[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't have, they don't bring cell phones in the building. So that's a problem. I ended up, uh, the first person I called was our state adjutant general, um, who I knew if something was happening, he was going to be at that civil defense command and he would obviously know. And so I called him and I said, what's going on?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, you know, dual had it there, but I called him and I said, what's going on? And very quickly he said, it's a false alarm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I said, I'm going to put this out publicly. You're telling me this is a false alarm. And he said, somebody pushed the wrong button. False alarm. So there's no missile coming in. No missile coming in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, I immediately hung up with him, typed out a tweet in big block letters, this is a false alarm, I have confirmed with authorities, there is no missile incoming.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, that tweet was the first public notification that went out, uhm, that let people know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was a whole other issue, but the thing that led me ultimately to make that decision, like to start thinking about I need to run for president is because of


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What everyone went through and realizing that you can have this fancy alert system and I'm sure the governor and other people are all bunkered down somewhere safe.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Created or escalated through political rhetoric of heightening tensions with nuclear armed countries.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and knowing like, okay, you know, I'm sure there's probably some, some mechanism or system in place to protect them and their families, but what about everybody else in the country? People who...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, I mean, look, I mean, nuclear war ends in utter complete destruction of the world ultimately. And.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Having gone through what we went through, I wanted to be in a position to do two things. By running for president, I could raise this issue and bring it to the forefront because nobody was talking.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe there was a day of, of you know, CNN coverage or whatever on what happened in Hawaii, but then it was, it was completely dropped and forgotten. There was no like, hold on a second. So wait, North Korea has these capabilities.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They're continually increasing. This threat is real. There is no shelter. Like if we get attacked, then it's kind of, it's game over. What, what's being done about this by the leaders and that none of that happened at all. Even in the aftermath of something that was, you know, terrifying and in such a real way.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so, so to be able to address these issues, uhm, and, and the existential threat that we face that comes from that, uhm, continued advancement towards the brink of nuclear war that, that, that we're on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And if elected to be in a position as commander in chief to begin to walk us back away from that brink and to actually do something about it, to deescalate these tensions, to actually work through the kinds of negotiations and treaties that previous presidents like


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, Reagan and JFK did when they recognized the seriousness of what happens when you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you are in a cold war and when you have nuclear armed countries who either intentionally or accidentally can spark a nuclear war that would, would result in the end of, of humanity on this planet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, that was, that was the driver for me to make that decision, um, to run.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And unfortunately, I very quickly found out that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Neither the media nor the politicians were interested in talking about it or anything that really mattered. That it was, it was about


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Who's saying bad things about who, uh, which candidate is, um, you know, who looks cool, who's likable, who's all of these superficial things. But whether it was on the debate stage when I raised these issues or in interviews with reporters one-on-one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or, I mean, I talked about, I talked, obviously talked about these issues every day, multiple times a day, town hall meetings that reporters covered or were present for at least with the intent to cover what happened.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was no interest in, in, in talking about, uh, this specific issue about the existential threat of nuclear war and what, how we got here and where we need to go to prevent it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, what to speak of, of, of other issues and then that was, that was the most frustrating, uhm, that was the most frustrating thing about, about running for president was the realization that even as a candidate for president of the United States, uhm, the ability to bring,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Such an issue as serious as this to the American people was so easily squashed by the corporate entertainment media and the politicians who benefit from them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There, there were different signs of that, uhm, the first of which started on the very day that I announced, officially announced my candidacy, as in


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Build the event, go up on the stage, deliver the speech, announcing my candidacy and why. And I, I talked about the very thing that we talked about as, as a driver in Hawaii.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, there were local and national media cameras there to cover it. And, uh, you know, a bunch of supporters and people came out while I was giving the speech. NBC news put out an article.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I am, I am somehow a favorite of the Russians or being helped by the Russians. Uh, they're talking, they're saying nice things. I, it, you know, it was, the article was so vague and baseless and lacking in any kind of evidence to back up the claim that they were making that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was just, it was just so out there and, and I, I knew that they were doing an article cause they had called and asked for a comment like a few days prior.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And had said, you know, without knowing the extent of like the, the completeness of the article, but they said, Hey, you know, what, what do you think about this? And, um, and, and they had said, okay, yeah, we're going to publish the article probably sometime next week, maybe Wednesday or Thursday. And I think, I think that my announcement was on a Saturday.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Man, you know, like Russian bots or like, you know, Russian state sponsored media. The thing was, is, you know, I think they, they uhm, said, oh, you know, there are a lot of, uh, articles that are proving that the Russians like her or something like that. But when you actually go and look at, look at the articles they're citing, it's, it's


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not accurate, first of all, and second of all, it lacks the context of like, hey, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They're actually just reporting that she's announced that she's running for president. Or, uh, lacks the context of, well, when Hillary and Obama ran against each other in 2008,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Russian media reported much more favorably for Obama than Hillary. And so they, they chose a narrative and chose to launch it on day one of my candidacy that Tulsi would be the, the, the Russian asset or the favorite of the Russians and planted that seed on day one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, you know, cited, oh, you know, she's gotten donations from her campaign from people who.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, one happened to be like a Ivy League professor and specializes in foreign policy and has talked about nuclear war for decades. And you know, one was a woman who was trying to promote, you know, diplomacy and actually building relationships between


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, like at a grassroots level between American educators and Russian educators or business owners or whatever. I mean, the, the, the,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was just a, it was preposterous and very transparent, a transparent signal and move on day one. So that you ask when did it start? That's when it started. And then of course it, it, it continued to progress and escalate. And I started to see both on the debate stage as the debate started to begin, as well as, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you know, you go in there knowing what you want to talk about, regardless of the question that they ask you, because you know, you got like, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Two sentences. Exactly. And so this, this was why I was running for president. So I took every opportunity to raise it on every platform possible and there were no follow ups. There was, there was no like, oh hey, like let's dig deeper into this issue, which is clearly very serious.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] None of that. It was like, well, you know, what do you think about this candidate? Or what do you think about Trump? Or what do you think about this, like, superficial drama?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I forget the exact words, but basically the Russians have chosen their candidate and, uh, without saying my name said it was me. And that was then covered by the media incessantly. Which is like crazy. It is. It is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it was a signal in and of itself. Like why would, why would the former secretary of state, former presidential candidate, former US Senator, former first lady go out of her way to place the target on me?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, not so much. But it eventually got to the point where uhm, not like the covers that I got ended up largely being negative attempts to smear my candidacy or question my patriotism and my loyalties.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It certainly appeared that way, because uhm, that was, if you look at the outcome, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And again, it started from the beginning. It ended up with a total, total media blackout by the end of it. Um, polling standards.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Changed to make it so that, uh, you know, it's like, okay, here they say, hey, you gotta poll at a certain level in order to qualify for the debate and then qualify for the next debate and, you know, the polling standards often shifted.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Based on, uh, right. That's a little convenient to change it right when I start inching up in the polls a little bit more, but it also just points to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like the catch 22 that exists where in America, we'd like to believe that anybody can run for president. Anybody can run for office and that it's up to the candidate to go and make your case to voters and voters actually get to decide. Well, in these presidential races, so early on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can have very well known candidates that everybody in the country's heard of and you can have lesser known candidates that most people have like no knowledge of whatsoever. Well, they start running these polls so early on that, uh, show a lesser known candidate like myself at 1% or 2%.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whereas the better known candidates are pulling much higher and then make the determination, well, Tulsi Gabbard is not a viable candidate because she's only pulling at 2%. And so we're not going to really cover her very much because we don't deem her as a viable candidate. And by we, I mean the media and, and the political party.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and so as a lesser known candidate, then you're not covered as much as the better known candidate. So you don't have the opportunity to get better known. And, and so it's this, you know, you're stuck.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it allows them to, uhm, it allows them to decide who, who they want voters to be exposed to and, uh, who they don't believe deserves.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Within the party and within the media who, who make those decisions about who gets to be heard and, and uh, who doesn't. And that, that was what we experienced and it was.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was such an incredible, this was the thing I underestimated the most that I thought, Hey, I can run for president and I can bring these ideas forward. And yeah, I'm at a disadvantage because I'm not as well known as some of these other guys, but.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As long as I have the platform to be able to reach people,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All I gotta do is, like, all I gotta do is do my best and trust that voters will make, will make the decision. I underestimated how.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, very quickly and in a sustained way, the media, the decisions were made to, to not even allow that platform to exist, which left me in a pretty, like a pretty helpless place. You know, I was, yay, I can live stream my town hall on social media. And I did.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But when you look at the numbers, uh, in the country, it, you know, when they choose to not cover you and not allow you that platform.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, then, you know, it's, it's not only, not only was I not able to, to raise the issues and address the issues that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That are not just important to me, but important to our country. Um, but also the, the smear attempts and the negative coverage left me in a very helpless and vulnerable position where I couldn't fight back. I did not have.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Our, our campaign was pretty much fueled by volunteers and I love them so much. People who really believed and set aside school or jobs or life and went and worked their hearts out to help me get my message out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If the media makes a decision to either not cover you or, or to smear you and undermine, therefore undermine whatever it is you're saying and doing, it's, it's uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's difficult if not impossible to beat. And, and I think this is so important to talk about because it is a charade of the democracy that we...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And just to illustrate that, I mean this guy who was the CEO of CBS, this is I think probably the most stark and direct example. Uh, Les Moonves is his name. And he, this was, this was uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I mean, this, this was in 20, this was in 2016 that he said something along the lines of Trump may be bad for the country, but he's good for business. The money is rolling in. Keep it up, Donald Trump. Keep it up. And.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] His very direct statement illustrates everything that's wrong because it shows that this corporate entertainment media, it's about the money, it's about the profits, it's about the rating, with no regard whatsoever for


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What the consequence is for the country and for voters and for our future.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Something very serious that we as people in this country need to understand, be aware of so that we can.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Start to bring about kind of the cultural and societal shifts that will ultimately result in, uhm, in change and making it so that, you know, these few powerful people don't get to usurp


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Our democracy and our voices being the voices that matter most in determining who we want to serve as leaders in our country.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know the answer to that specific question, but how was he able to pull it off? He was very famous. And he had influence.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They couldn't ignore him and they were making a shit ton of money off of him because with Donald Trump brought eyeballs to their screens. Whether it was Fox news, who was initially, I think maybe cynical or even critical of him and then shifted to like full bore.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pro Trump or if it was CNN and MSNBC who were, I think initially kind of like, how is this even happening to full bore anti-Trump?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, regardless in, in all of these scenarios and from the Democratic party's perspective and the Republican party's perspective, with Trump came money.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Democrats get to be the anti-Trump party and motivate a lot of people to give money to beat Trump or people who supported Trump and members of Congress or whatever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How, I think that, that's what ultimately ended up, I mean gave Trump a lot of exposure.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And yeaah, some of it or maybe a lot of it was, was, was, uh, was negative. But uhm, you look at how much the public hates politicians and how much they distrust and hate the media.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, you can kind of see how generally people who are frustrated and dissatisfied with the powerful elite, whether they be in politics or the media,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Would look at a guy, and I have friends like this, like they didn't really agree with anything that Trump was saying. They're like, finally somebody is giving the middle finger to the media and telling them to, you know, shut up or whatever it was. Um, Trump had influence and.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Resources and ammunition capable of going to battle with the existing political infrastructure and the corporate entertainment media.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That, that's, that's the match up because I agree, you know, there are, there are more people who identify as independents in the country today than there are who people who identify as either Democrats or Republicans. Really? Yes. Factually? Factually.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But the numbers are consistently trending towards, and, and maybe some, some of it's generational that, that, you know, the millennial generation did not come up identifying like my daddy was a Democrat, my granddaddy was a Democrat, I gotta be a Democrat. I think there's, there's less, far less of that in, in the millennial, in post-millennial generation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I think that's part of it, people are looking more at issues than party. I think part of it is people recognizing and being disillusioned with, with both political parties as not looking out for their best interests and it's more about the party than the people. So I think there's a number of reasons for this, but it is a fact.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's over 40% of the country identify themselves as independent and therefore lesser numbers who identify as one party or another. So are the people ready for?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A strong leader who will come in and speak to what's in the best interest of the country rather than what's in the best interest of one party or another, I would say yes, without a doubt. So then the next question is how, what is necessary to execute on that?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What is necessary is, is first of all, recognizing, you know, where's the opposition coming from? The opposition will come from the people who are benefiting off the status quo.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, it's not impossible, it's not insurmountable, but it's a pretty serious obstacle and you gotta be ready to go to battle with some of the most powerful people. And, uh, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At a certain point, well early on though, early on at a certain point, Ross Perot was polling higher than Bill Clinton and I believe George Bush as well. And that, like they're like, what is going, like how is this possible? And,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Had he continued his campaign, at a certain point, Ross Perot dropped out of the race, and then jumped back in a little bit later, and he took a big hit for that. I don't know, people probably like, want like, do you not know what you want? Or like, what are you doing buddy?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, he, you know, who knows? He may have become president or he may have posed a more serious threat in the end than he did. Ultimately his numbers took a dive after he re-entered the race and he ended up kind of just being the perennial third party guy who stole votes, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But it was after that election year that the rules started to change in making it with, with agreement from both the Democrat and Republican party that made it


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Much more difficult for a third party candidate to get ballot access, just to get their names on the ballot.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, to be included in debates, uhm, just the basic infrastructure of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A candidacy, um, changed to the point where, and it still, it still exists today, that the, the bar is much higher for a third party candidate to, to be heard and to be on the ballot than it is for, uh, candidates who run under one party or, or another.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But from a practical perspective as well as from a, an exposure perspective, uh, it's a much, much, much heavier lift that again requires a certain strategy and a hell of a lot of resources to be able to accomplish that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was, it was after COVID had kind of already started. I was back in Hawaii. COVID had started to take a pretty firm hold. Maybe it was even later than that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and it just, it got to the point where, like, we're on lockdown at home in Hawaii. Congress had shut down. And, uh, I knew that the most effective use of my time, like the outcome of the primary seemed somewhat inevitable at that point.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And 95 masks and just trying to help, help with that local response in Hawaii.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Suspending, that's the word they use. Suspending your candidacy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean in hindsight, no. At that moment, at that moment, like going through it, uhm, it surprised me that I didn't even have the opportunity to earn it. To earn the support, to get that exposure.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't remember which, you know, I think there was, there was, yeah, there was a gap at some point where I didn't make one, but then I made the next. I don't remember exactly what, but in those first, in those first debates, um, I was the most searched candidate of the night.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After each of those debates, which was the whole point, you know, Hey, I can go on this stage, the national stage and the first debate I think had over 20 million viewers.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And this is the opportunity to introduce myself to the American people, uh, in the hopes that they might say, hmm, she looks interesting. I want to know more. I want to learn more. And that being starting to kind of crack open the door to be able to make an impact there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That opportunity really ultimately did not exist and it started with that first debate. Uhm, you know, in advance we had set up our Google Ads account so that when people went on Google and said, hey, who is Tulsi Gabbard?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was the hope that that would be, I would be the most Googled candidate and that we therefore were ready for it. Uhm, Google shut down our Google Ads account with no reason whatsoever at all given.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And uhm, they, they just like, your, your account is suspended. No explanation, no here's what you gotta do to fix it or get it, you know, whatever released and uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And to this day we've never gotten, you know, it was suspended for a certain period of time and then it was reinstated and it was not for lack of us trying to reach anybody who would answer us and tell us why and what we could do to fix it immediately.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, you know, I mean, there's, I filed a lawsuit against Google for that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because of, because of the impact obviously that it had on me, but also, but really the bigger issue that I wanted to raise by filing this lawsuit was


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You've got this massive big tech company.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Who has the power to, uhm, interfere in the public square of our democracy? And, you know, who knows, still to this day, like, was it some guy sitting at a computer who was like, man, fuck Tulsi Gabbard, I'm gonna...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Punch this button and show her what's up or like, who knows? I don't know what happened, but it happened. And if it can happen to a sitting member of Congress who's running for the highest office in the land,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It could happen to anybody. Running for office, anybody who's speaking out, anybody being critical of, whether it's big tech or government policy, like whatever the motive.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is the power that they have in their hands. That's incredibly dangerous in undermining the kind of core pillars of our democracy, of having a marketplace of free ideas and voters who can, you know, get the information they need and ultimately make the decision that they want to make.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As far as I know, I am not, I have not come across any kind of


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There are, there are no laws or rules in place from a government perspective that, that limit what these big tech monopolies can do with their algorithms. And that's part of the whole issue here when we talk about big tech.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The power that they have to either promote or push forward certain voices or people or ideas and silence others.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, and they can do so while being completely legally immune from any kind of accountability through our legal system.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, because, yep, because they're private companies, but this section 230 provision that exists within the law that was put in place to encourage innovation on the internet, uh, early, you know, decades ago, uhm, when they passed that law,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It said that they can, uhm, they can remove content that they deem to be objectionable.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Without any definition of what that is first of all. Whatever they want it to be. Whatever they want it to be.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then it says whether or not it is protected by the Constitution.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But to have something in there that says, you internet, you know, service provider company, you can decide what speech you deem or content objectionable or not, whether or not it is protected by our constitution.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is the problem that needs to be fixed within our laws today as it relates to big tech. And it's a relatively, there's a lot of, I, Ivan, I've looked at this a lot while I was in Congress and then after for obvious reasons.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you know, there, there's a lot of different proposals and different ways to kind of bite this apple, but the most simple and direct way would be.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can remove content unless it is protected under the First Amendment. And there's legal precedents in place through various Supreme Court rulings that provide very clear


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If, if we make this legislative change, it would alleviate the kind of pressure that these big tech companies are under right now, coming from the left and the right, because then they can just say, look,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] These are the guardrails. This is speech that's protected and it's gonna remain on the internet and speech that's not protected, then it's up to us to make that decision to, to, uh, to remove it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's, that's the, that's the best answer that I have come across on how to, uhm, address this. Rather than allowing this, you know, I mean now we have like, okay well we're gonna cancel anything that's disinformation, we're gonna cancel anything that's misinformation, we're gonna, you know, cancel anything that, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We don't like or, you know, I mean, it's, it's getting worse and worse. And unfortunately, the direction that I'm seeing from Democrats in Congress is not towards, Hey, how do we protect free speech? But instead it's, um, we need big tech to do more.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That, uh, we deem to be misinformation or disinformation or that could mislead people


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, the fact that this is happening and people don't see the danger of okay, you're in power today.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You got Kevin McCarthy, who's the head of the Republicans in the House, saying,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I bet my house on the fact that Republicans will regain the majority in 2022. What are you going to do when the tables turn?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then you've got the other guys in power saying, yeah, you know what? We don't want Democrats to be misleading people on the internet, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're gonna tweak the language a little bit and make sure that Big Tech silences those voices and pushes. Like it's, it's so simple and clear how dangerous of a position that we are in and that when you, when you threaten


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The first amendment, like freedom of speech, free press, like freedom of religion, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Once you undermine that, what do we have in America? We don't, we don't have, we don't have the country, we don't have our country.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I remember, um, listening to that night, so I, I don't, I have not listened, like I have friends of mine who have listened to your podcast from number one, and then, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But, but like, in, in sequence, like, chronologically, and like, uhm, a buddy of mine got to the, the, I think it was episode 99 as Musashi.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you had recorded that because it was literally addressing everything that we were seeing play out right, right before us as far as the warning signs and the dangers of this is where, this is where you end up. Uh, once you allow for this kind of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Little sidetrack funny story, uh, and I'll show you the video after, um, cause it'll take me a minute to dig it up, but it won't surprise you to know that on the presidential campaign trail, sleep was hard to come by for me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And for two reasons, one was just a factor of time in the day, but also it was tough for me to, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Tough for me to turn, turn everything off and actually just get like, I'm not even talking about hours, I'm just talking about a slice of good quality rest and sleep.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We were in New Hampshire in the middle of winter and there was a rare opportunity where I got to take a nap.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, we like rented a, like an Airbnb or something like that. And, uhm, so I took a nap and my husband took a video of me taking a nap because he walked in the room and I'm lying there and I'm asleep and I'm all bundled up under the covers and I got my phone sitting on my, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On the top of the covers and I was listening to Jaco podcast with a guy from the French


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I remember this was because this was on February 11th, February 11th, 2020. And it just so happened that it popped up on my phone on February 11th of this year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] January 2nd was my last official day. We had to pack up the office before Thanksgiving.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, uh, no kidding, you know, we are, there were obviously votes going into December. There was, uh, you know, government's going to shut down if we don't pass a new appropriations bill and kind of the unfortunate usual thing that happens at the end of every year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, but yeaah, I was working out of my car, like, parked in front of the Capitol. I had my computer and it's COVID, so, you know, votes consist of, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Seven different groups of members of Congress. I was group two. It's by alphabetical order where you're only allowed to have a certain number of people on the floor at any given time. They decontaminate the whole floor between every vote.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so that was like a park, like votes are called. Sometimes they last for an hour or two hours or whatever. And if you've got four votes in a series, then you're doing this running in and out, you know, four times in that series. And so, yeah, I was, you know, office, office shut down before Thanksgiving had to turn in everything.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] 2019, uh, when it, it got to the point where I had to make a decision where I would either continue my candidacy or I would suspend my presidential campaign and focus on running for reelection in Hawaii. And I couldn't do both.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was, I would end up doing a crappy job at both. So that was the decision I made. I, I, you know, let folks in. And I wanted people in Hawaii to know that, um, you know, they were not some kind of fallback plan for me if this national thing didn't work out and that they would have the opportunity and the time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To decide who they would want, you know, to work for them and other candidates who, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Who are going to run. So, uh, and that was a decision I never looked back on, um, or regretted in any way, but as a result of that, yeah. So things started quickly and having to shut down in DC. Um, but January 2nd was, was the actual final day.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Mixed feelings, really mixed feelings. Uhm, again, I made that decision without regret and so it wasn't any surprise that this was going to happen at this point in time. But, I mean, I remember, uhm, landing at Dulles Airport and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On that last trip, and as I was driving into DC, like, I'm not gonna make this drive again. As a member of Congress, at least. And, uh, even as screwed up as things are, and as frustrating as things are, and have progressively gotten,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where countless other leaders from our nation's history have walked those very steps. And the, the uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's an amazing thing to, to never forget those who have come before us, those who will come after and how special of a privilege it is that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The people of Hawaii allowed me that privilege to, to do my best to serve them for the eight years, uh, that I was there. And that was, that was, you know, yeah, I, there's so much of the political drama and, and just the theatrics and the,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All of the stuff that you just kind of got to endure in order to try to do the work that you're trying to do and I've always hated all that stuff and had no, no problem at all leaving that, uh, that behind. But I think the mixed feelings and emotions part just came from, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just that, that reflecting on the time that I've had there and honestly wishing that there are a lot of areas and things that I wish I could have done more on, that I could have, you know, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, but, but leaving with the sense of, of peace, uh, in my heart in, in knowing that, you know, I did my best and excited about how I can find, uh, how I will find a way to continue to serve.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, I had been home a lot more than I normally would have been and working from home and having virtual committee hearings and a lot of other stuff that was just, it was a strange lead up


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so that was, that was strange. That was a really weird thing that was, felt unnatural, uh, to me. And then, and then, you know, similarly, um, with, with the general election. But yeah, I was, um.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, really a lot of it was being able to regain control over.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To no longer have those very immediate political factors playing into decisions that I'm making and uhm, just to, just to be.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For the first time in a long time, not have, not being constantly jet lagged. That was something I didn't realize took such a toll for eight years. I'm going back and forth two or three times a month between Hawaii and DC, five or six hours difference every time. Plane rides are long, but that was not, whatever. I can, it's a plane ride. Um, but you know, like, like I can actually.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, go to sleep at six cause it's midnight. Like it's just, you know, it was just, just basic, like simple life things. Like I like to cook. Like I could act like, Hey, like I'm like, I can go grocery shopping and cooking and not have to worry. Like, is the food going to rot by the time I have to leave and then come back? It was just like simple little things. Um, it was, it's, it's nice.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I am, uh, so I'm still serving in the Army Reserves. I have, I moved from the National Guard to the Reserves and, uh, transitioned my branch to Civil Affairs. Awesome.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which uhm, is often called kind of the, the warrior diplomat service. And uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it's, it's fantastic. I, I, it's, it's been a great move and one that's focused on building relationships. And, uh, it's kind of, kind of right at my eye. Something I've been interested for a really long time that, that I never pursued because it doesn't exist within the National Guard for obvious reasons. It's the National Guard, focus is domestic mission first.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Basically lives on, on Fort Bragg as part of the, the unconventional, um, special forces community. And so, uh, yeah, I, I'm appreciating the training, the experience, and also some of the missions that, that have already been able to serve on there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, I, as, as kind of a direct result of everything that we talked about with my experience.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Really speak, uh, directly to people in an unfiltered way and an unlimited way. Um, both, both about a lot of, you know, some of these issues that we've talked about and, and have conversations with people who can shed light and bring their expertise or experience on them. Um, but also just be able to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have a platform where I can take some of those experiences that I've had and I'm sure you've had the same because I've seen it in the military, I've seen it in politics where whether it's traveling to different parts of the country or traveling to different parts of the world,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is often focused on or, or that we even, we may, may realize. And so I look forward to being able to, to have that platform. My show is called This Is Tulsi Gabbard, just because it is just me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, and, and use that as, as a, a, an opportunity to be able to fill that gap or, or, or to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Provide what, uh, the mainstream media and the corporate media is not offering, uh, to, to people and, and that I found


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's, there is, there's a lot of hunger for that, for real conversation, whether it's with people you agree with or.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or to have a dialogue, you know, I want to be able to have people on my show who represent different views on an issue.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And who are interested in having a respectful conversation about it. And why do you hold one view? Why do you hold the other view?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where is there common ground? Where is there irretractable differences? Where do you draw the line? And I think being able to, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Provide this platform, I hope, will result in more people thinking like, hey, maybe I can start talking to my neighbor who voted for the other guy or the other party and we haven't really talked for like a year because of it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that we in America should be encouraging civil discourse and dialogue and, um, encouraging when we talk about what we have to protect freedom of speech. What does that mean? Well, well, you know, and how do you do it? Like, let's start with.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Speaking. Sharing our ideas and not as, as you started this whole, our conversation today, not in a way that says I'm right, you're wrong, I have to be heard, you don't get to be heard, but in a way that, that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, that we don't see now where if, if you believe in something, you hold a view that you feel is important, strong and, and communicate that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Also recognize that not everyone may share that view for whatever reason. Maybe they have a different background, a different experience, and one that you may not have.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that the more we can encourage this kind of exchange, the stronger we are as a society. We don't lose by having, uh, great platforms for people to share them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that, that's the biggest difference between what we are seeing today versus what I believe our founders envisioned for us, where somehow we've come to a place where the powerful people in this country think that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's, it's really a sign of insecurity, where if those who hold different views are allowed to air them, then somehow, you'll lose.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which means, man, maybe you're not confident that what you're offering is going to quote unquote win or convince people that it is a superior idea.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're also doing video. So I, I, um, so I talked to you some time ago and asked some questions about how you launch a podcast and such. And, um, one of the things you told me about was consistency is key. Both of you. That's Echo Charles.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have, yeaah. You know, no real time limit, but right now they're about an hour and a half.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, people can find, uh, me at Tulsi Gabbard on all the social media platforms, uhm, and also on my website, uh, tulsigabbard.com.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Build communities and conversation, uh, in our, in our society. I don't care if you're Democrat, Republican, independent. I don't care if you voted for Trump or voted for Hillary or whatever. None of that should matter as we come together to, to, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Rebuild bridges focused on how we collectively as Americans can.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Work together for the future of our country.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It happened most recently, um, I was out surfing the reef near the Mokulua Islands and the east side of Oahu. And the surf there only goes off, like it's only really good when there's no wind and there's swell, obviously. And it's, it's a long, it's, it's like three quarters of a mile paddle from shore out there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, but it happened most recently. They're like, usually it's like, someone will paddle up and be like, where do I know you from?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The word in the line up travels pretty quickly and the last time I was just a couple of weeks ago the waves really stayed out for four hours and uhm, people just like, eh, TOSI!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This, this is good. I, I, this is the first time I'm trying the, the Discipline Go Jaco Palmer drink. Very good.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah, that's, that's the best part. Ah, see I use monk fruit like in my protein shakes and stuff like that. You know what's up? Yea man. To sweeten it? To sweeten it, yeaah. Cause you get, you get, you get the good natural like healthy sweetener without like the carbs of like maple syrup for example.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I met with the three generations of family who have passed down from, you know, father to child, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's, it's something that my, my mom always encouraged us and it's like a habit I got into from a young age. She's like, just read the ingredients before you buy it. And if you don't understand half of the things that are on the ingredients, then you know, think twice about, you know, putting it in your body.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And more people are becoming conscious of this these days though, really. I mean, more people are becoming aware and whether it's because of health like diabetes and or whatever else, but I think there's just an increased level of awareness of like, hey, and even more so with COVID, like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm a supplement taker, just in general, but I was not taking vitamin D prior to COVID, nor was I really aware of how important


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, it was until I started to learn and read more and see, especially related to COVID.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But that's, that's what I do is for, for uhm, after my workouts every day, my first meal, that's my first meal is a shake. I kind of fast until after that. But I, I do the, the protein powder, the almond milk.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, that was an incredible surprise that I was not expecting, but, uh, he was there to train, um, Zheng Weili and she was passing through doing a publicity thing. So I got to meet her and spar. I use that word very generously.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, yea, there are guys who are stronger in boxing or striking or whatever, but this, the strategery that goes into fighters who have a very strong ground game, when you really watch it, is, I've,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just incredible. And that's what I've loved most about, uh, the sport is the strategic thinking that goes into like, alright, I'm going to do this and set you up for where I'm going to put you in, you know, six moves later or. Oh yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To say I was stoked is an understatement. And we made a little social media video about it and, and you know, got some footage of Pete showing us around and talking about what they do. Brought the local media with us and local media did a story on, on, uh, on Origin.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like struck home for me, like in a, in a visceral way was


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The spirit of origin came through loud and clear, not just because Pete's good at talking about it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But because of what I experienced in the people who work there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And uhm, the sense of pride and the sense of...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Of ownership of the thing that says right there, we get to do this and, and how deeply you all have built the foundation of this American business in the fabric of America.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that, like, I was like, I left there and I'm like, I told Pete, I was like, uhm, like, where do I sign up? Like, how do I, how do I join this? Because this is freaking amazing. And I talked about it and just shared, that's why I wanted to share, uhm, that video and just the experience of being able to go and visit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, we're in Maine and I'm going to take a two hour detour to go and visit because the story that you guys are sharing of Origin Maine is the story that needs to inspire America, especially now, in what we can do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What we can do here at home and that yes, this is about supporting a local business is about supporting America and American jobs, but it goes so much deeper than that, that yeah, of course there are challenges and there as adversity and you know, foreign trade and like all of these other things.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But just like, uhm, you know, Pete talks about how he started right in his fricking backyard and built a factory cause there wasn't one. Where there's a will, there's a way. And when you're rooted in this, uhm, foundation of


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not just, hey, how can we make a bunch of money? But how do, how do you use business as a means to serve?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And have a positive impact in your community, in the lives of the people who work there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The customers who know like, hey, I'm not just buying a product that's cool. I'm supporting a mission that's much greater than any one of us as individuals and will have a much longer lasting impact.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The hands that harvested the cotton, processed it every step. That's the amazing thing is, and I, you know, some of my, some of my friends in the military, especially when they got their stimulus checks, they're like, I'm going to make a choice with this money and I'm going to go shopping at origin because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's the difference and that's the impact. And, and I, I, I loved sharing the story of my experience there to help inspire others.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not planning this, but getting back to our origins of who we are as a country of entrepreneurs and innovators and people who are bringing different ideas to, to uhm, and the pride, the pride that goes, that goes along with that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is Tulsi Gabbard. It's actually up already. So, uh, I posted a trailer. You can go and subscribe and follow now so that you can know when we drop the first episode and follow on once.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We'll post all kinds of stuff. We'll be posting, we'll be posting the, um, uh, the podcast on there as well. But also just, you know, different things that are happening. I often record short videos kind of weighing in on maybe issues of the day or news or different things that are coming forward.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] More often than not, bring a different perspective than one you're getting, uh, in the news. So uhm, yeaah. I post those across, uh, YouTube and across social media at Tulsi Gabbard.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, how incredibly impactful this book and this man has been on your life as a person, but the thing that really, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like spoke to me was how this was kind of a, uhm, your go-to reference to help guide you through difficult leadership choices, decisions, challenges that you face in some of the most difficult environments, i.e. being in, at war.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, and that you've never met the man. And that was, uhm, that came through very clear.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Kind of your gratitude to him, uhm, in having this, this book that provided you with that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Soldiers who you were, people who, um, you were responsible for. And, uh, I, I thought that was a really cool thing for me to come at. I've, I've only heard you talk about it, but to come at this book and I'm really looking forward to, to read, continuing to read it, but to see that bridge in time and that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And conflicts and wars between a guy who served in Vietnam and was a leader of soldiers in Vietnam to you and the experience that you had as a leader serving in Iraq, uh, and how there was such, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Powerful connection between two different leaders in two different wars in different places in different times. That's not something I've really heard of before.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe I was an E3 or an E4 by that point, but I picked up the book, uh, Band of Brothers, before ever watching the, the miniseries. I don't even know if it was made at that time yet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I'm reading the book, I like can't put it down. We go there, we're there for 10 days or two weeks or whatever it was on the plane going back to Hawaii and I finish the book and at the end of the book it says,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Watched, I mean I've watched this year, I don't even know how many times I've watched it. Uhm, in OCS, we had to write essays on different episodes from a leadership perspective, leadership lessons, good and bad.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's the only kind of closest thing I can relate to, we're going back and looking at him and his leadership.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I always forget the guy's name, but the guy Ross and friends. Thank you. Um, his, his, uh, flawed leadership, I would say, and the lessons learned from that. And, and as a specialist then, and then a brand new lieutenant, I, I, I have often gone back to those leadership lessons, including the ones of, um, you know, some of the, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, one of the main E6s and, uh, and that was, I had a chance to meet Donnie Walberg at a veterans event and like, I don't, I don't really care about celebrities in general, but I saw he was there. I'm like, I need to go speak to this person about Band of Brothers. And, uh, it was, it was really cool. He's a huge, huge, huge supporter of veterans.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Were you playing a military person yourself or?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I did, uhm, highly, highly recommend. I've had the opportunity to do that a few times, one of which while I was, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We went, we went to the battlefield of Chickamauga, uh, when I was in OCS and we did that as a class. So good. Incredible, bringing history to life and making it relevant, especially, uh, from a leadership perspective that applies whether you're in the military or not. But something I found out pretty cool.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's a show that features different people. In my episode, they also had Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio, but you know, like Oprah, they've had different people on and, and they dig into your genealogy and find stories about


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Your roots, where you come from, who you come from, and I found out that, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To go and, and fight for what he believed in and that I had generations later, not only physically walked through that battlefield where he was, but also chose a similar path.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With my life, and so uhm, it was just, it was, it was, and I've gone back to Gettysburg a few times since, and every single time I go,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, it's an incredibly powerful experience. Incredibly powerful. And to go to the place where, of course, Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Conception in Korea, actually. Conceived in Korea? Conceived in Korea. My dad was a Joe, an army kid. What'd he do? So he had two MOS's, he was, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah, it's like, it's like us, you know, we live, you know, these civilian lives now, but there's always this, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I remember jumping and diving into pools and doing underwater UDT challenges like tying knots. You know, there was no Discovery Channel or there was no representation mainstream of what Navy SEALs did. It was UDT, it was Charlie Sheen and Navy SEALs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I wanted to do that, but I grew up in the water, outdoor fishing, I grew up on a boat. I mean, I think I was out, we probably fished four days a week. What was your dad's civilian job? So he immediately transferred from the military and worked for the Department of Corrections for the state of Florida. So he started doing corrections at an early age.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Doing Con-Op, a concept of the operation plans in briefs, as a 10 year old. I had a toy MP5 and Planet Ops, getting Gucci'd out and geared up, and then doing these like, low-vis operations at night.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The things they weren't potentially doing right. I don't know if it was because I was taught not to judge people and even my family and the circumstance I was in. What I looked at, it was a very adaptive opportunity for me to


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To go to different places, meet different family members, and then have these cool experiences. I mean, I grew up in North Carolina with my cousins.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, running the streets, doing, playing war, uh, shooting BB guns. And then I come back to Florida and then I was hanging out with my dad, fishing outdoors on the beach in the water. And so I, I had a really good childhood. I, despite the problem that was separation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, when I went, so my, obviously my mom and dad are in kind of like, cahoots and competition with each other. Cause they want to have me, you know? And so I'm going back and forth, getting spoiled in separate ways. But I remember actually a summer of like, when I was 12 or 13, my mom trying to convince me that hey,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She had three kids at the time. And then it's an allocation of resources, right? When you have three new children in the home, you don't get taken care of like you used to. And so I was like, yeah, maybe I want to give my mom a chance and live with my mom and it's a good situation. So I just said, dad, I'm just going to live with my mom. And he was, I remember painfully,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I live with my mom and then, you know, in North Carolina and, uh, and she wasn't, she wasn't wealthy at all. She was an entrepreneur, small business, beauty salon. We were struggling. I thought it was going to be like, oh, this is cool because my mom buys me crap all the time. My dad never buys me stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so I went into that opportunity and realized, hey, I mean me and my mom are gonna have to fend for ourselves. Was she with another guy at this point? She was. She was with my stepdad. She eventually met my stepdad at 15.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, she had a boyfriend at the time, uh, named Alex. He was a good dude that she had met in Germany, had brought her over. Uhm, but she was trying to find her way. I mean, I don't even think, and this is, this is, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, honest reflection, I don't think I had shoes until I was like 14. Like I had flip flops. It was like, she didn't have a car until I was 15. Uhm, because she couldn't afford a car. So we didn't have a lot of things that were basics because she was grinding as an entrepreneur.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But that taught me more about life moving forward, being adaptive, and eventually becoming a military leader. I think a lot of those experiences come from that.


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[Assistant] What happens when you die? I remember, I actually, I remember this thought because it stuck with me. I said to myself in my head, I said, wait a minute, if


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[Assistant] If, uh, God's Jesus' father, then who's God's father? And there's this void in my brain. I'm like, oh my God, I can't figure this out. And I remember being distraught. And so religion kind of brought that together for me. So I grew up like a Christian, non-denominational.


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[Assistant] And was taught a lot of values that way. Also my dad's a military minded guy. So discipline, integrity, honor, all those things were instilled at me at a young age too.


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[Assistant] Yeah, good question. I, I never been asked that, but specifically I know the exact moment. Uhm, I was on my, the steps of my grandma's house in Daytona Beach, and my uncle, who was still active Navy, had just come back from, uhm, being on the water, in the fleet.


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[Assistant] And I was talking to him about being a Navy SEAL and he said, listen, I know you're torn between the two. Do you want to be a Green Beret? Do you want to be a Navy SEAL? And for a kid, it's like, it's a choice, but you don't realize the progress that you have to go through. And so I'm like,


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[Assistant] So what happens if I fail? As in, if I go to selection and, alright, go to Bud's, if I fail, what happens? He goes, you're mopping a deck. Forever. He goes, and then he told me about the whole recruitment thing. He actually tried out for Bud's and didn't make it when he was young in the Navy.


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[Assistant] And he said, hey, there's a whole bunch of guys I serve with that didn't make it. That fill all the slots in the Navy that nobody else wants to do. And I'm like,


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[Assistant] So what happens if I'm in the army, and then my dad was there to educate me, he says, listen,


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[Assistant] You can be an airborne ranger. You pass ranger school. You go to selection. You don't make it. You're still an airborne ranger. Combat arms. And I'm like, well I just want to be in the fight. And I made the decision right there in that moment was like, okay, let me see the path that leads me to be a special forces guy. When I was 10 years old, I made a bet with my dad that I was going to be a green beret. Damn. Bet I'm an MP5.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You train up for that job before you, well you used to, right? You used to train up for that job. Yeah. So then...


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[Assistant] Yeaah, I went to infantry boot camp, went to Sand Hill, became an 11 Bravo. I actually signed up to be an airborne ranger, an option 40 contract, which is known as the option to go to ranger battalion.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I was, so I was set to go to battalion. But what I signed up for as an MOS was called 11 X-ray. An 11 X-ray is similar to the 18 X-ray, where the X stands for they fill the gap. They decide what they want to make you.


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[Assistant] So back in the day, it's not like this now, but back in the day there was four different specialties in the infantry. Eleven Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Mike. And uh, or not Mike, not Delta, but Mike. And Hotel.


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[Assistant] So, if you are a Love and Bravo infantryman, if you're a Charlie Mortarman, if you're a Mike Mc- heavy-willed, um, mechanized vehicles, if you're a hotel, heavy armor, like riding on Humvees.


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[Assistant] So basically an infantryman with different skill sets. Well, when I got there, the way they selected us and grouped us was based on where we were standing. So they said, hey, you guys in a group, you're going to be bravos.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, they made me an, uh, 11 hotel. And so I'm like, okay, so I'm an infantry guy that drives and Humvee shoots 50 cows and tow missiles. Cool. Let's do this. At the end of basic training where they transition you and they go to AIT where you get your advanced training.


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[Assistant] Uhm, they s- they're supposed to have a RIP brief, a Ranger Doctrination Program brief.


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[Assistant] So the RIP instructor comes and I'm like, what's going on here? Like he's not talking to us, he's talking to the Bravos and the Charlies. Like why isn't he talking to us?


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[Assistant] Don't even think anything about it, because I'm like, I'm a E1, I don't even have a rank, right? And so, no, no foot to stand on, so we go through the training, and at the end, they go, hey Mike, you're going to Fort Lewis, Washington to an infantry unit. And I'm like,


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[Assistant] I have a ranger contract, airborne ranger contract.


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[Assistant] My uncle was a sergeant major in the 18th Airborne Corps. Big division of, uh, airborne infantry units. So I call him during my little break and like, this is what happened.


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[Assistant] So he gets this, you know, long story short, he gets this connection where this old guard recruiter comes in. And I'm in a room, like similar to this.


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[Assistant] And they're like, I know your uncle, I'm gonna hook you up. Like literally the guy says it to me is the E5. And he's the recruiter for the old guard, the third infantry regiment, right? I don't even know what the hell the old guard is.


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[Assistant] I'm like, okay, what do I gotta do? And a civilian comes in, and he looks at my orders, he says, give me your orders. And he looks at it, and my MOS says 11 Hotel. He literally takes a pen and scratches out 11 Hotel, writes 11 Bravo, and then signs his initials.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Instant 11 Bravo. And I'm like, oh. And I'm like, okay, so am I going to battalion? He goes, well, first we can't do that. We have to send you to the old guard because that's part of this deal.


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[Assistant] So I get the old guard, no idea what the old guard is, and long story short, they're the ceremonial unit of the U.S. military. They do all the full honor funerals, the state dignitary escorts, all the stuff I did not want to do. Uhm, I had to take advantage of my time. This is pre-GWAT. So I'm like-


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[Assistant] Ninety-seven. Ninety-seven. Ninety-seven. So I get there and, you know, luckily for my, uh, circumstance, my uncle is very well known in these units. He, he served as a platoon sergeant, does a storm.


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[Assistant] Uh, he's just a popular character in the infantry in this, in these particular units. And the old guard for infantry guys is like a break. Yeah, you go to Korea, you go to the 82nd and then you go to the old guard to take a break.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I get there, E1, don't know anything, and I realize it's not the place that I want to be, but I have to take advantage of my time. So I head on a trajectory to focus on setting myself up for success to be the best version of Special Forces, uhm, that I could be. And so that's where that journey began.


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[Assistant] The Marine Sniper, uhm, all these books, John Plaster, Mac Vsauk, John Stryker's stories, all these stories I was digesting and absorbing. I even stole, in basic training, a book called Commandos.


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[Assistant] That was a paperback book from the drill sergeant's pool table hall while I was doing KP, while I was cleaning crap up.


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[Assistant] And because I was like, I want to digest this. I was like hiding doing that stuff. And so I had an understanding of what it took in discipline, but I had no idea because I didn't get any intel.


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[Assistant] As I got into the infantry, I, I maximized my time. I trained up for Ranger school. I went to Ranger school as an 18 year old, PFC, a private first class. I went to airborne school.


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[Assistant] How'd you get it? So there's a, there's tryouts. Most infantry units run what's called pre-ranger. And people think, hey, you raise your hand, you get a slot. That's not true. For battalion, it's a requirement so they get the majority of the slots. If you're a regular infantry unit,


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[Assistant] Uhm, it was a rucksack, it was a, you know, a ruck march, 12 miles in time, it was land navigation, it was a common core task, it was patrolling.


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[Assistant] The number one thing that's gonna make you successful isn't your physical fitness in ranger school, it's your ability to lead. And so as a young 18 year old at the time, uhm, I'm navigating this problem set.


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[Assistant] Hey, PFC Glover, give a warn-o, give a con-op, and I'm like, oh, like I have to brief this. So planning, uhm, and then executing that raid was a reflection of your probability of success in Rainier School. So I was successful.


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[Assistant] And in my infantry company, the only people Ranger qualified was me as a PFC and my first sergeant who was a senior, uh, E8 in the, in the army. So it was back then, it was rare. I was rare to have a Ranger tab on your uniform. How was Ranger school?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Kicking the balls. Kicking the balls. Uhm, fear was the, uhm, the thing that I had to overcome. It was the most difficult thing that I had to overcome. I remember like the night before Ranger School. Fear. I'm assuming fear of failure. Fear of failure. Absolutely. And uhm,


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[Assistant] I had a low body fat, high physical fitness score.


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[Assistant] And when I got there, I realized very quickly it wasn't about that. It was a, that's a, the ranger assessment part of ranger school is relatively easy. I mean it's, we're talking 8 minute mile pace, 5 miles, 40 minutes. We're talking about basic push-ups, sit-ups and running and pull-ups and basic stuff. Really quickly you start deteriorating because you're not eating.


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[Assistant] Uh, you're averaging about one MRE a day when I went during winter time. And you're averaging about three and a half hours of sleep.


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[Assistant] Yeaah, it's uhm, you know, when I went to Rainer's school as a very young kid,


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[Assistant] Uhm, I didn't know what to expect and then it's sink or swim. You either step up to the plate and you're prepared to be, look there's the characteristics of being successful in ranger school aren't that difficult. But being a clear, concise, decisive leader, uhm, under stress is super important. And I saw, and, and for, for


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, comparably to all my peers, which weren't peers, I'm talking about second lieutenants that just graduated IOBC, infantry officer basic course, navy seals, green berets, like these are guys that I highly respect.


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[Assistant] So it was a whole plethora, like a melting pot of a whole bunch of different backgrounds. And I realized when you took away food, when you took away sleep, when you broke everybody down, we were on this equal plane. And so the very minimal characteristics that you needed to be successful and to shine were not that difficult. And so I saw people


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Those people that sunk were just, they couldn't make decisions. And then when they got stressed, which they'd never been tested in stress, they couldn't do basic skillsets right.


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[Assistant] So, Ranger School, they give you the formula, and here's the con op, here's the five paragraph op order, here's how you execute a raid. Just follow that step by step, and you'll be successful. And I realized how analytic that was, and so I just needed to get through and check the block, and get it done.


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[Assistant] Because they started falling apart. I mean I saw guys who were beef, uhm, beefy dudes who were jacked, who were strong.


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[Assistant] And they were getting broken down the most because they couldn't handle the deprivation of sleep and food. And when, when I saw that as a young man, as a young leader, it changed my entire perspective on life. Like it re-prioritized the hierarchy of things that I thought were important. And I'm like, that's not important. Like eating,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Eating and sleeping in the field to be able to conduct an operation are now the new priorities for me taking care of my guys. So I came out of that as a very young leader who wasn't even a, I was an informal leader. I wasn't even a designated leader. And that shaped me to become the leader that I would become.


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[Assistant] Everything from technical to very cognitive decisions that had to be made in adapting to change rapidly. So, in Ranger school you get a set mission, which is based off your con-up that you plan. It's a deliberate mission set, contingency based mission set.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You go in the field with that, and then after that it's all fragos. It's fragmentation orders of the mission's changing, we're doing this. And mostly it had to do with the adaptability of adapting to rapid change. Hey guys, this just happened, now you have to adapt, what are you gonna do?


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[Assistant] That broke down and like just quit.


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[Assistant] Cause when you get to that state where you can't function mentally, what's gonna get you through that? And typically it's grit, it's resolve, it's digging deep, and some of those guys never found that. And even though they were tested and they had an opportunity, they never found it. So when we came out of the field, the greatest thing about Reinder School is you're judged by your peers.


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[Assistant] You, you write down on a piece of paper, right at the vid, like the second you come out of the field, you're smoked out of your mind, they put you in a classroom, they sit you down with a piece of paper, and they say write down,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that's, that's super impactful for a young man being told


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[Assistant] That they would be left behind by the majority of their peers. That's, I mean, it's super impactful because it's like, hey man, adapt, change, do some self-reflection or fail and just be that guy for the rest of your life. That right there set the precedence for everything moving forward.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you get peered and it's becoming a routine out of the field, you'll immediately get recycled. So a recycle isn't just like going back to the beginning of that phase. It's potentially going back to the beginning of Rainier School. So now you're talking about


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[Assistant] When I went to Ranger School it was 70 plus days, it was a couple months. Three different phases when I went. Darby, uhm, which is in the, uh, Fort Benning in Sandhill.


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[Assistant] She failed every phase. She got to the last phase and failed. And they said, you failed. So here's your options. You can knock down, like it was a weird thing, like knock out these pushups because we gotta assess if you're physically fit to go ahead and go forward. If you don't knock them out and you can't meet that standard right now, you're done.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're gonna recycle you to the very beginning. So she was in range school for like a year.


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[Assistant] Like, sustain combat operations and sleep and food deprive for like a year, and I can't imagine, but that was your options. It's either, again, it's either sink or swim. You have an opportunity to succeed and change the way you look at yourself, which I think is the most impactful, that they give you that opportunity, or continue to be that guy, and then just get shit can.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And one of the things that I think is important about the ranger tab and the experience is you're creating combat leaders represented by a tab.


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[Assistant] Now, uhm, now we don't wear tabs necessarily all over the place because we're in different uniforms. But when you saw that tab, you understood that that guy was capable as a leader in combat. And it told a lot.


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[Assistant] So, a lot of the times, especially with the officers who come out of IOBC, they're brand new 22 year old second lieutenants, they'll give them the opportunity.


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[Assistant] And they'll say, hey, these are the fixes, fix this, if you don't fix it, you're gonna fail. You report to your first duty station as an infantry officer without a Ranger tab, forget about it. Your career field, you might as well just get out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You have an opportunity. They'll give you some feedback and they expect to see you.


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[Assistant] Uhm, take that opportunity. You might not get another opportunity based on the cycle of getting patrols, which just means they're gonna recycle. And you'll get another chance, uh, a month and a half later. Cause that's how long it takes to get through it again. What's the attrition rate at Ranger School? It's pretty high. It's about 80%.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And at the time, uhm, and still at that unit, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was the most difficult, it's probably the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life to be honest. Selections and special operations comparatively were a walk in the park compared to what that was. I went there.


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[Assistant] The army's been guarding the Tomb of the Unknowns since the fifties. It's been around since the interment of the World War I Unknowns.


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[Assistant] And it was an honor. It was something that was going to build me and set me up for success leading into, uh, potentially battalion or special forces. And so I took the opportunity. I went and tried out. How long is the tryout?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, you typically do a two week tryout. It's called TDY. They just, they TDY you to the tune. You do a whole bunch of assessments and then they go, you're good enough or you're not to continue to select and try. And that's a seven and a nine month process.


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[Assistant] It's a suckfest, man. It's a suckfest. I mean, it's the most difficult thing I've done, but the most honorable responsibility I've been given in the military. So the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers have been guarded by the Army since the 40s.


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[Assistant] They guard the tomb 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And that rotation takes place in 3 release based on height. First being the tall, second being the mid, mid guys, and third being the shortest. Minimum 6 feet tall.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you typically guard, if you're a guard, you have your badge during the summertime, seven walks a day, uh, 30 minute walks with a seven minute guard change, and then about two to four hours of guard rotations at night. At night, we don't do it in ceremony uniform.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so you build this culture around paying attention to every single facet of your military uniform, even your life, even your personal life, of being squared away. So, I did that job and uhm, you know, painful to be a new guy doing that job.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They have a culture where you earn a walk. You don't just get a walk. You have to earn that walk. So you have to earn it by understanding knowledge. You have to verbatim memorize 28 pages of knowledge about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the history of Arlington National Cemetery. Cause you're a representative. You're like, you can go down to do a tomb guard walk in front of 3000 people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Come inside the quarters, change, and go out three minutes later and communicate the Tomb of the Unknowns and what it represents to the US military.


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[Assistant] I remember my first walk was in front of 3,000 people at 12 o'clock noon. CNN, Fox News, cameras were in my face. I remember hearing, standing at Port Arms, hearing the bayonet rattle on my weapon. Cause you were freaking nervous? Cause I was nervous. I was standing in front, I mean, I'm looking through aviator glasses that are in my peripheral.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No. You're doing all the guard walks where there's nobody watching you. Early morning, late afternoon and everything at night. I even did what's called a vigil because I wanted to get the hell away from the guys. I didn't want to get hazed and abused. I did vigils where I would work all day and so I'm


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Helping prep the guards uniforms doing early morning, late afternoon walks and then at night.


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[Assistant] I'm taking when the cemetery closes at seven PM until seven in the morning, standing guard for 12 hours straight, no sleep and guarding just to get away from the guys. I was like breaking records of doing that. I was like doing 21 visuals back to back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The tomb guard badge is, is very, um, much protected by the tomb guard badge protectors. And so they don't want the right guys there, uh, or the wrong guys there. They want the right guys and they, they want to make sure you earn it. And I did. And back then, you know, hazing.


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[Assistant] Uhm, we come from the military where hazing was normal. I mean if you weren't hazed, you didn't feel like you were loved. Like I got my EIB, my airborne wings, my halo wings punched into my chest. My every rink punched into my collarbone, into the bone. Uhm, and that was just the universe we evolved in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was very much the case. Everything from running through the cemetery trying to find


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, inscriptions of, of specific people, getting smoked to death, low crawling across, you know, face down in the lawn, getting, you know, getting smoked. Uhm, just routine hazing to make sure, hey, this is a, we're testing to evaluate you constantly if you want to be here. And it's something that I guess is handed down in tradition.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Reading verbatim the 28 pages of knowledge, uh, with no errors, being perfect, and a written test, all kinds of stuff, and then you get your badge pinned, and, you know, I'm badge 4-7-0 out of probably about, uh, almost 600 badges today.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not long, I did it for about a year and a half afterwards, and then...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, but it's not what I wanted to do in the military. Man, I, I, you know, one thing we had to do is maintain our, uhm, common core skill sets. So, we would come out of the field and those three days down, we'd do med training, we'd do raids, patrolling.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And immediately I started making phone calls and they're like, you ain't doing nothing, man. Nothing's going on with us right now. Standby to standby. And I'm like, I have to make moves. So I started reaching out to recruiters and very rapidly got back in the military.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It went straight to selection. It went straight to green braces. Was it hard to get to go straight to selection? There must have been lines out the door at that point. Impossible. I was a-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was a 20 year old E5. I mean I made sergeant at 20 years old. Airborne ranger qualified with a tomb guard badge. And when I showed up to the recruiter, he looked at me like I was a 16 year old kid who wanted to play army. And I was like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is this not a thing? And at that time, they hadn't even worked out this whole thing where guys who were prior servers come back in and serve. And I'm like, dude, I just got out last week. And he's like, sorry man, you gotta start over. And so I'm duck walking, barefoot, with a whole bunch of teenagers, uhm, trying to get back in the army.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Very beginning. I mean I didn't have to go to basic AIT, I had a ranger tab so I didn't have to do any of that stuff. But I had to go back through the army and processing system called 30th AG. From the beginning. I mean I'm duck walking and I actually went to the recruiting station


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I remember they brought us in the room and like everybody stripped down and guys are looking at me in, I'm battle dressed uniform stripping down and they're like, what is this dude doing? Like isn't he a recruiter? Like what is happening? And I'm, I'm, you know, in my boxer briefs like everybody else, duck walking, doing all my little drills to get back in the army.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is there a probability that he's gonna be successful? Let's evaluate him in land nav, let's ruck him, let's PT him, and if he's good, we'll give him a slot. So that's prep you just said? Prep. It's basically the preparation for


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Giving guys slots to go to selection, because they just don't want to throw you into selection and have you fail. They're setting you up for success. And so I quickly evaluated and they're like, hey, this dude's ready, let's send him now. How long is that little evaluation?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, weeding people out. Yeah. And seeing, making sure you want to be there. Yeah, I mean.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The long range movement is what gets everybody. It's the land navigation leading into a long range movement where they assess your ability as an individual.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Land F. It's our tritter. It's like you guys' water, we use land. And uhm, hey, can you hump for a long period of time, duration, day, night, and keep moving? And can you find your points?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, where your body starts to warm up and everything hurts and then you start moving. I, I've always been a good rucker. That's always been my strength. And so I'd never had a hard time with rucking. My feet were hard. My back was good. So I didn't have a difficult time with, with selection.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Six ten to ten kilometers per movement per gate. Uhm, so, you know, it depends. Like, you start that whole entire process. Here's the philosophy behind it is,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're gonna start moving you and get you on your feet. And then we'll give you an 18 miler to 20. I think the average is a 20 something plus miler. And so you're broke when you start. And then we'll move you for a long period of time and see. It's all a test on preparation by the way.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It has nothing to do with the actual assessments. It has everything to measure whether or not you prepared in advance. And so what they want is the guys who prepared in advance. And so at one point,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, for the long range movement, which is 30, probably 30 plus miles, uh, over a period of 24, 48 hours, you're nonstop moving. And if you bed down for a period of time and you sit down, eat chow and rack out and you're not timing yourself appropriately, you just fail. And so you have to meet these gates, but it's all.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That independence and setting off with no destination in mind. Hey students, I want you to get ready, get your ruck on. We're gonna move until we tell you to stop.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That immediately destroys people's mindset out the gate. Cause they're like, what do you mean? So they go out the gate, they start spreading and they don't pace themselves and they burn themselves out. Or...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They're so insecure with the circumstance, they impose, they self-induce all the stress, and then they quit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you're like, you're self-selecting because you don't have the exact parameters of what you're gonna be doing. That's how war is. I mean, war is, hey, we might be flexing all night. We might be flexing all year. Who knows? And that uncertainty in a lot of people breaks people down.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When they ring out or whatever, what do they do? How do you quit in selection? So, uh, in selection, uh, in periods of time you go back to your barracks and when I went to selection it was a piece of plywood, no pillow, and you have a bunk that has no pad, nothing, nothing comfortable.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You'll go to, you go to sleep in the morning and you'll wake up and half of your entire crew that you went to bed with is gone. And you're like, what? And so what people are doing is getting up, they're leaving, knocking on the hut and this self-select, like literally saying, I'm done. I'm out. You have to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's a big deal. Yeah, I think part of the you know, like you say discipline is freedom part of that freedom is control that you have self-control


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you understand what you have to do to be disciplined, to make gates, to meet time hacks, then you have control. You're offensive. You're thinking proactively. And a lot of guys don't have the discipline to do that. It's, it's, it's, it's, uh, real crazy to see that something so simple, a task,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So common core can weed the masses and evaluate who's going to succeed with a combination of aptitude and discipline versus who's not.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you get through selection and then you hit the Q course? Hit the Q course as a 18 Bravo Special Forces weapons guy, uhm, going to 3rd Special Forces group.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Robin Sage, which is an exercise, basically living unconventional warfare, in an environment which is Rockingham, North Carolina, the surrounding area, where all the civilians are subcontractors and bought into this whole thing, this elaborate scenario, was so impactful for me. I mean, it's crazy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it's by, with, through, it's foreign internal defense. Uhm, it's been newly coined counter-terrorism, foreign internal defense based on the wars that we're in now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But it's the idea of, you have to build relationships and rapport with indigenous people, with forces. You just can't go and do deliberate actions only. You know, SR, DA, HR.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Those things are complementary to a strategic plan. The strategy is we have to win the hearts and minds. So, when I went to Robin Sage, you had west pointers, like junior west pointers. We had, uh, role players from the military.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That are interweaved in this scenario where you can't just go into this circumstance and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You have to break bread with them. You have to drink tea with them. You have to learn about their family and build this relationship because you have to trust these guys on target. And so that's what I really took away from Robin Sage was this opportunity to learn and grow in culture and then build that relationship which meant


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're building a bond where we could fight side by side in the with portion of it and find a fix and finish these bad guys together, empowering the host nation that we're doing warfare with that. That's super important because of the translation of going into, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] End of war was exactly that with the circumstance of Afghanistan at the time. And you know, like I, one of the scenarios I built conduit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Dude, what's going on? Like, what are we doing right now? Are we just, are we actually just doing a tasking and just hooking this dude up because it's, we got tasks to do this? And then at the end of that six hours, we heard a noise and I'm like, it's all coming together.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, uh. How long is the survival school? It's pretty long. I mean, it's probably a few weeks when I went through was like a escape, like a survival block.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it's C or C, the high-risk C version, which you guys have gone through. And then, you know, you escape, you evade, and then you go into the RTL and just get your ass handed to you. And again, you learn very rapidly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I dealt fine with it. I mean, I grew up fighting. I grew up in martial arts. I grew up doing all these things.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it was gangster. We were doing stuff. Like my mom once.