The Megyn Kelly Show - Tim Kennedy on the Taliban Terror Threat, Personal Responsibility, and the Importance of Losing

00:00:00.000 When I found out my friend got a great deal

00:00:02.160 on a wool coat from Winners,

00:00:03.760 I started wondering,

00:00:05.440 is every fabulous item I see from Winners?

00:00:08.560 Like that woman over there with the designer jeans.

00:00:10.900 Are those from Winners?

00:00:12.780 Ooh, or those beautiful gold earrings?

00:00:15.260 Did she pay full price?

00:00:16.600 Or that leather tote?

00:00:17.620 Or that cashmere sweater?

00:00:18.840 Or those knee-high boots?

00:00:20.280 That dress?

00:00:21.060 That jacket?

00:00:21.740 Those shoes?

00:00:22.780 Is anyone paying full price for anything?

00:00:25.720 Stop wondering.

00:00:26.980 Start winning.

00:00:27.920 Winners.

00:00:28.500 Find fabulous for less.

00:00:30.580 Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show.

00:00:32.520 Your home for open, honest, and provocative conversations.

00:00:41.880 Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly.

00:00:43.560 Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show.

00:00:45.040 Joining me today, a true badass, Tim Kennedy.

00:00:48.520 Or as he describes himself,

00:00:50.020 someone who is unapologetically American.

00:00:53.060 Same.

00:00:54.060 He's a decorated war hero,

00:00:55.820 serving in Afghanistan and Iraq

00:00:57.340 with his Special Forces units as a sniper,

00:00:59.100 as a Green Beret and as an Army Ranger,

00:01:01.620 all while he was moonlighting

00:01:03.080 as a top-ranked UFC fighter.

00:01:06.240 Then he left the world of MMA in 2017,

00:01:09.260 re-enlisting in the military,

00:01:10.920 and this past summer,

00:01:12.300 going back to Afghanistan,

00:01:13.620 this time as a volunteer,

00:01:15.620 working to rescue civilians

00:01:16.820 that helped us in the war effort.

00:01:19.620 Tim, as those of you watching on YouTube will see,

00:01:21.940 is currently in his car,

00:01:23.500 and there is a reason for that.

00:01:25.440 He was just, as of moments ago,

00:01:28.340 reactivated to military service

00:01:30.640 and is currently somewhere near the training ground

00:01:32.880 he will be deployed at

00:01:34.200 for the next several months.

00:01:36.900 He can't get too far into the details of that,

00:01:39.660 but Tim joins me now.

00:01:41.100 Tim, thank you so much for being here.

00:01:42.980 My pleasure.

00:01:43.460 Thanks for having me.

00:01:44.080 So you just got the news

00:01:46.020 that you were being redeployed?

00:01:48.320 I mean, I've been back to work

00:01:51.800 for a couple of days,

00:01:53.080 and they call it voluntold,

00:01:55.100 where you're volunteering,

00:01:56.920 but you're being told to volunteer,

00:01:58.700 and that was the situation.

00:02:00.520 It's like, hey, you're going to go to work,

00:02:01.920 and you're going to be really excited to do it.

00:02:03.880 I was like, yes!

00:02:04.960 So here we are.

00:02:06.120 I don't sound great either.

00:02:08.320 Well, thankfully,

00:02:09.080 that doesn't translate over the cam.

00:02:10.260 So you know what you're doing.

00:02:12.620 Do you know what...

00:02:13.440 I know you're not allowed to tell us,

00:02:14.700 but do you know what the mission is?

00:02:17.520 Right now, it's just to train.

00:02:20.620 Special forces train all the time, year-round,

00:02:24.280 and then you have to do some specific training

00:02:27.000 for specific missions,

00:02:28.240 and that's what we're doing.

00:02:29.360 We're trying to create a baseline,

00:02:32.800 get green on everything,

00:02:34.560 where you're across the board,

00:02:36.540 trained in all the fundamentals,

00:02:37.400 and then you're able to do more advanced stuff

00:02:39.240 to prepare for a specific mission.

00:02:41.080 But you have to be good.

00:02:41.780 You have to be a master of the basics,

00:02:43.680 and you can never spend too much time doing that.

00:02:46.320 But most of the places that we do that training,

00:02:48.440 there's not great cell service,

00:02:49.480 so you'll have to forgive my parking lot call.

00:02:52.620 No worries.

00:02:53.000 It's kind of exciting.

00:02:54.080 So it doesn't necessarily mean you're going anywhere

00:02:56.220 or have a specific mission.

00:02:57.380 It's basically you've got to keep the muscles in shape

00:02:59.240 for if and when they need you in the theater.

00:03:04.180 Yeah.

00:03:05.380 The muscles of the mind, too,

00:03:06.840 like tactics or a perishable skill,

00:03:09.100 shooting, navigation,

00:03:10.380 these are all perishable skills

00:03:11.480 that you have to do frequently.

00:03:13.940 And then when you know you're going to go do

00:03:15.060 something very specific,

00:03:16.280 you have to go do that specific thing,

00:03:18.040 that modality to get good at it again.

00:03:20.880 It must be hard to hold down another job.

00:03:23.140 Like, I mean,

00:03:23.480 if you were actually still doing the fighting,

00:03:26.400 like UFC,

00:03:26.940 I can't make tonight's match.

00:03:28.300 I'm out of town.

00:03:30.480 Yeah.

00:03:30.900 I mean, so I'm an entrepreneur.

00:03:32.620 I own seven companies and I have 20 partners.

00:03:36.840 And I don't have the ability to...

00:03:42.280 Thank God I was fighting while I was in special forces

00:03:45.800 because that conditions how to do time management

00:03:48.620 and how to task organize.

00:03:51.960 So while I was fighting for world titles,

00:03:54.720 I was still a Green Beret.

00:03:56.760 And I would still have to do everything my team asked of me.

00:03:59.440 My boss has asked of me,

00:04:00.700 as I still do now.

00:04:02.260 So when my boss says,

00:04:03.200 I have to go to work,

00:04:03.860 I have to go to work.

00:04:04.740 You know, I still have business partners

00:04:05.640 and CEOs and directors

00:04:06.820 that, you know,

00:04:08.280 as soon as we get off this call,

00:04:09.800 I'll have to get on the phone with

00:04:11.340 while I have connectivity

00:04:12.680 to do a quick little sync.

00:04:15.120 I wonder if it's hard.

00:04:16.060 I would think that if you're in the position of,

00:04:17.960 you know,

00:04:18.320 being able to give orders to some,

00:04:19.960 I realize you receive orders too,

00:04:21.520 but give orders to some.

00:04:22.840 Then when you transfer into your civilian role

00:04:24.960 as a CEO

00:04:25.840 and you're dealing with others,

00:04:26.940 is it hard to turn off that button

00:04:29.480 and be more,

00:04:30.620 you know,

00:04:31.500 collegial

00:04:32.320 and taking input

00:04:33.880 and it's not so much do it

00:04:36.220 because I just told you to do it.

00:04:38.460 I mean,

00:04:38.840 if I ever have to tell somebody in the military

00:04:40.300 to do something

00:04:40.920 because I told them to do it,

00:04:42.060 one,

00:04:42.220 I'm the worst leader ever

00:04:43.020 and two,

00:04:43.540 I'm never going to expect

00:04:44.400 to get a good product out of that.

00:04:46.420 Leadership on the civilian side

00:04:47.540 is the same leadership

00:04:48.380 on the civilian side.

00:04:51.280 You know,

00:04:51.380 like General Mattis,

00:04:52.240 who I think is a great leader,

00:04:53.240 he could go into

00:04:55.800 any executive level position

00:04:57.360 with,

00:04:57.800 you know,

00:04:57.920 the largest Fortune 500 companies

00:04:59.780 and he would be a fantastic CEO

00:05:01.680 because he's a good leader

00:05:03.300 and those skills translate.

00:05:05.580 So,

00:05:05.940 I mean,

00:05:06.560 in 17 years

00:05:07.880 in special forces,

00:05:08.980 the number of times

00:05:09.760 I've had to tell

00:05:10.500 an American soldier,

00:05:11.560 you have to do this

00:05:12.520 because I'm telling you

00:05:13.480 is zero.

00:05:15.540 That's the makeup

00:05:16.740 of a bad leader.

00:05:18.140 Hmm.

00:05:18.180 So let's talk about

00:05:19.560 the earlier version

00:05:21.020 of Tim

00:05:22.180 because you were not

00:05:23.220 always this way

00:05:24.020 and I love your backstory.

00:05:25.260 I mean,

00:05:25.440 it's,

00:05:25.940 I don't know if you would,

00:05:27.000 if you would call yourself

00:05:27.720 a hot mess prior to 9-11

00:05:29.120 but it didn't sound

00:05:30.420 all that flattering,

00:05:31.300 your description of yourself

00:05:32.220 and where you were

00:05:33.020 prior to the attacks

00:05:34.400 on our country

00:05:35.040 on that fateful day

00:05:36.640 which changed America

00:05:37.860 and changed you.

00:05:39.160 But before we get

00:05:39.920 to the change moment,

00:05:41.960 tell us about yourself

00:05:43.260 prior to 9-11,

00:05:45.140 2001.

00:05:47.240 Oh man,

00:05:48.180 do we have to talk

00:05:49.300 about this, Megan?

00:05:50.260 Just give me a couple

00:05:50.860 bottom lines

00:05:51.440 so people understand

00:05:52.140 your journey.

00:05:53.740 Yeah.

00:05:54.740 Hilariously,

00:05:55.280 we're in the middle

00:05:55.940 of writing a book

00:05:56.580 right now

00:05:57.020 and that chapter

00:05:58.700 is called The Fall

00:05:59.580 and whether it's

00:06:01.860 The Fall from Grace

00:06:02.600 or The Fall from Reality,

00:06:04.800 you know,

00:06:05.060 at a specific point

00:06:06.480 in my life,

00:06:07.240 there were a few girls

00:06:08.800 that were pregnant

00:06:09.880 with what are now

00:06:10.940 my children.

00:06:12.200 I thought I had HIV.

00:06:14.060 I was a professional fighter,

00:06:15.580 ranked top 10 in the world.

00:06:16.640 I was in grad school.

00:06:17.460 This is all pre-9-11.

00:06:19.260 I had every opportunity

00:06:20.320 to be successful

00:06:21.540 at an amazing home

00:06:23.360 with amazing parents

00:06:25.140 that gave me

00:06:25.840 every single advantage

00:06:27.580 to be able to succeed

00:06:30.000 but I wasted

00:06:31.520 every single one

00:06:32.300 of their sacrifices

00:06:33.840 and their generosity

00:06:35.060 for my own selfish purposes.

00:06:37.900 So here I was

00:06:38.680 as a young 20-something year old

00:06:40.540 in grad school

00:06:41.860 as I was taking

00:06:43.240 all of my clothes off

00:06:44.240 to walk into

00:06:45.140 Morro Bay, California

00:06:47.100 on the north side

00:06:47.960 of the rock

00:06:48.420 and swim due west

00:06:49.560 into the fog

00:06:50.200 when it was aware

00:06:53.300 that, you know,

00:06:54.300 I was going to have

00:06:54.960 children that were

00:06:56.240 a few months

00:06:56.780 or a few weeks apart

00:06:57.920 and that I might be

00:06:58.880 dying of AIDS.

00:07:01.000 And that wasn't my,

00:07:03.080 that was not the low.

00:07:04.500 It actually got lower.

00:07:05.480 And just talk about

00:07:07.920 complete wasted potential.

00:07:11.140 I'm summarizing

00:07:12.160 to a very low moment

00:07:13.240 but it was a litany

00:07:15.560 of bad decisions

00:07:16.420 that I think

00:07:18.040 everybody faces

00:07:19.060 as one of the companies

00:07:21.340 I own is Apogee

00:07:22.200 and we shape

00:07:23.780 and mentor young men

00:07:24.700 and I was just

00:07:25.600 telling them yesterday

00:07:26.420 like you're going to have

00:07:27.280 every opportunity

00:07:28.540 to make a bad decision

00:07:29.640 and every one

00:07:30.140 of those bad decisions

00:07:31.060 cumulatively,

00:07:31.940 collectively will add up

00:07:32.860 to determine

00:07:33.460 the trajectory of your life.

00:07:35.520 And, you know,

00:07:36.280 thank God

00:07:36.720 there's saving graces

00:07:37.440 and saving moments

00:07:38.200 and redemptions

00:07:39.000 and opportunities

00:07:40.240 in this country

00:07:41.560 that we live in

00:07:42.160 that you can save

00:07:43.120 even from bad decisions.

00:07:44.500 You know,

00:07:44.580 but there's some places

00:07:45.200 in the world

00:07:45.540 you make one bad decision

00:07:46.540 and you're ruined

00:07:47.100 for forever.

00:07:47.940 And I was making

00:07:48.920 bad decision

00:07:49.840 after bad decision

00:07:50.600 after bad decision

00:07:51.460 and then I watched

00:07:53.520 Americans look out

00:07:54.900 of a building

00:07:56.100 and decide

00:07:56.640 if they're going to

00:07:57.080 burn alive

00:07:57.540 or jump to their death

00:07:58.380 and, you know,

00:07:59.640 that realization

00:08:00.600 of how pathetic

00:08:01.440 of a human I was

00:08:02.480 was evident

00:08:03.680 and clear

00:08:04.640 in that moment.

00:08:05.920 Wow.

00:08:06.860 Wow.

00:08:07.700 In a way,

00:08:08.300 that moment

00:08:08.620 kind of saved you.

00:08:10.180 It kind of saved you.

00:08:11.960 It made you into the man,

00:08:13.000 started the beginnings

00:08:13.980 of the man

00:08:14.660 we see today.

00:08:16.940 Yeah,

00:08:17.180 but how pathetic

00:08:17.680 is that

00:08:18.060 that it took

00:08:18.460 3,000 American lives

00:08:19.620 for me to not be

00:08:20.520 a piece of shit?

00:08:22.680 You know what,

00:08:23.100 though?

00:08:23.220 There are a lot

00:08:23.580 of people

00:08:23.860 who are pieces of shit

00:08:24.700 who weren't moved by it.

00:08:26.040 I mean,

00:08:26.240 there was some,

00:08:26.760 there was obviously

00:08:27.220 goodness in you

00:08:27.900 baked in by your parents

00:08:28.920 as you referenced.

00:08:30.100 You got on a bad path.

00:08:31.540 You were behaving badly.

00:08:32.460 It happens to a lot

00:08:33.360 of people,

00:08:34.380 whether it's drugs,

00:08:35.440 crime,

00:08:36.180 you know,

00:08:36.440 women,

00:08:37.020 what have you,

00:08:38.220 who never managed

00:08:39.080 to snap out of it.

00:08:39.940 And I think you like

00:08:40.640 to believe as a parent,

00:08:41.460 I know you are one,

00:08:42.280 obviously you pointed

00:08:43.000 that out now.

00:08:44.140 You like to believe

00:08:45.040 that if you,

00:08:45.520 if you sort of put

00:08:46.480 those building blocks

00:08:47.240 in your child,

00:08:47.920 even if he or she falters,

00:08:49.260 they'll find their way

00:08:50.080 back to goodness.

00:08:50.860 Yeah.

00:08:52.620 So we hope,

00:08:53.220 you know,

00:08:53.320 the prodigal son returns

00:08:54.580 and,

00:08:55.640 you know,

00:08:56.280 there's nothing like grace

00:08:57.300 and there's nothing

00:08:57.760 like redemption.

00:08:58.520 And I thank God

00:08:59.440 that it exists.

00:09:00.060 And I,

00:09:00.420 and I also am so blessed

00:09:02.360 that I have people

00:09:03.000 in my life

00:09:03.480 that have had that grace

00:09:04.400 with me,

00:09:04.820 you know,

00:09:06.100 to include my,

00:09:07.260 you know,

00:09:07.560 the military,

00:09:08.300 I,

00:09:08.640 I,

00:09:08.960 that trajectory

00:09:11.260 was an imperfect one.

00:09:12.720 It was not straight.

00:09:13.640 I made plenty of mistakes

00:09:14.860 in the military

00:09:15.460 and I have had bosses

00:09:17.180 and commanders

00:09:18.240 that gave me grace

00:09:20.860 and were able

00:09:21.540 to help shape

00:09:22.660 and improve.

00:09:23.700 You know,

00:09:24.080 like I'm by no means

00:09:24.900 perfect now,

00:09:25.620 but I'm,

00:09:26.340 I,

00:09:26.440 I,

00:09:26.980 in,

00:09:27.120 in comparison

00:09:27.960 to what I was

00:09:28.880 15 years ago,

00:09:29.980 17 years ago

00:09:30.680 when I came

00:09:31.000 into special forces,

00:09:31.860 like the semblance

00:09:33.320 is,

00:09:33.840 is so dissimilar.

00:09:35.620 So is it true

00:09:36.620 that it was on 9-11,

00:09:38.340 2001 that you enlisted?

00:09:40.960 That's when I walked

00:09:41.700 to the recruiter's office

00:09:42.600 and then on 9-12

00:09:43.680 I went to the Marines,

00:09:44.980 I went to the Navy,

00:09:45.580 I went to the Army,

00:09:46.220 I went to the Coast Guard,

00:09:46.980 trying to,

00:09:48.500 to find,

00:09:50.220 you know,

00:09:50.380 but at,

00:09:51.660 again,

00:09:52.240 nothing special about me,

00:09:53.560 there were thousands

00:09:54.640 of other people

00:09:55.320 that were in line

00:09:56.220 of head,

00:09:56.660 in line ahead of me

00:09:57.660 and all of them,

00:09:59.500 their names were on lists

00:10:00.600 and they were thousands

00:10:01.960 of people ahead of me

00:10:03.120 in the back.

00:10:03.640 So I was backlogged

00:10:05.020 by thousands of names.

00:10:06.460 So it ended up taking

00:10:07.580 18 months

00:10:08.460 from 9-11

00:10:09.520 for me to

00:10:11.080 finally get a contract

00:10:12.660 and figure out

00:10:13.400 what I was going to be doing

00:10:14.220 and where I was going

00:10:14.760 to be going.

00:10:15.760 Okay,

00:10:15.980 so who got you?

00:10:16.980 And what was your

00:10:17.600 first assignment?

00:10:20.000 So the Army,

00:10:21.100 I wanted to go

00:10:22.140 to special operations,

00:10:23.020 I knew that.

00:10:23.600 So it was going to

00:10:24.000 either be Navy SEALs

00:10:25.120 or Marine Recon

00:10:25.940 and the Army

00:10:27.680 at the time

00:10:28.300 had a special program

00:10:30.320 called the 18x-ray program

00:10:31.700 and this program

00:10:32.900 and they still have it today

00:10:34.700 if, you know,

00:10:35.320 if you're

00:10:35.800 a good person,

00:10:38.960 so you have

00:10:39.640 a clean criminal record,

00:10:40.780 you can pass a drug test,

00:10:41.920 you can pass a PT test,

00:10:43.300 so they really

00:10:43.820 market towards

00:10:44.880 college athletes.

00:10:45.820 So if, you know,

00:10:46.700 you're a collegiate athlete,

00:10:47.860 that's really the pool

00:10:49.340 that they're looking at

00:10:50.360 and that they built

00:10:51.460 this program around.

00:10:54.380 You can,

00:10:55.340 you normally

00:10:55.980 you have to be

00:10:56.460 in the Army

00:10:56.940 for six years

00:10:57.680 to be able to go

00:10:58.280 to special forces

00:10:59.140 selection.

00:11:00.280 Selection is this,

00:11:01.360 this in the,

00:11:02.240 in the Navy SEALs,

00:11:03.580 it's BUDS,

00:11:04.260 it's Hell Week.

00:11:05.440 For us,

00:11:05.920 it's three weeks

00:11:06.640 of Hell

00:11:07.020 where they pick,

00:11:08.420 they hand choose

00:11:09.120 who they want

00:11:10.220 to send to training

00:11:10.940 for the year and a half

00:11:11.720 in the Q course

00:11:12.400 and instead of

00:11:14.400 being in the Army

00:11:15.180 for six years

00:11:16.020 to get that experience

00:11:17.560 and then go to selection,

00:11:19.300 this gives you

00:11:19.820 an opportunity

00:11:20.360 as, you know,

00:11:21.700 a college graduate

00:11:22.560 and a,

00:11:23.780 and an athlete

00:11:25.180 to go directly

00:11:26.180 to selection

00:11:26.800 and that's the,

00:11:27.620 that's what I got.

00:11:29.060 And was it,

00:11:30.520 was it as challenging,

00:11:31.920 as fulfilling,

00:11:32.900 as life-changing

00:11:34.240 as you expected it to be?

00:11:37.000 It was life,

00:11:37.840 it was absolutely

00:11:38.380 life-changing.

00:11:39.000 You know,

00:11:40.620 I would,

00:11:41.060 I would be dead

00:11:41.720 in prison

00:11:42.460 or from,

00:11:43.720 you know,

00:11:44.360 some STD somewhere

00:11:45.320 had grace

00:11:47.580 and the military

00:11:49.300 not helped me

00:11:51.980 grow up as a human

00:11:52.940 and as a man.

00:11:54.680 So,

00:11:55.340 absolutely life-changing.

00:11:57.800 Fulfilling is a weird thing

00:11:59.220 because the pain

00:12:01.240 and this job

00:12:03.520 is not a job

00:12:04.540 that gives you fulfillment.

00:12:05.480 it's a job

00:12:08.800 that you,

00:12:09.200 you go and do

00:12:10.020 and if you do it right,

00:12:12.600 no one ever knows about it

00:12:13.940 and,

00:12:15.400 and that's a weird thing

00:12:17.620 to,

00:12:19.740 you know,

00:12:19.960 the motto

00:12:20.340 is the quiet professionals

00:12:21.360 as,

00:12:22.380 as I'm doing

00:12:23.260 a call with you right now,

00:12:24.480 it's kind of ironic

00:12:25.140 but,

00:12:26.080 like,

00:12:26.780 we never want people

00:12:27.780 to know what we're doing

00:12:28.980 and if,

00:12:30.400 if you do know,

00:12:31.300 that means we either

00:12:31.880 did it wrong

00:12:32.480 or we failed

00:12:34.340 in how we were supposed

00:12:35.340 to do it

00:12:35.820 and,

00:12:36.760 you know,

00:12:37.460 the things that we see

00:12:38.240 whether it's counter-human trafficking

00:12:39.580 or counter-poaching

00:12:40.500 or counter-cartel

00:12:41.440 or counter-terrorism

00:12:42.760 and sometimes terrorism

00:12:43.620 has all of those things in it,

00:12:45.580 it's,

00:12:46.160 you know,

00:12:46.640 those are the things

00:12:47.220 of nightmares.

00:12:47.880 You know,

00:12:47.960 like you,

00:12:48.380 if you've ever worked

00:12:49.420 in counter-human trafficking,

00:12:51.780 maybe you save a few,

00:12:53.200 you have saved a few girls

00:12:54.740 but you know

00:12:55.680 that there's tens of thousands

00:12:57.480 that,

00:12:58.900 that you failed to save

00:13:00.100 and so there's nothing

00:13:01.020 fulfilling about that.

00:13:02.480 You know,

00:13:02.640 if you've ever worked

00:13:03.240 in drug addiction,

00:13:04.420 you might have saved

00:13:05.080 some people

00:13:05.760 but then you see

00:13:06.540 how many people

00:13:07.560 you failed to save

00:13:08.540 and so,

00:13:11.000 fulfilling's a hard word

00:13:11.980 to say this.

00:13:13.220 It's the best job

00:13:14.000 in the world

00:13:14.420 and I love it

00:13:15.760 and I would never

00:13:16.120 do anything else

00:13:16.820 but it definitely

00:13:17.980 leaves some voids

00:13:19.020 in your,

00:13:19.380 in your soul.

00:13:20.840 It's,

00:13:20.960 it's why a lot of people

00:13:21.620 get out of those kinds

00:13:23.060 of lines of work

00:13:24.360 because they feel

00:13:26.180 like it's teaspoons

00:13:26.960 in the ocean

00:13:27.660 and you,

00:13:28.760 you devote your life to it

00:13:30.040 and while you've helped

00:13:31.020 this person

00:13:31.500 or that person,

00:13:32.140 you don't feel like

00:13:33.000 the overall problem

00:13:33.840 will ever get solved.

00:13:34.800 I mean,

00:13:34.940 I've heard this

00:13:35.580 from some teachers

00:13:36.600 who go into

00:13:37.680 underserved neighborhoods,

00:13:39.280 try to make a difference,

00:13:40.600 you know,

00:13:40.860 in this kid's life

00:13:41.700 or that kid's life

00:13:42.420 but just realize

00:13:43.380 that the overall system

00:13:44.320 is going to ruin

00:13:45.580 your hard work

00:13:46.780 and of course,

00:13:47.980 if everybody wound up

00:13:49.300 saying,

00:13:49.600 well then never mind,

00:13:50.820 it would only get worse.

00:13:52.000 That's why we need guys

00:13:52.640 like you to say,

00:13:53.340 I'm going to keep rowing

00:13:54.580 which,

00:13:55.560 which you've done.

00:13:56.140 So now what I read

00:13:57.400 is that you had

00:13:58.620 and you've mentioned it here,

00:14:00.080 initially you had

00:14:01.020 a couple of stumbles

00:14:01.700 when it came to leadership

00:14:02.900 and you,

00:14:03.940 it wasn't like

00:14:04.760 you joined the military,

00:14:06.040 you know,

00:14:06.240 we talked to Jocko Willink

00:14:07.260 and it was like

00:14:07.680 that guy was born

00:14:08.500 to be a Navy SEAL,

00:14:09.640 to be an officer,

00:14:10.600 to be a commander,

00:14:11.380 a leader

00:14:11.680 and you,

00:14:12.480 you when you got there,

00:14:13.520 maybe it's because

00:14:13.900 you were still close

00:14:14.520 to like a rough time

00:14:15.700 in your life,

00:14:16.460 you had a couple stumbles

00:14:17.400 from what I read.

00:14:18.120 Like it wasn't like,

00:14:19.300 yes,

00:14:19.520 you are the leader we need.

00:14:20.860 You,

00:14:21.060 it took a while

00:14:21.620 to get to that.

00:14:23.900 Yeah.

00:14:25.560 When I think back

00:14:26.740 to what,

00:14:28.520 some of the decisions

00:14:29.300 that I made

00:14:29.960 and some of the things

00:14:30.860 that I said

00:14:31.280 and things I did,

00:14:32.140 it's humiliating

00:14:33.020 and especially

00:14:33.720 because it's my peers,

00:14:34.860 you know,

00:14:35.000 I did them,

00:14:35.500 I did that

00:14:35.920 with other Green Berets,

00:14:37.360 with other guys

00:14:38.420 on my Special Forces ODA

00:14:39.540 and,

00:14:40.580 you know,

00:14:41.160 they,

00:14:41.360 they understand

00:14:41.940 the time

00:14:42.380 and the place

00:14:42.800 and the context

00:14:43.440 and that,

00:14:44.140 you know,

00:14:44.260 I was,

00:14:44.580 I was a child.

00:14:45.480 I had been in the Army

00:14:46.240 a year

00:14:47.060 and four months

00:14:48.820 the first time

00:14:50.260 that I went to combat.

00:14:52.020 I literally like

00:14:52.920 went to infantry school

00:14:54.560 to,

00:14:55.160 or to basic training,

00:14:56.220 infantry school,

00:14:56.860 airborne school,

00:14:57.500 selection,

00:14:58.120 the Q course

00:14:58.800 and then to a specialty school,

00:15:00.500 to an ODA,

00:15:01.260 to Iraq.

00:15:02.120 Like that was,

00:15:03.320 boom,

00:15:03.500 right there.

00:15:03.820 There's 17 months

00:15:04.620 and it was so painful.

00:15:10.380 Now it is so painful.

00:15:11.800 It's like,

00:15:12.100 think back to,

00:15:13.420 you know,

00:15:14.200 I threw a hissy fit,

00:15:15.380 a hissy fit to my boss,

00:15:16.940 John.

00:15:18.200 There was a night

00:15:19.000 that we were going to go out

00:15:19.940 on an operation

00:15:20.660 on a,

00:15:21.200 on a half,

00:15:21.780 a helicopter assault force

00:15:22.900 to do a direct action hit

00:15:24.940 against a bomb maker

00:15:26.080 that was part

00:15:26.720 of the Zarkawi network

00:15:27.940 and,

00:15:28.980 you know,

00:15:30.260 like dream mission,

00:15:31.800 you know,

00:15:31.880 like these are the things

00:15:32.560 that movies are made out of

00:15:33.680 and we lose

00:15:35.960 one of our helicopters

00:15:36.820 and we had to change

00:15:39.400 and adjust the load plan.

00:15:40.860 So I being the least experienced,

00:15:43.540 the least senior person,

00:15:44.760 I was the person

00:15:45.680 that was removed

00:15:46.400 from the manifest

00:15:46.980 and I was furious.

00:15:48.320 I'm like,

00:15:48.620 I'm the fastest,

00:15:49.340 I'm the strongest,

00:15:50.440 you know,

00:15:50.640 like I'm the best shot.

00:15:51.540 Like,

00:15:51.720 why am I not on here?

00:15:52.920 He's like,

00:15:53.300 Tim,

00:15:53.840 what you should be doing

00:15:54.740 is you should be preparing

00:15:55.860 the truck.

00:15:56.720 You should be making sure

00:15:57.460 that the radios

00:15:58.160 have all the fills,

00:15:59.020 that the gun has

00:15:59.940 the right headspace

00:16:00.500 and timing,

00:16:01.140 that there's plenty

00:16:01.700 of ammo,

00:16:02.260 there's speed balls,

00:16:02.880 like all the things

00:16:03.500 that you should be doing.

00:16:04.880 Instead,

00:16:05.380 you're sitting here

00:16:05.840 like a petulant child

00:16:07.820 complaining that you're

00:16:08.800 on this assault force,

00:16:10.660 like even more legitimizing

00:16:12.460 his wisdom

00:16:13.800 and not putting me

00:16:14.600 on that helicopter.

00:16:15.280 And,

00:16:16.280 but you know,

00:16:17.320 it still hurts the ego

00:16:18.260 and then he,

00:16:19.220 then realizing

00:16:19.780 that he was right,

00:16:21.100 then I had to double down

00:16:22.400 and be even more

00:16:23.520 of a petulant child

00:16:24.580 and just like sitting there

00:16:25.620 like my arms crossed

00:16:26.840 and thinking back to that

00:16:31.020 is like,

00:16:31.520 oh my man,

00:16:32.200 like can I just not

00:16:33.220 go back in time

00:16:34.100 and redo that

00:16:34.860 the moment that he says,

00:16:35.840 hey,

00:16:36.320 we lost a helicopter,

00:16:37.300 we're changing the manifest,

00:16:38.720 you're going to be

00:16:39.160 on the quick response force.

00:16:40.760 I'm like,

00:16:41.120 Roger Sergeant,

00:16:41.800 I'm going to go

00:16:42.120 get this truck ready.

00:16:43.040 I'm going to make sure

00:16:43.440 we have plenty of bags,

00:16:44.440 plenty of medical stuff,

00:16:45.200 plenty of ammo resupplies.

00:16:46.680 The guns are going to be good.

00:16:47.660 The Mark 19 is going to be good.

00:16:48.620 The 50 Cal is going to be good.

00:16:49.380 All the radio is going to be set.

00:16:51.020 That's what you should have done.

00:16:52.000 Like that's what a good person does.

00:16:53.480 But instead,

00:16:54.600 I was still just a selfish prick.

00:16:57.400 And that happened

00:16:58.200 over and over and over again.

00:16:59.760 And,

00:17:00.100 you know,

00:17:00.260 I'm sure it still happens.

00:17:02.780 But trying to do better.

00:17:04.280 I don't know

00:17:04.760 because the whole

00:17:05.500 part of the point

00:17:06.560 in setting up the prick period

00:17:08.060 is to get to

00:17:08.820 the next period,

00:17:10.180 which looks pretty damn good.

00:17:12.620 And it's,

00:17:13.340 it's a story of redemption,

00:17:14.640 I think,

00:17:15.100 not just as a leader,

00:17:16.100 as a man,

00:17:17.020 as an American.

00:17:18.980 And really,

00:17:19.700 you've devoted your life

00:17:20.760 to service.

00:17:21.380 I mean,

00:17:21.800 from that point forward.

00:17:23.000 And we're going to pick it up

00:17:24.100 there

00:17:24.800 when we pick back up

00:17:25.920 with Tim Kennedy

00:17:26.460 after this quick break.

00:17:28.140 Stand by.

00:17:35.680 Now that we've gone

00:17:36.600 through the travails

00:17:37.360 of the past,

00:17:38.380 I just want to start with this.

00:17:40.140 Your uniform has five rows

00:17:41.360 of medals on it

00:17:42.160 and awards,

00:17:42.860 including the Bronze Star

00:17:43.700 Medal for Valor Under Fire,

00:17:45.120 Army Achievement Medal,

00:17:46.080 the National Defense Service Medal,

00:17:47.400 the Global War on Terrorism

00:17:48.520 Expeditionary Medal,

00:17:49.880 the Army Service Ribbon,

00:17:51.340 NATO Medal,

00:17:52.360 and on it goes.

00:17:53.880 So how,

00:17:54.780 how did that happen,

00:17:56.000 right?

00:17:56.200 You were,

00:17:56.860 U.S. Army Special Forces,

00:17:58.120 you come back,

00:17:58.760 you weren't exactly

00:17:59.700 the strongest link,

00:18:01.460 according to you.

00:18:02.680 And then you decide

00:18:03.780 that you're going to go back

00:18:05.140 and what?

00:18:07.240 You know,

00:18:07.840 what,

00:18:08.080 how did you,

00:18:08.880 how did you,

00:18:09.660 you became,

00:18:10.240 you went to ranger school?

00:18:11.100 How did you become

00:18:11.780 an Army Ranger

00:18:12.360 from becoming,

00:18:13.620 from being Special Forces?

00:18:15.500 Man,

00:18:16.060 the,

00:18:16.420 so,

00:18:17.380 in Special Operations,

00:18:18.640 just like I'm doing right now,

00:18:19.580 you just never stop training.

00:18:21.320 If you ever set down the sword,

00:18:23.560 it gets really hard

00:18:24.540 to pick it back up.

00:18:25.820 You know,

00:18:26.100 when the Spartans

00:18:27.340 knew it best of all,

00:18:28.960 once you lay down the shield,

00:18:30.480 you can't pick it back up

00:18:31.680 because your body

00:18:32.440 and your mind

00:18:33.540 aren't forged

00:18:34.440 and conditioned

00:18:36.000 in a way

00:18:36.760 to be useful

00:18:37.600 to,

00:18:38.200 to your team.

00:18:40.000 So,

00:18:40.680 I actually never set

00:18:41.700 the sword down.

00:18:43.240 Even when I was fighting

00:18:44.360 full time,

00:18:45.020 I was within

00:18:45.760 Special Operations

00:18:47.120 still as a contractor

00:18:48.580 and,

00:18:49.300 in the Texas National Guard

00:18:50.760 with 19th Special Forces Group.

00:18:53.940 And,

00:18:54.260 and,

00:18:55.300 I just kept,

00:18:56.800 I just kept going.

00:18:57.860 So,

00:18:58.000 I never,

00:18:58.420 I actually was never,

00:18:59.320 I went to ranger school

00:19:00.240 and this is a very

00:19:01.280 subtle distinction

00:19:02.000 that is significant

00:19:02.920 within Special Operations

00:19:03.780 but nobody else cares.

00:19:05.000 But I'll explain it to you

00:19:05.740 because it,

00:19:06.420 it matters.

00:19:08.000 Ranger Regiment,

00:19:09.420 which is what I consider

00:19:10.800 in Special Operations

00:19:11.780 consider the Army Rangers.

00:19:15.040 And,

00:19:15.520 Army Rangers

00:19:16.120 are part of

00:19:17.080 75th Ranger Regiment.

00:19:18.960 And then,

00:19:19.460 if you're not in

00:19:20.340 ranger regiments,

00:19:21.380 even if you went

00:19:22.080 to ranger school,

00:19:22.820 so I have a ranger tab

00:19:23.880 but I was never

00:19:24.580 in ranger regiments,

00:19:25.820 I wouldn't call myself

00:19:26.580 a ranger,

00:19:26.920 I would call myself

00:19:27.540 a green beret

00:19:28.200 that went to ranger school.

00:19:30.680 Ranger school

00:19:31.060 is a great leadership school

00:19:32.200 that everybody

00:19:32.800 should go to

00:19:33.900 regardless,

00:19:35.200 if you're a cook,

00:19:36.360 you should go

00:19:36.980 to ranger school

00:19:37.640 because you'll be

00:19:38.020 a better leader.

00:19:38.840 If you are

00:19:39.480 a green beret,

00:19:40.940 you should go

00:19:41.300 to ranger school

00:19:41.840 because it will

00:19:42.200 make you a better leader.

00:19:42.940 So,

00:19:43.060 whatever your job is,

00:19:44.240 go to ranger school.

00:19:45.180 It's the best school

00:19:45.880 for leadership.

00:19:47.180 And then,

00:19:47.560 I came back

00:19:48.340 to Special Forces

00:19:49.140 and stayed

00:19:50.640 a green beret

00:19:51.540 and I've never

00:19:52.540 had a break of service

00:19:53.680 but the amount

00:19:55.120 of time

00:19:55.520 that I spent

00:19:56.160 in uniform

00:19:57.020 had fluctuated.

00:19:59.140 So,

00:19:59.300 when I was fighting

00:19:59.700 full-time,

00:20:00.260 when I was fighting

00:20:00.620 for world titles,

00:20:01.960 I was definitely

00:20:03.420 focused on being

00:20:04.260 a world champion

00:20:04.920 and then,

00:20:07.100 you know,

00:20:07.400 when ISIS started

00:20:08.320 gaining their power,

00:20:10.560 I cared

00:20:11.520 about beating them.

00:20:13.800 So,

00:20:14.400 how is it

00:20:14.900 that you go

00:20:15.440 from doing

00:20:16.260 all this stuff,

00:20:16.900 Green Beret,

00:20:17.680 Ranger,

00:20:18.280 Special Forces,

00:20:18.940 so on,

00:20:19.300 deployed to Iraq,

00:20:20.320 deployed to Afghanistan

00:20:21.120 and maintain

00:20:22.260 a career

00:20:23.180 as an MMA fighter?

00:20:25.180 Like,

00:20:25.340 how is that

00:20:25.960 even possible?

00:20:27.120 And why was it

00:20:27.940 necessary for you

00:20:29.240 psychologically?

00:20:31.520 I think they're

00:20:33.440 very complementary

00:20:33.980 to each other.

00:20:35.380 I think a good

00:20:36.300 soldier is a good

00:20:37.480 fighter and a good

00:20:38.680 fighter could make

00:20:39.440 a good soldier.

00:20:40.760 And that's

00:20:42.140 what I really

00:20:43.500 tried to

00:20:44.460 translate from

00:20:46.340 one to the other

00:20:46.980 is make sure

00:20:47.600 that I could,

00:20:49.580 my time fighting

00:20:50.680 made me a better

00:20:51.960 soldier and

00:20:52.760 my time

00:20:53.420 as a soldier

00:20:53.940 made me

00:20:54.440 a better

00:20:54.740 fighter.

00:20:55.940 If you go

00:20:56.560 to most

00:20:56.920 special operations,

00:20:57.640 they train

00:20:58.340 in combatives

00:20:59.160 or hand-to-hand

00:20:59.840 often.

00:21:00.580 There's a lot

00:21:01.160 of really,

00:21:01.620 really good

00:21:01.920 fighters

00:21:02.260 within special

00:21:02.880 operations.

00:21:04.660 There wasn't

00:21:05.340 enough time

00:21:05.800 to be honest,

00:21:06.900 Megan.

00:21:07.140 I fought for

00:21:07.920 the world title

00:21:08.380 twice,

00:21:09.760 which I realize

00:21:11.660 is extraordinary

00:21:12.280 and is extraordinarily

00:21:13.300 rare to ever

00:21:14.100 even have fought

00:21:14.660 for a world title.

00:21:15.860 And I fought

00:21:16.340 for it twice,

00:21:16.960 but I also

00:21:17.360 lost twice.

00:21:18.880 So even

00:21:19.500 though I

00:21:19.780 fought and

00:21:20.600 I do think

00:21:21.180 that I was

00:21:21.780 a better

00:21:22.340 fighter and

00:21:22.920 a better

00:21:23.200 athlete,

00:21:24.140 there wasn't

00:21:25.160 enough time

00:21:25.900 for me to

00:21:26.880 really be

00:21:27.600 good enough

00:21:28.620 to do both.

00:21:29.340 being ranked

00:21:34.600 in the top

00:21:35.020 10 in the

00:21:35.380 world for

00:21:35.760 10 years

00:21:36.360 and fighting

00:21:37.200 for world

00:21:37.600 titles is

00:21:38.720 definitely

00:21:39.540 incredible,

00:21:41.360 but my title

00:21:43.180 doesn't say

00:21:43.700 world champion.

00:21:44.800 As you read

00:21:45.900 it, it was

00:21:46.360 a former

00:21:47.160 UFC fighter

00:21:47.960 or MMA

00:21:48.540 fighter.

00:21:50.180 It definitely

00:21:50.680 would have

00:21:50.880 had a ring

00:21:51.240 to it had

00:21:51.660 you said

00:21:52.080 world champion.

00:21:56.120 But there

00:21:58.200 wasn't enough

00:21:58.940 time.

00:22:00.000 And no

00:22:00.680 matter how

00:22:01.040 hard I

00:22:01.360 tried there,

00:22:02.380 I can't

00:22:02.920 bend time

00:22:03.480 to add

00:22:04.380 enough time

00:22:04.960 in the day.

00:22:05.960 Well, let me

00:22:06.600 ask you,

00:22:06.900 as somebody

00:22:07.100 who knows

00:22:07.420 absolutely

00:22:07.900 nothing about

00:22:08.700 fighting,

00:22:09.140 I don't really

00:22:09.760 understand the

00:22:10.260 difference between

00:22:10.620 MMA and UFC.

00:22:11.740 I've got to be

00:22:12.080 honest, maybe

00:22:12.460 you can tell

00:22:12.800 me.

00:22:13.780 I can't,

00:22:14.340 and we see

00:22:14.660 this video

00:22:15.180 as you're

00:22:15.600 talking about

00:22:16.180 of you,

00:22:17.120 you know,

00:22:17.400 in the fights

00:22:17.920 and I just

00:22:18.380 can't imagine,

00:22:18.960 I realize that

00:22:19.580 picking up a

00:22:20.460 rifle and going

00:22:21.140 into the

00:22:21.520 theater of war

00:22:22.220 is in its

00:22:23.320 league of its

00:22:24.260 own,

00:22:24.680 but I can't

00:22:25.300 imagine standing

00:22:25.740 across from

00:22:26.140 somebody in a

00:22:26.580 ring and

00:22:29.340 there and

00:22:29.760 punch him

00:22:30.140 back.

00:22:30.440 I would

00:22:31.960 love to know

00:22:32.700 what that

00:22:33.060 feels like

00:22:33.820 and why one

00:22:34.920 would keep

00:22:35.300 doing it over

00:22:35.980 and over.

00:22:38.360 I like to

00:22:39.200 fight.

00:22:40.660 Have you

00:22:41.400 always been

00:22:41.940 that way?

00:22:42.420 Like, were

00:22:42.620 you the kid

00:22:43.200 having fights

00:22:43.760 in the

00:22:43.980 schoolyard?

00:22:45.420 Yeah.

00:22:46.380 Laura LeCari,

00:22:47.740 God bless her.

00:22:48.440 I was four

00:22:49.940 or five years

00:22:50.620 old and I

00:22:51.520 had a little

00:22:51.780 crush on

00:22:52.300 Laura as I

00:22:53.340 was going to

00:22:53.720 North County

00:22:54.100 Christian School

00:22:54.880 in Atascadero,

00:22:55.660 California.

00:22:57.020 And she got a

00:22:58.580 little bull hair

00:22:59.240 cut, you

00:22:59.740 know, like

00:22:59.920 the bangs

00:23:00.460 and it went

00:23:00.800 around.

00:23:01.360 Been there,

00:23:01.620 Laura.

00:23:02.780 Yeah, poor

00:23:03.700 Laura.

00:23:04.400 But the back

00:23:04.800 was short.

00:23:06.040 And one of

00:23:07.000 the other

00:23:07.820 boys on the

00:23:08.380 playground pointed

00:23:09.440 out that it

00:23:10.040 looked like a

00:23:10.820 boy's haircut

00:23:11.440 and that Laura

00:23:13.080 looked like a

00:23:13.680 boy.

00:23:14.620 So I did

00:23:15.740 what any

00:23:16.140 man would

00:23:18.640 do, which

00:23:19.240 is follow him

00:23:19.940 to the top

00:23:20.360 of the play

00:23:20.720 gym, crack

00:23:21.260 him in the

00:23:21.500 mouth, push

00:23:22.100 him off, of

00:23:22.680 course.

00:23:23.960 And, you

00:23:24.900 know, like

00:23:25.340 civilry is not

00:23:26.420 dead even in

00:23:27.240 2021.

00:23:27.980 But, yeah, I've

00:23:30.700 just always had

00:23:31.420 that.

00:23:32.160 And it has

00:23:34.020 served me well

00:23:34.840 sometimes and it

00:23:36.340 has been to a

00:23:37.480 detriment other

00:23:38.120 times.

00:23:39.660 But, yeah, I like

00:23:40.320 to tussle.

00:23:41.320 So what is the

00:23:41.800 difference between

00:23:42.200 MMA and UFC?

00:23:43.480 Apologies to those

00:23:44.440 for whom this is

00:23:45.240 second nature.

00:23:46.980 Yeah, that's a

00:23:47.740 great question.

00:23:48.580 And it's funny, a

00:23:49.360 lot of people say

00:23:50.660 they train UFC.

00:23:51.980 So let's just

00:23:53.540 say football is

00:23:54.720 a sport and

00:23:55.980 under football, you

00:23:57.080 know, you have

00:23:57.460 lots of different

00:23:58.180 leagues.

00:23:58.800 You have arena

00:24:00.940 football and you

00:24:02.320 have different

00:24:03.340 teams within

00:24:04.100 football.

00:24:05.000 So MMA is the

00:24:05.860 sport and then

00:24:06.720 under MMA you

00:24:07.580 have multiple

00:24:08.220 leagues and

00:24:08.960 multiple styles

00:24:09.780 of fight.

00:24:11.380 And there's

00:24:12.900 ebb and flow

00:24:13.540 where sometimes

00:24:14.140 there's two

00:24:15.060 dozen different

00:24:15.900 organizations and

00:24:17.000 sometimes there's

00:24:18.220 just four or

00:24:18.960 five.

00:24:19.360 Right now there's

00:24:19.920 fewer than there's

00:24:20.540 ever been.

00:24:21.520 You know, you

00:24:21.760 have a few in

00:24:23.260 Japan, you have

00:24:24.120 a few in South

00:24:24.780 America, and then

00:24:25.680 you have the two

00:24:26.280 big ones in the

00:24:26.840 United States, which

00:24:27.480 are the UFC and

00:24:28.760 Bellator.

00:24:30.100 And those are like

00:24:30.980 the two big

00:24:31.720 organizations and

00:24:32.880 both of the

00:24:33.520 fighters under both

00:24:34.420 of those

00:24:34.740 organizations compete

00:24:36.360 in the sport of

00:24:37.160 MMA, but one

00:24:38.240 fights for Bellator

00:24:39.000 and the other one

00:24:40.060 fights for the UFC.

00:24:41.780 And what kind of

00:24:42.220 fighting is it?

00:24:44.560 So mixed martial

00:24:45.540 arts, it takes

00:24:46.600 all styles of

00:24:48.560 martial arts and

00:24:50.080 you go into a

00:24:51.760 ring or a cage and

00:24:53.100 you're just trying

00:24:53.780 to determine who

00:24:55.500 is the best

00:24:56.100 fighter of any

00:24:57.240 style or any

00:24:58.200 art.

00:24:59.040 So whether you

00:24:59.480 do jujitsu or

00:25:00.340 you wrestle or

00:25:01.000 you kickbox or

00:25:01.820 you box or you

00:25:02.760 judo, if you do

00:25:04.360 taekwondo, if you

00:25:05.420 do karate, if you

00:25:06.700 train all of

00:25:07.240 them, that point

00:25:09.320 of mixed martial

00:25:10.000 arts is to

00:25:10.880 determine who is

00:25:12.360 the best fighter

00:25:13.140 regardless of

00:25:14.420 art.

00:25:15.340 In the video we

00:25:15.920 see, you've got

00:25:16.580 something on your

00:25:18.020 hands.

00:25:18.480 I don't know if I

00:25:18.900 would describe it as

00:25:19.660 you know, it's

00:25:20.240 certainly not

00:25:20.600 boxing gloves, but

00:25:21.360 it's some sort of

00:25:22.240 smaller glove.

00:25:23.840 So is there some

00:25:25.060 protection for the

00:25:25.780 hand and the

00:25:26.140 knuckle and the

00:25:27.040 face that is on

00:25:27.840 the receiving end

00:25:28.420 of that?

00:25:30.460 Definitely not for

00:25:31.240 the face.

00:25:32.940 The point of

00:25:34.060 those gloves and

00:25:35.080 their five ounce

00:25:35.700 MMA gloves is to

00:25:37.560 reduce the number

00:25:39.540 of times that we

00:25:40.080 break our hands

00:25:40.900 and lacerations.

00:25:42.940 So we want the

00:25:44.040 fight to go

00:25:44.700 longer and to

00:25:46.860 be more exciting.

00:25:47.720 And those gloves

00:25:49.400 enable that.

00:25:50.680 So I can still

00:25:51.380 grab and pick

00:25:52.220 somebody up and

00:25:52.920 slam them.

00:25:53.660 I can choke

00:25:54.100 them.

00:25:54.360 I can arm bar

00:25:55.000 them or I can

00:25:56.640 punch them.

00:25:58.040 But really now,

00:26:00.160 the mixed martial

00:26:00.780 artist, the MMA

00:26:01.520 fighter, he really

00:26:02.740 has to be a

00:26:03.260 master of all

00:26:05.020 different martial

00:26:05.620 arts for him to

00:26:06.440 be at a high

00:26:07.460 level.

00:26:07.780 He has to be

00:26:08.080 able to grapple

00:26:08.680 and wrestle.

00:26:09.520 He has to be

00:26:09.900 able to kick

00:26:10.260 box and box.

00:26:11.460 He has to be

00:26:11.840 able to do

00:26:12.800 judica and be

00:26:13.440 able to throw.

00:26:14.780 He has to be

00:26:15.160 able to do all

00:26:15.600 of those things

00:26:16.180 to be able to

00:26:18.340 survive at a

00:26:18.880 high level.

00:26:19.860 Do you wind up

00:26:20.380 in the hospital

00:26:20.860 after every one

00:26:21.620 of these matches?

00:26:24.820 I only went

00:26:25.640 in 17 years

00:26:27.500 as a pro

00:26:28.020 fighter.

00:26:29.320 I think I only

00:26:30.200 went to the

00:26:31.400 hospital twice.

00:26:36.260 That's amazing.

00:26:37.780 How about the

00:26:38.180 other guy?

00:26:41.280 It definitely

00:26:42.600 pays to win.

00:26:43.260 I just can't

00:26:45.680 imagine.

00:26:46.120 I did have a

00:26:46.980 couple of

00:26:47.300 small fights

00:26:48.420 as a child.

00:26:49.500 I did.

00:26:51.540 Some girl

00:26:51.840 fights.

00:26:52.540 I've talked

00:26:53.080 about them on

00:26:53.400 the podcast

00:26:53.740 once before.

00:26:54.740 There was one

00:26:55.300 with a girl

00:26:55.640 who her name

00:26:56.220 was Connie

00:26:56.620 and we wound

00:26:57.060 up rolling

00:26:57.360 around literally

00:26:58.520 like something

00:26:59.180 out of a John

00:26:59.660 Hughes film in

00:27:00.320 my cheerleading

00:27:00.800 outfit.

00:27:01.820 Our gym

00:27:03.220 teacher, Miss

00:27:03.700 Smith, had to

00:27:04.140 break it up.

00:27:04.800 She kept

00:27:05.100 growling at me,

00:27:05.920 Tim.

00:27:06.900 Anyway, it's a

00:27:08.520 long story.

00:27:09.760 This is about as

00:27:10.660 close as I've

00:27:11.300 come to

00:27:12.580 actually throwing

00:27:13.320 a punch.

00:27:13.860 I just cannot

00:27:14.580 imagine getting

00:27:15.640 into a ring and

00:27:16.360 having somebody

00:27:16.860 try to beat the

00:27:17.600 living daylights

00:27:18.320 out of me and

00:27:19.100 thinking it's fun

00:27:19.780 and doing it

00:27:20.160 over and over.

00:27:20.620 I haven't had

00:27:21.160 your training.

00:27:22.120 When I see that

00:27:22.920 you're a third

00:27:23.980 degree black belt

00:27:24.740 in Brazilian

00:27:25.540 jiu-jitsu,

00:27:26.500 black belt in

00:27:27.140 jiu-jitsu, I

00:27:28.580 think back again

00:27:29.480 to Jaco, this is

00:27:30.800 no accident.

00:27:31.320 A lot of you

00:27:31.680 guys who are

00:27:33.100 seals, who are

00:27:34.300 rangers, who are

00:27:35.300 green berets, and

00:27:36.560 for that matter

00:27:37.020 who are in MMA,

00:27:38.360 are into all sorts

00:27:39.560 of deep martial

00:27:40.240 arts.

00:27:40.580 I wonder if

00:27:41.620 when you walk

00:27:42.440 around as a

00:27:43.120 man, forget

00:27:43.880 being in your

00:27:44.760 military role,

00:27:45.780 you're just like

00:27:46.360 bring it.

00:27:47.120 Somebody messaged

00:27:47.700 you at the

00:27:48.040 7-Eleven and

00:27:48.700 you're like,

00:27:49.160 this is going

00:27:50.000 to be fun.

00:27:53.040 It definitely

00:27:54.060 gives you

00:27:54.740 humility.

00:27:56.720 The thing that

00:27:57.200 I think Jaco,

00:27:59.120 myself, the

00:28:00.660 things that we

00:28:01.200 learn the most

00:28:02.240 is losing.

00:28:04.000 When you're in a

00:28:04.780 wrestling room,

00:28:05.520 when you're in a

00:28:06.580 high-level jiu-jitsu

00:28:07.440 room, you lose

00:28:08.760 often.

00:28:10.940 It's something

00:28:11.580 that shapes a

00:28:13.020 soul and it

00:28:13.740 shapes a leader

00:28:14.960 and it shapes a

00:28:16.260 man's mind

00:28:16.980 because there's

00:28:18.380 only one person

00:28:19.040 to blame for

00:28:19.720 the performance

00:28:20.460 there.

00:28:20.800 I can't look at

00:28:21.340 my teammate and

00:28:22.020 be like,

00:28:22.360 ah, you gave

00:28:23.240 me a bad pass

00:28:24.120 or where was

00:28:24.620 the assist?

00:28:25.520 You can't look

00:28:26.140 at the rep and

00:28:26.740 be like, hey,

00:28:27.720 where was the

00:28:28.160 call?

00:28:28.560 Where was the

00:28:28.920 foul, bro?

00:28:30.140 There's one

00:28:30.740 person that is

00:28:31.720 100% to blame

00:28:32.860 for your success

00:28:33.940 or your failure

00:28:34.760 and that's you.

00:28:36.040 That's a really

00:28:36.860 powerful learning

00:28:37.700 tool that

00:28:38.760 most of my

00:28:40.260 colleagues share

00:28:41.120 and all of my

00:28:42.640 associates have

00:28:43.280 the same forged

00:28:44.640 mind because we

00:28:46.020 lose and we

00:28:46.800 fail all the

00:28:47.560 time and there's

00:28:48.240 one person that's

00:28:49.020 to blame for

00:28:49.480 that and that's

00:28:49.820 ourselves.

00:28:51.520 Jocko and I

00:28:52.220 share that same

00:28:53.100 love of jiu-jitsu

00:28:55.540 and same love for

00:28:56.400 grappling in the

00:28:57.220 same way that we

00:28:57.800 love the selfless

00:28:59.260 leader and he's

00:29:01.800 so wise in the

00:29:03.060 way that he puts

00:29:04.060 that ownership,

00:29:04.880 that onus on the

00:29:05.720 individual.

00:29:06.220 extreme ownership

00:29:08.580 that's it and

00:29:12.680 there's no other

00:29:13.560 way to describe it

00:29:14.500 except to be on

00:29:15.180 that wrestling

00:29:15.600 mat and to have

00:29:17.240 to stand up and

00:29:18.140 watch the guy next

00:29:19.060 to you have his

00:29:19.740 hand raised and

00:29:21.280 there's no one to

00:29:22.080 blame.

00:29:23.000 There's no one else

00:29:23.720 on the mat.

00:29:24.440 There's you and

00:29:24.940 him and he was

00:29:27.100 better than you and

00:29:27.940 you lost and you

00:29:29.260 were to blame for

00:29:30.360 that.

00:29:30.580 So good.

00:29:31.900 I mean it's I

00:29:32.420 you're talking me

00:29:33.160 into it.

00:29:33.600 Can you imagine if I

00:29:34.620 decided to do one of

00:29:35.580 these but it's it's a

00:29:36.760 life lesson and it

00:29:37.580 must be driving you

00:29:38.440 nuts right when you

00:29:39.420 look around today's

00:29:40.180 modern world certainly

00:29:41.660 modern America at

00:29:43.240 everyone trying to

00:29:44.940 shirk responsibility

00:29:45.840 whatever happens to

00:29:46.760 them it's somebody

00:29:47.240 else's fault it's the

00:29:48.220 system it's America

00:29:49.480 it's you know somebody

00:29:51.040 said something that

00:29:51.700 was triggering it's

00:29:52.620 like nothing's your

00:29:53.400 fault you have some

00:29:54.460 sort of I don't know

00:29:55.620 we had a great

00:29:56.160 comedian Ryan Long

00:29:57.000 do this whole skit on

00:29:57.880 about this this

00:29:58.740 therapist who

00:29:59.320 basically was like

00:30:00.060 this is a comedy

00:30:01.640 skit but the

00:30:02.540 therapist is mockingly

00:30:03.820 telling the the

00:30:04.980 patient how like

00:30:05.920 literally nothing is

00:30:07.040 her fault everything

00:30:07.940 is the fault of this

00:30:08.720 patriarchal society and

00:30:09.800 so on must drive you

00:30:11.320 nuts.

00:30:14.420 It's it's it does

00:30:16.580 drive me nuts but I

00:30:18.060 operate in a world

00:30:19.300 where I don't see a

00:30:20.060 lot of that and I

00:30:21.620 think all of the

00:30:22.640 those things that we

00:30:23.400 see are magnified by

00:30:24.740 the echo chamber that

00:30:26.040 is social media and

00:30:27.020 the censorship that

00:30:27.780 happens within it

00:30:28.580 where you know

00:30:29.880 they're intentionally

00:30:30.800 promoting those

00:30:32.500 examples to get

00:30:33.680 people like me I

00:30:35.080 should get mad like I

00:30:35.900 should be a rate I

00:30:36.660 should be furious that

00:30:38.040 like this entitled

00:30:38.740 person thinks like

00:30:40.800 there's a reason that

00:30:41.800 they want me to see

00:30:42.420 that because they want

00:30:43.260 me to get mad but I'm

00:30:44.160 too busy working I'm

00:30:45.180 too busy trying to

00:30:46.340 find my own

00:30:46.900 inadequacies my own

00:30:47.920 failures as a leader to

00:30:49.160 try and be a better

00:30:49.820 version of myself to

00:30:50.960 waste my time focusing

00:30:52.360 on the negativity that

00:30:53.360 could exist in there

00:30:54.080 you know and we talk

00:30:55.740 about millennials and

00:30:56.700 and the Gen Z's and

00:30:57.820 all and all the

00:30:58.700 inherent problems that

00:30:59.440 go with that

00:30:59.720 generation and I

00:31:00.720 haven't experienced

00:31:01.300 that I have plenty of

00:31:02.840 young soldiers and

00:31:03.680 young Green Berets that

00:31:04.900 are extraordinary they

00:31:06.320 are brilliant they are

00:31:07.240 different they think

00:31:08.120 different they need

00:31:09.040 different motivations they

00:31:10.000 need different purposes

00:31:10.760 they need different

00:31:11.960 ways to be communicated

00:31:12.940 with but they're

00:31:15.020 remarkable and and I'm

00:31:17.520 excited for the future

00:31:18.660 and I know that we are

00:31:20.460 at a turning point it can

00:31:21.520 go one way or another

00:31:22.500 and and but I have

00:31:24.180 confidence in in the

00:31:25.580 ability and and I have

00:31:27.860 hope in this next

00:31:29.280 generation okay well let

00:31:31.060 me ruin that hope

00:31:32.360 because there's a

00:31:34.040 dispatch from my world

00:31:35.600 of media this is a

00:31:37.740 random headline today

00:31:38.640 that I saw online

00:31:39.340 Smith College you know

00:31:40.840 it's one of the most

00:31:41.340 liberal colleges out

00:31:42.700 there and that's saying

00:31:43.320 something Smith College

00:31:44.100 and basically it's it's

00:31:45.520 it's all women

00:31:46.340 Smith College student is

00:31:49.220 now demanding that a

00:31:50.500 tampon slash sanitary pad

00:31:52.160 dispenser be placed in

00:31:53.140 all men's bathrooms on

00:31:54.480 campus so that quote

00:31:55.920 those with uteruses and

00:31:57.580 quote can access the

00:31:58.560 products they need this

00:31:59.880 is in an opinion piece

00:32:00.720 for their newspaper on

00:32:02.240 campus writing that

00:32:03.400 Smith is quote sending a

00:32:04.460 message to menstruating

00:32:06.100 students about the lack

00:32:07.360 of care for their

00:32:08.100 well-being by not having

00:32:09.100 pads and tampons in the

00:32:10.680 men's rooms accuses Smith

00:32:12.280 of quotes catering to

00:32:14.100 cisgender men so

00:32:16.120 men who are men and

00:32:17.960 don't want a tampon

00:32:19.540 and on it goes I'm

00:32:21.620 thinking that this is

00:32:22.320 insensitive that's my

00:32:23.520 world okay Tim so not

00:32:25.580 all of us are surrounded

00:32:26.420 by green berets all day

00:32:27.640 yeah it's a tragic

00:32:29.540 world you know but I

00:32:33.140 it's again this fortunate

00:32:35.700 blessed position that I'm

00:32:36.740 in where I could read

00:32:38.340 that headline and I

00:32:39.100 could spend time thinking

00:32:40.200 about that but as you

00:32:42.960 know as I'm sitting in

00:32:43.700 this car an hour

00:32:45.920 away from here and

00:32:46.700 that's how long it's

00:32:47.300 going to take me to

00:32:47.940 drive in this training

00:32:49.100 area again there are

00:32:51.080 dozens of amazing

00:32:53.520 selfless self-sacrificing

00:32:55.740 men that are away from

00:32:56.900 their families that are

00:32:58.160 doing everything that

00:32:59.420 they need to be able to

00:33:00.740 preserve and protect

00:33:01.380 human life and when I

00:33:03.100 was in Afghanistan you

00:33:04.000 like I saw but like the

00:33:07.420 most selfless remarkable

00:33:10.020 extraordinary feats of

00:33:12.320 human existence happened

00:33:13.980 and that was two months

00:33:15.040 ago so you know I almost

00:33:19.080 pity people that are

00:33:21.200 going to be looking for a

00:33:22.160 trash can in a men's

00:33:23.140 bathroom when there's so

00:33:24.740 much opportunity to to

00:33:26.100 make good and to make a

00:33:28.380 difference in this world

00:33:29.320 and there are legitimately

00:33:30.820 starving people and people

00:33:32.220 without fresh water and

00:33:33.940 there are people that are

00:33:34.740 being sold into into

00:33:35.940 slavery into into human

00:33:37.560 trafficking so yeah I I

00:33:40.540 can't waste time on that

00:33:41.980 because there are so much

00:33:43.800 more important things to

00:33:44.780 do it's so good can I

00:33:46.280 tell you just because I

00:33:47.080 know we mentioned Jocko a

00:33:47.940 few times he basically

00:33:49.080 said the same thing and

00:33:50.600 he was like you can't

00:33:51.460 worry about those people

00:33:52.300 you know so you got to go

00:33:53.480 on even worrying about

00:33:54.520 them is sort of the low

00:33:56.680 road you know to sort of

00:33:57.560 pay attention to them and

00:33:59.020 you got to sort of play

00:33:59.600 your own game and put all

00:34:00.500 your energy into into doing

00:34:01.960 good things and I mean of

00:34:03.780 course I've chosen the

00:34:04.520 wrong business if that's the

00:34:05.500 way forward because I have

00:34:06.980 I have to pay attention

00:34:07.900 you know you have a

00:34:08.980 powerful voice and don't

00:34:10.420 don't think that you're

00:34:10.980 not making a difference

00:34:11.700 and and while you may

00:34:13.640 maybe may never be able

00:34:15.100 to change the opinion

00:34:17.240 of the person writing

00:34:18.500 opinion piece at Smith

00:34:19.960 College you know

00:34:21.640 perpetuating truth and

00:34:22.960 keeping the high road as

00:34:25.040 the the road of choice

00:34:26.300 there's value in that so

00:34:27.940 never to get discouraged

00:34:28.720 about what you do and the

00:34:29.580 impact that you make

00:34:30.300 thank you thank you for

00:34:31.800 that I mean I when you

00:34:32.920 were saying that you know

00:34:33.700 you what you were about to

00:34:35.020 go to an hour away and

00:34:36.200 the guys who you're

00:34:36.920 surrounded by I was

00:34:38.400 thinking of the woke

00:34:40.220 of vacation of the

00:34:40.920 military that seems to be

00:34:42.180 coming for you right from

00:34:43.960 on high not from the guys

00:34:45.760 but you know all the stuff

00:34:47.560 we've seen with General

00:34:48.380 Milley and recommending

00:34:49.860 Kendi be read and some of

00:34:51.940 the recruiting videos where

00:34:53.120 people are talking about

00:34:53.840 their intersectionality and

00:34:55.120 how their moms are

00:34:55.720 lesbians and I was like

00:34:56.880 wait what so I wonder

00:34:58.720 whether you've seen any of

00:34:59.960 that trickle down to you

00:35:01.580 know the real guys and

00:35:03.580 gals in service yet

00:35:04.560 man I so wish I could

00:35:07.860 take this take this phone

00:35:09.400 with me and take it with

00:35:10.700 me do it so America could

00:35:14.840 see the men and women that

00:35:16.780 are doing this job and like

00:35:19.440 while you might be reading

00:35:21.640 headlines again those exist in

00:35:23.660 a vacuum right that's an

00:35:24.900 echo chamber where it's

00:35:26.080 perpetuating and it gains

00:35:27.220 power because there's no

00:35:28.160 competing thought there's no

00:35:29.160 competing ideas whether

00:35:30.540 it's Twitter or Parler or

00:35:32.280 Facebook or Instagram or

00:35:33.360 YouTube like they're they're

00:35:34.520 they're curating and they're

00:35:35.600 editorializing what people

00:35:37.040 are reading what people are

00:35:38.820 seeing and they want people

00:35:40.080 to see that what they don't

00:35:41.720 want to see is that mom

00:35:44.880 that's away from her kids

00:35:46.100 for months and months and

00:35:47.580 months on end that is there's

00:35:51.220 an amazing photo of this

00:35:52.520 young beautiful she's

00:35:53.980 stunning beautiful marine in

00:35:55.400 Afghanistan she's holding an

00:35:56.940 Afghan child and she was one of

00:35:58.800 the one of the marines that

00:36:00.420 died in the bombing at each

00:36:02.320 kaya in Kabul Afghanistan

00:36:03.660 and I wish we could go back

00:36:07.600 and look at this last six

00:36:08.700 months of her life and seeing

00:36:10.380 all the places that she had

00:36:11.520 been to and all the sacrifices

00:36:12.820 that she's made and all the

00:36:14.140 courses and online classes that

00:36:15.580 she had to take and you know

00:36:17.760 and in her defense probably even

00:36:19.440 some instances of sexual

00:36:21.460 harassment and some some

00:36:23.740 instances of of sexism within

00:36:25.920 in in a very male driven

00:36:28.040 military and ways that we can

00:36:30.620 improve and and so I at no

00:36:32.960 point whether it's critical race

00:36:35.380 theory or some wokeism thing

00:36:37.440 that I'm supposed to be reading

00:36:38.760 within the military I know what's

00:36:40.420 right and I know what's wrong and

00:36:41.820 like I've read Mein Kampf and I've

00:36:43.420 I've read writings of Mao and I've

00:36:45.220 read every single competing thought

00:36:48.020 and idea and I want to understand

00:36:50.780 why they were written and the time

00:36:52.460 the context of why they were

00:36:53.500 written but have faith and know

00:36:55.200 that our soldiers are smart

00:36:56.320 enough to know what's right and

00:36:57.880 to wrong and and to be able to

00:36:59.620 discern in the context of of the

00:37:02.000 purpose of why they're reading

00:37:03.120 this thing and still be able to

00:37:04.740 make the right decision and I

00:37:07.760 still think that we're trending

00:37:08.740 positive you know like I still

00:37:10.560 believe that we're the best

00:37:11.380 fighting force on the planet

00:37:12.480 we're the most lethal group of of

00:37:14.980 men and women on the planet like

00:37:16.500 don't fuck with us you know like

00:37:18.480 you the Taliban knew it right

00:37:20.900 they're like do what we're gonna

00:37:21.900 do we're not gonna do anything

00:37:23.160 while these people are leaving

00:37:24.160 Afghanistan because if we poke the

00:37:25.960 bear too much that bear has a bite

00:37:28.180 that we can't can't handle

00:37:29.460 yep yep well I mean I know that

00:37:32.920 and our audience should know that

00:37:34.200 you you did go back to

00:37:35.460 Afghanistan you went back and

00:37:36.680 actually engaged in a rescue

00:37:37.920 mission to try to get as many

00:37:38.980 people over 8,000 people out

00:37:40.880 interpreters and others who had

00:37:43.140 helped us where our government had

00:37:44.900 fallen down on the job and I

00:37:47.820 wonder you know when you were

00:37:50.160 watching that whole thing unfold

00:37:51.220 prior to deciding you were gonna

00:37:52.640 go over and do something about it

00:37:53.820 I mean that's what a leader does

00:37:54.740 right doesn't just sit back and

00:37:55.920 say oh wow this is a tragedy

00:37:57.080 um what were you thinking right

00:37:59.320 after having served there and

00:38:00.640 watching the interpreters be left

00:38:02.160 behind and watching those guys

00:38:03.440 holding on to the airplane as we

00:38:04.660 took off what were you thinking

00:38:06.240 um I was thinking how do I find

00:38:12.640 the phone numbers for my former

00:38:13.860 interpreters to get a hold of

00:38:14.920 them um what were my pulling out

00:38:17.760 old uh we have these little green

00:38:20.560 army journals and in them we write

00:38:22.360 all of our notes I was going back

00:38:23.840 into my locker and pulling out

00:38:25.220 because I have them dated um so I

00:38:27.420 was going back to 2006 2007 2008

00:38:30.000 2009 you know the times I was in

00:38:32.020 Afghanistan and I write it to to be

00:38:34.620 able to pull back content contacts

00:38:37.220 and be able to figure out what rat

00:38:38.600 lines and smuggling routes I was

00:38:39.820 going to be using um figuring out

00:38:41.800 what TTPs like what what tactical

00:38:43.940 training points we're going to be

00:38:44.860 implementing um getting my sat phone

00:38:47.120 up with minutes getting my night

00:38:48.600 vision batteries changed you know

00:38:50.380 figuring out what is my routes into

00:38:52.500 Afghanistan do what countries can I

00:38:54.400 fly into so um this is back to could

00:38:58.260 I spend time looking at the failures

00:39:00.880 of others or should I be spending my

00:39:03.400 time um recognizing the failures and

00:39:06.360 learning from them but more

00:39:07.380 importantly figuring out what I'm

00:39:08.620 going to be doing to make a positive

00:39:09.800 difference that's that's what I was

00:39:12.020 doing with my time and in that

00:39:13.160 moment um was it tearing my heart out

00:39:15.920 watching what was happening

00:39:16.860 absolutely um but that didn't deter

00:39:19.860 the focus for what I should have been

00:39:21.620 doing at that time which was

00:39:22.560 preparing for what I knew was going to

00:39:24.400 be a lot of work well how do you even

00:39:26.220 begin that right I mean it's like you

00:39:27.920 don't have your own plane right you're

00:39:29.860 you're not you're you're not able to

00:39:32.100 command uh you know a bunch of green

00:39:34.400 berets to go with you and go on a

00:39:36.340 rescue mission you know our government

00:39:38.340 was in charge of that our state

00:39:39.500 department was slow rolling the the you

00:39:41.880 know um extraction of a lot of these

00:39:44.240 interpreters you know sometimes for

00:39:46.000 good reasons sometimes for questionable

00:39:47.400 reasons so how do you even go about do

00:39:50.680 I get the night vision goggle stuff but

00:39:52.320 like how did you go about planning all

00:39:54.780 the logistics around that rescue um this

00:39:58.420 is what we do uh like one I the word I

00:40:01.040 can't you know like I don't own an

00:40:02.540 aircraft that doesn't mean I can't get

00:40:04.480 one you know like um I'm I'm I may not

00:40:08.660 be in charge of the immigration process

00:40:10.820 but I can probably figure out a way to

00:40:12.920 circumvent it um you know like uh every

00:40:17.200 everything every problem has a solution

00:40:20.320 and that solution really just comes down

00:40:22.800 to the ingenuity and um sacrifice that

00:40:27.120 somebody's going to be able to make to

00:40:28.180 make to to find that solution and the

00:40:30.960 people that I was working for really had

00:40:33.660 everything to lose and would sacrifice

00:40:36.560 everything and thankfully they were

00:40:39.460 also the best and brightest that could

00:40:42.340 be able to find those solutions

00:40:43.460 I mean how what happened in Afghanistan

00:40:47.900 and Iraq in to you and your training to

00:40:51.660 make you think like that right to not

00:40:53.360 just look at a problem like mmm it's a

00:40:55.020 tough one this is horrible moving on

00:40:57.140 right what to to know every problem's got

00:40:59.680 a solution and I can find it and I can

00:41:01.320 solve it and here are my goggles and I'm

00:41:02.920 going the guy we talked about at the top

00:41:05.080 of this interview wasn't really that guy

00:41:07.980 so what happened to you I lost a lot I

00:41:12.640 failed a lot and in by 2008 I stopped

00:41:19.920 going to funerals at Fort Bragg North

00:41:22.280 Carolina because in 2008 I sat down on

00:41:25.600 on Memorial Day and I was trying to write

00:41:27.900 down the names of my friends that had

00:41:29.440 died in the war thus far and I couldn't

00:41:31.560 do it there were names I was like who is

00:41:35.620 that two years ago who is that in 2006

00:41:38.180 you know who is that 18 Bravo cadre that

00:41:41.380 then went back to the team that was one

00:41:43.700 of my instructors and then died his next

00:41:46.320 deployment what was his name and it tore

00:41:49.140 my heart out to be able to not remember all

00:41:52.960 of their names and now you know now 20 years

00:41:55.440 removed from that there's no possible way I

00:41:58.780 could remember all their names but it's a

00:42:00.740 different it's a different kind of loss and

00:42:03.120 you know we're talking about the wrestling

00:42:04.560 room and grappling and how that forges you

00:42:06.340 because you learn how to place all

00:42:08.100 responsibility and blame on yourself well this

00:42:10.300 is magnitude this is magnified to a magnitude

00:42:13.280 of tenfold you know where we're talking about

00:42:16.780 human life in Afghanistan while we're sitting

00:42:20.500 there you know one of my one of my friends

00:42:22.640 my colleagues that I was working for Kevin

00:42:24.440 he lost almost 40 pounds in 10 days and he

00:42:29.700 was instrumental he was crucial in saving

00:42:31.940 over 10,000 lives by himself he was one of

00:42:35.780 the very few people by himself he was so

00:42:37.960 instrumental and crucial that 10,000 people

00:42:40.580 probably would have died had he not been

00:42:42.300 there and he would have I'll just just to

00:42:46.900 dumb it down a decision should I sit down

00:42:49.880 and eat this MRE or should I go do a

00:42:54.540 reconnaissance of another potential rat

00:42:56.860 line to smuggle some more people past the

00:42:59.240 Taliban tonight black and white I can do

00:43:03.220 one or the other one of them has a huge

00:43:06.280 gain net gain and another one maybe gives

00:43:10.360 me a momentary bit of satisfaction but could

00:43:12.880 have eternal consequences in the lives of

00:43:15.440 countless and time and time again he just

00:43:19.020 chose to do this self-sacrificing thing and

00:43:22.460 continue to work wow let's pause there

00:43:26.580 squeeze in a quick commercial break and

00:43:28.580 come back with more with the incredible

00:43:30.620 Tim Kennedy wow want to remind our audience

00:43:33.780 that you can find this show you're listening

00:43:35.600 to it now on Sirius XM Triumph channel if

00:43:38.220 you're listening live channel 11 every weekday

00:43:40.820 noon east but you can also watch the full

00:43:43.620 show and clips when you subscribe to my

00:43:46.640 YouTube channel youtube.com slash Megan

00:43:48.940 Kelly or you can listen to it as an audio

00:43:50.820 podcast so if you miss it or you want to go

00:43:52.420 back and share it with somebody just go ahead

00:43:54.120 and subscribe and download on Apple Spotify

00:43:56.420 Pandora Stitcher or wherever you get your

00:43:58.820 podcasts and there by the way you'll find

00:44:00.740 our full archives with more than 190 shows

00:44:03.360 including Jocko Willink which was a great

00:44:05.660 one love interviewing these military guys so

00:44:08.240 many lessons for all of us isn't Tim incredible

00:44:10.440 and my favorite I've done since we launched

00:44:13.880 the show is Rob O'Neill on Memorial Day

00:44:16.200 that was just incredible incredible I just

00:44:18.320 saw him in the airport it was great you

00:44:20.120 know we saw each other just over the top

00:44:21.300 of the mask because we you know of course

00:44:22.500 we're all masked in the airport now and

00:44:24.600 what a nice moment he was there with his

00:44:26.380 wife we all had a big hug I hadn't seen

00:44:28.060 him in person since I'd done the interview

00:44:29.520 or even when doing the interview it's all

00:44:31.160 via zoom anyway stick with us much more

00:44:33.580 with Tim in one second

00:44:34.420 more with Tim Kennedy in just one second but

00:44:42.220 first we want to bring you a feature here

00:44:43.660 on the Megan Kelly show that we actually

00:44:45.800 haven't done since starting on Sirius XM

00:44:47.520 last month and it is called sound up it's

00:44:50.040 where we highlight some sound or now with

00:44:51.620 YouTube some video that we feel you need

00:44:53.660 to hear or see we have talked a lot

00:44:56.080 recently about the parents who were

00:44:57.740 targeted by the National School Boards

00:44:59.260 Association as potential domestic terrorists

00:45:01.620 that needed to be tracked using the Patriot

00:45:04.640 Act we also know this letter was

00:45:06.520 coordinated beforehand with the Biden

00:45:08.840 White House and ultimately the DOJ and

00:45:12.500 the FBI said yeah we're on board let's get

00:45:14.340 the parents and they have not yet stood

00:45:16.100 down so that remains active and that's

00:45:18.140 actually the most problematic part thankfully

00:45:20.160 the letter itself however was retracted

00:45:22.500 after a lot of blowback and the School

00:45:23.820 Boards Association has been embarrassed but

00:45:26.200 if you watch the media recently you'd find a

00:45:28.620 lot of support for that domestic terrorist

00:45:31.220 designation for which the school board is

00:45:33.140 now so sorry Gravian which does great

00:45:35.680 work put together a supercut watch and

00:45:37.720 listen violent looking angry spewing

00:45:41.360 parents outside of these schools these

00:45:44.280 actions could be the equivalent to a form

00:45:46.520 of domestic terrorism this becomes a

00:45:48.640 security crisis in a sense for the nation

00:45:50.820 it is dangerous to our children when the

00:45:52.940 parents themselves are the school bullies I

00:45:55.600 think one of the worst things is the

00:45:57.180 actions at the board meetings you know

00:45:59.420 the the calling of names you know you know

00:46:02.380 tyrant Marxist communist we've never seen

00:46:05.920 anything like we're seeing at these school

00:46:08.060 boards now what on earth has happened in

00:46:10.500 this country there's always the possibility

00:46:12.560 that people will face criminal prosecution

00:46:15.260 for this kind of conduct what does it mean

00:46:18.020 that something that is generally boring and

00:46:20.500 neutral like a school board meeting has

00:46:22.680 become a locus for violence you look at the

00:46:24.840 rage the anger you think what is this doing

00:46:27.540 to the children in those homes and their

00:46:30.240 mental health oh my god I'm so what you look

00:46:33.820 at the rage and the anger yeah you mean from

00:46:35.460 parents like Scott Smith whose daughter was

00:46:37.120 raped yeah he was rageful he was a lot more

00:46:40.780 controlled than I would have been I can

00:46:42.360 guarantee you that and 99% of parents the

00:46:45.320 guy who showed up at that Loudoun County

00:46:46.720 school board meeting and was mocked roundly by

00:46:49.920 journalists like that for for getting upset when

00:46:53.360 somebody called his rape victim daughter a

00:46:55.500 bitch or actually she questioned the story and

00:46:58.200 he called her a bitch and that's how he wound

00:46:59.580 up ultimately in handcuffs now we know that

00:47:01.880 guy was a grieving dad worried about his

00:47:04.040 daughter and by the way just this week a judge

00:47:07.960 found the 14 year old who committed that sexual

00:47:10.400 assault guilty before he was passed on to

00:47:13.140 another school where he where he then allegedly

00:47:15.620 raped another girl yeah so parents are angry it

00:47:18.900 doesn't make them terrorists and I'm really

00:47:20.800 glad that that letter has been withdrawn but it

00:47:23.280 hasn't been withdrawn by the FBI or the DOJ they

00:47:26.620 stand by their threat that any parents committing

00:47:30.000 quote violence are gonna get it well guess what

00:47:32.840 not a single incident of violence was outlined in

00:47:35.160 the letter that got them involved in the first

00:47:36.580 place so what are they talking about and how do

00:47:38.700 they even have jurisdiction we're gonna get into

00:47:40.240 all of this tomorrow when our guest Michael

00:47:43.040 Knowles who's amazing if you listen to him at

00:47:45.400 the Daily Wire you love him as much as I do will

00:47:47.780 be here and that is the latest edition of sound

00:47:51.900 up we'll be right back with Tim Kennedy on what's

00:47:55.320 happening in Afghanistan and statements by General

00:47:57.660 Milley today about China

00:48:00.580 so Tim how many people were you able to help get

00:48:09.440 out of Afghanistan

00:48:10.140 um 10,000 wow wow and to those at home worried about were

00:48:17.600 they vetted do we need to worry about those folks you

00:48:19.880 know not all being the good guys uh you know we hope

00:48:22.720 they are what say you yeah um yeah so the our vetting process

00:48:29.480 was I mean the complexity of it was almost as complex as a

00:48:34.600 cipher so not only did you have to have all levels of

00:48:38.600 department of state's approval um you know through the the

00:48:42.640 different visa processes um you know they had siv processes

00:48:46.360 green cards um you know dual citizenships all all every way

00:48:50.340 that you could possibly go through but additionally we also

00:48:53.280 had this internal vetting process like I'm not gonna get into the

00:48:56.140 tradecraft of it but you know you you specifically had to

00:49:00.460 have somebody vouch for you and have supporting documents

00:49:04.540 that would then um collaborate that and um and then there was about

00:49:10.540 this three or four step process to be able to ensure that the

00:49:13.360 person that we finally met up with to bring them on base to bring

00:49:17.560 put them on an airplane and then fly them to a place and that

00:49:20.220 place that we flew them to is a holding pattern that we still

00:49:23.640 have control uh of them while they're there and we continue to vet

00:49:28.160 them um so yeah these are extraordinary people that

00:49:33.540 sacrificed more than you can possibly you know they walked to the airport

00:49:38.220 and fought like layer after layer checkpoint after checkpoint and the

00:49:43.180 taliban with nothing but a single bag usually of

00:49:46.460 of a little bit of money and a little bit of food and water

00:49:49.660 the left everything behind the news today which really shouldn't come as a

00:49:55.260 surprise to anyone given the admissions by people like general millie and our

00:49:58.620 secretary of defense austin uh is from the undersecretary of defense

00:50:02.440 uh for policy uh and this assessment is as follows quote quote the current

00:50:08.080 intelligence assessment is that isis-k could develop the capacity to plan and

00:50:12.500 carry out global attacks from afghanistan within

00:50:14.360 six to twelve months six to twelve that's is that's the lowest i've seen it uh millie

00:50:19.200 said 12 to 18 i think uh they say they it goes on the al-qaeda branch

00:50:24.380 there uh could have the same capability within

00:50:27.860 one to two years u.s forces need to build out more capability so we're not just

00:50:32.660 relying on facilities we have in the arabian gulf

00:50:34.900 call says the closest major u.s facilities in

00:50:37.820 qatar and bahrain are more than 1500 flight miles away

00:50:40.440 and we have not secured firm basing agreements with any of afghanistan's direct

00:50:45.620 neighbors so we're out we got out precipitously

00:50:47.880 we don't have uh the capability to access as quickly or as well as we'd like

00:50:52.560 and isis-k within six months now could be planning and carrying out attacks

00:50:58.160 on the homeland which was kind of one of the main reasons to be fighting in

00:51:02.920 afghanistan the past 20 years to begin with

00:51:05.760 your thoughts on that warning um first is is a vernacular

00:51:10.280 clarification it's um the isis-k

00:51:12.920 is was are the taliban yep um they want to differentiate between the two

00:51:21.000 the taliban wants everyone to recognize isis-k as a separate organization

00:51:25.000 so that they can have the convenience of playing the blame game where it's like

00:51:29.360 oh no no no that wasn't us you know we didn't blow up the abbey gate that was

00:51:33.240 isis-k um when you look at the founding members and the current members of isis-k

00:51:39.060 and you're like wait a second i know those faces those are all taliban guys

00:51:43.380 so it's one of the same you know it's uh it walks like a duck it talks like a duck

00:51:47.480 it's it's a freaking duck and um terrorist organizations where be the

00:51:50.900 taliban al-qaeda or isis-k um they're they're still

00:51:55.140 the exact same people with the same motivations

00:51:57.660 um and the same goals which is the fall of the united states and its allies

00:52:02.340 um so we can say isis-k taliban and al-qaeda um because they're they all have

00:52:09.340 the same goal and the same purpose um not surprising and uh and i think that

00:52:14.620 estimate is is very generous and um so we know that they have the intent

00:52:19.320 they've had the intent always nothing's ever changed and one of the great things

00:52:23.620 about the war on terror and about us being in afghanistan is we kept them at bay

00:52:28.460 we kept them on their heels fighting us in afghanistan well um and for 20 years

00:52:34.320 they unsuccessfully ever were able to lob an attack against us

00:52:37.980 uh well now we have to make sure that that remains the same

00:52:42.420 uh uh and how we're going to do it while we're not in afghanistan that's yet to be

00:52:46.700 determined but we cannot give them the

00:52:48.540 opportunity to to aid and assist terrorist elements and groups to that want to see

00:52:56.220 our destruction so it's happening um the same organization we were told you

00:53:01.000 know we were supposed to be trusting their word and we're going to deal with

00:53:03.380 them diplomatically the news broke this week that they had

00:53:05.760 reportedly beheaded a young girl on the volleyball team over there

00:53:09.820 and that they posted the pictures online um this is not an organization with which

00:53:14.460 we can deal diplomatically or in whose word we can trust

00:53:17.680 or really that we should be i i just like the all the messaging about them got

00:53:24.280 changed as if they were some sort of you know international diplomat that we could

00:53:28.880 do business with at an arm's length um basis and i i every day you get another

00:53:34.380 horrific report out of afghanistan about what they're doing

00:53:36.920 yeah thousands you said a girl was beheaded um it's it's thousands thousands of

00:53:43.900 girls have been beheaded um by the taliban since the fall of

00:53:47.480 afghanistan um and uh and honestly beheading would be the best thing that

00:53:53.000 could happen to these dissidents as they would be called by the taliban

00:53:57.420 um the taliban they're thugs you're saying since we pulled out thousands of

00:54:01.520 girls have been beheaded by the taliban

00:54:03.020 yeah yeah absolutely what what do you mean i mean honestly i i'm just genuinely

00:54:08.120 curious where you're getting that information because i i realize not

00:54:10.620 everything makes the newspaper but i haven't seen that

00:54:12.400 yeah um so what we have so i i'm i'm on the board of save our allies which is

00:54:19.520 the organization that i work for uh as a volunteer during the the afghan

00:54:24.560 evacuation and um we you know we we have a few goals one is to

00:54:30.520 make sure the people that we brought out of

00:54:32.500 afghanistan are settled humanely in an indignified way their new permanent home

00:54:36.480 but we still have ongoing operations throughout the region trying to help

00:54:41.920 american citizens and people that have the appropriate uh government clearance to

00:54:47.180 be extracted out of afghanistan and so what

00:54:51.280 we have is daily situational reports sit reps on what is happening there and um

00:54:57.420 and i i mean i couldn't even give you a real number in in the thousands of how

00:55:03.720 many people have been executed by the taliban since this started uh we'll say

00:55:09.980 mid-august um yeah that that's a really low number you're acting surprised i mean i'm

00:55:15.960 we're talking dozens a day they're going door to door trying to find information about

00:55:22.280 people that work for the american government and if they find them or if you find that you

00:55:26.520 have you know we we want printed copies of the sib process that you're going through

00:55:31.220 we want um you know physical proof of what you did for the american government for us to be able

00:55:37.680 to get you out well guess what so is the taliban they're looking for that exact same stuff we're

00:55:41.980 trying to find it so we can vet it and we can bring you out and find you a dignified home and get you

00:55:46.020 out safely and save you from the taliban because you did such such great service for our country

00:55:49.960 uh the taliban wants it so they can have an excuse to stone you to death or burn you alive or to rape

00:55:55.420 you in front of your family and then kill your family like we're talking about the taliban here

00:55:59.520 but i i 100 agree with you like that i don't know how the language about who and what they are

00:56:05.180 changed overnight they have not changed they are still the same brutal thugs that they have always

00:56:10.080 been and always will be so we can't we can't call them anything else but what they are which is terrorists

00:56:14.780 are you limited now i'm curious on what you can say since you're gonna be you know since you're

00:56:20.800 called back up and you're now going on this new training like are you in the same position that

00:56:25.640 you know like lieutenant colonel scheller's in where you're not allowed to be too critical of

00:56:29.400 the higher ups um i mean there's there's a code of conduct within the military that i'm 100% gonna

00:56:35.180 abide by and i don't even see um you know for for scheller you know is is what he said from the position

00:56:43.540 that he he was in powerful and compelling absolutely um could he potentially done more good

00:56:49.880 and to have he stayed in in the position and tried to make differences within the rules that exist

00:56:55.840 within military code of conduct uh yeah i mean we like i don't have the the constitution which i so

00:57:03.480 wholeheartedly believe in i fight for and i believe for every single one of our beautiful amendments um

00:57:08.880 soldiers aren't afforded the same freedom especially around the first amendment uh so we have to be very

00:57:15.000 deliberate and careful in what we say i know it's upsetting because well i mean everybody has a role

00:57:20.900 to play but i would say that listening to him call out the military brass on how poorly the whole thing

00:57:25.740 was handled was cathartic i mean it was sort of cathartic for i'm sure a lot of guys in service and

00:57:30.800 those of us not just to hear somebody who actually has to you know who's responsible for helping these

00:57:35.820 folks who's actually been in the theater say this is so effed up like i i don't i know he's he's gone

00:57:42.680 down now and he's facing six six counts i think they're misdemeanor counts and is going to be

00:57:48.100 court-martialed but man um let's hope that there are a lot of other quiet uh lieutenant colonel

00:57:53.260 shellers inside trying to make differences um and maybe he just had a role to play he had to be the

00:57:58.660 one let me ask you about china because general milley who we've talked about a couple times today

00:58:03.160 made some news today on china and i this is something i've been talking about in this show

00:58:07.600 they they've been busy uh china's been really busy and today the news came out that they carried out

00:58:13.260 their first successful test of an underwater explosive that could destroy u.s ports um after

00:58:19.460 launching a satellite crushing weapon and then the news of the hypersonic missile that they tested i

00:58:24.320 think a week or 10 days ago just to get the listeners up to speed in case you weren't when it

00:58:29.380 came out that they had tested this hypersonic missile uh which is not a good thing um this could

00:58:33.580 lead to the deaths of millions of americans if we ever get into a real conflict with china we do not

00:58:37.100 want our adversaries having this weapon and uh according to the reports our intel officials

00:58:41.220 were surprised they do um this is what the white house said this is what jen saki said as though

00:58:47.520 it's like a game of you know dodgeball uh and like the more people in the arena the better it's gonna be

00:58:53.280 fun to have new competitors listen to jen saki and then can you comment on reports that china tested a

00:58:58.320 nuclear capable hypersonic missile over the summer to the surprise of u.s officials and we have been

00:59:03.980 consistent in our approach with china uh we welcome stiff competition but do we not we don't do not

00:59:09.740 want that competition to veer into conflict welcome stiff competition i'm sorry tim sometimes it's too

00:59:17.880 stupid not to replay over no no we do not jen no yeah go ahead no i don't want competition i never

00:59:25.300 want to be in a fair gunfight i never want to be in a fair war um you know my ideal taking down of a

00:59:31.060 political Benton to be walking in europe's where unless you're building loft to be a border

00:59:42.940 beyblade or you know ruth and india has been in an alleegblade school in front of the country and

00:59:48.980 legislateكم which is a traitor and again we're wondering if you're got a baby hooker and i'll

00:59:53.000 havevu to continue to follow um and we're preparing to kind ofto leave the protest and

00:59:56.620 say so two wars being in an agreement when they're still fighting against anti- situation theymotor

01:00:01.060 information and economically have been at war with them. And they have probably been getting

01:00:06.180 the better of us, you know, in some of those regards. Well, this is what General Milley

01:00:11.460 comes out today and actually speaks some sense. He he sort of lifted up the dress, forgive me,

01:00:18.020 and said as follows. Listen, what we saw was a very significant event of a test of a hypersonic

01:00:25.460 weapon system. And it is very concerning. I think I saw in some of the newspapers,

01:00:30.420 they they use the term Sputnik moment. I don't know if it's quite a Sputnik moment,

01:00:35.300 but I think it's very close to that. So it's a very significant technological

01:00:39.860 event that occurred or test that occurred by the Chinese. And it has all of our attention.

01:00:45.700 Yeah, that's we're getting closer now. Very concerning. Somebody somebody made a phone call,

01:00:50.820 I guess. Yeah. You know, through this process, specifically around Afghanistan, the Department

01:00:57.140 of Defense, specifically the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to include General Milley,

01:01:02.500 they have been very helpful in helping us, should it fall on the hands of non-profits and non-governmental

01:01:12.020 organizations to do the extraction of people out of Afghanistan. Like that's not for me to say,

01:01:17.780 but we have been doing it. And and we have there's no way that we could do it without the aid and the

01:01:23.220 assist of the Department of State or the Department of Defense. So General Milley specifically has been

01:01:28.340 very helpful to us at Save Our Allies. When it comes to China, he has been in this for a long time.

01:01:34.980 You know, you're you're you're not the you're not the Joint Chiefs of Staff without having tenure

01:01:39.540 and experience underneath your belt. And if you look at my pitiful awards that I that I have received

01:01:46.660 compared to his and what he has done, where he's been, you know, take take it. He's also an

01:01:53.620 understated man. So when he says, yes, we've taken notice, you can magnify that like a whole bunch of

01:01:59.220 times. And that means that I don't even want to even have conjecture about what it means. But like,

01:02:06.980 I don't want to be on the receiving end of him taking notice of something negatively on that plan.

01:02:12.740 Right. But in terms, we can all understand. Well, he should call his friend, his Chinese

01:02:19.700 counterpart and say, hey, remember that last conversation we had? I got to pick that up

01:02:23.140 and find out whether now you are getting ready to attack us with your hypersonic weapon. Yeah,

01:02:29.060 I don't know. I don't like it either. But it's it's at least truthful now. Now we're getting to

01:02:33.860 dealing with the actual threat. So let me ask you about this. You you mentioned it before. You've got a

01:02:39.140 school now and it's in Texas. I understand. And yes, ma'am. OK, so because I know that you mentor

01:02:45.860 young people, but this has turned into an actual school where I heard you describe it as you teach,

01:02:49.860 you know, math and reading and sort of the three R's. But you also teach character and you teach

01:02:54.740 and you give people the chance to run around and like kids to be kids. Tell me about it.

01:02:59.380 Yeah. Yeah. I'm I don't think it's a secret if you have picked up a paper or watched your program

01:03:05.700 or any other programs that that schools have been struggling. I think they've been failing our

01:03:10.020 this next generation and in the curriculum and the way that they communicate in the way that they try

01:03:16.340 to educate. And so seeing that I knew I had to find a solution. I believe that this next generation,

01:03:25.780 that they are brilliant and they're capable of overcoming all of the adversity that's that's on

01:03:29.940 the horizon. And we have a lot. So what should you do as a problem solver and as an entrepreneur

01:03:34.580 and somebody that's that's successful in the in the realms of successful? It's like,

01:03:38.660 I must start my own school. You're like, I'm one. I'm not going to send my own children

01:03:42.420 to a school that I that I cannot have an effect on the curriculum. And it's so asinine listening to

01:03:49.140 school boards and these person principals saying that parents don't have a say. The parents are the

01:03:54.660 only ones that have a say. The parents are the ones that are paying the bill for the children

01:03:59.380 to go to school. That's called taxes. And the parents living in those districts are the ones

01:04:03.940 whose children are going to said schools. So the parents are the only ones that the educators should

01:04:08.500 be listening to because they're the only voices that matter. The only more important voice is the

01:04:13.940 voice of the child itself. So our school Apogee, we have I have an online program for young men called

01:04:20.740 Apogee Strong. And I have an in person school for everyone for for young for young women and for

01:04:27.060 young men. And it's called Apogee Cedar Park. And Apogee Cedar Park is it takes the agenda out of

01:04:35.060 education that should never have been there in the first place. And you learn the basic principles of

01:04:40.900 all things that a young mind needs to know to be able to be successful. And then the element that has

01:04:45.860 been omitted of late is is the character development. We put the onus of leadership

01:04:52.420 on the shoulders, the capable shoulders of these young heroes in our studios. And it's all student

01:04:58.980 driven. So the students have a guide, the students we call heroes, and we don't have teachers, we have

01:05:04.260 guides and these these guides help these heroes learn what it means to take accountability and

01:05:10.260 responsibility to be able to, to have the individual responsibility to do their work. And, and to

01:05:17.060 know what they need to be doing next, for preparing for the next test or the next grade, the guide is

01:05:23.060 there to provide that information, you know, whether it's, you know, verb conjugation, if they're in

01:05:28.580 Spanish immersion, or giving them the new formula in geometry, algebra, calculus, providing them with

01:05:34.580 tools to be able to success, be successful. But ultimately, it's on the heroes to ensure success.

01:05:40.100 Back to the wrestling room, you know, it's, it's on you, it's on you to be able to figure out how to

01:05:44.340 succeed. And that's what we're doing at Apogee. How do you, I love it. I love all of it. How do you

01:05:50.740 expect to deal with, you know, how those kids going to deal with the kids who are going to schools like

01:05:57.780 the ones I pulled my children from, that were teaching that everything through an identity

01:06:03.380 politics lens, you know, that it's all your whole life, your it's predetermined based on whether

01:06:08.340 you're a man, whether you're a woman, whether you're black, white, Asian, whatever, you know,

01:06:12.020 all that. I, because I were, I've protected my own kids by moving them to a sane school,

01:06:16.900 at least when it comes to this stuff. But I do worry that they're going to go out into that world,

01:06:21.540 and they're going to be dealing with a lot of kids, millions of them, who were subjected for many,

01:06:25.620 many years to very different messaging. Yeah. But I mean, your, your, your children

01:06:30.980 know this, right? Like they, they know what's happening to the, to those, to those poor children.

01:06:34.660 Um, and more importantly, they have grace, they have wisdom and they, and wisdom,

01:06:38.820 having knowledge is important, but having wisdom is priceless. Being able to learn, to be able to

01:06:45.300 know something is different than to learn something, to be able to do something. And we learn to,

01:06:50.180 to be, and we learn to do, and I care less about learning to know. I want somebody to be able to

01:06:55.540 do something. And I want to be able to, to have somebody that wants to be something. And that's,

01:07:00.100 that's what Apogee is. Learn to be and, and, and really learn to be able to do. And, um, and anyone

01:07:06.660 from Apogee is going to be able to, to deal or work with, to be able to collaborate with. Like,

01:07:11.620 that's one of the greatest things about putting the ownership back on the individual hero

01:07:14.820 is because they have to problem solve, right? So if we introduce, if, and they're going to be new

01:07:20.820 students, cause the list is seemingly endless of people trying to transfer their,

01:07:25.300 their heroes, their children to our school. Um, and we're welcoming everybody. Like you come

01:07:30.500 and we, we want you to see, I mean, it's almost my job to discourage you to come here. Uh, because

01:07:35.620 like, we just want the perfect fit. But if we take any one of these families and we bring one of those

01:07:40.020 heroes into that studio, everyone else in that studio still has to work with this new person.

01:07:45.140 And it's not that they're a problem, but they still have to find the solution to be able to be

01:07:48.740 successful and be able to be proficient and efficient. And, uh, and so I welcome all different

01:07:54.900 viewpoints. I welcome all different challenges and we welcome every single, uh, idea. We we're facing

01:08:03.220 this unprecedented time where these ideas exist in a vacuum, you know, where, where, where Instagram or

01:08:10.580 or Twitter or YouTube, you can, you can, you like words that we can't even say on here, because if

01:08:15.540 we say them, they'll be censored. And this, you know, this podcast or this article or this, um,

01:08:21.780 this streaming would be removed, um, or it'd be very difficult to find. And we're aware of that.

01:08:26.820 So what happens is it creates a vacuum and in this editorialized, in this curated thing,

01:08:32.820 only, only ideas that are approved can exist. Well, no, no good idea could exist in a vacuum like that

01:08:40.260 because the moment a good idea faces, one of these protected ideas, that protected idea seems

01:08:47.380 idiotic. And, and that's what we want. We want to bring every different conflicting idea, conflated

01:08:54.420 idea, protected idea, ideas that have only existed in vacuums, just like the scientific method. We want

01:09:01.300 every single challenge to be presented against our argument. This is my thesis. You bring me every

01:09:08.100 single way that you think you can bring, you can, you can prove this thesis wrong. Cause that just

01:09:12.660 more solidifies the argument that I have, that this is the best solution, bring it all. And that's

01:09:18.020 what happens with great ideas and censorship will only last so long. And we see this time and time

01:09:22.580 again in history where you can editorialize, you can curate and you can censor, but eventually good

01:09:27.940 ideas and truth will win out. And, um, so at Apogee, bring them. I will welcome every single person,

01:09:34.980 whether it's, you know, critical race theory, whether it's like gender politics, identity

01:09:39.700 politics. Um, I don't care. Bring it because, because rational, logical thought always wins.

01:09:45.620 You should, you should have your students do a sabbatical. You want your sabbatical in the New

01:09:48.980 York city private schools. You think you've done combat, but we'll talk after. All right,

01:09:54.500 wait, stand by Tim. Cause there's much more to go over.

01:09:56.740 So Tim, you mentioned a few times you got six or seven businesses, uh, you're a CEO multiple times

01:10:07.060 over. And I saw you tweeting about suffering firsthand, some of these supply chain issues.

01:10:12.980 How is that affecting you? Oh my gosh. Um, so I, I, we, I mean, I have probably four or five

01:10:22.420 products that we're bringing to market or had brought to market. And these were resupplies

01:10:27.860 of those products that, um, you know, soft goods, textiles, and factories being closed down by COVID

01:10:35.180 or, um, you know, in delivery, they're stuck on a boat or, uh, even paper processes. We're just trying

01:10:42.540 to get approval from a port to be able to drop them off. And, um, and now we're, you know, in the end

01:10:47.540 of October and I'm looking at Christmas being like, is this stuff going to get here? So, I mean, I

01:10:52.340 have low confidence that the inventories that we were counting on being able to, to sell over

01:10:58.100 Christmas, we're even going to have in stock. I saw some expert on, I think it was a, it was either

01:11:03.380 CBS or ABC news report saying if it's not off the ship by mid-September, it's not going to be in the

01:11:08.340 stores by December, by Christmas. Uh, and so there's no way of knowing what goods you're waiting for and

01:11:13.360 whether they're off the ship. But, um, I mean, we've been hearing it left and right from, from

01:11:17.900 a lot of business owners and others saying, you know, a inflation is hurting me and B I can't get

01:11:23.060 the goods I need because they're stuck on these ships and the supply chain and the truckers and

01:11:25.840 so on. And more and more, we're hearing messaging in places like the Washington post and, and really

01:11:30.260 frankly, predominantly from the left of suck it up. Don't be a whiner. Um, you know, we live too high

01:11:36.740 anyway. So like lower your standards of living and just deal. I'm like, well, I don't think it's

01:11:43.120 all billionaires who are waiting for the goods on the ships.

01:11:48.760 No. Um, like when you say I'm a small business owner, uh, I'm talking like really, really small,

01:11:54.520 but America is made up of small business owners and the American ideas in a line with the

01:11:59.660 entrepreneurship, uh, at, at, at our, at our school at Apogee. Um, it is very entrepreneurial

01:12:05.980 focused because the success of an entrepreneur is really exclusively on the entrepreneur's shoulders.

01:12:11.560 Um, but one of the biggest battles that they have to, that they have to fight is, is government

01:12:17.920 regulation, taxes, inflation. Um, you know, like I, I have to plan in my expense report for a given

01:12:26.420 product. Like how much do I have to pay the government, uh, for my port docking fee? How

01:12:31.520 much do I have to pay for the tax and transportation in the gas tax in the movement of it, which the

01:12:37.300 is going to pass on to me, um, in the inflation specifically of the goods, all of like price

01:12:43.040 for gas has gone up every single day for the past month or something insane. And, uh, and that then

01:12:49.680 goes on to the business owner. And then I have to pass that cost onto the customer. And so ultimately

01:12:55.580 the price of all goods, if they haven't been raised yet, they're going to be raised. And that's

01:13:01.100 inflation. Like the dollar is losing value while the expense and cost of things are increasing.

01:13:06.460 And the, I don't know why this is not what everyone is talking about, because when you're

01:13:10.820 sitting there, like having seen bread lines that go for miles, um, you don't want that.

01:13:17.620 Like this is the last thing that you want. And, uh, we want entrepreneurs and we want businesses

01:13:23.060 to be successful that cause that creates a consistent market. The consistent market, especially

01:13:28.680 as we're moving into the holiday seasons is so direly needed.

01:13:32.800 No, it's crazy. And it's like, so there's too much money pumping in the system right now. So the

01:13:36.720 prices of things are going up because the supply is not there. And what's the solution? They're

01:13:41.000 going to pump a bunch more money into the system. They've got the, the one point, whatever trillion

01:13:44.560 dollar, uh, infrastructure plan. And they're now they've lowered the, the other social spending

01:13:49.300 plan down to about 2 trillion, but either way, you're talking over 3 trillion more dollars that

01:13:54.100 they're going to pump into the system, depending on what Joe Manchin and Kristen Sinema do.

01:13:57.760 Um, I heard an interesting discussion the other day about whether that's the ladder gets scrapped

01:14:03.540 if Terry McAuliffe loses his Virginia gubernatorial bid, whether there'll be a lesson to these

01:14:09.580 Democrats about overreach and kicking parents out of the school board meetings and, you know,

01:14:14.840 crazy COVID mandates and whether they just better slow their role. Otherwise more Democrats who are

01:14:20.660 really well positioned, uh, like Terry McAuliffe was, he was winning this race by something like seven

01:14:24.700 points, not too long ago. And now it was within one point, uh, according to the average of polls,

01:14:29.720 whether they'll take that as a message that they, maybe they shouldn't be pumping three plus trillion

01:14:34.520 dollars more into the economy and should get a tiny bit more moderate in their policymaking.

01:14:41.480 Yeah. I mean, obviously as this is not from an objective perspective, uh, I have a interest in

01:14:49.200 the environment for a business to be more conducive to success, but the, the, the overreach, um,

01:14:56.560 I've never experienced anything like this on the business side. It is so untenable to, to, to fight

01:15:03.180 the regulation and the taxes and the inflation. Like it is, it makes it so difficult for me being able to

01:15:10.100 provide services, me being able to provide products, like how difficult it is right now to be able to give

01:15:16.360 or sell something to Americans. It, it, this is so frightening.

01:15:22.620 And by the way, as they, they get ready to, you know, pass these plans, they say it's free,

01:15:27.160 it's free. Don't worry. Well, of course I do worry at that. It's not free. My kids are going to wind up

01:15:30.580 paying for it. And so are yours. Um, but that's a lie. It's not free. It's not paid for. There's no

01:15:35.720 free. And, and there's not enough billionaires in the world to cover all of these, these wish lists

01:15:40.100 that the Biden administration is pushing. So that's a lie. And that's, that takes me to my next topic,

01:15:44.860 which is the big lie that you have been investigating because in addition to all these

01:15:50.740 other fun things that you've been doing and challenging things you've been doing,

01:15:54.360 you hosted a TV show that looked into what you believe is the lie about how Adolf Hitler may not

01:16:03.720 have killed himself in that bunker. So what was the show and why do you believe he did not kill

01:16:10.180 himself in a bunker and may have gone down to South America?

01:16:14.280 Yeah. So, um, the show was called hunting Hitler on the history channel and the, the show was

01:16:19.060 investigating. We knew for a fact that the Nazis had set up rat lines to be able to smuggle

01:16:24.080 hiring Nazi officials out of Germany had the third Reich not been successful. Um, and what we didn't know

01:16:32.980 was if, or to what level these rat lines were used, you know, they smuggled people in the middle East.

01:16:38.960 They smuggled people into North Africa. They smuggled people into Northern Europe and they

01:16:42.660 smuggled people into South America. Um, the second largest concentration of Nazis outside of Germany

01:16:49.620 in 1944 was in Argentina. And, uh, we know for a fact, countless Germans escaped Nuremberg and went

01:16:59.280 to Germany. Um, I, I, I found evidence of some of them, uh, doctor of death when, uh, I mean this,

01:17:06.660 this way and went where and went to Argentina. Yeah. Um, Mengele, he, he was the one that was

01:17:13.620 injecting blue ink into eyes of, of Jewish kids to see if he could turn their eyes blue,

01:17:18.840 doing experiments on twins to see if one twin would like this, the stuff that all horror movies

01:17:24.320 are made of were, were made after Joseph Mengele. Well, Mengele was an advisor to the president of

01:17:29.900 Argentina. And then he went on to start a family in Uruguay. He died of old age in Brazil.

01:17:34.700 He had a place in Chile. Um, he was, he was the medical consultant to a place called Bob

01:17:40.000 Bob via Bavaria in Southern Chile. Um, and he was just one of many, many, many, many Nazis that

01:17:47.020 escaped. Let me pause you and ask you why Argentina was there already a big German population prior to

01:17:54.380 that being chosen as a, as a location for X Nazis. Yeah. So in the 1800s, there were, there was a huge

01:18:00.600 German and Italian immigration into Germany or from Germany into Argentina. And then as somebody that

01:18:08.940 travels a lot, when somebody is away from home, like if you're a German and you are now living in

01:18:14.800 Argentina, this is your second generation Argentinian, but you're still German in ethnicity.

01:18:20.460 You still speak German at home. You still, um, are, you still go to a German school. You're maybe

01:18:25.540 even arguably more German than your German counterparts in Germany. And, um, so by the time

01:18:31.580 we get to 19, the 1930s and the 19, uh, in the late 1930s, you know, post-World War one, when you

01:18:38.560 see Hitler on the rise and you see, um, fascism really take hold internationally, you have this

01:18:45.500 huge population of Germans in Argentina that they too are swept away with the emotional significance

01:18:51.860 of the times and the events post-World War one. And like all things, you have to put things in the

01:18:57.440 context of history. And you look at what was happening historically in the 1920s, 1920s and

01:19:02.340 1930s in and around Germany. Um, you can almost sympathize with needing something more and needing

01:19:10.080 something significant. And then this very charismatic leader who then we find out to be an absolute

01:19:15.320 psychopathic, murdering, genocidal, like demon that is, that is Adolf Hitler and, and fascism

01:19:22.140 in general. Uh, but the Argentinians, the largest, the largest Nazi card carrying Nazi party outside

01:19:29.620 of Germany was in Buenos Aires, Argentina. And, uh, the, the largest rally ever outside of Berlin

01:19:36.900 was in Buenos Aires, Argentina. So, um, huge, huge German and Nazi, uh, heritage.

01:19:44.740 In Argentina. And one of the many reasons why it was so, uh, so sought after and such a successful

01:19:51.860 rat line for Nazis out of Germany into Argentina, because there were so many route route line or

01:19:58.640 rat line, because either one might be appropriate. Yeah. Both of them apply. Okay. Okay. All right.

01:20:05.080 So now we've established our Argentina as a possible, um, outpost for people fleeing for Nazis,

01:20:10.800 fleeing, uh, the allied forces when the war was ending, coming to an end. So why, I mean, what,

01:20:16.920 like everybody, every man I know is fascinated by world war two fascinating women too, but I would

01:20:21.700 think, I really think it's one of those things. It's like, I think my husband's one of them.

01:20:25.020 Um, so why, why do you believe, cause I feel like if Hitler really didn't kill himself in that bunker

01:20:29.880 and wound up in Argentina, we'd know that, right? Like why, why do you think you've stumbled upon

01:20:35.200 that information? Like what is it that convinced you? I mean, how, how would we know that?

01:20:41.460 Like everybody's investigated it. Yeah. And we were, we were taking Nazis and putting them into

01:20:47.180 our space program. We had Martin Borman and Joseph Mengele and, um, Adolf Eichmann, like number two,

01:20:53.080 three, four that escaped out of Germany successfully and escaped the Nuremberg trials and died of old age

01:21:00.200 in South America. So if, I mean, just think about this for a second. If our leader currently, um,

01:21:06.600 and the fall of the United States is happening and the vice president and the joint chiefs of staff

01:21:12.800 and, um, Jen, I don't even know how I've seen her last name. If, if, if all of them are able to

01:21:21.240 successfully be extracted out of Germany and then make it through a rat line to a foreign country,

01:21:28.140 why wouldn't the president?

01:21:30.200 Hmm. Yeah, but that's what we know. Why, why were there? No, I mean, were there sightings of

01:21:35.740 Hitler? What did somebody like, what's your, what's your evidence that they got him out of there?

01:21:39.500 Yeah. So first I'm not going to say that he did. Um, what we investigated was, did they have the

01:21:43.540 ability to the capability to, and we know unquestionably that they did and that they use

01:21:48.140 those methods, those rat lines, those smuggling lines for the highest ranking Nazis, no doubt. Um,

01:21:55.060 what, what I was looking for, uh, was a smoking gun. I was looking for the body. Yes,

01:22:00.000 we had eyewitness accounts of Adolf Hitler and we found, um, German U-boats off the coast of

01:22:05.800 Argentina. Um, we found German U-boats off the coast of Norway that had been smuggling people

01:22:11.420 out of Europe. So no doubt thousands of Nazis escaped from the war and died of old age in South

01:22:19.620 America, North Africa, and, um, North Europe, Northern Europe. The, um, the question of did

01:22:26.400 Adolf Hitler, um, it was very difficult to prove that the, the, the portions of his, of the body

01:22:33.420 that was recovered out of the bunker of Berlin was in fact Adolf Hitler. Um, and genetic testing that

01:22:39.020 had been done, uh, has been completely inconclusive. So what we wanted was we wanted to be able to prove

01:22:44.880 for sure is this body or the remnants of this body that was burnt that was said to us to be Adolf

01:22:51.340 Hitler, but nobody ever saw him die or saw the dead body of Adolf Hitler. Um, is that him or is this

01:23:00.080 body of this person that we found in South America is this Adolf Hitler? And those were the only two

01:23:05.760 ways that I could, I think conclusively say what happened. And without that smoking gun, I'm not

01:23:11.600 going to say it one way or another. What I can say is they absolutely had planned on getting Adolf

01:23:16.200 Hitler out and the methods that they planned, they proved to be successful. And they did it with

01:23:20.840 very, very high ranking Nazis all towards the end of the war. What those, those sneaky little

01:23:26.900 fascists. Is it true that nobody actually had eyewitness was an eyewitness identifier of Adolf

01:23:34.820 Hitler's body? I mean, how did we know that it was Hitler in the first instance? Wasn't there? I I've

01:23:39.620 never actually looked that closely into it. I just assumed that there were some GIs there who were

01:23:43.120 like, Holy shit, it's Hitler. No. So what, what we had was a burn pit and, uh, in that burn pit was a

01:23:50.080 body and that body was said to be Hitler. And there were, um, a few people, uh, that were in the bunker

01:23:57.320 that said that Hitler had gone into his room and had committed suicide. We couldn't cooperate that

01:24:03.540 testimony with anyone else. Like, as like, if you were an investigator and this was going to be

01:24:09.320 presented in trial, at no point would you be like, Oh yeah, this makes sense. A jury of the peers would

01:24:14.640 be like, there's not a single person in this room that agrees what happened. And what we have is a

01:24:19.320 burnt skull from 1945 that we're seen as Adolf Hitler. That, I mean, that's the extent of the

01:24:24.880 evidence that we have, um, which the Russians took and took with them back to Russia. So we haven't been

01:24:30.700 able to, to, to prove that. Again, there's your thumbs down. Yet another, yet another verdict on

01:24:39.520 the spin we've been getting. Wow. It's fascinating. So is the series over? Did it end with like a,

01:24:45.280 we think that we've been lied to. And by the way, will there be a part two on Jeffrey Epstein?

01:24:49.960 It seems like we have a re reoccurring Jeffrey Epstein all the time. Um, man, how, how,

01:24:55.480 how effectively people are suicided. Um, yeah, the, uh, so we did a few seasons of hunting Hitler

01:25:04.000 and we had another season that was investigated and research and the findings were so, uh, alarming

01:25:13.100 that history channel ultimately was like, we, we can't go forward with this. Um, because

01:25:19.540 what were the findings? Yeah. I mean, it had implications to current terrorist organizations,

01:25:24.960 uh, being funded and protected by Nazis, uh, post-World War II. Um, like the Mujahideen,

01:25:31.660 if you look at the Mujahideen and their founding, what we know to be ISIS and Al Qaeda and Taliban.

01:25:37.620 Um, when you look at their founding members, you're like, man, that's a lot of brown guys from the

01:25:42.920 Middle East. And who are those random tall white guys with blonde hair and blue eyes in 1946? Um,

01:25:51.780 and like your question, well, what did the Mujahideen and Nazis have in common? Ah, the death

01:25:57.860 of the Jews. Curious. The only thing that they have in common and like really the cornerstone to why

01:26:02.860 they're on doing what they do and believe what they believe. Um, so of course, if I were the Mujahideen,

01:26:08.580 I would go and try and find Nazis to help me kill more Jews.

01:26:14.520 Well, I will, I'll give you this. If you're a Nazi who escapes, um, Germany, uh, around the World

01:26:19.860 War II ending, you're probably not done killing. I mean, I just don't think that's, you know,

01:26:24.340 that's not, it's, it's in your nature to remain evil. I know a lot of people went along and there's

01:26:28.900 all sorts of reasons why, you know, they say sort of the followers who are actual German citizens who

01:26:33.280 maybe didn't understand the full extent, but the people at the top were truly evil and probably

01:26:37.420 didn't check their evil ness upon moving, uh, outside of Germany. It's fascinating. Listen,

01:26:42.680 Tim, I'm, I'm so happy to get to meet you and get to know you. And I really hope whatever you're

01:26:47.520 doing now and whatever follows keeps you relatively safe. I don't think you want to be perfectly safe

01:26:53.020 based on your life choices. Um, but I, for one, I'm very glad you're out there doing what you're

01:26:56.720 doing and imparting those lessons to a whole new generation of kids. All right. I really appreciate

01:27:02.100 your time. Keep doing what you're doing. Thank you. All the best. Wow. So would love for you to

01:27:06.980 join us tomorrow, by the way, cause we're going to have Michael Knowles back. Do you know him?

01:27:09.540 He's amazing. He's so brilliant. He's a whippersnapper from the daily wire. Well worth

01:27:13.300 your time. And John Cass is back with us too. We're talking Chicago. What's happening there with

01:27:16.940 the mayor versus the police. Go to YouTube, youtube.com slash Megan Kelly, subscribe to the

01:27:22.340 show and then download as a podcast label on later on Apple, Pandora, et cetera. See that.

01:27:27.200 Thanks for listening to the Megan Kelly show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear.

01:27:36.980 Thanks for listening to the Megan Kelly show.

The Megyn Kelly Show - October 27, 2021

Tim Kennedy on the Taliban Terror Threat, Personal Responsibility, and the Importance of Losing ｜ Ep. 190

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