Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - Reclaiming Military Integrity

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00:00:24.860 Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Gains for Girls podcast.

00:00:27.520 As always, I am very grateful and glad that you are here, tuned in, listening.

00:00:32.660 I say it every single episode, but I want you to do it.

00:00:35.500 Go to outkick.com.

00:00:36.820 That is where you will find all things Gains for Girls. 1.00

00:00:39.060 You can like and you can subscribe.

00:00:41.280 You can share these episodes far and wide, which is super helpful.

00:00:44.520 And you're going to want to do that today because I have the honor of speaking with someone

00:00:49.000 who knows what it means to serve, not just in uniform, of course,

00:00:53.760 but in the fight for the future of our country.

00:00:56.080 Will Tebow, he is a former army ranger, a role that demands the highest level

00:01:01.940 of discipline, of courage, and of leadership.

00:01:05.780 But his service did not end when he took off the uniform.

00:01:08.360 Now he's channeling that same warrior mindset into a new mission,

00:01:12.560 which is defending the principles that make America strong

00:01:15.980 and standing up for what is right in the policy and cultural battles that we face today.

00:01:20.260 So very excited for this.

00:01:22.020 We are going to dive into his military experience, how that shaped his approach to leadership,

00:01:27.580 what he sees as the biggest challenges facing our country.

00:01:30.780 Of course, his take on the new Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth,

00:01:34.540 and how he is handling the job.

00:01:36.620 So let's get right into it with Will Tebow.

00:01:39.560 Well, Will, welcome to the Gains for Girls podcast.

00:01:42.460 I am so excited for this conversation.

00:01:45.760 And before anything, I just want to thank you for your service, for your leadership,

00:01:51.100 for your bravery, for everything that you have done and certainly continue to do.

00:01:55.380 So very, very grateful.

00:01:57.620 Look, I kind of just want to hop right into it.

00:01:59.900 We have seen some pretty major changes over these past, what, seven, almost eight weeks now,

00:02:06.940 with President Donald Trump back in the White House, with Pete Hegseth, back in charge of defense and military.

00:02:15.740 So can you just kind of walk us through maybe the comparison to under the Biden administration,

00:02:21.980 to our military, under President Trump, with Pete Hegseth's leadership?

00:02:27.760 Of course.

00:02:28.780 And I want to start, though, by saying this has been a problem in the military for a lot longer

00:02:33.720 than me, you, or a lot of your listeners probably think.

00:02:37.700 In 1965, you saw the first race quotas in the U.S. military.

00:02:43.380 Secretary of Defense McNamara at the time wanted the military to be the epicenter for victory for the civil rights movement,

00:02:52.180 meaning that there is a mandate that the military look racially and eventually by sex like the nation,

00:02:59.580 or we could presume injustice.

00:03:01.380 And, you know, this continued for decades.

00:03:05.000 It took on, as you probably know, you know, new steam during the Obama administration,

00:03:11.060 intense scrutiny for military officers, the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell,

00:03:16.720 you know, to make the military more conducive to U.S. social policy,

00:03:20.660 allowing women into combat rules unrestricted. 0.95

00:03:23.420 And then, you know, as you know, Riley, the Biden administration, you know, I think just took the mask off of any pretense

00:03:30.360 that the military was an apolitical institution and ensured that the nation and the people believed it to be an institution of the left.

00:03:40.280 And so you saw force-wide mandates for diversity.

00:03:45.960 And again, this is not an encouragement for tolerance or anti-discrimination,

00:03:51.380 but a mandate that units at every level, small to big, looked a certain way based on the color of soldiers' skin or their sex.

00:04:00.840 That's, you know, it's frankly, it's policies that even Harvard and Yale didn't have on the books.

00:04:08.440 You know, transvestite service members were allowed to serve not just openly,

00:04:14.140 but as a matter of pride as military policy.

00:04:18.400 You know, they celebrated Pride Month every year.

00:04:20.700 It was clear who belonged and who didn't in the Biden military.

00:04:23.580 And, you know, you get a sense, to your point, that the first two months of the Trump administration

00:04:28.060 are a sign that President Trump and Secretary Hegseth know that if not now,

00:04:34.260 we never will have the chance to reclaim the institution of the military,

00:04:39.100 first for political neutrality, but even, you know, even for conservatives in America.

00:04:44.160 We can't, we won't ever be able to reclaim it again as a place that, you know,

00:04:47.920 your kids or my kids could serve honorably and faithfully.

00:04:51.280 And you get a sense that this is the time.

00:04:53.720 And it starts with restoring standards as a means of determining who's best,

00:04:57.980 not just a basic pass-fail benchmark for, you know, placing a unit.

00:05:05.880 Let's go back to those race quotas.

00:05:07.340 You said 1965?

00:05:10.320 Yeah, it started with the Defense Race Relations Board,

00:05:13.520 which again was, you know, the thought that the Pentagon could be

00:05:16.960 the first institution that embraced the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

00:05:21.940 So it's been a while.

00:05:23.080 Wow.

00:05:23.940 I mean, I definitely had no idea.

00:05:26.040 I would imagine many Americans are in the same boat as me, having no idea.

00:05:30.900 Of course, we saw, as you said, right, the past four years.

00:05:34.600 But to understand this has been going on so, so much longer than that,

00:05:39.600 maybe behind closed doors, whatever it was,

00:05:41.560 I think really brought to light in the previous four years, that is eye-opening.

00:05:47.460 And we've seen, of course, I think your everyday American can understand how these

00:05:52.900 DEI programs and initiatives impact military readiness and operational effectiveness.

00:06:00.580 But I want to ask you about these military leaders.

00:06:04.260 Like, are they feeling pressured to abide by these ideological viewpoints rather than

00:06:10.680 focusing on military excellence or merit, I guess, which is in contrast to everything

00:06:17.100 that DEI stands for?

00:06:19.000 I think that's undeniable.

00:06:21.120 And to your great observation that this has been going on under the radar for a lot longer

00:06:26.760 than we think, it's due to the genuine and, I think, worthy deference that the American

00:06:32.100 people have to the military as an institution because of the very unique job that the military

00:06:37.660 as a whole and the individuals in the military have to do on behalf of the nation.

00:06:43.600 But what I think is important, what I think is changing, is the understanding that uniformed

00:06:49.120 military leaders are culpable for this ideological takeover that took place over the last

00:06:56.300 50 or 60 years.

00:06:57.700 You know, it is one thing, you know, military, uniformed military leaders have to follow the

00:07:02.220 orders of the political appointees in the Department of Defense, obviously the Secretary

00:07:08.380 of Defense and the President foremost amongst them.

00:07:11.980 But what doesn't have to happen, you know, a uniformed admiral doesn't have to speak at

00:07:17.120 a Women's Equality Day event and say that, you know, military officers should be skeptical 0.62

00:07:21.920 of laws passed by Congress because so many elected representatives are white men.

00:07:27.140 You know, an army general doesn't have to say that soldiers are complicit in white supremacy

00:07:32.480 if they serve at Fort Benning or Fort Bragg based on the names of those institutions.

00:07:37.760 What I think we saw during the Biden administration especially was this really brazen political embrace

00:07:44.480 of an ideology over the professional duty of the uniformed military to follow orders.

00:07:50.200 And that's objectionable.

00:07:51.480 That's against military law to embrace ideology and politics in uniform.

00:07:57.940 But to your point, it really did fracture the relationship and the trust between the public

00:08:01.780 and the military who's sworn to defend them.

00:08:04.960 And we saw that in recruiting numbers and different things, right?

00:08:08.720 I think if I'm not mistaken, when President Biden left office or let's say at the end of 2024,

00:08:15.480 I know specifically in the army, those are some of the numbers I saw.

00:08:18.380 It was like the lowest recruiting levels, maybe in years and in history.

00:08:24.080 I can't remember exactly the timeline there.

00:08:26.100 But then again, following Secretary Hexhaugh's appointment, it was like the highest recruiting

00:08:30.720 numbers in many, many years.

00:08:33.160 So, I mean, can you speak to that?

00:08:34.780 Like, is there this newfound sense of pride in our military?

00:08:39.680 And I think even more broadly, to be an American, I think we lost that.

00:08:43.940 I will speak as someone who obviously doesn't have the military background or expertise that

00:08:48.540 you do.

00:08:49.420 But I can say personally, I feel much more prideful and patriotic in saying that I am American

00:08:55.320 now than I did under Joe Biden's leadership.

00:08:59.060 Well, you get it.

00:09:00.040 And that's a worthy sentiment that I think reflects reality for those who are considering

00:09:05.800 service in the military.

00:09:07.280 But what I think is the underlying point, and, you know, frankly, as someone who deployed

00:09:12.340 multiple times to Iraq, it's something to which I can relate.

00:09:16.460 The American people trust their leaders in this administration.

00:09:20.880 You know, the American Principles Project, an organization I know with, you know, if you're

00:09:24.680 familiar, they did a study and it showed the biggest reason why veterans didn't want their

00:09:30.600 children to serve.

00:09:32.060 And that's a huge percentage of the military.

00:09:33.720 The biggest reason they didn't want them to serve is because of a mistrust of military

00:09:38.080 leaders.

00:09:38.680 And wokeness is a cause. 1.00

00:09:41.340 You know, I don't want my son serving on an aircraft carrier if he has to, you know,

00:09:45.180 go by a pride parade, you know, every other day in June.

00:09:48.900 But also, you know, even as important, I want my sons to serve in a military that will

00:09:57.420 consider their sacrifice and their service responsibly.

00:10:01.640 I don't want them to serve in forever wars.

00:10:03.500 I don't want them, you know, to serve in interests that are not directly related to the American

00:10:08.980 people.

00:10:09.680 And that's what I think President Trump and Secretary Hegseth represent, a confidence that

00:10:14.280 the military, if it must be used, will be used on behalf of the American people and our

00:10:20.380 homeland.

00:10:21.240 And it's something that has been lost for decades.

00:10:24.160 And again, I say that as someone who fought in Iraq for a cause that I think about questioning

00:10:29.180 a lot.

00:10:29.960 I made the mistake of not asking you, I mean, the first question I should have asked you

00:10:35.020 is to explain your background in the military.

00:10:39.200 You mentioned your deployments.

00:10:40.660 Talk about that just a little bit.

00:10:42.980 Yeah.

00:10:43.260 I mean, it's a humble background compared to most.

00:10:45.940 I was an Army infantry officer.

00:10:47.620 I was blessed enough to serve in, you know, what I think is the greatest military unit,

00:10:52.940 the 75th Range Regiment.

00:10:54.420 And it was as a ranger that I deployed, you know, multiple times to the Middle East.

00:11:00.000 But it was, you know, it was for uncertain causes.

00:11:03.540 I deployed over 10 years after we started the war in Iraq.

00:11:06.820 And I remember stepping foot on the tarmac, my first deployment and wondering, you know,

00:11:12.100 thinking back to my younger self, you know, contemplating the invasion in 2003 and just

00:11:18.540 wondering how it was still the case that, you know, American soldiers were deploying

00:11:23.620 to the country.

00:11:25.160 But at the end of the day, you know, a lot of people, you know, talk this way or that

00:11:29.620 way about joining the military.

00:11:30.680 But it would, you know, I think it'll always be the best job I ever had.

00:11:33.880 And I loved every minute.

00:11:35.100 That's right.

00:11:36.700 I've got to ask you, of course, about the horrific, destructive, disastrous Afghanistan 1.00

00:11:43.880 withdrawal.

00:11:45.540 I've had the greatest honor of getting to know several of these these Gold Star family members,

00:11:51.720 whether it's moms or siblings or aunts.

00:11:55.060 And I mean, my heart breaks, of course, for the situation that they have found themselves

00:12:00.920 in.

00:12:01.340 But to see their resilience, I guess, and just understanding, even still with their children,

00:12:08.680 their nephews, their siblings being gone, that it was the ultimate sacrifice that they

00:12:14.160 signed up for, of course, in a way that is unfathomable to most.

00:12:19.760 I want to get your thoughts just on the Afghanistan withdrawal.

00:12:23.320 Yeah, and thanks so much for, you know, your support of Gold Star Families Rally.

00:12:29.500 It's a tragedy and it's a disaster.

00:12:34.100 You know, you wonder so much of all the things that could have been done differently.

00:12:40.620 You know, frankly, especially at the senior military officer level, right?

00:12:45.520 The commander of Central Command, General Mark Milley, you know, why you can ask yourself

00:12:50.760 a lot of reasons from the location of the withdrawal to the timing of why certain things

00:12:54.660 had to happen the way they do.

00:12:55.780 But I'll say this, you know, as someone who is, you know, very close, I never went to

00:13:00.320 Afghanistan myself.

00:13:01.340 My wife did.

00:13:02.180 Countless friends did.

00:13:03.480 I lost friends in Afghanistan.

00:13:04.720 I, you know, what it says to me is that we spent 20 years, 20 more, almost, you know,

00:13:10.980 more than 20 years of blood, sweat, and treasure in that country, building up their government,

00:13:16.380 building up the military.

00:13:18.140 And it collapsed, it all collapsed over the course of a long weekend.

00:13:21.920 And this is after, you know, every, every six months or so, a four-star general would

00:13:26.180 testify in Congress that U.S. forces only needed a few more bodies and a few more billion

00:13:32.320 dollars, and we can turn the tide and make the, you know, the government of Afghanistan

00:13:37.000 a responsible American-like democracy.

00:13:41.000 But for some reason, after all that investment, it all just collapsed.

00:13:46.020 And although I do think there should be some accountability and some scrutiny to how the

00:13:49.940 withdrawal happened, that's, I want accountability for how we went 20 years with such little to

00:13:55.880 show for it.

00:13:56.600 That's, that's the tragedy.

00:13:58.100 That's the crime.

00:13:58.820 You know, I, my, you know, my heartaches for the gold star families of those, those

00:14:02.260 13 Marines and soldier, the soldier who were killed.

00:14:05.200 But I'm also thinking about all the gold star families of the, you know, almost 4,000 guys

00:14:11.520 and girls that we lost in the, you know, in the 20 years prior.

00:14:14.320 That's, that's the tragedy.

00:14:15.700 Frankly, I think that might even be a crime that the Trump administration should ask a lot

00:14:20.280 of questions about.

00:14:21.460 That's right.

00:14:22.060 And I don't think that's a number that's, it's talked about often.

00:14:25.320 Uh, I certainly haven't heard that 4,000 number.

00:14:28.760 So I, um, I'm in, in full agreement with you.

00:14:35.280 You mentioned, obviously, I mean, you dedicate really your time now to, to really combating

00:14:41.080 the wokeness in the military.

00:14:43.900 Uh, you mentioned these different standards that men and women have a different expectations,

00:14:51.820 different, whether it's, it's fitness tests, fitness levels, whatever it is.

00:14:55.100 Can you speak to those a little bit?

00:14:56.800 Because of course my platform and the people who listen to, to this podcast, uh, it's,

00:15:02.460 it's built around the idea that of course, men and women are different, right?

00:15:06.760 I mean, the novel concept, the very controversial statement that men and women are different.

00:15:11.740 So can you talk about what this looks like in regards to, to the military?

00:15:17.020 Well, yeah.

00:15:17.240 And I think the military is still coming to grip with that reality.

00:15:19.640 And let's just play a little bit of history.

00:15:21.700 We want to go all the way back to 19, 1965, but in 2014, uh, president Obama, uh, removed

00:15:28.780 the combat exclusion policy, which was the policy in the military that there are certain jobs

00:15:34.320 or military occupation specialties that are not open or available, uh, for women, uh, infantry

00:15:41.680 amongst them.

00:15:42.780 Uh, if you, you know, there are a few others, this was done under the belief that we should

00:15:48.220 not discriminate against any man or woman who could pass the same standards in order

00:15:54.480 to serve in whatever job they want.

00:15:56.920 Now, you know, categorically, I think this gets something very wrong about the military.

00:16:01.280 It's not an institution of equal opportunity.

00:16:03.060 It's an, it's an institution of violence, uh, and, and remarkable unit cohesion, but, you

00:16:08.400 know, we can perhaps come back to that.

00:16:09.760 But what the army was doing concurrently to that policy change is the launch of, uh, what

00:16:14.840 is still called the army combat fitness test, which is going to be a test supposedly, uh,

00:16:19.780 to better measure a soldier's ability to perform in ground combat.

00:16:23.720 You'd lift weights, you'd do pull-ups, you'd drag heavy things, you'd sprint and you'd run

00:16:27.720 and do some pushups, you know, a few other events.

00:16:30.260 Uh, again, this was supposed to be a test that would measure men and women on the same,

00:16:34.620 uh, on the same scale.

00:16:36.180 So, uh, more than 10 years later, tens of millions of dollars later, the army combat

00:16:41.420 fitness test is still gender segregated, right?

00:16:45.300 That we've never reached the panacea that the army's claimed, uh, you know, to have been

00:16:49.680 true that men and women should be evaluated on the same standards.

00:16:52.520 And in fact, they've, they've removed events from the army combat fitness test under political

00:16:57.960 pressure from, uh, female generals and senators, uh, because there was a discrepancy in how men 1.00

00:17:03.740 and women, imagine that performed on a given test. 1.00

00:17:06.640 Uh, and, you know, we're still waiting for this, uh, you know, for this concept of genuine,

00:17:11.680 uh, merit based standards.

00:17:14.300 I think, you know, uh, Secretary Hegseth made an announcement last week that may indicate

00:17:18.700 we're finally, uh, getting there.

00:17:20.420 But even if you buy the notion that women should be able to serve in ground combat roles, 1.00

00:17:25.840 uh, you should at least acknowledge that we have not gotten to the place where men and

00:17:30.360 women are evaluated on the same playing field. 1.00

00:17:33.260 It's this, you know, this, uh, you know, cognitive dissonance between the realities of war that

00:17:37.760 know, no sex between, you know, based on who, who gets wounded, who doesn't, and, you know,

00:17:42.660 who, who should be in these positions based on their, their, their.

00:17:46.560 Yeah.

00:17:47.020 And you mentioned cohesion.

00:17:48.520 Uh, I have several, uh, people in my life who were in the military.

00:17:53.220 Uh, and when I bring this topic up with them, they say, look, if we had a woman on the combat

00:17:58.040 field with us as a man, our mindset shifts, our job at that point is to look after the

00:18:04.340 woman, right? 1.00

00:18:04.960 Like that, that's, I think what any man, at least who was raised, right, even innately,

00:18:10.440 inherently subconsciously, you're, you're looking after someone who should be able to look after

00:18:15.600 themselves and others around them.

00:18:17.020 So I thought that was an interesting point again, outside of the, the obvious and very real

00:18:22.060 physical differences between men and women.

00:18:24.780 Uh, we've seen several reports over the past few weeks, even as, as I mean, this morning

00:18:31.240 of swatting taking place, targeting really these, these MAGA influencers or whatever you want

00:18:38.740 to call them.

00:18:39.840 Uh, Kash Patel has said that the FBI is, is currently investigating this issue.

00:18:44.300 I wanted to ask you, how do you see this, this type of, I mean, I don't know what it is,

00:18:51.180 this intimidation mechanism, maybe affecting our public safety.

00:18:55.100 And do you have any insight into, to what could help something like this?

00:19:01.660 Well, I think there, this is, this highlights the importance of legitimate federal power,

00:19:07.740 uh, who can not only again, create a neutral playing field for Democrats and Republicans,

00:19:14.360 the left and the right in America, but who can prosecute and dismantle the networks.

00:19:20.840 Cause I do think it's a network and the people who are, who are propagating, uh, who are propagating

00:19:26.380 this.

00:19:26.780 We should go after the people who are pursuing swatting of, of reasonable Americans, uh, 1.00

00:19:32.080 under the full, full extent of the law, just like January 6th protesters, you know, were

00:19:37.020 pursued.

00:19:37.480 We should pursue these people.

00:19:39.840 I, you know, you and I both know that it's easy, uh, in this technological age to understand

00:19:44.460 who makes phone calls from where the information's out there.

00:19:47.840 Uh, you probably all barely need a warrant, uh, to get there.

00:19:51.080 So I, you know, I hope the FBI is on it.

00:19:53.380 I imagine they are, uh, but it's just a sign that the left and right don't play by the same,

00:19:57.620 the same rules.

00:19:58.760 I can't think of a time that a leftist was swatted, you know, by, by a conservative, you

00:20:04.500 know, I, I hope that the, you know, those of us who are interested in the truth still

00:20:07.440 speak for it and we have to, but we have federal power now.

00:20:11.760 And so let's not avoid it.

00:20:13.660 Let's use federal power to preserve our way of life and, you know, the safety of, of our

00:20:17.980 families.

00:20:18.860 That's right.

00:20:19.600 Something I'm always intrigued in, in talking to, to us military members is what was the

00:20:26.560 process like for you post-military?

00:20:28.940 Uh, do you feel like you received the help and the support for, first of all, when, when

00:20:35.640 were you done?

00:20:36.360 Yeah, I, I left the military in 2020, almost five years ago to the day.

00:20:41.160 Do you feel like you, you received the help and support at that time, uh, that I believe,

00:20:46.240 and of course that majority of Americans believe you're entitled to actually legally that you

00:20:51.060 are entitled to?

00:20:51.860 Yeah.

00:20:52.140 You know, I think it's, I think it's fair.

00:20:54.260 I, I don't, I'm kind of the type of Irish heritage or whatever.

00:20:59.700 I, I'm just going to kind of put my nose down and, and grind and I'm not sure what I, uh,

00:21:04.820 deserve, but I, you know, I do think that Americans, America's veterans deserve preferential

00:21:10.820 treatment.

00:21:11.280 You know, even to this day, I, I only feel at home around, you know, my, my old army

00:21:17.380 buddies or my, you know, former, former Rangers and guys who kind of have, have lived through

00:21:22.780 what I, um, what I lived through.

00:21:25.120 I, you know, I've been blessed because I have a family and I have, you know, people who love

00:21:29.160 me and that's, that's kind of my saving grace.

00:21:32.640 But what I worry about is the guys who don't, um, you know, the guys who really saw traumatic,

00:21:38.880 uh, traumatic events and don't have a venue for, um, you know, for fellowship and brotherhood.

00:21:44.760 That's kind of, you know, our atomized society has encroached even to the military.

00:21:48.640 One, one thing I want, I want to do more research on, you know, the early part of the war and

00:21:53.040 terror, early two thousands barracks looked more like open bays and with bunk beds for the

00:21:57.680 younger guys.

00:21:58.320 And so when you'd come home from overseas, you were just with everyone, you're with your

00:22:02.220 brothers, with your teammates, more and more barracks started to look like hotel rooms where

00:22:06.240 every soldier, even the junior ones just had their own room, their own shower, and there

00:22:10.360 was no impetus for them to get out and be with each other.

00:22:13.080 You know, even after coming home from, from traumatic experiences, these are the things that

00:22:17.320 I hope I'm hoping, you know, people like secretary Collins and, and even, you know, secretary

00:22:21.240 Hegseth can start to look at how do we, uh, you know, bring soldiers and veterans together

00:22:26.800 because that's, that's the only way I think you can replace, uh, and, and preserve the

00:22:32.360 mental health of guys.

00:22:33.540 It's not about, I just don't think it's about drugs or, you know, experiences.

00:22:37.580 I do think it's about faith and, and, you know, spiritual life, but, uh, you have to show

00:22:42.600 you, we, you have to show guys like me that there are others right here next to you.

00:22:46.140 They just, they're just, they're just looking for a shoulder and, you know, a guy who gets

00:22:50.380 it to talk with.

00:22:51.840 That's right.

00:22:52.880 So, so what next, uh, obviously, as we've mentioned, uh, Pete Hegseth, he's, he's, you

00:22:59.420 know, issuing these orders of reviewing military grooming and fitness standards and, and across

00:23:04.900 the board, uh, returning the military to a place where, of course, its job is to make

00:23:09.980 America safe, make America strong.

00:23:12.720 Um, so, so what are kind of the next big things that you would like to see our current administration

00:23:18.160 look into and improve as it pertains to, to the military?

00:23:23.340 Well, it starts with accountability, you know, by, by my counts, there are over 70 uniformed

00:23:29.540 generals and admirals who openly advocated for DEI as military policy as part of their service.

00:23:35.820 They made it their public persona, uh, to support DEI as policy.

00:23:41.440 I think that's objectionable.

00:23:42.560 And I think one way or the other, they should be shown, uh, shown the door and made clear

00:23:46.520 that it's because they supported such actions, uh, that they're not going to get promoted

00:23:50.460 or continue service.

00:23:52.140 That's one.

00:23:53.040 You know, the second is I think the Senate and the house need to step in and codify much

00:23:57.820 of what president Trump and secretary Hegseth are doing in law.

00:24:00.580 I mean, the Republicans have the majority in both the house and Senate.

00:24:04.960 It's time that we eliminate for the future, any use of race or sex as considerations for military

00:24:11.640 personnel and programs.

00:24:13.880 We have to end the days where quotas are possible.

00:24:17.060 What happened in the first Trump administration and even previous Republican administrations

00:24:20.800 is that the kind of ideological current continued under, you know, undetected.

00:24:25.680 Uh, we have to make that impossible, uh, for whenever president Trump, uh, does lead office,

00:24:31.920 but, and then third, and, and, you know, it's not final, but for our purposes, I'll, I'll pause

00:24:36.400 here.

00:24:36.680 We need to consider organizational reform to the military.

00:24:40.960 What, why do our service academies look like four year institutions where you can get a

00:24:46.480 major in social studies, you know, West point until about four weeks ago offered a diversity

00:24:51.720 and inclusion studies degree, right?

00:24:54.360 It's, it's easy to take something off a website, but we need to consider broader structural reforms

00:24:58.760 so that it can't happen for generations of officers into the future.

00:25:03.160 Same with military organizations like the joint staff, right?

00:25:05.940 If there's a deep state in the military, it's the joint staff, unaccountable to any political

00:25:10.120 official.

00:25:10.880 Uh, and they make a joke that you can't plan a barbecue in the military without joint staff

00:25:14.640 concurrence.

00:25:15.360 They shouldn't be that influential.

00:25:17.000 Those generals are meant to advise, uh, provide advice and consent to the president and, and

00:25:21.180 not much more.

00:25:21.800 So let's make sure that's all they do.

00:25:24.620 Yeah.

00:25:25.120 All good things.

00:25:26.380 Uh, I think the, the general public, I certainly wouldn't have actually, let me be very clear.

00:25:31.940 Had I not been kind of thrusted into the position that I'm in now, I wouldn't know that an executive

00:25:37.880 order is not codified permanently into law for, for ever and ever and ever, uh, those can be

00:25:44.580 undone just as quickly as they were instated.

00:25:48.340 Uh, so I totally agree, uh, shifting public persona, encouraging the public, uh, to, to, uh,

00:25:56.120 pester their, their legislators, their lawmakers, their elected officials into, into making really

00:26:01.820 the America first agenda as a whole permanent, uh, is, is crucial stuff.

00:26:06.720 Last thing for you, uh, I think I just would love to hear your advice, uh, for the next

00:26:13.460 generation, even still, uh, right.

00:26:15.940 I think many young Americans, they just feel disconnected from maybe not even, you know,

00:26:22.360 military service.

00:26:23.340 I think service as a whole from, from civic duty.

00:26:26.100 Uh, so what advice do you have for those who are looking to lead with purpose?

00:26:30.900 Again, whether that's in the military, public service, advocacy, or beyond.

00:26:35.540 Uh, so what advice do you have for those who are looking to lead with purpose?

00:26:36.720 Well, you know, I'll just say, I do encourage military service.

00:26:41.820 I, I don't, you know, there's this whole, there's all this discussion online and in political

00:26:47.100 circles about how you cultivate masculinity and, you know, the virtues of manhood.

00:26:53.660 And I'm so confused as to why, you know, service in the military is often excluded from that because

00:27:00.000 it cultivates sacrifice.

00:27:02.120 You know, you, you subjugate your own desires for the good of others.

00:27:04.820 Uh, it cultivates physical fitness, rigor, uh, and immense suffering, uh, again, for, uh, a cause

00:27:12.580 greater, uh, than yourself.

00:27:14.880 And you can do something of which you are really proud that, and that is timeless.

00:27:20.280 Um, it is, you know, to me, it's become a real shame that the military is, is no longer,

00:27:26.380 was no longer seen as a place where you could, where a conservative American man or a conservative

00:27:32.060 American boy could grow up and become a man that, cause that's what it was for me.

00:27:36.500 I wouldn't be anyone without my service in the military.

00:27:42.160 And it's, you know, it's okay to say that.

00:27:44.740 And we should, uh, reclaim it because if, if your life is, is just about kind of personal

00:27:50.600 benchmarks of, you know, fulfillment and achievement, I think you'll, you'll reach the end of your

00:27:56.700 days and I, you know, I'm, I'm, I don't know myself, but I, you know, I think you'll reach

00:28:01.620 the end of your days and what kind of wonder what's been, you know, I, even, even me in

00:28:05.200 my thirties, I can look back with some confidence that I spent my twenties, uh, doing something

00:28:11.160 of which I am proud.

00:28:12.480 I can, I'm doing something that I want to show, uh, my sons and my kids, my daughters, uh,

00:28:19.600 and, and hope that they can be proud.

00:28:21.260 And that, that is, I think a benchmark of success.

00:28:24.620 If you've done something to which you can pass on, you know, to your, to your children

00:28:29.160 and to your family, uh, it's, it's the measure of, of a life worth living.

00:28:34.880 And then the task for, I think you and me now, Riley, is to make sure the nation is worth

00:28:38.620 the sacrifice.

00:28:39.820 Um, but if it's not, then I think we're in, we're in bad shape, but you know, until we get

00:28:46.100 there, I think service is a great way to spend your twenties.

00:28:49.480 No doubt.

00:28:50.040 No doubt.

00:28:50.300 And you mentioned that, that brotherhood you have, um, I was on a team, right?

00:28:55.500 I played, uh, sports and, and it's, I can imagine similar to a degree, uh, where you

00:29:01.020 would do anything for one another.

00:29:02.440 But, uh, in our case, we weren't, that didn't really mean risking our lives.

00:29:07.100 So the, the brotherhood that I'm sure you've developed, uh, over the years will, will, I

00:29:13.340 mean, withstand time.

00:29:15.120 That's for sure.

00:29:16.060 So we appreciate you.

00:29:17.140 Uh, we appreciate your service, everything that you're, you've done.

00:29:20.860 I, I really believe that you're a hero for your time on the battlefield.

00:29:24.640 Uh, and again, for what you continue to do and, and highlighting the problems that exist,

00:29:30.200 but not only that working to create solutions, uh, in this reform you speak of.

00:29:35.340 So thank you so much, Will.

00:29:37.320 Yeah.

00:29:37.720 Thank you, Raleigh.

00:29:38.340 I'm not a hero, but, uh, I really appreciate the chance to, to highlight those who are.

00:29:43.760 After just talking with Will, I feel like just patriotism is on the rise again.

00:29:49.100 Uh, so thank you, Will, to all U.S. military members and their families.

00:29:52.900 Thank you for your service.

00:29:53.820 Uh, as always, very grateful that you're here, that you're listening again, go to outkick.com.

00:29:59.620 That is where you will find all things games for girls. 1.00

00:30:01.940 And we will see you again next week.

00:30:03.200 Thank you.

Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - March 19, 2025

Reclaiming Military Integrity

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