Valuetainment - Ex-Navy Seal Opens Up About War Crimes & Fighting ISIS - Eddie Gallagher

00:00:00.000 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.

00:00:11.440 Is it common at the end to take pictures of the enemy you take out?

00:00:15.440 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.

00:00:26.160 They would send out women and kids in droves running towards us and then mow them down in front of us. 0.99

00:00:31.440 How do you train emotionally?

00:00:33.600 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.

00:00:46.080 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.

00:00:56.080 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.

00:01:09.520 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.

00:01:25.160 So we're going to take a deep dive today on that story.

00:01:27.640 With that being said, Eddie, thank you so much for being a guest on V8 Tainment today.

00:01:31.500 Yeah man, thank you for having me on, I appreciate it.

00:01:33.480 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.

00:01:40.760 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.

00:01:51.280 You were able to do that and you went out there and faced off with some of the most feared opposition and enemies.

00:01:56.840 So I'm looking forward to getting into that.

00:01:58.260 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.

00:02:09.420 Can you walk me through your background?

00:02:11.300 Let's go all the way to high school.

00:02:13.220 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?

00:02:18.640 Oh, yeah, sure.

00:02:20.480 So, you know, my dad was in the Army.

00:02:23.000 He graduated from West Point.

00:02:24.560 So he was in for about 24 years.

00:02:26.560 So I grew up in Army, moving around every two years, mostly in Asia.

00:02:32.100 I spent most of my childhood, but then ended up in Fort Wayne, Indiana for high school after my dad had retired.

00:02:39.980 You know, I was a rambunctious kid.

00:02:43.820 Just, you know, school wasn't my thing.

00:02:45.980 I was just always getting in trouble in the mix, but I've always had loyal friends everywhere I went.

00:02:53.220 And by the time I finished high school, you know, which I barely graduated, I tried college.

00:02:59.940 I gave that about a half a semester and realized I wasn't mature enough yet to for college.

00:03:04.940 So I decided to join the Navy.

00:03:08.160 It was just a decision I made to get out of Fort Wayne, Indiana and try and make something of myself.

00:03:16.120 And then, you know, I went to the recruiting office.

00:03:18.760 They, you know, the recruiter was going over what jobs to have.

00:03:22.200 And I already knew in my mind I wanted to be a commando of some sort.

00:03:25.420 So I chose, you know, I want to be a SEAL.

00:03:27.560 Unfortunately, back then, there wasn't like a straight pipeline to go to BUDS.

00:03:32.580 So I, you know, I went to boot camp.

00:03:34.200 I had to go to an A school, which I went to Corps school, which is a medic for the Navy.

00:03:39.540 And then from there, I was assigned to the Marines for four years.

00:03:43.520 And so I did my tour there with the Marines, which was a blessing.

00:03:47.940 You know, I got to go to a lot of good schools.

00:03:50.620 I ended up going to Marine Corps Sniper School, Marine Combat Water Survival School.

00:03:56.020 So pretty much anything, I was doing anything and everything to prepare for BUDS, to prepare

00:04:00.080 to go to be a SEAL.

00:04:01.280 And of course, 9-11 happened.

00:04:03.660 During that time, I had joined in 99.

00:04:06.580 And in 2001, 9-11 happened.

00:04:08.280 And that sort of solidified exactly why I joined.

00:04:12.700 And so I did a tour with the Marines.

00:04:16.980 They went into Iraq, Mosul, Iraq, and then came back and went right to BUDS and ended

00:04:25.200 up graduating in Class 252.

00:04:28.760 And then from there, earned my trident, did a bunch of platoons at Team 1, became an instructor

00:04:35.300 for about a year and a half at BUDS, and then went to Team 7 and did multiple platoons there

00:04:40.040 until my last deployment in 2017, which was back to Mosul.

00:04:45.640 2017.

00:04:46.120 And by the way, going back, when you said your dad was in the Army for 22 years or 24

00:04:51.100 years, when he was in, you said most of the time in Asia.

00:04:54.760 What part of Asia?

00:04:55.620 Was it Okinawa?

00:04:56.440 Was it Korea?

00:04:57.580 Was it Camp Casey?

00:04:59.200 So we lived in Seoul, Korea.

00:05:00.660 We lived in Beijing, China.

00:05:02.700 We did some time in Japan.

00:05:04.840 And that was pretty much it.

00:05:08.420 I know.

00:05:09.660 As well.

00:05:10.460 How was China back then when you were, I mean, even as a kid, how old were you when

00:05:14.120 you were in China?

00:05:14.700 I was in kindergarten and first grade, but I remember it pretty vividly.

00:05:19.960 You know, it was a lot different back then than it is now.

00:05:23.080 I'm just seeing it on the TV now.

00:05:25.280 Like there's no vehicles.

00:05:27.760 Everybody's riding bicycles.

00:05:30.160 It was interesting.

00:05:31.260 You know, we had, of course, you know, my dad working there at the embassy.

00:05:34.720 You know, we had Chinese nannies because my mom taught English while she was there, but

00:05:41.600 they were all spies.

00:05:43.100 So we pretty much had spies that were trying to gather information on us.

00:05:47.740 Get out of here.

00:05:48.900 Yeah.

00:05:49.680 So your nanny was a spy. 0.62

00:05:51.700 How did you guys figure out that your nanny was a spy?

00:05:53.700 Oh, she told my parents because she was she was getting a lot of heat from the government 0.56

00:05:59.960 because she there was nothing to collect.

00:06:02.300 She was watching myself, my little brother.

00:06:04.760 So I think they were on top of her telling her, you know, like, hey, we need some information.

00:06:08.580 And then I think my parents threw a party at one point, you know, and had a lot of guests

00:06:13.080 over.

00:06:13.400 We lived in an apartment and that's, you know, they said that the nannies were super

00:06:18.380 excited and thanking them because then they could actually, you know, report something

00:06:22.000 back.

00:06:22.780 So it was it was pretty interesting.

00:06:24.680 And, you know, obviously, I didn't know a lot of that was going on.

00:06:27.180 But now, you know, hearing the stories now of my parents, it's what was your job?

00:06:31.320 What was your dad's MOS?

00:06:34.480 He MP.

00:06:36.080 I don't know.

00:06:36.920 He was military police.

00:06:38.800 Yeah.

00:06:39.400 Got it.

00:06:40.140 There's an MP.

00:06:40.820 Interesting MP in in China.

00:06:43.400 I mean, he spoke five different languages, so it was, you know, obviously the army used

00:06:51.300 him in the best ways they could.

00:06:52.900 He spoke five different languages.

00:06:54.980 How how did he speak five languages?

00:06:57.380 He's he's a remarkable human being.

00:07:00.380 That's impressive, man.

00:07:01.820 That's and your dad is Caucasian American.

00:07:06.220 Yeah, Irish speaks five languages.

00:07:09.300 What were those five languages?

00:07:10.420 Um, see the I think it's two or three dialects of, uh, you know, Chinese, so it's like Cantonese,

00:07:18.520 uh, something I and I'm I'll mess it up, but also Korean, uh, German, German, I think he

00:07:24.440 speaks some French.

00:07:25.560 And and did he go from MP?

00:07:28.800 Did he move up higher?

00:07:30.000 Did he end up doing other other things as well?

00:07:31.900 Or was it just 22 years, 24 years and he retired?

00:07:35.160 24.

00:07:35.560 I mean, he didn't want to retire.

00:07:36.900 He, uh, you know, he ended up, uh, while we were in Korea, he went to desert storm, uh,

00:07:42.240 when that was going on, came back.

00:07:43.740 And then I think, uh, at the time, uh, Clinton was president and they were doing a lot of,

00:07:49.140 uh, budget cuts in the military and he was just told like, your time's up.

00:07:52.980 Uh, it was, it was pretty crushing to him cause he loved the army, but you know, it was

00:07:57.820 what it was.

00:07:58.320 I remember they were doing that when we're in the army that come up to you and they

00:08:00.720 say, listen, here's what we're doing.

00:08:01.760 We're giving a bonus for you to leave the army and not stay in.

00:08:04.080 And they, you know, budget cuts when it happens, some of the guys that are around longer,

00:08:07.700 they're the ones typically that are the first to go and they go and ask them to go.

00:08:11.580 Maybe they'll give them a bonus, uh, to ask them to leave.

00:08:14.440 Interesting.

00:08:14.920 You said, you said you, you did the sniper, you did a bunch of different, uh, uh, uh,

00:08:20.340 courses and schools that you took when you were training with the Marines yourself.

00:08:24.860 What did you ever take anything with Marines that was as tough, uh, as buzz was, was there

00:08:31.460 anything that you did with Marines?

00:08:32.680 We said, there's this one training I took with them. 1.00

00:08:35.120 It kicked my ass. 0.99

00:08:36.440 It was the closest thing to, you know, being a Navy SEAL. 1.00

00:08:39.740 Oh yeah, for sure.

00:08:41.060 Um, you know, the, you know, Marine Corps sniper school was, uh, definitely one of the toughest

00:08:47.320 courses I've ever been to.

00:08:48.820 Uh, it's, uh, you know, the attrition rate is just about the same.

00:08:52.440 Uh, you know, the Marines, they hold that school in a very high regard.

00:08:55.880 So they make sure that people who pass it have earned it.

00:08:58.180 Um, you know, and it was, I had no, I didn't grow up with guns.

00:09:03.160 I didn't grow up shooting.

00:09:04.280 Uh, so I was learning everything on the fly, um, you know, as far as becoming an infantryman

00:09:10.000 or just being a comfortable on gun.

00:09:12.240 So it was, it was pretty challenging.

00:09:13.500 Uh, but I, you know, I, I made it through that.

00:09:15.740 And then the, uh, Marine Corps water survival school is definitely the toughest water school

00:09:20.960 I've been to.

00:09:21.580 Um, it's, uh, no joke about five weeks.

00:09:24.800 And, uh, when you come out of there, you're, you feel like a fish.

00:09:28.080 But what's, what's tough about it?

00:09:29.540 Like if you were to kind of give us a, you know, so I'll give you like just a normal day.

00:09:35.100 Uh, you show up, uh, you do, uh, you swim 2000 meters, uh, with full camis, uh, every 500

00:09:42.580 meters, you take off a piece of your camis.

00:09:44.420 And then, uh, by the end of that 2000, they are tying all of your clothes together.

00:09:49.420 They've tied all your clothes together at the bottom of the pool, the deep end.

00:09:52.080 And they, you, you have a certain amount of time to find your clothes and put them back

00:09:55.700 on.

00:09:56.040 And then, uh, you get classes all day.

00:09:57.880 Uh, but the classes you're treading water the whole time while the instructor's outside

00:10:02.360 teaching outside of the pool, teaching the class.

00:10:05.200 Um, and then at the end of the day, you do, uh, they call it, uh, you know, PT, but, um,

00:10:10.740 it's in the pool.

00:10:11.400 So it's like an hour and a half to two hours of just straight, uh, exercises in the pool,

00:10:15.940 breathing exercises, sprints.

00:10:17.800 That's after the 2000 meters with your full gear on and every 500 meters, you take a piece

00:10:21.840 off.

00:10:22.500 Oh yeah.

00:10:23.040 So you're, uh, you come out of there like super in shape, super comfortable in the water.

00:10:28.280 Um, you know, and that had a pretty good attrition rate as well.

00:10:31.380 Um, people that were quitting.

00:10:33.840 Wow.

00:10:34.800 Um, okay.

00:10:35.760 So then fast forward to now, obviously we know what happened a year and a half ago.

00:10:41.220 I think it was, was it a year and a half ago, two years ago when president Trump, uh,

00:10:45.280 helped you, uh, uh, you know, get your rank back.

00:10:48.480 You, he gave you a phone call.

00:10:49.760 I think he called you and spoke to you about, uh, what took place.

00:10:53.480 Would you mind sharing with the audience some of the events that took place, uh, two years

00:10:57.740 ago when he got that phone call?

00:10:59.980 Sure.

00:11:00.500 So, I mean, I'll, I'll try and, uh, sum it up as best I can.

00:11:03.560 Uh, you know, I, I, like I said, my last, uh, deployment was to Missoula in 2017.

00:11:08.140 Um, we were directed to, uh, annihilate ISIS, uh, out of Missoula, um, the great deployment, 0.59

00:11:15.100 uh, we, successful deployment.

00:11:16.860 We, uh, did clear Missoula in time.

00:11:18.560 Um, and, uh, unfortunately there was four, um, three to four guys in my platoon, um, who

00:11:24.680 we did not get along.

00:11:25.760 Uh, they were younger guys.

00:11:27.200 It was their first time in combat.

00:11:28.460 Um, I think they, their eyes were opened, uh, especially on that deployment.

00:11:32.880 It was pretty, uh, chaotic, but, uh, I think they realized that this job wasn't for them.

00:11:38.940 Um, but instead of taking ownership of that, they, you know, pointed the finger at me and

00:11:43.900 pretty much were saying, I put them in harm's way.

00:11:46.140 I made them, you know, go out all the time and do, do their job.

00:11:50.600 Um, and, you know, their, their complaints were pretty petty.

00:11:54.920 Uh, they went to my command after the deployment with these complaints and the command told

00:11:59.200 them that these were not real complaints and to move on.

00:12:02.660 Uh, so they kept escalating their allegations when they weren't getting the attention they

00:12:06.800 wanted.

00:12:07.080 So that it turned in from, I was dangerous to, I was a thief.

00:12:11.420 Um, of course they had nothing to back it up for being a thief.

00:12:14.260 Uh, and I think the command finally told them like, listen, either you guys move on or come,

00:12:20.160 you know, come back with something that's, uh, legit.

00:12:23.180 And so about six months later, they came back and had said that I had stabbed an ISIS prisoner

00:12:27.780 to death. 0.75

00:12:28.800 Um, and they had it on video.

00:12:30.460 Um, the command bought their lie.

00:12:33.560 Uh, I'm not sure if the command ever asked to see the video or not, but because the video

00:12:38.020 never existed.

00:12:38.740 Um, but the command, uh, bought off on it, uh, um, told them to report it to NCIS.

00:12:45.280 And so once NCIS, uh, took the allegations and turned it into an investigation, that's

00:12:51.560 where this thing really went off the rails.

00:12:53.160 Uh, we, they had a corrupt agent, NCIS agent named Joe Warpinski took the case, um, very

00:13:00.200 young, um, and, uh, ambitious, but also very incompetent.

00:13:04.480 Um, and, uh, he pretty much formed a prosecution before he started investigating and he pretty

00:13:10.740 much took whatever little pieces of information he could to, you know, throw at, throw at me

00:13:15.500 during the investigation.

00:13:16.340 And then anything that cleared my name, he would, he would hide, um, which, you know,

00:13:19.980 we would find out during this process.

00:13:22.060 But, uh, it was an eye opener.

00:13:24.680 Um, you know, as soon as I was accused or not even accused, like the rumors were out there

00:13:29.800 that I had killed an ISIS prisoner, it was, I was guilty until proven innocent. 0.96

00:13:33.780 I was told that by my command, um, they pretty much shunned me, uh, they, you know, put me

00:13:40.040 in an office and told me to sit there and they wait to see where this thing goes.

00:13:44.800 Um, while I was, you know, sitting in that office for about a month, they, uh, raided my

00:13:49.720 house, NCIS came, um, they were staking me out for about two weeks.

00:13:54.580 Uh, they came and raided my house while my wife and I were not home, uh, pulling my two

00:13:58.520 youngest or my two boys out at gunpoint, uh, in their underwear and then laid siege to

00:14:03.260 my house.

00:14:03.800 Uh, that's when we knew my wife and I knew this thing was, uh, off the rails.

00:14:08.800 Um, but, you know, we didn't know what to do at the time.

00:14:12.580 Um, I had shortly after they had raided my house, I had moved my family to Florida.

00:14:17.480 Um, and then I was going to geobatch, uh, for my final year until I retired.

00:14:22.940 Um, they waited for me to come back, uh, after moving my family to Florida.

00:14:27.380 And I went to a, uh, uh, TBI clinic, a traumatic brain injury clinic to get checked up.

00:14:33.080 Uh, it's a normal procedure for guys who are about to retire to get checked up for all their

00:14:37.460 injuries during their career.

00:14:39.980 And I was about a week into that one and they came and arrested me and threw me in a military

00:14:45.140 prison with no charges, um, no explanation why I was being thrown in prison.

00:14:50.000 They just said they had orders from, uh, Admiral Green, who is the, uh, the Admiral in charge

00:14:55.780 of, uh, Warcom at the time.

00:14:57.080 And then also signed off by, uh, Commander Rosenblum, who was the, uh, Commodore of Group

00:15:01.480 One for Naval Special Warfare.

00:15:03.900 Um, any, any, do you know any reason why they arrested you on 9-11?

00:15:08.780 Uh, yeah.

00:15:09.320 11-2018.

00:15:10.200 What was the reason behind that?

00:15:11.120 Was that like a message?

00:15:11.980 I mean, you know, you could do 9-12, 9-10, 9-11 is 9-11.

00:15:16.340 Exactly.

00:15:17.020 Everything they do, and this is what I learned through this process.

00:15:19.800 So all these actions they took against me are done on purpose.

00:15:23.360 Them raiding my house without myself, my wife there was to enrage me and also to break up

00:15:29.500 my family and also to put shame on our family, which worked because our neighbors were like,

00:15:35.120 oh, they just don't do that to people unless you did something.

00:15:37.440 Um, and then, uh, during, uh, when I was at the TBI clinic, they chose September 11th

00:15:43.500 for that specific reason, because they know that day means a lot to us, uh, who've been

00:15:47.380 serving the past 20 years, um, and they felt that that would make me snap and I would do

00:15:51.200 something.

00:15:52.200 Um, obviously I'm a lot smarter than that.

00:15:54.720 I just, I complied.

00:15:56.180 I thought, I was like, this is a big mistake.

00:15:58.180 Um, and I thought that, you know, in my mind, I was like, this is a big mistake.

00:16:02.660 You guys, uh, this will be fixed.

00:16:04.520 But as I came to find out, once you're thrown in a military prison, even as a pre-trial

00:16:10.100 prisoner, um, you are not getting out at all until your trial date.

00:16:14.040 And once they throw you in there, they just keep pushing your trial date back and back

00:16:18.000 and back.

00:16:18.560 Hopefully you'll take a plea deal.

00:16:20.380 So, you know, uh, the video that you say that they sent to NCIS and for audience that

00:16:25.320 doesn't know what NCIS is.

00:16:26.440 NCIS is, uh, it's the intelligence organization, right?

00:16:29.640 It's, uh, it's, uh, the, what does NCIS stand for?

00:16:33.620 Naval criminal investigative service.

00:16:35.320 Yeah.

00:16:35.500 Naval criminal investigative.

00:16:37.020 Okay.

00:16:37.500 So once it goes there, there was one video that was circulating.

00:16:41.280 What was that one video with the body that was limp and you apologize for that one video.

00:16:45.820 I don't know what they had, John.

00:16:47.040 Was that on 60 minutes?

00:16:48.140 There was somewhere I saw a video with you.

00:16:50.500 So there was pictures.

00:16:52.780 So what they did when they raided my house, uh, they had, they took, they took all my phones,

00:16:57.880 everything.

00:16:58.380 Um, and, uh, there was a picture of me posing with a dead ISIS fighter, uh, along with, uh,

00:17:06.060 12 other people in my platoon.

00:17:07.800 Um, and also I had sent a text message, uh, to a buddy of mine, um, during that deployment

00:17:15.000 as a joke, um, with that picture saying, good story behind this, got him with a honey

00:17:19.580 knife.

00:17:20.120 Uh, that was a dark humor.

00:17:22.420 Um, I, but I'll tell you what, that, that was the best and worst piece of evidence they

00:17:26.940 had against me.

00:17:27.880 Um, you know, it was the worst because obviously it makes me look pretty guilty.

00:17:32.060 Uh, but if you, you know, zoom in on the picture and look, there's no blood on the knife, there's

00:17:37.360 no blood on me.

00:17:38.180 There's no blood anywhere.

00:17:39.280 No, no, uh, um, nothing that shows this guy's been stabbed.

00:17:43.960 Uh, but they took that text message and that picture and that's, that was their main piece

00:17:49.300 of evidence.

00:17:49.720 They're like, we got them.

00:17:50.660 And that's, they were going around telling everybody they had me dead to rights.

00:17:53.800 Like he's guilty.

00:17:55.020 He's going away.

00:17:55.980 Um, but they had also, since these, um, younger guys in my platoon had said there was a video,

00:18:01.540 um, they were, you know, they were spreading that rumor as well saying like, cause the judge

00:18:07.380 had put a gag order on all the evidence.

00:18:09.320 So you, we weren't allowed to show the evidence to anybody and neither was the prosecution or

00:18:14.280 they, they weren't supposed to, but as we come came to find out, they were given whatever

00:18:19.540 evidence they wanted to the media, um, sort of smear my name.

00:18:23.800 But, uh, eventually we got the judge, uh, to, uh, let us show the video to Congress, um,

00:18:30.600 because that lie had gone all the way up to the white house saying there was a video of

00:18:34.380 me doing, uh, this act.

00:18:36.420 And so once we were able to show the actual video to members of Congress and whoever else

00:18:41.640 it was, they quickly realized that they had been lied to by the Navy.

00:18:45.700 Uh, and that's where, you know, their case started crumbling.

00:18:48.900 Is that, is that pretty common though?

00:18:50.740 When you, you know, you're, you're going against an enemy, they're trying to kill you.

00:18:54.620 They may be have killed a couple of your buddies, people that you love, people that you spend

00:18:59.420 time with your emotionally vested in it.

00:19:01.300 They're willing to take your life.

00:19:03.180 You're protecting your country.

00:19:05.680 There's a certain level of animosity and hatred that's built for your enemy.

00:19:09.180 When you go up against them, is it common at the end to take pictures of the enemy you

00:19:14.560 take out?

00:19:15.540 Is that pretty common that maybe not necessarily publicly?

00:19:18.400 Hey, let me post it on my Instagram, but is it common to, to do that, to say, Hey,

00:19:22.640 we took this guy out.

00:19:24.420 Yeah.

00:19:24.640 But it's common, uh, standard operating procedure, uh, for some units to take pictures of the

00:19:29.160 bodies that they've killed.

00:19:30.040 So they can, you know, bring back and, uh, show proof, like, especially if they're a high

00:19:34.840 value target.

00:19:35.460 Um, and then, you know, what we, we were messing around, uh, and that's, I would say that's

00:19:41.200 not common.

00:19:41.740 Let's say, um, but it does happen.

00:19:44.520 Uh, you know, I think the, the environment that we were in, um, it's hard to explain to

00:19:50.200 people just, uh, how it was going into that city every day.

00:19:53.060 There was dead bodies piled up all over the place.

00:19:55.240 Uh, we were watching women and kids get mowed down, uh, on a weekly basis.

00:19:59.580 Um, just watching ISIS commit these atrocities.

00:20:02.960 So we definitely, uh, were super desensitized.

00:20:06.280 Uh, and you know, once you, you see that on a regular basis and you don't really think

00:20:13.680 twice about messing around like that.

00:20:15.500 Um, obviously when deployment's over and you come back to the States, uh, and you know,

00:20:21.460 certain people like what happened, get ahold of that picture, see that they, they freak

00:20:27.740 out and they're like, how can, how can you guys do this?

00:20:30.180 Or how can you pose like this?

00:20:31.240 And it's like, well, you know, you go ahead and, um, put yourself in my shoes for six months

00:20:35.900 and our, however many deployments and I'm not making excuses for it.

00:20:39.980 Uh, you know, I've said it on other interviews before, uh, it was a wrong decision to do,

00:20:44.900 but it was done.

00:20:46.440 Um, you know, and I think I paid my dues for that.

00:20:49.140 Yeah.

00:20:49.720 And you know, uh, uh, uh, you've seen maybe the Netflix series Narcos about Pablo Escobar.

00:20:55.900 I interviewed Steve Murphy and Javier Pena, Steve Murphy and Javier Pena were the two DA agents.

00:21:01.720 Steve Murphy has that legendary picture that they showed on the cover of their books with

00:21:07.120 him and a dead Pablo Escobar on the rooftop of a, uh, building somewhere in Medellin.

00:21:13.760 So that's what I mean.

00:21:15.240 Like, is there, uh, there's, there's a part of it where you spend months and months and

00:21:20.100 months, sometimes yours going up against an enemy where you build up so much animosity.

00:21:23.620 So I guess my question for you would be the following.

00:21:25.720 What boils your blood?

00:21:28.120 Like if, if, if somebody asks you a question, no one becomes a person at your level without

00:21:34.440 being a fighter and having strong emotions where you're willing to put yourself out there

00:21:41.180 to essentially bully the bully.

00:21:43.080 You got to have a courage.

00:21:44.620 You got to be brave.

00:21:45.520 You got to be a little bit also, you know, uh, uh, off.

00:21:49.100 You can't be not maybe office, not the word I'm looking for.

00:21:52.200 You got to be a little bit abnormal.

00:21:53.440 Like even in the world of business, when you think about some of these guys that build

00:21:56.680 a business and they ask Bill Gates.

00:21:58.960 So let me ask you how much vacation did you do?

00:22:00.940 He says for 20 years, I never took a day off.

00:22:02.600 That's your little bit off.

00:22:03.620 If you go 20 years without taking a day off, that's not what normal people would say.

00:22:07.120 You're supposed to get eight hours of sleep.

00:22:08.580 You're supposed to do this.

00:22:09.480 No, if you, if a man is on a mission, they're not wired the same way to go up against enemies

00:22:14.200 like ISIS.

00:22:15.200 But to you, what, what was boiling your blood and how did you view ISIS and what they were trying

00:22:21.720 to take away from you or what they were trying to do to you and your country?

00:22:25.700 You know, uh, you know, what, what boils my blood is that you, you said it, uh, is bullies,

00:22:30.860 right?

00:22:31.080 Like ever since I was little, you know, coming up, I've, I've always stood up, tried to stand

00:22:35.900 up for people.

00:22:36.460 And I got in a lot of fights when I was growing up because of bullies or standing up for other

00:22:41.080 people. 0.90

00:22:41.420 Um, and that's exactly what ISIS was, is the ultimate bully. 1.00

00:22:44.860 I mean, they were, they were pulling the most atrocious stuff I'd seen in my eight combat

00:22:51.100 deployments.

00:22:51.620 And I'd seen, you know, the Taliban and Al Qaeda, uh, do some nasty things, but ISIS seemed

00:22:56.940 on a whole nother level.

00:22:58.200 Um, and you just don't, you don't look at them after seeing what they do to other humans,

00:23:02.760 um, especially, you know, other Iraqis, uh, you don't look at them as human anymore. 1.00

00:23:08.140 You're just like, I, you're, they're evil and I need to be taken off this earth.

00:23:11.860 There's no, there's no, uh, court or thing that they should go to, to, you know, decide

00:23:17.440 their fate.

00:23:17.820 It's like, you chose your fate by being on this battlefield and by pulling the atrocities 1.00

00:23:21.600 that you're doing, we're going to kill everyone. 0.98

00:23:23.940 What are some things you saw?

00:23:25.580 Like, what were some disturbing things you saw while you were out there?

00:23:29.120 They, uh, normally would, um, you know, be across the, you know, the battlefield or, you

00:23:36.820 know, in the city, um, and if there was an open, um, lot or field, they would send out

00:23:42.960 women and kids in droves, uh, running towards us and then mow them down in front of us, uh, 1.00

00:23:47.680 trying to pull, get us out in the open to, you know, help the women and kids. 0.98

00:23:51.940 And of course, there's nothing you can do at that point.

00:23:54.840 Um, uh, what else they were doing is they were putting, um, silhouettes on top of buildings

00:24:00.540 that with, uh, rifles in their hand.

00:24:02.560 Um, and so, and then they would chain women and kids inside the house at the bottom. 1.00

00:24:07.140 Uh, so we would confuse the silhouette with a enemy combatant vomit, and then all the women 1.00

00:24:13.640 and kids would, would be killed.

00:24:14.860 And they'd use that as propaganda against us.

00:24:17.800 Um, and, uh, you know, just some of the, some of the other things I did not, I didn't

00:24:23.600 see personally, but the rumors were going around from the, our partner force that they were,

00:24:27.480 uh, boiling kids alive and then making, I mean, this is making the mothers drink the 1.00

00:24:33.520 broth.

00:24:34.020 I mean, it's very disgusting and disturbing.

00:24:37.160 Um, and that's, that's just, but that's the environment that we were in.

00:24:43.380 Yeah, that's intense.

00:24:44.440 And you witnessed the first two, not the last one, but you witnessed the first two.

00:24:48.100 Uh, I mean, there was multiple rumors of just, uh, the evil stuff they were doing, but I never

00:24:52.760 witnessed those things firsthand.

00:24:54.540 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

00:25:01.960 we saw it enough times.

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

00:25:09.960 that.

00:25:10.660 What are you guys saying to each other afterwards?

00:25:12.320 What are you thinking about it 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

00:25:23.580 just, uh, sort of horrified by it.

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

00:25:57.780 not let it bother me.

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

00:26:04.580 as the enemy.

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?

00:26:41.980 How do you manage the rage?

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

00:26:56.820 more in those types of situations.

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

00:27:09.860 one of them, uh, while we were there.

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

00:27:20.600 hostage for years.

00:27:21.640 How do you train your emotions though?

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

00:27:33.980 of all that stuff.

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.

00:27:59.160 Uh, you're going to have to deal with them.

00:28:00.940 But during that time, that's, that's how we do it.

00:28:03.360 We need to get the job done.

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

00:28:45.760 as NCIS.

00:28:47.140 So who is NCIS to you?

00:28:50.820 Uh, NCIS.

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

00:29:06.520 have failed out.

00:29:07.240 And that's, this is our last attempt.

00:29:08.980 That's who will take them.

00:29:10.540 Right.

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.

00:29:23.140 Yeah.

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

00:29:31.260 people like you?

00:29:32.440 Does NCIS like people like you?

00:29:34.120 And if they don't, why not?

00:29:35.240 Um, you know, from my experience, um, being in, no, NCIS does not like, uh, they don't

00:29:41.600 like Navy SEALs.

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

00:29:56.060 ladder of their, uh, career.

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

00:30:08.740 over nothing.

00:30:09.380 Um, and then from then on, I've always, you know, seen NCIS messing, messing around with

00:30:15.080 other guys.

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.

00:30:27.440 I, I knew they had a bias.

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

00:30:40.300 while they raided my house.

00:30:41.680 Yeah.

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.

00:30:49.880 Okay.

00:30:50.640 In America, we have roughly 2,500, 3,000 billionaires in America today, right?

00:30:56.720 Who goes after billionaires?

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.

00:31:07.500 Right.

00:31:08.340 Is it a similar analogy where they kind of want to have, like, I took this Navy SEAL

00:31:12.380 down.

00:31:12.660 Is it kind of like that?

00:31:14.100 Yeah.

00:31:14.440 Oh, for sure.

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

00:31:18.720 to take down stronger men than them.

00:31:20.200 Uh, they're, they're beta males.

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.

00:31:31.580 You talk about that in your book. 0.98

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

00:31:38.840 What does a beta male look like?

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

00:32:01.160 the time.

00:32:01.740 Uh, it's always a victim.

00:32:02.860 Um, and then they were always trying to take down better people than them.

00:32:05.920 They, uh, they don't like who they are.

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.

00:32:20.640 You know, I'm trying to count all of them.

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

00:32:32.940 your butt on the line. 0.85

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,

00:33:01.020 and they live a certain life.

00:33:02.760 The normal person's not going to understand what kind of a life they live.

00:33:05.520 Right.

00:33:06.280 Yeah.

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

00:33:14.400 Downey Jr., those guys, right?

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

00:33:19.740 is to go to Walmart.

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

00:33:27.040 taking pictures from you.

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

00:33:36.480 what the movie was, but it was a great movie.

00:33:38.220 And you interview a Gene Simmons or, you know, one of those guys, and they tell you the stories

00:33:44.800 like, oh my God, really?

00:33:45.820 That kind of stuff took place?

00:33:46.900 Yeah.

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.

00:34:26.020 It's a very, very tight knit community.

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.

00:34:37.980 Uh, that's it for 20 years.

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

00:35:17.760 on our job.

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.

00:35:53.260 Yeah.

00:35:53.960 Who is the guy in Dallas?

00:35:55.660 Something Ballon.

00:35:56.500 Is it, uh, uh, uh, what is his name?

00:35:59.920 John Ballon.

00:36:00.620 Do you know John Ballon?

00:36:02.240 Uh, John Ballon, John Ballon, Mr. Ballon.

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.

00:36:11.480 I have seen a couple of his videos.

00:36:14.540 Yeah.

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.

00:36:31.820 I'm trying to remember the name of it.

00:36:32.800 I spoke to the crowd, the audience one time.

00:36:34.960 I went to one of those, uh, before I got out.

00:36:37.020 Do you remember the name?

00:36:38.920 Meet or something.

00:36:40.320 Say that again. 0.71

00:36:41.480 Elite meet.

00:36:42.340 Yeah.

00:36:42.580 And that's what it is.

00:36:43.380 Elite meet.

00:36:43.920 Yes.

00:36:44.240 Elite meet.

00:36:44.820 Yes.

00:36:45.800 Elite meet.

00:36:46.260 We had an interesting time with those guys talking to them because everybody looks like

00:36:50.120 a stud or a studette.

00:36:51.340 You're looking at these guys. 0.99

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

00:36:56.480 executive. 0.98

00:36:56.940 You look like a VP.

00:36:58.040 You look like this.

00:36:58.840 And boom, dress sharp, you know, to the T chiseled, you know, with the eyes, like your

00:37:03.480 eyes with fire in those eyes.

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

00:37:14.060 civilian.

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

00:37:18.560 world?

00:37:19.640 You know, it's tough.

00:37:21.640 I'm not going to lie.

00:37:22.560 You know, I just spent this whole last year.

00:37:25.220 I'm still going through transition.

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

00:37:50.300 was, you know, all over the place.

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

00:38:03.640 to sort of slow down and relax.

00:38:06.540 You know, of course, because once I got out, I was, you know, pretty much fighting the carpet 0.99

00:38:10.500 when trying to do something else.

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

00:38:22.920 the name of the game.

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.

00:38:36.160 Yeah, you're going to have some repercussions.

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

00:38:49.740 combat for years, they're not broken.

00:38:51.660 They just need some time to readjust.

00:38:54.260 Right.

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.

00:39:08.660 And, uh, that's, it's not true.

00:39:10.500 Um, there's help out there.

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

00:39:27.020 yourself until you fix yourself.

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.

00:39:37.240 Um, you know, it's never going to go away.

00:39:39.840 Is there the itch to want to go?

00:39:40.960 Is that what it is?

00:39:41.680 Is it like, I miss, I got to get back and like, well, this is too slow for me.

00:39:44.700 This is that what it is.

00:39:45.700 Or is it just recollections of events that took place?

00:39:50.380 Uh, is it, is it rage?

00:39:52.180 Is it frustration?

00:39:53.200 Is it people don't understand me?

00:39:54.740 What is it?

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

00:40:30.060 like fight or flight stage.

00:40:31.120 And that's how your body thinks it's, you know, it works now.

00:40:34.840 Uh, I think that's how it's supposed to be.

00:40:36.260 So I would, I would find myself, you know, just, I could be doing something normal, like

00:40:40.580 watching TV.

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.

00:40:50.840 It's more just internal.

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?

00:41:01.140 Um, why, what am I here for?

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.

00:41:11.040 It's just the purpose.

00:41:12.940 Eddie is, uh, your father, do you, is he still around?

00:41:15.820 Is your father 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

00:41:36.420 Desert Storm.

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

00:41:46.140 sustained combat for that long.

00:41:47.540 Um, but he's definitely, he's always a good shoulder to lean on and just talk.

00:41:51.500 You know, that's cool.

00:41:53.360 Yeah.

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

00:42:02.240 want to talk to some therapist.

00:42:03.440 Sometimes it's hard to even bring it out.

00:42:05.160 You know, you can't even talk to your spouse.

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.

00:42:12.260 That's great to hear.

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?

00:42:28.380 What would they read about in the 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

00:42:52.280 then going to the trial.

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

00:43:04.380 just straight out lies.

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,

00:43:14.660 well, there's a lot that goes into that.

00:43:17.120 I mean, um, and, uh, just from all like the deceit and corruption, uh, by the government,

00:43:23.080 by the prosecution.

00:43:24.380 Um, and I, so I go through all that.

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,

00:43:35.100 she was going through.

00:43:36.040 Uh, she tells, you know, what it means to be a spouse, uh, how it was being a spouse in

00:43:40.320 the SEAL teams.

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

00:43:54.780 you're not doing this to him.

00:43:55.880 Um, and she started a, uh, or, uh, grassroots, uh, Instagram campaign, putting the truth

00:44:03.100 out there and what was really going on.

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

00:44:19.960 and right.

00:44:20.520 I was not being given due process.

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

00:44:36.200 properly defend himself.

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.

00:45:00.700 And so he must be evil too.

00:45:02.280 It was just, it was very eyeopening.

00:45:04.800 Uh, the whole fake news thing.

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

00:45:24.540 was like, no, one's going to believe this.

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.

00:45:37.180 I love that.

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

00:45:48.920 shows right there.

00:45:49.580 They were conspiring, but I wanted to be completely just transparent and be like, here is everything

00:45:55.080 and you can make up your own mind at the end.

00:45:58.200 Anything you do differently looking back?

00:46:00.180 Uh, looking back, I mean, you know, I, I probably, I mean, taking the picture, I wouldn't take

00:46:08.660 the picture, I guess.

00:46:09.500 Uh, but you know, that compared to what they were going after me for, that was such a minor

00:46:13.960 charge.

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.

00:46:27.620 I was very, um, target fixated as a leader.

00:46:30.280 And I, I was like, it was like, this job needs to get done.

00:46:33.460 Um, and I wasn't thinking about anything else.

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

00:46:43.920 evaluate and you try to improve.

00:46:45.880 No, you know, nobody gets it perfect.

00:46:47.480 Um, but, uh, you know, other than that, I would not have changed, uh, my tactics, the, the

00:46:53.860 aggressive way we cleared muscle.

00:46:55.280 I, I would have been way more aggressive.

00:46:57.560 Um, it's just if I could have, you know, um, and, um, yeah, that's it.

00:47:03.980 I mean, there's nothing much more.

00:47:05.560 I would have changed.

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.

00:47:32.100 I think you were 79, baby.

00:47:33.240 I'm a 78 baby.

00:47:34.180 I think you're, uh, are you on May 29th?

00:47:36.900 When are you, uh, uh, May 29th, May 29th.

00:47:40.940 Yeah.

00:47:41.060 My, uh, my daughter is May 27th.

00:47:43.360 So May 29th.

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.

00:47:54.780 Like you got a very interesting camp.

00:47:56.860 You're a part of, you know, uh, say that again, you know, you're Gemini's.

00:48:02.860 Yeah, I know.

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?

00:48:11.680 What general Milley has been talking about?

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.

00:48:38.040 Right.

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

00:48:56.280 same thing.

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.

00:49:05.080 It's about what's best for general Milley.

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

00:49:16.300 care of the enlisted below them.

00:49:17.740 But instead they're trying to, they're taking care of themselves first.

00:49:23.940 Wow.

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.

00:49:37.040 Wow.

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.

00:49:52.300 Yeah.

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

00:50:02.040 the boys type of mentality.

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.

00:50:29.560 They're prior enlisted. 0.53

00:50:30.400 And then they decided to become an officer.

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

00:50:51.260 going to happen.

00:50:51.800 And that's just going to trickle down to everybody else.

00:50:54.120 That's a scary site, buddy.

00:50:56.480 It is.

00:50:57.140 That's a scary site.

00:50:58.520 It's scary.

00:50:59.540 It's scary what's going on right now.

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.

00:51:23.500 Um, they have access to it.

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

00:51:40.000 on me, stuff like that.

00:51:41.300 Um, if you support the police, they are labeling you as an extremist and they're putting you

00:51:45.720 into a group right now.

00:51:46.640 So that's happening right now.

00:51:47.840 And then what I see happening is they were just known.

00:51:51.180 Is this 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.

00:51:56.700 I think the news finally picked it up.

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

00:52:12.940 anything.

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.

00:52:27.660 I mean, it's just not a proven formula.

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.

00:53:00.220 Right.

00:53:00.420 We don't care.

00:53:01.680 I wasn't political at all.

00:53:03.560 Uh, when I was in the military, I was just, I'll do what I'm told.

00:53:06.440 I just want to go fight for this country.

00:53:08.000 Right.

00:53:08.280 Like, well, now they're getting rid of those people with that mentality.

00:53:11.920 They're going after those people.

00:53:13.420 And so it's like, well, who's going to be left there?

00:53:15.620 Who's fighting for them?

00:53:16.680 Who is fighting for them?

00:53:17.720 Who's fighting for you guys?

00:53:20.160 I don't know.

00:53:20.920 At this point, I don't know.

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?

00:53:37.600 Who's, who's pushing back?

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

00:53:52.460 tactic as well.

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.

00:54:03.060 I think we need to bring back.

00:54:04.880 What was his name?

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

00:54:27.040 Uh, here's the other question for you.

00:54:28.540 So we talked about those things.

00:54:29.720 So, uh, uh, word comes out this last week that they're about to make the vaccine mandatory

00:54:35.080 in the military.

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

00:54:56.080 as well.

00:54:56.420 And we signed up and the sergeant, yeah, the sergeant will tell you, you can't say anything

00:55:00.640 to your government property.

00:55:01.560 And I'm like, okay, go ahead.

00:55:02.980 You know, so you get the shots.

00:55:04.040 What are your thoughts about what they're doing with the vaccine to say, you can't say

00:55:06.920 anything.

00:55:07.200 You just got to take it.

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.

00:55:18.500 Um, they don't want to take the vaccine.

00:55:20.940 They, you know, it's not been proven to work.

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

00:55:41.120 two and a half times.

00:55:42.180 So I, that was about, uh, 18 shots.

00:55:46.260 Um, you know, and I was told at the time that if I resist, you know, resisted taking it,

00:55:51.940 I get NJP, um, they drive fear into you.

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,

00:56:18.600 aren't you?

00:56:18.980 Like, you know, the, the, the eight years or four years, whatever it is, you're officially

00:56:22.980 government property.

00:56:23.780 We're paying your bills.

00:56:24.740 So you got to take it because we're taking care of you.

00:56:27.900 Yeah.

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.

00:56:34.580 You still have rights.

00:56:35.760 You're still an American.

00:56:36.760 So you and I could have said no to the anthrax shot that we took.

00:56:39.860 Cause I mean, I took it as well.

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?

00:57:00.180 Yeah.

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

00:57:09.800 kept their jobs and they're fine.

00:57:12.300 Well, that's good to know.

00:57:13.060 That's good to know.

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.

00:57:20.080 You got no rank.

00:57:20.760 You can't say anything.

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

00:57:28.100 it is to be in a military today.

00:57:29.980 I don't know what it is to be in a military.

00:57:31.740 I don't know what bootcamp is today.

00:57:33.440 I don't know what AIT would be like today.

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?

00:57:47.020 Do you make sure you're doing it offsite?

00:57:48.480 But what if you go offsite, it's easy to target military.

00:57:51.280 Cause they'll say he did this to me.

00:57:52.780 Is it, is it probably, I don't know.

00:57:55.100 Is it a very walking on eggshells type of, you know, conditions to be in a military today?

00:58:00.520 Oh, for sure.

00:58:01.580 Yeah.

00:58:02.000 Um, you know, I, I saw that the last, like.

00:58:05.360 Four or five years I was in the complete shift, uh, as well, I can only speak to the

00:58:10.840 SEAL teams.

00:58:11.720 Um, but yeah, there was a shift, um, and there was a lot of leadership walking on eggshells,

00:58:17.140 uh, especially after my case.

00:58:19.500 Um, cause I think what they saw is all it takes is one or two people to throw an accusation

00:58:24.600 out there and you are done.

00:58:25.720 You're guilty.

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

00:58:37.000 another.

00:58:37.460 You know, what, what right now, what the military is putting out is you need to be loyal to

00:58:42.100 the institution.

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.

00:58:58.460 You should be out there looking out for them.

00:59:00.000 And that doesn't mean if they make a mistake, you should turn them in or tell them that's

00:59:02.980 your brother in arms.

00:59:04.280 You, you have his back.

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

00:59:47.420 tells us what comes next.

00:59:48.860 Isn't pretty.

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

01:00:01.380 it's, it's like that over there.

01:00:03.000 You know, that's a lot of the times how we find targets is people will come up and snitch

01:00:06.800 on their neighbor.

01:00:07.240 Like, Oh, this guy's working for the Taliban.

01:00:09.860 When in reality, that guy just stole one of his goats five years ago.

01:00:14.460 And now he just wants to get back at them.

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,

01:00:31.620 but it's like weakness became a virtue.

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

01:00:46.980 times.

01:00:47.600 Um, and I think that's a big problem as well.

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,

01:01:01.660 uh, take the heat that comes with it.

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

01:01:33.340 up for themselves.

01:01:34.200 The bow is going to break sooner.

01:01:36.080 Yeah, I don't think this is going to work.

01:01:37.400 I don't think this model works.

01:01:38.340 Anyways, uh, chief Eddie Gallagher, thank you for being on.

01:01:41.680 Appreciate you for your service.

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.

01:01:49.800 I just checked it out.

01:01:50.660 It's only been out for about five weeks.

01:01:52.920 It's got nearly 700 reviews on Amazon.

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.

01:02:02.220 Thank you.

01:02:02.840 Appreciate you.

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,

01:02:10.620 the life.

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.

01:02:18.060 One of them is with Oliver North.

01:02:20.240 If you've never seen that, it's a similar story.

01:02:23.240 And he took a complete different angle.

01:02:24.900 If you've never seen that, click over here.

01:02:26.500 And the other one is with a former sniper with, I believe, 33 different kills that he had.

01:02:30.960 A Nicholas Irving.

01:02:33.180 Fascinating story.

01:02:34.480 If you've never seen that one, click over here.

01:02:36.640 Thanks for watching, everybody.

01:02:37.480 Take care.

01:02:37.900 Bye-bye.

Valuetainment - August 11, 2021

Ex-Navy Seal Opens Up About War Crimes & Fighting ISIS - Eddie Gallagher

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript