Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - March 19, 2025


Reclaiming Military Integrity


Episode Stats

Length

30 minutes

Words per Minute

174.86151

Word Count

5,261

Sentence Count

258

Misogynist Sentences

9

Hate Speech Sentences

3


Summary

Will Tebow is a former Army Ranger and former National Football Hall of Fame quarterback who served as a member of the U.S. National Football Team and as a National Football League Quarterback. He also served as the Vice President of the United States from 2001 to 2006, when he was elected to Congress. Tebow joins Jemele to discuss his military experience, how it shaped his approach to leadership, and what he sees as the biggest challenges facing our country.


Transcript

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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.
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.
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
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.
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
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
00:17:03.740 and women, imagine that performed on a given test.
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,
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.
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?
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,
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.
00:30:01.940 And we will see you again next week.
00:30:03.200 Thank you.