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: soft Rep Radio on Time on Target And for the
Speaker 1: first time in a while, we're actually doing video again.
Speaker 1: If you happen to be watching this on YouTube, um,
Speaker 1: and if not, you can go over to YouTube. But
Speaker 1: we're in the studio. Is this going out live? No,
Speaker 1: not live. We're gonna put it up after. I haven't
Speaker 1: been doing the live stream just because it's actually it's
Speaker 1: like so much more to do than to just record
Speaker 1: it and make this thing work. So um yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: hopefully this recording goes well and we're able to make
Speaker 1: the whole thing work, but we should just get right
Speaker 1: into everything you'll see with us. If you're on the YouTube,
Speaker 1: and like I said, you check that out. Joseph LaFave,
Speaker 1: our new writer for The News, rap writer on finance
Speaker 1: and how conflict affects the global marketplace, is on with US.
Speaker 1: Former E N E. M T and engineer for Lockeed Martin.
Speaker 1: Thanks for doing this a US man. It's it's cool
Speaker 1: to finally meet you and speak for the first time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. Guys. It's been a it's been
Speaker 1: a good month so far as I've been on staff.
Speaker 1: Really enjoying it. Yeah, I appreciate it, Joe. You know,
Speaker 1: we uh schedule so many guests for the podcast, sometimes
Speaker 1: we forget to mine from the home the home team,
Speaker 1: so to speak, and uh get some of our own
Speaker 1: staff on at some pretty interesting stories to tell as well. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I listened to the recent episode of Alex Holings and
Speaker 1: that guy is uh a wealth of knowledge and stories.
Speaker 1: I enjoyed listening to that. Yeah, Alex is great man. Um, So,
Speaker 1: before we get into everything, I actually wanted to mention
Speaker 1: to the audience some cool stuff. Softwarep Radio dot com
Speaker 1: is now op so we now have our own website.
Speaker 1: Chris is building an app that's going to be up
Speaker 1: this week. I'm really excited for that. But check out
Speaker 1: the new site. I really love the new layout and
Speaker 1: it's cool that we're kind of separating our own brand.
Speaker 1: And we're also on Spotify, So if you could check
Speaker 1: out Spotify, you can listen to Software Radio on there
Speaker 1: now for the first time. Um. Before we get into
Speaker 1: any of your pieces, Joe, I figured we would talk
Speaker 1: about this as we were setting everything up. I did
Speaker 1: not realize, and it was just kind of making small
Speaker 1: talk and wondering how you got familiar with the site
Speaker 1: that you're a friend of Ed Derek, who we had
Speaker 1: on for episode three fifteen where we talked about extortion
Speaker 1: seventeen and that guy wrote some incredible stuff. So I
Speaker 1: was just wondering about your friendship with Ed. So I
Speaker 1: uh first talked to Ed a little over a year
Speaker 1: ago when I was I was writing for the local
Speaker 1: news site here in Streeport, Louisiana, rookie journalist, and I
Speaker 1: was going to do a story about the local National
Speaker 1: Guard here. I reached out to a friend who had
Speaker 1: had Ed Derek on his podcast. I said, hey, can
Speaker 1: you put me in contact with that? You know, I
Speaker 1: got a lot of questions about how a civilian journalists
Speaker 1: should act when covering a military unit, and uh he
Speaker 1: said yeah. Ed was more than happy to talk to me.
Speaker 1: We started talking, kind of developed a friendship and I
Speaker 1: look at Ed kind of like a mentor. And every
Speaker 1: time I go back out with the National Guard, I'll
Speaker 1: call in. I'll be like, hey, man, here's what I'm thinking. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, it was this, this is this sound good?
Speaker 1: Are you tracking? And he kind of gives me pointers,
Speaker 1: you know, and how how a civilian should approach military
Speaker 1: unit when they're writing about you know, how to not
Speaker 1: getting the way, how to tell an objective story, um,
Speaker 1: you know, just kind of even some field craft stuff
Speaker 1: as far as like because he's done some pretty significantly
Speaker 1: long in beds with the Marines, I think Afghanistan. So
Speaker 1: he's a wealth of information and uh, super great guy
Speaker 1: and he's definitely helped me in my career. So when
Speaker 1: I first applied to the news rep, I reached out
Speaker 1: to Ed and I said, hey, you know, I think
Speaker 1: you guys have I think you have been on there
Speaker 1: before and he said, yeah, they're great guys. You know,
Speaker 1: Jack's a great guy, and um so after that, I
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, this is definitely where I want to
Speaker 1: be if Ed's gives you approval. And it's been great since,
Speaker 1: So that's great, you know Ed. Uh. What I like
Speaker 1: about Ed is that he's spent enough time on the
Speaker 1: subject matter he covers that he's developed some real expertise
Speaker 1: on things like military rotary wing aviation. Um, as you said,
Speaker 1: he's just spent a significant amount of time with those
Speaker 1: guys and uh, and can speak to those things quite
Speaker 1: in depth, which unfortunately it's not necessarily the fault of
Speaker 1: any particular journalist. It's just the way the field is
Speaker 1: developed and designed is that you get assigned stories. Um
Speaker 1: not so much here at this at our outlet, but
Speaker 1: you know, if you work for Newsweek or USA Today
Speaker 1: or any of those big ones, I mean, you're getting
Speaker 1: so much stuff thrown at you, and you're being pulled
Speaker 1: in so many different directions that you don't have any
Speaker 1: time to develop any real expertise on any of the subjects.
Speaker 1: You end up knowing, um about nothing because you're bouncing
Speaker 1: around so often. Yeah, he is, uh, you know when
Speaker 1: it comes to he's done some amazing pieces on just
Speaker 1: the National Guards high altitude training out there in Colorado. Yes, um,
Speaker 1: and then Extortion one seven. I mean, I remember when
Speaker 1: I was first reading the book, I was like, this
Speaker 1: is fucking incredible, just the amount of technical knowledge that
Speaker 1: was in there, and the way he's able to explain
Speaker 1: torque and the engine power to a guy like me
Speaker 1: he was kind of stupid, you know, and be like, oh,
Speaker 1: I get this, So yeah, I think that book was
Speaker 1: very It was and is very helpful to the public
Speaker 1: who are trying to wrap their minds around, um, some
Speaker 1: of the things that happened in Afghanistan, particularly around extortion seventeen,
Speaker 1: but even more so than that, just rotary wing aviation, military,
Speaker 1: rotary wing in general. Um, you know, even for someone
Speaker 1: like myself, you know, who flew on some of those
Speaker 1: helicopters in Afghanistan. But I mean Ed just knows way
Speaker 1: way more about it than I ever would. And you know,
Speaker 1: reading his book is is a huge learning experience. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's uh same here and his his first book, what
Speaker 1: was it called, oh, Red Wings, right, Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: about Red Wings, um operation Red Rings and Whalers. Victor's
Speaker 1: kind victory point, that victory point, and even that is
Speaker 1: a wealth of information about the conflict in Afghanistan, the
Speaker 1: rise in the Taliban, and also about how the Marine
Speaker 1: Corps structured, you know, especially because you know, I'm pretty
Speaker 1: familiar with the structure of an army combat unit, you know,
Speaker 1: from spending time with them, but a marine expeditionary and
Speaker 1: it's a totally different beast. They have totally different vernacular
Speaker 1: and so getting too. You know that that book does
Speaker 1: an excellent job of explaining kind of the differences between
Speaker 1: the service and how the Marines fought in Afghanistan. So
Speaker 1: what brought you into this field. It's a tough question.
Speaker 1: I've done a lot of different jobs, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: kind of always chasing at that that carrot, that grass
Speaker 1: always green, or looking for something I enjoy um. I
Speaker 1: enjoyed writing, and I was like, well, how can I
Speaker 1: make a living writing? And I found journalism. Ended up
Speaker 1: writing for my local website up here in Treeport Sreeport News,
Speaker 1: and I started covering, you know, random stuff. I think
Speaker 1: the first thing I covered was a weener dog race
Speaker 1: at one of our casinos, and I covered a playground
Speaker 1: that had a bad graffiti problem. And then I was
Speaker 1: driving to the dog park one day and I saw
Speaker 1: the National Guard armory up here and I said, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't really know anything about what these guys do.
Speaker 1: I mean, we have Barksdale Air Force Base with the
Speaker 1: beet City twos across the river, and they get a
Speaker 1: lot of press. But I was like, you know, I
Speaker 1: don't really know what what the Guardian does here. I
Speaker 1: reached out to the Weisiana National Guard Public Affairs. They
Speaker 1: were like, yeah, dude, come on. So I went and
Speaker 1: ended up spending some time with them while they were
Speaker 1: doing their spur ride, which is you know, the Guard.
Speaker 1: The Guard ended up here as a cavalry unit, so
Speaker 1: they have that real, real deep cavalry traditions, one of
Speaker 1: which is the spur ride, where soldiers that are newer
Speaker 1: to the unit and soldiers that are um you know
Speaker 1: kind of like your junior n c o s and
Speaker 1: senior specialists. They're kind of looking to prove themselves, so
Speaker 1: they go through what's called the spur ride, which is
Speaker 1: a week a weekend long evolution. It's like a thirteen
Speaker 1: mile rough march, and then a different a lot of
Speaker 1: different you know, basic warrior tasks specific to their jobs
Speaker 1: as cavalry, which is reconnaissance. So it'll be you know,
Speaker 1: get to clear jam on a into machine gun or
Speaker 1: don you're your mop suit. I'm not sure what the
Speaker 1: the technical terminism, but you know the chemical protective gear.
Speaker 1: UM do all that kind of stuff, and if they
Speaker 1: do it in a certain amount of time and they
Speaker 1: do it all correctly, they get awarded the Silver Spurs,
Speaker 1: which is um you know, uh, kind of a badge
Speaker 1: of honors to the like Calves version of the Expert
Speaker 1: Infantry badge. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good way to put it.
Speaker 1: That'sinitely good way to put it. This is a good
Speaker 1: transition actually, because one of the things you wanted to
Speaker 1: get into is that you're writing a multip series on
Speaker 1: National Guards unit and how they're training for j RTC
Speaker 1: um So i'd like to hear about, like what what
Speaker 1: you have. Yeah, well, first lay out what j RTC
Speaker 1: is for. You know, we have a wide enough audience
Speaker 1: that their civilians and people listening to this who don't
Speaker 1: know what j RTC is. So part of it is,
Speaker 1: you know, this part of the educational experience of this podcast.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's like edirocted or derected when he came on
Speaker 1: the podcast. It's kind of starting from the ground up
Speaker 1: and explaining aviation in his case, where JRTC in the
Speaker 1: case of your story. Right, So, j RTC is a
Speaker 1: Joint Readiness Training Center Dian Harritt Fort Polk, Louisiana, and
Speaker 1: it's a it pretty much prepares units, specifically combat units
Speaker 1: to go overseas, so it certifies them them to be deployed.
Speaker 1: So a unit will go to j RTC and it's
Speaker 1: almost like assimilated deployment and they'll have UM an opposition
Speaker 1: force they'll have to counter. They'll have to live in
Speaker 1: the field and be self sustaining, and they'll have to
Speaker 1: go through all of their two different warrior tasks or
Speaker 1: or unit task. So in the the guard units, the
Speaker 1: to five, six and Brigade Combat Team. So they're gonna
Speaker 1: deploy into JRTC and it's gonna just be like going
Speaker 1: to a deployment overseas. They're gonna have to uh, you know,
Speaker 1: do reconnaissance of the battle area. They're gonna have to
Speaker 1: set up their supply lines and their taategor operations centers.
Speaker 1: They're gonna have to get their soldiers fed and provide
Speaker 1: medical care. So it's really assimilated deployment. And what it
Speaker 1: allows UM units to do is test there their abilities
Speaker 1: before they go down range, before they deploy, to make
Speaker 1: sure that everything they need to do has been checked off.
Speaker 1: And j RTC is designed for like entire battalions to
Speaker 1: go through. Isn't it our brigades? I think it's brigades.
Speaker 1: And then they have a a in home opposition force
Speaker 1: that resides at for POLK and they're the ones who
Speaker 1: will be playing the bad guys, and they have like
Speaker 1: helicopters and stuff too. I mean it's pretty serious. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And and what's great about j r TC is that
Speaker 1: depending on the global threats that the military is facing,
Speaker 1: they can change j RTC to make it mimic what
Speaker 1: our soldiers likely to face. So, um, you know early
Speaker 1: two thousand's, you know, middle two thousands when uh, you know,
Speaker 1: going into a rock. You know, j RTC was very
Speaker 1: much focused on fighting a a a militia and very
Speaker 1: much you know, urban fighting like we saw in you know,
Speaker 1: Baghdad and Ramadi or Fallujah. So but you know, as
Speaker 1: as you know Russia and North Korea and different war
Speaker 1: you know, States country has become the likely our next
Speaker 1: likely adversary were able to change j r c C
Speaker 1: j RTC to mimic that they can change scenarios. Does
Speaker 1: that make sense? Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I absolutely, Um yeah,
Speaker 1: you're just saying that they can change the scenario based
Speaker 1: on the fourth structure of the enemy that the troops
Speaker 1: are going to be facing overseas, So like it could
Speaker 1: be East Ukraine for one evolution, and then it could
Speaker 1: be you know, insurgents in Iraq for another, based on
Speaker 1: where that unit is deploying, right, right exactly. And they
Speaker 1: even bring in role players that speak the native languages.
Speaker 1: So when I was at over this summer at at
Speaker 1: An x CTC, which is a scaled down version of
Speaker 1: j RTC, you know, they had guys um in these
Speaker 1: made up hamlets speaking Arabic, dressed as you would see,
Speaker 1: you know, a man in a rock or I'm Afghanistan.
Speaker 1: So it's it's it's a very good concept that the
Speaker 1: army has to to really prepare soldiers for, Hey, this
Speaker 1: is what you're gonna see and hear overseas, and and
Speaker 1: it allows commanders at a more staff level to practice moving,
Speaker 1: moving their entire elements and a simulated battle. So what's
Speaker 1: your story specifically about? So I'd like to the story
Speaker 1: is going to be about this one unit up here,
Speaker 1: the second of the one oh eight Cavalry Squadron, who
Speaker 1: I've spent a lot of time with, and it's a
Speaker 1: really good group of men and women, really hard working guys.
Speaker 1: And the story is going to track their progression from
Speaker 1: now going to j RTC, seeing all the different things
Speaker 1: they're doing to get ready, you know, um, how the
Speaker 1: individual soldiers are getting themselves prepared, and how the commanders
Speaker 1: of the unit are getting the unit prepared. So it's
Speaker 1: gonna kind of be a piece that focuses on how
Speaker 1: does the command on a National Guard commander, you know,
Speaker 1: get his unit ready for deployment because the year after
Speaker 1: j rtc UM the second and one away from their
Speaker 1: parents unit the two five six and for tuoper Gade
Speaker 1: Combat Team is slated for it to employment. So it's
Speaker 1: really going to be the story of, you know, how
Speaker 1: do you take National Guard soldiers who only do this
Speaker 1: once a month and how do you ramp them up
Speaker 1: to where they're deployable. Could you speak a little bit
Speaker 1: about what a cave unit is in today's military again,
Speaker 1: because some people are going to find that, uh my
Speaker 1: question kind of passe um. But there are others who
Speaker 1: are like cavalry, What the hell? Why do we have
Speaker 1: cavalry in today's military? So there's different types, right, Like
Speaker 1: there's the armored cavalry, which would be uh, you know,
Speaker 1: in tanks. The unit I'm falling with there, I think
Speaker 1: they're light mechanized, so they have humvees and um, some
Speaker 1: kind of artillery spotting vehicles. But their job is the
Speaker 1: cavalry job is to go ahead of the main element
Speaker 1: and act as a reconnaissance unit, so they're are quicker,
Speaker 1: They're able to get in and out of spaces and
Speaker 1: move around the battle space quicker. And their job is
Speaker 1: kind of find the enemy so that the main infantry
Speaker 1: force can come in and destroy it. And they you know,
Speaker 1: they trace their lineage back to calvary from like the
Speaker 1: Civil War, which had a similar role, you know, moving
Speaker 1: into an area quickly scouting it out and then coming
Speaker 1: back and correct me if I'm wrong. But it isn't
Speaker 1: calvalry structured a little bit different really than uh than
Speaker 1: say the infantry, right, So a calvalry so an infantry
Speaker 1: you know, you would call a calvary battalions is called
Speaker 1: a squadron, and a company becomes a troop because that's
Speaker 1: the formation that's based on the old school cavalry. Isn't
Speaker 1: it actually on horses back in the old days? Right?
Speaker 1: And even uh, you know, the their unit designators like
Speaker 1: the second in the one Oh way I think they
Speaker 1: trade they trace their lineage back to you know, the
Speaker 1: one oh with Calvalry Brigade from years and years ago.
Speaker 1: One of the reasons I was just gonna say, and
Speaker 1: all you get back to your film One of the
Speaker 1: reasons though, I think this is gonna be a really
Speaker 1: cool series of articles for the readers is I get
Speaker 1: emails all the time sent to soft Rep dout radio
Speaker 1: at soft rep dot com. Actually got one just recently
Speaker 1: that's like, Hey, have you guys ever had any National
Speaker 1: Guard you know, members on And the answer is really no.
Speaker 1: And we you know, we talk Green Berets, we talk
Speaker 1: Army rangers and Navy seals here, we recently had some
Speaker 1: Air Force and we've had mar Sock. And I think
Speaker 1: that there is an interest in learning more about National Guard,
Speaker 1: especially in this case training for j RTC. So I
Speaker 1: think this is going to get a lot of interest. Well,
Speaker 1: well I hope. So. Um, it's a it's a really
Speaker 1: great group of soldiers and the mission they do is
Speaker 1: really tough, and you know, because they have that citizens
Speaker 1: soldier mentality, you know, they trained once a month for
Speaker 1: their jobs and they go back to the civilian world.
Speaker 1: So it's it's a lot of pressure on them as
Speaker 1: individuals to maintain the standard, you know, while also having
Speaker 1: to work a civilian career. And um, you know, like
Speaker 1: I like I said, that's how I first got into him.
Speaker 1: So I was like I know very little about them.
Speaker 1: And you know, this unit, especially appear has made two
Speaker 1: wartime deployments to Rock and you know, they fought, they
Speaker 1: fought really hard, and especially being here in Louisiana, you know,
Speaker 1: not only do they deploy wartime, there also have a
Speaker 1: big time stateside mission with all the natural disasters. You know,
Speaker 1: I think some of the guys from the two five
Speaker 1: six Infratrooper Gaide Combat Team ibc T, you know, they
Speaker 1: came back from Iraq in two thousand five, you know,
Speaker 1: a month before Hurricane Katrina hit. Yeah, And I'm also
Speaker 1: very adamant that we continue to cover, you know, the troops.
Speaker 1: You know, I hate to throw that term around in
Speaker 1: quotes like some generality the troops, but that we have
Speaker 1: these guys who are deploying overseas to combat and uh,
Speaker 1: it's it's too easy for the American public to forget
Speaker 1: that that's happening and not these guys are over there,
Speaker 1: and um sometimes we only hear about them and what
Speaker 1: they're doing when some sort of disaster occurs, you know,
Speaker 1: a helicopter gets shot down in Afghanistan or something like that. Um,
Speaker 1: But we continue to deploy troops to combat all the time,
Speaker 1: and that's something that you have to I've see our
Speaker 1: website and our job as being reminding our country about that,
Speaker 1: UM every day if need be. You know, we're not
Speaker 1: gonna let up on that. And sometimes myself for sure, UM,
Speaker 1: I've covered UM the special operations community, UM, not exclusively
Speaker 1: but mostly and UM that can turn into somewhat of
Speaker 1: a mistake or lead people to some false impressions as well,
Speaker 1: and that the bulk of the deployments are being done
Speaker 1: by the conventional military and those guys are pulling most
Speaker 1: of the weight in places like Afghanistan. Yeah, so it's
Speaker 1: it's interesting, you know when you look at the entire
Speaker 1: narrative of the of the global warrantere. You know, like
Speaker 1: you said, there's a lot of stuff about special operations
Speaker 1: forces and those guys fight really hard, you know, and
Speaker 1: that's not, UM, you know, undeserved, And there's a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff. You just had Sean Parnell, I think on yeah,
Speaker 1: Chris Partner very and he was what was it, Sean Parnell,
Speaker 1: You had it right, yeah, and I think he was
Speaker 1: he was infantry right at least the first So there's
Speaker 1: there's that that side of the narror has been told,
Speaker 1: and you know, the marine side has been told by
Speaker 1: guys like Derek, but the National Guards role in the
Speaker 1: Global War and tear, and my opinion, has remained somewhat
Speaker 1: absent of the whole narrative. And you know after you know,
Speaker 1: before Not eleven, when when it was the end of
Speaker 1: the Cold War, the Guard kind of scaled down and
Speaker 1: they were kind of thought as that strategic reserve. But
Speaker 1: as soon as Not eleven happened and we opened up
Speaker 1: a two front war in Afghanistan on rock, you know,
Speaker 1: there's only you know, a certain amount of imentry divisions
Speaker 1: we have in the army, and we really needed our guardsmen,
Speaker 1: especially our combat arms guardsmen to come in and start
Speaker 1: making those wartime deployments because we didn't have enough guys.
Speaker 1: So when you look at the entire narrative of the
Speaker 1: Global Wan tear, the Guard has really played a significant
Speaker 1: role in that because they were need did Yeah, No,
Speaker 1: I think you're absolutely right. So I'm I'm excited to
Speaker 1: see where this story goes. And it will definitely be
Speaker 1: good to put that information out there so for for
Speaker 1: the public, for the readers and they can check it out. Um,
Speaker 1: do you want to also get into a little bit
Speaker 1: of some of your other recent stories. UM, like there's
Speaker 1: the one we're looking at actually that I know you
Speaker 1: wanted to talk about UM regarding the A bowla virus
Speaker 1: and you know, some of the continued issues that are
Speaker 1: happening and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.
Speaker 1: So yeah, bull is back for the second time this
Speaker 1: year in the d r C. On the first outbreak
Speaker 1: happened in the beginning of the year on the western side,
Speaker 1: and then I think in August was the beginning of August,
Speaker 1: this new outbreak on the eastern side near the border
Speaker 1: of Uganda UM began and we've really kind of seen
Speaker 1: an explosion, not maybe not an explosion, but it definitely
Speaker 1: a rapid increase in the amount of patients that are
Speaker 1: becoming infected because healthwarere healthcare workers are having such an
Speaker 1: issue getting into the affected areas because of regional violence,
Speaker 1: you know, specifically the Allied Democratic Forces and other radical
Speaker 1: Islamist militias that operate in that border region. So it's
Speaker 1: really interesting for a from a conflict with perspective, how
Speaker 1: regional violence effects healthcare workers and being able to provide
Speaker 1: healthcare in remote areas. Yeah, I mean that's a really
Speaker 1: important point. I mean, whether it's the Ebola virus or
Speaker 1: something like AIDS. You know, we have the healthcare, we
Speaker 1: have the technologies, the medical technologies to be able to
Speaker 1: grapple with these issues. But you know, some people in
Speaker 1: in remote places or impoverished areas of Africa don't have
Speaker 1: access to that healthcare. And you see these little outbreaks, um,
Speaker 1: which is unfortunate. I mean when we have kids dying
Speaker 1: of diseases that are that are treatable right, and a
Speaker 1: lot of it is also um, you know, not the
Speaker 1: unfamiliarity of the local populace with the disease. You know,
Speaker 1: A Bola has been president in Uganda I think three
Speaker 1: times before, and it's been on the western side of
Speaker 1: the d r C. But this is the first time,
Speaker 1: you know, Northern Kivu, which is the province and the
Speaker 1: d r C, that it's that spread. I think it's
Speaker 1: the first time that the bull has ever broken out there.
Speaker 1: So the local populace is is really unfamiliar with the virus,
Speaker 1: really unfamiliar with you know, how do I prevent it spread?
Speaker 1: And I'm sure afraid I'd be I'd be terrified. Well,
Speaker 1: what are the threat groups active in this region that
Speaker 1: are preventing healthcare workers from getting into the area. So
Speaker 1: the biggest one is the Allied Democratic Forces, which is
Speaker 1: an Islamist or Islamist militia that's kind of based. They're
Speaker 1: based in Uganda, but they oftentimes will do cross border
Speaker 1: activities and fight and do attacks against healthcare workers and
Speaker 1: against you and peacekeepers. Um in the d r C
Speaker 1: and the the a d F, the Ali Democratic Forces,
Speaker 1: the d F they're allied with guys like al Shabab
Speaker 1: and the Lord's Resistance are nice. I like the rebranding
Speaker 1: Allied Democratic Forces. Yeah, it's always like a jumble of
Speaker 1: you know, seemingly it's like double talk. Well, that's like
Speaker 1: the Communist group has always had wonderful acronyms, you know,
Speaker 1: and when you hear like the words people's and democratic
Speaker 1: in there, you know they're probably none of those things.
Speaker 1: But whenever a no go ahead, I was just gonna
Speaker 1: say that. You know, the Islamist groups are usually a
Speaker 1: little bit more in your face, you know, calling themselves
Speaker 1: the Islamic State or al Qaeda this or that, right,
Speaker 1: And what's what's interesting is someone on the news rep.
Speaker 1: One of the commentars on the piece asked me, She goes, hey,
Speaker 1: did you do we have any troops currently station in
Speaker 1: the area, And I'm I'm trying to get ahold of
Speaker 1: an answer. Yes, but I know that what do you say, sir,
Speaker 1: do we do? What's what's their mission over there? Um,
Speaker 1: it's the while that we're doing a fit mission in
Speaker 1: Uganda with some other ancillary stuff tacked onto it. And
Speaker 1: I mean, I know we've had people going back and
Speaker 1: forth through the Congo, but uh, I mean it's been
Speaker 1: fairly like light footprint. I wonder if the funding got
Speaker 1: yanked from the Uganda mission or if that's still ongoing,
Speaker 1: I'd have to look into that. I know that the
Speaker 1: you know, Army SF. How what's the best way to
Speaker 1: to speak about the Army Special Forces Group? I mean
Speaker 1: in what regard like if like if I just you know,
Speaker 1: Green Berets or Army SF or what's the what's the
Speaker 1: most understood term? Do you think? Well, technically, you know
Speaker 1: as far as like how the Army has these guys
Speaker 1: listed in their in their task organization is as Special
Speaker 1: Forces US Special Forces. But that term confuses the public
Speaker 1: because they hear that and they think like, oh, seals,
Speaker 1: seals are special forces, or I thought rangers are special forces.
Speaker 1: When I originally came onto the site, I was confused
Speaker 1: by that. It was like I thought special forces everybody,
Speaker 1: and then you know, eventually I got onto it. But
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like all the terms are fine.
Speaker 1: This reminds me of, um, this reminds me of our
Speaker 1: conversation last episode about the unit. The unit. Yeah. But
Speaker 1: then well then so you'll have SF guys, actual special
Speaker 1: Forces soldiers or others are will refer to ourselves as
Speaker 1: green berets, but then there are other guys and special
Speaker 1: forces will say, well, green beret is a hat. That's
Speaker 1: not who we are. So you get into this whole
Speaker 1: like ship show about what we call ourselves and um,
Speaker 1: it's it's part of the reason I think the public
Speaker 1: remains a little bit confused about special Forces too, is
Speaker 1: because what do we call ourselves? Um, and what we
Speaker 1: are and so that's it's one of those things we
Speaker 1: have to articulate. But I mean, if you call them
Speaker 1: special forces or green berets, I think either is is
Speaker 1: perfectly acceptable to my mind. Somebody mowing their lawn outside,
Speaker 1: yeah here here that sorry, about that. No, it's all good.
Speaker 1: That happens without fail Like whenever you're ready to record,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, somebody starts working on their back
Speaker 1: deck right where you wherever you are. So I'm at
Speaker 1: a friend's house because my wife and I have seven dogs.
Speaker 1: I was like, well, I can't do it at home,
Speaker 1: They're gonna go nut. So I specifically came here to
Speaker 1: my friend with their dogs, and you know, I got
Speaker 1: the Cosmo in the yard. But yeah, the reason I asked,
Speaker 1: you know, I know that we did have Special Forces
Speaker 1: soldiers in Uganda last year hunting Joseph Coney, who is
Speaker 1: the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, which is a
Speaker 1: lose allied with the new Allied Democratic Forces. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: turned into a kind of a joke. I mean Coney
Speaker 1: was across the border in uh C, a r Central
Speaker 1: African Republic as I recall, and we didn't have any
Speaker 1: kind of we weren't given any kind of cross border
Speaker 1: authority to go over there and get him. Um, so
Speaker 1: I mean guys were kind of like just doing the
Speaker 1: fit mission over in Uganda. That isn't really going to
Speaker 1: go anywhere, got you. So if people want to check
Speaker 1: out this article, by the way, it's titled Ebola continues
Speaker 1: to spread threatens economies of the d r C and Uganda.
Speaker 1: You published it in October four UM, and it's interesting stuff, man,
Speaker 1: I mean you you talked about the numbers listed here
Speaker 1: of one sixty one confirmed cases of the Bowl of
Speaker 1: virus on five deaths, and it's just a reminder that
Speaker 1: ebola is a very different problem over there than over here.
Speaker 1: You know, when it I remember when it came over
Speaker 1: here and there was this huge scare and I believe
Speaker 1: we only had one confirmed death, right, So it's just
Speaker 1: it's an entirely different problem when you're dealing with a
Speaker 1: pretty much no health care system, right, and no real
Speaker 1: education system either. You know. It's I feel like a
Speaker 1: lot of us that have you know, researched the bowla
Speaker 1: have a lot better idea of of what it does
Speaker 1: and how it's as people who were living there because
Speaker 1: they've never been exposed any kind of education. And if
Speaker 1: you if you don't know what it is, you know,
Speaker 1: and your and your family member gets it, and then
Speaker 1: a couple of days they're throwing up massive amounts of
Speaker 1: blood and bleeding from every orifice. I mean, it's got
Speaker 1: to be just horrifying. Do you guys remember Errol Lewis
Speaker 1: UM in New York. You might remember because it was
Speaker 1: local got some crap literally because during the whole like
Speaker 1: scare of EBOA in America, he was like, if you
Speaker 1: see like crap on the ground, don't eat it. Like
Speaker 1: that was like his advice or not getting eboa. But
Speaker 1: the truth is, it actually is very hard to get
Speaker 1: in America because of our health care system, and if
Speaker 1: if we do, you know, they'll be able to treat it.
Speaker 1: But I do remember the whole scare where at airports
Speaker 1: they were, you know, quarantining people, and people were legitimately
Speaker 1: scared because they saw the amount of deaths in Africa
Speaker 1: and they thought this would be a similar problem in
Speaker 1: the US. And then there were less alarmist groups out there.
Speaker 1: UM like them. I'm trying to think of the name
Speaker 1: of the actual UM group. I think they're like a
Speaker 1: lobbyist group. That family member of mine used to be
Speaker 1: a part of the National Council of It's a science group.
Speaker 1: But anyway, they were like less alarmous groups out there
Speaker 1: saying don't be so worried about ebowl. A lot of
Speaker 1: this is media hype and they turned out to be right. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean that's the kind of the tragedy of it
Speaker 1: is that it is treatable, and you know, these people
Speaker 1: don't have to suffer like this, but because they're in
Speaker 1: these impoverished areas, were torn areas, it provides an opportunity
Speaker 1: for you know, some of these healthcare crises to break out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, the article is definitely not meant
Speaker 1: to scare you know, the American public and the readers
Speaker 1: that there's gonna be some insane a bowl outbreak. But um,
Speaker 1: you know, and like you said, it is relatively hard
Speaker 1: to catch. I mean, it's not like the flu where
Speaker 1: you can just sneeze and it's airborne. I mean a
Speaker 1: bull I I believe, if I'm corrected, it has to
Speaker 1: be transmitted through body fluid and direct touch. Um. But
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I'm not really scared to get
Speaker 1: the flu, even though it kills a lot more people
Speaker 1: a year. But I'm I'd be really scared about a bullet.
Speaker 1: So you have that kind of fear and that kind
Speaker 1: of visceral reaction to it. Did any think you guys
Speaker 1: actually get the flu? Shot On on that note, now
Speaker 1: they feel like every year they tell you I should
Speaker 1: get the flu shot and I never do. I've never
Speaker 1: gotten it since. I talked to a friend of mine
Speaker 1: about and he said, it's the flu shot is basically
Speaker 1: like the rolling the dice because there's no flu. The
Speaker 1: flu is like thousands and thousands of different strains, and
Speaker 1: they don't know which strain is going to break out
Speaker 1: in whatever part of the country you live in. So
Speaker 1: there's like some statistics are going on in the background
Speaker 1: where they're trying to predict which strain of the flu
Speaker 1: is going to be in your area and give you
Speaker 1: the flu shot to inoculate you for that strain, but
Speaker 1: nobody really knows. I mean, it's like predicting the weather.
Speaker 1: So since it's just like kind of, you know, rolling
Speaker 1: the dice, I never really bothered getting it. And also,
Speaker 1: so all of us are, you know, I know where
Speaker 1: we're both in our thirties. I don't know if you're
Speaker 1: in your thirties, Joel okay, so late twenties, early thirties,
Speaker 1: relatively you know, relatively healthy guys. I think it's it's
Speaker 1: more of a concern if you are, like an elderly
Speaker 1: person could become deadly for us, it were not in
Speaker 1: that category, right, And they recommend healthcare. You know, my
Speaker 1: wife's studying to be a doctor, so they recommend, you know,
Speaker 1: medical workers get the flu shot. Not so much for them,
Speaker 1: but you know, to protect their patients from spreading it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I think state by state they have laws on
Speaker 1: you know, if if you are mandated to get the
Speaker 1: flu shot, if you're if it's mandatory to get certain vaccines.
Speaker 1: And I do understand that you're working around elderly people,
Speaker 1: You're working around people who are more susceptible to these
Speaker 1: type of diseases. And I know people like to act
Speaker 1: like it's a freedom issue, but it's the same thing.
Speaker 1: Also with like vaccines, you have to get it in birth.
Speaker 1: If you know a certain large portion of the population
Speaker 1: aren't getting these vaccines, then you might as well not
Speaker 1: have them at all. And then we're going to bring
Speaker 1: back these diseases from like the Middle Ages. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you see these kids who are coming down with like measles,
Speaker 1: mumps and rubella or uh what is it, whooping cough,
Speaker 1: and Jesus Christ really like all because like Alex Jones said,
Speaker 1: you know that that vaccines are evil. I saw some
Speaker 1: news article, and I mean, I don't know the veracity
Speaker 1: of it, but um, they were saying that there's there's
Speaker 1: like rich neighborhood somewhere in Los Angeles. They have um
Speaker 1: lower vaccine rates than third world countries in Sub Saharan
Speaker 1: Africa because the parents are these like yuppies who aren't
Speaker 1: having their kids vaccinated. Well, sorry, go ahead, and I
Speaker 1: think some of them bet on you know, that concept
Speaker 1: of herd immunity, whereas if everyone else is around me vaccine,
Speaker 1: that I don't have to vaccine kid because the disease
Speaker 1: can or anyways, but if everyone thinks like that exactly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what I was gonna say. Those Alex Hollings you were
Speaker 1: talking about the last time he was on, he brought
Speaker 1: this up, I think the last two times he was on.
Speaker 1: And it's uh, no surprise to us, I guess might
Speaker 1: be a surprise to other people that some a lot
Speaker 1: of the anti vaccine propaganda is coming out of Russia. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they did. H came out in one of the congressional studies.
Speaker 1: Actually it was just like wherever the Russians see like
Speaker 1: a fissure in society that they can exploit, they'll jump
Speaker 1: on that, and um, you know, the anti vax er
Speaker 1: issue is one of those like, oh, you can get
Speaker 1: Americans arguing and fighting with one another and the point
Speaker 1: behind that from their perspective as well, if you're arguing
Speaker 1: about stupid domestic issues like that, I mean not that
Speaker 1: it's stupid, but I mean, I mean it's stupid like
Speaker 1: that we're having that argument. But if you're arguing about that,
Speaker 1: then you're not arguing about, you know, all the nefarious
Speaker 1: things that Russia is up to, and so that's kind
Speaker 1: of the point. It's just a distraction essentially. Like I
Speaker 1: was reading today about there's this viral video people are
Speaker 1: sharing on Facebook and I saw friends of mine sharing
Speaker 1: it as this girl who was going and um, pouring
Speaker 1: bleach on people on the subway who are man spreads. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and uh, it turns out to be some sort of
Speaker 1: hoax that was propagated by you know, Russia today and
Speaker 1: some of those and and the people the men in
Speaker 1: that video were like paid actors. So it's just one
Speaker 1: of another one of those things like you just get
Speaker 1: people outraged about stupid and consequential garbage, and it distracts
Speaker 1: attention away from some of the things that are happening
Speaker 1: in the world that we should really be paying attention to. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's tough, you know, and when people want to have
Speaker 1: those kind of almost nonsensical arguments, um, you know, because
Speaker 1: of what they see on Facebook, and it makes it
Speaker 1: hard to for real discussions about things that can really
Speaker 1: implicate the country to to take place. But I'll say
Speaker 1: that they got me with that breach thing. I believed it.
Speaker 1: I would love to do like a study on on
Speaker 1: this particular subject because what I've noticed, and this is
Speaker 1: purely anecdotal, is that the like baby Boomer generation, including
Speaker 1: the Special Forces veterans that I am acquainted with, seemed
Speaker 1: to be especially susceptible to that kind of propaganda like that.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're sharing it like NonStop on social media, um,
Speaker 1: taking it as fact. And I mean, who would have
Speaker 1: thought that Green bereves who served during the Cold War
Speaker 1: would be like maybe the most at risk population for
Speaker 1: Russian propaganda. I mean, I don't know if they are
Speaker 1: really the most susceptible, but they seem highly susceptible just
Speaker 1: in my own casual observations. And I would love to
Speaker 1: do a study on like why that is, because it's
Speaker 1: so counterintuitive. You would think these would be the people
Speaker 1: who are the most inoculate, inoculated to foreign Russian propaganda,
Speaker 1: but it seems like they're the most susceptible to it.
Speaker 1: It's kind of sad too. I mean, like you said,
Speaker 1: these as are are Cold War veterans put it, in
Speaker 1: some respects, they're still fighting that same battle. You know,
Speaker 1: we all are with that outside influence of propaganda. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: And so I think the reason Russia is putting out
Speaker 1: propaganda like the vaccine stuff that we were talking about,
Speaker 1: goes back to something we've discussed many times in this
Speaker 1: podcast that a lot of the Russian propaganda is just
Speaker 1: about creating um distrust in the system for Americans, distrust
Speaker 1: and government. So just the same way with you know
Speaker 1: what they call the election hack, Oh you know, our
Speaker 1: elections are rigged um. And then also Russia funding both
Speaker 1: sides of protests, whether it's Black Lives Matter and you know,
Speaker 1: liberal side of things, and and approach Trump rallies and
Speaker 1: something like this creates an idea of oh, they're lying
Speaker 1: to us about the election, They're lying to us about vaccines,
Speaker 1: and it's not even about who the president is. It's
Speaker 1: just about us feeling like we're being lied to about everything.
Speaker 1: An I said, anywhere they can find a fissure in society,
Speaker 1: they will try to exploit it. Um. You know, if
Speaker 1: you watch like RT or something like that, you'll think
Speaker 1: there's like a freaking race war going on in America.
Speaker 1: And I mean, but in reality, I mean, you go out,
Speaker 1: you know, I take my kid out to the playground
Speaker 1: and she's playing in the sprinkler system with uh, you know,
Speaker 1: African American and Hispanic children, uh and everybody else. I
Speaker 1: can't believe you would allow that. Yeah, I know it
Speaker 1: sounds crazy, but you know, we we live in a
Speaker 1: multi ethnic society and for the most part, we get
Speaker 1: along with each other. I mean it's not to say
Speaker 1: we don't have problems, but you know, the Russian propaganda
Speaker 1: will make it seem like we're all at each other's
Speaker 1: throats and there's some like race war about to break out.
Speaker 1: But you know, when you go out and actually live
Speaker 1: in the real world, you see that's not the case.
Speaker 1: I think that's the danger of you know, our generation
Speaker 1: living on their phones and and losing that grasp of reality.
Speaker 1: Like like you said, I mean, you look on Facebook
Speaker 1: and you're like, man, everyone hates each other, but then
Speaker 1: you're out and about. There's no just no one's being
Speaker 1: violent to each other on on a day to day basis,
Speaker 1: and we're all, like you said, getting the law. But
Speaker 1: you know, when you live with your face on your phone,
Speaker 1: like I mean, I'm guilty of that, you know, it's
Speaker 1: easy to be, uh, take a pessimistic view on current
Speaker 1: events and current situation. Perception is reality. Nice time for
Speaker 1: a little plug of Alex's book. By the way, Alex
Speaker 1: Hong's book, because the book is all about information ops.
Speaker 1: So if you check that out, that's that's the subject
Speaker 1: of of his latest book, which is doing really well. Um.
Speaker 1: I want to get into this other piece as well.
Speaker 1: Why are oil prices up? Several factors? This is written
Speaker 1: by Joe. This is up on the news rep dot com.
Speaker 1: Crude oil prices rose sharply Wednesday, driven up by a decline.
Speaker 1: And this is last Wednesday, of course, not today if
Speaker 1: you're listening to it. Up on Wednesday, Uh, driven up
Speaker 1: by a decline in the US oil supply and the
Speaker 1: expected effects of a new wave of sanctions on Iran.
Speaker 1: Iran is an influential member of the Organization of the
Speaker 1: petroleum exporting country OPEC and one of the world's largest producers.
Speaker 1: Brent crude to benchmark oil across the eighty dollar per
Speaker 1: barrel mark earlier last Wednesday, before coming to rest at
Speaker 1: four per barrel at the end of the day. This
Speaker 1: latest increase put sprints price at the highest level it's
Speaker 1: been since the end of May, according to Reuters. In
Speaker 1: addition to the impending sanctions on Iran, the US stock
Speaker 1: of crude inventories fell by a dramatic five point three
Speaker 1: million barrels in the last week. This decline is vastly
Speaker 1: more substantial than the eight hundred five barrels predicted by
Speaker 1: the UM. And that's is that eight hundred five thousand barrels.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry here because I'm looking at this article in
Speaker 1: the way it printed, because it would be more than
Speaker 1: eight d five UM but hundred five thousand barrels predicted
Speaker 1: by the analysts from the US Energy Information Administration. So
Speaker 1: this is interesting and one of those unforeseen consequences of
Speaker 1: UH so called America of First policies. So yeah, the
Speaker 1: sanctions on Iran are by far the biggest factor affecting
Speaker 1: oil prices right now, because UH, everyone's kind of you know,
Speaker 1: they're gonna the sanctions are going to take effect in November,
Speaker 1: and and everyone's trying to decide, Okay, is Iran going
Speaker 1: to see soil production and is that they're gonna drop
Speaker 1: world supply or they gonna be able to smuggle it
Speaker 1: out like they're trying to do, you know, offloading crude
Speaker 1: oil onto their existing tankers and trying to work around
Speaker 1: the sanctions. So everyone's kind of holding their breath to
Speaker 1: see what the Iranian sections due to the world will supply. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, the US has talked to other OPEC countries,
Speaker 1: specifically Saudi Arabia and asked them to increase production to
Speaker 1: make up for what we're gonna lose with Iran. But
Speaker 1: until November hits, everyone's gonna be talking about the Rhyan stctions,
Speaker 1: Everyone's gonna be speculating about it, and you know, just
Speaker 1: kind of wait and see what exactly Iran is going
Speaker 1: to do and what the what the net effect is
Speaker 1: it going to be on a global oil supply, And
Speaker 1: then countries buying from Iran are really going to be China, Russia,
Speaker 1: who else do you think Venezuela, Well, Venezuela need to
Speaker 1: buy from them, But the one that's been in the
Speaker 1: news lately is India. Um, there are big up and coming,
Speaker 1: you know, big giant population and kind of going through
Speaker 1: an industrial period right now. So they're a massive consumer
Speaker 1: of oil, and they've expressed interests that they're going to
Speaker 1: continue to buy Iranni and oil despite U S sanctions.
Speaker 1: So what do you think this means? I mean, are
Speaker 1: we going to head back into the area like we
Speaker 1: start during the during the George W. Bush administration where
Speaker 1: gas shot up to at a tight what was it
Speaker 1: like five fifties six dollars a gallon? I mean it's
Speaker 1: something around like that. Yeah. I think when I first
Speaker 1: got my my driver's license and had to start paying
Speaker 1: for my own gas, it was like four dollars a gallon,
Speaker 1: and I was like I walk so um here in
Speaker 1: New York. Here in New York. It went up quite
Speaker 1: a bit more than that. I remember around like before
Speaker 1: the before the Obama administration. I mean it was pretty
Speaker 1: high at one point. Oh yeah, Um, I think you know,
Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia does what they say they can do and
Speaker 1: and and level out oil supplies. You know, we shouldn't
Speaker 1: see a giant increase in prices. But if they're unable
Speaker 1: to and that supply goes down, we're definitely gonna start
Speaker 1: feeling the effects is you know, the price of a
Speaker 1: barrel of oil goes up and then, um, you know,
Speaker 1: with India. India is kind of interesting because you know,
Speaker 1: like you know, earlier this year, we renamed our Pacific
Speaker 1: Command to the Indo Pacific Command to kind of include
Speaker 1: India and our sphere of influence and kind of extend
Speaker 1: them and olive branch and being like, hey, we're friendly neighbors.
Speaker 1: And the Indians are freaking out about the Chinese getting
Speaker 1: into the Indian Ocean, right and uh, I think I
Speaker 1: think Alex has written a lot about it. There's been
Speaker 1: a lot on this side about the different you know,
Speaker 1: close calls that the U. S. Navy and the and
Speaker 1: the Chinese Navy have hampletely out there. Um, so we've
Speaker 1: kind of you know, taken India aside and said more
Speaker 1: or less like hey, you know, you're gonna come under
Speaker 1: our sphere protection against the Chinese. So for them to
Speaker 1: go and say we're still gonna buy iranny and oil
Speaker 1: is kind of interesting. And it's going to be interesting
Speaker 1: to see how that affects the relationship between Arts and
Speaker 1: New Delhi. Yeah, it's going to be very interesting. And uh,
Speaker 1: it could be that the Indians are kind of holding
Speaker 1: out for something, Maybe they want something in exchange from
Speaker 1: the United States, which uh, I don't know if I
Speaker 1: can hold that against them. They have their strategic interests, um,
Speaker 1: but at least from my point of view, I think
Speaker 1: it behooves the United States to strengthen our relationship with
Speaker 1: India as much as we can, considering the rising threat
Speaker 1: in the Pacific, especially you know India's I mean, I
Speaker 1: agree with that. You know, you've got to cut them
Speaker 1: some slack, especially because when you look at you know,
Speaker 1: they're kind of in a various positions sandwich between Pakistan
Speaker 1: and and uh in China, and you know two foes,
Speaker 1: you know, Pakistan and the Indians that that hate, that
Speaker 1: bad blood goes back thousands of years. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: they fought a war in the nineteen fifties. It's a
Speaker 1: interesting relationship they have. And then there's everything going on
Speaker 1: with Burma right next door as well, so they have
Speaker 1: a lot on their plate. Yeah, that's a that's another
Speaker 1: horrible humanitarian crisis going on in Burma and Bangladesh. You know,
Speaker 1: I saw I think I heard in the BBC that
Speaker 1: with the Rhanga Muslims that have been kind of pushed
Speaker 1: out of their lands and Burma at the Bangladesh authorities
Speaker 1: are thinking about sending them to a deserted island and
Speaker 1: making that like their new homeland. Yeah. India also has
Speaker 1: tremendous domestic issues internally to overcome UM, which regarding I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm I can't speak to it, uh, you know, with
Speaker 1: any kind of expertise, but I mean I've read enough
Speaker 1: to see that from issues with poverty, UM, to UM
Speaker 1: trying to create a modern economy in that country, to UM,
Speaker 1: you know, issues related to the cast system. All these
Speaker 1: things kind of intertwined with one another in India and
Speaker 1: UM they're trying to modernize very quickly. They've also kind
Speaker 1: of experienced some of the evil side of social media.
Speaker 1: If I remember correctly, there are some stories out where
Speaker 1: a lynch mobs were organizing using what'sapp or some kind
Speaker 1: of other yea like that. I would argue that UM
Speaker 1: killing people of lower cast systems or lower casts in India.
Speaker 1: That's something that's been going on in rural areas for
Speaker 1: decades and If anything, social media is just making it
Speaker 1: um more apparent, um more in people's faces than you know,
Speaker 1: lynching would have been in the past, which is probably
Speaker 1: you could say the same thing for some of the
Speaker 1: actual assaults UM that have you know, really um come
Speaker 1: to prominence because of social media UM and you know
Speaker 1: forced it's probably forced the Indian government to actually take
Speaker 1: some tangible actions, whereas in the past it would have
Speaker 1: gotten swept under the rug. So I guess they're they're
Speaker 1: different ways of looking at it. Yeah, I think they're
Speaker 1: going through their kind of their own version of the
Speaker 1: me too movement as we speak, to an extreme, but yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right. So and then uh, also with the oil
Speaker 1: you know, we got Hurricane Michael out on the Gulf.
Speaker 1: I just thought today we're going to evacuate some of
Speaker 1: our rigs. So we always one of those things where
Speaker 1: you have ongoing issues like you know, the Iranian sanctions,
Speaker 1: and then you have kind of short acute issues like
Speaker 1: you know, natural disasters that can affect the market as well.
Speaker 1: So it's a it's an ever it's an ever changing
Speaker 1: ever fluid commodity. You're you're from Florida originally, by the way,
Speaker 1: is your area being hit by that, or family members
Speaker 1: or anything like at No, I grew up on the
Speaker 1: East Coast, but um I went to school and Tallassee
Speaker 1: in the in the panel, So they're gonna get They're
Speaker 1: gonna get wet. All my friends that still work E
Speaker 1: M S where I used to work, I see they're
Speaker 1: all getting ready to work over time and extra shifts.
Speaker 1: I wish them. I wish them luck. Yeah, I'm sure
Speaker 1: we have listeners who are going to be hit up
Speaker 1: by that. I mean all over America and everywhere else.
Speaker 1: So you know, we uh, you keep us update and
Speaker 1: we hope everybody stays as safe as possible during that.
Speaker 1: So any anyway, I'm just wondering, Joe, at what other
Speaker 1: pieces do you have in the works for the future
Speaker 1: that we can look forward to. Um I just did
Speaker 1: one the other day about emerging markets. It's kind of
Speaker 1: you know, emerging markets are countries that are developing economies,
Speaker 1: but they're not they haven't mature to the point where
Speaker 1: like the US Stock Exchange or Shanghai is. So I'm
Speaker 1: just at a piece about that. Lot of people are
Speaker 1: looking to emerging markets right now is a good place
Speaker 1: to invest because prices are so low, but it's not
Speaker 1: a sure thing. And the problem with the emerging markets
Speaker 1: is a lot of those countries have really unstable or
Speaker 1: fragile political systems which can change the economy overnight. You know,
Speaker 1: Brazil is a perfect example. You know, they think they
Speaker 1: just elected the new president, the guy who was stabbed
Speaker 1: the campaign trail, remember that story. Yeah, I haven't been
Speaker 1: following Brazilian politics. Quite frankly, I can't. I know, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't blame you, but I'm just it's you know,
Speaker 1: emerging markets is interesting because it's another thing where it
Speaker 1: looks like a sure thing, but the political situation in
Speaker 1: the country can change it overnight. And you see that
Speaker 1: a lot more so than and developed countries that have
Speaker 1: a more stable and an older government. Well, I said that.
Speaker 1: They say the same thing about Mexico, right that it
Speaker 1: has a tremendous natural resources and should be a global
Speaker 1: economic powerhouse, but because of the domestic political situation in Mexico,
Speaker 1: they just can't get there at this at this time
Speaker 1: right in Mexico was a speaking of other stories. You know,
Speaker 1: we just signed the new NAFTA ASK agreement with Mexico
Speaker 1: and Canada, so that's gonna bring. It should bring more
Speaker 1: manufacturing jobs to the US UM and I think it
Speaker 1: allows our dairy farmers to sell their product in Canada.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of the two big, two big wins
Speaker 1: for the United States. Be interesting to see how that
Speaker 1: plays out. Yeah. Yeah, I've seen a lot of criticism
Speaker 1: of it online because of the fact that Trump was
Speaker 1: so anti NAFTA, and people are saying, you know, is
Speaker 1: this just NAFTA two point out right? There's not that.
Speaker 1: There's not a ton of differences, and and each country
Speaker 1: I think walked away with a concession they wanted. You know,
Speaker 1: I think Canada really held onto the dairy the dairy
Speaker 1: farm issue for a long time, but they ultimately wanted,
Speaker 1: uh something written in the contract, a mechanism that would
Speaker 1: allow Canada and I'd take it's to settle trade disputes.
Speaker 1: And that was something we caved on and finally gave them.
Speaker 1: So now there's that the new even the new NAFTA
Speaker 1: still has that provision set up that allows Canada to
Speaker 1: you know, challenge some of our trades practices, especially with
Speaker 1: lumber like out in the Pacific Northwest. Interesting man, So
Speaker 1: check out Joe's work on the News Rap Joseph Lafay
Speaker 1: and you could follow Joe on Twitter at Lafay l
Speaker 1: A F A v E, Joseph at Lafay, Joseph on Twitter,
Speaker 1: anything else that you're plugging Before we wrap this up,
Speaker 1: this has been a great discussion, man. Yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 1: really enjoyed it. Guys, this is my first time coming
Speaker 1: on a podcast. There if I was all over the place,
Speaker 1: not at all umbling. We'll do it again. But um,
Speaker 1: i'd like to you know, we talked about Ed Ed
Speaker 1: Derek earlier. He's got two books coming out in twenty
Speaker 1: nineteen that I'm really excited for. The first it's called
Speaker 1: War Moments. It's going to be a collection of pictures
Speaker 1: he's taken of military personnel at home and during deployments.
Speaker 1: And if you're familiar with that work, I mean he's
Speaker 1: a great photo photographer as well. Um, you know, he
Speaker 1: did the his his picture was on the cover of
Speaker 1: Wore Men Were When Glory about Pat Tillman, and his
Speaker 1: photography has been been featured in a lot of different magazines.
Speaker 1: So that's going to be some of the pictures he's
Speaker 1: posted online. And I mean, yeah, you're absolutely I agree.
Speaker 1: He's a super talented photographer. Yeah, and and and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I'll say this having taken my own photos
Speaker 1: of the National Guard when I was embedded with him.
Speaker 1: It's it's tough. It's photography is something that you definitely
Speaker 1: have to work at. I definitely struggle with for him
Speaker 1: to be able to produce his images. He's definitely talented individual.
Speaker 1: And a second book, I'm not sure if it's titled yet,
Speaker 1: but it's going to be about another group of Marines
Speaker 1: and I've been Aniston as well, similar to Victory Point.
Speaker 1: That's awesome so them. If you want to check out
Speaker 1: the episode we actually did with Ed Derek, that's one
Speaker 1: of our highest um stream are you know, highest numbers
Speaker 1: we've had streams for an episode that was episode three
Speaker 1: fifteen where we talked about extortion seventeen. I'd love to
Speaker 1: have Ed back on when those books come. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: he was an excellent guest. Yeah, it's a great guy
Speaker 1: and like I said, a wealth of information. Awesome man,
Speaker 1: Well thanks for doing this with us, Joe. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: exit out of Joe's window here as we finished you
Speaker 1: live stream and we'll have you on again to Joe. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: really appreciate it. Cool. Well, we'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: You'll see this up tomorrow on now it will be
Speaker 1: on our platforms, which is sound Cloud, uh, Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
Speaker 1: and well the video on YouTube for the first time
Speaker 1: in a couple of months. Cool, Thanks man, thank you cool.
Speaker 1: That was great successful, UM, successful video for the first
Speaker 1: time in a long time. I know that, you know,
Speaker 1: I always have video problems, and thank thank you for
Speaker 1: Carrill who it just is awesome and always you know,
Speaker 1: helps me get everything back on track. So you know,
Speaker 1: I know for the most part, people listen UM and
Speaker 1: they don't really watch the video that we do. But
Speaker 1: now that you know we have a nicer set up here,
Speaker 1: maybe we'll get a few of you converted checking it
Speaker 1: out and you check out the soft Rep YouTube page. UM.
Speaker 1: Wrapping things up here, I do, of course want to
Speaker 1: tell you about what's going on with Create Club. Be
Speaker 1: sure to check out Create Club, that long anticipated collaboration
Speaker 1: watch I've been teasing that we did with NFW Watches
Speaker 1: that is going to be in the next premium crate.
Speaker 1: Just talked to Scott Wittner this morning, who told me
Speaker 1: that we have different tiers of membership depending on how
Speaker 1: on how prepared you want to be, So like that,
Speaker 1: for example, that's in the premium tier and gift options
Speaker 1: are available as well. Um Scott was saying that we're
Speaker 1: working on bringing you one to percent. Custom products is
Speaker 1: approaching everything from sunglass cases to E d C bags,
Speaker 1: other manly products and in that Panthericamo design which Jason
Speaker 1: came up with with Jason Cannetzer came up with with
Speaker 1: Brandon Web that we have the patent to, which is
Speaker 1: pretty cool. Um. So it's a club fore men by men.
Speaker 1: You can check that all out at Create Club dot us.
Speaker 1: Once again, that's Create Club dot Us. If you're a
Speaker 1: dog owner, check this out. You're gonna love this. We've
Speaker 1: partnered with Kuna who is a team of trained canine
Speaker 1: handlers picking out a box free dog each month of
Speaker 1: healthy treats and training aids. It's custom built for your
Speaker 1: dog size, end age as well. The products are US sourced,
Speaker 1: all natural and they not only promote a healthy diet
Speaker 1: but also promote being active with your dog. So whether
Speaker 1: we're talking to pitbull at Chihuahua, this is all for you.
Speaker 1: You can see all of that at Kuna dot Dog
Speaker 1: that's Kuna dot dog. It's efficient for you. Your dog
Speaker 1: is going to appreciate it as well, of course, and
Speaker 1: that's spell see you and a dot d O G.
Speaker 1: Before I tell you about the spec Ops channel, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna take a sip of water. Hey, well, and you're
Speaker 1: during your pause, I'll point out because it's an inadvertent
Speaker 1: product placement. While we've been filming. Uh, we're having the
Speaker 1: guests of this new book like war on PW. Singer
Speaker 1: and Emerson Brooking. Um, I'm reading the book now. I'm
Speaker 1: about two thirds of the way through it, and it's
Speaker 1: all about the weaponization of social media. So we'll have
Speaker 1: those guys on next week. Yeah, it'll be it'll be
Speaker 1: up a week from Friday if you're listening to this
Speaker 1: as it goes live. I teased them coming on this episode,
Speaker 1: but we moved it. Um, but we're gonna have both
Speaker 1: of those authors on. I think we'll be able to
Speaker 1: do the video with both authors, so thattually cool man.
Speaker 1: So I have plenty of time to finish the book.
Speaker 1: So yeah, i'd like to know what I'm talking about
Speaker 1: when we have people come on. Yeah. Sometimes I succeed,
Speaker 1: sometimes I don't. Kyle Mills. Kyle Mills next episode, UM,
Speaker 1: who has a new book out. I'm excited for that,
Speaker 1: um and so, as I was saying. As a reminder
Speaker 1: for those listening, for a limited time, you can receive
Speaker 1: a fifty discounted membership to the spec Ops Channel. That's
Speaker 1: our channel that offers the most exclusive shows, documentaries and
Speaker 1: interviews covering the most exciting military content today. The spec
Speaker 1: Ops channel 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 the spec Ops Channel. That's
Speaker 1: at spec ops channel dot com. Take advantage of a
Speaker 1: limited time offer a fifty off your membership only for
Speaker 1: a month, and you can check out the app developed
Speaker 1: by Chris. As I was saying before, we have a
Speaker 1: new website up Software Radio dot com. The app is coming,
Speaker 1: I believe this week. And I don't know if there's
Speaker 1: any other news you want to get into. As we
Speaker 1: wrapped this up, I know you were talking about Nikki
Speaker 1: Haley resigning. Yeah, I mean that's big Yeah, reports on
Speaker 1: the press. I mean, I don't think the whole story
Speaker 1: has come out yet. Um, but yeah, they're saying she
Speaker 1: uh that President Trump accepted accepted her resignation. So it'll
Speaker 1: be interesting to see how that story plays out, because
Speaker 1: at least there's My impression was that she's fairly bulletproof. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm not. We don't really know the reason for the
Speaker 1: resignation yet, but it's an interesting development. Yeah, absolutely, So.
Speaker 1: As we're wrapping this up, be sure to leave a
Speaker 1: review on Apple Podcasts. If you're a Spotify user, check
Speaker 1: out Spotify. I'm excited that we're on there and the
Speaker 1: new website is software radio dot com. Excited for a
Speaker 1: lot of great content, um as this month progresses, including
Speaker 1: a really big guest at the end of the month.
Speaker 1: They still don't have a date confirmed. We'llt' say who
Speaker 1: it is, but like a very big name. Excited for that,
Speaker 1: all right, Peace at everybody. Yeah, you've been listening to
Speaker 1: self rep Radio. New episodes up every Wednesday and Friday.
Speaker 1: Follow the show on Instagram and Twitter at self rep Radio.