[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Aircraft that was smoother and it was a Bravo model instead of a charter model and it's faster and, I mean, who gives a crap? You just go fly, you know. And that's what we did. We didn't have our name on the aircraft.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's top gun crap, you know. We didn't put you, I, you know, I, I'll tell a joke. I, I, when I became maintenance officer of VT3, I was a boot lieutenant commander, unfortunately.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we had 400 airplanes and we were starting to downsize taking these old Charlie models that were made for carrier landings and they were all beat up from hard landings and they were towing them over and scrapping them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, my assistant maintenance officer's a guy named Russ Combs, great guy, and he's, he's, boss, you're my new boss, you're gonna put your name on one of these airplanes. I said, you put my name on one of those airplanes, Combs, and I will break every bone in your body. Don't you do it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, one day I get, I come back from a flight and he says, uh, I got your plane parked up in front, sir, did you see it? And I said,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, pretty soon I get a phone call from a guy saying, hey, I was just in the Navy Leaves Museum and your airplane's in there. They took that plane just at random.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And reworked that Charlie model and put it in the museum. And they left my name on it. The museum down in Pensacola? Yea. But I think it's gone. I couldn't find it last time. And thank God for that. But, uh, anyway. No, we didn't want, we didn't care what we flew. We were going flying.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let Tom Cruise get his name on something. We did have nicknames for each other, and I can't tell you John's real nickname, because his family's gonna see this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I remember going to R&R and I didn't go to R&R until like in my 11th month. I didn't want to miss out on flying, that's terrible. I'm awful, flight hog, that's what they used to call me. That was a nice name they called me, but.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We got, I remember we flying over to Honolulu, gonna meet my wife, my then wife then, she liked me then, and, uh, see girls, I mentioned your mom, and so, uh, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You guys are all chatty and all excited and we get on this old bus and we're going, they're taking us to Fort Jerusi there on Waikiki and all the women are all lined up and as we drive through


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alan Moana would drive past the park and everything as we're going to Fort Jerusi. You could hear a pin drop on that bus. All that chatter all of a sudden had died and guys were all agape because women weren't wearing bras. We'd never seen that. And men had a ponytail longer than mine. And


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They looked funny, they had beards and they wore funny tie-dyed tie stuff I'd never seen. So in 10 months, I didn't recognize where I honestly I was in shock and I also remember


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know what the hell I was doing, but we went to a movie in Honolulu one of the times, and it was the movie version of MASH.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I was so offended by the disrespect for officers in the military, I got up and walked out in about ten minutes. Wouldn't stay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's funny how, you know, so offended, and, and, and then, when you mention that, I remember going in, and this is 1970, going in, leaving, saying goodbye to people, and they're all gung ho rah rah. But when I came back, same guys were, was it really bad? No. Oh.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Gee, kill babies over there? No. But some of that stuff. Even 50 years later in my living room, one of my relatives asked, told me, Gee Carl, I didn't know you were in Vietnam.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah. Oh. Well, were you, what she used term, what term did she use?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Made a derogatory term, she said. Whatever it was. Were you disappointed or were you ashamed or whatever she said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I said, no. Matter of fact, I wasn't. My son-in-law has given me the cut side because it's his step-mom and he doesn't want me to blow her away with my fire and fury. But I didn't. I restrained. And I said, matter of fact,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know anybody that I serve with who feels that way. Matter of fact,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And this is interesting. Guy, friends of mine that didn't serve and didn't go to Vietnam


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've yet to meet one and talk to one who's not sorry they didn't. And I've yet to meet one who served that was sorry they did. So that's my little world, I guess. That's the people I hang around. I hang around mostly good people, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I read a book one time, I had to give a speech, I was asked to, reluctantly of course I did, to give a speech on memorial day. Did it come out of your shell for that? Yea, I did for that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's a cemetery in a little town of Gridley, California, up north of Sacramento, about an hour. And they've got a, really a mini Arlington in the back. And I was really overcome. It was neat. Didn't know this, but I don't know how they know, but supposedly the first sailor killed in the Pearl Harbor attack was from


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Gridley, California. Now I don't know how they decided who got killed first. That was the conflagration, but they did. And so they built it around that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they have a celebration every year. Well, I met the manager because a friend of mine was on the board of directors. I thought, the board of directors of a cemetery? What do you do? Fight over a sponsor? I mean, what do you need a board for that for? A lottery for a platter? Anyway.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I met her, nice lady, gauging, she says, you know, you served, nothing like I did, and she says, we need a speaker. This was like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] November, I said. When? She says, oh, it may, uh, Memorial Day.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I mean, I'm busy. I was farming those days. I was raising olives for olive oil. 500 acres, that's how to stick your toe in the water. Your good toe. And so, so, I got this, I got this thing, oh god, how long do we need to talk? She said, whatever you want. I said, realistically. She said, 20 minutes. I said, okay. And I said,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, do you want to read this piece before I give it? Because, you know, I don't want to be cut. No, she says, whatever you want.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I started reading books and kind of going through stuff and I read a book that was pretty neat and well, it was well, uh, documented and well referenced at all the pages and it was written by a guy named B.G. Burkett and the book is called, uh, Stolen Valor and about guys who


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If I ask you what percentage of men volunteered for Vietnam, what would you say? John?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know, 10%. 76% according to this research, okay? Oh, really?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, a big number. And a big number, not only volunteered, but, but, you know, it was a lot of shocking things about drugs and, you know, people say, gee, you're in Vietnam, you must have had a problem with drugs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It might have been some of those guys chasing women with binum t's and Saigon, I don't know, but we didn't have any women to chase where I was, and uh, just a bunch of butt ugly guys, so there we go.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My opening line of my speech on, and by the way, I walked, I went to, thank God I put a suit on, but I went to give that speech on Memorial Day in Gridley 2005, I think was a year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My daughters dropped me off and I said, I gotta walk and do this thing, you don't have to stay. And I walked past this big hedge and this big mini Arlington, they had 500 people in there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they had every miss whatever county singing a song and they had a flyover from, from the air base in Sacramento and they had even had a guy from World War I who could barely walk in his uniform and, uh, I mean, and they had an honor guard there and she called it out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She called it a firing squad, but it is an honor guard. So uhm, and I remember my opening line and I'll end with that was the last


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Battle of the Vietnam War was fought and won by the swift boat veterans against John Kerry. And people got on their feet and clapped. That's what kind of crowd I had. How's that for change in the country? Amazing. So that's coming a long way from 1970.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We had some, we had, with the SEAL themes, we had some exciting ones. Most of them were at night, but that was a broad daylight one. And when, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The ONC of Zulu came to me the night before and we sat down and he mentioned about communication. We, we live, we live within 50, 75 yards of those guys and so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, we'd pre-brief the night before and talk about, you know, where they're going. And most of the time, you know, they didn't, it wasn't daylight, it was a night op and we would stand ready to scramble if they got in trouble.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some supplies or equipment or ammo or something that was north of our, of our base. Probably, you know, maybe 50 clicks, I'm not sure, 20 clicks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, we briefed it, and what he was gonna do, and he had a, had a Sea Lord Slick coming, Ed Dyer was flying that, as you mentioned, and, uh, Ed was a former fireteam leader up at Det 9, well experienced, understood fireteam tactics and so forth. And, uh, so, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We briefed it and so forth and we took off and, uh, and, uh, my co-pilot, my, my, uh, co-pilot was Earl and he was well experienced, ready, Earl was ready to be, I think he was about this far from aircraft commander and obviously was a very successful fire team leader, retired as a Navy captain, hell of a guy. And, uh, but our, but my wingman, uhm, to go unnamed was questionable.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, but we put him with a new, with a newer co-pilot who was a pretty solid guy. So we always tried to put a solid co-pilot with a pilot, maybe not all pilots are aces, the base is like John, but some guys, there are some guys who are good guys, but they, you know, God didn't give them those skills. So that's a fact. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I knew my wingman was questionable, we briefed off the op and what we were going to do, we were going to escort the slick in and, and, uh, and I would, I would lead the, we'd lead it into the LZ, into the landing zone, I'd lead it in and I decided it was going to be a


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was going to be a break left because I wanted the right door, it was Mike Dobson, going to be the outside of the circle. We would go down to about 100 feet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or less. And circle low orbit while the seals exit the slick and cover them. We literally lay cover fire down, not wait for any fire. And, uh, and then once they're all out and clear and in position, and the slick wanted to pull pitch, and he would call and warn me, we would escort him out. I'd lead him out, the wing would follow him out. Well, as I made my turn,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I'm looking across Earl, I made a, I made a left hand turn, so I'm looking across my co-pilot and I'm saying, Earl, do you see, see Wolf, whatever his number was? I know his number, but I'm not saying it. No.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Call him. Stay on the radio and find him. Meantime, I got a SEAL team on the ground. I've got an escort to slick out. And my wingman's missing. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He had to be shot down or had a mechanical failure or something, but I ended up trying to raise him. Earl's trying to raise him. I'm communicating with Dyer. We get Dyer out. We get him over to a safety area at altitude where he can orbit and wait until we need him. Cause they gotta come out sometime. So meantime, we're calling for my wingman. He's not answering. No answer. Can't find him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, then I get a call from Tom Richards, and Tom's on the ground, and he said, uhm, when you're flying over here, did you, did you see


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, after you put your strike in, you want to put a strike in, I put a strike in. Single-ship, which is against squadron policy. Just single-ship strikes because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, but I had no choice. Obviously, that guy's on the ground. And they were taking fire. We were taking fire on the way in and on the way out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So it was pretty, they were, they were not happy folks on the ground there, the bad guys. So, uhm, Tom asked, you know, do you see anybody? I said,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After I put the strike in, I said, yeah, I got it, I got it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] 10, 12 guys dead there, and we, and, uh, what else you see? And I says, there was a big dike, they were on it, they were on, the dikes were kind of running, uh, east-west, and they were flooded, and they were little dikes, and there was a great big dike, and beyond that a tree line,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that's where the fire was coming from was from behind the big dike and the tree line. Well, we knocked out that big dike pretty quickly, but the tree line.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We had a hard time stopping the fire and we laced it pretty good. I mean Earl lost the mini gun up and down there many times. Uh, but I'm starting to get concerned about conserving my ammo and making sure, making sure it counts. And we got to find my, but I couldn't worry about those four guys that were in my trail ship. And I lost them, but I had six seals on the ground.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My own four guys and four guys on the other airplane of dyers. So, you know, we got 14 guys I gotta worry about of my own before I worry about four more.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And all of a sudden, uh, and Tom and I were talking and all of a sudden, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They started taking heavy fire and, and I, uh, I didn't know who it was, but it was Grant Telford that went down.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He took a round in one leg and it went up and missed the family of jewels and went down the other leg. You may have heard about that. And he survived it. No femoral artery puncture. I mean, he could have been gone right there. And those wounds, there was a guy shot in the chest. I'm not sure which guy. There was a guy shot in the lower abdomen.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, Tom was hitting the hand and just, just.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Disabled his weapon, and, uh, and I'm talking to Tom, and it was obvious to me, I'm sitting there low level.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm doing pedal turns, literally the aircraft, and you know what happens when you're going slow, you get the treating blade stall it's called, and the aircraft starts kind of bucking. But I did that because I wanted to have a flat profile on the aircraft.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So that my right door and my left door and Earl could shoot. Cause we needed every weapon firing. Meantime.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It looks like, you know, and before Tom even asked for extraction, I could see that they were in extremis. Absolutely. More than I'd ever seen on any mission. Guys in trouble, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and I, and I, in my haste I mentioned there, I forgot the first part of the story. On the way in,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm in front, Ed's in the middle and my trail shift behind and we're transiting up in about 10 clicks short of the LZ.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The kid sitting on the, I think it was the right side of the aircraft, got hit in the shoulder, a radio man got hit in the right shoulder.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, and that happens when you're flying in a hostile area. So we turned around and flew back. We went back, landed, got the kids some medical help.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Tom wasn't even, Tom Richards wasn't even part of the operation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Telfer said, let's go back. I said, okay, I'll cover you. And he says, and Richard says, I'll go. And, and I know that a couple guys, uh, and I'm not sure, I won't use their names, but a couple other, Seals said don't, but they wanted to go, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Tom hops in and off we went, but the story got kind of muffled over 50 years because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The guys got wounded, went to Third Surge, went home, they were at the end of their tour. Most of them had already packed up all their stuff, except for their favorite weapon. So we never debriefed it. Ever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, come back to the mission here. We got loaded, got Tom on board, and off we went back again. Now, the story over the years, I remember


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hearing from other SEALs, well, you guys went to the LZ and then you went back to the same LZ. That's why they got hit. That's not true. It didn't happen that way. We did not even get to the E's LZ the first time. We didn't even make an approach to it. Because, again, we just got hit transiting the area. So we went back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Inserted. They got in place. I can see I'm coming back to the extremist part.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, and I called Ed in and Ed was already on his way in. And thank God that Ed was a former.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Fireteam leader, he knew the story, he knew how to fly, he had a slick with a lot of power.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, because I was about a quarter of an inch from landing and picking them up myself. Now, that would have been the last possible situation because, as you all know, John, on a hot day, a sea wolf loaded with armament, the probability of you putting six people in and taking off is one percent, if that. If you could even get airborne at all. And, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You have to understand that these UH-1 Bravo's were eight, nine thousand pound airplanes and we had them loaded with fuel and loaded with armament and four people in it and on a hot day we could, sometimes we couldn't even hover.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We had to take off, skip along before we got translational lift. We had to be into the wind and very careful and be smooth. We would say, I'd say to my co-pilot, you want to hold this collective and this stick.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And sometimes you, you hear the RPM start going down at 6000, red light comes on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you get an aural, uuuh. And then you gotta be kicking out boxes of ammo in the river, throwing out your rocket pods and hoping you don't crash. I never did, did you? Nope.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And use the water to push off the air to get translational lift. And so, we were that heavy so I thought crap.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, and I, my guys knew, we may be dumping rockets to the bad guys and a lot of...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We may need to get these people. Well, Ed came in, he got them all.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I didn't see the kid hanging on to the kid, basically. I was busy. We were putting fire in. But, uh, thank God for Tom Richards on that flight. But I did see Tom dragging guys across several levees under fire.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The two guys that weren't wounded did a heck of a job laying down fire and Tom will tell you to cover the extraction of those wounded guys.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, Grant Telfer is lucky to be here in this world. And whenever I see Tom Richards, it never fails.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He hugs me, which is not all that nice, but he thanks me for him being on the green side of grass. Did the same thing at your house last year. Sure did. And, and that's a, that's a, and, and my, my, one of my


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Survived and they got families and most of them, I think all of them got back on active duty. That's a big award. So, my wingman, what happened to my wingman? Didn't answer. Wouldn't answer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So we're escorting the slick back to the base with wounded people, and that's on my mind. I'm calling to get the ambulance down, to get the guys ready and so forth. And, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Earl's still calling him on the radio, no response, and all of a sudden, Dobson says, Sir, Seawolf blank blank just joined up on us. He joined up on us.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, my temperature went to, I don't know, a thousand and we landed and, uh, first of all, we had to get the seals taken care of and they were and, and you know, and you're kind of coming down from a high after that much adrenaline is going.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I talked to their little craft commander and he says, I don't know what happened. We just got stuck in the ground.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's all I'll say, but supposedly they just went, when we were going in low, he just lost it and flew into the ground and got stuck in the mud and couldn't get out. That's the story I get from the copot that's now dead. He passed away and, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] From the crewmen. It is a sad day for seawolves because, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I reported that happening to my ex-o, Dr. Seale with the ex-o, who I knew pretty well. And, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Nothing was done. Pretty embarrassing. If, if, if one of those, I promised the aircraft commander, that was my trail ship, that if one of those seals didn't make it, he, he wasn't gonna make it either, and I meant it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But they all made it. So that's kind of a story that hasn't been told. And when Mike Slattery wrote the, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now again, the guy was suspect. We certainly didn't think he would do that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I'm conflicted by that. One, I want to kill the guy still. On the other hand,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Everybody made it out. Everybody did their job. My four guys, Tom Clavons passed on. Mike Dobson I just saw last week. Earl Shot. I just talked to him a few days ago. He's close to us. Really good guy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On 100% oxygen by the way, COPD problem, but what a guy. He's probably going to outlive us both, John.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Tom's changed a lot of lives. One time he was speaking at a Seawill convention in 2004.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] His finger. He got shot in the finger. But good makes it clever like this, you know. Uh, Tom changed a lot. He's one of the, again, one of the bravest, nicest guys I know. And, uh, it's all because of Jackie, I'm sure. Not mine. Not Tom. And, uh, just a good guy. And happy he's a friend of mine and happy he's here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was at the end of the 20 minutes and that light gets bigger and bigger and at night time it's huge. It's like the sun. Daytime is still pretty damn big.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We were covering SEALS that day and I don't remember what the Pacific operation was. The missions all come together. I remember Mike Slattery asked me on the phone time, uh, how about blah, blah, blah? And I said, you know,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They all kind of blend together. It's hard to separate them out. I remember the Zulu one in detail. I dream about that one and thank God about it every night. Not every night, but most nights.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But we were, we were covering seals and, and Mike Dobson could give you more detail but, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We had to make a call about whether we, we ended up with less fuel than my wingman and we ended up swapping stations and refueling one time to cover back and forth. But we got, I got so low I couldn't go back at the time the seals were already in. We were safe.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, and, uh, it's pretty embarrassing, you think about it. How can you let yourself run out of view? Well,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sometimes you don't have, and you know, the big thing is contamination. You worry about getting fuel contaminated, and, but it worked out okay. We made it. But that was, uh, it takes Mike Dobson to tell the story. He can tell it without any alcohol. He's a better storyteller than I am. Mission focused, for sure.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We got the Lakers, a bunch of hell three guys. What was almost embarrassing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where are your ribbons? I don't know. Where's your log? I know it's in a storage somewhere. But we're, we're, we're at this base and there's a bunch of guys that either dodge to Vietnam or they, let's give them the benefit of the doubt. They just didn't get a chance to go. But they're on the East Coast.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, uh, and there were awards sometimes, awards were following us. There was always quarters and you'd always get another award. And I was like, oh crap, maybe I should take leave. I don't want to get the, and you know, sour grapes and you know, I show up there and I got


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] 11, 1200 hours or whatever and most of those guys got, haven't you made aircraft commander yet? Cause we've been flying our butts off and they've been on a, in most, well,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That is, when I got the liquors, they had ten birds.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He looked like the guy on the Planet of Peanut Chard. And I was a line division officer, I mean I...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was in charge of nothing but a bunch of guys that were yelling at women and I tried to keep them all under control. High school guys, well, I really worked on them, we trained and we got pretty damn good and they looked almost like a troop. Well, there was one bird up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I had them all trained up and I'm watching them from the line shot. On the end, which is on the end, the big blimp anger. And the commander comes out, our CO and he preflights the aircraft and it passed the preflight. Alright.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He climbs in, go up on it, climbs in, it got through the checklist, okay. They plug the power in, start one, start two. Alright! Sounds perfect, everything is good.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They had the guy out here playing captain in front, he had the wands and he's holding the guy short here and so forth. We had a guy who was on the APU there, auxiliary power unit, like a, like a, like a four wheeler.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And he turns, you know, and the CO salutes him, he salutes him, hops back on and drives off, yanks the plug out of the side of the airplane, and sit down.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, John didn't tell you. Tell him what happened. What you didn't tell him was the crew that you replaced what?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The, the guys you replaced, the aircraft.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We had, we were, our planes were starting to drop like flies at that time. And he's going over there with another person. Got to be on your mind, John.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, John admitted the part about, uh,


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[Assistant] About Glenview that's really important and that was, uh, I grabbed a T-28 as an squadron for training squadron for a while and we'd take off Earl and I several times and come one time Earl Shot and I another time got him Tim Zimmer and Zip as he's referred to by some. Zip and I would fly up and we'd go up just


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Staying with John and eating, sleep for free and give him a hard time. But, uh, yeaah, I, I, uh,


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[Assistant] I, uh, was in Lakers there and I, I wasn't sure what I was gonna do. I was still a USNR. I hadn't augmented, but I was thinking about it and, uh, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Steve Schroeder and I were both on track to go into, believe it or not, go into the FBI. Steve actually went in.


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[Assistant] Uh, I didn't. I was, my interviewee, I'll never forget his name, was J. Wallace LaProd. He ended up running the New York office. One of my questions in my interview, I thought it was being fun, I said, well, you got, you know, J. Edgar Hoover, and you got J. Wallace LaProd, and would I be


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[Assistant] But he's a good guy afterwards. He said that was funny. But, so it came down to go back to school or teach or whatever. So, but I, I went down, was a flight instructor, went to the west coast, did HSL 35, uh, uh,


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[Assistant] I got picked up early for Lieutenant Commander, Commander did my last tour on Opel 5, uh, I got offered a job by a guy on a ship, my last cruise and my wife, who at that time and


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[Assistant] Rest her soul, she's passed on, but she was not a fan of the Navy and didn't like being a naval officer's wife, as you know, that's some work. It's not easy. And, uh, and, uh,


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[Assistant] So, uh, but we ended up getting divorced later, but I always kid and say that my, I got up because my wife didn't like the Navy, but it turned out she didn't like me. I can't imagine that, but. So, I did 10 years, 11 months and 9 days. Navy was great to me. I can't imagine anybody was treated better than I was treated by the Navy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A kid from Coos Bay, Oregon and literally, and John was saying today, the Navy's got a great system of evaluating and promoting the right people. With some exception, he was looking at me, but other than that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I got recruited to a train corporation. I ran an office there and lived in Huntington Beach, California and Newport Beach.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, then got recruited to, uh, Boise Cascade Corporation, Office of Products Division. Uh, I was General Sales Manager and I never sold anything in my life.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I bought some stuff, but I didn't sell anything. So then, then I ended up getting recruited to, uh, to the Hershey Organization, 11 Western states of a snack and beverage, and then I did, uh,


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[Assistant] Uh, a tour of craft. Matter of fact, a couple times in Chicago, John and I had dinner there with his dad. He was a great man. Uh, John F. Farr Sr. was, uh, uh, no reason, no wonder


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He and Ike stayed close and communicated through the 50s when Ike was president. He still had time to communicate with your dad, to, uh, make a couple of, uh, phone calls for your aunt, was it?


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[Assistant] Yeah, and he was just a good guy. His dad was absolutely a class act. I always sat by him at John's wedding and other times.


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[Assistant] I always was trying to pick that man's brain because there's a lot there and just, uh, he was a senior executive at Canteen Corporation, which was a contract feeder for


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, auto companies and so forth. Vending machines. Yeah, and vending machines and so forth. Just a good guy. Uh, but anyway, I did craft and then I, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I got recruited and met a guy on an airplane and he had my seat. I had a lot of frequent flyer points and so I had 1A, first class in those days United and I could roll in after a long week and I commuted from California, worked in Chicago. How about that? And, uh, beat myself up and, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He had my seat and we got chatting and he hired me to be my first CEO job and so running, instead of running a three, a three hundred million dollar section of craft and


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[Assistant] On, uh, healthcare food service, I had a three million dollar, uh, muffin company I ran, but it took more work. And I paid less money. And that's how smart I am. So, uh, took a, got to be part of a company going public after that. We sold that company.


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[Assistant] Uh, Garden Burger was a vegetarian Garden Burger. I had a 600 acre ranch. They thought I was a cattle ranch. They thought I was an ideal candidate with my food background to run a veggie burger company and all my employees had air rings and, uh, and, uh, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Anyway, it was a great deal. It was, uh, a lot of fun. And then I ended up, last year, it was start my own company, uh,


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[Assistant] Made olive oil, up to 300,000 gallons a year. We were the second largest in the U.S. When I sold, I got lucky. Some, some guys came along and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Made me an offer I didn't understand and they came back and doubled the offer and then I understood. So I sold. I've been the luckiest guy on the planet. I got two grown daughters, three grandchildren and they were, the grandkids helped me in the plant. They were always, Cubby was born when I poured concrete.


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[Assistant] They think they own that planet, but great kids, uh, great life, luckiest guy on the planet. I live on a houseboat on Pine Flat Lake, six miles from Sequoia. How do you beat that? Off to beat.


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[Assistant] I was talking to, to Dick Couch. Okay. And Couch, we were talking and I was, and I hadn't gotten back to him for a couple of weeks. He said, what happened? I said, I'm sorry, Dick, I dropped my phone in the lake at Pine Flat. He said, you know what? If you drop your phone in the lake, something's going right.


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[Assistant] Yeah, and that's it. That's, uh, it's been great and, uh, great to be connected with John and his family, all of them. Gene didn't get much ink, but Gene is the real brains of the outfit. And, uh, the reason he was nervous about going cruising, the real story behind the backstory,


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[Assistant] The Manisquan Inn is where Jean worked. She was a school teacher working the Manisquan Inn in the summertime. Good looking woman and she still got it. And she had lots of suitors and John did not want to leave her unattended.


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[Assistant] If I can add about Jean, if I can add one little trivia thing, she's sort of a celebrity. Other than the fact that on her ID card, military ID, it says Commander Jean Farr.


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[Assistant] And the ad owns it now, worked there and bought it out. But there's a picture there of the beach at Point Pleasant.


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[Assistant] As you talked about the question about people's attitudes and we came back and so forth, uh, my brother was, uh, killed in, in, uh, in action, uh, in 1968. Uh, I was in my last week off from candidate school. I hadn't, we were getting ready to, uh,


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[Assistant] Put on the bar and be for real. And then they extended us four weeks and we went 16 instead.


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[Assistant] I met his body in San Francisco and escorted the body from San Francisco to Cuspe, Oregon.


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[Assistant] And, uh, in spite of what was going on in the country then, it was the most moving experience you can imagine. The way the airlines handled his body with respect, how they put him on,


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[Assistant] They, they put him on first, took him on, I'm sorry, put his body on last and took it off first when we landed. How the captain held all the people in their seats until my brother was off, until I was exited the aircraft.


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[Assistant] I see a lot of good in America in spite of what the news programs may put out even today. The 24 hour news cycles are a problem. I see good people out there.


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[Assistant] That are, and I don't see racism at all. I see good people doing good things, being kind to each other, and particularly to an old man who they have got no reason to be kind to, and that's me. And I see it in every state I've been. I've no bad experiences, and I've driven


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[Assistant] Probably 200,000 miles the last five years around our country. I've even been to Honduras. Still made a lot of good


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[Assistant] It's just outstanding and it's an outstanding organization and I mean, you know, look at the impact, the mentorship with an 8th grader.


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[Assistant] Just an awesome program. I appreciate what you're doing and what your whole team is doing. Uhm, I know that the, I know people are going to be interested in


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In, in trying to find it so they can help out. I know it's specialops.org. That's correct. Is, is the website. Instagram is softwarriorfundfnd.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, Twitter is SoftWarriorFund, FND. So it's SOFWarriorFND. Facebook is at Warrior Foundation. And you also actually have a YouTube channel, which is Special Operations Warrior Foundation. I mean, I think this is a good place to wrap it up. Echo, you got anything?


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[Assistant] In Steve's voice, which would have been like this. He had the most epic voice. I wish I could hear it one more time, man.


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[Assistant] Clay, thanks for coming on. Thanks for sharing your story with us. Uh, more important, thanks for your service. Thanks for your service in the Marine Corps. Hoorah. In the Army, in Special Operations, and most important, thanks for the service that you continue to provide for the entire Special Operations community. Thank you for taking care of our brothers and sisters in our


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] General Clay Hotmocker has left the building.


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[Assistant] And once again, Echo Charles, seems like we can do more.


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[Assistant] And at a minimum, it seems like we can do better. Better, yeaah. What can we do to do better?


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[Assistant] Those, those dust storms are crazy. Yes sir. You don't wanna be in one. Yeah. Flying a helicopter.


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[Assistant] But you know what, right now I seem to be, I, you ever heard that thing when you're mining, you're mining and you hit a vein of like gold, where you hit a vein of silver.


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[Assistant] I'm like, I like hit a vein with reading, I'm just starting to get these books that are just stacking up, and each one I'm reading, I'm like, oh, I wonder what this one's about, and I start going, it's a vein, I just find a vein, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That fear that I once, I don't know, that fear. When we started this podcast, I was like, eh, I probably got 10, 15 books to cover. We'll be good. Boy, was I wrong.


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[Assistant] What? Cracked open a discipline goat? Nope. I stayed on the straight and narrow path. My spiritual health was strength.


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[Assistant] A discipline go, and I was able to get back on that.


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[Assistant] Spiritual health, I think we can, you know, there you go.


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[Assistant] Yeah. Those are good. When you're rolling into something, you gotta speak.


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[Assistant] You gotta make something happen, you're gonna be, you're gonna be having to think on your feet, boom, get it.


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[Assistant] Yeah, you know what's crazy is the subscription rates on krill oil and joint warfare.


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[Assistant] On the market. I kinda went, I hadn't had any mint chocolate for a while. Probably like two weeks. Cause I've just been, just been dialing in the peanut butter. Which is, let's face it, the peanut butter is just freaking delicious. I am facing that.


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[Assistant] Yeaah, but then last night, for my dessert,


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[Assistant] After I had chicken thighs. That my son cooked. On the Traeger.


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[Assistant] They might have been the best chicken I've ever had. Think about that. I've eaten a lot of chicken.


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[Assistant] That might have been the best chicken. And it was just him and me. And so we just were standing there eating it.


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[Assistant] Like plates, whatever, we're just standing there, he's got a big, big tray full of chicken thighs, and we're just eating it, and I eat it.


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[Assistant] And I ate, it was delicious, I ate a bunch, but guess what I wanted when I was done?


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[Assistant] I want a dessert, bruh. I want a dessert. And I said peanut butter, wait.


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[Assistant] I could be wrong. Peanut butter and chicken. Is this, this seems weird, right? It's kind of weird.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Anyways, this, the way this chicken was cooked, peanut butter wasn't gonna be the thing. I went back old school. Back to my roots. Mint chocolate chip, that shh, was good.


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[Assistant] I will find out. And there could be luck involved, cause let's face it, you know, it was that good where you say, man, if you could duplicate this tomorrow, I'd be impressed. One night, I'm really impressed. Two nights, now you've got a situation. You can open a restaurant.


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[Assistant] Just for the drinks. If you want the rest of the stuff, you can get it at Vitamin Shop.


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[Assistant] And if you want to get this stuff delivered to your house for free.


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[Assistant] Well, how's it gonna get there for free? We're gonna have to pay some- no. For free?


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[Assistant] Go to JacoFuel.com, subscribe, subscribe to that, whatever it is you want.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It'll come whenever you want it. It'll come there for free. How freaking legit is that? That's where we can do competition with the...


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[Assistant] The elephant in the room, right? The elephant in the room got some weight behind it. But we're over here scrappin'. We're over here scrappin'. Oh, you wanna throw down some free shipping? Watch this.


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[Assistant] It is another format of clothing. I don't know what else to make with that thing, but that material that the Rift Gui is,


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[Assistant] If you put it on, if you wear a rift gi, you will not, you look, you may wear another gi at some point, cause you have to, but you won't be happy about it.


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[Assistant] That riff's gi is freaking legit. I don't know what else to make. What else can we make with that?


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[Assistant] But, we are highly focused on capability, right? Oh, that's true, yeaah. So, not only is it comfortable, it's also highly capable. Because, you go to wash a regular gi,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Jeans, boots, t-shirts. Go to originusa.com is what we're saying.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Have you ever seen those videos, like on uh, social media or whatever, and they're just under the broad topic of satisfying? Have you ever seen these things?


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[Assistant] Piece of jello getting sliced. It's real weird stuff, right? I don't get it, but...


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[Assistant] The closest thing I have is when you take black soap, which is killer soap,


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[Assistant] You wouldn't think that you could clean yourself with black soap. Yeah. But it works. Yeah. It's so.


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[Assistant] I'm not saying you, but the proverbial you. You say something's gonna be cool, that's such a big opinion thing.


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[Assistant] We could say that the evidence of past performance of, would you say cool t-shirts?


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[Assistant] Evidence of that is strong and predicts possibly


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[Assistant] Check. Speaking of subscriptions, you can subscribe to this podcast.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Wherever you subscribe to podcasts. We got some other podcasts. We got Jocko Unraveling with Daryl Cooper. We're going deep.


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[Assistant] We're going dark too. It's getting, it's been getting real ugly. Sorry. That's the way the world is. You have to learn about history so that you don't repeat it. We have the grounded podcast. Dean List has been around. We need to get that one rolling. Warrior Kid podcast as well. You can also join us in the underground.


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[Assistant] We're doing this so that we have a contingency plan. We just did a podcast that when we posted on YouTube, we got


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I won't say we won't. We got the warning, right? Controversial, whatever fact checking. It was about the Armenian genocide and.


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[Assistant] And look, it's just an indication. It's an indication that we're not in control.


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[Assistant] If that was to get really bad, we want to have a contingency plan ready to execute. So JockoUnderground.com if you want to help us be ready for that.


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[Assistant] Happening and we hope it doesn't happen, but if we have to, you can help us out.


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[Assistant] That way we don't have to have sponsors, you only have to listen to Echo Talk for 98 minutes at the end of a podcast, but you know you, first of all you're probably not even listening right now, second of all.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you can't afford it, we don't want you to not be a part of the underground. If you can't afford it, no problem. Email assistance at


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] JockoUnderground.com and we'll take care of it. We just want to have a place to go should things get crazy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're good. Psychological Warfare got an album with tracks. If you need a little help overcoming some momentary weakness, I'll be there for you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Press play. Psychological warfare. We've got flip side canvas, which is Dakota Myers company where he's putting stuff for you to hang on your wall. Things that say discipline equals freedom.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's going to be very interesting. Yeaah. The, the reactions to that, that look, I posted one, it's 200 pages, I posted one page, and people were like, what? I was gonna just, my, my original caption was, meet Jessica, right? That was, I was gonna leave it at that, which I really wanted to, but, but then I was like, okay, that's,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let's face it, we can be too vague in life, right? That was a little, that was a little too vague.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Transcript. That's the new thing I added to it. Transcript. Because the dialogue in it is just like a transcript. This is what someone said.


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[Assistant] It's like, oh, I know exactly what this does. It reads the same in your head. You're like, oh boom boom boom.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know the deal. Leadership strategy and tactics field manual, the code, the evaluation, the protocols, discipline equals freedom field manual, brand new version.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Wade the Warrior Kid 4, Field Manual, and then you've got 1, 2, and 3 as well, Mikey and the Dragons, Hackworth's About Face, and the OG's, Extreme Ownership and Dichotomy Leadership.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Echelon front have a leadership consultancy if you need help in your organization


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That help will come in the form of leadership. Go to AshtonOnFront.com if you want help.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] EF online.com. If you have a question for me, go to EF online.com and I will be there


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I'll be there one, two, or three of those days, most of the time it's three of those days, answering questions, talking about leadership, the rest of the Eslam front team there as well. We have the muster, which is a leadership event, live. We didn't do any in 2020, cause Miss Rona,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But Ms. Rona has been kinda handled at this point. People are vaccinated and what not. So luckily we made the decision to execute Orlando May 25th and 26th.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's still some seats left. So if you want to come to the muster, go to extreme ownership.com. Get there quick.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We don't have that many seats left, but we do have some seats, so if you wanna come, that's May 25th and 26th. After that's gonna be Phoenix, August 17th and 18th, Las Vegas, October 28th, 29th.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Get registered at ExtremeOwnership.com. EF Battlefield.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you're interested in doing that, we'll keep you posted. It's an awesome event, but we don't have another one on the books right now as soon as we figure it out when we're going to do it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'll let you know. And also if you want to help service members active and retired, their families, the Gold Star families, check out Mark Lee's mom, Mama Lee. She's got a charity organization. And if you want to donate or you want to get involved.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well go to americasmightywarriors.org and of course on top of that we also have, and you heard me talk about it today,


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[Assistant] The Special Operations Warrior Foundation. You can go to specialops.org. You can go to Instagram or Twitter at at softwarriorfnd.


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[Assistant] And on Facebook, at Warrior Foundation. You can check that out. It's just, you heard me. It's a freaking awesome organization.


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[Assistant] And if you want more of my wearisome winter.


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[Assistant] Or you need more of Echo's incongruous interpretations, you can find us on the interwebs, Twitter, Instagram.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Otherwise known as the Graham. And Facebook Echo is at Echo Charles and I am at Jocko Willink and thanks once again.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For his incredible service and sacrifice to this great nation and thanks to everyone at the Special Operations Warrior Foundation for looking after our most precious legacy, the children of our fallen heroes.


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[Assistant] And thanks to all the warriors in the military that are out there right now. Standing watch.


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[Assistant] Keeping us safe from tyranny and from evil. And the same goes to those in uniform here on the home front, our police and law enforcement, firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, dispatchers, correctional officers, border patrol, secret service, and all other first responders. Thank you for standing. Watch here at home.


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[Assistant] Remember what my friend and my brother Steve Voight said before his last training mission.


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[Assistant] quote, there is nothing that any person cannot achieve if he or she has the heart. end quote.


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[Assistant] But do you have the heart? And if you do well, then don't let the opportunities of this life go to waste. Instead, go out there and get after it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And until next time, this is Echo and Jaco.


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[Assistant] Yes, I agree. Gotta stay capable. That's kind of the deal. That's the gig.


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[Assistant] Forget about that kind of stuff. So, through this path that we're all on, we run into some pain.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We got help. Jocko Fuel Supplementation for your body and for your brain. So first thing we have is Jocko Discipline. Go.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In a can, in a powder, and in a capsule. So speaking of the cans, these are your energy drinks of today. The real energy drinks. Modern.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Stuff for your, uh, additional protein that you might need. Keep in mind this additional protein, MOLK. It's called MOLK.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so you, you're correct actually. And, usually a little case study. So, my mother-in-law is in town. Cool. And she likes these things, like, they're almost like shortbread cakes. Okay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they come in this lavish like container. Okay. And like half of them are like coated with, I don't know, what do you call it? Icing or whatever you call that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know the one that at some point it was soft and now it hardened and now it's a shell. But it's like, anyway, I forget. I forget what they're called, but they're whatever. So I'm like, okay, cool.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Did you get that hitter? Just to see what up, you know. They look good. So I was like, cool. And I eat one. I was like, oh yeah, yeah. Of course, good. Keep in mind, I wasn't evaluating it like this at the time. But I'm like, cool, good. Thinking back on those things, whatever they were called.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh yea, and I'm talking about this front end taste, straight up. Oh yea, just the sheer pleasure of drinking MOLK is better than those cakes. And the thing is, the cakes weren't like, oh these are like, surprisingly junk. They came through for what they were doing. Yea, and MOLK is better.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, we're doing some tasting and stuff. So he's like, hey, what do you think about this? This is before when we were doing grape.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's like, what do you think about this? I was like, eh, I want it to be like, more, more. Like, I need more of this particular flavor, whatever. He's like, okay, cool. But keep in mind, that in turn does this to it. And it's like, aw man, this is like a balance thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you gotta balance it perfect, and sometimes straight up, and this is what happened with that particular flavor, is like sometimes it simply won't work, given what you're trying to do. Just simply won't work. Otherwise you gotta either add sugar, which that's the main thing, you just gotta add sugar, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're not doing exactly right. So the same thing for malk same thing for like those malk bars like everything I was like, oh man, you guys got some you have a task in front of you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some global organizations and their free shipping situation. Yeaah. You pay a membership fee for that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's not feet free at all. If you buy nothing,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Got boots, got wallets and belts and what not. Jujitsu stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Probably right. Well, actually, technically all I wear is shark fin shorts, which are from origin, by the way. I don't know if they...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So yeaah, so yeaah. Again, originusa.com, uh, check out all their stuff on there, cause there's a lot of stuff. For me to go down the list right now and say all the stuff, it's gonna take a long time. So go on there, check, check.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All good bro. I understand fully. Nonetheless, that's what it is. Also, Jocko's store is called Jocko's Store.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not day one, day five. Uh, so you go to jocostore.com. This is where you can get Discipline Equals Freedom. Shirts and hoodies and hats. Some rash guards on there. Get after it. Shirts, hats, tank tops.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Good. If you know what that means, you say good. If you know what that means, you want to represent, that's where you can get your shirts and hats and hoodies. We've got shorts on there as well. So yea, a lot of good stuff on there. Uhm, we also have a free shipping subscription situation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A shirt every month. Little bit different designs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Free shipping on that one as well. But yea, it's called the Short Locker, so that's on Jocko's Store as well. So yea, if you wanna check out, check out that. If you like that, get that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Stuff that you actually don't want. Registry cleaner for your, uh, computer hard drive.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Our boy Joe. Joe Moss? And yeaah. And he reminded me of this. And I know, I know this. I know this, like, it's, what, the back of my hand? Is that an expression? Anyway, I know this. But, every once in a while when I'm reminded of it, I'm reminded of the,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or like a better term, interestingness of it. Where all this stuff...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Origin jeans, Jocko store stuff, uh, Jocko fuel stuff. This is all stuff that you, that we actually use now and have before even.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like these exist. This is like just the better version now. Like shirt you're wearing right now, oh that's from Jocko's store right there. The hoodie that I wear, Jocko's store. The shorts that I wear, literally like these shorts are so worn out, cause I wear them every single day, that like it has the outline from my cell phone, like on the pocket or whatever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh yeaah, that's one of the options for sure. So it's not like, oh yeaah, support the podcast by, uh, buying some keychains that we sorta just made up. Or whatever. Which would be kinda cool I guess. Keychains are cool, cause I use keychains. But, they're not arbitrary things.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] First off, that was a gift from Mike from Jujitsu Magazine. Okay. I wanted him to disrespect him by putting it somewhere.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Anyway, what I was trying to tell our people is that this is stuff that we use.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Anyway, even before it existed. So it's not some arbitrary thing. We're saying, hey, support the podcast by the way. We'll give you this, this moderately valued thing. You know, it's like these are things that are like when you're in the game on the path. They're legitimately there as well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Before you fly off the handle. So she, you know, she's like, oh yea, you and Jocko are YouTubers. And I'm like, oh, okay, ah, you know, maybe, maybe not, depends on what you mean, whatever. So she's like, hey, what is, like, well what does Jocko do then?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm like, well, he writes books or whatever. He's like, yeah, but he already wrote those books.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like what does he do? Yea, what's he doing now? Yea, like what does he do? And you know, 8 years old you hear what do you do? That's what you think, right? You think what do you do? What do you do when you wake up? Like what does he do?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Of effort. Yeah, you're doing your part. Check. So yes, YouTube channel, we do have one. Also we have Psychological Warfare. It's just an album we made. Jocko made, technically.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, of him helping me through moments of weakness that I might have from time to time. Then we extended it to other weaknesses that others might have from time to time. So what you do, pop that in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you're feeling them all, you're gonna skip that workout, you put it in. He's gonna tell you why, why you should not do that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, no, it just shows the depth that we went into and, you know, how fulfilled I am at the end. Okay. Too down to the detail.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have a lot to say actually, but I won't go into as deep as maybe I could, but I will say this. I was talking to Nick outside and whatever we were talking about, it reminded me of this where


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like, nowadays, eh, okay, not nowadays, but in the Vietnam War, there are so many people who did so many crazy things, but they don't have necessarily a big spotlight on them. They're just like, just kinda cruising now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where you don't, you know, they don't, they're not in the spotlight in any way. They're just like, essentially now they're just sort of just living normal people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All crazy yeaah. Yeaah. Where they gotta suspend their disbelief or what is that? Suspension. Yeaah. They kinda gotta do that about something that really happened in real life. Yeaah. That kind.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I didn't, for sure. There's one thing he mentioned that was pretty dark. And then he just moved right on. When he's like, you just, you don't want to get burned up. Oh yeah. As a pilot. Well yeah, that was in the book.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You kind of feel like, I'm not a pilot. I don't know if you knew that, but it feels like on an airplane, something goes wrong or whatever. As long as you got wings and the tail, you can kind of just glide that boy in. Yeaah, it feels like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh yeaah. So yeaah, do you get the impression, and you probably know this even first hand, where just in


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He said something about when the first, I think it was like the first time where he heard the uhm, the M60 when he was, and how he'd like vibrate the, the thing. And that's when I was like, bruh, the whole thing is just loud. Though your whole world is just loud up there, cause you got the helicopter, then you got uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hey, okay, we're working out. We're on the path.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's it. 100%. I used to say on the program, by the way. I'm on the program. You know how like when the- We're different now. Your wife comes home. And it's like, oh yea, like, do you want, uh, some extra cheese on the lasagna?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know? And I say, nah, nah, nah, I'm on the program. So it's kinda like, okay, I understand, you know? Now, you're on the path. But here's the thing, the path is more broad.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] More encompassing. Oh yea, the program seems like you can easily be off the program in like three, four weeks or whatever, you know. It's like that kind of feeling. It's not, they're not hard and fast rules, but I'm just saying the feeling is there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The good thing about the path is, sure we have supplementation, but these are everyday supplementation. They're life supplementation elements. See what I'm saying? So some of us, back in the day, we used to drink energy drinks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Junk energy drinks. Junk. Hey, it's a new, um, it's a new era of energy drinks. There's a new era of energy drinks now. Healthy energy drinks. The kind when you drink it, you get everything front end. You get everything you wanted. Energy. Then on the back end, you get everything that you didn't expect, but want. Health.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yep, none of that. None, absolutely none. So, okay, so Jocko Discipline Go. This is the energy drink if you didn't know already. Some new flavors out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which just adds to the choices you have. Hey, look, we all like orange. We all like orange. It's a staple, right? People are hard pressed to find someone who doesn't like orange flavor. True, yeaah. Cool.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Mango has the capability to be like, love. I love mango. Orange is more like, yea, of course I like mango. Or orange.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Psychos, but yes, I do know some. Uh, either way, I get it. I get it. And to each their own. I can honestly say that with the- with the Jane- You kind of rolled the dice then with the mango.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In a way, yeaah. Actually no, because when we chose the mango, I chose that because I personally like it, and that's what Belittle kind of said. He said, hey, if it's you, if you like it, that's it. So I was like, cool, I like it. Right on. Well, drink.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like come on, you'd be hard pressed to find a good tasting energy drink that after you drink it you're better off. It's good for you. You don't have to do a bunch of like health freaking recovery things after you drink energy. You don't gotta go on a 14 day detox. Yea I know man.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How's this, so, here's a, okay, so, mostly every night, the little routine. Mostly every night I'll eat a salad.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Either way, also we got other stuff too, for immunity, for your joints. These are all things we don't want to worry about on this path.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We don't want to worry about how strong our immune system is. We don't want to worry about our joints working or not working. We want to just be sure and be assured that these things are all.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Exactly right. If you're on these types of supplementation elements, there's only two times you're going to be


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Thinking about this stuff. Is one when you get on them and they start working.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So yea, also, you can get them at jocofuel.com. That's where you can get everything.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which is part of Origin, Origin USA. So, Origin USA, what do they got there? American made jeans, boots, jujitsu stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When I say American made, I don't mean just American finished.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, whatever the deal is. No. Origin's not like that. It's from the beginning all the way to the end. American finished.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Speaking of lightweight hoodies, we have lightweight hoodies. I'm gonna come out with another one I think within the next three weeks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where you can get these things. Okay, so, Jocko's Store is called Jocko's Store. We have lightweight hoodies. If you want to represent while we are on this path, you can get t-shirts. Like I said, hoodies. Light and heavy, by the way. Got some board shirts on there. Got some, uh, some tank tops, you know, hats. Cool stuff on there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, represent jocostore.com. We have a shirt subscription situation, new design every month called the shirt locker. That one's been interesting. People who see me part of the show, even today, even today, we'll say, Hey,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And everyone was talking to him about it. Literally. I'm the nut. Which design was that? The, the, the latest one. What is the latest one? Just a check.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, the period. Has the flag on the sleeve too. It's good. It looks good, but it's like, you know, there's some layers on there. Uh, nonetheless, yes. So subscribe to that if you want one every month, new, different, different types of designs, um, than the regular stuff, but, but good nonetheless.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Also, we have a YouTube channel. If you're wondering about the video version of this podcast, we do have a YouTube channel. Official! Got some excerpts on there and the whole episodes. Got some other enhanced episodes as well. Lots of explosions.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm about to because of how much trash you guys talk to me about the expo- Like I'll make a regular video and people will be like, I'm uh, I'm gutted, literally gutted.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Along with everything else. So yea, look up for that. Also, Psychologic Warfare. You don't know what that is. It's an album with tracks of Jocko. Each track is Jocko telling you how to get through a specific...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And general, moment of weakness. So if you're in real, in real life, if you're having a moment of weakness, which we all do sometimes, but in this album, boom, Jocko will tell you why. You should, uh, you know, not succumb to the weakness.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like, oh I did that, I did this, you know, you can feel it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Within 24 hours, I had ordered the special operations units to assemble in North Carolina. On the SEAL side,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All were senior enlisted from the same SEAL squadron. All were handpicked by the SEAL commander. All had extensive combat experience. The aviation crews were equally experienced and also handpicked.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But none of them knew why they were being asked to come to North Carolina on such short notice.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The following day, as we ushered the members of the raid team into the conference room at our North Carolina location, I could see a look of annoyance on their faces.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By this time, I had briefed my boss, Admiral Eric Olson, on the Bin Laden mission.


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[Assistant] Clearly they thought they had been dragged out of Virginia beach and Fort Campbell to participate in some kind of no notice exercise just to impress the brass.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I offered some short welcoming remarks and then turned over the briefing to a CIA officer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He began by handing out non-disclosure forms.


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[Assistant] I watched with some amusement as the body language began to change. Rarely were non-disclosure forms required for exercises, even sensitive ones.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then another CIA official stepped up on the small stage and began to brief the target. The operators shifted in their chairs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sitting up to focus on the slides on the screen. The CIA officer began. Gentlemen.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For the past several months, the CIA has been tracking an individual we call The Pacer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Embedded in the slide was a link. The CIA officer clicked on the link and a video played on the screen. Everyone watched as the Pacer moved around the compound at AC1.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We have reason to believe that the Pacer is Osama Bin Laden.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At the sound of Bin Laden's name, there was silence in the room.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I could see a number of the seals glancing around at each other as if to ask, are they screwing with us or is this for real? The briefing went on for another 30 minutes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After the CIA analyst finished, I pushed away from my table, stood up, and made sure everyone was clear on why we were here. Gentlemen, I told them,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The president has asked us to develop a raid option to capture or kill Ben Laden.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For the past several weeks, a small team has been planning the mission, but now we have to find out whether the plan is executable. We have less than three weeks to test and rehearse the plan. At the end of that time, I have to report back to the president on the viability of the mission.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was no emotion from the operators, no smiles, no acknowledgement of the magnitude of the operation. Now, it was all business.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I continued. The agency has built a mockup of the compound just a mile from here. You have two days to work through the movements on target.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After that we will move to another location out west to do the full dress rehearsals.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I offered the other senior officers an opportunity to say a few words, but they recognized that this was about the operators, not a time to wax philosophically about the importance of the mission.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that right there is an excerpt of the book Sea Stories, which was written by Admiral William McCraven. Admiral McCraven served


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He oversaw thousands and thousands of combat operations around the globe during his time in service, including some of the most important operations and perhaps the most important.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Operation in the history of US special operations, the killing of Osama bin Laden.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Incredible burden of command. Admiral McRaven was always connected with the troops.


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[Assistant] And ask earnest questions about what we were doing and how we were doing it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then listened intently as I explained my little part of the war.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He was always present, thoughtful, respected.


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[Assistant] of having him with us here tonight to share his vast experiences and lessons learned Admiral, thank you for joining us.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's from the book Sea Stories. Now, you've written four bucks thus far. Sea Stories, Make Your Bed. Your latest one, which was called The Hero Code. And then, Spec Ops.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Case studies in special operations warfare in practice. I'll probably spend some time, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, I'm going a little bit, I'll go into, into the, we'll go into the array of books that you've written at some point. And...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sea Stories is sort of, well you were saying that's about as close of a memoir as we're gonna get from you?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Here's the deal. I'm going to just read little tiny chunks of this book because you read your own audio books, which is awesome. So people can go out and buy those. But in order to maybe trigger us into some other conversations and some stuff that's not in the books, I'll set it up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I always like to start at the beginning and, and find out, you know, who these people are, where they came from, how they ended up the way they did, and, and you got a pretty good, pretty good interesting background. And with that, I'm gonna go to the book here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Talk to your dad. When I asked him years later why he joined the military, he said that as a boy he watched soldiers march through the streets of his hometown of Marston, Missouri and board a train bound for the trenches of France. His father, an army surgeon, was one of those men. He knew then that he wanted to be a soldier.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After graduating from aviation officer school at Brookfield in San Antonio, Texas, he received orders to the 309th Fighter Squadron, 8th Air Force. The 309th was part of the first American contingent to be posted in the United Kingdom.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At the time, the Americans were still working to build a fighter aircraft that could compete in aerial combat against the German Messerschmitt.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So when Dad arrived in England, he and the other pilots of the 309th were given British Spitfires. The spits equipped with the powerful Rolls-Royce engines, new guns, and sleek aerodynamics were good enough to go toe-to-toe with the Germans. Dad flew the Spitfire throughout the war.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Going on to fight in the campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, and eventually at the Normandy invasion.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What was your behavior? Like I know you got a pretty good story in there that's, you know, you obviously had a mischievous side, which I guess is just what we're born with. Uh, but you were also a really good athlete.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so, uh, when you're going to college, did you, did you have a military career in mind at that point?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now you made, you, you talk about this in uhm, in Make Your Bed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You, you go to visit buds. Was this like your junior year in college?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Crazy how many, uh, guys with a big bench or a great run time quit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, Lieutenant Huth, who checked you in the first phase, he was the, he was the CEO of all of Buds when I went through. He was the captain in charge of the center when I went through. So, uh, so you, you end up going back, finishing your senior year and then you got, you got orders. But was it hard to get to go to Buds then?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, we just had Bill Posey on, and he showed up to Bud's, whatever course number it was, same thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was also thinking about Dick Thompson. We had a guy named Dick Thompson on who was a Green Beret in Vietnam.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So he joined the army voluntarily, then he volunteered for special forces, then he volunteered for OCS when he became an officer. And I said, hey, was it hard to, you know,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you, was it hard to get those billets? And he goes, no. Because it was Vietnam. They were like, oh you want to be an officer? Cool, go ahead. You want to be in special forces? Cool, go ahead. You want to join the army? Everything was easy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's a big problem for guys that show up from Iowa that didn't, you know, they grew up wrestling and weightlifting or whatever, but they didn't swim and that's a problem.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He was my first commanding officer at SEAL Team 1. And he was...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I guess in the modern term that we would say, we would say he was jacked. He was like, yeah, and cause he was a gymnast. Wasn't he a gymnast? So he was the first human being cause I didn't know anything about gymnastics, but he was out on the old pull up bar behind seal team one and he was doing muscle ups on the pull up bar.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Instructors. So you've got, I mean, this is, first of all, they're basically unchanged. There's no supervision. There's no adult supervision, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Was it like just the normal kind of 80, 75 or 80% attrition rate?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Did uhm, I know you, you talk a little bit about in the, in one of the books about uh, instructor faculty who ended up being my first Master Chief at SEAL Team 1 and he's a guy that uh, really instilled


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, the professionalism. Because in the SEAL teams, especially I would say more so back then, but there was like a professional side.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And there was an equally strong sort of Hells Angels sort of, sort of spirit that you could jump into and, and like great guys on both sides. Uhm, I think that math she faculty for me sort of leaned me and kind of my group.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At least put some level of, hey, you gotta be squared away, you gotta present yourself, you, you know, this is the military, we're in the Navy, like all those little things which, you go to some other


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some other deeper, darker AOs in the SEAL teams. There was none of that going on. And, and I just appreciated that fact. And it, like I said, it had a, it had a good influence on me. Because when you're young and impressionable.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I just wanted to be a good seal. And if you told me a good seal was having a good haircut and wearing a squared away uniform, okay, that's what I'm doing. Luckily people like that were around.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well again, never really broke it down like this, but this sort of professional side versus this kind of Hells Angel side. I think what I, what, what I learned from faculty was that what we were there to do was, was do the,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do the mission of the country, right? And if you wanted to do the, if that's what you were there to do, to kill bad guys, to go out and execute operations, which, look, this is the 90s when I showed up. There was, I missed the first Gulf War. But, as far as I could tell, if you wanted to do that,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you wanted to actually do the missions for the country, then you had to be professional. And that was the connection that I kind of made. And, and, and by the way, you know, the idea of being a, a frog man, what could, what can possibly Trump doing


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's nothing that trumps that. It's not any of that other stuff that you can, that there's plenty of in the SEAL teams, but there's nothing that trumps, hey, I'm a good, I want to be a good operator. I want to be able to do my job well. I want to go out and execute missions. And that professionalism I think is a,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, it was a key component for me and my career and, uh, something that I think people like Mass Street Faculty embedded in enough people that it, it carries on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Look, like I said, I didn't want to read, I don't want to read a ton of stuff from the books today because you did this stuff on audiobook, but you captured the check-in process at a SEAL team, and this was a UDT team, which later became SEAL teams, but I just, I just had to go, this is, this is going to the book, The Hero Code, it's your latest book, and this is what it's like checking into a team. So you're the new guy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One of my officers remarked, yes sir, I responded, it's my first day in the teams.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The guys will welcome you with open arms. The old Vietnam vets are really nice. They love officers, particularly new officers. They'll treat you really well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Great, I'm looking forward to it. So there we go. Out of the gate, it's uh, you can see where this is going. A sly grin came across the officer's face. Dressed in khaki, swim trunks, blue and gold t-shirts, jungle boots. We headed out of the building and onto the grinder. After a short daily briefing from the executive officer, we broke ranks and formed up into a circle. The PT circle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then it began. So Ensign, and you are an Ensign at this time, that's the lowest officer rank in the Navy. So Ensign, I understand you went to Texas A&M. No, Chief, the University of Texas, not Texas A&M.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Journalism, chief. Journalism, you're a damn reporter. Hey XO, we don't need no damn reporter in our ranks. The executive officer smiled but said nothing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Over the next 15 minutes, all 50 men in the circle had something to say about my shortfalls. In between repetitions of push-ups, flutter kicks, sit-ups, and burpees, they questioned my parentage, my athleticism, my intellect, my state of origin, the quality of my SEAL training class, and of course, my love life.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You got a girlfriend? One of the salty old chiefs asked. I do chief. What's she look like?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, she's pretty. Very petite, brown hair, hazel eyes, about five foot four. The chief smiled.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do you think she'd like a swarthy Italian with a mustache, he said, twirling the ends of his long handlebar? I saw an opening. No chief, I said, looking around the grinder. She likes men that are taller than she is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The circle went quiet. The chief, who stood no longer than five, no taller than five foot four, got up off the grinder and walked up to where I was standing. Inches from my face, he sneered at me and said, are you calling me short? The men in the circle were shaking their heads. One mouth, don't go there ensign. Another said softly, he's very sensitive about his height.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well Chief, you are looking up at me, I told him. Everyone on the grinder stopped exercising and turned my way. What? Do you think that's funny, Ensign? Do you think insulting a Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy is funny? I am very, very sensitive about my height, and that hurts me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Suddenly the chief burst out laughing and the rest of the men in the circle joined in. Welcome to the team, Zensen. When the physical training ended, the chief and all the other members of the team came by to shake my hand and welcome me to UDT 11. I had passed the test. I had a sense of humor.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Officer from SEAL Team 1 as an E5, went to officer candidate school for 13 weeks, went to SEAL Team 2 as an ensign. So I hadn't been to college, it was a ridiculous program, I feel like maybe I can get arrested for it or something because it was such a good deal. Well, and then I did two deployments at SEAL Team 2, and then I went to college. So I was an officer in college.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But it was, I had been in the SEAL teams my whole adult life. And so now I'm going to college and I'm coming home.


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[Assistant] And I was, and I kind of chuckled, but then I realized she was 100% right, you know? The lifestyle of being in a platoon where it's just constant attacks from everybody, uhm, it's, it's a,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you checked into UDT 11, what, what did you think you were going to be doing? So just as a little backdrop.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When I checked into SEAL Team 1 in 1991, I thought I was going to NAMM. Like in my mind, I was like, hey look man, I know we don't know about this stuff, there's top secret stuff going on, I know I'm probably going to NAMM or whatever, Cambodia, I'm going to do in SOG missions. That's what I was thinking because I was


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Really young and really dumb. When you checked into UDT 11, what was it? 1977? 1978?


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[Assistant] I was on my first deployment. So I get there, we deployed to Guam and we show up there and they immediately.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Have us do, uh, like a double duck insert, we go in, we hit a target, live fire, we come over to the beach, hit a target, live fire, we get done.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're all, you know, pretty, it's pretty cool. And then we go out the next day, we clean our weapons, we go out, they say, hey, you know, get your weapons sighted in. Okay. You know, and of course, same thing in my mind. I'm thinking we're getting ready for the big mesh. So we go out, we sight in our weapons.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A couple days go by, three days, four days go by and we're not getting the big recall, you know, I don't know if they're trying to negotiate with whoever the terrorists were that were needed to die or whatever the case was, but also there was good waves. So I said, you know what?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I told my, told my roommate like a couple of us were gonna go surfing so we went down the Spanish steps and we were surfing and all of a sudden I'm looking up on the cliffs and there's the guy that we told is up there waving his arms frantically.


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[Assistant] And, uh, you know, the freaking senior chief comes in and he says, uh,


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[Assistant] Yeah, and an important thing to note about this, when you say mini-submarine, there's a key component that is not what you're thinking if you're listening to this, and that is it's, it's a, called a wet submersible. So, you're not in this thing dry, you're diving while you're in a, you're basically on a motorcycle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know if it's a specter, but this belief that this real world mission, whatever it was gonna be, since it was a little bit unknown,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You, you didn't, you didn't know it. You didn't know what it was gonna be, so it was always like I need to prepare even more. Even more. Because we just don't even know how crazy it's gonna be. Right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then how long, so you did one deployment to this, to Subic Bay, and then you got done with that, and then you got, did you get stationed at Subic Bay right after that?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You relay one of these training operations in the book Sea Stories that I would say left a mark on you. You were basically running a training mission. You had a marine colonel that was playing the role of a hostage.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So he was being held out in a jungle camp somewhere and he's out there for a few days. And then, you know, the seal team, the seal platoon gets the tasking to go out and rescue this guy and it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, it doesn't go well, you know, they get compromised and it sort of falls on its face, but the, the Marine Colonel.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, you know, Colonel Brouse, is that how you say his name? Colonel Brouse, he, he was like, hey listen, we already, we already did this much, let's continue to execute the rest of the plan, even though it wasn't great, let's just continue doing it. So they, to finish the exercise, they had to move the Colonel to an extraction point,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where he was gonna get picked up by, uh, by C-130s and then the C-130s were gonna take him on a low level flight.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And a little more time goes by and you say, hey sir, you know, you don't really need to get in this plane. It's not going to be any training value for you. And he says, no, you know, we'll, we'll just do it. It's what a good leader does. Like, they don't just, you know, bust out when, when things are going to get boring.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then there's another delay, the C-130s that are supposed to pick them up are, they're late, they're delayed. And...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Finally, delayed multiple times, and finally you say, you know, hey sir, like, we don't know when this is gonna happen, why don't you just, you know, you and I, we'll get out of here, you can go, and of course he's a colonel, he's got stuff to do, he's got work to do, so he knows that too. So finally,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He says, look, you know what, you're right, I gotta get back to work and...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So he doesn't get on the C-130. You don't get on the C-130. Uhm, C-130 takes off with, with uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A bunch of Americans, Australians, New Zealand, some, some Filipinos on there.


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[Assistant] And I'm just gonna go to the book here. Browse, that's the Colonel. Browse and I returned to a waiting jeep. I shook his hand, thanked him for helping out with the exercise and watched a young petty officer escort him back to Subic. Exhausted, I jumped in another jeep and drove home. It had been a long couple of days.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Half an hour later, aboard the MC-130, call sign stray 59, the pilot checked his instruments. Like the rest of us, the preceding days for him and his crew had been long and tiring. Adjusting his night vision goggles, he could see the water just a few feet below him. The water was closer than expected, too close to recover.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Of the 24 men aboard, 8 crew members, and 16 passengers from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. All but one Air Force First Lieutenant Jeffrey A. Blom died in the crash.