walking the streets with scabs all over them, yeah yeah. And he had like two houses back past he had built and we lived in a nice house and my dad's like look at this nice house. He didn't research the schools, he didn't do any of that stuff. It was a poverty-stricken area, I mean someplace called Felony Flats. It's like all right, I move in, I mix in with the wrong crowd, dudes, just because we got into honest trouble. Well, not anything. We weren't stealing or doing anything until like right at the end of 13, I got mixed up with some friends of a friends and I was a dirtbag Like. I broke into houses. I broke into a specific house, got attacked by a pit bull stealing CDs. I got a scar on my eye still.

Speaker 2: 8:01

The pit bull bit you in the face.

Speaker 1: 8:02

Yeah and the owner grabbed me and called me me an idiot and I jumped out the window and ran in my bright blue windbreaker pants and cop just rolled up on me within an hour and arrested me, got probation, came back home. My dad's like you're an idiot and that was it. No punishment, which he should have punished me. I might have straightened up, but I'm glad he didn't because everything happened for a reason. Year goes by, I'm on probation for I think, six, seven years. Immediately the next year I'm hanging out with the original crew. One of them that I'm trying to get on his good side said I'm gonna break in this dude's house. I'm like I'm down being an idiot ended up being a cop's house. Uh, took like around a half a pound of weed, a bong, a PlayStation From a cop, yeah, four or five guns, his police-issued pistol. My buddy took it all and said he was going to hide it. He hid all the guns in the river. I put them in bags and dug them down.

Speaker 1: 8:58

A few hours later, cops roll up to my house. I didn't realize I was on probation. I skipped that day and that's a probation violation. So they started interrogating me and my parents, interrogating all my friends. Somehow the guy that his house got broken into. His son went to school with us and he I didn't recall this, but I snitched myself out months before because I was kind of friends with him in school. When I did go and I told, may, heads up, this dude is talking about breaking into your house and I didn't think about it. Months later he asked me to go and I didn't think and I went. So I pretty much knocked myself out. So they arrested me, put me on house arrest again and I had a court date. My dad went out of town because he was single meeting with some chick across the country, didn't care, g court date. And that was the ending.

Speaker 1: 9:43

Right there Cops picked me up, took me into juvie. I was there for a couple months. What was juvie like? I got some funny stories I'm in. So in juvie funny story I go in there and I'm acting tough. Right, I think I'm a gangbanger, which I'm not Like the punk kids that I always talk about now, realizing, realizing like I wish I had somebody like me to talk to them. I go in there and they're like they ask you all the prerequisites when you go to juvie, like, have you had any sexual interactions. I'm like, yeah, I'm a G, you know Bet hundreds of chicks and back then STD checks they stick a Q-tip Not even a Q-tip up your pee hole Spin that shit.

Speaker 2: 10:23

I didn't know that. Yeah, oh yeah, it was the worst experience.

Speaker 1: 10:25

So I lost my virginity to a corrections officer. It's what I always joke about. It's horrible. It was the worst experience of my life. When I was a virgin, I was like, oh God, the worst part is I was prude, I didn't even I was scared of girls, was this a girl?

Speaker 2: 10:38

No, it was a male, yeah, it was a male.

Speaker 1: 10:43

And then right afterwards, of course, they had to have you bend over, spread them and cough. It was embarrassing and that was my first step. And then my dad didn't know any better, so he brought me new shoes the next day. Those got stolen, oh really, because you had to leave your shoes outside your door. Yeah, yeah, I almost got in a couple fights. My probation officer came to pick me up for my court date. My dad was there. He already moved to Illinois. Your dad did. Yeah, he totally abandoned me.

Speaker 2: 11:11

How old are?

Speaker 1: 11:12

you 14. Oh, I might have been 15. So your mom?

Speaker 2: 11:14

gives you to your dad.

Speaker 1: 11:15

Yeah, because.

Speaker 2: 11:15

I was a freshman. Your dad takes you to Oregon, then he dips out.

Speaker 1: 11:18

Yeah, so from that court case they pretty much tell my dad that he's not capable of being a parent. The state took control of me. They put me in a boy's home called Sun Village. It's not around anymore but that helped me transition because it's like a prison camp that sends you to public school so you get patted down every day when you leave, when you come back, they give you like your bagged, nasty lunch that you make yourself. You got chores in the house. There's a big house, little house, like you're in the woods, the river's right there, you're in the middle of nowhere. What was it? 10 minutes from Mount Hood. It's in Welch's, oregon. What's that? Like it would be different from somebody else because from my experience my dad was gone and that boys home was specific, for you could go home every weekend and see your family.

Speaker 1: 12:00

I didn't have family, so I felt like everybody abandoned me. So I was alone. I'm like I don't talk to my dad anymore, I don't talk to my mom anymore, I don't talk to anybody. It was just me. So I realized there I had a counselor. His name is John Rasmussen. He's a I don't know if he's still a police detective in Oregon somewhere Ph. Then he helped me get through a lot of tears and a lot of frustrations and that's how I met my foster parents is through the boys' home. The boys' home was only supposed to be like six to eight months. I was there, I think, 16 or 18 months. I started as a starting summer before sophomore year and I was there until right before junior year.

Speaker 2: 12:42

So you're going to school every day.

Speaker 1: 12:43

Yeah, Sandy High.

Speaker 2: 12:44

School. Yeah, do kids know this? That you're a part of this program?

Speaker 1: 12:47

Yeah, and the sad part about this boys' home which isn't sad, it's just I was a kid and I didn't know any better half the kids there were sex offenders and I didn't know this and they intermingled them and a lot of these sex offenses were like and I'm not justifying anything, I don't believe in that kind of stuff but it was like when I was 13 or when I was 8 and my stepsister was 6. Like they were little kids and they didn't know what they were doing and they got sent to jail oh shit, and they're on probation. They're labeled sex offenders for life. Some of them weren't though. Yeah, you know, we weren't friends. Obviously.

Speaker 1: 13:22

Like I had my clique. I had a lot of respect at the school because even though a lot of the jocks like you I mean your type of personality would have been like and they'd roast but I got in a lot of fights. So I'm not saying I was a tough guy, but I was just a cool dude and I realized I was a follower coming up to the boys' home and I totally transformed. I tried. I mean, some of the counselors didn't like me at the boys' home. I realized that as an adult when I went back to recruiting in Oregon. I saw some of them and they were like starstruck that I was successful and had a family With the girl that I met from the boys' home.

Speaker 1: 13:52

She wasn't in a boys' home, she was at the high school when I met her, but I was there 16 months. My last month there, my counselor, john, was really stressed, like what are we going to do? Like he didn't want me going back to my dad in Illinois because he knew I'd get back into the same habit. And I kept telling him. I'm like, no, my mind's right, but I was still. I needed that tipping point. And my foster parents hit hard. My foster mom, kathy, came up to pick up two boys that she was fostering and we locked eyes. She has the most beautiful blue eyes and we just clicked and she's like do you want to come to my house for this weekend? And I'm like and my buddy, chris, that was a foster kid, was like it's super cool, we got dirt by. Or we got four wheelers, paintball guns, like all in property. It's super cool, you get freedom. I'm like, all right, cool. And I went there, had a phenomenal weekend. And he's like hey, I want to ask you something. I'm like, yes, sir. And he's like do you want to live with us? I'm like I thought about it long and hard, Cause I already established myself at the school.

Speaker 1: 14:51

I was starting to get good grades for once, cause people actually cared. And I'm like I would like that. What was it? The first one I always remember be a man of your word no matter what you do in your life. Be a man of your word at all costs. And he said secondly, don't ever lie to me. Are we good? And I'm like we're good. And he's like welcome to the family. And that was it Really. And I and I called them my parents.

Speaker 2: 15:19

I mean one so what'd that feel like? Finally like feeling.

Speaker 1: 15:24

Oh, it was phenomenal, yeah I tell them all the time. I just don't talk to people about it because I get emotional and I don't like getting emotional you should, don't get me going dude, I'll look at you. Yeah, it's, it's rough to talk about they weren't at the retirement because they're older, but they mean a lot to me that's good, bro, I mean. And then I met my wife second, I, I went to the foster home.

Speaker 2: 15:45

Don't change the subject. We're not blowing over the next week.

Speaker 1: 15:47

And I met my wife, so really, did you stay in the same school? Yeah, I graduated there early, Really so persistent I was. I graduated a whole semester early and I had beginning of my sophomore year. I had two credits.

Speaker 2: 16:00

No shit. So you hunker down and yeah, was I was.

Speaker 1: 16:04

I mean it's sad because if I, I thought if my parents really cared, I'd be a great student. Yeah, I just didn't have anybody driving me. My daughter's a lot like me, she's she. She has really hard times but she puts in the work and she gets good grades and I'm like that's just like me, because I'm in college now and I have no problem doing work. I just needed the like, the mental discipline of a father like sm smacking not smacking me, but pretty much smacking me in the head, like get your stuff together and buckle down. And I didn't have that and that's all I really needed. And I, my foster dad, never touched me. He was just. I call him scary Larry, I call him pops now, but he was just a. He's an intimidating dude, like a man of his word. No BS, hard worker, worked every day, made good money and just compassion. That's all he had. How many kids did?

Speaker 2: 16:46

they help over the years.

Speaker 1: 16:48

Oh, over 100. They started in the 70s or 80s and they 180-something, I think, or 170. I asked her a while back.

Speaker 2: 16:56

I was trying to do a reunion, but Good for them, man, to be able to serve.

Speaker 1: 17:02

you know, help kids like that joke with them because we talk all the time and I'm like I don't like the other foster kids because I've never asked for anything like tangible. Yeah, I only use them as spiritual guidance, like that's. The only thing I've asked for him is spiritual mentorship and that's it. Yeah, I've never asked for a dime for it and I pride myself on it. As a guy Like I don't ask anybody for anything, I feel like a lot of guys are like that. It's tough. It can be tough. Not foster kids. No, not for that.

Speaker 1: 17:28

For people that are wealthy, that are taken care of and they're always looking for I was living there even after the foster care system. They put a fifth wheel on the property and I lived in there. I mean, I don't even know legally if they were allowed to do that. I know they weren name, but I refused to change my name. Really, yeah, even though I had not the best parents, I have a lot of well, we just talked about this a little bit ago. I have a lot of pride in my name. I'm the last living Charles. My son already promised me three grandsons.

Speaker 2: 17:56

It's up to him At 10, he promised me that he has no idea what he contract somewhere.

Speaker 1: 18:00

I don't know where it is. It's in Crayon. I'm very serious about having grandsons and granddaughters, of course, but I need my name to live on Watch. Yeah, all girls and.

Speaker 2: 18:10

I'll be fine, I'll be happy.

Speaker 1: 18:11

Honestly, it was kind of like a running joke, kind of not, but it is. I get it, at least one.

Speaker 1: 18:28

And he has to be named like Henry, something like Harry, like Thor or Henry or Thor. Yeah, so you beat your wife. What the hell made you want to join the Marine Corps? I told this story at my retirement. I mean, I didn't want to join the Marine Corps, honestly I I looked at the Navy, looked at the Army. Army was just closed. Air Force didn't want me. It was a long waiting list.

Speaker 1: 18:42

Back in the early 2000s I looked around in Oregon. I just wasn't feeling it. I was procrastinating per the usual. I moved to Michigan, worked at McDonald's Sears, didn't like it. It was miserable. Jackson Michigan is not for the lighthearted. It wasn't fun. I lived there six months and I'm like I'm out of here. I bought a $100 ticket on a Greyhound, went down towards Florida and then looped back around to the Bay Area and visited my visited, meaning went to move in with my aunt and her family, yeah, and that everything started shifting from there and I started getting better and better. Like I quit doing drugs, quit drinking, because I started drinking when I was like 13. Really, I could just get it from the single moms. I'd be like, hey, I'll buy it. Five bucks, 250 for a 40 and you could have the other one and I would just get drunk all the time.

Speaker 2: 19:30

Really, yeah, it was really bad, but I wasn't really a big weed smoker, yeah so so then, when did the marine corps, when did the military pop up like what it was? It was a fluke.

Speaker 1: 19:41

So I was at my, I was working at raging waters in san jose, living with my aunt and uncle, and I got fired from my job. And she picked me up right, because I didn't have a car. I'm a bum. Come back to the house and I'm having that come-to-Jesus moment with myself, like I just got fired from my job. I'm 18. I don't have a license. I'm a bum. Like I don't have a license. I'm a bum Like I was giving my own.

Speaker 1: 20:02

I didn't need a dad, I was just hitting myself because you're your own worst enemy, like I'm my own worst critic. I criticize myself on a daily basis on how I could fine tune to be somebody that I could eventually get back. Because I wanted to get back with Melissa, my wife. Now I was finding ways like all right, I got to be successful. I got to bring something to the table like other than just my charm and, you know, good looks, obviously, but I had to bring something more. So that was my mind. And then my aunt was driving me home.

Speaker 1: 20:32

Recruiter was at the door. I mean I talked about he was at my retirement Ryan Garcia. He's at the door talking to my cousin that was in high school and I walked up, looked at him and I just had that moment of no fear and I'm like he looked at me and he's like who are you? I'm like, who are you? This is my house. And he's like I'm his cousin. And he's like you had any interest to join the Marine Corps and I'm like, what do you need? He's like birth certificate, social, and did you graduate high school? I'm like, yeah, let me go grab it. No shit had you just like that all my stuff was stolen.

Speaker 1: 21:03

I wasn't. I was there. I signed up in july of july of 03 and I was in boot camp. November 8th or november sorry, november 18th. I went to boot camp yeah, you're two months ahead of me before thanksgiving, birthday, new year's christmas. It was great it was phenomenal.

Speaker 1: 21:21

I waited for all of that and being thick, you know, slash fat. Yeah, that was a real treat. Yeah, you were a fat body when you joined, shirt said buns in the oven. It was great. Yeah, my drone instructor was at my retirement too. I joked with him about it and he's like oh yeah, but it was all good memories. I mean I got. I mean bootcamp. It's easier going to bootcamp and people understand this like whatever service you go to, if you have nothing and you're, I consider myself homeless. I wasn't. I wasn't not going to graduate Like. I didn't have anything to go back to except my aunt and I was. I was going to be 19.

Speaker 1: 21:52

In bootcamp I was determined. Like my first day at church, I sobbed because I didn't talk to nobody. I didn't write a letter. Nobody wrote me letters except a friend in Oregon, this girl that I was honestly just friends with. We were writing back and forth and she only wrote me one.

Speaker 1: 22:06

Other than that I was fearful to get letters because I was a fat body in boot camp. You don't want to get letters, you don't want to get nothing, you don't want to— Draw attention. Yeah, spotlight was already on me 24-7 because I was always laughing and smiling. And I'm fat and I'm sneaking food everywhere Like any, like anytime. I was that fat kid off of Full Metal Jacket hiding jelly donuts like Peter Pan peanut butter everywhere. Oh, I stole so much Peter Pan peanut butter I got to tell this story. So my guide I don't even remember his name, but if you ever watch this video he's going to be like I hate him. So he was always treating me like trash because I have this cough. Yeah, anytime I say it, I just cough right. So I have this cough that I don't know where it came from and everybody that knows me knows they can hear me walking from a mile away with my pigeon leg and my cough.

Speaker 1: 22:48

And I still have my leg messed up from that from when I was younger. And where's I going with this? Your guide, huh, your guide, oh my guide. Thank you, all right, all right, squirrel. All right, squirrel, all right. So we're packing for our field week. You know, you have to like, condense your meals, throw out all the candy.

Speaker 2: 23:06

Are you Paris Island or are you a San Diego Marine? No, I'm a real.

Speaker 1: 23:08

Marine Real, marine, san Diego, yeah, where the mountains are Little hill, little hill, little hill.

Speaker 2: 23:16

Yeah, you don't like cardio, but I'll take you to some mountains.

Speaker 1: 23:19

We're packing our MREs, getting them real tight and putting them in our day packs and the guy had messed them with me for like I feel like the first month it was nonstop. He's messing with me because I'm coughing and I'm a little thick. I didn't consider myself fat as a civilian, but apparently I was a disgusting thing because that's what I got called, that was my name. So I was like, well, this disgusting thing is going to have himself a treat tonight. So I had first and last watch every day of boot camp because I don't want to tell.

Speaker 1: 23:45

I had first and last watch every day no, let me finish this story and then I'll go backwards okay, don't, don't let us forget so.

Speaker 1: 23:53

So he went to sleep and he zonks out. I go into his day pack, grab his emery, take it to my bed and I eat everything, pack it all back in. I leave it loose and open and I put it like perfectly in. So if they dumped it out, it would calm out, come all out in. And I leave it loose and open and I put it like perfectly in. So if they dumped it out it would come out, come all out, right, and then I go to bed. After my watch is done Last watch I have to wake up, so I'm getting an hour on each end less sleep. I knock on the drill instructor hatch or do this slap. Yeah, this recruit saw somebody eating in the rack, sir, and he's like who? I'm like the guide, sir. And he's like very well, get away from me. And I'm like you ratted out the guide. No, I didn't rat him out, I did it. And then I got him.

Speaker 2: 24:31

Yeah, you ratted him out. I got him fired. It was a blessing.

Speaker 1: 24:34

They wake up. They're like everybody dump His face when he dumped it out and saw the snacks falling out of there empty and I love crumbs, I always leave crumbs and he's like and a dirty spoon the whole deal. And he's just like no, and they're like shut up and they throw his rack and he's fired. He can only do seven pull-ups anyways. They should have fired him from the get-go. He just had a lot. He was very loud, so they fired him. He got put back in the spot I think right before graduation.

Speaker 1: 25:05

Never found out no, there's a lot of other things to him too, really messed up stuff. You do some things in boot camp to make you question that person you are. You're just like it's really malicious and you want to see people hurt like you are, especially if you're the chunky one. So I was one of the all-stars. I didn't like using boot bands, so I like tucking my boots like army soldiers and I didn't know nobody. Nobody said anything. I'm like what's the big deal? It looks good and they caught me. So I was one of the all-stars all-stars and you'd have to run up quarter deck time. And I found out the trick you just moan and groan and cough and cry and then they'll let you go. So after about five minutes I'm like I got my workout and I do that and they'd be like get away pig and I just and I walk off and squeal. They made me squeal all the time. It was a good time. It's funny. It was funny God.

Speaker 2: 25:47

I couldn't even imagine you at boot camp, yeah.

Speaker 1: 25:49

Eckenrode was with me the whole time. He stayed quiet but he laughed every time Like I tell all the embarrassing stories, everything. It was a lot of funny stuff in boot camp.

Speaker 2: 25:57

What were you going to say beforehand? I?

Speaker 1: 26:00

don't remember? Oh, my first night in boot camp they made us strip down in our whitey tighties. Right, Okay, you have to get full nude, but before that whitey tighties, they do the hygiene inspection. And there's a double what do you call those Double-sided mirrors to where they could see through it? Yeah, single-sided, or whatever you call it. And they're looking at me and I don't know. And I'm just sitting here and I couldn't stop licking my lips because I'm from the Bay Area and it's windy down in Southern California with the planes and everything, everything's wind. So I'm sitting there looking real good in these whitey tighties with my name stamped on there, and I'm just just doing that the whole time, right, just licking my mouth. And I don't want to say what they said. But they pop out, hey, recruit, and I'm like are you talking to me? Like what are you licking your lips for? And I'm like, and I kind of move my eyeballs over and they walk up and it was Sergeant Blaze. Oh, he was a scary little man.

Speaker 2: 27:01

I think he's still an officer too.

Speaker 1: 27:02

He might still be in, I don't know. He looked at me and he's like you either had a stick dinner or you just got out of a gay porn, which one is it? And I'm like I just started blinking my eyes and that was it. I was done From that point on. I got double fire watch from the first day of bootcamp and I just smiled. He said I smiled. They call me princess Charles chicklets. They call me Chicklets a lot because I smiled. I just thought it was very amusing because that kind of abuse was funny to me. And like seeing grown men cry over working out, it's like dude, I'm fat, relax, it's not that big of a deal, you're not going to die, you're good. I was like I got a triple X shirt on that says buns in the oven, come on. I was like I got out of boot camp like I don't know 157. But before boot camp, I can't do math very well. I was like in the 230s.

Speaker 2: 27:52

That's pretty big bro. I was a thick boy. You joined the boot camp at 230? Yeah, I did two pull-ups.

Speaker 1: 27:57

Barely two pull-ups and they let me go. They needed me. Hey, GWAT was something.

Speaker 2: 28:01

Yeah they were needed bodies on the front line. The war was going on.

Speaker 1: 28:04

They're like he's cannon fodder. Let's get him pushed through.

Speaker 2: 28:06

You got a pulse.

Speaker 1: 28:06

But I turned around my main drone instructor that came to my retirement High Horse Little, just a badass golden glove boxer. I had nightmares about it. I've never had nightmares about a human man that I knew and he terrified me. Every night I dreamt about him and I was just in fear and it turned out he did the best work on me. That's what I really needed was fear, because I lost all the weight.

Speaker 1: 28:26

I got up to like 17 pull-ups before I graduated and then I gained 25 pounds back on boot lead because I'm a big back and I like to eat jack-in-the-box, so I was drinking a lot and eating. And then after that I just started getting on the straight and narrow and I don't think I ever got other than recruiting my first year. I didn't really get. I tried to embody fitness and try to, you know, drink the kool-aid as you say, yeah, yeah, but I never. Once I became a marine I was like, oh, I'm sold. And then all I did was talk trash, and so did you. At one point, yeah, when we were all deploying, we just talked trash to everybody. Navy guys, it didn't matter who you were, you're getting this smoke, everybody got it. Yeah, they were just.

Speaker 2: 29:02

So you go from Marine Corps boot camp, san Diego and you went straight up to the school or you went to MCT after that.

Speaker 1: 29:10

The boot leave and then MCT, me and Eck rode together and then you guys hit the schoolhouse.

Speaker 1: 29:16

We were in a waiting for a while, like a month and a half, and that's where I met Brinkman. I met him in the schoolhouse in Hays. I met him. I met where I met brinkman met him in the schoolhouse in haze, I met him. I met all my my homies, that boater dispersed yeah, yeah, I met boatenhagen. He was our, our guide, was he? Yeah, I could see that. Oh, he was. He was a good guy and I mean, yeah, he's built for it, just very, do not do anything. Yeah, yeah, he's very controlled, but whatever.

Speaker 2: 29:43

And then then we could roll into the NJP, and then you got to the fleet two months before me.

Speaker 1: 29:47

Yeah, and they put me on guard.

Speaker 2: 29:49

What's guard?

Speaker 1: 29:50

So 21 area guard? You just walk around with a rifle in 10 rounds.

Speaker 2: 29:56

You have a little radio.

Speaker 1: 29:57

I don't know, it was so long ago, they probably gave me a full. It wasn't a full magazine, but you have your little black gear that you'd be like, oh where do you check? And you walk around and that's what happened the demise of my PFC, which I didn't get taken away. But it was stupid, honestly. Everybody I was trying to be straight edge and everybody's sleeping on post, going into port-a-potties and sleeping and I'm like I don't even know, I don't even remember the guy's name. He was from T and we were on watch. It was like midnight to two or three, I can't remember and he's like, hey, let's go to the port-a-potties. I'm like I'm not sleeping in a port-a-potty, my room is right here. Let's just go lock the rifles in the room. We'll sleep, listen to the radio, do the radio checks, and we'll get up 30 minutes before and go back. Too easy, Mortat was the aid duty. He snitched me out.

Speaker 2: 30:42

No loyalty Did he?

Speaker 1: 30:43

Yeah, sergeant Bowden. I think his name was Not the Bowden that everybody knows in our community, but the chunky one, and he was my instructor at the schoolhouse. Unfortunately, he couldn't stand me Because of the way me and you are. We just like to have fun. Belligerent is what they call it. I said, having a personality is what I call it.

Speaker 1: 31:01

Yeah, just being headstrong. So we slept in my room. I told Morty Ty like, hey, we're going to go to sleep, and he's like, oh, you know his voice. Oh, I don't think. I'm like whatever. I'm like just don't. Don't say anything, I can't. I'm like whatever. I go upstairs, wake up it's light out, not pounding on the door and I'm like. I wake up like like I left my baby in a crib or something. I'm like, oh my God, you slept through the whole night I think around 530. And my watch ended at three or four, I'm like, and I woke up knowing my life was over.

Speaker 2: 31:34

So you're hours late to turning back in your.

Speaker 1: 31:36

Yeah, they were panicking, looking for us. They thought we were gone. Went UA with loaded rifles, so rightfully so he was panicking. He had the SOG and the COG. That COG was a clown. I opened up the door and the corporal was like do you want me to cuff him, sergeant? And I'm like, oh my God, really Like cuff me. He's like where are your rifles? I'm like they're locked in my wall locker, sergeant. And he's like go get them. And I'm like were done, oh, I got a baton ngp that day and that's like ngpg.

Speaker 1: 32:07

The same day that morning I sat at the guardhouse, the same guard shack you worked out. I sat on that couch for about three hours. The masks aren't there laid back, black dudes like trying to explain to the sergeant like is it that big of a deal? Yes, he was my student. I want to make sure this is an example for all everybody else. So I got straight up, hosed, I went, I went up to it's actually funny. I went to the company office. My first arm blew up on me rightfully so and I was just taking it, just shots, shots, just screaming, spit everything. And you're a private or pfc. I was a pfc, proud mosquito wings. Just like I'm the man. You know how you get your mosquito wings. You're like oh there's something there.

Speaker 2: 32:40

You don't look like a janitor in my uniform anymore, and the first first sergeant blew me up.

Speaker 1: 32:44

The master sergeant was cool. I can't remember his name, but he's like, hey, buddy, he was like a laid-back cool trying to think of who. He reminds me of Bruce, so laid-back cool dude. He's like, hey, just be truthful, we're going to go see the sergeant major and he was an acting sergeant major. His name tracks, but this ain't the one. This is the early 2000s.

Speaker 1: 33:11

He was an angry, angry man. I went in there. He was cool at first. He's like, hey, pfc, all right, pfc charles, before we start this, tell me something. I don't think you know this. Tell me something really inspiring. Why did you join the marine corps? And I look at the mass art and he's like, oh, and I'm like the benefits for a sergeant, oh, no, oh, I got blown up, you, and just all the things you're not allowed to talk to Marines about nowadays. Unfortunately, he just blew up on me and he threw my rank off, which, unless a guy can't do that and then I had to pick him up. He put him upside down and I had to fix him and then I stood outside the battalion commander, colonel Buckles, and I'm glad I got NJP'd, actually, because it put me on a straighter path than what I could have gone with our platoon that we joined before all the knuckleheads combined. We're like planeteers. It's bad. We connect our rings and we just become idiots. It was bad so.

Speaker 1: 33:52

I'm glad I got that.

Speaker 2: 33:53

I got 45. Huh, oh yeah, you did get 45.

Speaker 1: 33:56

Yeah, so Gunny Barton vouched for me and was like he's a hard worker and I'm like just sitting there like I was, like I was. I mean I'm pretty, we were straight up slaves. Like you tell us to go do something, we didn't have a choice. Yeah, you ran or you're getting punched Like you're doing something. This is old school, like you will get beat up by NCOs if you don't do something. So I was like gone Get beat up by a senior Lance. Corporal yeah, he has a hard punch.

Speaker 2: 34:24

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 34:25

Yeah, he's punched me a few times. But he vouched for me and said don't take his ring, max him out instead, if you can, sir. And they maxed me out. I did not appreciate that.

Speaker 2: 34:32

What is okay, so for people listening.

Speaker 1: 34:37

So 45 days restriction, it's like being grounded 45. 45 means you get EPD extra policing duties. So I was like grabbing like my dog tag and scraping off the wax in the battalion and then mopping, gluing everything. Next day do it again Spray painting, like the leadership principles. I had to do all that. I misspelled it.

Speaker 2: 35:02

I had to do it again I hid inside the LBTs, out inside of the battalion. Oh, you're talking the leadership principles on the stairs. You spray-faded them wrong. Walking upstairs yeah I had to do that. That was you, huh yeah.

Speaker 1: 35:12

Well, unfortunately I don't think it's there anymore because they moved the battalion, yeah. But yeah, I learned my lesson came up that I forgot about. That triggered me to be like oh, I got stories for days. You want to play games?

Speaker 2: 35:24

Let's tell the Nair story.

Speaker 1: 35:26

We already told it, you didn't tell shit.

Speaker 2: 35:27

We told it on a live thing on a little Q&A thing. No, I didn't, you were just fishing to insult people. No, I didn't, and my kids saw it.

Speaker 1: 35:32

It was super disrespectful.

Speaker 2: 35:33

Just tell the damn story, Chuck.

Speaker 1: 35:38

I was on restriction. You get bored right gonna hang out with a friend. That's grounded like everybody goes out. So you know a couple of them, like galvan hung out with me and haze hung out with me.

Speaker 2: 35:46

There were homies, but everybody else abandoned me but we were really tight then until after I got off restriction.

Speaker 1: 35:51

You thought I was just a turd because I was the only one in the platoon with my njp restriction, and then I found out later on, only real marines have njp. So suck it, nerd. I'm a real one and I kept getting promoted. It was great, but I didn't get in trouble anymore.

Speaker 2: 36:04

So all right back to this tell the story of the nair you're you're on the real story and not your version of the story, because I'm the one that nared my body.

Speaker 1: 36:12

Yes, it was dumb, all right, I was just like putting it all over. I put my whole body. I've never used it before. I was just curious what I look like like a? Like a hairless rat, I don't know. So I I wash it all off. You happen to walk in my room after I do it and it hasn't. There has that weird funky god, awful yeah and travis is cracking up.

Speaker 1: 36:31

He's just like oh my god, and I put it in my crack and forgot to wash it out like I thought I did, but I didn't get deep enough. You know, it's a little, you know not that I don't go that way.

Speaker 1: 36:41

Chaos, bro, and I and I sat down on that blue couch and you were sitting with me and I was, I think I was just in pt shorts and I was still in restriction, so I had to be in green on green. So I put the green shirt on. I'm like, oh, and I'm sitting there. You're like what's up? What's up? It feel weird and you're smacking me, hitting me like you always do, and I'm like. I'm like something burns, dude. I'm like oh, uh-oh, uh-oh, and I got up and it was burning. It was like I ate, like just like a bucket of wasabi. I was like, oh Lord, like I thought I had to go to the bathroom. It was not it. I did one wipe in the bathroom. I'm like, oh Lord. I got back in the shower and it was miserable, felt like I got raped. It was bad. We're going to have to edit that out, but that's what happened. I never did it again.

Speaker 2: 37:21

I remember you complained about how bad you were chafing.

Speaker 1: 37:24

And the funny thing is I did that bodybuilding show and I asked Brewer I'm like do I got to nair my body? And I thought about that time. And this is like 20 plus years later and I'm like, I'm like I can't handle nair bro. And he's like just do a razor. It took like six hours.

Speaker 2: 37:45

It was miserable sasquatch. Yeah, I remember us marching and you complained the whole time of how raw you were from the chemical burn you had.

Speaker 1: 37:48

I need butt paste, dude, that butt paste for babies, because the baby powder just turned into like wet putty, like red dirt clay when it gets wet. That's what it was like. It was miserable. Yeah, I couldn't help it, man, and we never got to shower. We're always working. We're always working, god. Months so fucking, 10, 11 o'clock at night. It was fun, though, oh god, it was the best, worst times of my life 100 yeah all my good stories come from that platoon.

Speaker 1: 38:12

It was such a great time and I mean my best friend was the one doing it to me. Like sancho, he's my best friend and he was just it was. It was only when we were together that he truly had a hatred. He he just hated me. No, he hated me towards the end of our first deployment because I grew my hair out when I did have it and I was doing the errs way more.

Speaker 2: 38:33

Err, err, err. Yeah, then you and I got connected shortly after.

Speaker 1: 38:37

No before the deployment we got connected, oh yeah. Before deployment you and I, that's when we started getting in trouble and we got in a lot of fucking trouble, yeah, but not like trouble that you get in real trouble for. It was just mischievous, stupid stuff that we never got caught for. Yeah, we never got caught for anything, and we're not talking about that. We could talk about all of it now.

Speaker 2: 38:56

What did we do that we didn't get caught for I'm trying to think.

Speaker 1: 39:00

The fights. I mean, we got caught for the NFL thing and we had to write the letter to the commissioner of the NFL for the cheerleader thing. Oh my God, you're right, I don't really. That wasn't really an exciting story, though.

Speaker 2: 39:11

I mean, we were at the pro bowl and I'm almost got in a fight with Michael Vick.

Speaker 1: 39:14

Yeah, michael Vick, before the dog fights.

Speaker 2: 39:16

Before the dog fights. And we all had the right, yeah, to try to fight Vic and his whole entire entourage, but it was just him and his agent, like later on, it was the NCOs that got in a fight and them and the Ying Yang twins were at Hard Rock.

Speaker 1: 39:28

Yeah, and all the NCOs remember, because Norcross was there like Marshall. That was a hilarious story so I keep looking at the camera. So remember, on the ship, corporal Norcross, he's like this short.

Speaker 2: 39:40

I love the guys reminds me of kip off of napoleon dynamite. That's who norcross?

Speaker 1: 39:46

he's gonna so irritated with you saying that.

Speaker 2: 39:48

So I mean he wore remember, though he wore timberlands or timberlands, timberlands. They were the gene, the gene.

Speaker 1: 39:57

I remember some of that.

Speaker 2: 39:58

That wasn't our style, anyways, he called you in the in the birthday he's like you.

Speaker 1: 40:01

Remember how he used to say your name come here, marshall, all the time you walk over and you look down on him and you grabbed his arms and picked him up to eye level and he's like put me down, put me down, put me down. And then he boots you with a steel to ride your shin and you just drop and you're like, oh, and you held on to it and I'm the other NCOs thought, oh, you want to pick on the short one. And then I got lumped right in with you because I was laughing in that one.

Speaker 2: 40:26

Well, I mean, dude, if you're going to talk to me like that, all the time I'm.

Speaker 1: 40:30

You remember when you picked up, sergeant, and you had to have a heart-to-heart with me on top of the ship? Yeah, because I was still a corporal, and you're like no, no, this is the second deployment. You picked up Sergeant on the second deployment.

Speaker 2: 40:44

You got it mixed up see, yeah, see, it's old, I got more of the memories.

Speaker 1: 40:47

So all the NCOs, what is it? The Semper Six is what they call them, the corporals that got to haze us, and we were all corporals and I'm like this is ridiculous.

Speaker 2: 41:00

You just didn't want to be messed with.

Speaker 1: 41:01

You're like, hey, if I don't have to get messed with, I wasn't getting hazed. And then when you got Sargent, because they couldn't stop you from getting it, because they didn't realize it, so you snuck that in.

Speaker 2: 41:08

They tried everything.

Speaker 1: 41:09

They pretty much told you hey, you need to have a talk with Chuck. That lasted like a week bro.

Speaker 2: 41:19

Yeah, I had a chat with you. Well, you're a sergeant.

Speaker 1: 41:21

I'm like bro, stop, and I think I nut tapped you like joking around. You're like no serious and I was like alright, I was like because I understood that, I was like well, I got pulled aside for that one.

Speaker 2: 41:29

Yeah, galvan did too. They were like you can't be friends with corporals anymore. I was like we're all. Ncos, we're all NCOs, but that lasted with you. I like cool story bro yeah, then nobody ever said anything after that. God dude, yeah, number 29 palms, driving the 29 palms. Which time eek party or eek party?

Speaker 1: 41:52

that was a good time. That's when you got your official bam name, bam yeah from lock I don't even want to say his name from our section leader that was in our platoon. I'm not going to tell the other part of the story, but the eek party was fun let's tell that part of the story.

Speaker 2: 42:05

Oh, no, no, no, yeah, dude, we were troops, we were troops. I'll fucking tell it. I don't give a shit, I don't like him, I don't care.

Speaker 1: 42:11

Yeah, so we were on the eek party. We all get selected. What is the eek party.

Speaker 2: 42:15

So I got chosen, had to pick the working party and you were mad because I picked you first yeah, you just wanted entertainment I was I was the jester of the platoon, me and renfro so I was the guy that always got picked for the worker party because I was the belligerent asshole because you could lift heavy stuff.

Speaker 1: 42:30

That's all they cared about you didn't like the belligerent part. They just like that.

Speaker 2: 42:33

You lift stuff, bam come here, and so you were my buddy at that point, so I picked you. So you got fucked for everything that I got in trouble for and had to do a work-up party.

Speaker 1: 42:42

Yeah, sancho didn't want me to go. That made him mad. I think that made him mad towards you. He's like troops don't get to pick who they go with and I got taken because that's one less worker on the track. And he's like no, I got to do it. Yeah, so he wasn't happy, no-transcript wasn't allowed, but we entertained it, we all did yeah, it was a good time.

Speaker 2: 43:17

Yeah, so we go to 29 palms to do this eek working party, which is the eek armor that we had the bolt onto the side of our piece-of-shit vehicles.

Speaker 1: 43:25

Well, it was AVs. They were very trusty vehicles.

Speaker 2: 43:29

Yeah, that's why they sink and drown people all the time. They don't even exist in the Marine Corps anymore because of it.

Speaker 1: 43:33

Oh, don't say that. What are you doing, what? Don't say that, what Is it a lie?

Speaker 2: 43:48

No, they're discontinued now continued because they were such an uh, they did a lot of great things. Bro, don't start this what. They did a lot of great things. I'm saying that's why they didn't, but they were outdated. Yes, they were super outdated.

Speaker 1: 43:52

Dudes were drowning in them. They it was. We get to the ramp, the delta company ramp, twin end palms. They drop off the eek and we see how much it is and we're like and I just look at you and I'm like, yeah I thought we were friends, yeah and you were just laughing like if i'm'm going to be miserable, you are, and I'm like dude bro, this isn't funny.

Speaker 1: 44:05

And then I snapped out of it. You're like shut up, smacking me, and I was like all right, whatever. And we start lifting stuff, doing all that. And then we started clowning around like we usually do, throwing stuff at each other, and Lochner's in the corner sipping his coffee, staying in the shade Rightfully so.

Speaker 1: 44:29

Staff and ceo's yeah, I would not have been doing anything. And he's like just yelling at us, not just keep keep playing around, keep playing around. And me and you both are like two handicapped children. We're just we're feeding off each other like we have turrets. And and he's like, say one more time, and I'm gonna launch this bolt. And these bolts are nothing to play with. It's not like something you hang in your house. These are thick bolts, like something you'd build a bridge with. And as I come around the side and the eek is only up to, like, our waist now it used to be higher up but it's down to our waist. And I said, er, as I cut that corner and I didn't see the bolt, you did as he flung it and I guess it like, oh, he was super close to my head.

Speaker 2: 44:59

I thought he had you the second. He released that bull. I watched it and I was like one of those like, oh god, and it missed your head I mean just he's.

Speaker 1: 45:08

He's honestly really lucky that I don't know what I know now, because I would, I would have laced him up with with a heater. You would have too, like if we knew what we knew, now going back, oh god, I would, he would, he would have got he would have got some action.

Speaker 2: 45:19

It would be different. He stole my black book, is he? Yeah, I have a couple that are in mine.

Speaker 1: 45:23

Yeah, I got probably four pages full. I don't resent him Like I forgive him, but if I see you Really you got four pages huh. Oh, something like that. I don't know.

Speaker 2: 45:32

Are they legit? Written down.

Speaker 1: 45:33

Yeah, in my house, actually right next to my Bible, really, yeah, black book, and it has it's probably like 10 names on it, something like that. It's not four pages. Yeah, I was the bag, I was the executioner, so just chopping them as I found them adsep, adsep, like if you did drugs, you're done with me, like in the marine corps. I wasn't, I wasn't playing with that. How are you catching them? How are you catching these dudes? Room inspections, really. What type of drugs there's? Weed, weed. Well, the piss test is how I caught them. But underage drinking was a big thing and the academy barracks, academy. It's different in school environment than in the fleet. Fleet is different. But when you're underage, you got a bottle of absolute vodka and it's open and half gone. He's like it's not mine, it's in his wall.

Speaker 1: 46:13

You weren't doing this we're not talking about me. We're talking about me as a senior motherfucker this is what I'm talking about.

Speaker 2: 46:19

Times have changed. Times have not changed. Yeah, you changed were only in a few years.

Speaker 1: 46:23

You were burning dudes for underage drinking. No, he didn't get burned for that, so he did that I was going to say you, let me finish my story.

Speaker 1: 46:29

I was going to say I know this is your show, but I got the hat on. All right. All right, do you understand? Let me tell this story. So I tell my paperwork, or anything, and so my master guns. This dude is admin and he can't read. This troop, he's from newport news, virginia hood dude, can't read, can't type, can't nothing. We didn't know what to do with him, really.

Speaker 2: 46:53

And then he caught him underage drinking.

Speaker 1: 46:55

So I'm like all right, so the dude hasn't done anything for me and and it's, it's a. It's a luxury being at the academy as a troop, because you don't have a lot of stuff to do and you get treated really well compared to the fleet. Really Like we make mandatory PT for them, their staff and COs PT them, but it's not excruciating death runs like we were doing, like miserable stuff, like it's a very good life. And this kid, I didn't have a use for him. I'm like Master Grins, what do we do? And he Piss test. Coming up, let's piss test everybody, all hands. And I was in charge of that. I'm like cool. Well, master Grenza was, but I did all the Excel formats and he popped immediately.

Speaker 1: 47:29

Oh really, ten days out of MCT he popped Really Mm-hmm. So I got the gift of taking him, getting all of his uniforms. I can't remember what kind of discharge he got, but he wasn't allowed to come back on base. So I dropped him off right outside the San Clemente gate and was like peace, sucker, I'll catch you on base. You can catch the smoke. And that was it, because if you did drugs around me, that was a wrap. Oh for sure, because I don't want to be around it. I'm not going to say I'm going to snitch.

Speaker 2: 47:58

Just don't bring it around me and we just hopped on piss tests like constantly.

Speaker 1: 48:01

Well, that was a different lifestyle. Back then we were in the middle of the war and deploying nonstop. So I'm not giving excuses for those guys, but that was a different stressful time. What do you got to be stressful about now?

Speaker 2: 48:09

Nothing.

Speaker 1: 48:10

You got to go to 29 Palms.

Speaker 2: 48:11

Oh no, were you there for that guy that they had the battalion formation?

Speaker 1: 48:16

And we about faced on him.

Speaker 2: 48:19

They marched him out PMO. I went to the field with him. He was on my track for one field op and he was crazy Dominican dude from New York, jersey or some shit.

Speaker 1: 48:28

Yeah, he was cocaine pop. Yes, yeah and PMO was there and the battalion sergeant major I can't remember his name. He had us all about face and turn our backs to him and they arrested him and took him off. I never saw him again.

Speaker 2: 48:38

Nobody did. They about faced the whole entire battalion, and then I remember he pulled that Gerber out. Oh, he ripped his name tags off first.

Speaker 1: 48:45

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 48:45

The whole battalion with that little life tool. Ripped his name tag off, ripped the U S Marine off, told each battalion or company commander or platoon commander to about face the whole battalion.

Speaker 1: 48:57

Thousand Marines. It worked though. Think about it. I was so against, I didn't. We were terrified, I didn't. We were terrified, I didn't do anything. That was the one test I knew I could pass the Marine Corps 100% on a yeah, on a dime.

Speaker 2: 49:05

That was it. That was the only test I was ever confident with Done.

Speaker 1: 49:08

I never had to wait. I was like I'm always held to reserve at all times and I always knew I was going to pass. No speculation.

Speaker 2: 49:19

No, there was times where they got to be doing drugs.

Speaker 1: 49:20

They're too wild, Like no, we were just drinking.

Speaker 2: 49:23

Our battalion was so bad.

Speaker 1: 49:26

And all our Marines. It was all brown pee. We were so dehydrated with how much we were partying. Oh, Because we were young.

Speaker 2: 49:32

Yeah, there were so many. They were doing piss tests three times a day for like a month and dudes were still popping on piss tests. That's how bad our company was during the early days of the war, I would say, because it was all broke dicks and short timers that were left behind. And then us this is before bravo got back, because all bravo was alpha, alpha.

Speaker 1: 49:55

Well, the whole battalion was almost gone. When I got to the fleet, the whole ramp was almost empty yeah, that's how it was when I was there golf ball games that we had to do. Yeah, yeah, it was still quite a bit empty when you were there. We would. We would march to chow Cause you got. You got to us before the Fallujah guys got oh yeah, yeah, yeah. That's. That's when our world opened up.

Speaker 2: 50:13

That was, that was the greatest times ever Imagine, but not the first day, not when they got back.

Speaker 1: 50:18

The first day was terrifying.

Speaker 2: 50:20

Before they got back. That's when I was calling people like you need to join the Marine Corps. Remember the USO shows? There was a party every night on the beach, oh yeah.

Speaker 1: 50:31

I saw Brooks and Dunn perform. I saw Jai Rule. I saw Sharon Stone make out with the Lance Corporal. It was great. I was like, oh my God, we're superheroes. Yeah, celebrities want us, yeah.

Speaker 2: 50:40

Yeah, that was insane, they did all those beach bastards.

Speaker 1: 50:42

It was awesome they stopped doing them.

Speaker 2: 50:44

Well, yeah, once the war, once people stopped like, okay, the war's been going on long enough, the USO pulled from and they're like it's been over a decade, let's just yeah, we're good, and then Alpha Company they shaped us up.

Speaker 1: 50:58

definitely, we were like Lord of the Flies. And then they got there and we still were, but we had like leaders of the Lord of the Flies, like they were. We didn't cross them. No, because they were battle-hardened. They saw some serious stuff.

Speaker 1: 51:10

Yeah they got fucked up pretty bad. After becoming good friends with a lot of these NCOs like I stay in contact with them and I won't share their stories. It's their personal journey, but I could see why they did some of this. That's why I'm so forgiving to a lot of them, for you know the games that we played. I'm like it makes sense Like they went through. Like think about going through something 10 times worse than our deployments and then getting dropped on brand new boots, like you would have done worse.

Speaker 2: 51:31

Yeah, we were just obnoxious.

Speaker 1: 51:32

Are we salty yet? Yeah, and then that brings first day, or our first day in al-asad. And no, we weren't in al-asad and like, obviously we were there to supply and then we left and we didn't come back till the end. Uh, we were never.

Speaker 2: 51:48

I wish we were there god, other almost has had a good life. Did I talk to people that were stationed on?

Speaker 1: 51:52

al-asad, don't take me off track, we're gonna tell the story, remember.

Speaker 2: 51:55

No, I don't remember, remember what huh do I remember what we're? What's the first?

Speaker 1: 52:00

time we got mortared. It was our second night in Al-Asad. We were about to leave the next day and I was on my track and Sancho was on the jump seat just judging me as I read my Maxim magazine. He was just telling me about stuff because I was super, I was like a sponge. I'm like Iraq, like what have you seen? Like I looked at him as like a huge mentor because he'd been through everything very serious and after the fact he's like I did all that stuff to you guys because I was terrified, I didn't want you guys to lose your lives because he went through his stuff. So I remember reading the Maximazine and everybody knows that's been mortared.

Speaker 1: 52:32

Here's that whistle, it's like a, and then it's silent poop, thud and I heard the first one, second one and Sancho's like stay in the track. And he pokes his head out. And here comes brian marshall running right past my track with his hands in the air. We're salty. We're salty with mortar rounds coming down right in front like 10, 10, maybe 5, 10 feet in front of our tracks. Dust is just shooting us and I'm crapping my pants. And then I start laughing because I see Brian Marshall running past the tracks just flinging his arms, doing something like we're salty because we always got called boot 24-7.

Speaker 1: 53:11

We made it and then Saj was like come here and he just I don't know what he did with you.

Speaker 2: 53:15

He fucking hazed the shit out of me. Yeah, he was pissed. I was like I, I almost died.

Speaker 1: 53:18

Rightfully so, though, but he was furious because he didn't think it was a game. So he had a three-hour discussion with me that night because of you, and I realized it and I kind of was like all right, I need to get my head straight. Yeah, that was the first. I was like all right, I mess with him, and we've had more dangerous interactions. We were just bad luck overseas together because our second deployment, I just got blown up when I was on the phone.

Speaker 1: 53:46

You were on the sat phone and we were talking about this. Yesterday we were on your sat phone and you're talking to someone and we're sitting on the berm of this fog, the x yeah, well, I didn't want you guys. So I was sitting right next to you because I'm like oh, sat phone's. Next, I want to call my wife. You know it's valentine's day and I'm just looking off you don't see anything. There's nothing out there. Like, yeah, I think it's called. It was fob ellis is what they call it, because that's our major passed away sergeant. Major ellis got killed on it. Yeah, yeah, and sure enough, we didn't even hear the whistle. No, I think it's because we were chatting with with your ex and I was just laughing at what she was saying. And two, three feet in front of us, poof, and that berm was just dirt and we rolled back. We were filthy. We rolled back and we looked at each other and we're like holy crap.

Speaker 1: 54:26

Usually the reaction is like but no, we were like, oh my god just died yeah and you had, you clutched that sat phone like it was gold you're like it's still mine and we bolted well, then they started.

Speaker 2: 54:38

A bunch of mortars started coming in. Then we took off running once we realized what happened. Well, the the tracks are right here, yeah.

Speaker 1: 54:43

We fell like and then we almost hit the bow planks In between the tracks.

Speaker 1: 54:47

Yeah, it was right there. And then we bolted and I jumped in my track, you jumped in yours and we were chilling. And then I pop out because we kept getting mortared the whole. They're trying to hit that fuel bladder mortar. Guys killed it and they started rocking and rolling but they destroyed our supply, our water, like all that stuff. We ended up going to animal house right afterwards. But in the middle of all that, remember, we see renfro coming out, coming out of the, the makeshift porta potty, and he's pulling up his pants and I'm like where's his rifle? And then somebody yells, where's your rifle? And he's like, and he bolts back and it's like 40 feet. And I'm like, oh my God. And then Hildebrand, my man, my boo, walking from the running from the chow hall, where's your rifle? And he's like, oh, and he's a salt dog, he was salty, he had like eight deployments at that point.

Speaker 1: 55:46

He was in fluge already and he and I got him at ms night later on in echo company after our deployments.

Speaker 2: 55:47

I got him hard. Did you call them out? He got fined. He was furious shut up. Yeah, he's on. He was that. I think he was in the front for leaving. Oh yeah, he started talking.

Speaker 1: 55:50

You know how he is, he started talking back and forth and I was in the back. I called out garner. He was crawling under the tables there. He used the bathroom, the head, uh, and we were out in oceans or in carlsbad. It was great you missed out on that one. That was a. My ribbons were hanging off at the end of the night. People were putting out cigars on my alphas.

Speaker 2: 56:05

It was great.

Speaker 1: 56:07

It was one of those nights with you.

Speaker 2: 56:08

You would have loved it, but it was a good night.

Speaker 1: 56:10

But I called him out and he's like really, Chuck, Really I'm like did I don't know what happened after that. It was just a good night, Dude we had the wildest times as troops.

Speaker 2: 56:23

I wish it's almost like now, like our kids now. I wish our kids grew up like the freedom that we had as children.

Speaker 1: 56:32

The same in the Marine.

Speaker 2: 56:33

Corps.

Speaker 1: 56:34

Maybe your childhood not mine.

Speaker 2: 56:35

Yeah, clearly yours was not the same as mine. I grew up privileged compared to you, but, um dude, I feel like our era of marines, like true marines, is the last of it, unless we get into some more time again, but no, I don't think it'll be the last.

Speaker 1: 56:50

I think every generation says that way.

Speaker 2: 56:52

I have these talks all the time with old heads you see the new core acting how we did with blood stripes. The drinking, yeah, but we didn't have social media, bro.

Speaker 1: 57:01

If we had it, you think we'd probably be doing the same stuff, stupid stuff. We probably would I'd like to say, we wouldn't.

Speaker 2: 57:06

But we don't know, because society's changed so much.

Speaker 1: 57:08

I honestly think every generation says the next generation's weaker.

Speaker 2: 57:12

But I remember like when I left the schoolhouse, like when we were students at the school gone, everyone was gone, even the barracks. Dude, if you were the only reason you were behind, because until you got off, restriction. But like those, our barracks were a ghost town on the weekends. I remember my last, like when I had would have od or whatever dude, the whole, the whole squad base would be full of kids and I'll be playing xbox like they didn't go out. Well, our barracks weren't empty.

Speaker 1: 57:34

We were having barracks parties, we had ragers, so when we were there when it was empty. You knew it was empty because if it wasn't we, our doors are open, we're on the catwalks, we bought kegs. How would you even?

Speaker 2: 57:45

explain that, the, the vibe of that? I mean it would be like living in the projects.

Speaker 1: 57:50

I feel like like everybody there's dudes grilling down below, I mean imagine it's devastating being in a full 20 and seeing it totally transformed to nothing, where they're. None of that's allowed anymore. That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 2: 58:01

We were in the last era of just real raw. I know you look at the Vietnam guys, they're even more, they're even worse.

Speaker 1: 58:09

But they look at us like, yeah, but they had a downfall, because I've talked to a lot of older dudes and they talk about how even in the Marine Corps, they segregated races because there would be a lot of fights and stuff like that.

Speaker 2: 58:20

Oh yeah yeah, so we didn't have any of that, it was totally open.

Speaker 1: 58:22

We didn't discriminate, it didn't matter who was in the platoon.

Speaker 2: 58:25

You were partying with anybody. You were catching this action, you were catching all.

Speaker 1: 58:27

I mean you were putting Everclear in your hand, lighting on fire and smacking people. It was hilarious. That was reared. You know Dave Chappelle show, he just put the baby powder.

Speaker 2: 58:42

Chappelle show was huge during that time.

Speaker 1: 58:45

And it's horrible. I tried to show my, my kids the other day and I'm like Ooh this is your videos.

Speaker 2: 58:53

No, it's on you can. You can get them on TV.

Speaker 1: 58:54

Oh, the show I we only recorded once when we got hazed and that camera got shattered. Remember the TV situation and Buckley they lined us all up and they were going to mess with us Chinese field day, oh God, port, starboard, all this stuff and they saw that who put the camera? Trizzle, trizzle, reardon. Reardon had that get camcorder and he popped out of the room and they're like they just got done shattering Roos' TV. I think it was Roos' TV. Buckley just dropped it and it shattered. He had to buy him a new one. It was hilarious. But Buckley saw either Reardon or Trizzle. I'm pretty sure it was Reardon. I thought it was Trizzle.

Speaker 1: 59:30

Reardon was pretty belligerent. He'd call it out like no, this isn't right. And he's recording Where's that camera? Come here, no, no. And I can't remember the whole story. I think one of them they put it away and locked away like no, no, no, this. Then I don't know if they ever got the camera back or if they made him delete it and took out the film. I don't know, you'll have to ask him that.

Speaker 2: 59:47

Were you there when we were doing track over the weekend and Gardner Kate showed up wasted. Yes, he was so fucked up, he was so drunk, he was called a buckwheat. Buckshot, buckshot, buckshot, not buckwheat Buckshot. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:00:06

Buckshot, relax, buckshot, relax, buckshot I got it. I saw him at the Fallujah reunion.

Speaker 2: 1:00:11

Really, how's he doing? I think he said he saw him he's doing good.

Speaker 2: 1:00:14

Yeah, same country bumpkin was my first crew chief. I think he finished off at the ismet up at 21 area, did he got out? Yeah god, he was. Uh, he was as country as they come. The one thing that drove me nuts about that dude he would spit in all the, the bolt, the bolt holes on the floor, clean it, not even clean it, you need to go to work on something. And every hole in the on the floor on the deck, whatever we called it, had a giant ring of foamy dip spit around it, so I was always like rinsing that shit.

Speaker 1: 1:00:42

Is that what you're talking about? Yeah, the deck plates and uh that's why I bought you that many tracks, so you can start. You're fresh, bro, learning the nomenclature all over again.

Speaker 2: 1:00:50

No, no, I never learned it in the first place. Huh, I never learned it in the first place.

Speaker 1: 1:00:56

Yeah, you did dude, those were yeah, you have one of the most viral youtube video. In my opinion, when youtube was coming up, was the 84 gone wrong.

Speaker 2: 1:01:07

That's you, oh yeah, it's still on youtube.

Speaker 1: 1:01:10

I just searched it up a couple weeks ago. It's got over a million, so why do you want to do? Why do you want to do?

Speaker 2: 1:01:14

me dirty like that.

Speaker 1: 1:01:15

All right, what bar story? Your daughter wants to hear the bar story, I'll go ahead. Which one huh? The one I told last night is this the boogie my kids, yeah, yeah so the boogie in anaheim. A lot of marines know about this place old, old school guys I've been there, count, I can't remember, remember how many times this is anaheim right.

Speaker 2: 1:01:33

Didn't we take the train we take? The amtrak to anaheim, but the boogie we never.

Speaker 1: 1:01:37

I didn't never take the train. I rode with somebody every time I I take the train sometimes. I never took it. Yeah, sorry, but I convinced you to go out that time. Wait, no, that wasn't the time when the whole situation happened. No, this is before.

Speaker 1: 1:01:51

This is a pre-early meet partying with you off base and I learned my lesson real quick. No, I didn't, because I kept doing it, yeah, but anyways, we go to the club and there's this huge dance floor. Ratio of women is phenomenal. It's like a three or four to one that was incredible Pick of the litter. We're young.

Speaker 2: 1:02:10

Young Marines we're invincible.

Speaker 1: 1:02:12

And naturally the majority. Well, a lot of girls in Southern California didn't like Marines, but we had good I don't know how to say it we had, we had, we had good I don't I don't know how to say we had. We had a high selection rate at the boogie. Anyways, we're up there dancing. And then they said ladies, you guys want to see some guys up here. And then of course you're like let's go, let's go. And a lot of guys wouldn't go up there me, you and, I think, renfro and like one other dude because a lot of guys were like, no, we ain't going up there, I'm not doing that. And I'm like I'm about that life let's get it.

Speaker 1: 1:02:39

We're drunk, like beyond drunk, and I get up there and I'm known as a flasher. I take off my clothes when I drink. That's why I stopped drinking. It's because it's not smart Like I'm that guy Will Ferrell in old school. He's a streaker 100%. Once you whisper it, I think everybody's saying it. I'm like, let's do it.

Speaker 2: 1:03:02

And I'm the only one. I do not care, I have no shame.

Speaker 1: 1:03:03

Uh, I'm up there on the table and we're like both of us. There was a bar.

Speaker 2: 1:03:06

There was like this no, it was a wooden like wall and it was like that tall.

Speaker 1: 1:03:08

There was no railing and we grabbed it. And the dj's right in front of us and the people are behind us and we're pretty much dropping our butts down. Our girls are slapping. It's great. It's great, treat me like just a child. Yeah, get it, spank me. And they're just, they're just doing it. And I stand up and I'm like this is great. I'm having time in my life. And you knew, and you took your opportunity, like are you? Oh, I just heard him say they want to see your. You know your stuff. And I'm like, okay, all the way down and everybody just starts laughing, the whole place stops. I get swept with my legs still down. You, you just pull your hands back and don't defend me. Full Nelson dragged out of this club and it's super cold in there, if you know what I mean. And my pants are still down and I'm like I didn't do anything. What'd I do? What'd I do? And they kick me out. I pull my pants up and there's nobody.

Speaker 2: 1:03:58

They drug you through that whole bar. Everybody got just your butt. I could just see your butt the whole way oh no, no, it was twig up.

Speaker 1: 1:04:08

Butt was down as twig up. It was embarrassing super. The second time demasculating to do that and there's this big old black dude and he's like you ain't going nowhere.

Speaker 1: 1:04:16

I'm like, I'm not resisting, just let me pull up my pants, bro. Yeah, my selection rate went down as soon as I came back in there, because I just went to 7-Eleven, grabbed a lime, got the X off my hands, washed them up, went back to the hotel, grabbed another shirt because I lost that shirt. I gave it to the girl and I thought you know that was the one and didn't see her again.

Speaker 2: 1:04:34

We used to go for ladies' nights. That's what, what it was Thursday nights and it was like it was like 40 bucks to get in. We were like, okay, and all the dudes up front would be bitching about it, we would just, we paid it because it was ladies night and we would be.

Speaker 1: 1:04:46

I was so desperate. They said we weren't allowed to have hats and I had a hat. I just threw it in the parking lot and the guy's like really, and I'm like I just want in, like because it was gold in there, it was such a good time that place was popping.

Speaker 2: 1:04:57

You got thrown out of twice in there for pulling your pants down.

Speaker 1: 1:05:00

I thought no, I got in fight. I got in a fight two other times. I've gotten kicked out four times. I remember we'd always this is over like two years a year and a half a year, something like that. It's all a blur solid year, but it's all good stories and it was a good time. I didn't mean no ill will, no dude, we the fights weren't started by me, I just jumped in, got a couple licks, but that was a good time.

Speaker 2: 1:05:20

Those were wild. That was one of the funniest things I've ever. What I? I just remember your voice, what I do, what I do as your pants are looking at you the whole time like, save me.

Speaker 1: 1:05:30

Yeah, it's a big one, take them down. And you were like no, there's one other time I already got kicked out and I asked the bouncer to tase me. Were you there for that? I was there for that, yeah, and I got tased. I think you got tased too, didn't you? Somebody else got tased and I can't remember. But I don't know why. We asked that. The stupidest thing ever didn't you do the kendo stick thing too in singapore. You asked the cop to hit you tried.

Speaker 2: 1:05:51

They know you it has. It's a serious deal to get caned yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:05:54

Yeah, we were together because we got the pictures of of jack and cokes at that. At that bar they just serve pitchers. Can I get a Jack and Coke?

Speaker 2: 1:06:01

That's where I told that story on Zoom, he was with us. Why was?

Speaker 1: 1:06:04

Zuma with us.

Speaker 2: 1:06:05

I don't know. I think he was already there.

Speaker 1: 1:06:07

Because we would have never went on Libo with him.

Speaker 2: 1:06:09

He was a.

Speaker 1: 1:06:09

Libo risk bro. His whole life is a risk, god bless, that guy was a wild man.

Speaker 2: 1:06:13

There's just some people you just that probably used to say it about me. Oh yeah, you were 100% labeled. You're not hanging out with him.

Speaker 1: 1:06:22

You were labeled Until you settled down and had kids and I was like, all right, there it is, there's the Brian I want to know. But we had good times, oh dude, we had the most incredible times.

Speaker 2: 1:06:31

Yeah, but yeah, zuma was one of the. If I thought somebody was a liberal risk, they were Him and Leonard's Old Dundee.

Speaker 1: 1:06:39

And.

Speaker 2: 1:06:39

Renfro Old Dundee. He's still a little bit risky, I remember. Do you remember the prank I did on him with his? What was the shot we used to had to get?

Speaker 1: 1:06:52

Smallpox, smallpox, the smallpox shot, or the anthrax shot Anthrax.

Speaker 2: 1:06:56

Yeah, it was the anthrax shot. Do you remember when I set the whole thing up on ship and he I thought he was going to jump off the side of the ship over not being able to get off in Hawaii. So we all got the shots, the anthrax shots before him. Remember he ended up coming to our platoon late, so we got a shot late and you know, in good fashion, like I had to fuck with that dude for everything, because he showed you so much and you got so bothered by it that we kept doing it.

Speaker 2: 1:07:20

Yeah, because he showed you so much and you got so bothered by it that we kept doing it. Yeah, and so he. I went down to the BAS on ship and I was like, hey, I'm going to fuck with one of my dudes. Just go with it. If he calls, tell him he's not allowed to get off the ship until his smallpox shot is completely healed because his was all pussy and shit on ship. Remember we were in the desert when ours was healing, so his was on the ship.

Speaker 2: 1:07:39

So I come up and he's all you know, hey, oh, oh, bing, bing, bing, bing, bro.

Speaker 2: 1:07:46

And so I was like yo, leonards, and he's like, yeah, bro, yeah, I'm like, because he's all excited about getting off, I'm like you know, you can't get off the ship till you, you're I remember that he's like the second time you did that to him no, bro, lying, you're lying and everybody was in on it and I was like go to BAS and ask him and he's gone for 30, 40 minutes and he comes back like full tears, just all waterworks, and he's like my life is over, bro, I can't even get off ship because they told him they went along with it. Yeah, he was butter for like I don't know, we will let that one go for a couple of days.

Speaker 1: 1:08:21

Yeah, he was butter about the first one, and all I saw was him. When you tricked him and told him he was going to hey, your old platoon that you were with originally, they're coming into Iraq and we're about to leave, and he packed all his bags. You don't remember that, I don't remember this. He packed all his gear, went out where the ramp, like our little dirt ramp in front of the tracks, and just sat there and that dude sobbed man, when was this? I don't know if it was you or one of our homies, because it was definitely our click that did it to him. He was so butthurt, I don't remember this I went out there.

Speaker 1: 1:08:49

I was like bro, I'm so sorry, I felt bad for him. He was like in tears. He's like I want to stay out here. No, that wasn't me.

Speaker 2: 1:08:59

Maybe it was, I don't remember.

Speaker 1: 1:09:00

Yeah, it was because that was our second appointment, but it was his first. I thought, yeah, somebody did it to him and he was sobbing. He was a wild man, and then you did that to him on the way back. Even more so he's probably-. No, that was on the way out, that was on the way there.

Speaker 2: 1:09:12

Oh was it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:09:22

Yeah, his mom's like a newspaper journalist Really. Yeah, something like that. He has an interesting story too. He's a wild man, Louisiana.

Speaker 2: 1:09:26

Coon just lives in the—I think he's in Louisiana, right.

Speaker 1: 1:09:29

Yeah, Lake Charles area.

Speaker 2: 1:09:31

Yeah, he lives in Lake Charles.

Speaker 1: 1:09:32

He owns a house. Interesting guy. He's a wild one, that's a word to put it. Yeah, he's interesting.

Speaker 2: 1:09:37

He's wild chaos, that dude's wild chaos, it's just chaos. He lit his face on fire. He lit his face on fire trying to blow flames.

Speaker 1: 1:09:47

Let's move on from Leonard's. I got a great story I wanted to tell last night she's going to love it Atomic sit-ups.

Speaker 1: 1:09:53

Everybody knows what atomic sit-ups is. People our age, we're on the ship. We got two troops, two and 47, 48 corporals and a handful of sergeants like and we're all hungry sergeants that have never. No, we were corporals. My bad, I was a sergeant, you were, were you already? Okay? Anyway, it was a lot of ncos and just two troops, stump and thing, and, yes, stump, stump and Thing and yes, stumpf, not like a tree stump, but Stumpf and Thingbold, kurt Lee Thingbold. I'll never forget his name, kurt Lee Thingbold.

Speaker 1: 1:10:31

Someone's got to Google that and the poor guy was in the wrong circumstance. He should have been with like 30 other troops and he wouldn't have got messed with as much he probably still would would have for a thing. So we, we wanted to initiate them in the platoon. I didn't, I wasn't a part of it, I was just a watcher. It was hilarious. This time it truly was. I wasn't holding the towel or nothing, you were 100% on the towel. No, I just wanted to see you pull your pants on and actually do it. So I was right there, like you were there. So the whole platoon was in on it. We get both these guys down.

Speaker 1: 1:10:59

But we, we did stump because we already got thing bold and I didn't. We didn't, I don't, I wasn't there with thing and you guys did it to me. I was super upset. So I wanted to be there for stump because I truly just despise this guy and he was just a mouth breather and he got down. He's all amped to be a part of the team. All these ncos are gassing him up. Boater was definitely there and he's definitely holding the towel.

Speaker 1: 1:11:18

Like trab was there too. There was. There was a the little click, and I know I was a part of it. I just can't remember if I was holding his legs of what I was doing. But I, I was a part, but I don't feel like I was there because I didn't you know, sam or anything. So we get his head down and Tomic sit up, you hold the towel right and then you got right over him. He had no idea, I don't know why, probably because his name's stump. So you pull your pants down, spread your cheeks and one, two, three, and he's pushing his towel. We let go face, plant right in the butthole and I'm like, oh, but it wasn't.

Speaker 2: 1:11:49

I just started gag, bro.

Speaker 1: 1:11:51

He sat there so long like I jumped, it was like a nice two seconds he didn't know where he was.

Speaker 2: 1:11:57

Like he, just I thought his eyes were closed.

Speaker 1: 1:12:00

I have no idea he got't do some manscaping or something. Did he think he was?

Speaker 2: 1:12:03

in like a pillow pad or what shag shag towel and his face after he opened his eyes.

Speaker 1: 1:12:09

Oh, I want to throw up thinking about it. It was the nastiest thing ever and that was the start of just he didn't deploy with us, obviously, oh god, he was out of there and within a couple weeks thing bold and stuck it through but didn't work out the whole deployment.

Speaker 1: 1:12:23

But he made it all the way through, poor guy. Can you imagine being a troop going with all those NCOs and you being the only troop? Me and you, we would have been brothers for sure. We would have been lifelong friends, just from the misery they would have put us through. You want to talk about trauma bonded?

Speaker 2: 1:12:38

I wonder if those dudes get together every now and then and just talk I know they do, I I have, I feel bad in my heart for.

Speaker 1: 1:12:44

But it was a different time back then, like it was in my mind. We were just trying to toughen them up because they were honestly just soft and we were all I mean, we already deployed once and we were trying to do what our ncos did to us like that's what we're trying to. But we took it above and beyond, like we're going to do better, we're going to be more you know, that was horrible thinking, our imagination was wild.

Speaker 1: 1:13:04

So, we got to do a lot more. What's a story where you two got trauma bonded? I don't think we really had trauma bond, it was just Bonding. I just have so many stories of knucklehead stuff we did, like when you crushed my fingers, yeah, when I stepped on your hands, when I saw you for the first time and I did a little, you know, squash the bug on there and the way you looked at your fingers and I was like this, my dude, and then I finally your dad was. I mean, honestly, you just like sitting in your room playing video games, you didn't do nothing, like earlier where you're saying like oh, people don't party more, you didn't really party. I finally pulled you out and we got to go do stuff. You rarely went out because you knew you were a wild man, so you partied usually in the barracks. You didn't really go out a lot.

Speaker 2: 1:13:45

I got to fucking fight every time we went out.

Speaker 1: 1:13:47

Yeah, it was great, I loved it. No dude.

Speaker 2: 1:13:50

Yeah, you were the instigator. I'm the one getting in a fucking fist fight every time.

Speaker 1: 1:14:03

That's why I was like's looking at you marshall, he's looking at you and then I start something or shove somebody. I'm like, what's up? Just because I knew it'd be fun like a big dude with me. I'm like, oh, this is, we're gonna wreck house. This is gonna be fun like this is gonna be. There was no ever we, though. It was always me. No, no, that's a lie. We never got in fist fights with people when I was with you. We just had a good time.

Speaker 1: 1:14:24

No, unless he was on base, like with like Navy personnel or something, but we didn't fight.

Speaker 2: 1:14:29

Not when it was just you and I.

Speaker 1: 1:14:30

No, it was when there was a group Other people, maybe they'd watch. No, any of my we never gotten in fights in public, like with other people what's the hawaii story? Oh, yeah, all right, this is a fun one. Oh god, why did you? Tell her I love that she reminded me of this. This is good, so write these down or something our first, our first time in hawaii, reminded her last night, and then she said it this morning, oh God.

Speaker 1: 1:15:02

So our first time in Hawaii, on the way to Iraq, we're still knuckleheaded. We got no stress in our lives. We know we're going into Iraq whatever. We're going to have a time of our life. So I go out with you I can't remember what are the days, because we were there for like four or five days. One because the first couple nights you were having fun and you came, we came. It was center roll hours. You had to come back to ship every night I'm like bro, let's go out.

Speaker 1: 1:15:25

And he's like you're like all right, bet, let's go. We go out and we walk by this coffee shop and I'm like oh, I'm like I've never been to hawaii before. I'm like coconuts, dude. And you're like oh, dope, we should get one, let me get. And then you, you tell me mr bam, over here, double triple my size. I'll stand on your shoulders. And you stand, I'm like have you seen my legs? And we did it. And there's this jeep.

Speaker 1: 1:15:52

Oh, I remember this jerky right behind us a black one, it was, I think, black or silver and I grab onto it. You put your foot on this jeep. You didn't have any care for personal property. You were just like smash, got on my leg and you were like just twisting and I'm like, oh my God, and I'm like straddling this tree trying to brace myself for all 300 pounds or whatever how heavy you were, you weren't that big. But and you get up and you go to shake the tree Cause you can't grab one and of course one falls off and I'm like score, and it falls right onto the windshield as I take your own cherokee and shatters it and you jump down, you grab your flip-flop back on because you never wore shoes and we bolted you. Remember that you never wore shoes.

Speaker 2: 1:16:32

I still don't. I remember that. That was a wild story.

Speaker 1: 1:16:36

And then your dad got a conch somehow through that trip and then we constantly got in trouble because he'd go on the flight deck when we do like our formations and yeah, oh, yes, corporal, oh, and you'd run over. I was like, oh my god, and I wasn't even near you and I got wrapped up in it. I'm like why?

Speaker 2: 1:16:56

I bought. I bought that just giant conch shell in hawaii, and then every time we'd have a like a ship formation where all the Marines were and I would be in the back.

Speaker 1: 1:17:07

Like any man overboard, drills me and you get that. You did it every time. The first sergeant tried to take it from you and he's like you know what? That's actually funny, go ahead. And then Gunny.

Speaker 2: 1:17:20

Bart was chasing me, bahamas dude. We went to the bahamas recently and they were like wheeling and dealing like prices on conch shells and I was like if I, if I can blow this first, try I get it half off. And the guy's like do it.

Speaker 1: 1:17:36

He was like the whole market, don't they have to drill holes in it?

Speaker 2: 1:17:40

they just cut the tip off where it comes to a tip they just knock that off, yeah, and the whole market?

Speaker 2: 1:17:42

Don't they have to drill holes in it, they just cut the tip off. Oh, okay, where it comes to a tip, they just knock that off, yeah, and the whole market shut down. All the girls and everybody were like you know how to do that, dad. I'm like you don't even know how. I used to sit in the back of a Ford, remember, we used to go Like a white Maui. We used to go we called fishing where I would blow it in the barracks in the middle of the night. We'd blow it till the OOD would roll up. We'd all hide in the, on the, on the third deck, like behind the yeah, it sounded like a foghorn.

Speaker 2: 1:18:06

Yeah, oh, dude, fucking Marshall, they'd be looking for me. I'd be running around the flight deck at night Cause we'd all come back on ship wasted, everybody's fucked up in Hawaii why, like every night, we'd come back. So then they'd make us get in formation to get accountability to make sure everybody made it back, and I'd just bring out my conch shell every time. I'd be carrying it with me and I'd stand on the back and just be howling on this thing. And gunny barton knew let me fucking hear it one more time and then wogday came around and was like you two, come here, duck walking dude.

Speaker 1: 1:18:40

He's like we started. And then we thought you know, if we start acting gay, he'll leave us alone. So we're duck walking and I'm sitting here acting like I'm humping you and we're fully clothed and I'm like and then you're doing it to me and then, bartender, oh, you guys want to act gay. Good, come here. And that was when the don't ask, don't tell thing was going on. So he's like oh, you want to play?

Speaker 2: 1:18:57

and then we took us to the neptune, yeah, king neptune with his belly, and I had to, I had to tongue his belly button with fish oil, and it was.

Speaker 1: 1:19:10

I had to eat a fucking cherry at his belly button. All right, you did too, motherfucker.

Speaker 2: 1:19:12

No, I didn't eat a cherry, I was fish oil. We got sprayed with fish oil you remember when?

Speaker 1: 1:19:15

okay, so let's explain wog day first. People are gonna be like what the fuck are these dudes talking about? Yeah, you're right okay.

Speaker 2: 1:19:20

So to become a shellback in the navy. It's an it's a naval tradition. I hope it still continues to this day.

Speaker 1: 1:19:27

I think it's. It's a little softer version, but they still have it.

Speaker 2: 1:19:30

But when you cross the equator, you become. You go from a wog, which looks like a sperm, it's like a tadpole, when you go from a wog to a shellback, which is like this naval tradition and as a marine, like there's not a lot of marines that get to do this except for there's like golden shellback which you cross the equator and the prime meridian or something like that.

Speaker 1: 1:19:52

At the same time there's like a few different ones but this is a big deal for the navy.

Speaker 2: 1:19:56

And then as marines, if you're fortunate enough to be on a mew and you cross the equator like it's pretty bad-ass, you get a huge certificate Like I still have all mine.

Speaker 1: 1:20:04

Yeah, I got mine in boxes.

Speaker 2: 1:20:05

It's a whole entire 24 hours of the, the whole entire fleet, the Navy fleet, the ships just shut down and it is a giant haze fest, like it doesn't matter if you're an officer rank there's no rank there there's no privileges.

Speaker 2: 1:20:22

Everybody is a wog crossing the equator and you're getting fucking hazed, yeah, and so, like they're waking you up first thing in the morning, you're dead asleep and you're getting antiqued by some random dude. Or if you have guys like us that went through his troops and then we went on our next appointment, we had a whole platoon full of people that did the whole shit. Our walk day.

Speaker 1: 1:20:40

I was in fear for my life, our walk day was horrible, we wrote.

Speaker 2: 1:20:43

They put a rope in the birthing. There was a like round with a little island in the middle.

Speaker 1: 1:20:47

Remember we all had to lock legs and we row, row, rowed our boat for like three hours and punch and kick, punch, sprayed with on eggs, thrown at us tar and feathered with honey and flour and and then they, we, they work you through the whole ship and we end up in the chow hall which they feed you breakfast and it's like green green eggs.

Speaker 2: 1:21:06

Everything has a pound of salt poured on it. Fish oil on everything. Fish oil like straight, pure, like raw fish oil on everything. They had bottles, spray bottles of fish oil, which we found out what was in them at one point I'll get to that. We shouldn't have asked that either and uh, dude, our gunny is our gunny on this deployment was like the the crustiest. You didn't fuck with this dude.

Speaker 1: 1:21:31

He's salty, salty, very experienced like the gunny and full metal jacket like just him. When you think of a gunny, of the marine corps smoke while he does his pft we've run three miles with a cigarette.

Speaker 2: 1:21:42

You ever see him eat never.

Speaker 1: 1:21:43

I just had this conversation with, I think, he's. I saw him smoke cigarettes, drink coffee, drink coffee.

Speaker 2: 1:21:48

That was it. I've never seen him actually eat and if he didn't have his cigarette or coffee in each hand, you didn't fuck with him, you didn't even approach him. So this just hazing people and we're on the floor in the chow hall. There's like shit rolling around and I swear it was you. You slid me a bottle of mustard and it comes right to me and I grab it. I pick it up and had weight to it, he's still a dangerous person.

Speaker 1: 1:22:11

I don't know if I want him knowing that part of the story.

Speaker 2: 1:22:13

Let's go ahead and edit that out, all right and so no, it was you, because you were always right there. So I I feel that, feel that this mustard bottle has weight in it. And I'm on the floor and there's Marines crawling everywhere, dudes are screaming, there's food flying. It's fucking wild. I undo the lid of this mustard jar and I get on my knees and I'm waiting. And the gunny Barton, he's screaming and hazing dudes. As soon as he turns his back to me, I go to like flick this mustard jar and he turns right back around and like this glob of mustard is flying straight at his face and he turns and it just, it just hits him and he was like you and I looked right at you and he grabbed you.

Speaker 1: 1:22:54

I was smiling, I'm like because you were telling me to do it you snitched me out immediately. I couldn't believe you. I was like oh my.

Speaker 2: 1:23:02

And then all hell broke loose. Yeah, all hell broke loose. The next three hours were Horrible, like blackout.

Speaker 1: 1:23:08

They had this tunnel.

Speaker 2: 1:23:11

They had a tunnel with.

Speaker 1: 1:23:12

Why do you got to?

Speaker 2: 1:23:13

What? Go ahead, go ahead. They had this tunnel that was all blacked out and they had had PVC tubes with like 100 holes drilled, so there was nowhere to breathe. You're getting straight waterboarded as you're crawling through this tunnel on the flight deck of a ship which, if anybody's ever gone on a flight deck the non-skid will shred you. So we're crawling on this and you start freaking out. I panicked, legit panicking. Then you're screaming, I can't breathe. Then you start fl flailing and you're kicking me because I'm right behind your feet and that's what I started pushing you and you were.

Speaker 1: 1:23:45

I figured it was getting waterboarded. I put my face in my shirt and it was like getting waterboarded fire hose and I'm like I was just I.

Speaker 2: 1:23:53

I snapped now I see why people get interrogated like that makes total sense then we got out of there, we had the duck walk walk and then our gunny comes up to us and he's got this spray bottle and he gets it going. It's like it's on laser mode. I'm talking, it's one of those industrial chemical spray bottles that shoot a laser like nine feet. It's one of those and he looks at me and he goes open your mouth, bitch. And I didn't know and I was like, was like, and he just goes, it just lasered pure fish oil and I instantly I start losing it. And then he looks at you and he goes.

Speaker 1: 1:24:31

You already started making the noise, so I'm like because I gag, every time you do that, anytime I hear a throat noise, I'm like and he looks at you and he goes open your mouth and he was jamming, messed up my gums. He just grabbed it and just scraped, scrape, scrape, and I'm like, oh, and I wouldn't do it still, and I still gagged, there's all kinds of juices.

Speaker 2: 1:24:53

Just sit there, pull the trigger. Just fish was pouring out, you're just fighting because he was gonna spray more than once.

Speaker 1: 1:24:58

He loved messing with me, yeah, and then get in trouble, man.

Speaker 2: 1:25:02

That's when we had to go and they have, in the end of the, at least for our ship, this is how it was, and if there's any freaking sailors that are like that's not how it was, I hope to god it was not like this. They got the fattest sailor on the ship and he's sitting on this makeshift throne and he had this giant.

Speaker 1: 1:25:22

Whatever the trident, the trident. He has this giant trident and he's got this giant jar of freaking cherries and I get the cherry, I got the fucking cherry, thank god, I don't know why, because barton was pissed that I wouldn't open my mouth, so he sprayed it in his belly button. He's like lick it out. And I'm like and it was all you remember how hairy it was? I'm like it was just like a giant sailor just just a giant sailor.

Speaker 2: 1:25:47

They find the fattest dude. He's king neptune and he sits there and this is who grants you your. You're a shellback dude. People are gonna. Let's just be like what the fuck.

Speaker 1: 1:25:56

But I will tell you that after being doing that second one, I we real. We both realized an all-male ship like the, like the cleveland in the comstock and the comstock is is unisex they had women on the ship. So the cleveland, when you shut down, it was all no no rules yeah straight lord of the flies.

Speaker 2: 1:26:15

Like you can do whatever you want we had like three females on that whole ship and they were navy ensigns or whatever no, it was an all-male ship.

Speaker 1: 1:26:22

Was there a second one there?

Speaker 2: 1:26:23

was. They came to visit and then they flew back to the main carrier, but we were on the Cleveland.

Speaker 1: 1:26:27

It was a tiny one all male. That's why they got to do all this stuff. I found out later when I was talking to Bidwell. He's like yeah, it was an all male ship. So that's why they watered it down and we couldn't do all the fun stuff as shellbacks because there was females there and we couldn't be like strip because you already know I'd be walking, I'd be having people walking, duck, walking, naked, like I would have been doing stupid stuff yeah, you're that.

Speaker 2: 1:26:48

Yeah, you would have been doing it with me.

Speaker 1: 1:26:49

Yeah, you're right, and hildebrand actually showed me videos last week. I told him to email him, but I hope he does soon, but there's videos of both of us standing there boating hanging. Has that blonde spiky wig. I got a fake beard that looks like now.

Speaker 2: 1:27:01

Okay, so hold on, we're gonna get to this. So the king Neptune yeah, he's the fattest sailor on the ship Sitting on his fucking throne. He's got a trident in one hand and he's got this jar of red cherries and this cherry juice in the other jar, and he would fucking pull this cherry out and put it in his belly button and yell something. And you had to go and fight the Thank God dude. The stem was just enough where you can pop it out of this dude's belly button. And then he made us. There was like four of us standing there and he told us to sing the Marine Corps hymn backwards.

Speaker 1: 1:27:35

Marines hymn. Whatever the Marines hymn.

Speaker 2: 1:27:39

Backwards and we're all standing there like, and then we turned around I don't know who turned around. Someone turned around and we all sing it backwards to him and he said he gave us the omnis dom, this blessing, and then they took us to those giant green sea dye tanks and baptized us in them and it was freezing water it washed all the nasty. It washed everything off of you, and then the second you get baptized in this neon green water, you're instantly a shellback, so you can go and start.

Speaker 1: 1:28:07

I think it was that shark repellent stuff.

Speaker 2: 1:28:08

It's the when you crash, yeah, like the sea dye that goes out. So that's like the shellback tradition. And so then when you do it again, if you're lucky enough to do it again, you cross as a shellback. But again, if you're lucky enough to do it again, you cross as a shellback. So you get to now partake in the hazing. And on our second deployment there was only like 30 of us on that whole ship that went through it. So the whole ship were all wogs and there's only like 30 of us that were already shellbacks.

Speaker 2: 1:28:39

So we got the haze the whole, yeah, even our lieutenant I remember I had a staff and co's, everything it was staff sergeants, gunnies, it didn't matter who you were, didn't matter the rank, you, if you wanted which you could not not partake in it. I loved it and uh, I'll never forget, dude. I got stuck with the officers and I had this giant jar like costco jar of peanut butter. Yeah, and I remember feeling filling all their ears and their nose full of peanut butter just because yeah we got pictures of Thingville.

Speaker 1: 1:29:07

We tar and feathered him with flour, peanut butter, honey and, I think, coffee grounds. It was all over him. They're really funny pictures.

Speaker 2: 1:29:17

They're good you need these pictures, I know.

Speaker 1: 1:29:20

I told the other, Brian King Hill, to email him over. Those videos are just. He has the video of us making thing. We'll sing the SpongeBob SquarePants song and me and you are on top of the Humvee and there's a video of him turning to me and you're standing there just waiting to smack this guy and Hildebrand's up there with us. I totally forgot about that memory until he showed me the video.

Speaker 2: 1:29:41

What was he filming with?

Speaker 1: 1:29:42

yeah, I think a digital camera okay with a little chip in it. It did little short clips I remember you, boatenhagen hayes. Like all of us stayed together and we rotated, yeah, we just and just thrashed everybody, not just find groups of people.

Speaker 2: 1:29:53

We took it hard on the officers oh, I was kicking all of them. Yeah, I remember they were physical abuse on all they were doing sit-ups and I'd dump a bucket of water on their head and if you'd catch them at the right moment, it would just boom. You'd hear their head just boom, and you would dump that bucket of water.

Speaker 1: 1:30:06

Boatengen had that stick with a skull on it, I'd snatch it and smack people in the head with it, just to mess around.

Speaker 2: 1:30:12

Remember we stole the horn, that Navy horn, on our first one and we were in there with we snuck in, we literally all. We opened the door to the grunts birthing and not, there wasn't a fire watch, nothing. And we started opening up their blinds, really slow, and you just get the biggest handful of powder like flour, just poof and these dudes are just losing.

Speaker 1: 1:30:45

I snatched a life out, a couple of them in the rocks losing their shit them down, ripping their shirts just, and then they were like they tried to fight us at first and we're like, no, it's wog day boys. And they're like, oh, no, we were.

Speaker 2: 1:30:56

We were gathering materials, eggs, peanut butter a week a week at shit week at sea we had Dzimski.

Speaker 1: 1:31:02

Now he was on the first deployment. I don't think he went on the second. Did he 100%. He was on the second, I can't remember.

Speaker 2: 1:31:09

He was at the house cooking for us.

Speaker 1: 1:31:11

No, I don't remember him on the second either. I talked to him randomly. I'll hit him up.

Speaker 2: 1:31:16

Yeah, ask him, I could have sw at the house.

Speaker 1: 1:31:18

No, but we were collecting for a long time. The first appointment, he was bringing his food constantly. I don't remember him on the second because I remember his voice. He had like that.

Speaker 2: 1:31:25

I could have swore I wheeled and dealed Move the turret.

Speaker 1: 1:31:27

He had like the pinched nose talk. Maybe he didn't.

Speaker 2: 1:31:29

Turn me.

Speaker 1: 1:31:30

Like you, tell Renfro to turn him in the turret because he was a cook. He didn't, and we'd all laugh in our section because he was in my section, do you remember?

Speaker 2: 1:31:40

red for sleeping at night that motherfucker on when we'd do radio checks and it would get to his vehicle and we would have to call him like how tau was so fierce with him all the time, galvan too.

Speaker 1: 1:31:49

He beat on him all the time for it, but that was good. In iraq, when you, you got tired of his stuff and me and run for I've talked about it and we've talked about it a couple times you're on watch and he's next one up. You wake him up 15 minutes early. You always give him like 30. It's like wake up, and I, for some reason, I was up there. I think I had watched with run fro because I wouldn't have been up that late because boater and I stood watch every night and then you and run for relieved us yeah, and I woke.

Speaker 1: 1:32:11

I was in early. I was like you wake me up, I'm up yeah, and I walk over and I'm hanging out. And then me and you were arguing. You're like no, I'm going to leave. I'm like no, you're not. One of you guys has to stay here, one of you guys has to deal with it. So I antagonized you into throwing sorry, run through. But you threw him off because I was like you both aren't going to bed because I can't leave the post. It's super dangerous, like in retrospect.

Speaker 1: 1:32:30

We're like I can't. Like's right there, yeah, but there's nowhere in sight. No, this is the second deployment. Yeah, that city was a long ways away, outside of Barwana.

Speaker 2: 1:32:45

Yes.

Speaker 1: 1:32:46

We were in, like the oil fields, where we cracked that pipe and there was oil everywhere.

Speaker 2: 1:32:50

It was a couple miles away.

Speaker 1: 1:32:52

We were alone out there Like later on we found out there was footage they were recording of us. Oh, I believe it, and we only had, like HESCO barriers up to here so we can go do our number twos and look out. We wanted to create an ambiance because we got complacent after the third extension out there and we're out there for ten and a half months.

Speaker 2: 1:33:10

Well, okay, so back to this watch post. Oh yeah, sorry, so you're standing a post in the middle of the night for two hours, I think our posts were, and I had to wake this dude up every night with you and he wouldn't get up.

Speaker 2: 1:33:25

And so finally, after you're antagonizing me, he's sleeping on top of a vehicle and I would wake this dude up and he just go back to sleep. Just would not give a fuck, like straight up, would go back to sleep. And that's when you and I were arguing. I was like dude, I'm going, I'm going to bed, it's in the middle of the night, it sucks, and it's like this every night.

Speaker 1: 1:33:40

No, so what happened was I was like dude, I'm going, I'm going to bed, it's in the middle of the night, it sucks, and it's like this every night. No, so what happened was I was like, well, let me walk with you, boater, just stay here. Real quick, I'll walk back with you, you can wake him up again and then I'll deal with it. And you were like, because you weren't coming back, you're like all right, and poor guy, I picked him up and tossed him, just picked him up in his, in his sleeping bag, like a body bag, that's what it looked like and you're just whoop, you just did one swing back and he still didn't wake up. He's like a coddled baby, just. And you just right off the track and that's like a I don't know nine foot drop, yeah, on the soft sand. So you just heard the and dust poof all over, dude.

Speaker 1: 1:34:24

He deserved it you're like he's awake, I'm going to bed and I walk off. He came up and boater finally walked off, because boater was like boater was straight edge. He was like I'm not leaving my post like somebody else, he's right, yeah and so I and then, as soon as I came back, I'm like no, he's definitely up and boater's like you sure. I'm like he threw track, he's up, and he's like he just laughed and went to bed. He's like all right later and I just sat there, dude we hit that pipe.

Speaker 1: 1:34:48

Yeah, that was scary. Okay, I was scared when we hit it. I was like what You're talking about the oil? Yeah, that scared me.

Speaker 2: 1:34:56

Yeah, bro. So people listening have no idea. This is the shit that goes on in Iraq, that I never hear people talking about there's no footage or anything of it. There's pictures, there's 100% footage of it.

Speaker 1: 1:35:05

Oh no, I got photos. Yeah, I said we're rich. I made a video. Yes, I showed Melissa.

Speaker 2: 1:35:14

It's like we struck oil. Good old GW, do you have this video? Yeah, I'll send.

Speaker 1: 1:35:17

Well, it's going to take me a while, because I've got to search through everything in the boxes. That's fine, we've got time. Just remind me.

Speaker 2: 1:35:22

So we're in Iraq, we're doing this bullshit security for these engineers because we're literally building berms around cities that are along the Euphrates River. So if anybody wanted to leave on vehicle or foot, they had to go through these checkpoints, which we ran, him and I. We ran the vehicle checkpoint. Well, these engineers are they like put their claw in the ground and were just ripping roads for us and they strike an oil, an underground oil line, like pipeline. Well, how would you compare it? You can't compare it 20, 30 fire hydrants.

Speaker 1: 1:35:58

Power was yeah, there had to have been 100,000 gallons out there. 100,000 gallons, there were lakes of oil.

Speaker 2: 1:36:02

Yeah, so oil, we strike a pipeline. It goes into this wadi aqueduct system, that goes down into the palm grove, into the Euphrates River which is a biblical, historic river. Yeah, that was bad. And so this oil is running through the desert. That leads straight. So the dozers have to haul ass, get to the river and they start building a berm and they literally kept just half and they sat there for it was all night dude, it smelled so bad stay right on the side of the berm.

Speaker 1: 1:36:35

Yeah, for months on end smelling all that oil.

Speaker 2: 1:36:38

It was horrible. It was just pure crude oil and then, while they were, doing that.

Speaker 1: 1:36:41

I think you were in a different section. You guys were providing security. The people from the town came up and I have pictures. Uh, third section we were. We were like our staff and co. Our bugger walked up and was talking to the people because they were all farmers. They were furious, like that was all their property, rightfully so. We destroyed it. But we were like we didn't do anything the engineers did, but obviously iraqis were like dude, who's gonna pay us for this?

Speaker 2: 1:37:02

yeah, because those were all date trees. Yeah, that's their livelihood, loud through them. And they built this berm and then, shortly after this, within days, they ripped a hole through a natural gas pipeline.

Speaker 1: 1:37:15

That ran for months. I was terrified of any smoker. I was like don't light a cigarette near me.

Speaker 2: 1:37:21

It was so powerful. The gas coming out of that pipeline was so powerful, powerful, the gas coming out of that pipeline was so powerful. We were miles away and it sounded like a jet, like a air, like a jet taking off just all night. Did you ever drive by it to go back to the fob? No, it was deafening how loud it was and that thing ran for months, yeah, but they they stopped it up before we left. Yeah, but it went from because I went back a couple times for the whole at4 thing.

Speaker 1: 1:37:46

I went back and that was a debacle. And then I went and did like the gatling guns with the mark 19. I went and did like the fun shoots because we were just doing a tcp, god dude. So it was just a, it was, it was.

Speaker 1: 1:38:01

I wouldn't, I wouldn't say it was exciting, but we got to do some cool stuff out there yeah like once we moved into actual barwana and we went into Animal House and we found huge caches and we found some cool shit. Yeah, we did some really cool stuff in our career. Just those two deployments. I got the most experience out of my first four years.

Speaker 2: 1:38:19

Were you there the night, god, dude. I ran through a cemetery one night and we had no idea. And the lieutenant stops me on this Hill and he were looking around and he's like pivot, pivot. Me to the left and I start like kind of like a roll pivot and we hear this crunching and I'm like what are we running over? And we looked, dude, and it's like on this Hill, and there was just these shallow boxes and stuff.

Speaker 1: 1:38:43

Dude, he was like get us the fuck out of here and I'm like, yeah, that's bad. Oh, dude, I don't remember that. Yeah, that we were. It was in the middle of the night. I don't even know what we were moving. I randomly would just find you sometimes, like I, uh like in the turret, so we were clearing, we were clearing, we were clearing houses in barwana, like we did it in a push into the city, yeah, like it was like a marine corps commercial, the hell. You remember that? The helicopters, I think boater or hayes, uh, recorded it. But it was beautiful. It's like a magazine like or a like an ad. We all drove in grunts, all get out. It looked beautiful. And you got to be the mounted mounted patrol, yeah, because you wanted to go have fun. While you were making friends with iraqi dudes, somehow you found a cattle prod. All the ranchers know what that is. It's a shock. It's pretty much a taser on steroids.

Speaker 1: 1:39:26

We don't need to go no, no, it's funny and there's a lot of wild dogs that are severely mean and there were like packs of wolves and I'm looking through you up I'm looking through my turret and I'm randomly just watching and I I'm like there he is, because the way you wore your kevlar it was always like a bobblehead on top and you had like these orange glasses and you had your little red and white scarf uh, iraqi scarf thing you wore around that we're not allowed to do anymore.

Speaker 1: 1:39:53

Uh, and I saw you messing around. I'm like what's that stick in his hand? I'm like I'm like I know now, there was a cattle prod and this dog keeps coming out here and you're like, you're like kicking away, like like piss off, leave me alone, go away and finally you.

Speaker 1: 1:40:05

And finally you talk to this Iraqi and you grab the stick. I'm like, oh, he's going to smoke them with it. I'm like cool, and I got my camera up and I recorded. I don't know where that footage is. Somebody told me they have it. I think Hopkins says he has it because I sent him all my stuff and then, I lost it. He was a big boy and you finally just you're like time to meet Dr Watts and that dog just bolted. I was cracking up. I'm like, oh my God.

Speaker 2: 1:40:32

Dude everywhere I went, I followed you until I couldn't see anywhere.

Speaker 1: 1:40:34

I'm like, all right, moving on, let's do my job and actually provide security.

Speaker 2: 1:40:43

Dude, who were the two? Leonard's is one of them. Was it Copen that left their rifle?

Speaker 1: 1:40:46

yeah, yeah, it's a good story, so this was your section, right?

Speaker 2: 1:40:49

yeah, this is animal this is animal house.

Speaker 1: 1:40:51

We get just got done with the patrol. I'm in the, of course I'm in the turret of the humvee because I'm like I got all the 203 rounds. I got an extra like 80 pounds on me because allman made me wear those leg pouches, the leg pouches that had like 25 rounds and then the chest and then the other leg. I'm like this is so unfair. I lost so much weight, I was so skinny you had more grenades on you than tim kennedy.

Speaker 1: 1:41:12

And then that and then I had that old school rifle and you guys all had the new rifles and I'm just like oh, yeah, with a 203 on it and I'm like dude, this sucks. I'm like I want the high speed cool rifles. I'm like they're like. No, I'm like I'm not even big, why is a Marshal doing this? But our section needs somebody with a 203. I'm like this is so unfair. We have Zuma. He's a mechanic. Anyways, we go out on patrol. Oh yeah, we all had short.

Speaker 1: 1:41:44

M4s. We do our patrol in our section. We're driving and we're all in Humvees. So this is the time before our platoon sergeant, instead of switching it and we had to start walking with just one Humvee, we're doing a night patrol in Humvees, going down the main strip. We stopped a couple times the hood of the Humvee I'm going in, but I'm super paranoid about my PPE because I never wanted to lose it. Yeah, rifle is soaked. From our first deployment. It was devastating. If you lost anything, everybody was done, oh God. And with the 50-barrel thing, I didn't want to risk it because while I was on leave, you guys lost it.

Speaker 1: 1:42:21

There's no, you guys, guys so we get back, we, on our way back from the patrol, we're like everything's smooth and I'm like we didn't see anything. It's like around what between 10 o'clock and midnight, I don't, I can't remember, it's too long ago. We pull in and I hear I hear like some chatter and I'm like I'm not paying attention, I'm like whatever, I have the headgear on and then all of a sudden I hear the platoon sergeant hey, echo, for charlie, where the is your rifle. And I'm like, right here, got him. I was like, oh, you're talking about coping, I go for coping not charlie, he walks over and coping got that heat.

Speaker 1: 1:42:54

He was up until we woke up in the morning still filling sandbags.

Speaker 2: 1:42:57

Animal house man. That place was wild so I was on the roof that night, I think with haze and we, when those guys got back from finding their rifle, because I remember it going down and they said to go get it, they take off.

Speaker 1: 1:43:14

They only went in one Humvee. One Humvee left.

Speaker 2: 1:43:17

Dipped out. They come back with the rifle, and that's when I think it was Dylan, whoever met him out there he was filling sandbags into the next day. I remember them telling him to not don't stop digging until you hit oil, and he dug that. Well, right there. We had to cover it up every night because it was so deep. He would just dig all day, every day. He would just get up and dig. He deserved it though. Yeah, you leave your rifle in a hole.

Speaker 1: 1:43:40

Yeah, and it's an honest mistake. I've never done it, but I'll say it's an honest mistake and he definitely learned his lesson. Pain retains. I'm telling you we need to quit the paperwork and just start up CCU again and rock breaking platoons and we'll shape everybody up, Were you?

Speaker 2: 1:43:54

with me when I got caught and had to fill all those sandbags out in, like Apple Valley or Victorville Smashing all the windows and smashing all the houses up.

Speaker 1: 1:44:05

Yeah, I was a part part of that, but you didn't narc on me, so you only felt. You felt them by yourself.

Speaker 2: 1:44:08

I appreciate that you hid in the bathroom? Yeah, sure did, mother fucker.

Speaker 1: 1:44:11

I knew that we broke a lot of windows. That was so much fun. So they were threw me into a wall and my rifle just went into the drywall and I popped out. I'm like, oh no, and drywalls like stuffed down the muzzle and I went to shoot it and a simran went in and just jammed and I'm like I'm defenseless. So I stayed with you and used you as a shield the whole time and then when they came up to catch you, right into the bathroom, a hug in the toilet, low, and I was like, don't snitch me out. And I thought, for sure you're going to call me out. You didn't. I walked back by myself and I got in trouble for being by myself and Sant and I didn't say nothing. And then I didn't know what happened to you. We didn't discuss it.

Speaker 2: 1:44:48

Yeah, okay, so appreciate that. Where are these houses? Just breaking everything in these houses, like medicine cabinets, like just putting holes in walls, and they were demoing all this anyways. So you and I take it upon ourselves to trash it all. And then these who caught us? It wasn't even any of you, okay, who caught me, us, I didn't get caught. He saw the this the marines coming and dips into the bathroom, leaves me hanging right as I'm shattering a window, and they catch me. Fucking, rip me out of this house. And I never said a word while you hid in the bathroom.

Speaker 2: 1:45:21

I appreciate that and I had to fill, like you know how they used to drop the pallet of sandbags, that was like they had the white cable. Oh yeah, I had to fill all of them. Good, there you go. Yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah, you should have been doing it with me. No, yes, bro, that was a true fun choice.

Speaker 1: 1:45:36

You gotta live with it. Man, I appreciate you. I totally forgot about that. It makes me like you more. I appreciate that's the one time you didn't call me out yeah, yeah, I couldn't dude.

Speaker 2: 1:45:43

I wanted you Day was worse.

Speaker 1: 1:45:44

I would have rather filled sandbags than do Wog Day with you.

Speaker 2: 1:45:48

It got so dude. I was filling for so long and I wasn't even making a dent. I was stuffing sandbags inside.

Speaker 1: 1:45:54

I do remember and you were filling up like half quarter full sandbags, like you were not going all the way on these. You were like and they were probably watching you so you couldn't just walk off like you traditionally were, like I ain't doing that and you walk off.

Speaker 2: 1:46:07

They probably got your name and your id and everything oh, they took me back to freaking lochner and all those guys, oh, and they made you do it. It's our staff that made me fill all of them. The whole entire time, you would point and laugh at me as you saw me filling sandbags and you were no, yeah, yes, I might have. Yes, no, you're, as he's walking by as I'm filling sandbags for the third day in a row.

Speaker 1: 1:46:27

I was just proud of you. I'm like, wow, you didn't snitch me out, that's a real one, man, god man, he's like a true homie, ain't coming out there and helping you because we had to fill two pallets and I'm slower than you, so it would have been worse for you.

Speaker 2: 1:46:47

So in turn I was't know why so he would have made us do a lot, yeah, yeah, he wasn't a fan of you, uh-uh. And then I had Martinez had my number. Yeah, he did.

Speaker 1: 1:46:54

Oh, he loved messing with. Well, he had everybody's number. He was a mean staffie, but I went.

Speaker 2: 1:47:01

I was a staff sergeant. I went above and beyond on his list.

Speaker 1: 1:47:05

Yeah, you did. You purposely made sure, like the Smoke Jenny coming back from the field. It's Friday morning, we're like we're getting off early and it's just right in his face, from two feet away.

Speaker 2: 1:47:16

You've got to explain what it is. Oh my God.

Speaker 1: 1:47:19

Well, it's like a cover and concealment thing with Smoke Jennys on the Amtrak's when they're around, cover and concealant, you hit them before you hit the beach, so it gives cover.

Speaker 2: 1:47:28

It bellows out white smoke. Yeah, just bellows that out. It's supposed to cover, conceal you when you're in the ocean.

Speaker 1: 1:47:34

It's darker than smoke.

Speaker 2: 1:47:35

So I didn't even mean to do that to him. So what we? You call it like smoke. What do they call it? I don't know.

Speaker 2: 1:47:42

I doubt it dumps a lot yeah, there's a term for it where, if you were in your working in your vehicle or like in your driver's station, somebody would pull up and they'd just floor it with the brake down and you'd hit the switch. It's like when you hit the freon in there and it's just yeah, it just bellows out the smoke. Well, I thought my buddy Travis was his driver and I see a body moving in the driver's seat. So I pull up next to it and I put my exhaust right there and I just and just dump smoke onto him for a better part of a minute. I mean, I didn't let off.

Speaker 1: 1:48:11

But we, that was common for us, Cause we did that in our first, that was Martinez.

Speaker 2: 1:48:15

Yeah, he was in the driver's seat. The staff starts in the driver's seat and ever since then, man, he, he hated me.

Speaker 1: 1:48:23

Well, you couldn't see, cause he had the goggles.

Speaker 2: 1:48:25

Well, no, he was bent over, so he was fucking with something in there, and I never would have expected him to be in the driver's seat. I think you would have still done it. Yeah, I probably would have. Yeah, you didn't care.

Speaker 1: 1:48:33

No, it could have been our gunny and you would have been like, wah. And I would have been like, all right, cool, now we're leave. We slept in the maintenance bay.

Speaker 2: 1:48:43

We did that a lot, thank you. Thank you for that.

Speaker 1: 1:48:45

That wasn't because of me that day was because of you. A hundred percent no wasn't a hundred percent because I smoked genitum. We played games all night yeah, we did.

Speaker 1: 1:48:53

We did unload and load our vehicles all night oh yeah, we thought we were having an easy day. I don't I could have. There's a lot of nights we slept on the ramp, yeah, dude. For no reason, zero reason, because we'd wake up and work for like an hour and they're like, all right, leave. I'm like really Like we sleep on concrete. Cool, appreciate it. It was always a Friday night, but they did that for a reason because we were Thursday, thursday and they knew what we were about to go do.

Speaker 2: 1:49:17

They were doing everything they could to get us, keep us out of trouble. Remember 29 Palms, the fight that everybody got in trouble. It involved Renfro, it involved the whole platoon. Remember they gave us like a half day, halfway through and everybody went to the bowling alley.

Speaker 1: 1:49:34

Whiskey Chucks? Yeah, no, we were on what is it? Camp Wilson?

Speaker 2: 1:49:39

Yes so we were.

Speaker 1: 1:49:40

yeah, no, the bowling alley was the main side, guys were dude no Guys got arrested at the bowling alley.

Speaker 2: 1:49:46

A giant fight broke out with LAR and trackers. I wasn't there. You weren't there for this. You missed CACS. No, I was there. I wasn't there either. I was with the ex, I think, your wife came up.

Speaker 1: 1:50:00

No, I remember that I was doing fire watch that day. That's why I didn't get to go.

Speaker 2: 1:50:06

I stayed at the cans so everybody can go. I got dropped off back at the cans and everybody was in formation.

Speaker 1: 1:50:11

Yeah, I was on duty the whole day so I didn't get in trouble like you guys did. Dude, that was insane. They gave us one day off and I think there was like 12 NJPs out of that or something like that. Like half the platoon got NJPs fornicate with his girlfriend, so I wasn't doing my duties.

Speaker 2: 1:50:26

So I got trouble for that oh yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:50:28

Well, they just hazed, but it was nothing, nothing physical, like they just had me do a bunch of silly work and then had me do watch the whole next day. So I didn't get any free time, so melissa just stayed home. Did you miss the 50 cal hazing? Yeah, I was getting married. You missed all of it. I was there when you guys lost it.

Speaker 1: 1:50:48

That was horrible but they brought you guys in on thing on the weekend or like a Friday, and they just, they just thrashed you guys. It was so it was that barrel run no, I requested leave two weeks before that. I went to Vegas and got married and then I found out you guys didn't even text me.

Speaker 1: 1:51:00

uh, couldn't somebody? Somebody text me that night. It says congrats being married. No, it might have been Taylor. Text me the night I got married and I was blacked out. This is Vegas. I was in my blues, I was having a good time. Next morning I saw it and I'm like, oh, uh-oh, oh, there's trouble. And I knew I was having to come back to it in two weeks and I'm like, oh, I don't want to come back. Yeah, I had to do with the barrel. Just be glad, man, we were low, crawling forever in the sand looking for a random barrel so this story is wild one.

Speaker 2: 1:51:31

We were doing this training and we're out in. We lost it at castle town. I actually just talked about this on the last podcast I don't remember, I just know it was galvan it was castle town, this guy's 50 cal barrel.

Speaker 2: 1:51:43

So when you put a 50 cal barrel and you got to push it in and you twist it until it clicks and then you back it off too, if I remember correctly, yes, he either didn't back it off or backed it off too much. Well, during the week, while we were out there training, this 50-cal barrel unscrewed itself and then in the middle of the night, when we finish up this mock raid, it fell out of the top of his vehicle. How vehicle? How? He didn't hear it hit anything. It was straight in the ground and fell off the side of the vehicle and stuck straight in the ground. And so we come back to base and we start pulling everything out of our vehicles and getting ready to wash down. We just finished up this field op and they're like load them back up and we load everything back up. We locked a bunch of the tracks up. You weren't there for any of this no, I was.

Speaker 1: 1:52:25

When you guys lost it, I was. I rolled up to the fuel farm. Galvan goes yeah and looks at me and I'm like I hate you. No, I definitely wasn't. Madden took us in those tracks and yes, hold that, yeah, we had to. We had to walk around looking for it. We were in tank ditches up to our neck.

Speaker 2: 1:52:40

All online. We were in these giant holes if created from the tanks, and they're up to my neck and we're tippy-toeing through them. Yeah, they had us crawling. Feeling in the mud in the bottom of these pits for the .50-cal barrel and it fell out in them.

Speaker 1: 1:52:54

Yeah, and we found it and we were all excited. It just got worse from there. That's the night we stayed on the ramp. We didn't go nowhere that night and we were disgusting. We were fully mud.

Speaker 2: 1:53:09

That wasn't a good memory so I I have images of it.

Speaker 1: 1:53:10

But I went on leave that day so I was into my leave so I had to stay on the ramp on leave and then I my wife picked me up in the morning and I took off and I told her we had to go back to vista. I gotta go shower. Like I was filthy, because I think the majority of a shower, but I think I had watch or something and I was like I'm just not gonna shower, I just stripped off my clothes and slept.

Speaker 1: 1:53:26

Because, I knew I was going on leave and you guys were about to have a heck of a day the next day and I'm like I don't want to be a part of that.

Speaker 2: 1:53:31

See, they took us on like this, like I don't even know how long of a run it was, with the 50-cal barrels yeah, I heard, and then mine, you know how they zip, zip-tied, uh, safety wire, yeah, and then they snip them, dude, mine slipped halfway right and it slipped my whole palm open. So the whole run. Dude, I'm just holding this 50 cal barrel and I can just feel my hand just every time it moved, just open and close. And then what else do they do they?

Speaker 2: 1:53:58

nobody fell out of that fucking everybody. Bro, I was about to say I would 100, fell we ran all over that barrel.

Speaker 1: 1:54:05

It was like port arms.

Speaker 2: 1:54:06

Yeah, yeah, the whole time you could rotate it, I think. How did you get it wet? That's full-blown. We ran the whole Del Mar, everything through Del Mar. Then they ran us to the Elkac Tower and back on the beach and then, while we were doing that run running to the Elkac Tower and back, they buried like 15 barrels of sand, yeah that's. We had to dig those up an amount of time, which we didn't do, and then, yeah it was. I was so glad I wasn't a part of that.

Speaker 1: 1:54:32

Yeah, you missed all of that. That and the first time you went to the barracks as like the Semper Six and COs that can field day everybody and I had an apartment out in town, but she was my fiance at the time, so I still had a barracks room. I was a lance corporal that was living out in town, but a corporal I think I was already a corporal and you called me beforehand and you were like hey, bro, and I'm like what's up? Because I already went home. They called everybody back but I didn't answer my phone. But I answered you and you were like don't come back and don't answer your phone again. I'm like alright, right, cool, click.

Speaker 1: 1:55:07

See, I looked up allman called me 20 every every like 20 seconds he was calling me and I'm like nope, I'm like melissa, make me some mixed drinks, slam like three. I was drunk and I answered the phone finally to our buckle because I had respect for him, because he was. He was a nice guy. He always called me chucky, cool chiefs, come here, come here, cool chiefs, bill. They beefed all the time but he was cool to me.

Speaker 1: 1:55:32

He called me, he's like he's like, why are you? And I'm like I'm at my house, I've had like four drinks, mixed drinks, like there's no way. And he's like have your, have your wife drop you off. I'm like she's been drinking with me, which she has, it's not a lie, but you warned me, so I'm like shots, shots, shots. I'm not going in like no work at all cost, because all you guys were doing is getting hazed at the barracks. Well, you were hazing your brothers, your peers, I was not. You're. Well, I imagine, because you didn't, you didn't fit in there.

Speaker 1: 1:56:00

That didn't last very long because you were standing there like scrub, scrub by corporal, and I was like I'm so glad I didn't go to that because I probably would have had a meltdown and there would have been fights everywhere.

Speaker 2: 1:56:10

There was a lot of conflict.

Speaker 1: 1:56:11

In that platoon there was there's too many NCOs. The sergeants just ran house on us. They got what we wanted. After we got back from our second deployment I wanted my own platoon as a sergeant. I never got that. Well, I got Garibay and that young group of guys. You had a good group of guys. Yeah, we did some good training with them before we all left them, because you were with us for a little bit, weren't you, or no? No, I went straight up to division.

Speaker 1: 1:56:36

Oh yeah, it was me, boater, hales, garner, and then a couple no-namers for a little bit. Griffin griffin was with us there, griffin, yeah, and garibay and me just talk about it now, because he's the first sergeant now on the east coast and he's like, and he has, we have a lot of respect for each other. He gave me the honor of pinning him on first sergeant. I thought that was amazing, uh, but what I? My trick with the platoon is I'd pt because I was getting into, like trying to get out of you know, I'm a I'm the world's slowest runner because I enjoyed running at the time. I just was horrible at running. Well, you had this little fucked up foot too.

Speaker 2: 1:57:12

No, it went straight.

Speaker 1: 1:57:15

Yeah, it goes in hyper mode. Like my kids are in danger, my wife's. It just straightens out. And I'm just a triathlete, I can do everything.

Speaker 2: 1:57:22

You've trained it? No, I remember you used to have to force it. You would like kick your foot over? Oh, no, look.

Speaker 1: 1:57:27

I'm straight.

Speaker 2: 1:57:29

You see the little chicken feet you got one duck foot.

Speaker 1: 1:57:31

Yeah, I got hit in the knee with a baseball bat when I was in my troubled youth and it messed up my knee, so my leg has never been the same, so I should probably come up with a cooler story than that. What were we doing? I thought we were in the middle of a story, but we just broke away from it. Sorry, you're talking trash about me.

Speaker 2: 1:57:50

Sorry, running Mom said dinner's almost ready.

Speaker 1: 1:57:53

Oh yeah, the Gare Bay thing. I'm not sure what Boater did with them. We each had something we wanted to do. Griffin was like McMap and Cammie Starch and I'm like that's weak, I'm not doing that. And I'm like that's weak, I'm not doing that Like I'll do PT. And they're all like Boater and Hales are like what. And then Garner's the runner and he's like well, I'm like shut your mouth, because he was a sergeant. I'm like, or he was a corporal and I was a sergeant. I took him outside. I was like, hey, we're still human beings. But some guys weren't acting like that. But my specialty was taking on toe rope runs. Everybody grabs a toe rope and says, hey, let's run. But my mistake was running in plain sight. Like behind the armory there was like a little corporal challenge valley.

Speaker 1: 1:58:38

Yeah, yeah, yeah, there was a little corporal's challenge. I saw somebody looking down that looked older, like a stabbing suit. I'm like check, I was already gonna do this. I'm like garibay, you give me your toe ropes and I put two rope, toe ropes and cross body. We're in boots and utes and we ran back like the longer way, or I went up the big the big hill, yeah and then wrapped around and ran back.

Speaker 1: 1:58:59

Well, that was my first counseling on hazing and I went in there and I'm like about time. I'm like man. I was getting away with murder for the last couple years and martinez was the was the platoon commander at the time and I was his notional platoon sergeant or like we had our group but I was the last one there.

Speaker 1: 1:59:15

Eventually everybody left and hanging and everybody because he was waiting for his that officer thing. So everybody eventually kicked rocks and then I left last. Uh, martinez is like what are you doing, bro? And I'm like I'm doing what you did to us and legit told. Now I'm like staff sir, I'm doing what you did to us. He's like all right, you gotta lay back, like enough. He's like seal wants to talk to you. I'm like oh no, I'm like the captain, I'm in trouble and I just picked up sergeant like less than 30 days really. And I'm like I'm in trouble and so I go in there. He gives me a verbal counseling. I'm like, thank God, cool, cool dude.

Speaker 1: 1:59:47

I ended up working for him years later. But he was like look, man can't be doing that. Were you wearing the rope? I'm like I wore the ropes the whole way back. He's like but everybody else is still wearing them. I'm like but not two people, because I wore two ropes. And he's like Charles enough. And I'm like I good training, because it actually is good training and it's some man stuff. Like we were just out there and I talked to garebae about it. He's like I thought it was dope, I let him call cadence like we had fun. And I'm like because we didn't have vehicles so we stayed at the barracks for like four months, oh and so we had to figure out things to do. So I'm like let's griffin is mcmap. So they did all the mcmap all the hours. No belts roll, roll. What hardening blows was it softening?

Speaker 1: 2:00:28

blows yeah or when you do the numbing, it's body hardening that's what it was body hardening.

Speaker 2: 2:00:34

I should know that I went through all of it fingers, grip my fingers.

Speaker 1: 2:00:37

It was the stupidest stuff. That's the only thing gary bacon plays. But he's like come on, man, we didn't even get any hours I had to get. I had to redo all that stuff. He just hazed us. I'm like I wasn't there for that. You notice, I was never at mcmap. I'm not a fan of that. Speaking of mcmap, oh, you want to end it with me being the giant killer?

Speaker 2: 2:00:55

yeah, we can tell this story because this pissed me off, I'll give you, I'll give you a little bit of glory yeah, I love this story. We haven't even like talked about how the Marine Corps has evolved at all, from when you were a troop to when you Tell the story, and we might just have to come up and continue after dinner.

Speaker 1: 2:01:16

Yeah, I'm all about it. I could do this all day.

Speaker 2: 2:01:17

What else are we going to do unless we want to go have cigars? I'm good we don't have to. I'm good with this. Let's tell the story and we'll take a break, Okay let's tell a story.

Speaker 1: 2:01:24

We'll take a break. Okay, so we did McMap. I can't remember what random day it was. We all served it up in front of the barracks and it had like I think we did it in the sand or the bark. I don't know whatever it was the sand yeah, it was the volleyball court right with the sand. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah, yeah, alright, I remember. What are you doing fast as possible? And he did okay, okay, okay. So we started the gauntlet and since I keep looking, I'm sorry.

Speaker 2: 2:01:52

I told you, dude, we're gonna have a calendar you, you get you don't know which one see, I block out your camera because there's a red light on it and you, I knew you'd be super distracted like that one right there. If you look at that one, it going to have a red light that pops up Right there.

Speaker 1: 2:02:11

Sorry, I already know you're going to edit this stuff out. I'm not editing anything out, you better.

Speaker 2: 2:02:15

What.

Speaker 1: 2:02:16

You better. What am I going to edit out? The conversation is when your daughter went to the bathroom, that we didn't want to be on this. You've got to edit some stuff.

Speaker 2: 2:02:21

Oh, she was paused during that.

Speaker 1: 2:02:24

Oh she was paused. Yeah, We'll edit that part out.

Speaker 2: 2:02:26

Yeah, we'll edit that. We'll edit that edit part.

Speaker 1: 2:02:28

Okay, so we were doing McMap, we circle it up and of course you're the trash talker. I want to make sure they can hear me on this one, so they get this very clear. And then you're with me. Well, we're standing in the general area, it's just they're like hey, we're going to go toe-to-toe. You got problems, anybody? And then I think Sancho McManus is like Marshall, get out, mcmanus. He's like come here, tough guy, right in the middle, and I thought Chenault was going to challenge you because Chenault wanted your smoke all the time. He's like let's go, let's play.

Speaker 1: 2:02:59

He got it, we got to continue. Oh, I want to. That's a good one. All right, because it's our point of view All right, start over, stop interrupting yourself. I'm sorry. So we get in the platoon. I know I see squirrels a lot. This is your fault Drink. So we start doing McMap. Mcmanus calls you out and you're like here you go, tough guy, like all chest and nothing else, stand out there, I'll take any of you who wants it. Who wants it? What's up? And I can't even remember the names of the people.

Speaker 1: 2:03:33

I don't even know if Renfro grappled you but I just remember I was the fifth one and I was like I can't In a row back to back, and that's important because I never had a break. Yeah, it was like the King of the Hill, pretty much like that concept. So you went through and I watch you do. The first one, I'm like ooh, uh-oh. Second one I'm like, all right, slowing down, okay, big boy. And then third one you're breathing heavy. Fourth one you're gas buddy, you're wrestling, I think Casares or somebody tiny.

Speaker 1: 2:03:55

I couldn't even close my eyes and I was like now's my time. I was like, all right, loosen up. And they're like all right, chuck, get in there. And I just like a spider monkey, back to back. I had so much energy. We're back to back sitting on our butts and I flip around and grab your neck and get you in what I the the famous chucky choke that I like to call it. Oh god, and I just snatched you up and heard you squeal, just, and I'm like it's just me.

Speaker 1: 2:04:24

I never should have let you tell this story and you rolled on and I grabbed the sand and I swiped it across your eyes and your face and you tapped. I don't think you tapped because you were out of breath. You were tapped because I was just fingering up your nose.

Speaker 1: 2:04:36

I had sand in my eyes, yes, and you tried to bite me and then I really started gouging in your eyes and you were just because stuff like that to me all the time. So I'm like payback, my guy. And then you tapped and I'm like giant killer, boys, giant killer. And nobody repeated it and it broke my heart but I've always reminded you. Yeah, giant killer. So if we ever have beef, four dudes will fight you before me. And then I'm confident, 100 confident yeah, you motherfucker dude, it's a good story though I was so mad crack enough, they're like

Speaker 1: 2:05:06

yeah and they thought we were gonna have beef over that there. I I know what they were thinking. They were like oh yeah, like sancho's probably telling them like, oh, we're gonna create some, some hostility in the platoon. It just made us tighter it was hilarious because you were so mad, but you couldn't stop laughing because I know, because I know you, you were, you were probably thinking I would have done the same thing.

Speaker 2: 2:05:24

I was ready, but I, but I was.

Speaker 1: 2:05:26

I was, so I was. It was it was fight or flight. So I took flight on you because I didn't fight you, I just choked you. I was like die, die. I was doing anything I could to make you tap.

Speaker 2: 2:05:38

I was. I was, I was kicking you in your nuts Cause I put my legs around you and I was doing everything.

Speaker 1: 2:05:43

I squeezed on you, you would not been able to get me off you even if you stood up and dropped back, I would have held on tight yeah, that was a.

Speaker 2: 2:05:49

That was straight up preservation mode. I couldn't breathe because you were shoving sand in my eyes.

Speaker 1: 2:05:54

It was horrible as soon as I said sand, you were like yep, because I just just grabbed a handful. It's like the dirty sand, like people throw cigarette butts, spitting it like cats from all over the bear shitting in it, nobody, nobody played volleyball once there.

Speaker 2: 2:06:06

It was rock hard. It was that rock hard clay with like a quarter inch sand on the top of it. So if you dove after anything or fell in it, it just was like sandpaper.

Speaker 1: 2:06:17

Do you remember anybody else grappling after that? Because I don't.

Speaker 2: 2:06:21

Yeah, I do remember, because you got tapped immediately and I was pissed by who. I didn't even have time to recover and you were already out galvan, galvan.

Speaker 1: 2:06:28

It might have been galvan, and he, he's strong yeah and I was like I was already gassed from choking you out, like my heart rate dropped back down. I was like I got the title, now what god? And then galvan just smoked me. I was like there's no point, because he was double my size. I'm like he's just a short. Yeah, stocky little mexican dude. I'm like there's no way.

Speaker 2: 2:06:46

I remember he got a job at the tanning salon just so he could pull chicks. I don't remember that. That was the most genius shit, was I already gone?

Speaker 1: 2:06:52

I probably was already in Virginia. No, he was super tan all the time, though.

Speaker 2: 2:06:57

A golden tan. I'm almost 100% it was him. He got a job at the tanning salon.

Speaker 1: 2:07:12

Are we not supposed to talk about this shit? My bad galvan's gonna be like. I love tanning. You know how he is with his voluptuous lips. You always used to mess with galvan the biggest lips dude and he used to get so mad.

Speaker 2: 2:07:16

He's a good looking man he was I don't know why he ever got so offended over it. He still is.

Speaker 1: 2:07:20

He's still really good looking, beautiful, no you'd mess with him like god, galvan, you're such an idiot. And he's like shut up, brian. Or he's like marshall, marshall. You're gonna see what you're gonna do, little man, because you like doubled him, because he's shorter and he's like I fought people bigger than you. I can handle the news just back and forth, but you guys never beefed. I think it was just like a love hate. I mean yeah it was just, I didn't think there was any hostility, but you.

Speaker 2: 2:07:42

He was easily triggered oh, you would light his fuse immediately, that's all it was.

Speaker 1: 2:07:46

You flick his ear and he'd be like and he would start huffing it up and he'd give that look, you know what I'm talking about. And he'd be like you're really testing me now, because me and him were boys for years. He's a really good dude, yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:08:02

I miss a lot of those dudes man.

Speaker 1: 2:08:07

There are some characters in that platoon. No, I don't miss anybody, I'm good.

Speaker 2: 2:08:09

I'll visit people, but there's a select few Like.

Speaker 1: 2:08:10

Hayes is my first roommate. I miss him a lot and I never took a chance to see him when I was recruiting because I was so busy. I never saw him once. I was just so busy and he was the first one to ever send was my first barracks for a minute.

Speaker 2: 2:08:24

I'm like I really appreciate that man.

Speaker 1: 2:08:26

He's a good dude. He always. Anytime I hit him up and need something, he's always there. He's one of those dudes that's like, yeah, what do you got? Yeah. His wedding was wild. There you go. Yeah, what year did he get married?

Speaker 2: 2:08:41

I couldn't even tell you.

Speaker 1: 2:08:42

I'm hurt. Invite me, bro. What was that? I'm talking to you. You didn't get an invite. I can't remember. That is weird. He didn't invite me. I must have been in Virginia. Yeah, because he was single and he had the Z350 or whatever it was. He crashed that. Yeah, he was single when I left. So he did get married and I was in Virginia. I went when I was poor. Yeah, I wouldn't have went. I was poor. Yeah, I had two kids and I was a sergeant. I was hurting. I saw Galvan came to visit me, but you guys went to Galvan's wedding. I don't know if you went.

Speaker 2: 2:09:15

No, I wasn't invited yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:09:16

Boater went. I was invited but me and Rufford didn't go because Hales went and I'm like they had beef and I'm like I'm up not going. Same with Brinkman's wedding. Did you go to that?

Speaker 2: 2:09:26

No, that's where that fight broke out.

Speaker 1: 2:09:28

Yeah, he got stabbed yeah. That's still.

Speaker 2: 2:09:32

You're going to give me a sign?

Speaker 1: 2:09:33

We're going to edit this, but that's still an open case, is it? Yeah, talk to Brinkman about it. It's still open. The people still bring it up in the town. That's in Sumner Illinois. You were there? No, oh, but even I heard about it. And then I asked Brinkman a few months ago. When I talked to him, he's like, oh no, that's still the talk of the town. Anytime that guy comes to see his family, it's like here we go all over again. You're that guy that's buddies with the guy that stabbed me.

Speaker 2: 2:10:07

He almost killed that guy, which he didn't. We're gonna edit that out. We're not editing any of that out. Nobody's gonna know anything. I'm sorry, dude. Oh my god, I wish I could tell this story about brinkman, but no, I couldn't I got a lot of good stories of brinkman. But they're all hood rat stuff brie was, he was wild, so brieayman was my crewman.

Speaker 1: 2:10:35

And he was at my first wedding with a group of you knuckleheads.

Speaker 2: 2:10:37

I was part of the bridal party. Thank you very much. You were part of the bridal party. I had a great time. So it's my wedding weekend.

Speaker 1: 2:10:42

All these fucking dudes, and your bachelor party and my bachelor party.

Speaker 2: 2:10:46

You were in charge of the bachelor party. We're I'm getting married. One of our buddies leaves his suit or his tuxedo in the hotel and I he calls me to go pick it up. This is travis and uh. So I go to the hotel. I'm like, hey, there was a party here and they left a suit. They're like, oh yeah, there was an incident with that party. And I'm like, oh god, like what happened? They're like, well, the owner is a avid hunter and I look, this is, there was a really nice deer in this hotel. There's like this empty spot on the wall that you could see where the perfect deer spot was.

Speaker 2: 2:11:23

I look back and they're like, yeah, there was a gentleman from that party. We believe his last name is brinkman, and I was like, and this is my crewman, I'm like you've got to be kidding me. I'm like, well, how do you know it was him? They're like we have video footage and here he is with his shirt off and he's got brinkman tattooed from shoulder blade to shoulder blade across his back and he's sneaking through this lobby on this video. I'm watching, like you fucking retard, like this guy, and he pulls. He's seven foot tall, so he just pulls his deer off the wall. They load it in the car and took it home. Yeah, I had to call Aaron. They wouldn't release his tux until he brought the deer back. I don't know why he did that, dude somebody stole a stop sign in that McManus, I think, stole a stop sign.

Speaker 2: 2:12:07

Somebody stole a stop sign, mcmanus, at your wedding.

Speaker 1: 2:12:09

He wasn't at your wedding. No, he wasn't at your wedding. Who?

Speaker 2: 2:12:11

am I thinking of? I don't know. Someone stole a stop sign right down the street from the hotel you don't know, huh.

Speaker 1: 2:12:20

No, I was married. I was with my wife in my room, me hill sugar room. I'm like we didn't do anything that was a stupid fucking time but I did crawl under the table to get the first dance. You remember that I feel so bad.

Speaker 2: 2:12:35

What a while I didn't know how to act like a human being.

Speaker 1: 2:12:37

I was just weird as wild. None of us did none of us did I didn't go to your wedding. Did you guys have a full wedding? I didn't go to your wedding. Did you guys have a full wedding? Yeah, no invite.

Speaker 2: 2:12:53

Oh, here Britt, yeah oh no, oh, you didn't. No, yeah, I was wondering.

Speaker 1: 2:12:58

I'm like when Melissa asked me, I'm like, I don't know, Well, she. We would have invited you if you had like a big wedding.

Speaker 2: 2:13:06

Yeah, we were having fun. Yeah, we talked. No what saved me from having a wedding. The second time was because Britt got so she knew had to plan so many banquets, yeah, and I was like she was Not her thing. Yeah, we didn't do a wedding either. And I was like that's a wedding. You're planning 300, hundred people for a night entertainment, food, all this shit. We're just adding auctions and raffle stuff. I'm like that's a wedding. She's like I don't want, I'm good, I don't need, we don't need to have a wedding.

Speaker 1: 2:13:36

Yeah it's like oh, my wife doesn't want one. I've asked her recently because we're going on 19 years. I'm like you don't want to have a, you know like a renewal type deal. She's like for what? She doesn't want all the bells and whistles and wasting the money she would love it. No, she cares more about vacationing and spending time.

Speaker 2: 2:13:51

I don't know, man, I think I want to do it for Britt one day.

Speaker 1: 2:13:54

That's what I thought I wanted to do it for her, but she just tells me no. And I ask her almost every year I didn't see that.

Speaker 2: 2:14:07

Yeah, she's like I don't know For you, if you want it. I'm like, I want to do it for you. I'm like, don't do it for me, you guys should just do it.

Speaker 1: 2:14:10

Plan it on one of your vacations and do it with the kids. Maybe our 20 year? That'd be dope. We're coming up next year.

Speaker 2: 2:14:14

Damn 20 years bro. Good for you, good for you.

Speaker 1: 2:14:19

I don't know. I don't know. Same type of relationship with our wives is just friends yeah, communication and good sex life and there you go.

Speaker 2: 2:14:30

Sorry, kid yeah, that's really what it comes down to.

Speaker 1: 2:14:32

Everybody has their problems now, and we were talking about this earlier I just tell people, like, don't tell people your business it's your marriage.

Speaker 1: 2:14:40

You made your vows with them, not your homies. Like you can confide in people I confide in, I confide in you about certain things. I've called certain dudes that I know are good dudes, but that's not something you go around talking about. It's privacy. I trust certain people I can tell things to and that's it. It's just communication. When you like the person you're married to, I mean it's cool. Thank God it wasn't a fad for a couple years and then we hated each other.

Speaker 2: 2:15:08

We stuck through hard-ass times and we just got through it. How did you make it work in the military? That's rough. I mean you were a recruiter that pulls you away from home for quite a bit yeah up at 5.30, home at like 10 o'clock most nights.

Speaker 1: 2:15:24

That was rough. I love being a recruiter. Recruiting was really fun, but being a boss was just miserable. I've never heard of like the boss until you started. But every station is different and then the staff in CIC has a total of recruiters. So if you have three recruiters and it's two apiece hey, staff Sergeant Charles, you're in charge of six for the month and you have to sign a mission letter. So every month you have a mission to make and then you divvy that out to your recruiters.

Speaker 1: 2:16:01

You hope that somebody your crappy recruiter if he doesn't make anything, so you're putting more weight on your heavy hitters. I've had recruiters that wrote five, six contracts Contracts meaning individuals signed up and that's just in the month and it's just. It was a lot. It was a lot of work. It came easy to me because I'm a talker Like you are. Like we just talk, talk up people and we could chat and relate as much as we can about anything, as much as we can about anything. So if you're like that recruiting is a breeze I know a few people held us the same way. It was a breeze, we could just chat for days. But if you're insecure about communication or you don't like talking, horrible decision Really.

Speaker 2: 2:16:36

But the Marine Corps forces people to go if they don't volunteer, you can't wing themselves out or they don't week out guys that are just not going to perform.

Speaker 1: 2:16:45

I'm past it when that are just not going to perform. I'm past it when I was in. Maybe they'd get you for tattoos and then they lifted the policy and let more guys and girls not have excuses going to do it. But I prided myself on volunteering. There's a lot of people recruiters that volunteered just because you can try to get duty station preference, and I did. I got us back to my wife's hometown and she got her bachelor's degree and everything worked smoothly, yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:17:09

I'd say you got a pretty lucky career. You got everything that you kind of lined up. I wouldn't say lucky, I mean there's a lot of you got lucky bro.

Speaker 1: 2:17:17

Like people have some shit times.

Speaker 2: 2:17:19

Some people have all right times. I'm talking as far as being able to have a plan. To be able to have a plan and execute it to where it actually works out. I feel like that is a huge portion of luck, especially with the military, because they could just change overnight. You could be planning everything and looking ahead Like you had some pretty awesome goals.

Speaker 1: 2:17:38

Well, I've always done that as an adult. I do that like for retirement, for vacations. I have five-year plans every year, every year, my five-year plans every year. Every year it's going to change. My five-year plan changes as it should, and I have notes. I rarely write notes. I keep everything on my like my phone, and I just follow through with it. So I always make sure in case something happens.

Speaker 1: 2:17:54

Like the Marine Corps, they have that motto Simper Gun, be like, always, be flexible, and I'm like all right. So I had to plan accordingly because I'm recruiting. I wasn't a good boss. I was telling you like, yeah, I might've got recruiter of the year, but as soon as I became a boss I realized I'm like I am not like you know what you're good at and what you're not, and it's like it sucks because you want to perform. But there was no way for me to get kids to join unless I was beating the streets and walking around and snagging people, cause every recruiter is different and some people, like in Texas, are passionate. A lot of places in Texas, or passionate a lot of places in Texas, don't have problems because people are just lined up at the door. I was in Portland, I'm sorry to say Portland is probably the most, the most Cool.

Speaker 1: 2:18:34

So it was interesting. I sold my house and then my wife was in finals, finishing up her bachelor's, so she was stressed out. So DMO was in the house moving all the boxes. The military was moving our boxes, getting us out of there. But it worked out perfectly Good, like transitioned right into base housing for a year, bought another house and then everything's smooth.

Speaker 2: 2:18:56

Yeah, it was pretty awesome. It all worked out. Worked out for you too. Fucking did, fucking did. Let's go take a break.

Speaker 1: 2:19:04

We might jump back on, but if we don't, no, I want to, okay, just to talk about those questions. We had before Like to see more serious. We got all the clown stuff out of the way.

Speaker 2: 2:19:12

Yeah, all right, this will be a part one and part two, kiddo.

Speaker 1: 2:19:15

I'm going to leave this here. How much did you see the Marine Corps change? Much the core has changed. I mean, it seems like night and day. When we talk about it now, like with all the stories we're talking about, it just doesn't sound real. It seems like it looks like it's changed a bunch. Yeah, I mean some in good ways, some in bad ways. How in good, what changed for the good bunch? Yeah, I mean some in good ways, some in bad ways. How, and good? What changed for the good? Like the don't ask, don't tell went away. So that went away. So that was, I guess, good, I didn't, it didn't really affect anything. It's like exactly how I assumed nothing was going to change and like they just did away with it and it was business as usual.

Speaker 1: 2:20:04

I'm thinking about the things I don't, I don't know, I'm trying to, I'm pulling for for good, honestly like I'm trying and I'm like I don't know, like, or with all the changes. I mean what do you? I mean good, good, changes are are because of I know, or technology and everything like. We didn't have phones when we first joined, so communication they're more informed, I guess, I don't know, it's a stretch.

Speaker 2: 2:20:32

It's all right, I'm just asking bud, I guess it's usual.

Speaker 1: 2:20:37

I don't really think about the good, like I can't think about good.

Speaker 2: 2:20:40

How was it changing then overall for the negative, like what were some of the weird changes?

Speaker 1: 2:20:51

Because you guys, obviously it probably stayed unit, but I heard like almost marine corps why they did away with thursday night field days and that went to like a general cleanup, yeah, but it was still field day. Was it not our our field day, but a real field day? Yeah, like a normal one, not like white glove every little tiny corner, like that kind of stuff. So it pulled away from like the Chinese field day type mentality. Yeah, it was just taboo for a little bit, but there was not. I don't remember anything about like us saying that, because every time they said hey, it's field day today, I'm like no, it isn't, it's general cleanup day, right. And then my staff and COs that were hired me would be like well, it's pretty much field day, business as usual. I'm like, okay, and that was how it was with everybody did the hire you get?

Speaker 2: 2:21:35

did you graduate, graduated? You retired as a sergeant, major master, sergeant, master, sergeant god's a long time, dude, sorry, I'm sorry. The higher you made it, did it feel more civilianized, did you feel more pulled away?

Speaker 1: 2:21:53

and it just was just more of a oh yeah, yeah, well, pulled away how?

Speaker 2: 2:21:58

like you're not in it anymore. You're not dealing with I mean you're dealing with as a master sergeant. I mean you're still dealing with bullshit, troops and staff, but like, but this is what I'm saying. As you picked up, that did that kind of go away and it just felt more of a job instead of like when we were younger.

Speaker 1: 2:22:15

I was more stressed out as a gunny than I was a master sergeant. A master sergeant only because I was only a master sergeant in the academy. I didn't go to the fleet as a master sergeant, retired like I retired as soon as I could okay, for my own reasons, and so I can't really speak on like at that level. But as a gunny like I was stressed out like it sucks, yeah, but it but it's also cool. But I was in a different position before I took over or went over to be a faculty advisor. Like I told you how we had. We had gaps filled. Like I wasn't.

Speaker 1: 2:22:46

I had to be a first sergeant, ops chief, lock chief, and then slowly we never got the first sergeant because after our first sergeant left, he left for like a long time, yeah, and then the new master sergeant got in. He wanted 30 days to watch me do it and I'm like bro and I'm doing like multiple things. It was a stressor. So once I got to the academy it was like a release. Yeah, I didn't have to worry about it. Was it lonely or as it?

Speaker 2: 2:23:11

gets to the top. Definitely yeah, yeah. What if you can go back through and do it again? What rank would you like to stay at? What rank was the most fun for you or enjoyable for you?

Speaker 1: 2:23:25

Most fun. I mean everybody says sergeant, all like that, I like being a troop. It was so much fun because if you think about it now that I was a master sergeant, I'm like it makes sense why I liked it. I liked it because I like to clown around a lot. I like to joke like you didn't have a lot of responsibility as a troop. Like make sure you're at work on time, you get a haircut and do your job. Cool, you didn't have to get all the phone calls. Yeah, other than recall get to the barracks. Other than that.

Speaker 1: 2:23:49

Like a lot of that shit came when you get up to the gunny and above well, I deployed I was a platoon sergeant as a staff, as a staff sergeant, and then at oki I did my oki deployment. That people don't like it called that, but how was that? I heard I hear okinawa. Just it was a lot of people like it. I'm not a big fan. No, you're just stuck there. Yeah, I mean schwab schwab is not a good. It's three miles around. What schwab?

Speaker 1: 2:24:19

camp schwab on okinawa it's it's where all the trackers go. Uh, and it's, it wasn't enjoyable. Mean, there was the NCO club right there and I mean I guess it used to be funner because they had like beach bars like way back in the day before May, yeah. But of course Marines always ruin everything. So that's what we do we party too hard and somebody probably got somebody probably died or got hurt and water activities with drinking.

Speaker 2: 2:24:47

Something stupid.

Speaker 1: 2:24:48

And then it's like 15 briefs later.

Speaker 2: 2:24:53

Oh God, here's a good question. I like to ask guys that have teenage kids or sons how would you take it if your son wanted to join the military right now. Well, you can't.

Speaker 1: 2:25:09

Well, I'll just say he came to you. You do ask those to people, because I've seen you ask them.

Speaker 2: 2:25:13

I mean, how would it feel if your son was like, dad, I'm going to be a Marine, knowing what you know, knowing the wars, knowing that you did 20 years. You saw every side of the Marine Corps, the good, the bad. You loved it. If your son came to you right now, I was like, would you want, dad, I'm going to join the Marine Corps? I mean, how's? What's the first thought process?

Speaker 1: 2:25:33

If he asked me like are you okay with it? Or if he just straight up said I joined, are you okay with it? Would you support it?

Speaker 1: 2:25:44

I'd have to ask further questions, like I need to know if you really want it and you know this. We suffered a lot our first couple years If we didn't have the camaraderie. And joking around and making fun of it, especially in our MOS tracks, was not fun when you were a troop. It was miserable at times but that misery turned into having a good time. But my own kid I'd support anything he wants to do honestly and it's not my life. So if he was truly like even if my daughter she's like no, I'm going to be a Marine, I want to be one. You're not going to persuade them from doing something they're not going to want to do. So it doesn't matter what I feel about it, I'd definitely push the officer route. I feel no.

Speaker 2: 2:26:22

Try it, Not my son. No.

Speaker 1: 2:26:23

Even though he'd be a perfect officer. Yeah, but I'd want him to go my route if he really wanted to.

Speaker 2: 2:26:30

What MOS would you try?

Speaker 1: 2:26:32

to lean him toward. No, I'd put him straight in. I would tell him, if he asked me, honestly, I'd tell him you want to follow my footsteps? Have at it. I didn't join the Marine Corps. I probably would have never joined.

Speaker 1: 2:26:42

Honestly, I'm a realist. I'm not like some kool-aid drinker, like marine corps for life, like if I had other opportunities I would have never met you and, no, wouldn't have known anybody who knows where I'd be. But I wouldn't have been in the military at all, like I hadn't. I had no choice. So I'm like, if my kids wanted to do it, I'm like all right, well, you know, you have more options. I'm all about you joining, like, but do it for the right reasons, because I do drink a little bit of the kool-aid and I don't want people to be marines that don't want to be ones, because you know how that that happens, yeah, and then all this crap happens and then you're dealing with bs and you don't, you don't want to deal with that kind of stuff.

Speaker 1: 2:27:18

So they really have to want it and they want to be a tracker. You better, you better have the nuts for it. Because, because even now I know everybody's like oh, there's tires now with acvs. It doesn't matter. The mentality is still there, like the way we treat each other, the way we act, the jokes we make, like people just look at our community differently. Because we just act different. And whether people like it or not and I'm not like I don't have yeah yeahs all over my body, it's just, I just know it it's the, the personality. When somebody asks if you're a tracker and they know they give you that, look, they're like tracks. All you say is 1833 and they're like, oh, tracker. And then they look at you and they're like, all right, I'm going to watch for you. They always do it Complete strangers. So we have our own traditions in our job field.

Speaker 2: 2:28:04

Yeah, they're traditions in our, in our job field. Yeah, they're pretty wild at times, knowing what you know now, would you do it again?

Speaker 1: 2:28:10

I don't know what I know now. Yeah, honestly, probably not. I probably would have done, even though I'm loving life, yeah, and I love the marine corps and I have no squabbles with anything. I'm living a very good life. I would have got out after four years, yeah but I put myself in my own situations.

Speaker 1: 2:28:26

I was gonna have a child. Good life, I would have got out after four years. But I put myself in my own situations. I was going to have a child. I'm like I got a supporter and the military is guaranteed, you just have to keep deploying. So I was like all right, cool, easy. You got tricked into it too. That was GWAT money. They just threw it at us 40K. Because if they didn't offer any money, would you have still re-enlisted? I would have. I think I would have. You were motivated, super motivated I don't know, oh easy I got see, I took it too far.

Speaker 1: 2:28:55

I shouldn't have said super, I should have just left it motivated either.

Speaker 2: 2:28:58

I was dude. Our early days were the. It was the greatest but worst time of our lives. Yeah, it was absolute the most incredible memories and bonding we've ever done. But it was the greatest but worst time of our lives. Yeah, it was absolute the most incredible memories and bonding we've ever done. But it was also hell at the same time, where dudes were going ua at a cyclic rate from like the battalion.

Speaker 1: 2:29:17

It was rough I didn't think it was that bad. Fuck the hazing bro, but we never saw anybody from any other company. We were secluded.

Speaker 2: 2:29:24

We were on our own little island just trying to survive it was fun, though I enjoyed it.

Speaker 1: 2:29:30

That was the greatest time ever we were. Yeah, but I would. I would have got out. After those four years I felt like I did 20 deployments. Just after that first deployment, I'm like we had to back right off the bat another one. Yeah, like, hey, congrats, you went on. Lead boys, boys, you're in workups. I'm like, oh my, so it was just meaningless.

Speaker 2: 2:29:50

Biggest douchebags too.

Speaker 1: 2:29:56

Yeah, that was a rough group of guys.

Speaker 2: 2:30:00

So, knowing all of that, just how the military is, would you do it again?

Speaker 1: 2:30:03

I just said no, I would have got out after my first four. I still would have joined, but I would have got out after four years, not because of the bs, but if I didn't have a kid on the way. I think I would have been like all right, let's like because we can make it work. But when you throw a child and I needed that financial security, just things around- yeah, pretty much and I.

Speaker 1: 2:30:21

I did like my job, so I was like that's why I did a whole change and changed total scenery. Yeah, once the baby. Once I found out melissa was having a kid, I'm shaking again. You want to grab a hoodie? I'm sitting here like what the heck is going on. Now I'm just gonna it's already been brought up do?

Speaker 2: 2:30:38

you want me? Yeah, do you want me to wear one too? Would that make you feel more comfortable? Are you sure you're dropping? Are you sure Do you want me to wear one too? What do I do? You're dropping.

Speaker 1: 2:30:55

I'll do it when you get that. Okay, here we go.

Speaker 2: 2:31:00

Come on.

Speaker 1: 2:31:03

I'm going to close the window.

Speaker 2: 2:31:04

Jeez, you guys aren't cold. No, you are, we're acclimatized.

Speaker 1: 2:31:09

This is miserable. Oh my God, there we go. It was open. Oh my God, no wonder I was like I slept in here. It was perfect, dude.

Speaker 2: 2:31:21

I see you over here.

Speaker 1: 2:31:24

I'm like how is nobody in? I like there's what's going on with me. Oh my bad. I'm proud of you, dude. I'm proud of you. Look at this, look at us from flight deck. Time that we just did a over three hour flight deck time. Yeah, I felt good your daughter got to witness that that was. That was what Bond does originally.

Speaker 2: 2:31:47

That's what we did. We did that every. That whole episode is what we did every single night.

Speaker 1: 2:31:51

We did it in the dark and it sounds kind of gay, I know, and we're going to get roasted for it, but whatever, I don't care. And we were consistent.

Speaker 2: 2:32:15

We'd look at the ship and we just sit down and bullshit dude. The stars were the most amazing, the amazing. I tell my kids all the time about it. In the blue, the blue algae, in the water, they used to roll with the ship in the middle of who? I don't even know where we were. We were just in the middle of the ocean. Flying fish, giant flying fish. They'd go for hundreds of yards. It seemed like they would just go. You'd watch them forever on top of the ship just go.

Speaker 1: 2:32:36

Or like the steel beaches and it was just glass. There was like no wind. I'm so happy I got to witness this.

Speaker 2: 2:32:44

Yeah, it was nice, we did that every night, it was weird.

Speaker 1: 2:32:45

You would never think your dad did that and my kids wouldn't either. They're like what you used to sit outside with this dude looking at stars. I'm like, yeah, we'd just look around and enjoy it. I think it was because we were so claustrophobic with so many people around.

Speaker 2: 2:32:57

You had no privacy. No, that's. One of the biggest downfalls of being on ship is zero privacy, even when you're shitting. The bathrooms were never empty in 29 palms there's no walls.

Speaker 1: 2:33:12

You remember that, my god, dude, I have. The bathroom or the toilet seats are like this far apart. Yeah, so you're almost thigh to thigh and it's literally.

Speaker 2: 2:33:19

You literally had this. If there was another dude, you had to sit like this. The toilets were so close together and there's no walls, and so you were. You would be rubbing like thighs and elbows, and then you're just watching some dude across from you because there's toilets directly across from you, face you. So you're watching some dude taking shit like like how we're sitting so loud on purpose.

Speaker 1: 2:33:39

Me, oh my god. And it got me laughing. And then everybody, it was just it's disgusting, we're weird, we're filthy, but it's funny, stuff like that. I'm like oh my god, man that's. And my kids, my kids are just like wait what?

Speaker 2: 2:33:52

and I'm like I remember egypt we were. We were in the middle of nowhere egypt, bumfuck egypt. This dude and I can say we have been the bumfuck egypt place. Do not recommend anybody living there or being there. Oh, the toilets there, those ones we had under that cami netting. You'd sit back to back with a dude as you're taking shit and the flies were so bad They'd be coming out of that hole.

Speaker 2: 2:34:20

They would land on your mouth. You'd do the shit as fast as you could with your mouth closed because the flies were so bad. You'd sit out on the toilet and this black cloud would come out of this box and they would just be. It was horrible. You know exactly what I'm talking about. And there'd be a dude swatting flies with his back against you shit at the same time. That's that is why I drive all fucking night, I don't care where I am. That is some shit I picked up from the military. I will shit in my own toilet. I will shit in my own. I will do whatever I have to do to shit on my own toilet seat in the comfort of my home. That is how bad the military fucked me up for pooping in like public. Yeah, I have a bathroom phobia.

Speaker 1: 2:34:58

I don't like touching bathroom door door handles, disgusting to me like I have to do an elbow or a foot.

Speaker 1: 2:35:03

And if they don't, if it doesn't, if it has a knob, I'm like I can't go here, I'll straight up walk away, yeah. And then I hear horror stories like on internet's wild man like I've seen. I've seen this post like watch toilet paper ladies. Because they put needles in the side of the toilet paper. And I'm like, oh my god, I'm already terrified of toilet seats to begin with, and bathroom door handles. I was like and the fact that every dude I've ever seen taking a number two in any bathroom never washes their hands when they walk out. And I'm like, oh, so my wife jokes with me a lot like you're a germaphobe. I'm like, no, I just I've been very dirty before. I was like I'd take like three, four showers a day.

Speaker 2: 2:35:39

I just, I'm a freak about it they give me shit because I'm the most cleanest hygienic one in the whole house. Yeah, yeah, I'm just like ugh, dude, when you go like months without a true shower. Yeah, months when we were filling sandbags every night at that stupid VCP for months we didn't have a chance to do anything. We would work all day.

Speaker 1: 2:36:00

We filled HESCOs is what we were doing. It was miserable. You build the HESCO and then we just start throwing bags.

Speaker 2: 2:36:06

Sandbags in it.

Speaker 1: 2:36:07

Bags. It was never ending.

Speaker 2: 2:36:08

Sandbags in it, because it was on top of this giant anthill looking thing in the middle of the desert and there was no way to get any heavy equipment up there. So we had to build a whole entire fort on the top of this hill by hand and we would work all day and then we would just sandbags all night. For it seemed like two months straight it was non-stop.

Speaker 2: 2:36:31

I don't recall time as Groundhog's Day, every day, and then if you weren't filling sandbags, you were walking Constantino wire, you were just unstretching Constantino wire through the desert and we were just surrounding everything. So if you weren't filling sandbags, you were just walking aimlessly in the pitch black, dragging. Remember how you have to shake it to unhook it everything. So if you weren't, filling sandbags.

Speaker 2: 2:36:49

You were just walking aimlessly in the pitch black, dragging. Remember how I have to shake it to unhook it all night. We did that for like two months and we didn't shower at all. Our hair was long too, it was so we were so bad. I remember sneaking, so bad. I had to sleep with my arms on the outside of your sleeping bag, cause if you turned and the waft came, the waft would wake you up. You smelled so bad?

Speaker 1: 2:37:05

Oh yeah, Everybody knows. Yeah, all the military dudes know about that they know that smell.

Speaker 2: 2:37:15

And then I remember the chaplain on the FOB. The chaplain had his little office thing and he had like free, he put out free shit like boxes that he would just dump. People would send him care packages. I remember we found these packages of baby wipes and they were these thick ones.

Speaker 1: 2:37:24

Yep, baby wipes. And there are these thick ones, yep, yep, and we were getting those. We were getting those. Uh, the care packages from from the women's league or soldiers, angels or something. Yeah, yeah, there you go and those baby wipes, those baby wipes legit if that is? Soldiers, angels, they're.

Speaker 2: 2:37:40

They're the truth like I don't know if soldiers angels is still around. I would be interesting to see. That was the most incredible shit then, because when we were deployed there was no like internet. We had one sat phone, if you were lucky. There's no communication for handwritten letters and you're on your own and dude soldiers angels would just they would. There was people from all over the country that would write in and then they would send it to units and just hand out. So every every time we got a mail drop, they would just call your names out and these parents would write to dudes. Dudes were, they were like soldiers Angels were sending them PlayStations. Dude who got the giant, giant box of Playboys, and that was like gold. Because dudes were. We were traded. Everyone was trading shit, getting max of magazines. Remember that was a big thing, was trading shit, getting max of magazines.

Speaker 1: 2:38:26

Remember that was a big thing. Galvan had a lot of magazines. That's how Renfro got that blow up doll Fatty Patty.

Speaker 2: 2:38:36

Fatty Patty.

Speaker 1: 2:38:36

That wasn't Soldiers Angels, though, that sent that.

Speaker 2: 2:38:38

I don't know who sent that. No, no, but Soldiers Angels was dope.

Speaker 1: 2:38:41

Yeah, their baby wipes. As soon as you said the thick ones, I'm like, yeah, we used to have a hot water heater, yes, and we poured in, and that's how we bathed.

Speaker 2: 2:38:47

That's how we bathed, yeah, until the army came and set up those showers, and it was the greatest thing.

Speaker 1: 2:38:53

Yeah, there was a lot of pressure.

Speaker 2: 2:38:54

So much pressure and they were scalding hot because it was in the middle of winter while we were there and we were the first ones on that base and it was, I think it had to have been close to two months. We didn't like shower, shower. Now, we were just doing like canteen baths most of the time. That's how you know, dude, when you appreciate a good baby wipe, yeah, that's a really good one, that thick one. Yeah, because you could do your body in it. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:39:23

They wouldn't roll. I had to. I had to bathe every week. Yeah, sancho made me. He's a clean freak from his first deployment, so a second with us. He I had to scrub down like before the baby wipes started coming. Plenum's open. Get in there naked. You just start pouring the five gallon jug and he's like we all shower once a week because we have five people on the track. It's like everybody will be so much you only had three, but boater's vehicle went down.

Speaker 2: 2:39:52

I didn't absorb it him, so it was four of us. Yeah but that was until the end though, wasn't it? Four is a lot. It was like halfway through. He lived with me the most of that time, him, bal and Brinkman and the Terp occasionally.

Speaker 1: 2:40:09

Oh that guy.

Speaker 2: 2:40:10

Which one?

Speaker 1: 2:40:11

The tiny skinny one he used to smack around. Ford, not the one. Yeah, ford, not the guy with the purple pinky ring. He was a cool dude, I can't remember his name. He passed away in that blow up. Yeah, yeah, with the Sergeant Major Ellis thing, he passed away.

Speaker 2: 2:40:32

That was weird but the other term he would. He was good too and he was hilarious. Yeah, I told the story about that one that was it had all that fucked up shit and maybe we sent him home. Then we had popeye, the one that had giant forearms, and you want to choke everybody you wrestled, you wrestled uh, the next point you wrestled in my animal house.

Speaker 1: 2:40:48

Yeah, and weren't they biting? Yes, and what'd you say? You look at me in your life and I was like what happened? I was like cause you were struggling with them and you were like I'm not doing this, I'm not doing it, and I'm like I. I'm like bro, I'm like come on and you're like he stinks. It's just a deep, deep, sweaty bo and I can't handle it. I'm gonna throw up. You remember that. And you walked away and I'm like dude, did he just throw his fit like he legit is mad. You were so buttered. You're like he stinks.

Speaker 2: 2:41:22

I can't do it yeah, y'all wanted me to wrestle this dude and you? You were like I swear to you.

Speaker 1: 2:41:27

the second he, because he took off his cami top and I saw sweat rings and he was a thicker boy and I'm like and.

Speaker 1: 2:41:33

I knew I could smell the must and you were like you guys want me to be near that. He's like you do it and you walked off. You got mad. I think he bit you or something Probably. I think he bit you or something Probably. Something happened to where you got pretty mad and then nobody fought anymore like wrestled around, grappled, because you were always with all the other foreign military dudes joking around.

Speaker 2: 2:41:53

I fucked with them so bad. Egypt was an interesting place.

Speaker 1: 2:41:59

We didn't actually get to go. I wanted to go into Cairo and the pyramids.

Speaker 2: 2:42:02

like the rest of the battalion, nope.

Speaker 1: 2:42:04

My wife always says that, like you went to Egypt but you didn't see the pyramids. I'm like no, we saw Cairo. I could see like maybe a shadow of it. We went that way to nothing. I was like you know what I saw? White snail shells, that's it.

Speaker 2: 2:42:19

Millions of white snail shells out in the Egyptian desert.

Speaker 1: 2:42:23

Remember there'd be piles of them.

Speaker 2: 2:42:32

Millions of them, millions of them. I still don't understand that you just come over a sand and like a little sand dune and there would be a bowl of millions of almost golf ball size white snail shells.

Speaker 1: 2:42:36

Well, maybe somebody will comment and be like oh, it's this maybe.

Speaker 2: 2:42:39

Maybe they like all hatched during the rainy season or something, I don't know. It was crazy. We had a bad time out there.

Speaker 1: 2:42:45

That wasn't fun.

Speaker 2: 2:42:46

The flies were so bad.

Speaker 1: 2:42:49

It wasn't Larimore or one of you guys that put your trousers just in the desert and they just stood.

Speaker 2: 2:42:54

Yeah, we laid in the desert for 29 days. They shipped us out in the middle of bumfuck Egypt and we sat there for 20 something days sweating in 130 degree weather. It was horrible in our vehicles sitting and the flies were so bad you couldn't even have a conversation with somebody without wiping your face like remember all day. And then we just got to the point where you just sit there and they'd just be in the corners I didn't visit anybody from you guys.

Speaker 1: 2:43:24

I was in the center getting messed with constantly. Remember when. Barton came out with the suspenders and no shirt on and he wants me to dig a pit for the radios because I was talking. I did something over there, I was talking trash and Gunny's like well, I can't hit him in front of the lieutenant, so come dig this. And then the lieutenant popped out because I was his crewman.

Speaker 2: 2:43:42

The lieutenant's like Gunny what are you having him dig?

Speaker 1: 2:43:46

You need to go do it with him. So Gunny Barton walked out in his suspenders and you guys are all on the 360 looking at us and I'm like you guys are all probably thinking what did they do? He's digging his own grave, but he hit it once and he's like get away from me. And I ran off because he knew it was too hard to dig.

Speaker 1: 2:44:05

He hit one swing and he's like nope, yeah, because he was going to have to stay out there with me and dig with me. That's a good will right there. Appreciate it, homie.

Speaker 2: 2:44:12

That place was horrible. What was that poison? That blue crystal that they would mix and the flies would drink it and just drop dead.

Speaker 1: 2:44:20

Oh, I don't know.

Speaker 2: 2:44:21

Do you remember that, though? It was like straight arsenic for flies? They were straight arsenic for flies, like they were dead within. You'd watch the fly fly off and it'd just fall out of the air. You had to sweep our tracks out all day because the flies would be so thick. It worked. Yeah, it was like came in. It came in. I probably gave me my cough. Yeah, right, dude, that's the type of shit we were living in, like this blue crystal we mix in water. It was spill. You're laying in it like like the mre after mixing this well even the stirring, the Like.

Speaker 1: 2:44:46

we all had to do it. I don't know if you ever had to do it. You probably got out of it, bro.

Speaker 2: 2:44:48

I was the shitty NCO. I burned shit. What do you mean? I was always burning shit. We had to burn shit with the lionesses. We had to put theirs on top of it and boil it. You don't remember that.

Speaker 1: 2:44:59

I don't remember you, I did.

Speaker 2: 2:45:02

I was always in trouble.

Speaker 1: 2:45:04

I was never in trouble. I stayed real quiet. Third section was hated already, so I kept a low profile.

Speaker 2: 2:45:10

Yeah, you guys took a lot of heat off of me. Your whole section did Remember. You guys drug the boat through the city. I'm not cool, bro. You guys drug a boat. We got lost. Yeah, I remember standing outside post that day.

Speaker 1: 2:45:22

I fell asleep driving in Pendletonton through like the sandy tree areas and I fell asleep and my section leader is the crew chief. He's a staff sergeant, I'm just a corporal. I fall asleep because it's 2 in the morning and then I wake up and go where is everybody? I'm the rear vehicle, the last one, and I'm like, oh no, and I'm not the last one because headquarters is behind us. So Dylan's like what's going on? And I'm like, oh, my radio works, because I just closed my eyes for a second. No, it was 20 minutes. Madden came back and got me. He wasn't happy with me, he wasn't happy with Arbuckle. Sorry, buddy, that was all me. Was Arbuckle? Sorry, buddy, that was all me. Was Arbuckle sleeping? Yeah, went over to the intercom and I'm like staff sergeant, what Chucky? And I'm like I'm lost, what you mean? And he got mad. He got mad and I'm like Because?

Speaker 2: 2:46:19

he didn't know where we were.

Speaker 1: 2:46:20

Yeah, and I was like we're at a halt. I put my head down I'm sorry, he's like, oh, you're mine. And he just got super mad. What did he?

Speaker 2: 2:46:28

used to say I got more games than Milton Bradley. Yeah, I got more games than Milton Bradley, bitch you remember him.

Speaker 1: 2:46:37

Yeah, you remember him. Come here Chucky, come here Chucky, come here Chucky. He always called me Ch. He used to say that shit. You never got to do it with him, though, did you? I didn't? You only know this because him and Billen went back and forth.

Speaker 2: 2:46:54

Yeah, they butted heads nonstop, and he knew Billen and I were oil and water so he didn't mess with me too much. But yeah, he would fucking come here. Come here, bitch, I'd be like I got your bitch. You'd be like what. I'd be like nothing. Nothing. That's what I used to say to them every time come here, bitch, I got your bitch, what I'd be like nothing.

Speaker 1: 2:47:10

He used to always say that I got your bitch and you wouldn't do it as loud, but you'd do it just enough to where they were like what and you were like nothing and you'd just move on. You're the only one ballsy enough to do that.

Speaker 2: 2:47:25

Come here, bitch, I got your bitch. What Nothing, roger. Roger, that Every time he was so little too, man, but he was yoked. Yeah, he was juiced bro, there's no way he wasn't juiced out of his mind. I don't know anything about that.

Speaker 1: 2:47:39

I got more games than Bradley bitch. Okay, so much cursing, is it Okay, that's so much cursing?

Speaker 2: 2:47:45

Is it? Have we been doing a lot of cursing? My bad, oh, that's how it was.

Speaker 1: 2:47:49

Though, dude, I get that knot in my head from laughing. You what I get like a knot from laughing too hard, and then it starts just feeling throbbing in my head from laughing oh Arbuckle.

Speaker 2: 2:47:59

Yeah, you guys, the stories are so funny. You guys drug a boat back to the house, dragging house, dragging it through the streets as it smashed off cars, bouncing it's he's the staff sergeant, bro. I remember them going they drug a what. And I was at the coc that day and they were like, yeah, c-section no no, third section, not c-section.

Speaker 1: 2:48:22

I didn't drag no boat you guys drug boats.

Speaker 2: 2:48:25

A boat back behind a humvee back to the house and that was parked out back.

Speaker 1: 2:48:28

Oh, 100%, we dragged it with the Humvee. Yeah, yes, it wasn't my call oh.

Speaker 2: 2:48:33

God, I remember that shit was hilarious.

Speaker 1: 2:48:35

I have no idea. I wasn't a part of that. I have a question. Yeah, kid.

Speaker 2: 2:48:40

What's each of your favorite memories, with each other. Your top favorite memory? Which one them getting thrown out of the club for pulling his pants?

Speaker 1: 2:48:51

out.

Speaker 2: 2:48:53

You said it all. That was probably one of the greatest memories.

Speaker 1: 2:48:56

It was hilarious Mine was the cruise that we went on.

Speaker 2: 2:49:02

That was wild. I remember the sombreros.

Speaker 1: 2:49:04

Yes, that singing event. We cleared out a whole karaoke room.

Speaker 2: 2:49:08

Oh my God, we did.

Speaker 1: 2:49:10

And you kept smacking me with the mic and I'm like what are you doing? And we're wasted. And we start stripping in a family cruise with family people that we don't know there and they all left. But we didn't know it because it was dark and we're thinking we're being all sexy for our wives. And it was not the music turned off, it was pour some sugar on me, per the usual, or Journey, one of the two, oh Journey, Journey always slaps.

Speaker 2: 2:49:37

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:49:37

And we walked off stage with our shirts in our hands and he had a big old sombrero on and there was nobody there.

Speaker 2: 2:49:44

Yeah, that was embarrassing and.

Speaker 1: 2:49:46

Wilson looks right at me, like you cleared this place out. That was highly inappropriate. I'm like and I was drunk, we were young. I was like, hey, it's fun.

Speaker 2: 2:50:00

It was your idea to take off our shirts, and that too.

Speaker 1: 2:50:02

Yeah, you always talk me into that Like, oh yeah, strip.

Speaker 2: 2:50:05

And I'm like no, no, no, Because you would just do it. I never even had to talk you into it, Someone just had to say it and you would do it.

Speaker 1: 2:50:10

Yeah, that's why I don't drink like that man.

Speaker 2: 2:50:12

Yeah, no, it's a good thing you don't, none of us.

Speaker 1: 2:50:16

No, you get violent when you drink, I know. That's why I don't.

Speaker 2: 2:50:22

What camera are we looking at, stanley, if you all are listening or watching every episode right here, stanley?

Speaker 1: 2:50:31

Stanley, you can do the nail thing Click, click, click click.

Speaker 2: 2:50:37

There you go. Now you're doing it. Some ASMR Stanley, yeah, anyways, this was flight deck time. That's what we're going to call this episode. See, there you go. That's good, this is flight deck time. That's what we're gonna call this episode. See there you go. That's good. This is flight deck time. I like that. We just talk about everything, bro. Families, we're just trash.

Speaker 1: 2:50:54

We really it was a lot of trash talking about everybody just venting. It was honestly therapy for both of us. Yeah, because I didn't talk about it, and even sancho was like what did you guys do up there? I'm like we, we just talked about hating you. Wait, was this an everyday thing? Like every night, it was a lot. I can't count, I couldn't tell you a number.

Speaker 2: 2:51:12

Every night, that it wasn't like a general quarters, meaning like they would lock the ship down due to weather. If it was nice and we could go out there, we were out there every night.

Speaker 1: 2:51:21

And then most of the time we made our own list. They were cool with us. They were just like all right, somebody stand it. They just didn't want to stand it, so we'd just ride down and hang out. That's so cool. But there was a group like Hayes Boatenhagen, Reardon, Trizzle, Reber, Brinkman slowed around. Galvan was always in Hales, Hales Garner.

Speaker 2: 2:51:50

Yeah, garner, gallon, bruce, I remember all the stories about all of them.

Speaker 1: 2:51:51

You guys had a great fight on the ship. That's a great story. No, it's not. You don't like how it paints you, but that's it. We were all drinking, that's it that's the way it goes.

Speaker 2: 2:52:02

I thought the minute when he fell, when we caught him sleeping who Bruce no.

Speaker 1: 2:52:07

When we caught him sleeping, who Bruce no.

Speaker 2: 2:52:10

Roos, we caught sleeping. Oh, we put the work on him. You're talking Bruce Bruce, my boy Bruce, james Bruce, I don't remember fighting Bruce.

Speaker 1: 2:52:16

Yeah, I know. Well, you didn't get any licks in my guy. No, no, he gave you a good one, just pop, and then you were grabbed by. Then it was a wrap. I don't remember that one I think that's how I remember, but he might tell me different.

Speaker 2: 2:52:27

No, he's like a bitch. He was the one there.

Speaker 1: 2:52:29

No, don't All right, just kidding. No, don't do that. Come on, I'm fucking with you. I don't even remember that. James would be like wow bro, that's how you do me. There was no serious internal fights with the troops. No, surprisingly no, we're all like Well, I mean, you did beat up, oh, here we go. We're not talking about that, that's been talked.

Speaker 2: 2:52:54

I wouldn't want to talk about it either. That was really sad. You encouraged. It was the saddest thing I've ever seen?

Speaker 1: 2:52:58

No, it wasn't. What about you and Chenault? He smacked you around. Yeah, yeah, he did. You're like, yeah, how long are we going to do?

Speaker 2: 2:53:10

this for Wrap it up right now.

Speaker 1: 2:53:13

We've been up here for a long time, All right.

Speaker 2: 2:53:15

Well, Chuck, it was great man. We're going to have to edit all this out.

Speaker 1: 2:53:21

Why I'm tired. It's exhausting. How often do you do this A lot? I guess it's exhausting. How often do you do this A lot? I guess it's different. You talk to different people, different opinions. Yeah, you've got anybody that's on here. That's totally off the wall. I mean, I've seen the majority of them.

Speaker 2: 2:53:37

There's only been one episode I haven't been able to air.

Speaker 1: 2:53:42

You haven't been able to air Mm-hmm. Why?

Speaker 2: 2:53:45

It was incredible, absolutely incredible.

Speaker 1: 2:53:49

Why can't you air it?

Speaker 2: 2:53:50

then she asked me not to We'll talk about it off camera. The greatest podcast I've ever done. I don't know how I'll ever top it, except for if it's like JD Vance. That's my Were you filming it no Incredible, I'll tell it.

Speaker 2: 2:54:05

That's my. Were you filming it? No, Incredible, I'll tell it. I won't say her name or anything, but All right, let's hear it. Yeah, dude, this woman comes on, she's referred and she's like dude, she's got a wild story. You got to talk to this chick. I'm like all right, well, I never even met her before I meet her at the studio. I walk in like hey, I'm Bam. Within five seconds of her just opening her mouth, I was in absolute awe. I was speechless. I looked at the producer and he was going to be like what, what was she saying? And he was going to be like what was she saying, Bro, she, within the first five seconds, she's telling me she was raped as a baby through her childhood. She grew up thinking she was a boy. She has horrible commitment issues. She's regurgitated a set of testicles what?

Speaker 1: 2:55:09

Yeah, bro, in the first five minutes, five seconds, where's she from?

Speaker 2: 2:55:13

Five seconds. Where's she from? I don't want to say where she's from. Oh, not from here, it's probably. Oregon, no, you would think. I guarantee you she's either lived in or is a fan of Portland. That style of woman, yeah, I got you. She's either lived in or is a fan of Portland, like that style of woman.

Speaker 1: 2:55:29

Yeah, I got you, but great but she's not, she's dude.

Speaker 2: 2:55:32

She goes into her life story and it is a fucking journey and I'm just at awe the whole time because I've never How'd you meet this chick to do this interview? Just referred and uh, then she goes into how like she's a trip leader and she helps people on like these ayahuasca trips and you know, a trip leader is like a guy they're with you while you're on this journey, dude, she starts telling me all these stories and shit.

Speaker 2: 2:55:58

And then she gets into how she's doing like these hallucination trips and she's going all these different planets and shit. But and she's talking and she's like. She's like, yeah, then I in one of my journeys I regurgitated a set of testicles and I'm like, like, metaphorically, like what do you mean? What is it like? How, you know what, what meaning of this? And she's like, I am in the middle of my journey and she's like, and then she would talk, and then I would feel these spirits and I'm like, dude, I'm just like her name.

Speaker 2: 2:56:37

Dude, I can't. She's like. Then I feel this energy down in my loins and it starts coming through my body and I'm like, like what?

Speaker 2: 2:56:47

she's just hacking balls up dude, and she regurgitates this nuts testicles. Yeah is what she said and I was like like literally, she's like literally, she's like I don't know from when I was a baby and built up trauma. I don't know what she meant by it. But yeah, dude, I could never air it because she started going through some shit and she was like appreciated if I didn't do it yeah it was incredible though like I know I sound crazy saying it, but like if you heard her you'd be like holy shit, holy shit.

Speaker 2: 2:57:14

I hope she gets through her shit, because she said she'd come back on and do it again.

Speaker 1: 2:57:17

So and not say as much.

Speaker 2: 2:57:20

I didn't have to delete the video yeah, she wouldn't even if she said a quarter of what she said the first time. I'm cool with that. I sat there like this. I didn't even know what to ask her. She would just like finish saying it and I'd be like huh.

Speaker 1: 2:57:37

So do you like to hike?

Speaker 2: 2:57:39

So, yeah. It's great weather this time of year. Yeah, that'd be awkward. So yeah, that's the only one. And then I did one with another marine and he'd uh, that was just so boring, I didn't never heard it so what?

Speaker 2: 2:57:52

was wrong with them, we won't even need this one. But yeah, it was just dude. I had him come on to like talk about a specific thing to help veterans because he worked for this program and I wanted him to be able to pitch it and help the community. And dude he just the whole time like every question was answered with like oh, you just gotta get online today, and he just lifts off the the company name, I'll tell about what they do.

Speaker 2: 2:58:14

Like what are the secret? Like how are these dudes able to do this? Or like, get this and work this and, dude, well, you got to get on and just fill out an application. I'm like anybody knows. So I never really went anywhere. It's kind of a short one. I was like there's no point. But other than that man, everything's ripped. Most of the people I sit down with are first time meeting them.

Speaker 1: 2:58:40

That's weird.

Speaker 2: 2:58:42

You should do it.

Speaker 1: 2:58:44

That's interesting.

Speaker 2: 2:58:45

You should do it, I think, with your community and how many vets and stuff you know around there. Just do this. Just start small, just do audio.

Speaker 1: 2:58:54

Now I'm all about my facial reactions and talking and storytelling.

Speaker 2: 2:58:57

I am too.

Speaker 1: 2:58:58

That's why, if I went in, I went all in.

Speaker 2: 2:59:00

Look how much room you need. It's not much.

Speaker 1: 2:59:02

I know I have the same loft. I was thinking about it and I have the same idea about making a sign like that. But I like this style, it looks nice, do it. I told you years ago to do it and you were like I got them saved up Some day, some day soon, and it was like years. And I'm like, all right, bro, I'm telling you what are you doing?

Speaker 2: 2:59:23

Had to make some bandwidth.

Speaker 1: 2:59:25

Yeah, it's expensive to start up.

Speaker 2: 2:59:29

Yeah, it wasn't cheap, but it was worth it.

Speaker 1: 2:59:34

I definitely share all the Wild Kale stuff. I love this stuff Just because it does help out veterans.

Speaker 2: 2:59:39

Well, anyway, I can plug them too, man, I hope it catches on. That's what I want that to do as this platform grows. I want just cool, rad veteran law enforcement companies to just be like dude, give this to a guest, I don't want anything, send me one. I don't care what it is like if I could put like, give a plug to a company because I know dude here in the next couple years, like if we stick to this and she's learning the way she is and the way it goes, like it has to go somewhere. It's not an option.

Speaker 1: 3:00:06

All right?

Speaker 2: 3:00:09

Thanks, buddy. It was a pleasure seeing you. I'm going to miss you. I'm proud of you and it's going to be fun to watch you start this new chapter of your life.

Speaker 1: 3:00:20

And we're going to do vacation next year.

Speaker 2: 3:00:22

Yeah, we are you plan them over there.

Speaker 1: 3:00:25

No, I need to know a list of where you guys want to go.

Speaker 2: 3:00:26

We don't give a fuck.

Speaker 1: 3:00:27

No, you do. I'm going to make an epi. You guys have passports, don't you?

Speaker 2: 3:00:31

We can get them.

Speaker 1: 3:00:32

Well, it's next year. I can talk to Melissa and we can start planning something, because once I plan it for the year, that's it.

Speaker 2: 3:00:50

And I'm just going, we're in, we should do it, we should plan one. We'll talk about it later. Alright, thanks, dude.