Speaker 1: Ah beaut Force. If it doesn't work, you're just not
Speaker 1: using enough. You're listening to Software Radio, Special Operations, military
Speaker 1: news and straight talk with the guys and the community
Speaker 1: softwarep dot Com on Time on Target episode three thirty one,
Speaker 1: Steve BALLASTI areas on the Fate. Steve was on back
Speaker 1: ten episodes ago. UM. If you listen to the end
Speaker 1: of the last episode, I said, we have Rob O'Neil
Speaker 1: on here. We are going to do an episode with
Speaker 1: Rob O'Neil on the Power of Thought UM, but we're
Speaker 1: not gonna do it for soft rep. So if you
Speaker 1: want to check that out, just look up the Power
Speaker 1: of Thought UM on Apple Podcasts anywhere that you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts, and yeah, we're we're gonna have that up.
Speaker 1: I'm also working on social media for Power of Thoughts,
Speaker 1: so we can kind of separate the two. But there's
Speaker 1: so much great content on there, so if you haven't
Speaker 1: checked it out, please do. UM. But with that, I'm
Speaker 1: very grateful that Steve was able to come on with me,
Speaker 1: and there's a lot to talk about UM. For those
Speaker 1: who don't remember, Steve is a former Special Forces n
Speaker 1: c O and warrant all Sir, the loan editor and
Speaker 1: writer for Special Operations dot com. And the last time
Speaker 1: you were on, we were talking about these interviews that
Speaker 1: you've been doing with veterans from older wars um and
Speaker 1: the biggest news on my end and I want to
Speaker 1: hear about the interviews that you've been doing. Is that
Speaker 1: I remember saying you on our call that we do
Speaker 1: every week. You know, you gotta get in touch with
Speaker 1: Jim Downing, Lieutenant Jim Downing, who is the second the
Speaker 1: second oldest at the time living Pearl Harbor survivor, and
Speaker 1: just the other week he passed away. So it's just
Speaker 1: it really confirms that thought of that these guys are
Speaker 1: not going to be around much longer. And if you
Speaker 1: get the opportunity to talk to them, take that opportunity.
Speaker 1: If they're ever speaking, um, you know in your area,
Speaker 1: it's something that you really should not miss. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: And I'm sorry I never got to talk with him
Speaker 1: because you know, talking with an actual Pearl Harbor survival
Speaker 1: would have been really awesome. I I know, you know,
Speaker 1: it goes to what we we talked about, right, and
Speaker 1: that means we're losing so many of these guys every day,
Speaker 1: and and you know it's it's really sad. And in fact,
Speaker 1: I mentioned to your offline then you know, the very
Speaker 1: first interview we did with the EO GiMA survivor, he
Speaker 1: was the backseater and a die bomber, and uh, he's
Speaker 1: in the hospital right now. He's he's pretty ill, and
Speaker 1: of course anytime somebody in their nineties is ill, it's
Speaker 1: very serious. So hopefully I'll get over to see him here. Uh,
Speaker 1: well soon, but yeah, we're we're continuing to drive along
Speaker 1: with that. We have a couple of more veterans online
Speaker 1: that we're hoping to get into a studio or visit
Speaker 1: them antor homes and and we're driving on with that,
Speaker 1: and their stories are always awesome to hear. So the
Speaker 1: guy who's in the hospital, and what's his name again,
Speaker 1: his name is Rolling A. Chance. Uh, he was in
Speaker 1: the Navy. He was the backseater and a Dauntless dive
Speaker 1: bomber and and he was over EWO Jima. And yeah,
Speaker 1: he's a very interesting man. I've known him for quite
Speaker 1: a few years and you know, to talk with him,
Speaker 1: he's uh, he's a really cool guy and still has
Speaker 1: a grip of when you shake his hand. If you
Speaker 1: don't shake it very hard. Going back. He'll Prussia. He
Speaker 1: lives in a like a revolutionary error old farmhouse. It's
Speaker 1: like two hundred and fifty years old. Uh, in central Massachusetts.
Speaker 1: He lives up over a lake. Is a beautiful place.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, we we talked about, you know,
Speaker 1: his life. You know, how the the Second World War
Speaker 1: affected him. I mean, you know what the prevailing thing
Speaker 1: when you talk to these uh, these gentlemen about their experiences.
Speaker 1: A lot them were World War Two. They might have
Speaker 1: only had twelve to fifteen months combat time, but in
Speaker 1: effect of the rest of their lives and how they
Speaker 1: decided to live the rest of their lives, which to
Speaker 1: me is amazing. You know, that's small. You know, he
Speaker 1: took a man who was ninety nine four years old
Speaker 1: and he's taking a twelve or fifteen months segment of
Speaker 1: his life, and that is the prevailing you know factor,
Speaker 1: and how he lived the rest of it. So I'm
Speaker 1: I'm guessing that that's an interview people um will see
Speaker 1: at some point. It's not up to now though, right No, No,
Speaker 1: We're we're still gathering those and I'm not sure how
Speaker 1: software TV is gonna gonna progress with that. I mean
Speaker 1: that that's still something that you know needs to be
Speaker 1: worked out. We're we're gathering as many of them as
Speaker 1: we can and you know, once I'm sure once they
Speaker 1: have enough of them will start seeing those. And I
Speaker 1: think that you know, people who who who reads are
Speaker 1: obviously are our website and uh like the history part
Speaker 1: of things. I think they'll really enjoy these because every
Speaker 1: guy has a different story and their experiences differ. But
Speaker 1: I think, um people will will really like them. I
Speaker 1: can't wait to see it because it really is long overdue.
Speaker 1: It's something that I know guys at the company have
Speaker 1: been talking about for a long time, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's also as we said earlier, it's one of
Speaker 1: those things that you really have to act on now
Speaker 1: because many of these guys are not going to be
Speaker 1: with us five years, ten years down the line. No,
Speaker 1: And that's exactly it. I mean, we're losing them at
Speaker 1: such a rate every day. And like I said, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, uh, Roland was our first interview that we did,
Speaker 1: and we went to his home because he doesn't get
Speaker 1: out as much. He was very active. He still is active,
Speaker 1: but I mean, you know, he's slowing down a lot
Speaker 1: at at nine before I think, you're you're allowed to
Speaker 1: slow down and what's there? But yeah, but now he's uh,
Speaker 1: he's been sick with pneumonia in the hospital and hopefully
Speaker 1: I'll have a chance to go over and see him
Speaker 1: today and and hopefully we'll see him back on his feet.
Speaker 1: But uh, yeah, you know those guys, um, you know,
Speaker 1: they're they're they're getting up there in years, even our
Speaker 1: Vietnam veterans. I've done a few interviews with them, and
Speaker 1: you know, they're they're not spring chickens anymore either. We
Speaker 1: tend to think of Vietnam vetches, you know, younger than
Speaker 1: they really are. Some of the guys who bought in
Speaker 1: the sixties, now you know, they're getting up there and
Speaker 1: they're like, you know, in their seventies now, and it's tough.
Speaker 1: You know. We did a couple of interviews with them guys,
Speaker 1: and you know, guys who fought there, and that's head
Speaker 1: offensive and paratroopers with a hundred and first and one
Speaker 1: seventy three, and we're we're trying to get a couple
Speaker 1: of more of the World War Two guys who fought
Speaker 1: in the Battle of the Bulge. But they again they've
Speaker 1: been ill. There's a there's a couple of Korean war
Speaker 1: vets that we want to talk to as well, because
Speaker 1: that seems to be the one war that doesn't get
Speaker 1: a lot of, you know, airplay. It's funny that you
Speaker 1: say that these guys are allowed to slow down, because
Speaker 1: it made me think of if people haven't heard it.
Speaker 1: By the way, the Power of Thought, I just looked
Speaker 1: up which episode it was. Look up Power of Thought
Speaker 1: episode thirteen. We had on Captain Jerry Yellen, who was
Speaker 1: a World War Two fighter pilot um flew the last
Speaker 1: combat mission over Japan and the P fifty one Mustang
Speaker 1: uh former Army Army Air Force and which, by the way,
Speaker 1: I learned this from the episode when I was researching.
Speaker 1: So like my grandpa was an Army Air Corvette, which
Speaker 1: eventually became the Air Force, but for a short period
Speaker 1: of time at the end of World War Two it
Speaker 1: was the Army Air Forces. I'm sure you know this.
Speaker 1: I did not know this. I just thought it went
Speaker 1: from the Army Air Corps to the Air Force. Um.
Speaker 1: But anyway, the guy is ninety four years old and
Speaker 1: he's still flying planes. That's amazing, isn't it. Yeah, insane,
Speaker 1: you know. I I hope I'm still breathing when I'm eighty,
Speaker 1: never mind ninety four, and to be able to still fly.
Speaker 1: I mean the shows. I mean some some guys have
Speaker 1: a um have a great way of taking care of
Speaker 1: themselves and there they must be doing something right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I have to give you his contact to come to
Speaker 1: think of it, because he was great on the show. Um.
Speaker 1: Like I said, if you haven't heard it, I don't
Speaker 1: know if you have or the audience, but episode thirteen
Speaker 1: of Power of Thought, that guy has such an incredible story. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll definitely have to talk with him. Yeah, he was
Speaker 1: actullent and he still does speaking engagements. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: he was talking about being Jewish and that he speaks
Speaker 1: at Jewish War veterans um events and that type of thing.
Speaker 1: And I think he still does other speaking engagements, put
Speaker 1: out a book, so he's still very active. As as
Speaker 1: we've talked about before, there's some of these guys who
Speaker 1: want to make sure that their story is told before
Speaker 1: they passed away. And some of the guys are very quiet,
Speaker 1: and you don't hear them say one thing about their
Speaker 1: combat services. You said, you know, with your dad, for example, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Earlier this week I had spoke to our managing out
Speaker 1: of the Odyssey, and I had mentioned that I had
Speaker 1: met another Marine Corps veteran from Ego Jima was you know,
Speaker 1: fighting on the ground and and he had spoken with me,
Speaker 1: you know, uh, pretty openly. I was actually in the
Speaker 1: waiting room at the hospital and we I saw his
Speaker 1: hat and we started you know talking, and I told
Speaker 1: him what I had been doing, and he smiled and said,
Speaker 1: I appreciate what you're doing. I think it's worth while.
Speaker 1: I just don't do to talk about that on camera.
Speaker 1: And uh, I can you know, I can totally understand that.
Speaker 1: I totally get it. And some guys don't really feel
Speaker 1: comfortable doing that. Some guys do and uh and and
Speaker 1: and again. From talking to him in the short amount
Speaker 1: of time I did, he had a very interesting story.
Speaker 1: He had fought in a couple of the other island
Speaker 1: campaigns and then he want to show you will. He
Speaker 1: didn't stay there very long. He got wounded in action
Speaker 1: and was you know, met him. Well, he was taken
Speaker 1: on a hospital ship. Um so he was only there
Speaker 1: about three or four days. But his experiences were pretty intense,
Speaker 1: to say the least. So now, if a guy says
Speaker 1: that he's not comfortable being interviewed, doesn't want to be
Speaker 1: on video, do you just take note for an answer,
Speaker 1: or do you try to like nudge these guys a
Speaker 1: little bit, because I've I've encountered that just as a
Speaker 1: radio producer, with people saying like I don't it's not
Speaker 1: about me, I don't want to come on, and sometimes
Speaker 1: you can coax them to to make an appearance. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: and in fact, most of the guys I've talked to
Speaker 1: how to be coaxed a little bit, you know, because
Speaker 1: as they most of them are very humble and they
Speaker 1: you know, they take the attitude you know, no one
Speaker 1: wants to hear what I have to say. I wasn't
Speaker 1: a hero or I didn't do anything special, and you know,
Speaker 1: we tell them everyone's story is important, no matter what
Speaker 1: you did, no matter where you served. Everyone's story is
Speaker 1: important because everybody that serves it's important. And are you
Speaker 1: know the way we look at it? And uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I tried to image him because I told him, hey,
Speaker 1: this isn't this isn't about me or you, It's really
Speaker 1: about all of the veterans and of every you know era.
Speaker 1: But he just said no, he just uh, you know,
Speaker 1: he's like, certain things will come out of our conversation
Speaker 1: if we start talking, and some of those things I
Speaker 1: want to leave where they are. And I can understand that.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's it's kind of funny to me when
Speaker 1: sometimes these guys say that, um, the you know, they
Speaker 1: say like, oh, I didn't really do anything. Why you know,
Speaker 1: why do you want to interview me? And you're right,
Speaker 1: everybody has a story, right, and uh, you know, a
Speaker 1: marine rifleman who fought in a couple of campaigns in
Speaker 1: World War Two, to include Ego Jima, he has a
Speaker 1: story to tell and it's important, you know. And he
Speaker 1: was wounded in action obviously, so I mean, so you know,
Speaker 1: you know that he saw a lot of of combat.
Speaker 1: And even if you know his his experience on Ewo
Speaker 1: Jima was only three or four days. That was three
Speaker 1: or four days of very I mean, as we know
Speaker 1: in the history, that was amongst the most intense combat
Speaker 1: anyone saw during the Second World War. I mean it
Speaker 1: was eight square mile strip of volcanic ash and we
Speaker 1: lost seven thousand men there. I mean, that's speaks of
Speaker 1: the ferocity that happened there, and you just have to
Speaker 1: tip your hat to that generation of men because that's, uh,
Speaker 1: it had to be an incredibly difficult place, you know,
Speaker 1: to serve. So there's there's several guys that you have
Speaker 1: interviewed since we last spoke, um that that did agree, right, yes,
Speaker 1: and uh yeah, we spoke with a couple of Vietnam
Speaker 1: that's I spoke to one who's um who arrived in
Speaker 1: Vietnam and early n offensive was wearing down, and he
Speaker 1: served in Couccine where the Vietnamese had all the tunnels there,
Speaker 1: and we talked about his life. He was an infantryman
Speaker 1: and you know, they they did a lot of ambushes
Speaker 1: and you know, sweets and stuff like that. And he
Speaker 1: talked about the Vietnamese civilians because they seemed to bear
Speaker 1: the brunt of the war no matter which side they
Speaker 1: were on, and a lot of them, unfortunately, really didn't
Speaker 1: take a side. They more than anything, they wanted to
Speaker 1: be left alone. And that was the prevailing thought that
Speaker 1: he had of that. Our own Knight spoke with another
Speaker 1: guy who's a paratrooper with a hundred and first and
Speaker 1: the one seventy third Airborne, and his experiences were a
Speaker 1: little Vietnam as well. One of our World War Two
Speaker 1: vets who have fought as an infantryman in the Battle
Speaker 1: of the Bulge has been ill as well. He's been
Speaker 1: in rehab and we're hoping to get him in the
Speaker 1: studio real soon. You know, I had met him before.
Speaker 1: We had talked, and he talked about facing a German
Speaker 1: tiger tank with nothing in his head but of Bsuka,
Speaker 1: So that that should be some interesting stories to talk about.
Speaker 1: You know, when you're talking about an eighteen nineteen year
Speaker 1: old kid, you know, German tanks are coming at you
Speaker 1: and you're you're stitting there with nothing but a bazoo
Speaker 1: because it's basically you know, won't go through their armor
Speaker 1: unless you let it roll past you and you shoot
Speaker 1: it in the rear. So you talk about some guys
Speaker 1: who had some courage, you know, I think that gets
Speaker 1: the scale there. What was the tone like when they
Speaker 1: were calling these stories, because it's probably something that they
Speaker 1: haven't talked about in years. Most of the tone is
Speaker 1: most of them, it's it's amazing. They they're upbeat about it.
Speaker 1: I mean they knew, Hey, you know a lot of
Speaker 1: them don't have any It will to the guys that
Speaker 1: they fought. They take it. Hey, you know, he had
Speaker 1: his job to do. I had mine, and you know,
Speaker 1: at the time, you know the prevailing thoughts. You don't
Speaker 1: think about it until after the fact. Now, as you're older,
Speaker 1: you look back and you wonder how we survived. But
Speaker 1: the prevailing thought is um, you know, they take it.
Speaker 1: You know, their recall is really really good, even after
Speaker 1: seventy plus years. You talked to these guys and they
Speaker 1: can remember every little detail down to what they were
Speaker 1: doing at the time. You know, maybe a battle started.
Speaker 1: You know, talked to one guy who was talking about
Speaker 1: his uh you know, in the spell of Bulky Guy,
Speaker 1: what he was actually eating in a hole when the
Speaker 1: Germans attacked him. So, yeah, it's interesting. And then they
Speaker 1: all have the little things that they remember that you know,
Speaker 1: it didn't seem important at the time, and as they
Speaker 1: get older it tends to come back to them and
Speaker 1: they remember certain little details that I find always interesting.
Speaker 1: I'm also guessing that the veteran the veteran connection helps.
Speaker 1: When you tell them your background, that you're special operations,
Speaker 1: they know that you're someone who they could comfortably relay
Speaker 1: that story too. Yeah, and in fact, one of the
Speaker 1: Vietnam Vets I had interview. Yeah, he was the infantryman
Speaker 1: that Foad and Couci, and he had done an interview
Speaker 1: with a local television station and U a few years ago,
Speaker 1: and he said it didn't go well. He was very
Speaker 1: uncomfortable and uh he said that, you know, he had
Speaker 1: told his wife he wouldn't do that again. But then
Speaker 1: I had talked to him. We had talked pretty extensively
Speaker 1: about it prior to him coming to the television the
Speaker 1: local television studio where we filmed at, and so he
Speaker 1: felt very comfortable and he was all for it. He
Speaker 1: was like, I think this one will go much better.
Speaker 1: And then when we finished, he was like, that was
Speaker 1: really interesting. I could have talked for another twenty at
Speaker 1: thirty minutes, so that that will come across on film.
Speaker 1: You know, yeah, I think it probably. It probably sets
Speaker 1: the tone and gets them to have the right attitude
Speaker 1: about getting in there and and being comfortable telling these stories.
Speaker 1: And what's like your favorite thing to ask these guys? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what, what I'd like to ask him, there's like,
Speaker 1: you know, what, how did your service because everyone served
Speaker 1: in different errors and different places, how did it affect you?
Speaker 1: Personally after your service was over, did it change the
Speaker 1: way you looked at your life and you know, back home,
Speaker 1: did it change what you have had planned? Because you
Speaker 1: know a lot of guys, especially the World War Two guys,
Speaker 1: they grew up, even if here in Massachusetts most people
Speaker 1: came from little farming communities and they had nothing, you know,
Speaker 1: more planned with their lives and hey, coming back, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna take over the family farm. And a lot of
Speaker 1: these guys they decided they were going to go into
Speaker 1: some kind of you know, service related um type of
Speaker 1: career where they they still want to serve people. A
Speaker 1: lot of them went into local politics, you know, different
Speaker 1: types of things and served in different in realms or
Speaker 1: whatever you wanted to fall it. I I find that
Speaker 1: really interesting because a lot of these guys, you know,
Speaker 1: they saw there was a lot bigger world out there
Speaker 1: than just their own little no farm and a bucolic
Speaker 1: little Massachusetts you know town, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: now things have changed and it affected them, I think
Speaker 1: for the better. I mean, most of these guys said,
Speaker 1: my my service made me a better person today that
Speaker 1: I would have been if I had never gone in.
Speaker 1: If I had to guess though, even though you're saying
Speaker 1: like there's a pattern of of jobs that they've gone
Speaker 1: into that that are similar, I'm sure it's a very
Speaker 1: different story for all of them. And it's like a
Speaker 1: kind of a connecting theme I've seen on this show
Speaker 1: is just that veterans are not a monolith. You're not
Speaker 1: going to get the veterans as a whole to agree
Speaker 1: on many things because they're all individuals, right absolutely, you know.
Speaker 1: And then you know, one guy went into the family business.
Speaker 1: Another guy you know, became you know, he served in
Speaker 1: many different aspects of local politics. He was a school
Speaker 1: committee member, he was you know, a town selectment, you know,
Speaker 1: it served in different committees, and uh, you know he uh.
Speaker 1: Another one went into the v A. He served disabled veterans. So,
Speaker 1: you know, I think that that's a really you know,
Speaker 1: telling thing that they decided to keep giving back to
Speaker 1: the communities into the country and that that error that
Speaker 1: they had of military service stuck with them and it
Speaker 1: affected the way that they lived the rest of their
Speaker 1: lives in a very positive manner. All Right, So we've
Speaker 1: teased this out pretty good. People are probably like, when
Speaker 1: do I get to see this, Do we have any idea. No,
Speaker 1: I don't. I mean, that's of my realm. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: just helping, you know, putting put some of these together.
Speaker 1: Other we have the guys from software up TV, and
Speaker 1: you know that's I know, they're very, very busy, they're
Speaker 1: always out doing other stuff. But I'm sure, like I said,
Speaker 1: once we get these uh enough of them together, we'll
Speaker 1: probably start seeing these being put out and hopefully we'll
Speaker 1: get them out really soon. I think, um, you know,
Speaker 1: I think it's something that our subscribers were not subscribers
Speaker 1: anymore now stribers, So oh that's still a description. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But you know, I think, are you know, everyone out
Speaker 1: there that that reads our stuff that listens, I think
Speaker 1: that they'll be, uh, they'll be really intrigued by this,
Speaker 1: and I think it's worth while. Yeah, and I'd be
Speaker 1: down to play some of it on the podcast because
Speaker 1: I think people want to hear it. Um, how how
Speaker 1: much raw footage do you have at this point? I'm
Speaker 1: not sure I'd have to go back. I think the
Speaker 1: longest one was probably fifty five minutes, and most of
Speaker 1: them we talked for about thirty thirty five minutes. I mean,
Speaker 1: so we have a couple of hours of good footage
Speaker 1: coming in and uh, I'm sure you know we're gonna
Speaker 1: get a lot more of that as we as we progress,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, I have another one lined up
Speaker 1: with it. Ye quarter Polegic Special Forces officer down to Texas.
Speaker 1: We're gonna have to do it remotely, but we're gonna
Speaker 1: do that real soon. He's a very intriguing guy. I
Speaker 1: can't wait to do it with him. I'm excited for it.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see it all um. And then also
Speaker 1: with what you're up to at Special Operations dot Com.
Speaker 1: I mean, for those who don't know of the hurricane
Speaker 1: meets media sites, Special Operations dot Com is is more
Speaker 1: of the history oriented site. And you're working on a
Speaker 1: piece or is it a recent piece on the five
Speaker 1: twelve Allied Airman by the OSS and World War Two? Yeah,
Speaker 1: we post said that yesterday. It was something that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was on the special dot Com yesterday. A few
Speaker 1: months ago. I had been I love reading the os
Speaker 1: S because that was the forerunners of the c i
Speaker 1: A in World War Two and then the Special Forces.
Speaker 1: And uh, and so I talked. I talked to a
Speaker 1: guy down at the spok you know, down in Tampa,
Speaker 1: the the big convention we were at last summer or
Speaker 1: last spring, and we spoke about that the OSS. And
Speaker 1: then there was this operation they ran in Yugoslavia where
Speaker 1: all these downed airmen and World War two were being
Speaker 1: stranded there and they sent in a handful of OSS
Speaker 1: guys and they rescued actually five hundred and twelve Allied airmen.
Speaker 1: They made an airstrip right under the noses of the Germans,
Speaker 1: basically by hand, with no tools, and they were able
Speaker 1: to sneak in a bunch of Sea forty seven's and
Speaker 1: get all of these airmen out. They didn't lose a
Speaker 1: man doing it. The story was incredible and it's amazing
Speaker 1: that it's never been really publicized. And so I had
Speaker 1: asked for for Christmas and received this book called The
Speaker 1: Forgotten five hundred and in the book it explains the
Speaker 1: entire operation. It was a fascinating story, and these guys
Speaker 1: who did it absolutely incredible and it was a tremendous story.
Speaker 1: They got them all out and then sixty years later
Speaker 1: and a lot of them went back to Serbia actually,
Speaker 1: and the guy said, we didn't really have a great
Speaker 1: relationship within the nineties, but these Serbian farmers had protected
Speaker 1: American and British pilots and they they hid them from
Speaker 1: the Germans, they fed them, they nursed their wounds and
Speaker 1: helped us get these all out and it was a
Speaker 1: tremendous story. And we put that up on the website yesterday. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I see it up right here. So it's Operation how
Speaker 1: You're one of the great rescue stories of World War Two. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: The thing is you write so many articles so that
Speaker 1: that's not even on the front page anymore. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's another one actually today. I think it was about
Speaker 1: the most decorated Navy seal ed buyers. He won the medal.
Speaker 1: He was awarded the Medal of Honor I should say, um,
Speaker 1: just a couple of years ago by President Obama, and
Speaker 1: that was from a operation where he freed Am, an
Speaker 1: American hostage in Afghanistan in two thousand twelves. And again
Speaker 1: that was a really great story. I remember when he
Speaker 1: was awarded the Medal of Honor. I watched the clips
Speaker 1: of him and then he was on Stephen Colbert show. Um,
Speaker 1: I think it was the next evening. Um. He did
Speaker 1: an interview with Stephen Colbert which was really really well done.
Speaker 1: And then the other piece of history that you covered
Speaker 1: is that as we're recording this, which is March first,
Speaker 1: this is the sixteenth anniversary of Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan, right,
Speaker 1: And that's what I'm working on today as a matter
Speaker 1: of fact. Hopefully that will be up in the morning
Speaker 1: people here this yeah, yeah, and that should be up
Speaker 1: March sewo. UM. I always try to get them out
Speaker 1: first thing in the morning. But yeah, Operation Anicona was
Speaker 1: a big was one of the first big operations we
Speaker 1: had over there, and there a lot of guys were
Speaker 1: killed and injured during that, you know, during that big
Speaker 1: operation where the Taliban and al Qaeda guys tried to
Speaker 1: slug it out and it didn't work out too well
Speaker 1: for them, but we did suffer a lot of casualties there,
Speaker 1: and there was a lot of different troops involved, not
Speaker 1: only Special Forces guys, but conventional units as well, plus
Speaker 1: the United States Air Force who really put some air
Speaker 1: support down for our ground troops. Awesome. So I'm looking
Speaker 1: forward to seeing that you guys will have that up.
Speaker 1: I'll link to it. UM. Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan began today,
Speaker 1: as recording this in two thousand two, UM You can
Speaker 1: follow Steve of course on Twitter at Steve B seven SFG.
Speaker 1: I know that the last time we talked UM, we
Speaker 1: did talk a little NFL because of your side gigs,
Speaker 1: So I guess that is slowing down a little bit. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And things have calmed down a little bit since the
Speaker 1: Super Bowls and over, but you know, the NFL combine
Speaker 1: and the Draft right around the corner. It never really
Speaker 1: stops anymore, you know, there's really no offseason on. In
Speaker 1: addition to my softwarep stuff and the special ops and
Speaker 1: the interviews, UH, still doing some NFL Draft stuff as well,
Speaker 1: so it keeps me busy, very cool. So yeah, as uh.
Speaker 1: Also as a reminder for those who are listening, UH,
Speaker 1: it's appropriate to talk softwarep TV because this is what
Speaker 1: we're talking about is something that you're gonna see on
Speaker 1: softwarep TV in the near future, hopefully very near future. UM,
Speaker 1: which is our channel that offers the most exclusive shows, documentaries,
Speaker 1: and interviews covering the most exciting military content today. UM.
Speaker 1: The premier show on there is Training Cell, which follows
Speaker 1: former Special Operations Forces as they participate in the most
Speaker 1: advanced training in the country, everything from shooting schools, defensive driving,
Speaker 1: jungle and winter warfare, climbing and much more. And you
Speaker 1: can watch this content. It's softwarep TV dot us. We
Speaker 1: have a limited time promotion of only four nine a month,
Speaker 1: so get on that. And then also, if you haven't
Speaker 1: gotten a chance to check out the soft Rep Create Club.
Speaker 1: It's a subscription to get a box of badass tactical
Speaker 1: and survival gear delivered to your door every month, so
Speaker 1: it's like tactical Christmas every month. Here's the kicker. All
Speaker 1: the gears handpicked and tested by former Spec ops guys,
Speaker 1: so you know you're getting quality gear that's gonna work
Speaker 1: when you needed to. Um. In the past, we've sent
Speaker 1: fire starters, multi tools, E d C, med kits and
Speaker 1: it's all picked once again by Special Operations veterans. You're
Speaker 1: supporting a veteran owned company and to subscribe to that,
Speaker 1: visit Create Club dot us. We have gift options available
Speaker 1: as well. That's great Club dot Us. Anything else that
Speaker 1: that you're currently working on, Steve that we haven't covered,
Speaker 1: because all of that is really exciting, and I urge
Speaker 1: everybody to head over to Special Operations dot com. Uh.
Speaker 1: In fact, yeah, you just mentioned the Create Club. I
Speaker 1: had the the opportunity in the blessing to to test
Speaker 1: out some of their stuff. And when you talked about
Speaker 1: the fire starter and the in the fire starting materials, Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be doing a piece on that and probably
Speaker 1: the upcoming weeks. And that is some outstanding material that
Speaker 1: it's in the Creek Club. I can't wait to tell
Speaker 1: people about it, because, as you know, as a Special
Speaker 1: Forces guy, we tend to look at things a little
Speaker 1: on the jaded side because you never know what you're
Speaker 1: gonna get. People say, oh, this works really good. Well,
Speaker 1: I can tell you that the fire starting stuff we
Speaker 1: got in our create was some outstanding stuff and I
Speaker 1: hope to be able to write about that real soon
Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, I was. I was actually just over
Speaker 1: at my town dock where I live in Port Washington yesterday,
Speaker 1: you know, as the sun was going down. It's finally
Speaker 1: like some nice weather here, even though apparently tonight it
Speaker 1: won't be. But yesterday was very nice weather, and I
Speaker 1: brought my binoculars from the Premium Creek Club and man,
Speaker 1: those or those are amazing and it's cool for times
Speaker 1: like that when you have a nice view of the
Speaker 1: water and you know, some stuff that you want to
Speaker 1: see over the water that you can't see with the
Speaker 1: naked eye. Um, it's it's all just great stuff, which
Speaker 1: at the time I know was picked out by Drew Dwyer. Um.
Speaker 1: Scott Whitner is more uh doing that now. Yeah, Scott
Speaker 1: does a great job with that. Scott's the man, absolutely
Speaker 1: and I gotta get him back on soon. Um. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So the last thing I'll say is, as we're wrapping
Speaker 1: this one up, head over um once again to the
Speaker 1: Power of Thought podcast and you'll hear yet another full
Speaker 1: interview with Navy Seal Robert O'Neill, best known as the
Speaker 1: U b L Shooter. Um. And this will be the
Speaker 1: third time we've had him in studio. But that's on
Speaker 1: the Power of Thoughts. If you haven't checked that out,
Speaker 1: go to that now. UM. Like I said, in the
Speaker 1: next few days, I'm gonna launch like a Twitter and
Speaker 1: Instagram for the Power of Thought, where we're actually uh
Speaker 1: twenty nine episodes deep on the Power of Thoughts. It's
Speaker 1: about time that we kind of launch her on social
Speaker 1: media for that and I feel like most of you
Speaker 1: guys who listen have have checked out that podcast, but
Speaker 1: if you haven't, please do so. Um, because many of
Speaker 1: you are wondering, like, what happened to Brandon? What's what's
Speaker 1: he up to? He's still doing a weekly podcast, but
Speaker 1: that's the podcast he's doing. So her Hurricane group as
Speaker 1: a whole is doing three podcasts a week, so it's
Speaker 1: plenty of material for you guys to check out and
Speaker 1: enjoy each week. Awesome. Yeah, I actually look forward to
Speaker 1: hearing that Rob O'Neil interview that you're gonna be doing
Speaker 1: with Brandon as him. Uh, look forward to to listening
Speaker 1: to that as always, He's always an interesting guy that listened.
Speaker 1: He again, we're talking about guys with a lot of experience.
Speaker 1: Not many guys can say they did what he did. No,
Speaker 1: that that is for sure. But yeah, thanks Steve, Thanks
Speaker 1: so much for coming on and doing this with me.
Speaker 1: Love having you on and hearing what you're up to.
Speaker 1: And look look forward to seeing his interviews. Okay, actually,
Speaker 1: and thank you for having me on the always deploysure
Speaker 1: be Bot. You've been listening to soft Rep Radio. New
Speaker 1: episodes up every Wednesday and Friday for all of the
Speaker 1: great content from our veteran journalists. Join us and become
Speaker 1: a team room member today at soft Rep dot com,
Speaker 1: follow the show on Instagram and Twitter at soft rep Radio,
Speaker 1: and be sure to also check out the Power of
Speaker 1: Thought podcast, hosted by Hurricane Group CEO and Navy Seal
Speaker 1: Sniper instructor Brandon Webb.