Ex-Navy Seal Opens Up About War Crimes & Fighting ISIS - Eddie Gallagher
Episode Stats
Length
1 hour and 2 minutes
Words per minute
206.55194
Harmful content
Misogyny
11
sentences flagged
Toxicity
16
sentences flagged
Hate speech
19
sentences flagged
Summary
Chief Eddie Gallagher is a decorated veteran Navy SEAL, 8 combat deployments, 2 Bronze Stars with V4 Valor, Navy Achievement with Valor and a new book coming out later this year. Eddie talks about how he got into the military, growing up in a small town in Indiana and how he became a Navy SEAL.
Transcript
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There was a picture of me posing with a dead ISIS fighter along with 12 other people and they came back and said that I had stabbed an ISIS prisoner to death and they had it on video.
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Is it common at the end to take pictures of the enemy you take out?
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NCIS does not like, they don't like Navy SEALs, they're always looking to take one down and that's when the president stepped in and said okay let him out of prison so he can properly defend himself.
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They would send out women and kids in droves running towards us and then mow them down in front of us.
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You know being SEALs and we have a job to do, we're very mission focused and after seeing what they do to other humans you don't look at them as human anymore.
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So my guest today is Chief Eddie Gallagher, he's a decorated veteran Navy SEAL, eight combat deployments, two bronze stars with V4 Valor, Navy achievement with Valor.
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And depending on how you've seen his story being told by which media platform, you either don't think highly of some of the things that took place and maybe some of the things he's not proud of and maybe he'll talk about it with his new book that just came out.
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Or you'll look at him as somebody that, to understand what he had to do to go against enemy that are trying to do whatever they can to dethrone America or take our freedoms away, to be able to do that job is not everybody's job.
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So we're going to take a deep dive today on that story.
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With that being said, Eddie, thank you so much for being a guest on V8 Tainment today.
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Yeah man, thank you for having me on, I appreciate it.
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First of all, appreciate your service, you know, you, I was in for a couple of years, but you took it to a whole different level.
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You know, everybody, every kid that goes into the military, we admire, we respect for someone, you know, one day being an Army Ranger or, you know, 18 Delta Special Forces, Navy SEAL.
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You were able to do that and you went out there and faced off with some of the most feared opposition and enemies.
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So Eddie, if you don't mind, before we go into some of the stuff with your book and some of the controversy around what took place with you while you were in, some stories will cover that as well.
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If I was in high school with you in 10th grade, who was Eddie and what's the story with how you got into the military?
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So I grew up in Army, moving around every two years, mostly in Asia.
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I spent most of my childhood, but then ended up in Fort Wayne, Indiana for high school after my dad had retired.
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I was just always getting in trouble in the mix, but I've always had loyal friends everywhere I went.
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And by the time I finished high school, you know, which I barely graduated, I tried college.
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I gave that about a half a semester and realized I wasn't mature enough yet to for college.
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It was just a decision I made to get out of Fort Wayne, Indiana and try and make something of myself.
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And then, you know, I went to the recruiting office.
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They, you know, the recruiter was going over what jobs to have.
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And I already knew in my mind I wanted to be a commando of some sort.
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Unfortunately, back then, there wasn't like a straight pipeline to go to BUDS.
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I had to go to an A school, which I went to Corps school, which is a medic for the Navy.
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And then from there, I was assigned to the Marines for four years.
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And so I did my tour there with the Marines, which was a blessing.
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You know, I got to go to a lot of good schools.
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I ended up going to Marine Corps Sniper School, Marine Combat Water Survival School.
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So pretty much anything, I was doing anything and everything to prepare for BUDS, to prepare
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And that sort of solidified exactly why I joined.
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They went into Iraq, Mosul, Iraq, and then came back and went right to BUDS and ended
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And then from there, earned my trident, did a bunch of platoons at Team 1, became an instructor
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for about a year and a half at BUDS, and then went to Team 7 and did multiple platoons there
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until my last deployment in 2017, which was back to Mosul.
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And by the way, going back, when you said your dad was in the Army for 22 years or 24
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years, when he was in, you said most of the time in Asia.
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How was China back then when you were, I mean, even as a kid, how old were you when
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I was in kindergarten and first grade, but I remember it pretty vividly.
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You know, it was a lot different back then than it is now.
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You know, we had, of course, you know, my dad working there at the embassy.
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You know, we had Chinese nannies because my mom taught English while she was there, but
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So we pretty much had spies that were trying to gather information on us.
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How did you guys figure out that your nanny was a spy?
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Oh, she told my parents because she was she was getting a lot of heat from the government
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So I think they were on top of her telling her, you know, like, hey, we need some information.
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And then I think my parents threw a party at one point, you know, and had a lot of guests
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We lived in an apartment and that's, you know, they said that the nannies were super
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excited and thanking them because then they could actually, you know, report something
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And, you know, obviously, I didn't know a lot of that was going on.
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But now, you know, hearing the stories now of my parents, it's what was your job?
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I mean, he spoke five different languages, so it was, you know, obviously the army used
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Um, see the I think it's two or three dialects of, uh, you know, Chinese, so it's like Cantonese,
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uh, something I and I'm I'll mess it up, but also Korean, uh, German, German, I think he
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Did he end up doing other other things as well?
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Or was it just 22 years, 24 years and he retired?
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He, uh, you know, he ended up, uh, while we were in Korea, he went to desert storm, uh,
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And then I think, uh, at the time, uh, Clinton was president and they were doing a lot of,
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uh, budget cuts in the military and he was just told like, your time's up.
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Uh, it was, it was pretty crushing to him cause he loved the army, but you know, it was
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I remember they were doing that when we're in the army that come up to you and they
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We're giving a bonus for you to leave the army and not stay in.
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And they, you know, budget cuts when it happens, some of the guys that are around longer,
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they're the ones typically that are the first to go and they go and ask them to go.
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Maybe they'll give them a bonus, uh, to ask them to leave.
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You said, you said you, you did the sniper, you did a bunch of different, uh, uh, uh,
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courses and schools that you took when you were training with the Marines yourself.
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What did you ever take anything with Marines that was as tough, uh, as buzz was, was there
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We said, there's this one training I took with them.
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It was the closest thing to, you know, being a Navy SEAL.
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Um, you know, the, you know, Marine Corps sniper school was, uh, definitely one of the toughest
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Uh, it's, uh, you know, the attrition rate is just about the same.
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Uh, you know, the Marines, they hold that school in a very high regard.
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So they make sure that people who pass it have earned it.
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Um, you know, and it was, I had no, I didn't grow up with guns.
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Uh, so I was learning everything on the fly, um, you know, as far as becoming an infantryman
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Uh, but I, you know, I, I made it through that.
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And then the, uh, Marine Corps water survival school is definitely the toughest water school
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And, uh, when you come out of there, you're, you feel like a fish.
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Like if you were to kind of give us a, you know, so I'll give you like just a normal day.
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Uh, you show up, uh, you do, uh, you swim 2000 meters, uh, with full camis, uh, every 500
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And then, uh, by the end of that 2000, they are tying all of your clothes together.
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They've tied all your clothes together at the bottom of the pool, the deep end.
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And they, you, you have a certain amount of time to find your clothes and put them back
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Uh, but the classes you're treading water the whole time while the instructor's outside
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teaching outside of the pool, teaching the class.
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Um, and then at the end of the day, you do, uh, they call it, uh, you know, PT, but, um,
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So it's like an hour and a half to two hours of just straight, uh, exercises in the pool,
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That's after the 2000 meters with your full gear on and every 500 meters, you take a piece
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So you're, uh, you come out of there like super in shape, super comfortable in the water.
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Um, you know, and that had a pretty good attrition rate as well.
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So then fast forward to now, obviously we know what happened a year and a half ago.
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I think it was, was it a year and a half ago, two years ago when president Trump, uh,
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helped you, uh, uh, you know, get your rank back.
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I think he called you and spoke to you about, uh, what took place.
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Would you mind sharing with the audience some of the events that took place, uh, two years
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So, I mean, I'll, I'll try and, uh, sum it up as best I can.
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Uh, you know, I, I, like I said, my last, uh, deployment was to Missoula in 2017.
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Um, we were directed to, uh, annihilate ISIS, uh, out of Missoula, um, the great deployment,
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Um, and, uh, unfortunately there was four, um, three to four guys in my platoon, um, who
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Um, I think they, their eyes were opened, uh, especially on that deployment.
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It was pretty, uh, chaotic, but, uh, I think they realized that this job wasn't for them.
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Um, but instead of taking ownership of that, they, you know, pointed the finger at me and
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pretty much were saying, I put them in harm's way.
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I made them, you know, go out all the time and do, do their job.
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Um, and, you know, their, their complaints were pretty petty.
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Uh, they went to my command after the deployment with these complaints and the command told
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them that these were not real complaints and to move on.
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Uh, so they kept escalating their allegations when they weren't getting the attention they
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So that it turned in from, I was dangerous to, I was a thief.
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Um, of course they had nothing to back it up for being a thief.
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Uh, and I think the command finally told them like, listen, either you guys move on or come,
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you know, come back with something that's, uh, legit.
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And so about six months later, they came back and had said that I had stabbed an ISIS prisoner
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Uh, I'm not sure if the command ever asked to see the video or not, but because the video
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Um, but the command, uh, bought off on it, uh, um, told them to report it to NCIS.
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And so once NCIS, uh, took the allegations and turned it into an investigation, that's
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Uh, we, they had a corrupt agent, NCIS agent named Joe Warpinski took the case, um, very
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young, um, and, uh, ambitious, but also very incompetent.
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Um, and, uh, he pretty much formed a prosecution before he started investigating and he pretty
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much took whatever little pieces of information he could to, you know, throw at, throw at me
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And then anything that cleared my name, he would, he would hide, um, which, you know,
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Um, you know, as soon as I was accused or not even accused, like the rumors were out there
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that I had killed an ISIS prisoner, it was, I was guilty until proven innocent.
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I was told that by my command, um, they pretty much shunned me, uh, they, you know, put me
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in an office and told me to sit there and they wait to see where this thing goes.
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Um, while I was, you know, sitting in that office for about a month, they, uh, raided my
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house, NCIS came, um, they were staking me out for about two weeks.
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Uh, they came and raided my house while my wife and I were not home, uh, pulling my two
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youngest or my two boys out at gunpoint, uh, in their underwear and then laid siege to
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Uh, that's when we knew my wife and I knew this thing was, uh, off the rails.
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Um, but, you know, we didn't know what to do at the time.
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Um, I had shortly after they had raided my house, I had moved my family to Florida.
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Um, and then I was going to geobatch, uh, for my final year until I retired.
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Um, they waited for me to come back, uh, after moving my family to Florida.
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And I went to a, uh, uh, TBI clinic, a traumatic brain injury clinic to get checked up.
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Uh, it's a normal procedure for guys who are about to retire to get checked up for all their
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And I was about a week into that one and they came and arrested me and threw me in a military
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prison with no charges, um, no explanation why I was being thrown in prison.
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They just said they had orders from, uh, Admiral Green, who is the, uh, the Admiral in charge
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And then also signed off by, uh, Commander Rosenblum, who was the, uh, Commodore of Group
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Um, any, any, do you know any reason why they arrested you on 9-11?
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I mean, you know, you could do 9-12, 9-10, 9-11 is 9-11.
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Everything they do, and this is what I learned through this process.
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So all these actions they took against me are done on purpose.
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Them raiding my house without myself, my wife there was to enrage me and also to break up
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my family and also to put shame on our family, which worked because our neighbors were like,
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oh, they just don't do that to people unless you did something.
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Um, and then, uh, during, uh, when I was at the TBI clinic, they chose September 11th
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for that specific reason, because they know that day means a lot to us, uh, who've been
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serving the past 20 years, um, and they felt that that would make me snap and I would do
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Um, and I thought that, you know, in my mind, I was like, this is a big mistake.
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But as I came to find out, once you're thrown in a military prison, even as a pre-trial
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prisoner, um, you are not getting out at all until your trial date.
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And once they throw you in there, they just keep pushing your trial date back and back
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So, you know, uh, the video that you say that they sent to NCIS and for audience that
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NCIS is, uh, it's the intelligence organization, right?
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It's, uh, it's, uh, the, what does NCIS stand for?
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So once it goes there, there was one video that was circulating.
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What was that one video with the body that was limp and you apologize for that one video.
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So what they did when they raided my house, uh, they had, they took, they took all my phones,
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Um, and, uh, there was a picture of me posing with a dead ISIS fighter, uh, along with, uh,
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Um, and also I had sent a text message, uh, to a buddy of mine, um, during that deployment
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as a joke, um, with that picture saying, good story behind this, got him with a honey
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Um, I, but I'll tell you what, that, that was the best and worst piece of evidence they
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Um, you know, it was the worst because obviously it makes me look pretty guilty.
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Uh, but if you, you know, zoom in on the picture and look, there's no blood on the knife, there's
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No, no, uh, um, nothing that shows this guy's been stabbed.
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Uh, but they took that text message and that picture and that's, that was their main piece
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And that's, they were going around telling everybody they had me dead to rights.
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Um, but they had also, since these, um, younger guys in my platoon had said there was a video,
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um, they were, you know, they were spreading that rumor as well saying like, cause the judge
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So you, we weren't allowed to show the evidence to anybody and neither was the prosecution or
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they, they weren't supposed to, but as we come came to find out, they were given whatever
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evidence they wanted to the media, um, sort of smear my name.
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But, uh, eventually we got the judge, uh, to, uh, let us show the video to Congress, um,
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because that lie had gone all the way up to the white house saying there was a video of
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And so once we were able to show the actual video to members of Congress and whoever else
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it was, they quickly realized that they had been lied to by the Navy.
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Uh, and that's where, you know, their case started crumbling.
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When you, you know, you're, you're going against an enemy, they're trying to kill you.
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They may be have killed a couple of your buddies, people that you love, people that you spend
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There's a certain level of animosity and hatred that's built for your enemy.
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When you go up against them, is it common at the end to take pictures of the enemy you
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Is that pretty common that maybe not necessarily publicly?
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Hey, let me post it on my Instagram, but is it common to, to do that, to say, Hey,
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But it's common, uh, standard operating procedure, uh, for some units to take pictures of the
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So they can, you know, bring back and, uh, show proof, like, especially if they're a high
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Um, and then, you know, what we, we were messing around, uh, and that's, I would say that's
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Uh, you know, I think the, the environment that we were in, um, it's hard to explain to
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people just, uh, how it was going into that city every day.
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There was dead bodies piled up all over the place.
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Uh, we were watching women and kids get mowed down, uh, on a weekly basis.
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Um, just watching ISIS commit these atrocities.
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Uh, and you know, once you, you see that on a regular basis and you don't really think
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Um, obviously when deployment's over and you come back to the States, uh, and you know,
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certain people like what happened, get ahold of that picture, see that they, they freak
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out and they're like, how can, how can you guys do this?
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And it's like, well, you know, you go ahead and, um, put yourself in my shoes for six months
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and our, however many deployments and I'm not making excuses for it.
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Uh, you know, I've said it on other interviews before, uh, it was a wrong decision to do,
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Um, you know, and I think I paid my dues for that.
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And you know, uh, uh, uh, you've seen maybe the Netflix series Narcos about Pablo Escobar.
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I interviewed Steve Murphy and Javier Pena, Steve Murphy and Javier Pena were the two DA agents.
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Steve Murphy has that legendary picture that they showed on the cover of their books with
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him and a dead Pablo Escobar on the rooftop of a, uh, building somewhere in Medellin.
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Like, is there, uh, there's, there's a part of it where you spend months and months and
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months, sometimes yours going up against an enemy where you build up so much animosity.
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So I guess my question for you would be the following.
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Like if, if, if somebody asks you a question, no one becomes a person at your level without
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being a fighter and having strong emotions where you're willing to put yourself out there
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You got to be a little bit also, you know, uh, uh, off.
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You can't be not maybe office, not the word I'm looking for.
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Like even in the world of business, when you think about some of these guys that build
00:21:58.960
So let me ask you how much vacation did you do?
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If you go 20 years without taking a day off, that's not what normal people would say.
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No, if you, if a man is on a mission, they're not wired the same way to go up against enemies
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But to you, what, what was boiling your blood and how did you view ISIS and what they were trying
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to take away from you or what they were trying to do to you and your country?
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You know, uh, you know, what, what boils my blood is that you, you said it, uh, is bullies,
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Like ever since I was little, you know, coming up, I've, I've always stood up, tried to stand
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And I got in a lot of fights when I was growing up because of bullies or standing up for other
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Um, and that's exactly what ISIS was, is the ultimate bully.
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I mean, they were, they were pulling the most atrocious stuff I'd seen in my eight combat
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And I'd seen, you know, the Taliban and Al Qaeda, uh, do some nasty things, but ISIS seemed
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Um, and you just don't, you don't look at them after seeing what they do to other humans,
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um, especially, you know, other Iraqis, uh, you don't look at them as human anymore.
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You're just like, I, you're, they're evil and I need to be taken off this earth.
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There's no, there's no, uh, court or thing that they should go to, to, you know, decide
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It's like, you chose your fate by being on this battlefield and by pulling the atrocities
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that you're doing, we're going to kill everyone.
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Like, what were some disturbing things you saw while you were out there?
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They, uh, normally would, um, you know, be across the, you know, the battlefield or, you
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know, in the city, um, and if there was an open, um, lot or field, they would send out
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women and kids in droves, uh, running towards us and then mow them down in front of us, uh,
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trying to pull, get us out in the open to, you know, help the women and kids.
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And of course, there's nothing you can do at that point.
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Um, uh, what else they were doing is they were putting, um, silhouettes on top of buildings
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Um, and so, and then they would chain women and kids inside the house at the bottom.
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Uh, so we would confuse the silhouette with a enemy combatant vomit, and then all the women
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Um, and, uh, you know, just some of the, some of the other things I did not, I didn't
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see personally, but the rumors were going around from the, our partner force that they were,
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uh, boiling kids alive and then making, I mean, this is making the mothers drink the
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Um, and that's, that's just, but that's the environment that we were in.
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And you witnessed the first two, not the last one, but you witnessed the first two.
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Uh, I mean, there was multiple rumors of just, uh, the evil stuff they were doing, but I never
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But the first one would then send the kids and just, you know, you saw that.
00:24:57.340
You witnessed them shooting them down regularly, uh, regular, like not regular basis, but
00:25:03.240
Uh, well, let me ask you, what does that do to you psychologically when you see that?
00:25:06.700
What, you know, so you, it's you and your peers, your buddies, you're there, you see
00:25:10.660
What are you guys saying to each other afterwards?
00:25:13.900
What's, what's your natural reaction to when you see that?
00:25:17.220
Um, I think everybody reacts to it differently.
00:25:19.260
Uh, I can tell you that each, the same re you know, the same reaction was everybody was
00:25:25.260
Um, but you know, being seals and we have a job to do, we were very mission focused and
00:25:31.400
we don't let that, uh, those kinds of things take us, take our eyes off the mission.
00:25:35.480
Uh, we pretty much, which not the healthiest thing to do, but we'll just take that and stuff
00:25:40.200
it down and be like, I don't want to think about it.
00:25:41.960
I keep going, um, and it's not, you know, it's not until after deployments.
00:25:46.200
Usually when you start talking or telling stories about the deployment is when you start
00:25:50.660
dealing with some of those things, like, oh yeah, we did see that.
00:25:53.400
I did, you know, and, uh, it does, it has an effect, but during the deployment, um, I did
00:26:00.340
So, so it doesn't produce a rage to say, wait till you see what we're going to do to you
00:26:05.080
You know, it's kind of like the movie, uh, I interviewed Taya.
00:26:08.540
Uh, what was Taya, uh, the book, uh, sniper American sniper with Bradley Cooper, Chris
00:26:14.200
Kyle, I interviewed his wife and you hear him talk about like, you know, here's how many
00:26:19.760
people he killed and how do you feel about you doing that?
00:26:22.000
He says very easy because I'm, you know, killing the enemy and you can tell that, you
00:26:26.660
know, the guy seems like an easygoing guy, but you can tell if the enemy comes to take
00:26:30.000
something away from me, from him, you know, he's willing to go against anybody.
00:26:34.560
How do you, how do you manage that to not allow the rage to get you to react emotionally?
00:26:43.960
Uh, we, I mean, we train nonstop, uh, for, uh, numerous situations like that.
00:26:51.560
Um, I think, you know, due to our training, we're able to control our emotions, uh, a lot
00:26:58.140
Uh, obviously, you know, those seeing that happen does, uh, spark a reaction.
00:27:05.060
And yeah, I think, you know, we were, we were pretty much dead set on annihilating every
00:27:11.240
Um, I, you know, it's like I said, I looked at it as just taking evil officer.
00:27:15.880
Um, you know, the people of Iraq don't deserve to have those people there, um, holding them
1.00
00:27:23.980
I mean, there's a big difference between you training to shoot something, you know,
00:27:29.040
uh, uh, because you're a marksman or you, you can train to swim and last a long time
00:27:34.640
But how do you train emotional when you see that kind of atrocity right in front of you?
00:27:40.140
What is the method of training to control your emotions?
00:27:43.100
I wouldn't, I would say, uh, I wouldn't say like there's training.
00:27:46.720
I just say, you learn to stuff your emotions, you stuff them down and you keep going.
00:27:50.920
Um, um, you know, I, I don't think that's the, the right answer either.
00:27:54.780
Um, because obviously those will come bubbling back up later on in life.
00:28:00.940
But during that time, that's, that's how we do it.
00:28:04.780
We're all about getting the job accomplished and we'll do whatever it takes to do it.
00:28:09.500
I mean, you know, the, you know, the difference, you know, some, my dad would say sometimes
00:28:12.420
it's better to explode than to implore because if you constantly keep it inside of you
00:28:16.860
one day, when you do it's, it's, uh, it's explosive because you, you rage building up
00:28:23.020
for years where you don't know at what levels to, to stop when that happens to you.
00:28:28.440
By the way, what is the best way to describe who NCIS would be like, meaning, you know,
00:28:33.760
we're not in the world is NCIS, uh, let's just say in the business world, if I'm the business
00:28:39.700
owner, small business owner, creating jobs is NCIS, the government is NCIS, the regulators
00:28:51.940
So what, what they claim, and this is what they told me when they tried to interrogate
00:28:55.580
me is that they are like the FBI, uh, which is not even close.
00:28:58.840
Um, so NCIS agents all have tried out for the FBI or, or other three letter agencies and
00:29:10.740
So they're, they're very, uh, it's like the Barney five squad, um, if you will.
00:29:15.700
Um, and like I said, they, they're very incompetent at investigating, but they are all very ambitious
00:29:20.640
because they're trying to make it to that next level.
00:29:23.540
I mean, the Barney five squad, if people don't know what the Barney five squad is, that
00:29:26.520
we have to put a picture for people to know what that is, but, uh, so, so do they like
00:29:35.240
Um, you know, from my experience, um, being in, no, NCIS does not like, uh, they don't
00:29:42.440
They're always looking to take someone, take one down because, uh, they look, and this
00:29:45.800
is a sick way of looking at it, but they look at it as like a big career move for them.
00:29:50.500
Um, if they can bag a Navy SEAL, make headlines, um, then they can move up in their, whatever
00:29:57.900
But, uh, you know, cause I've had, you know, my first platoon chief in Iraq was, uh, taken
00:30:04.000
out, uh, by NCIS about midway through our deployment and, uh, they ruined his career
00:30:09.380
Um, and then from then on, I've always, you know, seen NCIS messing, messing around with
00:30:15.600
And so I knew once, uh, they came and tried to talk to me, I mean, I knew they weren't
00:30:20.800
on my side, even though they try to give you the whole rigmarole of like, oh, we're, we're
00:30:25.040
here to actually investigate, just talk about it.
00:30:28.940
Um, but, you know, I was polite to them when they talked to me and I told them, Hey, I,
00:30:33.420
you know, no offense, but I, I want my lawyer present.
00:30:36.380
And, uh, once I told them that they left the room and locked me in a room for seven hours
00:30:42.100
I, I guess where I'm trying to go with this to get perspective for the audience.
00:30:45.880
So there's roughly 2,500 active Navy SEALs today.
00:30:50.640
In America, we have roughly 2,500, 3,000 billionaires in America today, right?
00:30:57.980
Typically, you know, an AOC or Bernie Sanders goes after billionaires.
00:31:01.540
You guys are too rich and Elizabeth Warren, you know, and it's a card.
00:31:04.860
I got to go take this one guy down because he's too rich.
00:31:08.340
Is it a similar analogy where they kind of want to have, like, I took this Navy SEAL
00:31:15.340
Uh, you know, the best way I can describe it is, you know, it's just weaker men trying
0.99
00:31:23.020
Um, and they, they hate the fact that, uh, we, we are what we are.
00:31:27.580
And I think they're, they're constantly looking for a reason to, uh, try and take us down.
00:31:32.920
You talk about beta males, cowards, weak, entitled millennials.
0.96
00:31:36.540
Uh, what, tell me a little bit more about that.
0.97
00:31:40.440
What does an entitled, uh, uh, generation look like to you?
00:31:44.080
You know, I, I don't think you can, uh, say, base it on looks, uh, I've, you know, I actually
00:31:50.980
had this conversation with my youngest son, uh, too long ago.
00:31:53.840
And I was like, you know, a beta male is somebody who is pretty much plays the victim role all
00:32:02.860
Um, and then they were always trying to take down better people than them.
00:32:08.260
Um, but so instead of trying to fix themselves, they're just going to take down people who
00:32:12.220
they think are bigger than them or better than them.
00:32:17.140
I think we've got a few of them today, maybe a handful of them in America today.
00:32:22.960
There's a handful, I think we have in America today and they, I can't see them liking somebody
00:32:27.820
like you, uh, uh, uh, especially in your world, because to be a Navy SEAL, you got to put
0.97
00:32:33.660
Now, you know, I've asked this question before, whether it was with, you know, any of these
0.96
00:32:38.500
military guys I've interviewed, whether it's Jocko or Paranto or even McChrystal, you
00:32:44.840
go through, you know, some of them on the left, some of them on the right.
00:32:47.440
You know, you asked them these questions, like, uh, when you talk to athletes who they've
00:32:55.780
been playing for 10 years, professional athletes, NBA, MLB, and they're on the road, you know,
00:33:02.760
The normal person's not going to understand what kind of a life they live.
00:33:06.640
You talk to Hollywood stars, they're A-listers.
00:33:08.640
A-listers, I'm talking about the Will, the Rocks, the Vin Diesel, the DiCaprio, the
00:33:16.080
Like you and I don't know what it is to be those guys, because we don't know what it
00:33:20.700
The next thing you know, you can't go to Walmart, right?
00:33:23.020
To just pick up some milk at 10 o'clock at night, because you're swamped with 50 people
00:33:28.000
So we don't know what it's like, but they know, you know, if you're a rock star, you
00:33:32.980
know, that one movie with Mark Wahlberg, who was, he was a, you know, I don't remember
00:33:38.220
And you interview a Gene Simmons or, you know, one of those guys, and they tell you the stories
00:33:47.820
Is it kind of like that where you talk to a regular human being and you're kind of like,
00:33:53.160
dude, you have no clue what kind of a life we freaking live when we're out there.
00:33:56.020
Like, I don't even want to explain to you what kind of life we live, because you would
00:33:59.040
never understand what the hell we go through with it.
00:34:02.360
The only, do you ever catch yourself wanting to only speak to in depth about the life you
00:34:09.020
live with people that actually can understand what you guys went through on a daily basis?
00:34:14.640
Uh, you know, it's, yeah, like that's definitely a common thing, especially when I was in, you
00:34:19.740
just, you know, you just happen to hang out with other SEALs.
00:34:23.300
Like you don't really hang out with civilians, even on your off time.
00:34:29.960
And then inside that it's, you know, you have your little tribes, um, you know, so you have
00:34:34.360
your close friends, but that's pretty much who you're around.
00:34:39.360
Uh, you know, it's, I, I've rarely had any civilian friends and then, uh, it's, it is
00:34:44.460
difficult, um, you know, and everybody is very supportive and appreciative, but it's,
00:34:48.940
it's difficult to, uh, try and put into words like, Hey, this is how we live.
00:34:54.280
Uh, this is, this is, uh, you know, what our schedule's like.
00:34:57.400
And, you know, I think the, the big eye opener is, you know, if you've talked to a spouse
00:35:01.380
that's married to a Navy SEAL and what the family has to go through during that, you know,
00:35:06.160
that career, um, those, they are, they're the true warriors.
00:35:10.060
Uh, you know, they, they hold down the port at home, make sure everything's taken care of.
00:35:13.960
They, they make sure like, we don't have to worry about as much at home so we can focus
00:35:18.400
Um, you know, and that takes, that takes a toll, uh, on a family, but that, you know,
00:35:22.760
as long as you have a strong foundation and a strong wife or a strong husband or whatever,
00:35:27.280
uh, you know, that's, that's what makes how you can make it through.
00:35:30.400
Um, but it is, you know, especially now that I've been out now, uh, I think that's why it's,
00:35:35.080
it's very hard for guys to transition out of that job as well.
00:35:38.160
Um, we are indoctrinated into a very, uh, fast paced lifestyle where it's just training and
00:35:43.720
constantly trying to be better than you were yesterday.
00:35:46.040
And then, uh, when you get out, you know, that slows down a little bit.
00:35:50.320
Um, and that's, that's hard to deal with at times.
00:36:04.720
He's got a YouTube channel with a few million subscribers.
00:36:06.580
He's killing it on the internet right now, crushing it.
00:36:09.140
And I think he's a former Navy SEAL or one of those things.
00:36:14.760
He has, he has something in Dallas where he has former Navy SEALs, uh, anybody that made
00:36:19.940
it at the highest level from every one of the branches, he brings them together and it's
00:36:24.240
a community for job placement to see them doing what they do next.
00:36:27.940
Uh, you know, because sometimes to make that transition, I don't know what it's called.
00:36:46.260
We had an interesting time with those guys talking to them because everybody looks like
00:36:52.380
I'm like, okay, oh my gosh, you look like you'd be a killer, you know, an insane C-suite
0.99
00:36:58.840
And boom, dress sharp, you know, to the T chiseled, you know, with the eyes, like your
00:37:05.000
And, you know, how hard is it to transition for you from that life to civilian life?
00:37:10.860
I was only in for three years and it was pretty hard to transition from that life to
00:37:14.860
How hard is it for someone like you to go at your level to go from that life to the civilian
0.97
00:37:26.920
They say for every five years that you're in, it's going to take two years to transition.
00:37:32.440
So, I mean, I don't know if that's, you know, magically correct or not, but, you know, I
00:37:38.100
can tell you, yeah, I've been going through the past year and, you know, I had a especially
00:37:45.700
unique transition because of everything I went through in my past year, just my face
00:37:52.660
But my wife, you know, she pretty much mandated last year, she's like, all you're going to
00:37:58.500
do this year is fix yourself and get treatments for all of your injuries and just learn how
00:38:06.540
You know, of course, because once I got out, I was, you know, pretty much fighting the carpet
0.99
00:38:12.940
And I can tell you, that's the best thing I've done.
00:38:16.820
You know, I definitely, we went through some, you know, rough patches last year, but that's
00:38:24.860
You know, you give your life to an organization and you give your literally blood, sweat and
00:38:31.520
tears and then pieces of your brain and, you know, everything else.
00:38:38.060
You know, they say if you touch more, it touches you back, which is completely true.
1.00
00:38:41.380
And, you know, that's, that's what I think people need to realize is like, we're, you
00:38:45.800
know, these, these veterans that are coming out now that have been in combat, sustained
00:38:54.540
And I think, you know, certain, certain, uh, media, um, they, they, uh, try to say, you
00:39:03.400
know, say that we're broken or somehow, uh, um, say that we're messed up.
00:39:11.740
Um, you know, and I, you know, I talked to a therapist once a week, um, just to, and
00:39:16.660
it, you know, and whatever I can do to help myself, because, uh, what, you know, what I
00:39:21.660
tell guys is, you know, you can't take care of anybody else until you can take care of
00:39:28.380
You can't take care of your family until yourself is fixed.
00:39:30.760
And so that's, you know, I'm glad that I spent the last year doing that, you know, and it's,
00:39:34.480
it's going to be a constant, uh, work in progress.
00:39:41.680
Is it like, I miss, I got to get back and like, well, this is too slow for me.
00:39:45.700
Or is it just recollections of events that took place?
00:39:56.200
Uh, for, well, I think it's different for each individual.
00:39:58.720
Um, you know, I don't, I don't think we all have the same, um, problems when we get out.
00:40:03.260
For me, it was, you know, my, uh, my levels were off as far as.
00:40:07.240
Uh, my dopamine, um, I was in fight or flight 98% of the day, uh, without even knowing it.
00:40:14.640
Um, I literally thought like, this is how I am, uh, until, you know, I went and got a
00:40:20.880
bunch of my levels checked and they're like, yeah, you're all this, all your levels are
00:40:24.860
messed up because of the past 20 years you've been constantly fighting and being in this
00:40:31.120
And that's how your body thinks it's, you know, it works now.
00:40:36.260
So I would, I would find myself, you know, just, I could be doing something normal, like
00:40:41.300
And then, um, all of a sudden I have the urge to go like out and do something, you know,
00:40:46.460
to go do something and not, and that's not like I'm in a rage or anything like that.
00:40:51.800
Um, and then I think what comes with that, when you realize you can't go do something,
00:40:57.060
you know, uh, guys get depressed, uh, they're, what is my purpose now?
00:41:03.540
Um, so there's a lot of those factors involved as well.
00:41:06.980
Um, and I think that that's a pretty common theme with a lot of guys.
00:41:12.940
Eddie is, uh, your father, do you, is he still around?
00:41:17.400
And do you and him speak like, was he one of the better people to speak to that understood?
00:41:21.500
Like that, that for you was like a source of release when you spoke to him?
00:41:28.060
Uh, yeah, you know, I, I always have great conversations with my dad.
00:41:31.120
I think it's a little, uh, he understands some, uh, you know, he, you know, he went to
00:41:37.780
Um, he understands the military and how it works.
00:41:40.340
I think he has, he has any admits, you know, he doesn't know what it's like to, uh, be in
00:41:47.540
Um, but he's definitely, he's always a good shoulder to lean on and just talk.
00:41:53.500
I mean, I, I can, I can only imagine, you know, when you can have, uh, talk to somebody
00:41:57.820
because, you know, even some of the, uh, uh, uh, deeper insecurities, you even don't
00:42:06.500
Sometimes sometimes it's easier to talk to a father or a mother that, you know, you know,
00:42:10.900
it's going to stay there when you're talking to them.
00:42:12.840
So, uh, you know, if you don't mind taking a minute, the book, I mean, obviously, you
00:42:17.820
know, we've talked to a lot about a lot of different things here, but your book, the
00:42:20.940
man in the arena from fighting ISIS to fighting for my freedom.
00:42:24.260
Uh, what, what can the viewer right now expect from buying your book?
00:42:29.840
Uh, so you're pretty much going to read, I mean, I go through, uh, some of my childhood,
00:42:36.480
uh, get some context to sort of who I am, how my wife and I met.
00:42:40.920
Um, but it's mainly focused around, um, that, that deployment, uh, in 2017 and then the two
00:42:48.080
years that followed afterwards and all, you know, me being locked up for nine months and
00:42:53.580
Uh, but the reader will be able to see just everything that we went through because, um, you
00:42:59.500
know, what was reported by the media, um, which was a lot of, uh, misinformation and
00:43:06.240
Um, you know, that's what, I think that's what a lot of Americans saw.
00:43:10.120
Um, and then all of a sudden they saw that I was acquitted and they're like, oh, okay,
00:43:17.120
I mean, um, and, uh, just from all like the deceit and corruption, uh, by the government,
00:43:26.660
I go through my time in the brig and just everything that was going on there.
00:43:29.780
And then the really cool part is, you know, I have my wife, Andrea, um, tell what she,
00:43:36.040
Uh, she tells, you know, what it means to be a spouse, uh, how it was being a spouse in
00:43:40.960
And then what she went through during that whole ordeal.
00:43:43.580
And I mean, what her, my, my brother has chapters in it.
00:43:46.860
Um, so what her and my brother did was beyond extraordinary.
00:43:50.120
They, uh, as soon as they had locked me up, my wife pretty much stood up and said,
0.92
00:43:55.880
Um, and she started a, uh, or, uh, grassroots, uh, Instagram campaign, putting the truth
00:44:05.380
And she gained a pretty massive following, which then, uh, got her on Fox news.
00:44:10.380
And then my brother at the same time was knocking down doors at Congress, trying to get a congressman
00:44:16.100
to pay attention to what was going on because pretty much my rights were being violated left
00:44:23.180
Um, and it wasn't until, you know, they both got 50 Republicans to sign a petition
00:44:28.200
to let me out of prison so I could properly defend myself.
00:44:31.720
And that's when the president stepped in and said, okay, let him out of prison so he can
00:44:37.200
Uh, I, you know, he wasn't saying I was guilty or not guilty.
00:44:39.720
He was just like, due to his service to his country, you know, give this guy due process.
00:44:44.720
Um, and, but, you know, that's where, um, because of the, uh, state, our country was
00:44:51.640
in at the time and you had half the country who hated the president, um, then half the
00:44:56.840
country all of a sudden hated me because they were like, oh, this guy's backing Eddie Gallagher.
00:45:07.160
We, we drank through a fire hose from that learned exactly how all that works.
00:45:10.860
Um, and, uh, you know, we, we go through everything that we went through.
00:45:16.080
And then the really cool, uh, part of the book is, you know, as I was writing it and
00:45:20.760
going through everything that had happened, I, you know, my wife and I were talking, I
00:45:25.980
Like no, one's going to believe that this could actually happen.
00:45:28.640
And so I decided to put in QR codes in the book.
00:45:32.960
So as you're reading along, um, you can go ahead and click on the QR code.
00:45:37.880
Um, well, yeah, you can watch all the NCIS interviews, uh, listen to the whole trial
00:45:41.920
audio, look at all the evidence they had against me.
00:45:44.600
Um, look at all the text messages from the four guys that conspired against me, which it
00:45:49.580
They were conspiring, but I wanted to be completely just transparent and be like, here is everything
00:46:00.180
Uh, looking back, I mean, you know, I, I probably, I mean, taking the picture, I wouldn't take
00:46:09.500
Uh, but you know, that compared to what they were going after me for, that was such a minor
00:46:14.780
Um, and you know, my leadership style, uh, you know, now looking back, um, I, you know,
00:46:21.140
I could have been a little bit more, a little bit more sympathetic towards some of the guys.
00:46:24.680
Um, uh, maybe listen to them a little bit more.
00:46:30.280
And I, I was like, it was like, this job needs to get done.
00:46:36.420
Uh, so I think, you know, I could have improved on that.
00:46:39.380
Um, you know, and as a leader, that's what you do is you, you get done and you, uh, self
00:46:47.480
Um, but, uh, you know, other than that, I would not have changed, uh, my tactics, the, the
00:46:57.560
Um, it's just if I could have, you know, um, and, um, yeah, that's it.
00:47:06.720
Eddie, what do you think about what's going on with, uh, with, uh, you know, uh, general
00:47:11.580
Milley said, I don't know, it was a month ago or something.
00:47:13.900
He got up and he explained CRT and the direction military is going.
00:47:18.180
When I had, uh, uh, the former space force commander on, and he was fired from his position
00:47:24.020
because of the certain things he wrote in his book, you know, with, uh, when I was in
00:47:29.280
97, I, I didn't, you know, you and I are one year apart.
00:47:44.220
So Gemini, by the way, we're part of a very interesting camp, Tupac, Biggie, JFK, Marilyn
00:47:50.060
Monroe, you know, uh, Elvis Presley, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie.
00:47:56.860
You're a part of, you know, uh, say that again, you know, you're Gemini's.
00:48:03.520
I have to, I mean, Gemini's are very interesting, very creative how they are, but, um, you know,
0.98
00:48:09.400
what do you think about what direction military is going right now?
00:48:14.220
Dude, I, I honestly, uh, I saw what general Milley said and I, you know, he doesn't believe
00:48:20.620
what he's saying, you know, these, these leaders, and this is, I think people have to understand
00:48:25.480
this, you know, these officers, once they hit a certain rank in the military, uh, and
00:48:30.640
I don't quote me on this, but I think it's like Oh four or Oh five.
00:48:33.640
They have to get, uh, Congress to sign off on their promotion.
00:48:38.840
So what, what happens then they, it becomes political.
00:48:42.340
So these, these con congressmen or women are like, okay, well, if you, you know, bow,
1.00
00:48:48.020
bow the knee and like push our agenda, we'll sign off on you getting promoted.
00:48:51.800
And so when they reach these high levels where Milley's at, you know, he's still doing the
00:48:56.760
He's conforming to whatever the, uh, current administration wants.
00:49:02.100
And it's not about what's best for the military.
00:49:07.020
Um, and that's, that's the problem I'm seeing right now in the military is that you have these
00:49:10.780
officers who are being negligent in their duties, which is to take care of the military, take
00:49:17.740
But instead they're trying to, they're taking care of themselves first.
00:49:24.560
So after a certain level of four or five, they need Congress's signature.
00:49:27.740
So if you don't say the right thing, you're not going to get the promotion anyways.
00:49:30.920
And that's, and that's why we call officers at that level of politicians in uniform.
00:49:37.520
So let me, let me ask you, who did you guys respect?
00:49:39.660
Like amongst the Navy SEALs who at that general, is there anybody that you would say that was
00:49:44.280
a bad mo, you know, that was a bad mo for anybody that you guys looked at.
00:49:47.980
At that level that the folks like you respected a lot.
00:49:52.840
You know, Admiral McGuire, he was, I mean, that guy was amazing.
00:49:56.120
He was just recently on a Jocko's podcast, just a very level-headed, uh, take care of
00:50:03.340
No matter what rank he had, he, you know, he was always making sure the guys were taken
00:50:07.900
care of, uh, their needs were taken care of, which is what a leader is supposed to do.
00:50:11.960
Um, you know, and then you, you have, uh, you know, I, I know, you know, I didn't work
00:50:18.040
with Jocko, but, uh, I had, you know, friends that did and Jocko put us through training.
00:50:23.040
I respected him as an officer when I was going through, you know, and I'll tell you what,
00:50:26.420
the best officers that I've ever worked for are Mustangs.
00:50:33.060
Um, that way they know both parts, uh, and they're the most level-headed ones.
00:50:37.880
Um, you know, and there's, there's definitely a lot of good, good officers out there.
00:50:42.520
Unfortunately, in the military, it's, you know, if one officer above you tells you to
00:50:46.760
conform and obey, well, in the military, we're told to follow orders and that's exactly what's
00:50:51.800
And that's just going to trickle down to everybody else.
00:51:01.160
Um, especially with the, uh, the scraping that's of the military.
00:51:05.600
And I don't know, a lot of people know that this is going on, uh, but pretty much NCIS,
00:51:11.020
uh, CID, which is the investigative, investigatory body for the army.
00:51:15.180
And then OSI is the investigatory body for the air force.
00:51:18.460
They're going through, uh, mainly special operators through all of their social media.
00:51:24.860
Um, and if you have anything that's, uh, what they consider extremist, which I consider pro-American.
00:51:33.660
So if you, uh, are a Trump supporter, if you, uh, have pro-American slogans, like don't tread
00:51:41.300
Um, if you support the police, they are labeling you as an extremist and they're putting you
00:51:47.840
And then what I see happening is they were just known.
00:51:51.880
Everybody knows that this is happening, scraping?
00:51:54.100
No, I mean, it's being talked about more recently now.
00:51:58.200
I, I found out about this a couple months ago from a buddy who actually saw it happening.
00:52:01.840
Uh, and so what they'll do, what I think they'll do is once they label you an extremist,
00:52:07.980
it's against the uniform code of military justice to be part of an extremist group or a gang or
00:52:13.160
So they will just, you know, legally kick you out of the military.
00:52:17.000
I mean, long-term, this is just going to lower the standards and raise more pansies than
00:52:23.940
raise, uh, tough leaders that you need to protect your country.
00:52:30.080
Sometimes you wonder what their motive is, what the outcome of us doing this.
00:52:33.000
I think that's the scary part is you have to ask yourself, why are they doing this?
00:52:36.980
Why are they taking out the 1% that actually wants to fight for this country?
00:52:41.520
Because I'll tell you, being in the military, you learn really quick that whatever administration's
00:52:47.560
in charge and whatever their agenda is, it trickles down to you.
00:52:50.760
Like you get, you see little bits and pieces of it, but, uh, we learned to sort of just deal
00:52:56.340
with those and work our way around them so we can continue to fighting the enemy.
00:53:03.560
Uh, when I was in the military, I was just, I'll do what I'm told.
00:53:08.280
Like, well, now they're getting rid of those people with that mentality.
00:53:13.420
And so it's like, well, who's going to be left there?
00:53:21.980
I mean, that's why I'm, I'm about getting the word out.
00:53:24.400
So people, people do understand what's going on and people will speak up.
00:53:27.820
Is it, is there a high ranking person that's pretty vocal to go up against that, uh, uh,
00:53:32.880
uh, pan-zivistication of, you know, whatever to make everybody softer?
00:53:39.200
You see what happens to high ranking officials when they do speak out and push back.
00:53:44.040
You just, uh, you talk to the space force commander.
00:53:46.640
I mean, they are pretty much done away with, um, and that's why, and that's the big fear
00:53:53.240
They, they, you speak out, they'll be like, well, we'll get rid of you.
00:53:56.640
So everyone keeps their mouth shut so they can keep their job.
00:53:59.020
Uh, you know what I think we need to bring back.
00:54:05.780
What was, uh, Al Pacino's name in scent of a woman, that Lieutenant.
00:54:10.560
Number one, I'm talking about who up there and he called out the entire school.
00:54:18.420
We almost need somebody like that with audacity to go out there and just keep kicking their
0.98
00:54:22.640
asses to, uh, let the world know what it takes, what it takes to be you.
0.98
00:54:29.720
So, uh, uh, word comes out this last week that they're about to make the vaccine mandatory
00:54:35.680
What I remember when I was in the army is you stand in line at MEPS, not even MEPS.
00:54:40.840
It's when you're going to bootcamp, pre-bootcamp that one week where you're getting everything
00:54:45.100
situated, you stand in line and there's air guns with two, you know, 10 people lined up
00:54:49.960
and you get 11 shots or 10 shots in a span of two minutes.
00:54:53.160
That's what happened to me when I went, I'm sure you probably have to do the same thing
00:54:56.420
And we signed up and the sergeant, yeah, the sergeant will tell you, you can't say anything
00:55:04.040
What are your thoughts about what they're doing with the vaccine to say, you can't say
00:55:09.160
You know, I'll tell you what, we've, I, we've had a lot of service members reach out to us,
00:55:13.140
uh, especially to our, uh, nonprofit, the Piper Foundation with that, with that concern.
00:55:24.040
Uh, the science isn't behind it, but they are being told that if they don't take it, then
00:55:28.960
they will be either NJP or kicked out of the military.
00:55:31.600
Um, I, I definitely don't, I don't think it's right.
00:55:35.280
Um, you know, I took, when I was very young in the military, I did the anthrax, uh, vaccine
00:55:46.260
Um, you know, and I was told at the time that if I resist, you know, resisted taking it,
00:55:54.400
Uh, but no, I think people need to fight back on this, especially, you know, seeing that
00:55:59.160
the vaccine doesn't work, um, not all the time.
00:56:02.860
So, um, you know, I think it's just part of the agenda that's being pushed down.
00:56:07.400
I think if they may mandate the military to take it and they think that civilians will
00:56:12.760
be like, okay, well then I guess I'll, we'll take it too.
00:56:15.360
But the difference is the difference argument would be, they could say your government property,
00:56:18.980
Like, you know, the, the, the eight years or four years, whatever it is, you're officially
00:56:24.740
So you got to take it because we're taking care of you.
00:56:28.320
Oh, they'll say that, but that's, you can fight back on that.
00:56:31.080
You're not, you're not like complete government property.
00:56:36.760
So you and I could have said no to the anthrax shot that we took.
00:56:41.100
It was the same time when we took it and everybody at unit that Fort Campbell was like, oh my
00:56:45.420
gosh, guys, you know, we're hearing, hearing there may be some long-term side effects.
00:56:48.940
And then, you know, guys would joke around about some things are going to fall off.
00:56:51.440
But, you know, I just, I just remember those types of conversations we'd have, but, uh,
00:56:56.800
can you really push back against the shots you got to take?
00:57:00.420
I know plenty of people that are still serving, uh, that never took the anthrax that refused it.
00:57:06.120
Um, and you know, they were threatened, but then at the end of the day, they, they still
00:57:13.680
Listen, as long as there's the option to do so, you know, they're for, for most of us
00:57:17.520
private, it's like, Hey, private, you, you, you know, you got to go get it done.
00:57:21.380
You just kind of have to, you know, shut your mouth and kind of move on.
00:57:24.540
If you ever did it with a private, you'd probably get a lot of pushback, but I wonder what
00:57:35.360
I have no idea what it would be like to be in the military today.
00:57:39.360
Like even the party and like, how careful do you have to be nowadays?
00:57:43.440
You know, it's like, Hey, do you not even party at all in the unit?
00:57:48.480
But what if you go offsite, it's easy to target military.
00:57:55.100
Is it a very walking on eggshells type of, you know, conditions to be in a military today?
00:58:05.360
Four or five years I was in the complete shift, uh, as well, I can only speak to the
00:58:11.720
Um, but yeah, there was a shift, um, and there was a lot of leadership walking on eggshells,
00:58:19.500
Um, cause I think what they saw is all it takes is one or two people to throw an accusation
00:58:26.340
Um, and your whole life is just flipped around.
00:58:30.460
Um, but, and I think, you know, what, what needs to be brought back is loyalty to one
00:58:37.460
You know, what, what right now, what the military is putting out is you need to be loyal to
00:58:42.800
You need to be loyal to, you know, Naval special warfare.
00:58:46.960
If you're in the SEAL team, the institution, but in reality, you need to be loyal to the
00:58:51.040
guy to the right and left of you, you know, and realize that people do make mistakes, but
00:58:55.860
they should not be crushed for making mistakes.
00:59:00.000
And that doesn't mean if they make a mistake, you should turn them in or tell them that's
00:59:06.020
Uh, and that's, you know, that's the way I was raised in the SEAL teams.
00:59:09.500
Um, and I just saw that shift happen about four or five years ago.
00:59:12.720
We're living in the snitching model, the snitching era.
00:59:15.840
This is, uh, you know, California, they had the whole thing where they're given $200.
00:59:20.660
If you can snitch on people that are outside, uh, during the shutdown, they were given bonuses
00:59:25.940
to people who can snitch on somebody being outside right now.
00:59:29.500
There's incentive, uh, you know, you get incentivized to snitch on people.
00:59:33.480
It's a, it's a very, uh, I lived in Iran when that was normal.
1.00
00:59:36.800
I lived there 10 years when I was normal to snitch on your neighbors, snitch on everybody.
00:59:40.700
But, uh, when that happens and trust goes down, morale goes down, division goes up, uh, history
00:59:50.020
No, uh, that's, uh, you know, that's a scary thought, you know, especially after being,
00:59:56.740
spending time in a lot of those places, Iraq, Afghanistan, um, just, you know, seeing how
01:00:03.000
You know, that's a lot of the times how we find targets is people will come up and snitch
01:00:09.860
When in reality, that guy just stole one of his goats five years ago.
01:00:16.720
Um, but that's, that's sort of how it'll turn into, um, people will be snitching on each
01:00:21.140
other for any, any reason just to get back at them for a personal agenda.
01:00:25.400
Um, you know, and I, I think that at some, at some point, I don't know when it happened,
01:00:33.840
Uh, it was like, Oh, if you show that you're weak, it's, it's strength.
01:00:37.820
Uh, and that is not, uh, how we are supposed to be in the military.
01:00:42.640
You know, we are supposed to, or America in general is supposed to emote strength at all
01:00:50.240
Well, I mean, if there's ever been a time when we need leaders to bully the bullies,
01:00:53.780
today's the time, uh, we need strong men and women to stand up, uh, and be willing to,
01:01:04.200
I don't think it's going to be an easy next two decades.
01:01:06.420
I think there's going to be a lot of, a lot more of this that's going to be going on.
01:01:09.500
But one thing history tells us is when you try to overly control people, uh, people who
01:01:16.880
value freedom a lot, they tend to stand up and not in the nicest way.
01:01:21.000
They stand up in ways that, you know, uh, you just got to brace for impact when that happens.
01:01:26.580
You can't go like this bullying people for too long.
01:01:28.620
It just, again, history tells us you cannot bully people for too long without them standing
01:01:38.340
Anyways, uh, chief Eddie Gallagher, thank you for being on.
01:01:43.100
Folks, if you're watching this, Eddie, we're going to put the link to your book below as
01:01:46.140
well, the man in the arena from fighting ISIS to fighting for my freedom.
01:01:55.200
If you haven't read it yet, click on a link for it to go order his book.
01:01:58.200
With that being said, thank you so much for being a guest on Vailtainment.
01:02:03.300
Very interesting stories about what he had to go through, right?
01:02:05.660
I mean, you got to think about how he views as a Navy SEAL, you know, what things he experienced,
01:02:11.520
How do you go from that to live in a normal life?
01:02:13.520
If you enjoyed this interview, put a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel.
01:02:16.100
I got two other interviews that I think you'll like as well.
01:02:20.240
If you've never seen that, it's a similar story.
01:02:26.500
And the other one is with a former sniper with, I believe, 33 different kills that he had.
01:02:34.480
If you've never seen that one, click over here.