Speaker 1: H ah beautiful. 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 in the community,
Speaker 1: Army Ranger and Green Beret Jack Murphy Lasagna. Don't get
Speaker 1: any on your Marine Scouts. Sniper Jason Delgado is just
Speaker 1: something we believe it. I associate that with taste, but
Speaker 1: I like freaking chocolate chi may Why is it flavor? Boring?
Speaker 1: The whole Lively board and now here's your co host
Speaker 1: and producer of this operation, Ian Scott Lee soft Rep
Speaker 1: dot Com on Time on Target, episode three hundred and
Speaker 1: six on Ian Scatto Jason Delgado back in studio with me,
Speaker 1: going brother, awesome man, awesome, Glad to be back. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I loved the last episode. And the coolest thing I
Speaker 1: think was so West Whitlock's a personal friend of Steve
Speaker 1: Ralston who we add on and I saw he gave
Speaker 1: us like a huge shout out on Instagram and really
Speaker 1: loved the episode, And that was just so cool to see.
Speaker 1: I love, Actually, you really do love the stuff. Rogue
Speaker 1: American What's out? I have shirts from them. I'll probably
Speaker 1: order more New Invader coffee. Yeah, I mean he's big time.
Speaker 1: This guy's big time former marine. Yeah, and he's and
Speaker 1: he's huge. You see this guy, he's like a Viking bro.
Speaker 1: Literally the picture of him next to Steve like Steve
Speaker 1: is by no means a small guy like emparison like
Speaker 1: that dude's like seven ft nine what I don't know,
Speaker 1: he's huge, man. Yeah, that was cool to see. He
Speaker 1: said that it was one of the best podcasts he
Speaker 1: ever heard. Um, I personally think it was one of
Speaker 1: the best episodes we ever did, just because Steve's story
Speaker 1: is amazing and to be candid like that is it
Speaker 1: was a beautiful story. Man. I ain't a lot because
Speaker 1: it's it's it just feels great to hear stories of
Speaker 1: like triumph, you know, just so stories and where you
Speaker 1: overcome such you know, adversity, such try you know, tragedy
Speaker 1: and just still have that outlook to where you are
Speaker 1: a beacon in and you know, and of yourself to others.
Speaker 1: That's crazy, man. I also feel like to go from,
Speaker 1: as he said, being afraid of people hearing about his
Speaker 1: past and his story to you know that he lived
Speaker 1: his whole wife in fear of that coming out, he said,
Speaker 1: and then to come on a podcast that tens of
Speaker 1: thousands of people are going to hear and tell that
Speaker 1: story start to finish, like it must feel liberated. It was,
Speaker 1: I'm sure for him, but for me it was therapeutic.
Speaker 1: You know, to see someone with that much much confidence,
Speaker 1: that much you know, that that security, that that's it, man,
Speaker 1: this is me, this is who I am, and apologetically
Speaker 1: and I'm I'm okay with that. It's a beautiful thing. Man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know that being said, you know, big up to
Speaker 1: Steve Man. Thanks for coming on once again. And everyone
Speaker 1: is still raving about the h the previous episode. Thanks
Speaker 1: Man for you know, sharing your story with us, and
Speaker 1: you know all the other future guests that come on
Speaker 1: here and really get you know, get down deep like that.
Speaker 1: That's that's what we want, you know. I think that's
Speaker 1: what the people want. You know. Yeah, I'd love to
Speaker 1: get Steve back on it too. You know who I
Speaker 1: would love to get on west Woodlock. Yeah, that would
Speaker 1: be amazing. We're gonna see what can make that happen. Man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll definitely reach out to west I think you'd be good.
Speaker 1: I even think you'd be a good guest for Brandon's
Speaker 1: Power of Thought. Podcast. I think that would be a
Speaker 1: that's a great suggestion. Actually, yeah, I mean to ceo
Speaker 1: s yeah. So and and also it's you know, there's
Speaker 1: so much we've talked about it, like veterand in fighting,
Speaker 1: so which is so stupid. It's cool to see a
Speaker 1: CEO of another veteran owned business shout us out and
Speaker 1: us shout him out, Like, I think that's how it
Speaker 1: should be. Man, we gotta have each other's backs. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the same as us. Um, you know, bringing on Dannie O'Malley,
Speaker 1: I mean, he's the CEO of a media company, and
Speaker 1: you know that's not above us. You know, this is
Speaker 1: just someone we want to bring attention to because he's hilarious.
Speaker 1: You know, he's bringing the lighter side of things, you
Speaker 1: know too to a lot of the issues that are
Speaker 1: you know, playing in our communities and stuff. But you know,
Speaker 1: so you know, we're not too big for that. We're
Speaker 1: not too big to bring you know, extend the hand
Speaker 1: and say, you know, it's about us, you know, uplifting
Speaker 1: each other in this community. So that's that's big ups man,
Speaker 1: that's cool. Yeah, definitely. And I also see West as
Speaker 1: like an innovator, to be honest, because now there are
Speaker 1: hundreds of veteran run clothing companies. There's even people who
Speaker 1: have hit me up on Instagram that are like, hey,
Speaker 1: I was inspired by the podcast. I'm a business owner now,
Speaker 1: which is really cool. I've I've seen that happen and
Speaker 1: he was doing it before a lot of these companies.
Speaker 1: I heard a rogue American Apparel. Many years ago, there
Speaker 1: weren't that many veteran owned uh T shirt companies or
Speaker 1: clothing companies. And and you know, I would say that
Speaker 1: we are innovators. Now there's thousands of veteran podcasts. We were,
Speaker 1: I believe the first or one of the first. That's
Speaker 1: how it stars. Man. Just you know, someone comes up
Speaker 1: and conceives that idea, just chilling one day and it's like, man,
Speaker 1: there's nothing like this around, and then from their an
Speaker 1: entire industry is born. It's amazing, right how that is?
Speaker 1: You know, it's like you'll you'll be the trailblazer, and
Speaker 1: then after that so many others will follow in trace
Speaker 1: but successfully that's crazy. That's crazy when you can create
Speaker 1: your own industry. Yeah, I agree, And I guess the
Speaker 1: one suggestion I would have to people who are thinking
Speaker 1: of starting a business. Like I'm not a business owner,
Speaker 1: but Brandon has said it before and I think it's
Speaker 1: really true, Like be original, don't try to be a
Speaker 1: second rate soft rep because that you know, it's not
Speaker 1: an original idea, it's already been done before. Come up
Speaker 1: with something new, and I feel like West came up
Speaker 1: with something new, and yeah, there's gonna be a lot
Speaker 1: of copycats out there, but do something that you're passionate
Speaker 1: about because you came up with this idea. Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: I mean, always try to be an innovator, trying to
Speaker 1: be that original creator. And another thing, you know, if
Speaker 1: you're starting out a new business, you can't be afraid
Speaker 1: to fail. So many multimillionaires out there, billionaires, I mean
Speaker 1: they failed and so many different endeavors in life, and
Speaker 1: you know, through each failure is a lesson learned, you know,
Speaker 1: So you know, don't be afraid to fail. And if
Speaker 1: you're a creator, you know you have to understand it's
Speaker 1: it's it's like it's like the analogy. Like you know,
Speaker 1: if a tree falls in the woods doesn't make a sound,
Speaker 1: you know, if no one heard, no one heard, it
Speaker 1: didn't make an actual sound. It's like, okay, if you
Speaker 1: create something and you're not willing to part with it,
Speaker 1: did you really in fact create it? You know, what
Speaker 1: benefit did it have to the world. So what I'm
Speaker 1: saying is, as a business owner, don't fall in love
Speaker 1: with your product to the point where you don't want
Speaker 1: to share it. You know, that's a big thing. And
Speaker 1: you know, these guys are proud of their stuff, their coffee,
Speaker 1: their cigars there, and you know, this is who they
Speaker 1: are and are comfortable in that, and they could become
Speaker 1: kind of sewers in that. So and like I said,
Speaker 1: with the whole original thing too, I just saw I've
Speaker 1: seen it a while ago, but not to the extent.
Speaker 1: I saw some Navy seal on Fox the other day
Speaker 1: and you know they were he was advertising a fifty
Speaker 1: caliber beer bottle opener, you know. But he got a
Speaker 1: segment on Fox for this. So it was pretty cool
Speaker 1: to think about it. Him and his wife, you know,
Speaker 1: something they could do together after you know, life after
Speaker 1: the teams, you know what I mean. So, man, I
Speaker 1: love it. I just love that whole veteran industry thing
Speaker 1: that just opened up. It's so cool. Yeah, And I
Speaker 1: agree that you have to actually follow through with the
Speaker 1: ideas everybody I meet has ideas, very few of them
Speaker 1: actually do it. I mean, I'm sure you meet people
Speaker 1: all the time they are like, oh, I'm really artistic,
Speaker 1: I should do some tattoos. How many of them really
Speaker 1: do it? And I get pitched all the time, and
Speaker 1: not just for tattoos, for businesses. I got pitched every
Speaker 1: function we go to. I get pitched a business idea,
Speaker 1: you know, And you know, I'm not the type of
Speaker 1: person where, you know, I'll shoot down the idea, I mean,
Speaker 1: ship if I have nothing else to talk about at
Speaker 1: that time. Why not? You know? I think it's intrigued
Speaker 1: to engage someone that is ambitious and creative to come
Speaker 1: up with something like that. But you know, like you said,
Speaker 1: I don't you know, I don't you know, set him
Speaker 1: on falls. Listen, You're gonna have to manifest this on
Speaker 1: your own. This is something that you know, you have
Speaker 1: the passion and the vision for it. You have to
Speaker 1: make it happen. I think people are too often seeking
Speaker 1: for others approval before they go through with the idea. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, one of the best things I could think of. Actually,
Speaker 1: I've talked about it on I may have mentioned on
Speaker 1: this podcast. I know I mentioned on Power of Thought
Speaker 1: David Show the artist, Um, he's reportedly I've heard him
Speaker 1: say it. I don't know how to fact check it,
Speaker 1: but like the highest paid artist at one point. Um,
Speaker 1: he did the artwork for Facebook when Facebook, you know,
Speaker 1: the offices before Facebook was this big thing. And I
Speaker 1: think they offered it maybe like ten thous dollars or
Speaker 1: stock options in this future company. Wow. And you know,
Speaker 1: Sean Parker said the day of it showed you want
Speaker 1: stock and Facebook or do you want the money? He
Speaker 1: was like, what the fund is Facebook? And he was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: it's connecting colleges and all this stuff. And David Show
Speaker 1: said he talked about some Howard Stern. Actually he was like,
Speaker 1: I hate college. I think all that ship is stupid.
Speaker 1: He's like, this idea sounds stupid. He's like, but I
Speaker 1: believe in you. He's like, you know, just as a person,
Speaker 1: it's like, and if you came up with this idea,
Speaker 1: I'm sold, So I'll take you know, the options. And
Speaker 1: you know he made millions of dollars off of this.
Speaker 1: So you know, if you think you have a great
Speaker 1: idea and someone says that's fucking stupid, don't let it
Speaker 1: discourage you if it's a truly good idea. Yeah, I agree,
Speaker 1: um and more so, you know, don't start things and
Speaker 1: not finish them. That's something I see a lot from
Speaker 1: people that have really great ideas that they approach you
Speaker 1: with that they'll start something and just let any little
Speaker 1: thing discourage them more, you know, situation in life that
Speaker 1: arises or whatever just tide tracks them and then they
Speaker 1: just you know, it's it's not a good thing. It's
Speaker 1: not a good habit to get into, you know. So
Speaker 1: a lot of people say, you know, even if you
Speaker 1: set out to do the smallest thing, like you had
Speaker 1: intentions of cleaning your kitchen, you know, execute it, do it,
Speaker 1: you know, get it out the way. And what it
Speaker 1: is is subconsciously you start, you start conditioning your mind
Speaker 1: and your body to set to finish things you set
Speaker 1: out to do, you know. So that's if you have
Speaker 1: that inspiration that you know, that thought that you you
Speaker 1: even manifested by writing down on paper and said, I
Speaker 1: want to make this happen, just do it. Why not?
Speaker 1: You know, if that's something you want to do, I
Speaker 1: encourage everyone to go out and do it. And like
Speaker 1: you said, just don't fall into pits of like you know,
Speaker 1: being an imitator, vis an innovator, you know. So Admiral
Speaker 1: mccraven gave that talk about making your bed every day
Speaker 1: and it went like completely viral on Facebook, on YouTube,
Speaker 1: and it was just like you have to set out
Speaker 1: every morning and just have some task and complete that
Speaker 1: task and it will get you in the habit of
Speaker 1: doing of the rest of the day, completing tasks rather
Speaker 1: than sitting around. So I thought that was a really
Speaker 1: powerful thing. I saw people on my Facebook, who, to
Speaker 1: be honest, have like no interest in the military, sharing
Speaker 1: this Admiral mccraven speech well, because it transisted all all
Speaker 1: aspects of life. I mean, you know, look at Jocko's
Speaker 1: Jocko's thing is, like I said, waking up as like
Speaker 1: zero four fifteens or four thirty every day and you know,
Speaker 1: showing the world. And then I see people that you know,
Speaker 1: follow him on Twitter and they'll ask him, you know, hey, Jocko,
Speaker 1: you know, does everyone have to wake up at that time?
Speaker 1: You know? His response, you know, which is what I
Speaker 1: thought was awesome. You know, It's like and I'm just
Speaker 1: you know, this is just you know, in reference to
Speaker 1: the point we're trying to make that you know, it's
Speaker 1: transcends military, this goes into everyday life. He says, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter what time you wake up. But I will
Speaker 1: say this, if you're waking up every day at ten am,
Speaker 1: get ready to just lose in life in general, unless
Speaker 1: you know, to be fair people, if you you know,
Speaker 1: have the night, you know the day, right. But I
Speaker 1: think you know obviously that's what he meant to you.
Speaker 1: And you know the reason I guess I it is,
Speaker 1: like I realized with podcasts radio, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: truck driver listeners and like those people have to be
Speaker 1: up crazy hours. They're actually controlled. The hours that they're
Speaker 1: allowed to work is actually controlled nowadays because there's been
Speaker 1: you know, serious, serious series of accidents you know would
Speaker 1: attract the trailer drivers and stuff, and the federal government
Speaker 1: has come in and actually, uh, you know something, we
Speaker 1: put a lot of regulations and restrictions on the amount
Speaker 1: of hours consecutive consecutively they could work. I remember the
Speaker 1: Tracy exactly, and that's another big A lot of a
Speaker 1: lot came from that as well. Yeah, but my point being,
Speaker 1: some of those guys have to be doing stuff at
Speaker 1: four am, like I don't think people realize how important
Speaker 1: they are. Like everything the microphone I'm talking new, the
Speaker 1: board here, the computer, it was all brought here by
Speaker 1: a truck. So like these people who you know, not
Speaker 1: to get off on a tangent, but these people who
Speaker 1: think green energy is going to replace everything, well, until
Speaker 1: there's green energy that could transport everything that I'm looking
Speaker 1: out in this room. You know, truck drivers are a
Speaker 1: really important part of what makes America great. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of things we can do idealistically, but the road
Speaker 1: to that it would probably be worse than you know,
Speaker 1: you know, finally just arriving. You know, so because think
Speaker 1: about it, you got it's like, you know, trying to
Speaker 1: make this government you know socialists. I mean, you just
Speaker 1: got to deconstruct everything we've been about, and you know
Speaker 1: that process would just destroy the world, even not just
Speaker 1: the United States. And then you know, once you get there,
Speaker 1: it's like, okay, that's a new idea for you. How
Speaker 1: you're gonna handle it? And then you know all the
Speaker 1: growing pains and it's like what's the point. You know,
Speaker 1: I just feel like I don't I don't shout out
Speaker 1: the truck drivers often or no, the truck drivers. Also,
Speaker 1: my point is like with the energy, you know, like, okay,
Speaker 1: you want to make everything green like you said, you know,
Speaker 1: that's cool. But I don't see us coming away from
Speaker 1: fossil fuels like you said anytimes. I don't see the
Speaker 1: possibility of that. It would be great if it's incredible
Speaker 1: and it's you know, reliable, But and I don't believe
Speaker 1: it's running out like they say, like it's run out.
Speaker 1: I mean, were you talking about the previous show. It's
Speaker 1: just it's something that this is constantly produced. I've heard
Speaker 1: you know, it's funny. I remember you guys talking about this.
Speaker 1: I had emails that had a different point of view
Speaker 1: that I don't know. Hey, if you have a different
Speaker 1: point of view. Soft repped out radio at soft rep
Speaker 1: dot com. Um, you know when you were saying the
Speaker 1: Jocko waking up thing, I thought it was interesting. We
Speaker 1: had a Navy seal, Chris Fustle on because he had
Speaker 1: a little bit of a different take on that. I
Speaker 1: remember him saying, if you wake up at a certain time, well,
Speaker 1: what's the purpose for waking up at that time? I
Speaker 1: don't know if you remember him saying. He was like,
Speaker 1: do you get up and meditate at that time. Do
Speaker 1: you listen to me the day He was like, there's
Speaker 1: gotta be a pern't just wake up a set on
Speaker 1: your couch. I think we talked about this before. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I would be just like strange, you know. Um,
Speaker 1: And I think Tony Robbins says he does that because
Speaker 1: he feels like the hours of zero four to zero
Speaker 1: five every day, between the hour of zero four zero five, Um,
Speaker 1: that's when his best his best idea has come to
Speaker 1: him for some reason, so he wants to be up
Speaker 1: there in that time. It's just that's what he says. Um.
Speaker 1: And Jocko just freaking you know, crushes it, you know,
Speaker 1: because he always post immediately after you know, his dead
Speaker 1: lift bar would sweat all over the floor and stuff.
Speaker 1: So I mean that's his routine, you know. So yeah,
Speaker 1: they're not not doing anything. I mean, like me, when
Speaker 1: I wake up that early, I listened to the news
Speaker 1: and I get prepared to hit the gym. Then I
Speaker 1: hit the gym, you know, and then I'm in the
Speaker 1: gym for a couple of hours. And that's the beauty
Speaker 1: of waking up early, though, Like you can spend legit
Speaker 1: no time on your I mean legit, time on your
Speaker 1: body and your mind, Like you could even read chapters
Speaker 1: in a book that you want to catch up on
Speaker 1: and then still have the rest of the day to
Speaker 1: look forward to. That's what I like, instead of like
Speaker 1: some guys like for tattooing, I'm sorry to just keep
Speaker 1: running off, But for tattooing, um, it's like if I'll
Speaker 1: get a job there in that day, I'll get a commission.
Speaker 1: Instead of staying up till two three in the morning
Speaker 1: trying to draw tired and exhausted and uninspired, so that
Speaker 1: that's all the work reflects, that all those emotions. I'll
Speaker 1: go to bed early, like at eight o'clock or nine o'clock,
Speaker 1: and I'll wake up at you know, zero five, you
Speaker 1: know thirty or zero six or whatever, and i would
Speaker 1: draw for two hours, drinking coffee and listen into the news.
Speaker 1: And that way I'm fresh and I'm attacking that, you know,
Speaker 1: with a new set of eyes. So that way I
Speaker 1: can give him the best I have to offer. So
Speaker 1: that's why I agree with the early waking up things. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'd be inspired to wake up that early if I
Speaker 1: lived where Tony Robbins, does you ever see and uh,
Speaker 1: I saw that documentary on Netflix, like the house that
Speaker 1: he wakes up in with fucking like amazing with that dun. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was like, man, that's awesome. So anyway, we got
Speaker 1: Scott Houston coming on, author of Echo and Ramadi, the
Speaker 1: firsthand story of U. S. Marines in the Rocks Deadliest City.
Speaker 1: It comes out February, so let's get right to him.
Speaker 1: We're honored to be joined by Scott using Marine Corps
Speaker 1: Major with twenty four years of service, ten deployments. He
Speaker 1: can ducted operations in sixty countries, also special operations capable.
Speaker 1: And uh, even though there's no history with you, Jason,
Speaker 1: you guys pretty much did a lot of the same things,
Speaker 1: which we'll get into. Uh, but yeah, we were actually
Speaker 1: in the same unit for a small, small amount of time.
Speaker 1: He obviously had to move on to bigger and better things.
Speaker 1: But you guys never really met prior to I don't.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't remember because I was just you know, just
Speaker 1: rung on the bottom, you know, bottom of the totem pole,
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, So Scott originally reached out to us,
Speaker 1: but when I saw his his resume and the book
Speaker 1: that he's writing, I figured you'd be an awesome guest
Speaker 1: to have on. So if we could just get into
Speaker 1: your background and you know what inspired you to join
Speaker 1: the Marines, I think people would love to hear that. Yeah, sure,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me on. And uh, Jason and I
Speaker 1: do you share a background. We served in Therbanceanic Fourth
Speaker 1: Springs together again up in one of the most luxurious
Speaker 1: basis in the Marine Corps, twenty nine palms and hot desert.
Speaker 1: So are may have crossed. He may have been steered
Speaker 1: away from me at that point as a small elite
Speaker 1: scott sniper, but I was company executive officer in one
Speaker 1: of the line companies. But yeah, really really glad to
Speaker 1: be on the show. And for you guys telling military
Speaker 1: stories and supporting veterans, just a great, great message you
Speaker 1: guys have so um my entrance into the Marine Corps
Speaker 1: enlisted uh early on, right out of high school after
Speaker 1: not so stellar career in high school of bad grades
Speaker 1: and fighting and raising my motorcycle on abandoned stretch of
Speaker 1: the highway and running from the cops. And uh, I
Speaker 1: was introduced to the Marine Corps recruiters by a friend
Speaker 1: of mine and having led kind of high risk lifestyle
Speaker 1: even as a young adult with a lack of supervision,
Speaker 1: The Marines seemed like a natural fit. They were the
Speaker 1: biggest group of risk takers I had ever met, and
Speaker 1: that kind of carried ever into my military career after
Speaker 1: I enlisted, and then surely there after I went to
Speaker 1: college very much better, and then became a commission officer
Speaker 1: in the Infantry, and uh, after twenty four years that,
Speaker 1: you know, I've just been really blessed to sort with
Speaker 1: some of the greatest people I've ever met. So, so
Speaker 1: let me get this straight. You went in initially on
Speaker 1: an enlisted contract, and then you decided that it will
Speaker 1: probably be smarter for you to go on and become
Speaker 1: an officer, and you're what we call a Mustang now,
Speaker 1: so that's pretty awesome. Um, do you feel like you
Speaker 1: had any type of advantage being that you were enlisted
Speaker 1: prior to taking over command or should I say opportune
Speaker 1: you know, of infantry Marines and getting ready to combat,
Speaker 1: that that being a Mustang somehow gave you some sort
Speaker 1: of benefit or some sort of a plus up. Sure,
Speaker 1: I think when I made the as into I got
Speaker 1: off bactive duty and I'm still drilled in the rin
Speaker 1: Reserve component as a machine gunner UH in the Chicago
Speaker 1: area and while I was getting my degree at Illinois
Speaker 1: State and then I got my commission, And I don't
Speaker 1: ever see that being an officer. Maybe, you know, being
Speaker 1: enlisted made me a better officer. It didn't. And for
Speaker 1: those that don't understand what it mustang is, you know,
Speaker 1: mustang so horse, it has a couple of different breeds
Speaker 1: in him. So in the military, if you're enlisted an officer,
Speaker 1: they call you a Mustang officer. So it didn't make
Speaker 1: me any better. I think it just gave me a
Speaker 1: greater appreciation for the Marines time, and I was always
Speaker 1: hyper conscious of how the Marines were training. I never
Speaker 1: wanted them doing mindless tasks, UH, standing in formations, just
Speaker 1: waiting for information, because I always knew that they needed
Speaker 1: to be training, and I always emphasized the importance to
Speaker 1: that of training as if each day were their last day,
Speaker 1: because we in the military and those that served, never
Speaker 1: know what's over the horizon, so we always need to
Speaker 1: make sure that we're utilizing our time effectively. And I
Speaker 1: think that was probably one of the biggest considerations I
Speaker 1: had when I transitioned UH to the dark side, as
Speaker 1: they say, as an officer from enlisted. But I don't
Speaker 1: ever say that it made me a better officer, because
Speaker 1: there's plenty of officers serving and have served that never
Speaker 1: weren't listed. And I don't think that, Uh, it just
Speaker 1: gave you a better perspective. I think, Jason, no, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: And you know, I totally agree with you. There's officers
Speaker 1: that weren't you know prior and listen that I I
Speaker 1: wholeheartedly admire. Um, I'm just letting you know from our
Speaker 1: point of view what you were there. You know, if
Speaker 1: I find out an officer is a mustang, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm looking at him like, you know, okay, you know,
Speaker 1: this guy kind of knows what it was to kind
Speaker 1: of be on the ground and in the mud with us.
Speaker 1: You know, even though infantry officers do get down, you know,
Speaker 1: even with the lack of even with the lack of
Speaker 1: enlisted experience is but you know that to me is
Speaker 1: just something that I'm gonna as you know, being you know,
Speaker 1: someone directed under you. You know, I'm gonna look at
Speaker 1: that and I'm gonna admire that. Yeah, and you can
Speaker 1: appreciate this too. Is there's there's plenty of extraordinary listed
Speaker 1: marines and service members that have master's degrees, some some
Speaker 1: even higher. And it's it's not about the amount of
Speaker 1: education you have. It it's really about what you want
Speaker 1: to do in the military. And it really boils down
Speaker 1: to leadership. And I always say that there is no
Speaker 1: such thing as combat leadership, just leadership. And I never
Speaker 1: subscribe to the idea or the notion that because one
Speaker 1: had been in combat or shot at or injured, it
Speaker 1: made them a better leader. Leaders lead in any condition.
Speaker 1: And you can understand that although some may shine a
Speaker 1: little brighter under these chaotic conditions, real leaders control the
Speaker 1: situation in the absence of that chaos, and those those
Speaker 1: points of boredom. You know, training fors and boredom is
Speaker 1: not a mission essential task, Jason, but it's something good
Speaker 1: leaders have to deal with to keep the marines sharp
Speaker 1: when all that madness surrounds. And great about my experience
Speaker 1: was that the leadership that was demonstrated by my marines
Speaker 1: and the lieutenants that I served with, and and as
Speaker 1: I rose in the rings, they made a difference between
Speaker 1: life and death on most days. But they were lucky though,
Speaker 1: uh they were fortunate to have some of the best
Speaker 1: and most seasoned enlisted marines either side to guide them
Speaker 1: along the way. Because again I never subscribed that officers
Speaker 1: need to know their place, suggesting that, you know, officers
Speaker 1: shouldn't be seen doing menial tasks that only listeners have
Speaker 1: to do. You know, I was a part of a team,
Speaker 1: and my place was always with my brains, period, and
Speaker 1: I like to think that they welcomed that because if
Speaker 1: there was geared to be moved, I moved it with
Speaker 1: If there was you know, shipped to be shoveled, I
Speaker 1: had a shovel in my hand. If there was a firefight,
Speaker 1: I was in it. If there was a patrol was on.
Speaker 1: That's just the way I felt I would be more
Speaker 1: effective in a leadership role was trying to be connected
Speaker 1: to those that I lead, and I felt it was
Speaker 1: not only my privilege but my ultimate responsibility because I
Speaker 1: was entrusted to the care and safety and welfare of
Speaker 1: all those those young warriors. Yep. So definitely, you know,
Speaker 1: a subscriber to the one of the our oldest mantras
Speaker 1: in the Marine Corps le from the front, you know,
Speaker 1: and not from the back, and totally get that. That's
Speaker 1: and you know, and to this day, that's why you
Speaker 1: get so much praise as as an officer, you know,
Speaker 1: and we're we're always looking especially because you're that you're
Speaker 1: somewhat of that that that father figure or that authoritative
Speaker 1: figure to us when we're in these uh you know,
Speaker 1: high threat areas, of heart threat environment. So you know,
Speaker 1: we're always putting a lot of pressure on you to
Speaker 1: kind of guide us morally. Also, like you said, you know,
Speaker 1: when it comes to keeping steel sharp, you know what
Speaker 1: training you know, Um, so you know it's a lot
Speaker 1: of pressure on a marine officer, and I just want
Speaker 1: to know how did you handle that? You know, you know,
Speaker 1: what was your earliest age? Actually asked a good question,
Speaker 1: what was your earlier earliest age when you actually got
Speaker 1: commissioned and had your first uh, your first platoon. I
Speaker 1: believe I was twenty seven years old, and so I
Speaker 1: was a little older than the average bearer, uh even
Speaker 1: as an officer, which I think give gives one a
Speaker 1: lot of life experience. And that's something that you can't
Speaker 1: learn in school or the military can't teach you that.
Speaker 1: And what's what's more important to me is that that
Speaker 1: pressure is is there. I mean it's it exists the
Speaker 1: pressure all found and it exists not only for officers
Speaker 1: but the young enlisted rings. And when I was in Iraq, well,
Speaker 1: when I was in Ramadi, Iraq two thousand and six
Speaker 1: uh in the deadliest city of of all Iraq at
Speaker 1: the time, it took probably years of age and wisdom
Speaker 1: to really understand that. I was a captain at the time,
Speaker 1: a pretty senior captain at thirty six years old, and
Speaker 1: I would look at those young marines and I would
Speaker 1: task them to do things that were almost superhuman acts.
Speaker 1: And as I wrote my book Echo and Rmadi, I
Speaker 1: noticed a trend as I was going through in the
Speaker 1: average age of these young men, these lance corporals and
Speaker 1: corporals and sergeants was twenty t two years old. And
Speaker 1: what I was asking them to do and how they
Speaker 1: achieved it was so remarkable to me. They never let
Speaker 1: me down in that capacity because they would fight day
Speaker 1: in and day out and just do amazing things on
Speaker 1: the battlefield and continue to take care of each other
Speaker 1: better than anything else they'd known. And all I saw
Speaker 1: back then was Sergeant Delgado, more Serge Smith. I didn't
Speaker 1: see a twenty two year old kid. I just saw
Speaker 1: that marine with his rifle. And again, it took years
Speaker 1: of experience to really look back on that and realized
Speaker 1: the group gravity of what I was asking these guys
Speaker 1: to do was so extraordinary, and I'm eternally grateful to
Speaker 1: how they performed on the battlefield under such chaotic conditions
Speaker 1: that there was so much friction, as I use that
Speaker 1: word of friction to describe the uncertainty of what we experienced.
Speaker 1: It was just remarkable. Scott, Why why echo, Why that
Speaker 1: unit and why that company? And was that like one
Speaker 1: of your most I guess definitive moments in your life.
Speaker 1: Was just something that you just sat down and said,
Speaker 1: you know, people need to hear about this. Well, over
Speaker 1: twenty four years in the military, I think it was
Speaker 1: absolutely probably the pinnacle of my career or an infantry officer,
Speaker 1: to be able to serve in combat leaving an entire
Speaker 1: company of over two fifty Marines, soldiers and sailors. It
Speaker 1: really doesn't get any better, uh, And that's hard for
Speaker 1: a lot of listeners understand. It is by young men
Speaker 1: and women do what they do, and sort of people
Speaker 1: that serve in the military, they make up less than
Speaker 1: one half of one percent of the entire population in
Speaker 1: over three million people. So the fact that they do
Speaker 1: these things. The only analogy I use is that they
Speaker 1: train for months and months on end, and when they're
Speaker 1: they're in combat, it's game day every single day for them.
Speaker 1: I mean, imagine the NFL football players trained every day
Speaker 1: and practice and there was never a game on Sunday.
Speaker 1: That's the only way I can relate it to these people.
Speaker 1: But the reason I wrote Echo and or mahdi Um
Speaker 1: is to honor the sacrifices of the rains that fought,
Speaker 1: and also the families that supported us while we did
Speaker 1: and they continue to support us. This I mean I
Speaker 1: conducted almost a hundred interviews with the Rings and family
Speaker 1: just to make sure that this story was told right
Speaker 1: and it was balanced with not only the tactical but
Speaker 1: also the emotional, because that's what's important to me, is
Speaker 1: telling about the people. I don't want to read things
Speaker 1: about events or things. I want to read about characters
Speaker 1: and people that made a difference. And that's where I
Speaker 1: think that these young men uh in their families did
Speaker 1: and then for Madi in two thousands and six could
Speaker 1: really found together by that brotherhood and the honor that
Speaker 1: we have on a bumper, secrets and flags and the
Speaker 1: dangers they faced every day, and it was such an environment,
Speaker 1: and they battled in a war in which the front
Speaker 1: line as you know, everywhere, and it was it was
Speaker 1: a war that almost it was absent rules, and it
Speaker 1: was marked by this undermanny chaos and a ruthless surgency
Speaker 1: and an enemy that wore no uniform, which was equally
Speaker 1: as a challenge those in the battlefield to fight and
Speaker 1: to temper those young men and women on how to
Speaker 1: respond to that was a real leadership challenge. So the
Speaker 1: story is is my story, but it's also their story.
Speaker 1: It's a very intimate story as I led my men
Speaker 1: through those firefights, and I try to bring the readers
Speaker 1: to that urban battlefield in Iraq in um how I
Speaker 1: describe it in such an unvarneaged detail and the loyalty
Speaker 1: that the Marines shared in that savagery of war that
Speaker 1: you know left behind those uh you know, the scars
Speaker 1: that we all offer today not only on their bodies
Speaker 1: but also in their minds. Um. I just think it's
Speaker 1: it's really an honor to be able to share that
Speaker 1: unprecedented heard about the highlights and the prices that were
Speaker 1: paid by both the families and the marines unlike any other.
Speaker 1: So that's that's I thought this story was something that
Speaker 1: I really needed to share. So there's a story of
Speaker 1: the individuals in that unit and the sacrifices they made,
Speaker 1: and you know, just a teamwork in general to make
Speaker 1: sure you guys, do you know the absolute best you
Speaker 1: possibly could. Yeah, that's it is. It's about the Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's obviously about the fighting in the friction, but it's
Speaker 1: you know, there's times where UH readers will be heartbroken,
Speaker 1: those times will be exhilarated. There are times they'll laugh
Speaker 1: at something, some of the crazy things that marines do,
Speaker 1: even in the most chaatic conditions, and it's just I
Speaker 1: think there's points. At least for me, it was really
Speaker 1: an unforgettable account of of our our fight at its
Speaker 1: sharpest edge when that company of Marine Jason was not
Speaker 1: a special elite unit by any stretch of the means,
Speaker 1: but there was this indescribable chemistry that we shared an
Speaker 1: echo company that is remarkable, and to this day we
Speaker 1: still stayed very connected, uh to all the Marines that
Speaker 1: served in that company, probably because of the adversity that
Speaker 1: we shared during that time that only those that experienced
Speaker 1: it can understand. Yeah, and so for the UM for
Speaker 1: the not military jargon savvy UH audience listener, audience member, UM,
Speaker 1: can you explain um the term echo and you know
Speaker 1: as far as how does that what role that plays
Speaker 1: within a unit? You know, so that you know, just
Speaker 1: break it down. Why why you why you name the
Speaker 1: book Echo in Romani. The title of the book is
Speaker 1: based off of Echo Company, which each battalion in the
Speaker 1: Marine Corps designates its its rifle companies by a phonetic
Speaker 1: letter designation. So in the second time Fourth Marines, for example,
Speaker 1: we had Echo Company, Fox Company and Golf Company, and
Speaker 1: you know in in three four you know we had
Speaker 1: um you know, Lema Company, India Company and Kilo Company.
Speaker 1: So there's fanatic letters that we use to designate it
Speaker 1: and Echo and Remandy. The title that we've chose for
Speaker 1: this book, I think plays on two fold. You know,
Speaker 1: it's about company obviously Echo Companies, Second Italian Fourth Marines
Speaker 1: in Ramadi, but it also speaks to those darker echoes
Speaker 1: of what resonate with the Marines and the families after
Speaker 1: we left the battlefield because effects of post traumatic stress
Speaker 1: and the tragedy formath that we've endured UH losing marines.
Speaker 1: It's just a reality that again is it's not some
Speaker 1: video on Facebook about a twenty two and a push
Speaker 1: up challenge. These are real people. There were faces and
Speaker 1: names and men and women that were known to me personally.
Speaker 1: In in my Italian alone, sadly, over fifty names are
Speaker 1: etched in stone, on granted in various cemeteries and monuments.
Speaker 1: So we shouldn't ever forget that the sacrifices that they made.
Speaker 1: I know it's a very hard subject to talk about,
Speaker 1: but that that loss and that that continue sacrifice that
Speaker 1: is made just never needs to be forgotten. And I
Speaker 1: always have to talk about our gold star families that
Speaker 1: are such an important part to me in uh not
Speaker 1: only writing this great story, which they shared their their
Speaker 1: stories as well. But they just can't be described as
Speaker 1: ordinary people. And I say this time and again, they're
Speaker 1: they're extraordinary people who give so much and and they
Speaker 1: sacrifice so much, and they lose so much and they
Speaker 1: continue to love so much. It's just indescribable. And you
Speaker 1: you've lost brothers, and we felt or pain through the
Speaker 1: loss of our fellow pains Um, but we've also felt
Speaker 1: their love. And I felt their love so many times
Speaker 1: and received it unconditionally from so many soothing voices on
Speaker 1: the other end of the phone who has spoken me
Speaker 1: over the years, not not as a marine or as
Speaker 1: a commander, but as a mother or father or brother
Speaker 1: would you know, to any son or brother. And it
Speaker 1: has made me humble beyond words, because I've I've really
Speaker 1: never felt so cared for by so many of whom
Speaker 1: I ultimately felt indebted to, and they have continued to
Speaker 1: unselfishly offered me a great sense of relief and compassion
Speaker 1: and forgiveness all at once, all of those life changing
Speaker 1: events that none of us had control run the battlefield. Well,
Speaker 1: let's talk about that forgiveness, because I think that's important
Speaker 1: to mention because you know, considering our the majority of
Speaker 1: us our age at that point in time, um, and
Speaker 1: also our mindset, which is a very aggressive, you know,
Speaker 1: aggressive mindset where basically we're just you know, we rebel
Speaker 1: into stosterone. Um. You know, there's decisions, especially as a commander.
Speaker 1: I can only imagine because you got up to the
Speaker 1: ranks of field grade officer, you know, and that that
Speaker 1: you know, you know what they say you know, more, more,
Speaker 1: more money, more problems. Right, it's the same same thing,
Speaker 1: you know, more rank, more responsibility. It's ridiculous at those levels,
Speaker 1: you know. So the forgiveness what what what do you mean?
Speaker 1: Do you mean like as far as having to make
Speaker 1: those tough calls and look your guys in the eye
Speaker 1: and say, you know what, that's something that had to
Speaker 1: be done and then you know, after a while you
Speaker 1: guys came and reconcile. Is that what you meant? Yeah? Absolutely,
Speaker 1: it's an inevitable fact. That is as hard as I
Speaker 1: trained my marines, as much supervision as I gave them,
Speaker 1: it's an inevitable fact when you go in combat that
Speaker 1: you're gonna lose marines, and you have to train and
Speaker 1: you have to prepare yourself for that fact because come
Speaker 1: it is a very real thing, and there's no real
Speaker 1: way to put it, but that's a very in the
Speaker 1: reality intensity to escape your attention. If you're not the
Speaker 1: moment being shot at or mortar or blown up in
Speaker 1: an I D explosion or whatever else, that repetitiveness and
Speaker 1: the boredom and the chaos that's around you just just
Speaker 1: really can't exist. But it does, and it it really
Speaker 1: doesn't seem real until you have to have the sobering
Speaker 1: moment when you look the parents of a nineteen year
Speaker 1: old marine in the eye and I have to express
Speaker 1: your sympathies for the loss of their son or daughter
Speaker 1: who is ultimately your responsibility. And the fact that they
Speaker 1: can reach out, wrap their arms around us and make
Speaker 1: us feel so cared for is it's just remarkable. That's
Speaker 1: the forgiveness that I'm talking about. It's it's really something
Speaker 1: hard to articulate, but you feel it. And there's probably
Speaker 1: any that don't have that, and there's some that isolate
Speaker 1: themselves and can't deal with they're lost because they lost Jason.
Speaker 1: And you know, we sacrificed. We signed freely, we took
Speaker 1: an oath, and we decided to serve and defend and
Speaker 1: you know under that flag, and our brothers are not
Speaker 1: buried under it. But it's a choice and a sacrifice
Speaker 1: that we made and that the brave warriors that serve
Speaker 1: our country make willingly. But our gold star families they lost,
Speaker 1: they did not have that. And that's a distinct difference
Speaker 1: that I tell anyone that you know that's listen. So
Speaker 1: I think it's important to give you this platform because
Speaker 1: I think you have so much to offer. Um, what
Speaker 1: what if advice would you give a young officer coming
Speaker 1: into the Marine Corps or coming into the military in general,
Speaker 1: one going into the infantry field. Be authentic and it's
Speaker 1: not just about the individual marine. It's all about the
Speaker 1: individual marine and that's the most important thing that they
Speaker 1: always need to remember. I always try to put the
Speaker 1: needs of those that I was entrusted to leave above
Speaker 1: my own. And if you do that, you can't go wrong.
Speaker 1: But I will say this to you, and I've said
Speaker 1: this before, is that no one's perfect. I most certainly
Speaker 1: was not perfect. And I will admit, probably more than
Speaker 1: most does I'm not on active duty anymore, that I
Speaker 1: had more of my share of screw ups in struggles
Speaker 1: in throughout my career, both enlisted an officer. But the
Speaker 1: advice is this, is that there are times in life
Speaker 1: when everyone's whether it's in daily life or whether it's
Speaker 1: throughout your career. Um. You know, again, I have my
Speaker 1: share of challenges in my share of struggles. But I
Speaker 1: try and write and in my book Body, But I
Speaker 1: think the lesson that I learned not only while I
Speaker 1: was on that in the rinkorp. But over time, you know,
Speaker 1: I found out that that that pattern of risky behavior
Speaker 1: that I was so accustomed to, which was also extremely
Speaker 1: dangerous and very detriment of my health, both mentally and physical. Uh.
Speaker 1: I thrived on that and again, like I said earlier,
Speaker 1: even as a young child, that took those risks and
Speaker 1: that thrill uh, and that feeling never dissipated as it's
Speaker 1: all over into my ill life and as a marine
Speaker 1: um it was completely acceptable lifestyle for most in the
Speaker 1: Rine Corps and almost embraced by the Marines I started with,
Speaker 1: both enlisted and possibly and I think the biggest challenge
Speaker 1: for me throughout my life of high risk and that
Speaker 1: type of friction and that uncertainty of combat in the
Speaker 1: fast pace was really the absence of that friction when
Speaker 1: I transition Rain Corps. That's what I had a difficult
Speaker 1: time adjusting to because it was never the fighting the firefights,
Speaker 1: or lamenting the dead bodies or losing sleep. That wasn't
Speaker 1: it for me. It was the lack of friction because
Speaker 1: there's absolutely no way to recreate or replicate that type
Speaker 1: of adrenaline or excitement that any is really the toughest
Speaker 1: battle um So, I think that's important that young marines
Speaker 1: and officers understand that there's times in life that I've slipped,
Speaker 1: because that's life. Life slippery, and there's points in your
Speaker 1: career in life that you lose traction. You said, well,
Speaker 1: and for me, it was in the process to share
Speaker 1: those times in my life. But it's a decision I
Speaker 1: made and right about pain painfully sometimes, but it was
Speaker 1: done so only in the hopes that others can learn
Speaker 1: that it's all right not to be perfect. It's all
Speaker 1: right to know you're gonna fall at some point. I've fallen.
Speaker 1: But the real measure of success, and this is not
Speaker 1: just a cliche, it's picking yourself back up, carrying on
Speaker 1: with whatever that mission is, whether it's in your career,
Speaker 1: in the military or any lot in life. Um but,
Speaker 1: I think through age and wisdom again, you feel it
Speaker 1: coming as you lose ground. You know that traction and
Speaker 1: you mentioned this earlier because most veterans will ignore it,
Speaker 1: thinking that they are absolutely impervious to the effects of gravity,
Speaker 1: because that's how we're trained. And when you lose traction
Speaker 1: that ground beneath you, make no mistake about it, You're
Speaker 1: gonna land hard and some land harder than others, but
Speaker 1: each fault you just have to continue to learn and adjust.
Speaker 1: And I think that throughout the process of writing ramadi Um,
Speaker 1: and despite those con weighted moments of humility, it made
Speaker 1: me feel more human and it allowed me to identify
Speaker 1: those slipper ears in life that were on the road
Speaker 1: ahead of me. So that's a long answer to a
Speaker 1: short question, because I think I've got plenty of experience
Speaker 1: and I offer advice. But that's a great thing about advice.
Speaker 1: Take the advice you like, don't take the advice you
Speaker 1: don't like, because everybody's got it bucked. So um, there's
Speaker 1: good advice and bad advice in which we can learn
Speaker 1: from both. So one of the last things I'm wondering is,
Speaker 1: as you're wrapping this up, Scott, is you know, after
Speaker 1: a highly decorated career, twenty four years of service, what
Speaker 1: made you say, you know what, I'm moving on to
Speaker 1: another part of my life. And what are you up
Speaker 1: to now, you know, besides obviously putting out this book,
Speaker 1: which we're really excited for. Well, the decision to transition
Speaker 1: from the military. I always said, you know, hey, when
Speaker 1: it stops being fun, you need to move on and
Speaker 1: after after a really great career, I was at that
Speaker 1: point where I decided I I wanted to move on
Speaker 1: and challenge myself. And I think that's what marines learned
Speaker 1: throughout their career is continually challenge yourself. So that's what
Speaker 1: I made the decision to do. And as a disabled
Speaker 1: that you know, I had some you know, impact related injury,
Speaker 1: uh you know, and so you know, I just felt
Speaker 1: that that was wearing on me as well and issued
Speaker 1: and everything. So I transition and I don't look back.
Speaker 1: And I worked in the private sector for a little
Speaker 1: bit and then my real passion was telling this story.
Speaker 1: And that's what I woke up wanting to do every morning,
Speaker 1: was to share great stories about the great things are
Speaker 1: military service members due and to help veterans. And I
Speaker 1: do that not only through my writing by public speaking,
Speaker 1: but also through charity work and interaction. The executive director
Speaker 1: of Save the Brave, which helps connect veterans through outreach
Speaker 1: programs and it's a certified nonprofit that one of my
Speaker 1: junior Marines started from Echo Company. Second Italian fourth Marines
Speaker 1: Nicolas I. Uh. We were saw gunners, who is a
Speaker 1: machine light machine gunner and uh is just doing amazing
Speaker 1: things now. So helping veterans and staying connected to them
Speaker 1: really makes me happy. That's my path question. And I'm
Speaker 1: very fortunate not only to be connected with such great
Speaker 1: organizations like Save the Brave and just yesterday I was
Speaker 1: invited up to another event with the Semper five Fund
Speaker 1: and we are the mighty that are doing amazing things
Speaker 1: to help veterans, uh, And that that really is the
Speaker 1: best feeling in the world. And there's so many people
Speaker 1: that don't know how to help charities. Something is just
Speaker 1: writing a big check, which we love big checks, don't
Speaker 1: get me wrong. But it's also involved during your time
Speaker 1: going up on Saturday drive to go show up at
Speaker 1: an event and support and really put some skin in
Speaker 1: the game and be there for the Marines or the
Speaker 1: veterans and listen to their stories, or help move tables,
Speaker 1: do whatever, golf, give money, but put some skin in
Speaker 1: the game game. It's not just a bumper sticker that
Speaker 1: says I support our troops. It's much much more than that. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I think that's an important message. And you know, on
Speaker 1: some level it's preaching to the choir of this audience,
Speaker 1: because I think this audience truly does realize that. And
Speaker 1: I know that most of the guys who listen, whether
Speaker 1: there are veterans themselves or civilians, they go out there
Speaker 1: and they do do the work in helping veterans. And
Speaker 1: we always try to give a spotlight to charities doing
Speaker 1: great things and veterans doing great things for their fellow veterans.
Speaker 1: And you know, you deserve to put that story out.
Speaker 1: I think after nearly two and a half decades of service,
Speaker 1: you know it's it's time for most people to step
Speaker 1: back and say ten deployment, Yeah, ten deployments, to step
Speaker 1: back and say, hey, I want to tell people this story.
Speaker 1: I want to help out my fellow veterans. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we salute you for it. The The website
Speaker 1: is Echo in Ramadi dot com, Facebook and Twitter at
Speaker 1: Echo in Ramanti. Will definitely have you back on Scott
Speaker 1: as the book comes closer. Because the book comes out February,
Speaker 1: please preorder it. You know that helps authors like yourself out.
Speaker 1: The book once again is Echo and Ramadi, the firsthand
Speaker 1: story of US Marines and the Rocks Deadly at City.
Speaker 1: Anything else. Before we wrap this up, I just want
Speaker 1: to say thanks to you and Jay Season for having
Speaker 1: me on the program again. It was really a pleasure.
Speaker 1: Love coming on programs like this and I can't thank
Speaker 1: you enough. Look forward to being back after the book
Speaker 1: comes out February. Absolutely, and if you're ever in New York,
Speaker 1: we'd we'd love to have you in the studio. I'll
Speaker 1: be out there in favbruark. Hey. Once again, thanks for
Speaker 1: coming on. And I did notice, f y if what
Speaker 1: we send you off, you are catching one hell of
Speaker 1: a buzz on Facebook. Congratulations and hopefully your pre sales
Speaker 1: reflect that. Man, definitely, right before your book drops, you
Speaker 1: gotta come back on. Yeah, we're doing good. So thanks
Speaker 1: thanks for the voting. Confidence. Man, I appreciate it. You know,
Speaker 1: on multiple angles how difficult it is to be in
Speaker 1: combat and serve and transition and to write a book
Speaker 1: and man, it's just yeah, it feels like you're being
Speaker 1: stretched all over the place. I know you get it,
Speaker 1: all right, brother, So well, real honor and a pleasure
Speaker 1: having Scott using on. And man, what a background I
Speaker 1: do have to say to go that what could you
Speaker 1: imagine if being being in service that long? That's ridiculous.
Speaker 1: And like I said, the amount of responsibility once you
Speaker 1: get up to that point is just overwhelming. I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 1: And you know he did it successfully with honor, and
Speaker 1: you know, even to the point where he has lessons
Speaker 1: to you know, uh, to break off everyone else trying
Speaker 1: to follow in his footsteps. Good job. Most of the guys,
Speaker 1: I know, whether it's you, Jack Brandon, Serve, you know,
Speaker 1: I'd say at the very max, maybe fifteen years. It's
Speaker 1: usually much less than that. Like, what do you think
Speaker 1: drive as a guy to go twenty four years to
Speaker 1: to stay at this goal and keep advancing in the military.
Speaker 1: It's it's got to be a passion at that point.
Speaker 1: It's it's got to be that thing that you live for,
Speaker 1: you know. Um. Also it all depends on, you know,
Speaker 1: how much are you in the immediate threat? You know,
Speaker 1: So for guys in so calm could community, um you
Speaker 1: got like you got guys in you know, Green Beret
Speaker 1: Seal teams are just operators until you know, they're well
Speaker 1: into their senior enlisted ranks, and that that can constitute
Speaker 1: anywhere from you know, fifteen to twenty plus years and
Speaker 1: they're still operating. So you know the reason why I
Speaker 1: would say more SF green Beret guys, you know, type
Speaker 1: get out at that twelve or fifteen years or whatever
Speaker 1: what have you is because they're just their lifestyle that
Speaker 1: high threat is such, it is so so much, it's
Speaker 1: so accelerated that they think a lot about their mortality,
Speaker 1: so that in and of itself becomes wearing mentally, so
Speaker 1: that you're gonna have to make that decision across you know,
Speaker 1: at some point to just get out, but um at years.
Speaker 1: You know, at some point you you have to transition
Speaker 1: into the administrative logistical portion of the military and the
Speaker 1: inner workings and the command and control structure of the
Speaker 1: military where you're not on the front line as much
Speaker 1: per se. You know, you're just in the backgrounds making
Speaker 1: short things. I ran, so I think it's probably a
Speaker 1: little bit easier, a little bit more of a neutral
Speaker 1: setting that you can just coast out. But you know,
Speaker 1: that's that that being said, you know, I think guys
Speaker 1: with the background that we come from, you know, you
Speaker 1: won't see that twenty some plus years. You know, you
Speaker 1: will for other guys that are like groomed for commands,
Speaker 1: you know, mainly officers and stuff. But with the enlisted manages,
Speaker 1: I don't think your knees can hang that long. You
Speaker 1: know what I mean. But well, I do think of
Speaker 1: a guy like Terry Shaphard, you know, Green Beret just
Speaker 1: pretty recently retired, which I thought it was, you know, remarkable.
Speaker 1: So there are those, there's there's there's examples of guys
Speaker 1: that are, like I said, that's their passion. They're not
Speaker 1: going anywhere else. And there's there's guys that are like
Speaker 1: in the Tier one teams that, dude, where else are
Speaker 1: you gonna go? You're the man, and you know you're
Speaker 1: the man, and you're living in the moment. You know,
Speaker 1: you're like instead of being you know, praise as a
Speaker 1: hero for you know, actions that you did prior to
Speaker 1: you know whatever, you know, you're you're there, you're in it.
Speaker 1: No one knows you, but you're actively in the fight.
Speaker 1: Like that to them is so attractive. They're gonna stay
Speaker 1: there as long as they're willing to fight. My point
Speaker 1: is the moment you're out of the fight and you
Speaker 1: have to start getting into the background and the inner
Speaker 1: workings of running the machine and keeping the machine oiled,
Speaker 1: which I mean is the bigger picture of the military.
Speaker 1: Whatever d D you're working in. You know, that gets
Speaker 1: kind of mundane, you know, what I mean. And for
Speaker 1: guys that you know, live that's such a high high
Speaker 1: pace or high peak point of testosterone, that ship is torture.
Speaker 1: Well with that throw a punch of the week. I
Speaker 1: I I feel like this was a fun one, I guess,
Speaker 1: but I really do hate when political correctness seeps into
Speaker 1: like embedded parts of the culture that people just love.
Speaker 1: So I just couldn't believe coming across this story. So
Speaker 1: a guy made a documentary talking about how offensive a
Speaker 1: Pooh of a character was on The Simpsons and this
Speaker 1: Indian stereotype of him, you know, doing yoga and the
Speaker 1: cow stuff and him working at the quickly Moore which
Speaker 1: is like seven and eleven. But I feel like this
Speaker 1: has always been part of the humor at the show.
Speaker 1: I am not throat punching this guy putting out the documentary.
Speaker 1: I can't believe that the Simpsons are considering caving into
Speaker 1: this pressure of either drastically altering the character of a
Speaker 1: Pooh or just getting rid of him. I mean, I
Speaker 1: feel like every animated show and the Simpsons were innovators
Speaker 1: in this pokes fawn at stereotypes. You know, you have
Speaker 1: the you have the doughnut eating cop who is oblivious
Speaker 1: to everything. Our cops gonna say this is offensive to
Speaker 1: law enforcement. You know, I don't think they would because
Speaker 1: they're not pussies, but you know, yeah, this is. And
Speaker 1: this is also why I think South Park is such
Speaker 1: a superior show now because they've constantly said fun, political
Speaker 1: correct this. Yeah, I think it's becoming it's not coming
Speaker 1: it is. It is something that we enjoy as taboo,
Speaker 1: but it's becoming more so that in in that the
Speaker 1: the the media or whatever's out there right now attacking manhood,
Speaker 1: you know, attacking our our beliefs and just not taking
Speaker 1: yourself seriously and chuckling and having a good time. And
Speaker 1: you know, it's just you don't have to keep being
Speaker 1: PC about everything. There's a lot of us that feel
Speaker 1: that way. I think there's an attack on that and
Speaker 1: I think that stuff. You know, it's it's taboo for
Speaker 1: us to watch because it's funny, but you know, it
Speaker 1: is to a point offensive to some people. It's just,
Speaker 1: you know, at what point do you want to say,
Speaker 1: don't take yourself too serious? You know, I think it's
Speaker 1: it's comical. That's why, you know, I agree, it's comical.
Speaker 1: It's funny, but you know, I also see the other side,
Speaker 1: is what I'm trying to get out. I also see
Speaker 1: the point. So I don't know, man, because you know
Speaker 1: how many kids getting made fun of with that accent
Speaker 1: in school, you know what I mean? Yeah, but I'm thrown.
Speaker 1: I got you personal a uh you know. And that's
Speaker 1: why I've always loved South Park because I think that
Speaker 1: they took over where the Simpsons left off. Simpsons has
Speaker 1: not been a great show for quite a few years,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, and South Park is constantly on the
Speaker 1: edge of offending absolutely everybody. Everyone gets used as scientologists
Speaker 1: to black people, you know, and they even wanted as far.
Speaker 1: The only time South Park was ever censored, and it
Speaker 1: was not up to them, is when they showed a
Speaker 1: lot and Comedy Central censored it because that was the
Speaker 1: height of the Charlie Hebdose stuff and you know, all
Speaker 1: this crazy shit going on. So they were scared for
Speaker 1: Matt Stone and Trey Parker. But they personally wanted to
Speaker 1: show a cartoon of Mohammed and I shouldn't say a wow,
Speaker 1: I was you know, they wanted to show up a
Speaker 1: cartoon of the prophet Mohammed because they've always maintained that
Speaker 1: we're gonna offend whoever we want. But I feel like
Speaker 1: that's not the case. I I think there's there's a
Speaker 1: no joke, intentional avoidance of the stereotyping of the the
Speaker 1: Islamic extreme always done it, that's the thing. Yeah, with
Speaker 1: the Saddam in Hell and all that other stuff, the
Speaker 1: Sama bin Laden and then also um and what's his
Speaker 1: name again? Well I'm forgetting who who was um Alzar hearing?
Speaker 1: You know, with the Family Guy episode, and then they
Speaker 1: wanted to show a cartoon of Muhammad. They personally were
Speaker 1: all for it, and Comedy Central censored it. To be honest,
Speaker 1: I've always maintained and I know will Cal feels this way.
Speaker 1: South Park, I feel has always been a very conservative show.
Speaker 1: It's always been very conservative leaning, and it's positist. And
Speaker 1: that's why people don't like it, because they are they
Speaker 1: go out of their way to offend liberals, but they
Speaker 1: also will offend everybody, and and I've always loved that
Speaker 1: about it, and I feel like that's like that's the
Speaker 1: beauty of It's funny. It's almost like that free speech stuff.
Speaker 1: It's a double edged sword. I mean, I want to
Speaker 1: hear some funny ship. You know, just because it's on
Speaker 1: national radio or on television doesn't mean that you have
Speaker 1: to cater to everyone, you know, and that oh, I'm
Speaker 1: I have to watch who I offend with this, you know.
Speaker 1: So I agree that it's it's pretty ridiculous that if
Speaker 1: they consistently uh use you know, stereotypes for their material
Speaker 1: in their comedy, that don't don't change it now, just
Speaker 1: stick to who you are. But I do realize that
Speaker 1: it's it's to a point where I could see how
Speaker 1: someone would be offended by you understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I could see, I do. I'm just so surprised to
Speaker 1: hear a more PC Jason. It's not it's just like
Speaker 1: I feel it because it's like maybe, like maybe not
Speaker 1: to do an entire fucking documentary on how you know
Speaker 1: a poo is being portrayed or whatever, and that somehow,
Speaker 1: you know, disrespect your entire culture. I don't want to
Speaker 1: watch a entire hour of your point, you know. But
Speaker 1: I don't even care about this guy making it. I
Speaker 1: can't believe that the Simpsons would even consider. That's what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. If you're gonna, if you're gonna if you're
Speaker 1: gonna reneg on who you are in your consistency. That's
Speaker 1: where you serve to throw punch on that. I mean,
Speaker 1: because if you feel a certain way about your material
Speaker 1: and your your your work of art, the stick with it.
Speaker 1: I agree. I wrote this down, you know, while I
Speaker 1: was kind of writing notes. I know that Sam Simon,
Speaker 1: who died, you know it was one of the creators
Speaker 1: of the Simpsons, was a very liberal guy. You know.
Speaker 1: He was vegan, very pro animal activists. He spent like
Speaker 1: his fortune on protecting animals and all this stuff. And yeah,
Speaker 1: he was a very left wing guy, but he helped
Speaker 1: create these characters. Um, you know, and I don't think
Speaker 1: it was ever done with the intention of being offensive. Also, yeah,
Speaker 1: and when the Simpsons first started out, you know, in
Speaker 1: the eighties, it was considered a very edgy show. They
Speaker 1: were meant to be edgy. There's a even audio out
Speaker 1: there of President Bush saying I want um the first
Speaker 1: President Bush h W saying I want American families to
Speaker 1: be less like the Simpsons and more like I think
Speaker 1: it was the Waltons or something, some show that no
Speaker 1: one even remembers, you know what I mean. So it's
Speaker 1: like they went from being this this edgy show. They
Speaker 1: were never like South Park where they went out of
Speaker 1: their way to offend everybody. But to go from doing
Speaker 1: something that was edgy when you first created the inception
Speaker 1: of it to now saying we need to please everybody,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm not okay. And it usually doesn't roll over
Speaker 1: well with the audience as well. I mean, that's when
Speaker 1: show start getting canceled, you know, when they started like,
Speaker 1: you know, just not being true to their core audience.
Speaker 1: Although I don't see the Simpsons ever getting canceled, which
Speaker 1: is almost a shame because I feel like they had
Speaker 1: a really long run of amazing shows and then around
Speaker 1: that time that the movie came out and all that stuff,
Speaker 1: it just went very downhill. Just my opinion. I'm sure
Speaker 1: there's some die hard viewers and Simpsons out there, but
Speaker 1: knowing this audience, I think you guys all agree on
Speaker 1: the apou thing. Yeah, maybe taking it way too serious,
Speaker 1: you know, And we've had stereotypes of you know, uh, Indian,
Speaker 1: the Indian culture for you know, ever in television. I mean,
Speaker 1: look at Andy Kousman's character on Taxi. You know that
Speaker 1: was pretty outlandish, you know what I mean. But at
Speaker 1: that point, you know what I mean, And it's different today. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's it's different today. Um. I think the whole
Speaker 1: South Park and the you know Simpsons thing, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's straight to the point. There's no like you know,
Speaker 1: uh fairy telling it or you know, kind of it's
Speaker 1: smoothing out the edges, and it really is like, you know,
Speaker 1: his wife will show up with eight babies kind of stuff,
Speaker 1: and it's like that's the stereotype that they have a
Speaker 1: lot of children. I think South Park, as long as
Speaker 1: they're on the air, though, will always be waving that flag,
Speaker 1: you know, in the face of political correctness, saying we're
Speaker 1: not we're not gonna cater to that. I can't wait, honestly,
Speaker 1: and I don't see it in the near future. I
Speaker 1: just can't wait for a time where this is just
Speaker 1: not even a topic for us to talk about it anymore,
Speaker 1: because it's just like, let each let each person be
Speaker 1: who they want to be, man, and if someone wants
Speaker 1: to laugh at that, so be it. As long as
Speaker 1: no one's getting hurt, Like Steve says, all right, as
Speaker 1: long as you ain't hurting nobody, I don't give a
Speaker 1: fuck with it. Man al right well as a reminder
Speaker 1: for all of the who are listening. For a limited
Speaker 1: time you can receive a fifty percent discounted membership to
Speaker 1: soft Rep TV, our channel that offers the most exclusive shows,
Speaker 1: documentaries and interviews covering the most exciting military content today.
Speaker 1: Software TVs premier show Training Cell follows former Special Operations
Speaker 1: forces as they participate in the most advanced training in
Speaker 1: the country, everything from shooting schools, defensive driving, jungle and
Speaker 1: winter warfare, climbing, and much more. Again, you can watch
Speaker 1: this content by subscribing to soft Rep TV at soft
Speaker 1: rep tv dot us and take advantage of a limited
Speaker 1: time offer a fifty percent off your membership. That's only
Speaker 1: four a month. What are you waiting for? Sign up
Speaker 1: soft Rep tv dot us and if you haven't gotten
Speaker 1: a chance to check out the soft Rep Crate Club,
Speaker 1: you're definitely gonna want to do that asap. It's a
Speaker 1: subscription to get a box of badass, tactical and Sir
Speaker 1: Bible gear delivered to your door every month. Gear's the kicker.
Speaker 1: All the gear is handpicked and tested by former Special
Speaker 1: Ops guys, so you know you're getting quality gear that's
Speaker 1: gonna work when you needed to. Creates we've set in
Speaker 1: the past have included gear like custom knives, multi tools,
Speaker 1: fire starters, E d C, med kits, and other kick
Speaker 1: ass stuff. You don't just get great gear with your subscription,
Speaker 1: you're also supporting a veteran owned and run company. To
Speaker 1: subscribe and start getting your gear, visit Create Club dot us.
Speaker 1: We also have gift options available. That's Create Club dot Us.
Speaker 1: I spoke to our managing editor, the Odissean this morning
Speaker 1: and we're putting the final touches on getting a team
Speaker 1: Room event set up in Vegas and January. So if
Speaker 1: you are a team Room member or a Create Club member,
Speaker 1: we're gonna make that happen. I know it's a little
Speaker 1: light that we're setting this whole thing up, but the
Speaker 1: odissey and is putting the final touches on it. So
Speaker 1: I'll be there in Vegas in January along with a
Speaker 1: bunch of the guys from the eight UH. This coming Friday,
Speaker 1: there's an event for Create Club members in New York
Speaker 1: City and Aminel Looney is a bar fighting class basically
Speaker 1: with the Great Jim West former Special Forces. UM. I
Speaker 1: think Jason will be making an appearance. Yeah, I must
Speaker 1: stop buy Why the hell not said I realized I cannot.
Speaker 1: But I will be at the team Room event in Vegas.
Speaker 1: But it should be awesome. I mean, just the chance
Speaker 1: to hang with Jim West to be a part of
Speaker 1: this is pretty cool. So hopefully we'll see some of
Speaker 1: you there. Um, if you're a great club member, you
Speaker 1: probably got the email blast um as always follow Jason
Speaker 1: on Instagram at j Delgado RTE. I know you now
Speaker 1: have the Twitter at Bounty Hunter j D. I am
Speaker 1: at Ian Scotto on everything and of course at Soft
Speaker 1: Prep Radio on Twitter on Instagram. Thanks again, it's just
Speaker 1: Scott for coming on. Thanks again to West Whitlock for
Speaker 1: them to shout out. I think I'm gonna buy some
Speaker 1: Rogue American apparel year the days because I you know,
Speaker 1: I'm all about supporting those who support us anything else, right,
Speaker 1: That's about it, man, show our interview from you, I've
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed here from Scott, and
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to him coming to New York. To me,
Speaker 1: you've been listening to Sulf rep Raadia. New episodes up
Speaker 1: every Wednesday and Friday for all of the great content
Speaker 1: from our veteran journalists join us and become a team
Speaker 1: room member today at solt rep dot com. Follow the
Speaker 1: show on Instagram and Twitter at slt rep Radio, and
Speaker 1: be sure to also check out the Power of Fault podcast,
Speaker 1: hosted by Hurricane Group CEO and Navy Seal Sniper instructor
Speaker 1: Brandon Webb.