Episode #233: Principles Over Expediency W/Dr. Chase Spears

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Ace, how's it going?
It's going really well, Dave.

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How are you doing today, Sir?
Doing fantastic.

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OK, I got to tell you, every so
often I have a guy on the

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podcast that that really makes
me look bad, and you're going to

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be one of those guys.
I just want to go through your

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bio here a little bit.
You're a public and intellectual

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writer, a host of Finding your
Your Spine podcast, which we'll

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talk about a little later.
A combat veteran paratrooper,

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you served 20 years in the US
Army Public Affairs office

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office before turning down a
promotion.

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I'd like to really know the
story behind that one.

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And now you're out here trying
to, trying to help everybody

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else, man.
So like when, when, when we

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stack up resumes.
Yeah, I'm kind of a bum, bro.

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You, you, you seem to have it
really going on.

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That's, that's that's
impressive.

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So well, let's start here.
What is it you're doing now?

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And then we'll backtrack to to
kind of how you got here.

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Thank goodness I'm, I'm going
back.

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Do you remember years and years
ago when Ross Perot was running

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for president and they had the
vice presidential debate and I

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think it was Admiral Stockdale
was running as his VP and they

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got to him and his, his response
for the introduction was who am

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I?
What am I doing here?

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And I, and I kind of feel that
in this moment, who am I, what

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am I doing here?
It's, it's an interesting thing.

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I get that question a lot
because we are.

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So we're so naturally prone to
ask people, you know, what is it

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that you do?
And it's really weird for me

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because I spent 20 years as a
soldier and that's what I did.

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I was a public affairs leader in
the US Army for 20 years.

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I had a job title.
And what I'm doing now is I, I

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call myself kind of a kind of a,
a Christian social warrior, if

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you will.
And that's a really terrible way

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to say it.
There are all sorts of ways of

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experimenting with, but, but I'm
an independent communication

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practitioner by trade now.
And when I left the Army two

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years ago, I very deliberately
made the choice I wanted to

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strike out on my own.
And there are few reasons for

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that.
The first one is usually in the

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public affairs career field,
which is where I came out of.

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You're a strategic communicator.
You have 20, you know, multiple

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years of experience helping to
large organizations, small

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organizations, all organizations
that are in some way tied to

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national security, to
communicate, to bridge to the

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public, to influence, to
persuade, to, to hold

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institutions accountable.
Hopefully, if you did it well.

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And so usually PA OS go into
corporate communication and and

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that's a good place for them to
go.

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You make a lot of money, you get
to use a skill set.

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But one of the primary reasons I
left the Army was as a Christian

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man, I, I just felt very
handcuffed for the last few

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years.
And I'm sure you're probably not

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surprised to hear, I'm sure your
listeners are probably not

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surprised to hear the last
administration was a made the

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military a very hostile place to
people of faith.

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And the military still to this
day has pockets of deep

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hostility towards people of
Christian faith.

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And I didn't want to just trade
one set of shackles for another.

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And so again, part of my reason
for leaving the army when I did

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and turning down promotion,
which was quite a financial

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sacrifice that my wife and I
made to walk away, was I wanted

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to be freed to be able to fight
for the nation.

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And, and I, I tell people the
fight for freedom, it's not on a

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foreign battlefield right now.
It's been on battlefields many

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times before.
And, and soldiers have

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rightfully defended freedom
using actual force of physical

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arms many times in history and
they will many, many more times

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in history.
But American freedom right now

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is not being defended with M
sixteens on foreign

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battlefields.
American freedom is being fought

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in the intellectual space, in
the conversational space, in the

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policy space.
And there was just no practical

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way for me to fight there and
wear the uniform.

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And it's not because I broke any
laws to do so, but it's because

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the military culturally fights
against that.

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And so that's what I do now.
I, I put my time and talents

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into writing, arguing,
advocating for

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constitutionality, arguing for
Christian men and women to stand

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up and be counted, arguing for
Christian men to be bold as as

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scripture calls us to be, and,
and podcasting about that as

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well.
So every, every venue that I can

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spread that message.
And that's where I'm trying to

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fight at.
Very good.

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And I agree with you.
I look, I'm a guy who

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predominantly lived most of my
life back West, right?

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I was born in Alaska, lived in
in Idaho, lived in Colorado, did

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move to the Eastern Shore of
Maryland for about two years.

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And I did that basically because
I discovered the founders,

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right?
I mean, I kind of had a a moment

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it was over a football game.
I won't bore the audience with

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the whole story, but I basically
go back for a football game.

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Me and my buddy and I walk into
Independence Hall and it's like

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the spirit hit me, right?
Like, hey, pay attention.

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Something important happened
here.

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It was about 2004, right?
And since that moment, I, I

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just, it's, it's one of my
passions.

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I mean, it's right up there
with, with my religion.

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And I, I started looking at it
real close.

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And what I discovered is, is
that we were way off from where

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we were supposed to be.
Like we had really went off off

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off course.
And the only way we're going to

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get back on course, I think is
to do kind of what you're

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talking about here, take a take
a good reading of where we are

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and then go back to the
beginning, so to speak, and then

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go forward on the correct
course.

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As far as you what, what, what
drew you to the military was

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your family military?
I mean, you spent 20 years

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there.
That's not just a, a jaunt,

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right?
I mean, that means that you've

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re upped five times essentially,
right?

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Yeah, it was not at all what I
expected.

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And I often tell people me being
in the Army for 20 years is

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God's idea of a practical joke
carried out way, way, way too

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far.
Now, if you would have looked at

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me and my brother when we were
younger, you would have swore my

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younger brother would have
actually been the military

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member is still to this day, he
kind of looks like a Marine.

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And I never thought I would join
the military.

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I always admired the military,
but it was always this very

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distant thing to me.
Now, my dad had served during

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the Vietnam era.
He'd done a a three-year stint

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and he talked about his time in
the Army and he actually later

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in life regretted getting out
and wished he would have done a

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full career.
But, and so we like, we have had

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men in my family who have
served, but we have not, at

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least in my direct lineage.
I'm the first one to serve a

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full 20 year career and I'm the
first officer in my line,

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according to my research, since
the time of the Revolutionary

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War.
And so it really is an unusual

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thing.
But what drew me in is, is

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again, really the Lord directed
my steps.

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I was studying journalism at Lee
University, which is a small

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school in southeast Tennessee.
All I wanted to do was report

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and I had this dream of one day
working into newsroom management

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and that's what I wanted to do
because I believed that the

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press was a righteous thing to
to spread truth and to and to

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hold people accountable who are
misusing power for nefarious,

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ungodly purposes.
I love, I still to this day love

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me some good investigative
reporting and that's what I

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wanted to do.
Unfortunately, I graduated into

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just about the worst economy 1
can graduate into to try to go

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into that field.
I graduated in 2001.

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This is in the wake of the
Telecom Act of 1996 signed into

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law by then President Clinton,
which basically collapsed the

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job industry for going into
journalism and going into radio

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and television production.
It was so bad, I couldn't even

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get unpaid internships.
And, and so I thought, OK, well,

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let me go up to Knoxville to
University of Tennessee.

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I'll I'll do a master's in
journalism.

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No one in my family had done a
graduate degree.

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That was kind of a thing.
I wanted to be the first.

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And so I went up there to
University of Tennessee, moved

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to my wife at my very pregnant
wife at that point in time up to

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Knoxville and enrolled in this
program.

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And I, and I'm still finding out
news organizations are not

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impressed with higher levels of
credentialism.

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They want people who have
multiple years of experience in

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the industry, you know, 56810
years.

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Well, when you're 22, you don't
have that.

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And so I thought, well, what's
the next thing I'm interested

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in, passionate about?
Well, I'm passionate about the

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law.
I'm passionate about policy.

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That's something that my mother
really instilled in me because I

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was homeschooled and she was
very big into teaching me about

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America's heritage, America's
founding values, America's

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history.
And so I thought, OK, law.

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Well, the University of
Tennessee has a great law

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school.
I've got a foot in the door, is

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a graduate student.
Law school is entirely different

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than the Graduate School of
Communication and Arts.

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But it wouldn't hurt me.
You know, it certainly doesn't

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hurt to already be in a world
grad student there.

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I'll probably be a leg up
hanging into the law school.

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But law school is a whole nother
ball of wax.

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It's a whole nother life
direction.

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It's a whole nother level of
commitment, especially

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financially.
And so I decided before I jump

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in on this boat, let me go work
part time in a firm while I

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finish up this journalism
masters and see what it's like.

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Well, what I found very quickly
was working in a plaintiff's law

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firm.
I was, I did not like the

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culture at all.
And and I respect those who work

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in it.
I've got a lot of friends who

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are attorneys, but that
particular firm kind of turned

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me off to it.
But the Lord used that.

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And one day I'm in the Knox
County Courthouse filing

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paperwork for one of our cases,
and I'm writing up in the

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elevator with a Staff Sergeant
Robert Lusk.

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I'll never forget the man.
He's there in his dress uniform.

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And this is 2003.
President Bush's just had that

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famous speech on the deck of the
aircraft carrier declaring

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victory in Iraq.
Of course it was not victory

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then, as we will know, but at
that point in time, I'm on the

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dump civilian.
I'm like, you know, rah, rah,

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you guys have won.
You kicked butt.

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How awesome.
And what I didn't know was how

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hard the Army was up for people
at that point in time because

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things are actually hitting up
in Iraq and things are still

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full till in Afghanistan.
So they were in a they were

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desperately needing to recruit.
Robert Lusk was a recruiter.

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He was there to run criminal
background checks on his latest

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batch of enlistees.
And so he is a good recruiter

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does got my contact information
and spent the next seven months,

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you know, regularly, we'll put
that way, regularly contacting

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me.
I joke around that it felt like

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it was borderline stalking
before it was all said and done

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and we finally decided my wife
and I, you know what, the

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journalism market still is not
heating up.

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I really, based on going working
at this law firm, don't think

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that I want to jump straight
into law school.

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The Army does have public
affairs opportunities, which

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works closely with the media.
So I would still be able to

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touch that mission and feel like
I'm serving the information

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needs.
And you know what, it'd probably

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be a good thing for me to have a
military experience.

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It'd probably be good for me as
a man.

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And so we made the decision.
We thought we were going to do

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one, one single four year tour
and that turned into 20 for a

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variety of reasons.
So in your time as you enter,

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I'm getting so about 2004 is
when you enter the the military.

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Right at the end of September of
of O3.

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OK.
So you're we're only a couple

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years removed from 911, right?
Yeah.

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The chances of seeing combat are
pretty good, right?

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00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:38,000
Like, and so as you have that
discussion with your wife, is

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00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:40,080
there any apprehension about
that, right.

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00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:42,880
It's one thing to go in, in
peacetime, right?

229
00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:47,880
It's another thing to go in
knowing full good and well that,

230
00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:50,280
hey, your number is going to get
called.

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00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:53,760
What did that cause?
Any consternation at home with

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00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:55,440
your wife?
Anything like that?

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00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:00,440
Surprisingly now my wife had
actually grown up in an Air

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00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:04,600
Force family, so military
service was not something that

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00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:06,960
she was in any way unfamiliar
with.

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00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:10,360
Now with that said her, her dad
had been in the Air Force, this

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00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:14,360
was pre 911, so he had never
done a combat deployment.

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00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:17,680
And even if we'd been in a state
of war, his job is not one that

239
00:13:17,680 --> 00:13:20,600
would have deployed.
So he was really kind of in the

240
00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:24,880
corporate Air Force, but she,
she liked the military.

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00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:27,560
She had a lot of good memories
of the military life.

242
00:13:27,560 --> 00:13:29,080
So at least on the Air Force
side.

243
00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:33,480
And so bringing the idea of the
military to her was welcome.

244
00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:36,360
And I'll never forget, I was
really nervous about it when I,

245
00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:39,800
when I decided this is something
I should seriously consider.

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00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:44,000
I, I came home, we were renting
a, a very small apartment up in

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00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:46,640
a small town on the outside of
Knoxville.

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00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:51,520
And I came to her about it and
said, babe, I've, I've got

249
00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:52,920
something I need to talk to you
about.

250
00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:55,360
And I was, I was really nervous
about how to even bring it up

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00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:59,480
because I had these visions of
her not liking it or it being a

252
00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:01,520
stressful or a strange
conversation.

253
00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:04,480
And so I'm trying to walk into
it very delicately because I've

254
00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:05,960
never talked about joining the
military.

255
00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:07,920
This, this is something I'm
going to be broaching for the

256
00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:11,920
first time ever to her.
And now if she were in the room,

257
00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:15,200
she would be laughing right now
because whenever we're telling

258
00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:19,200
this story together, she she'll
talk about being on her side of

259
00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:20,960
it.
She'll say, yeah, Chase came in

260
00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:24,040
and he was really dark about
this and he was really slowly

261
00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:26,720
backing into the conversation.
I could tell something was off

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00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:28,760
with him.
And and that was about a

263
00:14:28,760 --> 00:14:31,160
potential for how he might be
able to make a living.

264
00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:33,240
And he was.
So I could see he was so

265
00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:36,720
stressed about it that I almost,
I was almost wondering like,

266
00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:39,520
he's not going to be talking to
me about a drug dealer he met,

267
00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:44,360
is he?
So of course that that was not

268
00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:46,880
the case.
And so when I brought it up to

269
00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:51,640
her, it was almost relief
because she was because not,

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00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:54,720
number one, I was not, I was not
trying to get into anything

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00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:58,520
illegal.
And two, she missed having a

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00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:01,440
military ID.
And I remember when we were

273
00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:04,280
college students, she still had
her military ID.

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00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:06,040
She was still a military
dependent.

275
00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:08,680
And she loved that thing.
And then when she married me,

276
00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:11,040
that was among the things that
she got to give up.

277
00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:14,080
And she's like, you kidding me?
I get to have a military ID

278
00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:15,120
again.
I'd be able to use the

279
00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:17,040
commissary again, and we'd be
able to live on it.

280
00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:18,520
But yeah, Heck, yeah.
Let's join.

281
00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:19,720
Yeah.
You want to join the Army, Go

282
00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:22,560
for it.
And I, I, you know, I, I've

283
00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:26,040
never asked her what her
thoughts were about.

284
00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:28,320
Like you do realize we're in A2
front war right now.

285
00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:31,040
I mean, she was smart, she knew
that, but I've never asked her

286
00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:32,200
that.
I, I should ask her after we

287
00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:35,040
wrap this up.
But but no, she was so

288
00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:39,400
supportive from the get go and,
and that made it so, so much

289
00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:41,640
easier for me.
And I, and I took that as one of

290
00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:45,400
several confirmations from the
Lord that this is something that

291
00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:49,400
I should pursue because you
know, Scripture tells us, you

292
00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:53,720
know, thy word is a light into
my feet and a lamp into my path.

293
00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:59,280
And that that verse strikes me
many times for as much for what

294
00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:01,200
it doesn't say as what it does
say.

295
00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:08,200
It doesn't say My word is a high
beam to your front and then over

296
00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:12,480
the horizon view into your path.
It's a light into your feet.

297
00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:16,120
You're going to get just enough
light to to take the next step

298
00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:17,400
and.
Exactly.

299
00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:21,280
Yep, absolutely.
And so let me let oh, go ahead,

300
00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:23,120
Sorry.
No, no, go ahead, go ahead.

301
00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:27,320
I've been talking enough.
So you, you, you make this

302
00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:28,920
decision, OK, this is what we're
going to do.

303
00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:33,000
I know there's A2 front World
War happening right now, but

304
00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:34,840
this is where I feel called to
do.

305
00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:39,240
Your wife's on board.
You go in and it's the Bush

306
00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:41,320
years.
And look, politically speaking

307
00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:43,880
for myself, I think there's some
problems with the Bushes.

308
00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:48,600
But nonetheless, it wasn't Obama
or, or, or Biden, right?

309
00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:54,400
So as you go in, I, I want to
kind of get a feel for what it

310
00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:57,520
was like as you went in, under,
under the Bush years, right?

311
00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:01,760
It would have been just the tail
end, I think of his, his last,

312
00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:04,319
his first term going into a
second term.

313
00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:07,839
And then what, what were those
Obama years like?

314
00:17:07,839 --> 00:17:12,560
What, what was, you know, the,
the, the Trump years and then

315
00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:15,839
subsequently the Biden years?
I, I'd like to get a feel for

316
00:17:15,839 --> 00:17:20,680
that 'cause I think we all have
this idea that, that the

317
00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:26,920
military is apolitical, right?
That it does not have an agenda.

318
00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:31,400
However, from living in Maryland
for a little while and having a

319
00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:35,320
buddy that still works inside
the Beltway, that's not true,

320
00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:38,200
right?
And, and certainly as you climb

321
00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:41,320
the ranks, if you want to be,
you know, one of the chiefs of

322
00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:45,000
staff, more than likely you're
going to have a political agenda

323
00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:48,520
yourself.
And so I'd like to get a real, a

324
00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:52,240
real good flavor of, of what it
is you experienced all the way

325
00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:54,600
through that and how things
changed for you.

326
00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:57,600
Yeah, for sure.
And, and this is a really,

327
00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:00,960
really deep thing and, and books
have been written about this by

328
00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:04,080
men who are so, so way smarter
than I am.

329
00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:09,640
Americans had this idea that the
military is apolitical, and it

330
00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:13,560
is not, and very few things are,
because you have to get back to

331
00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:15,920
what is what is the basis of
politics?

332
00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:18,280
What is the basis of political
rule?

333
00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:22,320
And it is in order that we may
live together.

334
00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:25,840
There are certain rules that we
have to live by and those rules

335
00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:30,480
do necessarily limit certain
conduct even in even in America.

336
00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:32,280
We, we have this idea of, you
know, we're free.

337
00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:36,280
Well, we're, we're yes, we are,
but it's an order to liberty.

338
00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:41,000
It's not an unlimited liberty.
Unlimited liberty is chaos and

339
00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:45,920
that's that's why God gives
government as a ministry to us

340
00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:51,520
as a, as it something to try to
keep mankind and some level of

341
00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:54,960
control so we don't just go
completely mad and kill each

342
00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:58,200
other in mass.
And it's when that breakdown

343
00:18:58,320 --> 00:18:59,960
breaks down that we see that
happening.

344
00:18:59,960 --> 00:19:04,840
And so the military is another
enforcement agent of government.

345
00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:08,640
The philosopher Karl von
Klausowitz, who's a Prussian

346
00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:13,280
philosopher, lived in the 1800s
and he wrote a wonderful

347
00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:15,320
masterpiece on this called On
War.

348
00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:20,520
And he captured it so succinctly
and yet so deeply that war is

349
00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:24,120
politics by other means.
And, and it really is.

350
00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:27,360
And so when you have the
military, which is the agency to

351
00:19:27,360 --> 00:19:30,800
carry out that politics by other
means, well, the military

352
00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:33,920
follows policy.
It creates its own policy.

353
00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:38,920
It restricts certain rights of
its members far beyond what any

354
00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:42,720
civilian employer could.
And on and on and on.

355
00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:45,120
So it is naturally a political
agency.

356
00:19:45,120 --> 00:19:48,160
So the question is not is the
military political or

357
00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:50,520
apolitical?
It is political like every

358
00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:54,840
institution is political.
The question is to what

359
00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:57,480
political and is the military
driving.

360
00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:01,920
And one of the things that made
me comfortable to join in 2003

361
00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:05,560
was I felt like the military was
still an honor bound

362
00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:09,240
institution.
I felt like it was focused on a

363
00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:12,400
ministry of defense to to
Americans.

364
00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:15,040
And I really wanted my life to
in some way be involved in

365
00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:17,080
ministry that's always been
close to my heart.

366
00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:22,160
And, and I believed that even
though it would be imperfect, as

367
00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:24,960
all institutions are, and
there's a certain amount of

368
00:20:27,120 --> 00:20:31,200
perceived secularity within it,
that it would still be a good

369
00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:33,800
place.
And so when I joined to 2003, of

370
00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:36,640
course, I very quickly found out
that there, there, there are all

371
00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:38,800
sorts of competing political
factions within it.

372
00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:41,040
And, and it is a cross section
of America.

373
00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:43,920
There are conservatives in it
and they're progressives in it

374
00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:46,280
and they're outright Marxist
revolutionaries in it.

375
00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:53,680
But when I joined, there was an
idea they in general, you kind

376
00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:56,800
of lay all that to the side
because we all bleed red and,

377
00:20:56,920 --> 00:20:58,120
and we're supposed to come
together.

378
00:20:58,120 --> 00:21:00,720
And there's this idea of being,
being brethren in arms.

379
00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:05,040
It's not perfect.
It's not a Hallmark Christmas

380
00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:08,280
card, easy.
But in general, that was how the

381
00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:10,560
culture felt to me as a young
enlistee.

382
00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:12,560
And I was very, I was good with
that.

383
00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:16,000
And there was some hostility
that I faced as a Christian, but

384
00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:19,120
it, it wasn't, it wasn't like
what I found later.

385
00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:26,680
And so then we had the Obama
years, and Obama understood, as

386
00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:29,160
he said, that elections have
consequences.

387
00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:33,760
And I'm sure you've heard the
terms long marched through the

388
00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:36,280
institutions.
You know, Gromski said it.

389
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:41,480
And the idea is what progressive
revolutionaries, modern day

390
00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:45,200
Bolsheviks cannot achieve
through the legislative process

391
00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:48,040
they achieved by capturing
institutions.

392
00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:53,240
And the military had been one of
the last standing bastions.

393
00:21:53,360 --> 00:21:55,440
It had been kind of the Rock of
Gibraltar.

394
00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:57,720
They had not fully penetrated it
yet.

395
00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:00,960
There was enough of a
constitutionally minded

396
00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:05,000
patriotism still at all levels
of the rank from down from E 1

397
00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:08,400
all the way up to four-star
general that they couldn't

398
00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:12,000
successfully crack that nut.
They, I mean, they had pockets

399
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:16,280
of course, but they had, they
Pentagon still generally try to

400
00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:22,560
drive in a way that was in some
way resistant to the complete

401
00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:26,360
Church of progressive orthodoxy.
Obama changed that.

402
00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:29,640
Obama understood the long March
of the institutions and, and

403
00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:33,680
whatever you will say about him
and, and if I have many, many,

404
00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:38,160
many impolite and you'd probably
think vulgar things to say about

405
00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:39,760
him.
But one thing I'll give him

406
00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:43,440
tremendous credit for because he
understood how to be a really

407
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:45,120
effective activist.
And he brought that to the

408
00:22:45,120 --> 00:22:47,240
military.
And, and before we began to see

409
00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:52,640
that was with the repeal of
Don't Ask, Don't Tell in 2010.

410
00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:56,720
And I'm sure you remember that.
I do Yep, Yep.

411
00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:59,640
That was that was the piece of
legislation that basically said

412
00:23:00,120 --> 00:23:04,080
if you were were were
homosexual, the rule was is that

413
00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:07,120
the military wasn't going to ask
and you weren't going to tell.

414
00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:10,600
And then that way there was kind
of an air of secrecy around it.

415
00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:14,400
There was and that and it's and
that was actually a Clinton

416
00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:17,560
administration policy up until
the years of Bill Clinton.

417
00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:20,800
It had been an outright
prohibition on on homosexuality

418
00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:24,160
in the services because George
Washington, who founded the

419
00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:28,480
Continental Army, he understood
that if you're going to place

420
00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:31,800
arms in the hands of people on
behalf of state, you need there

421
00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:36,640
to be a certain level of honor
and, and homosexual behavior is

422
00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:38,720
not conducive to that level of
honor.

423
00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:41,680
And that to this day should not
be a controversial assessment.

424
00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:43,560
It's an assessment that I still
hold right now.

425
00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:48,560
And and so he he brought in the
don't ask, don't tell policy.

426
00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:52,240
And then Obama just bulldozed
that and said, no, we're going

427
00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:55,720
to make the military, you know,
inclusive and progressive

428
00:23:55,720 --> 00:24:00,080
because everyone should just who
loves America, should be able to

429
00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:03,280
fight for America.
And, and, and that's the way

430
00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:04,880
that I just presented that
framing.

431
00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:10,960
It was not about what enables
the military to be more, you

432
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:13,840
know, lethal, to be better, more
efficient at its role.

433
00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:16,120
It's how it should recruit.
It wasn't focused on that at

434
00:24:16,120 --> 00:24:18,480
all.
It was focused on social change

435
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:23,560
because the military throughout
our post World War 2 history,

436
00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:26,440
with the exception of the
Vietnam years, had been one of

437
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,160
the most trusted institutions in
the United States.

438
00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:32,960
And so even to this day,
politicians will use the

439
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:36,360
military as a frame of reference
when they're trying to push

440
00:24:36,360 --> 00:24:37,960
through certain progressive
policies.

441
00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:41,280
And they'll force it on the
military, kicking and screaming

442
00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:43,120
because the military can't say
no.

443
00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:46,840
And then they'll point to the
military and speeches and say,

444
00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:51,200
hey, hey, you and the rest of
America, hey, you and red state

445
00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:53,880
America, why are you resistant
to this idea?

446
00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:56,680
Our military that you love, our
military that you trust, our

447
00:24:56,680 --> 00:24:59,040
military that you cheer for at
praise and sporting events.

448
00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:01,840
They've embraced this.
They found this to be good.

449
00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:04,800
And so the military is abused by
that way.

450
00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:06,480
And progressives and Obama
understood that.

451
00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:09,960
So the repeal of Don't Ask,
Don't Tell is when I saw a

452
00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:14,720
seismic shift and the culture of
the armed forces, because all

453
00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:17,640
the sudden you were being told
if you're a Christian who held

454
00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:23,800
to a Christian sexual ethic that
you could no longer openly

455
00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:26,360
espouse or believe that nor
could your family members of

456
00:25:26,360 --> 00:25:29,280
official military functions,
even functions where they were

457
00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:32,640
volunteering their time.
And, and of course, the Obama

458
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:37,400
administration said in that in
those moments, hey, this has

459
00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:39,400
nothing to do about
transgenderism.

460
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:42,280
We're not going to let people
who claim different genders into

461
00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:44,520
the force.
And of course, how do you know a

462
00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:46,760
politician is lying?
Their lips are moving.

463
00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:48,640
And so we knew that I'd be
coming.

464
00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:50,960
And of course, before the end of
his term, it did.

465
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:53,720
And again, this had nothing to
do with how do we make the

466
00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:57,680
military better, more lethal.
It was all about how do we force

467
00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:02,560
social activism into the forces
in order to get America to go

468
00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:04,080
along with these other social
changes.

469
00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:09,040
Obama opened the floodgates with
with sexual deviancy and he also

470
00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:12,120
forced the integration of women
into combat arms rules, which

471
00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:15,800
frankly, they are just
physically not designed for.

472
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:18,320
And they're, and the military
did studies on this.

473
00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:21,440
This is not just Chase Spear
saying that the military did

474
00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:25,440
studies on this, with this
showed tremendous amounts of

475
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:28,000
physical damage being done to
women in these roles.

476
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:31,640
And the administration said we
don't care.

477
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,760
And they made it.
They made it very clear to the

478
00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:37,280
generals who are on active duty,
you have two choices.

479
00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:40,800
You will either fully embrace
and adopt this or you will

480
00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:43,800
retire.
And those who had a conscience,

481
00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:45,560
those who believed in truth,
retired.

482
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:49,040
And those who are left standing
were the ones who just put their

483
00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:51,040
finger up in the air and said,
what direction is the wind

484
00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:53,480
blowing?
And, and totally threw aside

485
00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:56,360
any, any hints of allegiance to
the Constitution.

486
00:26:56,360 --> 00:26:58,200
And, and so it was really during
the Obama years.

487
00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:00,760
So I saw things change.
And of course, that rapidly

488
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:03,280
accelerated during the Biden
administration.

489
00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:07,520
But I'll I'll pause there.
Yeah, No, I I think you bring up

490
00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:12,280
a couple of really good things.
First, the reason that I think

491
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:15,640
we, or at least me, want to
believe that the military is

492
00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:23,920
apolitical is because it if it's
not, it can lead to trouble.

493
00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:26,600
And let me explain.
Historically, we remember the

494
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:30,280
Praetorian Guard, right?
And the Praetorian Guard for

495
00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:34,600
Rome towards the end of the
empire phase of Rome, they were

496
00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:38,040
the ones selecting the, the, the
Emperor, right?

497
00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:40,480
They're the ones calling the
shots.

498
00:27:43,120 --> 00:27:46,240
That is an issue, right?
And so the more political they

499
00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:51,360
can become, the more, the more
susceptible you are to that sort

500
00:27:51,360 --> 00:27:54,280
of thing to Washington.
You, you brought up Washington

501
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:57,720
from the days of Washington the,
the, they always had a chaplain

502
00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:02,880
in there.
So my question is this, it's, it

503
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:05,080
was important enough to
Washington that he paid for it

504
00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:08,640
out of his own pocket, right?
Congress wasn't doing anything.

505
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:10,960
The more things change, the more
they stay the same.

506
00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:14,960
Nonetheless, Washington paid for
it out of his own pocket.

507
00:28:15,360 --> 00:28:19,560
So as you have now have
chaplains that are in the United

508
00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:23,320
States military, how are they
supposed to navigate those

509
00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:33,240
waters where they've introduced
the oh, the LGBTQ agenda in

510
00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:35,040
there, right?
How are they supposed to do

511
00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:39,480
their job as chaplains under
under this new new?

512
00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:44,000
Yeah, you're getting in.
That question really hits.

513
00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:46,800
What is the actual policy in the
law?

514
00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:50,080
And then what does the culture
actually allow?

515
00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:54,800
And the policy and law is very
clear that chaplains, like every

516
00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:58,000
military member, are granted
freedom of religion.

517
00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:02,320
And there was actually this law
shouldn't have even been needed,

518
00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:04,400
but it was.
It was passed into the law

519
00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:07,520
again, but during the Clinton
years, the Religious Freedom

520
00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:12,440
Restoration Act to push back
against the unconstitutional

521
00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:17,080
attacks on religion in the
public sphere and particularly

522
00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:21,160
among military members.
And so the law is very clear on

523
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:23,800
that.
But what does the culture allow?

524
00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:27,760
And chaplains really got caught
kind of in a crosshair because

525
00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:32,680
there are a lot of progressive,
so-called denominations that are

526
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:38,800
PCUSA who are fully on board
with this stuff that are are

527
00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:41,600
just an ecclesial flag on the
nation.

528
00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:46,120
And so they're, they're
accredited chaplains, you know,

529
00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:50,680
no, no problemo.
But then you have what I would,

530
00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:53,360
what I would consider
denominations that are rightly

531
00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:58,200
aligned theologically who
actually serve God and they're

532
00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:00,600
chaplains.
You have to maintain your

533
00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:05,120
accreditation as a chaplain
through a denomination.

534
00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:09,040
That's a requirement in order to
be a military chaplain because

535
00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:10,960
the chaplain is part of the
professions.

536
00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:14,920
And so you have to have that
accreditation from a from a

537
00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:18,440
recognized religious association
in order to even be eligible to

538
00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:22,600
become a chaplain.
And a lot of denominations

539
00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:26,920
rightly say you have to have a
understanding, you have to

540
00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:30,360
adhere to a Christian sexual
ethic in order to be ordained by

541
00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:33,200
us.
And there are many, many stories

542
00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:38,520
of chaplains who were punished
by the commanders because they

543
00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:41,120
held to a traditional Christian
sexual ethic.

544
00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:44,280
They said out loud in their
preaching that there's a

545
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:47,200
traditional sexual ethic.
And they spelled out what that

546
00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:51,200
is something that until, you
know, 18 minutes ago was actual

547
00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:54,080
military policy, but all of a
sudden it's not military policy

548
00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:56,520
anymore.
And there are many instances of

549
00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:58,080
chaplains being punished under
that.

550
00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:01,960
Well, the alternative is for
them to deny their conscience,

551
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:06,200
lie and then also lose their
their endorsement from their

552
00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:08,720
accrediting agencies and then
they can't be chaplains.

553
00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:12,200
So it really is a heads I win
tells you lose scenario that

554
00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:15,040
many of them were forced into.
And so there was a hostility

555
00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:17,160
there.
And there's also a growing

556
00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:20,840
hostility by progressives in the
ranks to even having a chaplain

557
00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:24,960
core there.
There is a a boisterous kind of

558
00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:28,360
conversation happening among the
far left wing in the military

559
00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:30,880
about trying to get rid of it
and replace it with just

560
00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:34,480
therapists, almost almost make
it kind of like a Star Trek

561
00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:37,440
model, if you will.
You just have counselors rather

562
00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:42,320
than than ministers.
And so, you know, we we've seen

563
00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:45,200
there are a lot of great
chaplains who have remained true

564
00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:48,920
to their faith.
But something that I never lost

565
00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:52,960
sight of was seldom ever at a
military function where a

566
00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:55,760
chaplain prayed.
Seldom ever did I see one

567
00:31:56,120 --> 00:32:00,400
conclude a prayer in Jesus name.
Far more often.

568
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:04,600
It was very, very generic.
You know, in your name we pray.

569
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:10,640
And many chaplains, not all, but
many who I observed would begin

570
00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:13,280
prayers at ceremonies with
something like this.

571
00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:17,720
As I pray according to my faith
tradition, I welcome you to pray

572
00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:20,720
according to yours.
So they there's a pressure for

573
00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:25,080
them to endorse a religious
plurality, which is against, you

574
00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:26,520
know, what they should be
believing.

575
00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:29,440
And so it's a tightrope that
chaplains have to walk.

576
00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:31,320
We desperately need good
chaplains.

577
00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:33,400
We've got a lot of good
chaplains.

578
00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:35,160
We've got a lot of bad
chaplains.

579
00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:37,840
I I could get into how a lot of
them just rolled over on the

580
00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:41,360
whole COVID mandate and we're
not supportive of requests for

581
00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:45,240
religious accommodation.
But I do not envy chap.

582
00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:50,160
I do not envy Christian
chaplains in today's military.

583
00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:54,560
And and when I say Christian, I
mean like true holding to the

584
00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:56,240
faith wants delivered to the
Saints.

585
00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:58,280
I don't envy those by any means
today.

586
00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:01,440
It's a hard road to walk.
Interesting.

587
00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:06,680
So that was the Obama years.
Do do things get better once

588
00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:09,400
once the Trump years kind of
come into being?

589
00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:12,400
I mean, what?
What happens after Obama?

590
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:17,480
Well, I would like to say that
the institution pivoted as

591
00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:21,720
rapidly under Trump
administration one point O as it

592
00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:23,800
did under the Obama
administration.

593
00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:27,480
But it didn't.
And you referenced the Pretorian

594
00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:31,800
Guard earlier, and the
Praetorian Guard still exists.

595
00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:38,840
And the Pentagon is the largest
agency in the world.

596
00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:42,800
The Department of War is the
world's largest single

597
00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:46,160
standalone agency.
It has a tremendous amount of

598
00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:49,280
inertia.
And when you had eight years of

599
00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:54,440
the Obama administration pushing
policy edicts and replacing all

600
00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:57,840
these senior uniformed and
political, politically appointed

601
00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:03,240
officials with hardcore leftist,
who then promoted their

602
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:07,240
lieutenants according to their
adherence to that orthodoxy, who

603
00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:12,400
likewise promoted their
subordinates largely according

604
00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:14,880
to whether or not they aligned
with that orthodoxy.

605
00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:19,360
And a lot of people just would
get out because they were like,

606
00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:21,040
I, I'm not going to carry this
water.

607
00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:26,280
And so you had eight years of a
really, really rapid

608
00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:29,639
transformation culturally of the
force.

609
00:34:29,639 --> 00:34:33,400
And so when Trump got in the
military, the Department of

610
00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:39,199
Defense then like just about
every other cabinet agency took

611
00:34:39,199 --> 00:34:42,000
the same approach, which was
this is a speed bump.

612
00:34:42,199 --> 00:34:47,400
This is an anomaly.
We will go, you know, we'll drag

613
00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:50,440
our feet and change as little as
we possibly can.

614
00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:54,760
And then we'll get him out of
office and we'll go back to the

615
00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:57,280
normal way of doing business,
which is to follow the

616
00:34:57,280 --> 00:34:59,560
progressive, left wing globalist
ideals.

617
00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:03,840
And so even during the Trump
administration, it was, it was

618
00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:08,120
difficult to be an open
Christian conservative in the

619
00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:10,560
force.
And, and I want to put stuff on

620
00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:13,000
that.
I'm not saying it was difficult

621
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:17,800
to be a rowdy, Christian right
wing activist in the force.

622
00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:22,320
I'm not saying it was difficult
to be someone standing in the

623
00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:24,040
street with a bullhorn in the
force.

624
00:35:24,040 --> 00:35:26,720
What I'm saying is it was
difficult to be someone who just

625
00:35:26,720 --> 00:35:29,560
believed the basic truth.
I would say basic truth out

626
00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:31,760
loud.
It was difficult to be that

627
00:35:31,760 --> 00:35:35,400
person in the force.
Not impossible, but difficult.

628
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:40,240
The the brass in the military
were all Obama holdovers.

629
00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:45,360
The Trump administration one
point O did not understand just

630
00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:48,440
how deeply entrenched that
ideology was.

631
00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:54,120
They assumed that the military
would pivot as it had pivoted

632
00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:57,320
under every president before.
They didn't realize that Obama

633
00:35:57,320 --> 00:36:02,520
had really, thoroughly, deeply
anchored the force in his

634
00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:04,440
worldview.
And he did it very effectively.

635
00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:06,720
How did he do that?
How did he do that?

636
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:11,880
It started with he fired over
100 general officers and, and

637
00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:15,200
people may argue and say, Oh no,
Tracy didn't fire 100 general

638
00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:18,040
officers like he had fired over
100 general officers.

639
00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:20,880
Whether it be a direct
termination or whether it be a

640
00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:23,280
you are not, you are no longer
getting promoted.

641
00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:26,040
You are now invited to retire
because when you well, a lot of

642
00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:29,400
people don't realize we have,
you know, 123 and 4 star general

643
00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:32,520
officers.
One and two star are your last

644
00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:35,160
permanent promotions.
When you see guys who are

645
00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:38,920
Lieutenant generals and generals
or vice Admirals and Admirals in

646
00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:42,440
the in the seaborne forces,
those are what we call

647
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:47,080
nominative positions, which
means you are nominated by the

648
00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:50,920
president to hold a position
that holds that rank.

649
00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:55,520
And then so you get if, if
you're in the Army, your

650
00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:56,800
division commander, you're a two
star.

651
00:36:56,800 --> 00:36:59,240
Your last promote permanent
promotion was the two star.

652
00:36:59,720 --> 00:37:02,680
If you're liked enough, you'll
get nominated to be a core

653
00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:04,240
commander.
Well, core has to be commanded

654
00:37:04,240 --> 00:37:06,040
by a three star.
So the day you take command of

655
00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:08,800
the core, you're promoted to
three star.

656
00:37:09,240 --> 00:37:12,960
But if they decide not to give
you a four-star promotion, you

657
00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:16,920
have two options.
Retires A3 star or or within a

658
00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:19,200
matter of months revert back to
your two star because that's

659
00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:22,000
your last, your last promotion.
And so that's another way that

660
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:24,720
officers are are moved on out of
the four, say we're not going to

661
00:37:24,720 --> 00:37:27,560
nominate you for that three or
four-star position.

662
00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:29,160
What were you going to do?
You're going to retire at that

663
00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:30,680
point in time because you have
no future in it.

664
00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:34,120
And it's pretty much known that
your that your career is a dead

665
00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:36,560
end.
So they've got no place for you.

666
00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:40,280
So you move on.
And so, and he raised up people

667
00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:45,160
based on their ideological
preferences and that was done

668
00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:48,800
very quietly.
It was done very in a very

669
00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:52,600
subdued ways.
But every, every officer in the

670
00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:54,520
military and most people don't
know this.

671
00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:59,120
When you reach the rank of major
O 4, so there are 10 officer

672
00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:02,240
ranks O1 through O 10.
When you reach the rank of major

673
00:38:02,240 --> 00:38:05,920
O 4, those ranks are all Senate
confirmed.

674
00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:09,840
I have a date of Senate
confirmation on my promotion to

675
00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:13,360
major.
The president has to personal

676
00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:16,760
has to appoint general officers
and again, those go in and list

677
00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:21,600
to the Senate to be voted on.
We are all chosen through a

678
00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:25,560
political body and that's that's
part of Congress's oversight.

679
00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:29,360
But Congress is a political
body, and so personnel is

680
00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:31,560
policy.
That's the first, most

681
00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:34,760
foundational rule of
understanding how to get

682
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:36,800
organizations to change
culturally.

683
00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:40,320
You have to change the personnel
because the rules, the rules

684
00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:42,960
don't matter if you have people
who won't enforce the rules.

685
00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:46,640
The rules are whatever the
people are willing to enforce.

686
00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:49,840
Personnel is policy.
And so that's where Obama made

687
00:38:50,160 --> 00:38:52,880
tremendous strides was through
the personnel and through key

688
00:38:52,880 --> 00:38:58,360
political appointments in the
senior executive services core

689
00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:01,640
across the Department of War.
He made sure that his

690
00:39:01,640 --> 00:39:04,560
administration got all of those
seats filled with people who

691
00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:09,360
were aligned to the left and,
and it just held because once

692
00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:12,480
those people are, are in, it's
difficult to get them out of the

693
00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:15,240
way.
And even today it's known inside

694
00:39:15,240 --> 00:39:17,720
the Pentagon that it is just
filled with thousands and

695
00:39:17,720 --> 00:39:19,480
thousands of hardcore loved wing
activists.

696
00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:23,000
But they're reticent to get rid
of a lot of them because the the

697
00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:25,400
question is, but who's going to
do the work?

698
00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:27,600
You know, these people are
experienced at the strategic

699
00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:30,480
level and it took years to groom
them and to build them.

700
00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:36,560
And, and I understand that.
But my response is I I find I

701
00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:38,960
just think there's hardly any
job where it's better to have an

702
00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:41,480
enemy of the Constitution in it
than to have it empty.

703
00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:46,800
Right, No, 100%.
So things don't turn as quickly

704
00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:50,480
around during the Trump
administration in in your

705
00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:53,760
estimation, because momentum had
already taken over from the

706
00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:58,080
previous administration.
So things stay as they were

707
00:39:58,080 --> 00:39:59,640
pretty much through the Obama
years.

708
00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:02,480
Is that a fair assessment?
It is, it is.

709
00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:05,320
I mean, there were the president
would say certain things, but it

710
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:07,960
was known throughout the force
that hey, this is still the way

711
00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:10,560
that we're doing business.
And there was still like some of

712
00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:12,640
the hostility towards going
back.

713
00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:16,120
And, and one other thing I'll
add to that it's, it's much

714
00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:20,920
harder to conserve something
than it is to revolutionize it.

715
00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:25,400
The energy is always on the side
of the revolutionary, the, the

716
00:40:25,720 --> 00:40:29,600
people trying to conserve are
always, always at the kind of

717
00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:32,760
weekend of that tug of war.
And so that's why you see

718
00:40:32,760 --> 00:40:37,880
throughout history, it's you see
so many cultures, so many, so

719
00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:41,400
many institutions drift left
until they just eventually

720
00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:44,360
collapse.
And so few of them actually be

721
00:40:44,560 --> 00:40:47,680
pulled back from the brink
because the energy is always on

722
00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:52,560
the side of the revolutionary.
Before we move on to the Biden

723
00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:55,080
years, because it sounds like
you because you got out, you

724
00:40:55,080 --> 00:40:57,320
said just two years ago, is that
correct?

725
00:40:58,040 --> 00:41:00,600
So you would have been in there
for at least part of the, the

726
00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:03,600
Biden administration.
But before we move on there, I,

727
00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:07,920
I got to ask a question here and
that was this.

728
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:12,240
I think as dudes, we all game
plan what collapse would look

729
00:41:12,240 --> 00:41:14,920
like, right?
And the one thing I always

730
00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:19,200
hedged my bets on, and I have a
feeling this may be about to be

731
00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:23,000
shattered, was the thought that,
well, the military might be the

732
00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:30,320
last line of defense because
they, unlike politicians, their

733
00:41:30,320 --> 00:41:34,640
whole goal is to support and
defend the Constitution of the

734
00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:37,720
United States from both, from
enemies both foreign and

735
00:41:37,720 --> 00:41:41,720
domestic.
My question is, does does the

736
00:41:41,720 --> 00:41:47,920
military ensure that those guys
who swear that oath understand

737
00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:53,160
what it is that document says?
No, not at all.

738
00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:58,240
And this is something that
concerns me deeply as a veteran,

739
00:41:58,240 --> 00:42:01,720
as a citizen, as a father, as a
husband.

740
00:42:02,920 --> 00:42:05,880
I, I've said this many, many
times recently.

741
00:42:05,880 --> 00:42:08,920
I, I've said this to people who
are in senior positions in the

742
00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:15,160
Pentagon and there's been no
indication of action on it.

743
00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:20,400
If you don't know how to run,
the military will teach you how

744
00:42:20,400 --> 00:42:22,160
to run.
If you've never done a push up

745
00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:26,240
in your life, you'll be, you'll
be expert at push ups by the

746
00:42:26,240 --> 00:42:29,080
time you come off the other side
of the basic training pipeline.

747
00:42:29,880 --> 00:42:34,840
The military assumes that when
you enlist, you have no idea how

748
00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:36,760
to do the jobs.
You don't know how to be a

749
00:42:36,760 --> 00:42:39,760
network technician, you don't
know how to drive a tank, you

750
00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:41,400
don't know how to build a
bridge.

751
00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:46,000
It teaches you how to do that.
And it it does a very good job.

752
00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:49,960
I mean, it's really an
impressive process from day one,

753
00:42:49,960 --> 00:42:53,960
a basic training to the far end
of tech school, you know, where

754
00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:57,120
you've taken a citizen who has
no familiarity at all with the

755
00:42:57,120 --> 00:43:00,000
military and turned out a
military professional on the

756
00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:02,120
other end.
It's it's really remarkable

757
00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:07,680
thing that they do.
But if you don't know civics, if

758
00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:12,000
you don't know the history of
the American founding, if you've

759
00:43:12,120 --> 00:43:15,200
never cracked the page of the
Constitution and don't know the

760
00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:19,000
difference between the 1st
Amendment and the 10th out of

761
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:24,160
luck, figure it out on your own.
There's no training on it.

762
00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:28,640
Period.
I say that with one exception.

763
00:43:28,640 --> 00:43:33,320
I, there is a law that was
passed just in recent years that

764
00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:39,000
does require a small block of
constitutional training for

765
00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:40,520
cadets coming through West
Point.

766
00:43:40,520 --> 00:43:42,960
But it's, it's small, it's not
much.

767
00:43:42,960 --> 00:43:45,440
I discovered it doing some
research a couple of years ago.

768
00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:50,600
And that's a recent law.
And I, but there's no, even that

769
00:43:50,600 --> 00:43:53,200
doesn't give you any kind of
constitutional familiarity.

770
00:43:53,200 --> 00:43:55,920
It's, it's just kind of like a,
a sidewalk within an ethics

771
00:43:55,920 --> 00:43:58,720
course.
And that is problematic to me

772
00:43:58,720 --> 00:44:02,720
because when you swear to
support and defend the

773
00:44:02,720 --> 00:44:09,000
Constitution, potentially to die
for it, and you don't understand

774
00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:12,800
what it is, well, that's how you
can have soldiers that will have

775
00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:17,440
sworn that oath on one hand and
yet enthusiastically give money

776
00:44:17,440 --> 00:44:20,640
and attend BLM riots on the
other, right?

777
00:44:20,800 --> 00:44:23,240
Because they, they don't know
the difference.

778
00:44:23,240 --> 00:44:25,960
Most, most 90% of people come
through the government school

779
00:44:25,960 --> 00:44:30,480
system and that is deliberately
set up to prevent them from

780
00:44:30,480 --> 00:44:33,760
having any constitutional
understanding and any proper

781
00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:36,440
understanding of the context of
American history.

782
00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:40,240
And so this is something that
bothers me deeply because if

783
00:44:40,240 --> 00:44:45,440
you, if you don't know what it
is you're fighting for, you're

784
00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:48,560
not a patriot citizen under arms
anymore.

785
00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:52,240
You're a mercenary.
You're a mercenary.

786
00:44:52,720 --> 00:44:57,040
And I have warned about this.
I even wrote a piece for Red

787
00:44:57,040 --> 00:44:58,920
State last year.
It's called the case for

788
00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:01,640
Constitutional Training in the
Military.

789
00:45:02,400 --> 00:45:05,320
And it's a guide.
I mean, it's a, it's an op-ed,

790
00:45:05,760 --> 00:45:10,600
but it's a guide saying here's
the problem and here's a way

791
00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:15,520
Department of War could fix it
at no cost, $0.00 worth of cost

792
00:45:15,960 --> 00:45:18,320
to the institution.
How they can begin addressing it

793
00:45:18,320 --> 00:45:21,960
right now.
No action, none.

794
00:45:22,480 --> 00:45:26,240
And that's a problem.
That's a big problem, and let me

795
00:45:26,240 --> 00:45:30,760
let me explain why.
If you're not governed by law,

796
00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:34,040
you're governed by men.
That's all there is to it,

797
00:45:34,360 --> 00:45:36,640
right?
The, the real genius of the

798
00:45:36,640 --> 00:45:42,080
American system was this, the
this idea that we will codify

799
00:45:42,120 --> 00:45:45,600
these things.
We will make sure that everyone

800
00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:50,320
knows exactly what the
government can't do to them,

801
00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:55,000
right?
If you do not understand those

802
00:45:55,000 --> 00:46:01,240
things, you as quite frankly, a
weapon of the government can do

803
00:46:01,240 --> 00:46:06,480
all sorts of things, right?
And look, I'm not in favor of

804
00:46:07,320 --> 00:46:10,360
disobeying order for the sake of
disobeying orders.

805
00:46:10,360 --> 00:46:15,200
However, my worst fears that
there comes a time where an

806
00:46:15,200 --> 00:46:19,000
unconstitutional order comes
down, right, especially if it's

807
00:46:19,040 --> 00:46:25,920
boots on the ground in at home,
that, that I feel like I would

808
00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:28,840
be a lot more secure knowing
that those guys who are

809
00:46:28,840 --> 00:46:33,280
receiving those orders
understand the breadth and scope

810
00:46:33,720 --> 00:46:35,680
of the oath that they have
taken.

811
00:46:36,320 --> 00:46:39,400
Because without that, just as
you were saying, you're no

812
00:46:39,400 --> 00:46:44,120
longer a a soldier citizen.
You are, as you put it, a

813
00:46:44,120 --> 00:46:46,920
mercenary.
And that is troublesome, right?

814
00:46:46,920 --> 00:46:49,680
That goes back to that
Praetorian Guard thing again,

815
00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:56,040
which which is a little spooky
and in my opinion, OK, thanks

816
00:46:56,040 --> 00:46:58,400
for answering that.
So now moving on to the Biden

817
00:46:58,400 --> 00:47:02,000
years.
Like, I didn't think it could

818
00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:05,480
get bad, you know, get any worse
than the Obama years.

819
00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:08,320
But I stand corrected.
I think it was.

820
00:47:08,680 --> 00:47:11,560
I mean, look from the outside
looking in, right?

821
00:47:11,560 --> 00:47:14,920
You have Afghanistan, the with
that sloppy mess of a

822
00:47:14,920 --> 00:47:18,480
withdrawal.
You have a whole bunch of other

823
00:47:18,480 --> 00:47:22,720
things.
What What did you find in your

824
00:47:22,720 --> 00:47:26,080
time under the the Biden
administration within the United

825
00:47:26,080 --> 00:47:29,960
States military?
There needs to be a special

826
00:47:29,960 --> 00:47:34,240
place in hell for Joe Biden.
That man did such harm to the

827
00:47:34,240 --> 00:47:36,120
military.
So the one.

828
00:47:36,160 --> 00:47:39,560
He's not getting a Spears family
Christmas card this year.

829
00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:45,360
No, no, no, no, Old Joe is not
invited to the Spears house

830
00:47:45,360 --> 00:47:46,960
unless he gives his heart to
Jesus.

831
00:47:47,280 --> 00:47:52,040
And and I want to see clear
proof of that.

832
00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:54,560
Now, if he did, there'd be
forgiveness.

833
00:47:54,560 --> 00:47:58,280
But but until then, that man did
such damage.

834
00:47:58,480 --> 00:48:03,000
Oh, he did such damage.
So the one major policy change

835
00:48:03,000 --> 00:48:05,640
we saw during the first Trump
administration was that he put a

836
00:48:05,680 --> 00:48:10,080
the brakes on the forced
integration of transgenderism

837
00:48:10,160 --> 00:48:13,640
into the military.
And that was one of the first

838
00:48:13,760 --> 00:48:15,680
things that Joe Biden did away
with.

839
00:48:15,680 --> 00:48:20,000
And not only did he did he undo
the ban, which the ban was

840
00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:24,400
merely what had banned the
practice for over 2 centuries of

841
00:48:24,400 --> 00:48:26,320
American history in the
military.

842
00:48:27,040 --> 00:48:31,000
He pushed it aggressively.
And of course, the brass were

843
00:48:31,000 --> 00:48:36,040
all Obama holdovers.
And so they got in line so, so

844
00:48:36,400 --> 00:48:39,520
quickly to to just force that
upon us.

845
00:48:40,680 --> 00:48:44,800
There was the and I don't and
and that comes not just with

846
00:48:44,800 --> 00:48:48,440
allowing people into the force.
What a lot of people on the

847
00:48:48,440 --> 00:48:52,360
outside don't understand too, or
wishy washy or maybe agree with

848
00:48:52,360 --> 00:48:53,800
us theoretically, but they
don't.

849
00:48:53,800 --> 00:48:57,320
They're too cowardly to actually
get up off their ass and fight

850
00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:02,080
is they'll say, oh, OK, so it
just means someone had gets to

851
00:49:02,080 --> 00:49:05,680
come in and they they just
they're Tom, but you call him

852
00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:07,320
Jane.
No, it's far more than that.

853
00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:11,520
I'll never forget.
I had a, a buddy of mine who was

854
00:49:11,560 --> 00:49:14,960
forced against his will, kicking
and screaming to be the equal

855
00:49:14,960 --> 00:49:17,920
opportunity advisor for our unit
and the equal opportunity

856
00:49:18,320 --> 00:49:20,800
program in the military.
Yeah, you, you know where I'm

857
00:49:20,800 --> 00:49:23,520
going with this.
I mean, it's, it's just a, it's

858
00:49:23,520 --> 00:49:26,320
a, it's a programmized struggle
session across the force.

859
00:49:26,320 --> 00:49:30,040
And it was even even before the
Biden and Obama years, but it

860
00:49:30,040 --> 00:49:31,880
got really bad during the Biden
years.

861
00:49:32,360 --> 00:49:33,600
And so he had to go to this
training.

862
00:49:33,600 --> 00:49:36,920
And he told me about Chase.
There I was in the auditorium

863
00:49:36,920 --> 00:49:41,480
and I'm watching this 6 foot
five man up on stage who is

864
00:49:41,480 --> 00:49:44,280
dressed like a woman, and I'm
being told to believe this is a

865
00:49:44,280 --> 00:49:48,800
woman.
And not only that, he was afraid

866
00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:53,480
to talk about that in places
that people might hear him

867
00:49:53,480 --> 00:49:56,880
talking about it.
Even even out on the town, there

868
00:49:56,880 --> 00:50:02,200
was such a fear, such a spiral
of silence that if you are not

869
00:50:02,640 --> 00:50:07,160
completely wholeheartedly
enthusiastic about this, you're

870
00:50:07,160 --> 00:50:08,960
a problem and you need to be
dealt with.

871
00:50:08,960 --> 00:50:11,920
You might be one of those
radical extremists.

872
00:50:12,240 --> 00:50:14,800
And so let's come back to that
word extremist.

873
00:50:15,080 --> 00:50:18,720
You remember Lloyd Austin was
brought in as the Defense

874
00:50:18,720 --> 00:50:23,760
Secretary under Joe Biden, a man
who was a known to be a, a just

875
00:50:23,800 --> 00:50:27,600
a, a pitiful officer.
The fact they got four stars was

876
00:50:27,600 --> 00:50:33,560
was demonstration that the equal
opportunity program does does

877
00:50:33,560 --> 00:50:37,000
look favorably upon people based
on their skin tone.

878
00:50:37,520 --> 00:50:41,320
He was just known to be a really
poor officer overall throughout

879
00:50:41,320 --> 00:50:44,520
his entire career.
He he, he messed up and moved up

880
00:50:44,520 --> 00:50:46,880
one of those guys and, and there
are a lot of people like that.

881
00:50:47,600 --> 00:50:50,560
And then he was nominated to be
Secretary of Defense because

882
00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:54,760
Biden needed to throw diversity
bone to the Congressional Black

883
00:50:54,760 --> 00:50:57,640
Caucus because he came in saying
promising the most diverse

884
00:50:57,640 --> 00:51:01,160
cabinet in American history.
And and most of his appointees

885
00:51:01,160 --> 00:51:03,320
were people of skin tones like
us.

886
00:51:03,320 --> 00:51:08,240
And so Lloyd Austin was kind of
that figure for him.

887
00:51:08,880 --> 00:51:11,600
And Lloyd Austin came in on day
one and said, we have an

888
00:51:11,600 --> 00:51:13,560
extremism problem in the
military.

889
00:51:14,520 --> 00:51:17,120
And that really surprised me
because I thought, this is the

890
00:51:17,120 --> 00:51:19,160
military that made you a
four-star general.

891
00:51:21,560 --> 00:51:26,160
This is a military to which you
rose to the Top Rank and had a

892
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:30,320
combatant command.
You didn't think it was full of

893
00:51:30,320 --> 00:51:32,520
extremists then, did you, Mr.
Austin?

894
00:51:33,600 --> 00:51:36,360
But he came in day one and he
echoed that because that's what

895
00:51:36,360 --> 00:51:39,160
Joe Biden said.
Joe Biden, this is after J6, you

896
00:51:39,160 --> 00:51:43,520
know, the, the feds direction
and Biden was out there and the

897
00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:46,560
left wingers were all saying,
you know, anyone who's a

898
00:51:46,560 --> 00:51:50,560
conservative is an extremist.
And because there were veterans

899
00:51:50,880 --> 00:51:54,120
at, at J6, the military's
extremists, they, they, they

900
00:51:54,520 --> 00:51:58,360
didn't bother to say, well,
based on your skin tone or your

901
00:51:58,360 --> 00:52:02,120
ethnicity or, or your, your
gender, you're an extremist if

902
00:52:02,120 --> 00:52:03,440
you're there.
But they really targeted

903
00:52:03,440 --> 00:52:05,920
veterans very specifically.
And again, that goes back to the

904
00:52:05,920 --> 00:52:08,040
capture of the military.
If you can make, make an

905
00:52:08,040 --> 00:52:11,280
institution look bad, then you
can make the institution want to

906
00:52:11,280 --> 00:52:13,960
look good and you can make
strike political deals with

907
00:52:13,960 --> 00:52:15,480
them.
We'll do this and and we'll,

908
00:52:15,480 --> 00:52:18,520
we'll have your case and this,
that was probably one of those

909
00:52:18,520 --> 00:52:20,080
deals.
So Lloyd Austin comes in and

910
00:52:20,080 --> 00:52:23,320
says we have this extremism
problem in the military.

911
00:52:24,000 --> 00:52:29,240
Never mind that a a a rather
well funded federal study was

912
00:52:29,240 --> 00:52:32,080
done into this during the first
couple years of the Biden

913
00:52:32,080 --> 00:52:34,440
administration and and they
found that incidents of

914
00:52:34,440 --> 00:52:38,240
so-called extremism were far
less in the military than that

915
00:52:38,280 --> 00:52:40,480
among the general public.
Go figure.

916
00:52:40,480 --> 00:52:43,760
Most you don't have that.
You don't have that many thugs

917
00:52:43,760 --> 00:52:46,760
trying to join the military as
there are out in the mainstream

918
00:52:46,760 --> 00:52:50,520
public.
And so it got there was a spiral

919
00:52:50,520 --> 00:52:53,720
of silence.
Like if you're if you're a basic

920
00:52:53,720 --> 00:52:57,280
constitutional mind, it was made
very clear to this was never

921
00:52:57,280 --> 00:53:02,400
said out loud, all right, but it
was very tacitly, passive

922
00:53:02,400 --> 00:53:07,360
aggressively made known to you.
Shut up, be invisible.

923
00:53:07,560 --> 00:53:09,880
If you have those beliefs, keep
them to yourself.

924
00:53:09,880 --> 00:53:12,920
We don't want to hear them.
Don't be caught talking about

925
00:53:12,920 --> 00:53:15,600
them.
Don't be caught embracing them

926
00:53:16,600 --> 00:53:19,880
or you will pay.
That was made very tacitly

927
00:53:19,880 --> 00:53:22,080
clear.
And it was also during that time

928
00:53:22,080 --> 00:53:25,240
that we actually had incidents
where there were certain

929
00:53:25,240 --> 00:53:28,120
trainings being given where you
saw Christian organizations

930
00:53:28,120 --> 00:53:33,080
being put up on PowerPoint
slides along with hardcore, like

931
00:53:33,080 --> 00:53:37,760
actual terrorist organizations.
Now, you didn't you didn't see

932
00:53:37,760 --> 00:53:40,400
the Muslim Brotherhood put up
there with them, right?

933
00:53:40,880 --> 00:53:43,280
It was always Christian
organizations, pro-life

934
00:53:43,280 --> 00:53:48,440
organizations.
And so the there was a fear that

935
00:53:48,440 --> 00:53:51,880
gripped conservatives that
gripped Christians.

936
00:53:51,880 --> 00:53:55,160
Sit down, shut up if you know
what's good for you.

937
00:53:56,120 --> 00:53:59,000
And that doesn't even get into
the vaccine issue.

938
00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:01,400
And I've got another issue on
the transgender policy.

939
00:54:01,400 --> 00:54:03,520
I'll come to in a minute, but
I'll pause there because I'll,

940
00:54:03,520 --> 00:54:05,760
I'll, I'll talk for another 10
minutes while I give you a

941
00:54:05,760 --> 00:54:08,360
chance to jump in if you had any
anything on.

942
00:54:08,360 --> 00:54:12,280
That yeah, I mean, it's, it's,
it's kind of, it's kind of

943
00:54:12,280 --> 00:54:15,080
spooky, right.
And so my question for you is,

944
00:54:15,080 --> 00:54:19,240
is that like, look, I know
despite what, what the brass is

945
00:54:19,240 --> 00:54:24,680
doing, there are still a lot of
good men and women that, that

946
00:54:24,680 --> 00:54:29,600
are in the service, right?
Consequently, there's got to be

947
00:54:29,600 --> 00:54:34,840
Bible studies going on, right?
And so as, as maybe you frequent

948
00:54:34,840 --> 00:54:37,600
in some of those or you heard
about it, what's, what's the

949
00:54:37,600 --> 00:54:39,960
overall tone there?
I mean, for, for guys like

950
00:54:39,960 --> 00:54:43,440
yourself who were in there, I
mean, was there anybody that you

951
00:54:43,440 --> 00:54:46,240
guys confided in?
Did you dare confide in each

952
00:54:46,240 --> 00:54:49,600
other?
I mean like what, what was the

953
00:54:49,600 --> 00:54:51,600
strategy going forward for you
guys?

954
00:54:52,720 --> 00:54:56,560
Well, it differed from base to
base, unit to unit, command to

955
00:54:56,560 --> 00:55:00,760
command, locale to locale.
And so I was at Fort Leavenworth

956
00:55:00,760 --> 00:55:02,680
during the last few years of my
career during the Biden

957
00:55:02,680 --> 00:55:05,320
administration.
And Fort Leavenworth is a very

958
00:55:05,320 --> 00:55:09,040
officer heavy base, and officers
tend to be more left wing than

959
00:55:09,040 --> 00:55:13,040
enlisted members are.
And so Fort Leavenworth was a

960
00:55:13,040 --> 00:55:18,720
particularly hostile place to
people of faith, whereas places

961
00:55:18,720 --> 00:55:21,840
like Fort Bragg, I've heard were
less hostile.

962
00:55:21,840 --> 00:55:23,880
So a lot of it came down to
where were you?

963
00:55:23,880 --> 00:55:26,840
What service were you in?
What commands did you have?

964
00:55:27,920 --> 00:55:32,120
There was a, a small lunch group
led by one of the chaplains on

965
00:55:32,120 --> 00:55:36,000
base that I took part in where
there about half dozen of us

966
00:55:36,000 --> 00:55:38,600
who'd get together once a week
and we just talk and have lunch

967
00:55:38,600 --> 00:55:41,360
and try to encourage each other.
So I found some solace there.

968
00:55:41,800 --> 00:55:46,760
I, I, like I said, my, my
closest partner in the unit was

969
00:55:46,760 --> 00:55:48,920
of like minds to me.
And so we would have a lot of

970
00:55:48,920 --> 00:55:51,600
conversations and just kind of
reminder each other that we're

971
00:55:51,600 --> 00:55:54,640
not the crazy ones.
And there were a lot of good men

972
00:55:54,800 --> 00:55:59,160
and, and women in my unit who
were not completely sold out to

973
00:55:59,160 --> 00:56:02,560
the temple of Bail.
But you know, for example, our

974
00:56:02,560 --> 00:56:06,160
commander had a ABLM sign in his
yard.

975
00:56:06,680 --> 00:56:10,080
And you know, we, we knew, we
knew better than to let him know

976
00:56:10,240 --> 00:56:14,440
how we thought if, if we didn't
want to, given his crosshairs

977
00:56:14,440 --> 00:56:17,000
and, and arguments could be made
about whether we should or or

978
00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:18,080
shouldn't have.
We weren't trying.

979
00:56:18,360 --> 00:56:19,840
Thing is, we're not trying to
pick fights.

980
00:56:19,840 --> 00:56:22,720
We're just trying to serve.
That's all we're trying to do.

981
00:56:22,720 --> 00:56:24,040
We're not trying to be
activists.

982
00:56:24,040 --> 00:56:26,200
We're just trying to serve.
That's what we came in to do.

983
00:56:26,200 --> 00:56:30,120
We don't want to have a fight
with anyone inside the force.

984
00:56:30,120 --> 00:56:32,320
We want to have, if we're going
to have a fight, we want to have

985
00:56:32,520 --> 00:56:34,800
with the invader who's who's
actually threatening our

986
00:56:34,800 --> 00:56:37,280
homeland.
Whereas the progressives, they

987
00:56:37,280 --> 00:56:38,880
wanted to have that fight
internally.

988
00:56:38,880 --> 00:56:43,360
They, they wanted to actually,
you know, shift things and to

989
00:56:43,360 --> 00:56:46,880
change things.
And so it was very much we're,

990
00:56:46,880 --> 00:56:50,000
we're just trying to be at peace
here and we're just trying to,

991
00:56:50,000 --> 00:56:52,840
to preserve and to do our jobs
to the best of our ability.

992
00:56:53,400 --> 00:56:56,080
But it was, it was difficult.
I'll tell you, there was this

993
00:56:56,080 --> 00:56:59,520
one job.
We'll come to the COVID thing in

994
00:56:59,520 --> 00:57:01,440
a minute because that's, it's a
whole other thing.

995
00:57:02,760 --> 00:57:07,000
But continuing on the theme of,
of how, of how the transgender

996
00:57:07,320 --> 00:57:10,240
policy was not just about
personnel, but it was about

997
00:57:10,240 --> 00:57:14,040
ideology.
I, I got sucked up into one of

998
00:57:14,040 --> 00:57:16,600
the last jobs I had was the
combined Arms center.

999
00:57:16,600 --> 00:57:20,320
It's now the combined Arms
command, public affairs

1000
00:57:20,320 --> 00:57:22,840
operations officer.
And that was not a real job.

1001
00:57:22,840 --> 00:57:25,680
It was a made-up job.
It wasn't on the books.

1002
00:57:26,080 --> 00:57:28,880
But the guy who, who was up
there running that office at the

1003
00:57:28,880 --> 00:57:31,280
time, he, he, he had just a
civilian staff.

1004
00:57:31,280 --> 00:57:34,160
Well, you can't for civilians to
work overtime.

1005
00:57:34,160 --> 00:57:38,000
You can't force them to go.
Do you know the the silly stuff

1006
00:57:38,000 --> 00:57:40,320
that no one wants to do after
hours are on the weekend?

1007
00:57:40,600 --> 00:57:42,520
The menial tasks.
You can't abuse them.

1008
00:57:43,280 --> 00:57:47,440
And he wanted someone they could
throw that stuff too.

1009
00:57:47,440 --> 00:57:50,080
And so he forced me up there
kicking and screaming against my

1010
00:57:50,080 --> 00:57:52,040
will.
I I I fought that with

1011
00:57:52,040 --> 00:57:55,280
everything I could not to go up
there see only job I've in my

1012
00:57:55,280 --> 00:57:57,400
military career.
I never I didn't have a moment

1013
00:57:57,400 --> 00:58:01,720
to say in and and even my
assignments manager tried to

1014
00:58:01,720 --> 00:58:04,600
fight him on it and he lost.
And so anyways, I go up there, I

1015
00:58:05,080 --> 00:58:07,560
know it's going to be a
difficult job, mainly because

1016
00:58:07,560 --> 00:58:10,320
this is run by a three star
general officer at the time, guy

1017
00:58:10,320 --> 00:58:14,720
named Ted Martin, who was, you
know, fully, fully,

1018
00:58:14,720 --> 00:58:18,440
enthusiastically embraced all
the woke orthodoxies that that I

1019
00:58:18,440 --> 00:58:20,240
abhorred.
And here I am supposed to be one

1020
00:58:20,240 --> 00:58:23,280
of his communicators.
All right, great.

1021
00:58:23,280 --> 00:58:26,840
That'll that'll be not fun.
So I got there to the office.

1022
00:58:26,840 --> 00:58:31,320
So I'll never forget at one
point in time, I started getting

1023
00:58:31,320 --> 00:58:35,920
e-mail traffic from it's the G3
basically that's the operations

1024
00:58:35,920 --> 00:58:39,120
director.
And then Army caught the G3 and

1025
00:58:39,120 --> 00:58:42,400
it was and this, this e-mail
traffic was coming to me because

1026
00:58:42,400 --> 00:58:45,560
I'm the guy in the office who
would handle policy and

1027
00:58:45,560 --> 00:58:48,480
planning.
And so this e-mail is all about

1028
00:58:48,960 --> 00:58:53,160
transgender policy and what the
command is doing to be in full

1029
00:58:53,160 --> 00:58:55,040
accordance with transgender
policy.

1030
00:58:55,280 --> 00:58:58,200
And the reason I'm included on
this e-mail is because it's a

1031
00:58:58,240 --> 00:59:04,440
tacit expectation that I am
going to help to shape the

1032
00:59:04,440 --> 00:59:09,560
communication plans, to support
this and to advocate for it and

1033
00:59:09,560 --> 00:59:14,000
to gaslight the organization and
public into what a great thing

1034
00:59:14,000 --> 00:59:16,080
this is for readiness, blah,
blah, blah.

1035
00:59:17,720 --> 00:59:19,760
Well, what do you do if you're a
leader and you see something

1036
00:59:19,760 --> 00:59:21,760
coming your way that you think
it's going to be problematic?

1037
00:59:21,760 --> 00:59:24,800
Do you sit there and wait to get
hit like a train?

1038
00:59:24,800 --> 00:59:28,520
Or do you go to your boss and
say, hey, I see something coming

1039
00:59:28,520 --> 00:59:31,120
down the Pike?
I'd like us to talk about it

1040
00:59:31,120 --> 00:59:34,240
before it's a problem so it can
figure out how for it not to be

1041
00:59:34,240 --> 00:59:36,680
a problem.
I took option 2.

1042
00:59:36,680 --> 00:59:38,680
That's how I'd been trained.
That's how I'd been raised.

1043
00:59:38,720 --> 00:59:41,960
You sound the alarm.
Yeah, it's, I mean, I always

1044
00:59:41,960 --> 00:59:45,800
wanted my subordinates, if they
sensed a problem to come to me

1045
00:59:45,800 --> 00:59:47,560
before it was a problem so we
could solve it.

1046
00:59:47,560 --> 00:59:49,800
I, I was very, very open about
that.

1047
00:59:50,240 --> 00:59:53,840
So I get to my boss and said,
hey, Sir, I, I see the e-mail

1048
00:59:53,840 --> 00:59:55,640
traffic and I can read the tea
leaves.

1049
00:59:55,640 --> 00:59:58,120
I've been around enough to know
why I'm getting this e-mail

1050
00:59:58,120 --> 01:00:00,200
traffic even though no one's
giving me an order, no one's

1051
01:00:00,200 --> 01:00:03,000
giving me a tasking like around
the block or two.

1052
01:00:03,000 --> 01:00:06,400
I know, I know, I know this is
Step 1 and I know what Step 3 is

1053
01:00:06,400 --> 01:00:08,200
going to look like.
So before we get there.

1054
01:00:09,040 --> 01:00:12,640
Can I get on your calendar and
let's just have a conversation

1055
01:00:12,640 --> 01:00:18,360
at some point in the next few
days about what you, how far

1056
01:00:18,360 --> 01:00:22,480
you're going to go, willing to
go to satisfy this, what you

1057
01:00:22,480 --> 01:00:26,600
envision meaning to do, and
where we will draw the line so

1058
01:00:26,600 --> 01:00:29,120
that my rights of conscience are
not violated?

1059
01:00:29,200 --> 01:00:31,080
I thought that was a very
reasonable request.

1060
01:00:31,760 --> 01:00:34,880
Well, I was asking for a
conversation to figure out how

1061
01:00:34,920 --> 01:00:36,480
you get done, what you need to
get done.

1062
01:00:36,560 --> 01:00:38,080
And we protect my rights of
conscience.

1063
01:00:38,160 --> 01:00:40,000
That's all I'm asking for is a
talk about that.

1064
01:00:40,800 --> 01:00:42,120
He did not want to have that
talk.

1065
01:00:42,120 --> 01:00:46,960
He got, He got visibly angry at
me for that, for even bringing

1066
01:00:46,960 --> 01:00:48,760
it up and said, you're an
officer.

1067
01:00:48,760 --> 01:00:49,960
You just do whatever you're
told.

1068
01:00:50,840 --> 01:00:54,840
I was like, well, Sir, that's,
that's not how that works.

1069
01:00:55,040 --> 01:00:58,200
I there, there's a conflict here
and I'm just asking for a

1070
01:00:58,200 --> 01:01:01,960
conversation before it becomes a
before that conflict gets here

1071
01:01:02,320 --> 01:01:06,200
so we can figure out how to
adjust things.

1072
01:01:06,960 --> 01:01:08,880
So it's not a conflict.
I mean, because there's some

1073
01:01:08,880 --> 01:01:12,440
people in the office who are not
going to have any, any moral

1074
01:01:12,440 --> 01:01:16,040
problem being an enthusiastic
part of this, like this work can

1075
01:01:16,040 --> 01:01:19,000
be redirected.
There might even be some small,

1076
01:01:19,320 --> 01:01:22,520
small peripheral thing that I
can do to assist someone that's

1077
01:01:22,640 --> 01:01:27,400
not going to violate my rights
of conscience on possibly I was

1078
01:01:27,400 --> 01:01:29,880
hoping even to maybe there's
some small thing I can do to

1079
01:01:29,880 --> 01:01:32,440
help someone else with something
and and you get your job done

1080
01:01:32,840 --> 01:01:35,600
and I'm protected.
That's how one was the talk so

1081
01:01:35,600 --> 01:01:38,120
we could think through it.
And we never got to have that

1082
01:01:38,120 --> 01:01:41,080
talk because he got mad at me
and got very hostile and said,

1083
01:01:41,160 --> 01:01:43,160
you know, you were, you'll do
whatever you're told.

1084
01:01:43,160 --> 01:01:45,160
And I was like, well, it's not
how it's going to work, Sir.

1085
01:01:45,160 --> 01:01:46,640
We need to have this
conversation.

1086
01:01:47,040 --> 01:01:51,840
So the conversation just, well,
it just was going nowhere.

1087
01:01:51,840 --> 01:01:54,280
And I, I finally gave up on and
walked out of his office because

1088
01:01:54,280 --> 01:01:57,040
I could see I'm getting nowhere
with him and he's not listening

1089
01:01:57,040 --> 01:01:59,120
to me.
And, and I'm not going to stand

1090
01:01:59,120 --> 01:02:01,200
there and be told talk to like a
fool.

1091
01:02:01,680 --> 01:02:06,240
And so I had that was a week
that was going into the weekend.

1092
01:02:06,240 --> 01:02:09,360
I get a phone call from him.
I've got a couple days off and I

1093
01:02:09,360 --> 01:02:11,720
get a phone call from him.
Hey, Monday, I need you to be in

1094
01:02:11,720 --> 01:02:13,600
my office at 9:00.
And I'm thinking, well, I'm

1095
01:02:13,600 --> 01:02:16,760
always in the office at 9:00.
That's my start, my duty day.

1096
01:02:17,520 --> 01:02:19,560
So are you telling me to be in
the office at 9:00?

1097
01:02:19,560 --> 01:02:21,840
You know I'll be there.
Well, I just need to make sure

1098
01:02:21,840 --> 01:02:24,760
you'll be here because we need
to have a conversation.

1099
01:02:24,760 --> 01:02:27,920
And I'm like, I'm thinking to
myself, all right, there's a

1100
01:02:27,920 --> 01:02:31,800
mission coming up maybe that he
needs to send me on 'cause that

1101
01:02:31,800 --> 01:02:34,640
wasn't unusual for officers on
Fort Love more to get short

1102
01:02:34,640 --> 01:02:36,720
notes tasking.
Hey, we got this two week thing

1103
01:02:36,720 --> 01:02:39,560
we need help with and so you get
on, got to get on a plane on

1104
01:02:39,560 --> 01:02:41,200
short notice.
I thought it was something like

1105
01:02:41,200 --> 01:02:43,080
that.
And I said, well, hey, Sir,

1106
01:02:43,080 --> 01:02:45,000
what?
Just go ahead and give me a

1107
01:02:45,000 --> 01:02:47,160
heads up on what the issue is.
And I can't even start working

1108
01:02:47,160 --> 01:02:50,520
it on it this weekend.
And we can, you know, we can

1109
01:02:50,520 --> 01:02:52,440
already have a running start
when I get into the office on

1110
01:02:52,440 --> 01:02:54,880
Monday.
And he wouldn't tell me.

1111
01:02:54,880 --> 01:02:57,160
He's like, well, you'll find out
when you get here on Monday.

1112
01:02:57,160 --> 01:03:00,520
And I'm thinking, all right, I'm
not read in on any top secret

1113
01:03:00,520 --> 01:03:02,560
systems.
There's nothing he there's

1114
01:03:02,560 --> 01:03:04,960
nothing classified I'm being
pulled in on.

1115
01:03:05,480 --> 01:03:08,240
He can just tell me.
And so I just kept pushing him.

1116
01:03:08,240 --> 01:03:09,760
Sure, just give me a just give
me a clue.

1117
01:03:09,760 --> 01:03:11,520
I'm just, I'm trying to lean
forward and help you.

1118
01:03:11,520 --> 01:03:13,280
What is it you need me to start
thinking about?

1119
01:03:13,280 --> 01:03:15,240
I want to come when I'm show up
Monday.

1120
01:03:15,240 --> 01:03:18,280
I want to be ready to run and
take on whatever this mission

1121
01:03:18,280 --> 01:03:20,120
is.
He's like, well, I need to

1122
01:03:20,120 --> 01:03:22,840
counsel you for what you said
about transgenderism.

1123
01:03:23,080 --> 01:03:25,840
Now I counseling is a negative
is a negative piece of

1124
01:03:25,840 --> 01:03:28,800
paperwork.
And I'd never received one of

1125
01:03:28,800 --> 01:03:34,200
those as an officer.
And I was just in disbelief.

1126
01:03:34,760 --> 01:03:38,400
So I showed up Monday and he put
in writing that I was in

1127
01:03:38,400 --> 01:03:43,800
violation of Army's equal
opportunity policy for for my

1128
01:03:43,800 --> 01:03:51,040
statements of conscience about
sexuality and not and my plan of

1129
01:03:51,040 --> 01:03:55,720
action included.
Now that I know that you're a

1130
01:03:55,720 --> 01:04:01,120
Christian, I'm going to make you
the lead on all things related

1131
01:04:01,120 --> 01:04:05,160
to transgender policy and
communication for the command

1132
01:04:06,040 --> 01:04:19,200
because I know you're Christian.
I'll, I'll tell you what, one of

1133
01:04:19,200 --> 01:04:24,320
the reasons this this show has
the name it it does is because I

1134
01:04:24,320 --> 01:04:28,120
don't affiliate much with the
LDS church anymore, right?

1135
01:04:28,120 --> 01:04:35,040
I'm kind of off doing my own
thing and this was a big reason

1136
01:04:35,040 --> 01:04:38,200
why.
And I think that this point that

1137
01:04:38,200 --> 01:04:43,920
you make here is so important
for people to understand because

1138
01:04:44,080 --> 01:04:47,000
this doesn't just affect the
military, this effects

1139
01:04:47,320 --> 01:04:51,560
education.
It affects your your, your other

1140
01:04:51,560 --> 01:04:53,600
government jobs that are non
military.

1141
01:04:53,600 --> 01:04:58,720
It affects big corporations.
And that is this.

1142
01:04:59,600 --> 01:05:04,800
There are people who who
struggle with same sex

1143
01:05:04,800 --> 01:05:07,280
attraction, who struggle with
gender dysmorphia.

1144
01:05:08,800 --> 01:05:11,640
I pray for them.
I, I hope they get the help that

1145
01:05:11,640 --> 01:05:16,280
they need.
But make no mistake about it,

1146
01:05:16,280 --> 01:05:21,080
there is, there is a leadership
to that movement.

1147
01:05:22,440 --> 01:05:26,640
And what they tell you is they
just want tolerance.

1148
01:05:27,920 --> 01:05:29,960
But that's not what they
request.

1149
01:05:31,080 --> 01:05:33,040
What they request.
And I think this is what you

1150
01:05:33,040 --> 01:05:35,160
found.
They want submission.

1151
01:05:36,080 --> 01:05:41,640
Bow the knee.
It's not just tolerate us, but

1152
01:05:41,640 --> 01:05:46,560
endorse our way of life.
And it's very important that we

1153
01:05:46,560 --> 01:05:51,200
understand early what the end
goal is.

1154
01:05:51,240 --> 01:05:55,920
The end goal isn't tolerance.
The end goal is endorsement by

1155
01:05:55,920 --> 01:05:59,760
your critics.
And that will come in a

1156
01:05:59,760 --> 01:06:03,640
multitude of ways, right?
Yours is 1.

1157
01:06:03,920 --> 01:06:07,880
The other is being cancelled.
The other is, is being, you

1158
01:06:07,880 --> 01:06:09,680
know, having the names thrown at
you.

1159
01:06:09,800 --> 01:06:14,000
All those things.
You want to play the game, you

1160
01:06:14,000 --> 01:06:15,920
want to win the game.
The only way you win the game is

1161
01:06:15,920 --> 01:06:20,040
you don't play it right.
You just say this is the line.

1162
01:06:20,040 --> 01:06:25,200
I am not going to sit here and
tell you that your lifestyle is

1163
01:06:25,200 --> 01:06:27,960
acceptable from a script
scriptural point of view.

1164
01:06:28,160 --> 01:06:31,920
It's not.
And then hold to that and and

1165
01:06:33,440 --> 01:06:38,760
and do that peacefully, but do
that to vigorously and with some

1166
01:06:38,760 --> 01:06:43,760
gusto because the whole plan is
designed where if you give an

1167
01:06:43,760 --> 01:06:48,840
inch, they got you for a mile
and and you have to be firm

1168
01:06:48,840 --> 01:06:50,720
there.
So would you end up doing in

1169
01:06:50,720 --> 01:06:54,480
that?
Well, it was kind of interesting

1170
01:06:54,480 --> 01:06:58,080
what happened it it fizzled out.
And I want to tag on something

1171
01:06:58,080 --> 01:06:59,960
you just said.
It's not that they request that

1172
01:06:59,960 --> 01:07:03,720
you bend to the knee.
It's they demand that you bend

1173
01:07:03,720 --> 01:07:06,720
to the knee.
They demand it and he was

1174
01:07:06,720 --> 01:07:10,360
demanding it in that moment.
So as it so happened, I already

1175
01:07:10,360 --> 01:07:14,440
had some leave vacation days
that were already planned, that

1176
01:07:14,440 --> 01:07:18,120
were already approved that I was
going to be taking off for the

1177
01:07:18,120 --> 01:07:21,360
next week and 1/2 or so.
And then golly, it was just, it

1178
01:07:21,360 --> 01:07:25,480
was perfect timing.
And what, what, what better time

1179
01:07:25,480 --> 01:07:29,120
to just get away and to be away
from someone who is displaying

1180
01:07:29,120 --> 01:07:31,400
such openly hostility towards
me.

1181
01:07:31,400 --> 01:07:33,680
I mean, how do you, how do you
work in that, right?

1182
01:07:33,720 --> 01:07:37,160
Someone who says now, because I
know you have conviction, I'm

1183
01:07:37,160 --> 01:07:42,920
going to go out of my way to
overrule you and to subdue you

1184
01:07:43,160 --> 01:07:47,360
and to and to not and then to
rub it in your face.

1185
01:07:48,240 --> 01:07:53,880
And so I did go and speak to the
chaplain and gave, gave him a

1186
01:07:53,880 --> 01:07:56,800
heads up of what was going on.
I said, I'm please do not go

1187
01:07:56,800 --> 01:07:59,400
talk to my boss.
I'm thinking through, I'm

1188
01:07:59,400 --> 01:08:03,360
praying through how to handle
this respectfully, responsibly,

1189
01:08:04,160 --> 01:08:07,960
but you need to know, you need
to know this is going on in

1190
01:08:07,960 --> 01:08:10,200
your, in your headquarters, in
your building.

1191
01:08:10,200 --> 01:08:13,760
And I was really disappointed
because the Chapel elected me

1192
01:08:13,760 --> 01:08:16,840
and was kind of like, well, what
do you want me to do about it?

1193
01:08:16,840 --> 01:08:20,560
And I thought, I'm not asking
you to do anything, but that

1194
01:08:20,560 --> 01:08:22,520
shouldn't be your, your question
to me.

1195
01:08:22,520 --> 01:08:25,640
Your, it should be.
We've got a major problem here.

1196
01:08:25,640 --> 01:08:28,680
And I need to make sure
leadership is tracking what

1197
01:08:28,680 --> 01:08:33,120
people's rights are.
So the chaplain Corps was really

1198
01:08:33,120 --> 01:08:35,960
caught flat footed on this.
They had received no guidance on

1199
01:08:35,960 --> 01:08:37,800
this at all.
I said, well, Sir, like you need

1200
01:08:37,800 --> 01:08:40,040
to reach out to the chaplains in
because I promise you it's

1201
01:08:40,040 --> 01:08:41,960
coming.
If it's coming for me, it's

1202
01:08:41,960 --> 01:08:44,600
coming for someone else too.
I can, I can promise you that.

1203
01:08:45,359 --> 01:08:48,080
So I, I took a few days off
while I was gone.

1204
01:08:48,600 --> 01:08:51,240
I spoke to a couple of attorneys
who specialize in religious

1205
01:08:51,240 --> 01:08:55,640
liberty and they were just,
they, they reaffirmed that I'd

1206
01:08:55,640 --> 01:08:59,000
done everything properly.
They reaffirmed the law was and

1207
01:08:59,000 --> 01:09:03,880
military regulation also was on
my side and that if my boss

1208
01:09:03,960 --> 01:09:07,960
intended to continue pushing
this, that they would be happy

1209
01:09:07,960 --> 01:09:12,439
to get involved and to represent
me and to whatever level would

1210
01:09:12,439 --> 01:09:14,760
be necessary.
And so I took some great comfort

1211
01:09:14,760 --> 01:09:17,880
in that.
I have no idea what happened

1212
01:09:17,880 --> 01:09:20,120
while I was gone.
I have a theory and I'll and

1213
01:09:20,120 --> 01:09:21,760
I'll tell you, here's what my
theory is.

1214
01:09:22,560 --> 01:09:26,279
My theory is that while I was
gone, my boss took that

1215
01:09:26,279 --> 01:09:29,479
paperwork because he gave me not
just one, but two counseling

1216
01:09:29,479 --> 01:09:32,920
forms that day.
And what and what and what he

1217
01:09:32,920 --> 01:09:34,840
was trying to do was he was
trying to build a packet.

1218
01:09:34,840 --> 01:09:37,800
Because if you need to get to a
point of taking an actual

1219
01:09:37,800 --> 01:09:41,920
punitive action against someone,
especially a field grade

1220
01:09:41,920 --> 01:09:45,240
officer, a senior major, as I
was at that point in time, you,

1221
01:09:45,279 --> 01:09:49,399
you, you have to go to the
commander with a packet on that

1222
01:09:49,399 --> 01:09:54,480
individual demonstrating a
pattern of, of disobedience and,

1223
01:09:54,480 --> 01:09:58,600
and an officer like behavior in
order to get the commander to do

1224
01:09:58,600 --> 01:10:02,600
some, to issue a punitive kind
of action on it.

1225
01:10:02,600 --> 01:10:03,880
So he was trying to build a
packet.

1226
01:10:04,320 --> 01:10:08,280
I suspect, and I'll never know
because this officer is now

1227
01:10:08,280 --> 01:10:13,480
deceased, but I suspect what
happened was that as I was

1228
01:10:13,480 --> 01:10:17,200
seeking legal counsel, he was
probably also, I'm guessing

1229
01:10:17,720 --> 01:10:21,960
something happened like this,
that he probably went to the

1230
01:10:21,960 --> 01:10:27,000
legal office on base with the
paperwork in hand with an idea

1231
01:10:27,000 --> 01:10:29,520
of he is going to go talk to
lawyers about how they work

1232
01:10:29,520 --> 01:10:32,040
together to get this problematic
major.

1233
01:10:32,720 --> 01:10:37,720
And I suspect the attorneys that
he talked to said you might want

1234
01:10:37,720 --> 01:10:41,520
to be careful because the law is
on his side and and he can make

1235
01:10:41,520 --> 01:10:45,560
this much more painful for you
than you can make it for him as.

1236
01:10:45,800 --> 01:10:48,240
And I'll never know.
That's my theory of what

1237
01:10:48,240 --> 01:10:49,640
happened.
Because I can tell you when I

1238
01:10:49,640 --> 01:10:53,880
came back from my few days of
leave, he never said another

1239
01:10:53,880 --> 01:10:56,080
word about it.
And he acted like we were

1240
01:10:56,080 --> 01:10:59,040
friends and like nothing had
ever happened.

1241
01:10:59,840 --> 01:11:05,880
And, and so he, he had a
significant change of heart and

1242
01:11:05,880 --> 01:11:08,880
never spoke about that topic to
me again.

1243
01:11:08,880 --> 01:11:11,680
So I suspect something got to
him.

1244
01:11:11,680 --> 01:11:14,720
I, I did go to the chaplain
afterward and I said, hey, I

1245
01:11:14,720 --> 01:11:16,280
asked you not to say anything to
him.

1246
01:11:16,280 --> 01:11:18,440
Did you say anything to him?
He said, Chase, I never brought

1247
01:11:18,440 --> 01:11:21,680
it up.
I said well, he's he's had a

1248
01:11:21,680 --> 01:11:23,760
river.
He is not talking about this to

1249
01:11:23,760 --> 01:11:25,560
me at all.
And he's acting like nothing

1250
01:11:25,560 --> 01:11:27,040
ever happened, like we're
friends now.

1251
01:11:27,040 --> 01:11:29,080
And he's like, well, it wasn't
me so I'm guessing it was a

1252
01:11:29,080 --> 01:11:31,200
lawyer.
Gotcha.

1253
01:11:31,400 --> 01:11:35,000
No, it makes sense.
That's rough.

1254
01:11:35,560 --> 01:11:38,600
So you mentioned COVID was bad
in the military.

1255
01:11:40,040 --> 01:11:47,720
What'd you see there?
That was that was unforgivable,

1256
01:11:47,800 --> 01:11:53,040
Dave, just yesterday and we're
recording this in in February.

1257
01:11:53,080 --> 01:11:58,320
Just yesterday an old friend of
mine sent me a text and said,

1258
01:11:58,320 --> 01:12:02,160
Hey, Chase, I'm, I'm, I'm
probably going to be forced into

1259
01:12:02,160 --> 01:12:05,720
the process of a medical
evaluation board, which will

1260
01:12:06,040 --> 01:12:10,640
force me to leave the army under
a medical condition because I

1261
01:12:10,640 --> 01:12:21,840
now have AI now have a condition
related to the shot, right.

1262
01:12:22,400 --> 01:12:25,160
And he will carry that for the
rest of his life.

1263
01:12:27,120 --> 01:12:32,640
So COVID happens and one of the
military specialties is over

1264
01:12:32,640 --> 01:12:35,320
reacting to things.
And boy, did they especially on

1265
01:12:35,320 --> 01:12:36,960
Fort Leavenworth, did they ever
react.

1266
01:12:36,960 --> 01:12:40,760
And the, and the Department of
Defense as a whole overreacted.

1267
01:12:40,760 --> 01:12:44,600
It really did.
I mean, they just, we, we talked

1268
01:12:44,600 --> 01:12:48,240
earlier about how, how difficult
it, how the institution has

1269
01:12:48,240 --> 01:12:50,640
inertia.
And so we're like a full year

1270
01:12:50,640 --> 01:12:55,680
into Trump 2 point O and, and
the Pentagon is still very, very

1271
01:12:55,680 --> 01:12:59,320
wayward because it has such
inertia, man, when it came to

1272
01:12:59,320 --> 01:13:03,120
COVID, man, we went to telework
overnight.

1273
01:13:03,120 --> 01:13:06,520
And I and I thought the, the
military organization that

1274
01:13:06,520 --> 01:13:08,200
telework would never, ever be
possible.

1275
01:13:08,200 --> 01:13:12,240
Man, they figured that out in a
matter of days for the entire

1276
01:13:12,680 --> 01:13:14,520
force.
I mean, overnight, we weren't

1277
01:13:14,520 --> 01:13:16,440
getting haircuts anymore.
And you want to talk about a

1278
01:13:16,440 --> 01:13:19,520
sacred cow haircuts and
organized PT like every night,

1279
01:13:19,520 --> 01:13:21,600
all that stuff went away.
It didn't matter anymore.

1280
01:13:22,000 --> 01:13:24,120
And so when the, when the
military wants to pivot on

1281
01:13:24,120 --> 01:13:27,160
something, oh, it can pivot.
It can.

1282
01:13:28,160 --> 01:13:32,400
And how it started out for me
was I was actually in a class

1283
01:13:32,720 --> 01:13:36,320
when, when this all, when it all
went down that, hey, this is a

1284
01:13:36,320 --> 01:13:38,680
serious thing or was perceived
to be a serious thing.

1285
01:13:39,280 --> 01:13:42,720
So I, I go back the class in
just like a week or two long

1286
01:13:42,720 --> 01:13:44,720
class, I've been out of the
office and I should back up to

1287
01:13:44,720 --> 01:13:48,520
my office and it's empty.
There's like only, there's no

1288
01:13:48,520 --> 01:13:51,080
one else on my floor, the entire
floor of the building.

1289
01:13:51,240 --> 01:13:54,160
We're up on the 3rd floor.
Now I'm walking around trying to

1290
01:13:54,160 --> 01:13:56,720
figure out like where in the
world is everybody is?

1291
01:13:57,160 --> 01:14:00,160
Is there a big ceremony
somewhere that I'm supposed to

1292
01:14:00,160 --> 01:14:02,480
be at?
Is there an organizational day

1293
01:14:02,480 --> 01:14:04,800
someone didn't tell me about?
And now I'm not where I'm

1294
01:14:04,800 --> 01:14:07,640
supposed to be.
So I'm kind of starting to get

1295
01:14:07,640 --> 01:14:09,280
stressed.
I'm, I pull up my emails.

1296
01:14:09,280 --> 01:14:13,080
I don't see anything about, hey,
we, we're at this thing that I,

1297
01:14:13,440 --> 01:14:15,240
there's nothing.
And I'm like, where in the world

1298
01:14:15,240 --> 01:14:17,880
is everybody?
And I finally found one other

1299
01:14:17,880 --> 01:14:23,400
guy on the floor and, and I was
like, Hey, where is everybody?

1300
01:14:23,560 --> 01:14:26,160
What happened?
What event am I not at that I'm

1301
01:14:26,160 --> 01:14:28,560
supposed to be at?
And he's like, oh, Sir, you're

1302
01:14:28,560 --> 01:14:30,480
not supposed to be here.
You're not supposed to be here.

1303
01:14:30,480 --> 01:14:33,480
You're like, we're all, we're
all home now, like COVID blah,

1304
01:14:33,480 --> 01:14:36,000
blah.
We're like, get out of here.

1305
01:14:36,000 --> 01:14:39,080
You're not supposed to be here.
I'm, I'm leaving right now too.

1306
01:14:39,080 --> 01:14:41,240
I'm like, oh, OK.
So I called my boss and he's

1307
01:14:41,240 --> 01:14:42,600
like, yeah, just go home and
stand by.

1308
01:14:42,600 --> 01:14:45,400
So I went home and stood by and,
and it was weeks of being at

1309
01:14:45,400 --> 01:14:48,360
home.
And then they opened up on Fort

1310
01:14:48,360 --> 01:14:50,160
Leavenworth.
They opened up what we called

1311
01:14:50,160 --> 01:14:54,920
the emergency operations center,
which basically sat there all

1312
01:14:54,920 --> 01:14:58,520
day like a it was like a movie.
You know, where, where you, you

1313
01:14:58,520 --> 01:15:01,920
see the, the, the big board room
with the monitors over the front

1314
01:15:01,920 --> 01:15:05,480
of the room and supposed to be
this where battles are being

1315
01:15:05,480 --> 01:15:08,200
tracked.
There's a small, less sexy

1316
01:15:08,200 --> 01:15:09,560
version of that on Fort
Leavenworth.

1317
01:15:10,320 --> 01:15:13,840
And, and we're there in the
emergency operations center.

1318
01:15:13,840 --> 01:15:16,160
And I got tasked to be one of
the public affairs officers

1319
01:15:16,160 --> 01:15:18,360
there.
And it turned out to be a place

1320
01:15:18,360 --> 01:15:21,000
I just wrote a lot of papers for
school because I was starting my

1321
01:15:21,000 --> 01:15:23,680
PhD then because there was
really nothing to do.

1322
01:15:23,680 --> 01:15:25,600
And, and the commander would
come in twice a day and get

1323
01:15:25,600 --> 01:15:28,680
briefings on sort of the
commissary has meet today, Sir,

1324
01:15:28,680 --> 01:15:32,360
and such and such county is
reporting this number of cases

1325
01:15:32,360 --> 01:15:34,760
and blah, blah, blah.
It was such a waste of time.

1326
01:15:35,280 --> 01:15:37,840
And so Fort Lovelworth, let me
tell you some of the silly

1327
01:15:37,840 --> 01:15:41,720
things they did.
A, a respiratory virus that

1328
01:15:41,720 --> 01:15:45,400
spreads through air, right?
That's why we're told we all had

1329
01:15:45,400 --> 01:15:47,160
to wear these, these worthless
masks.

1330
01:15:47,760 --> 01:15:51,960
And what did they do?
We're told everyone has to stand

1331
01:15:51,960 --> 01:15:53,840
6 feet apart, you know, social
distancing.

1332
01:15:54,200 --> 01:15:58,680
What, what did they do?
They closed all down, all but

1333
01:15:58,680 --> 01:16:00,880
one of the gates on base for
COVID.

1334
01:16:00,880 --> 01:16:03,440
So now we're all funneling
through the same common gate,

1335
01:16:04,000 --> 01:16:07,280
all the major buildings, they
closed all but one entrance.

1336
01:16:07,440 --> 01:16:10,040
So now you're all funneling in
and out of the exact same

1337
01:16:10,040 --> 01:16:12,800
entrance.
To get on base, you have to show

1338
01:16:12,800 --> 01:16:15,720
your military ID card to get on
base.

1339
01:16:16,560 --> 01:16:19,200
So if you're on base, you
already have a military ID card.

1340
01:16:19,720 --> 01:16:23,680
Well, and during COVID, in order
to get into, we call it, we call

1341
01:16:23,680 --> 01:16:25,920
it a shop at it's basically this
gas station.

1342
01:16:26,160 --> 01:16:29,560
In order to get inside the gas
station, in order to get inside

1343
01:16:29,640 --> 01:16:33,200
the commissary, which is the
grocery store, in order to get

1344
01:16:33,200 --> 01:16:36,960
inside the PX, which is the
department store on base, you

1345
01:16:36,960 --> 01:16:41,440
would also have to show an ID
because I guess if you carry an

1346
01:16:41,440 --> 01:16:44,280
ID, you can't carry the
respiratory virus.

1347
01:16:45,000 --> 01:16:47,840
And, and it was just, it was
silly, silly stuff like that

1348
01:16:47,840 --> 01:16:53,000
just so officers could sit on
VTCS with their bosses and say,

1349
01:16:53,320 --> 01:16:55,720
we're doing something, Sir.
We're doing something, ma'am.

1350
01:16:55,720 --> 01:16:59,640
And it was just all so
performative and so artificial.

1351
01:17:01,240 --> 01:17:04,880
Silliness aside, let's let's
Fast forward to the shot

1352
01:17:04,880 --> 01:17:10,560
mandate.
So it was, it was 2021, the

1353
01:17:10,560 --> 01:17:14,760
so-called miracle shots come out
that miraculously we were told

1354
01:17:14,760 --> 01:17:18,040
would have no side side effects
at all.

1355
01:17:18,040 --> 01:17:21,160
Which is like there's side
effects to taking a Tylenol.

1356
01:17:22,880 --> 01:17:25,480
Just just just amazing how for
the first time in history

1357
01:17:25,480 --> 01:17:27,360
there'd be something with no
side effects.

1358
01:17:27,360 --> 01:17:31,680
It was as innocent as water and
we knew, we knew the military

1359
01:17:31,680 --> 01:17:33,880
love shots.
We knew for months this is going

1360
01:17:33,880 --> 01:17:36,640
to be coming down the Pike.
And and so I was praying about

1361
01:17:36,640 --> 01:17:38,280
it.
My wife and I were praying about

1362
01:17:38,280 --> 01:17:39,560
it.
I was seeking a lot of counsel

1363
01:17:39,560 --> 01:17:42,240
about it.
I'm not, I'm not at that point

1364
01:17:42,240 --> 01:17:44,040
in time, I was not an anti
vaxxer.

1365
01:17:44,040 --> 01:17:48,000
I'm I'm kind of kind of by
practice one now, not

1366
01:17:48,000 --> 01:17:51,640
necessarily philosophically, but
I, you know, you get done bad

1367
01:17:51,640 --> 01:17:55,160
enough, you get tired of being
done bad and just kind of fault

1368
01:17:55,160 --> 01:17:59,320
against all of it.
And so they mandated it.

1369
01:18:01,240 --> 01:18:04,080
And what I saw in the culture
was cruel.

1370
01:18:04,760 --> 01:18:07,400
It was cruel and unusual
punishment for having raised

1371
01:18:07,400 --> 01:18:10,080
your right hand to serve this
nation and the armed forces of

1372
01:18:10,080 --> 01:18:13,080
the United States.
We all know the military has

1373
01:18:13,080 --> 01:18:16,440
vaccination requirements.
I never, I never resisted

1374
01:18:16,440 --> 01:18:19,560
getting a flu shot.
And hindsight, I probably should

1375
01:18:19,560 --> 01:18:22,920
have, but I didn't.
I, I, if they said I was

1376
01:18:22,920 --> 01:18:25,560
supposed to have a shot, I, I
was like, cool.

1377
01:18:25,560 --> 01:18:30,160
Like, I just trusted the
institution needs me healthy so

1378
01:18:30,160 --> 01:18:33,880
they're not going to poison me.
I know naivete, right?

1379
01:18:34,920 --> 01:18:39,040
I, I wasn't because I placed
blind faith in the system, but I

1380
01:18:39,040 --> 01:18:43,480
did place some level of trust
that was, in hindsight, unearned

1381
01:18:43,480 --> 01:18:47,640
and unwarranted.
But if I missed a flu shot,

1382
01:18:47,640 --> 01:18:50,440
Dave, it wasn't the end of the
world.

1383
01:18:51,160 --> 01:18:53,240
I know a lot of people who just
didn't get their flu shots and

1384
01:18:53,240 --> 01:18:55,560
they would get put on the
tracker and they're kind of a

1385
01:18:55,560 --> 01:18:58,280
naughty boy or girl on the
tracker for the couple of months

1386
01:18:58,280 --> 01:18:59,640
of flu season.
And then guess what?

1387
01:18:59,640 --> 01:19:02,360
Flu season goes away and now it
kind of drops off being tracked

1388
01:19:02,360 --> 01:19:05,320
and no one pays attention.
Missing a flu shot did not end

1389
01:19:05,320 --> 01:19:09,120
your career.
For the entirety of my military

1390
01:19:09,120 --> 01:19:12,560
career, missing a so-called
vaccination did not end your

1391
01:19:12,560 --> 01:19:16,600
career.
It was just OK kind of smack on

1392
01:19:16,600 --> 01:19:18,240
the head go get it.
And if you didn't get it,

1393
01:19:18,360 --> 01:19:20,320
commanders had better things to
do than go through all the

1394
01:19:20,320 --> 01:19:22,360
paperwork to bring pinot of
action.

1395
01:19:22,360 --> 01:19:24,320
It was just it was just
something you might kind of get

1396
01:19:24,320 --> 01:19:28,360
a sideways glance about.
COVID was different.

1397
01:19:29,080 --> 01:19:32,440
COVID was different.
Once that shot mandate came out,

1398
01:19:32,800 --> 01:19:35,280
that thing was tracked above all
else.

1399
01:19:36,280 --> 01:19:41,040
It it, you know, failure PT
test, which is a hallmark of the

1400
01:19:41,040 --> 01:19:44,120
military being physically fit
that that wasn't the top part

1401
01:19:44,120 --> 01:19:46,360
anymore.
It was do you have your COVID

1402
01:19:46,360 --> 01:19:47,760
shot?
Do you have your COVID shot?

1403
01:19:47,800 --> 01:19:51,560
If you don't, why not?
Do you have an exemption in Do

1404
01:19:51,560 --> 01:19:54,360
you have a religious
accommodation request in Do you

1405
01:19:54,360 --> 01:19:57,280
have a medical request in which
is probably not going to get

1406
01:19:57,480 --> 01:20:00,400
approved anyways?
Before it was mandated, I went

1407
01:20:00,400 --> 01:20:02,760
to the hospital because I knew
it was going to be mandated.

1408
01:20:02,760 --> 01:20:05,760
I could see this coming and I
went and asked one of the

1409
01:20:05,760 --> 01:20:09,200
nurses.
I said, hey, I'm not usually

1410
01:20:09,200 --> 01:20:12,280
averse to shots, but I.
I have some concerns about

1411
01:20:12,280 --> 01:20:15,400
something that is being
developed so rapidly that it's

1412
01:20:15,400 --> 01:20:18,400
not being run through control
group testing and there's no

1413
01:20:18,400 --> 01:20:22,680
longevity research on it.
And so for the first time in my

1414
01:20:22,680 --> 01:20:26,040
life, I have some concerns about
a product that I think that I

1415
01:20:26,040 --> 01:20:28,800
think in the matter of months,
I'm going to be told I must, as

1416
01:20:28,800 --> 01:20:30,800
a, as a soldier put into my
body.

1417
01:20:31,400 --> 01:20:35,880
And I'm just want to ask you,
what is the process for people

1418
01:20:35,880 --> 01:20:38,800
like me who have concerns?
And my and the nurse was mad at

1419
01:20:38,800 --> 01:20:41,200
me.
It was like I was just a totally

1420
01:20:41,200 --> 01:20:42,960
wasting her time.
She's like, there will be no

1421
01:20:42,960 --> 01:20:45,000
accommodations.
You will get that shot when it's

1422
01:20:45,000 --> 01:20:46,880
required.
Everyone will get that shot when

1423
01:20:46,880 --> 01:20:49,840
it's required.
And it was cruel.

1424
01:20:49,840 --> 01:20:54,280
So we, my wife and I made the
agonizing decision and I got it.

1425
01:20:56,200 --> 01:21:00,560
We were at that point in time, I
believed it to be in a moral

1426
01:21:00,560 --> 01:21:03,000
order, but I didn't believe it
to be an unlawful order.

1427
01:21:03,000 --> 01:21:05,240
Now in hindsight, I know it was
an unlawful order.

1428
01:21:05,240 --> 01:21:07,640
The things I've learned since
that I did not know then.

1429
01:21:08,640 --> 01:21:12,000
But at that point in time, I was
already kind of in A2 front war

1430
01:21:12,000 --> 01:21:16,280
with the Army 11 with my boss
over the whole sexuality thing.

1431
01:21:18,280 --> 01:21:21,080
And he was just he was just
difficult to work with on on so

1432
01:21:21,080 --> 01:21:24,080
many other things.
Just a case study didn't and

1433
01:21:25,960 --> 01:21:30,120
failed leadership in every way.
I was already kind of in a war

1434
01:21:30,120 --> 01:21:32,800
with my career field as a public
affairs officer because I wrote

1435
01:21:32,800 --> 01:21:35,800
for publication and they did not
like that.

1436
01:21:35,840 --> 01:21:38,880
And I got a lot of a lot of
pressure about that.

1437
01:21:38,880 --> 01:21:40,480
But it's something I wasn't
going to give up.

1438
01:21:41,120 --> 01:21:44,040
And we were just like, you know
what, we're already in A2 front

1439
01:21:44,040 --> 01:21:46,560
war with the Army.
It's already not fun anymore.

1440
01:21:46,560 --> 01:21:49,120
It's already extraordinarily
stressful.

1441
01:21:49,120 --> 01:21:53,240
I mean, literally, it was, it
was the only, it was the first

1442
01:21:53,240 --> 01:21:55,440
time in years that every day
when I walked into the building,

1443
01:21:55,440 --> 01:21:58,160
I could literally feel my gut
turning because of the amount of

1444
01:21:58,160 --> 01:22:01,320
stress for, for what that man
would put me through on a daily

1445
01:22:01,320 --> 01:22:05,400
basis.
And so we decided I can't, we

1446
01:22:05,400 --> 01:22:08,400
just mentally cannot take a
three front war with the army.

1447
01:22:08,600 --> 01:22:12,240
And so I, I got it.
And I, that's a big, big

1448
01:22:12,240 --> 01:22:16,400
motivator for why I work so hard
to be in, in physical shape now

1449
01:22:16,440 --> 01:22:20,720
is just, I'm doing everything I
can to overcome whatever health

1450
01:22:20,720 --> 01:22:24,120
setbacks I'll have for having
taken that poison into my, into

1451
01:22:24,120 --> 01:22:28,040
my body.
But there were so many people.

1452
01:22:28,120 --> 01:22:32,760
I'm, I'm one of the lucky ones.
To my knowledge, I don't have

1453
01:22:32,760 --> 01:22:35,680
any, any lingering health
effects from it to my knowledge.

1454
01:22:36,160 --> 01:22:40,120
And I work really, really,
really hard to, to stay very

1455
01:22:40,120 --> 01:22:44,040
healthy and, and to make very
good lifestyle choices to do

1456
01:22:44,040 --> 01:22:47,480
everything I can.
But I know a lot of people who

1457
01:22:47,480 --> 01:22:50,080
have permanent conditions
because of this.

1458
01:22:50,280 --> 01:22:52,480
I know people who are suffering
because of this.

1459
01:22:52,800 --> 01:22:57,480
I know people who were kicked
out of the military and cruel

1460
01:22:58,160 --> 01:23:01,520
fashion for this in 2020.
That was that was what killed my

1461
01:23:01,520 --> 01:23:04,680
desire to continue serving
because here I am a military

1462
01:23:04,680 --> 01:23:08,760
spokesman.
My job is to, is to tell the

1463
01:23:08,760 --> 01:23:11,760
public how great the Army is.
My job is to be the face and the

1464
01:23:11,760 --> 01:23:16,600
voice and the writing and the,
the apologist for the army and

1465
01:23:16,600 --> 01:23:21,200
the commands that I'm in and to,
you know, shout, shout about

1466
01:23:21,200 --> 01:23:24,400
what a great institution it is.
And to repeat all the talking

1467
01:23:24,400 --> 01:23:27,400
points about how we, we take
care of our people.

1468
01:23:27,400 --> 01:23:31,760
That, I mean, 2020 was the year
under general convo where it was

1469
01:23:31,760 --> 01:23:33,720
supposed to be the people first
strategy.

1470
01:23:33,720 --> 01:23:36,160
And I was, I was like, OK, well,
that's kind of a gimmick.

1471
01:23:36,160 --> 01:23:39,720
But at least if, if they at
least give this 1/2 hearted try,

1472
01:23:39,720 --> 01:23:42,720
it'll be a good thing.
Well, they immediately ditched

1473
01:23:42,720 --> 01:23:46,400
it to start persecuting people
under COVID and all of a sudden

1474
01:23:46,400 --> 01:23:51,640
every night people who had
deployed to combat, who had

1475
01:23:51,960 --> 01:23:56,240
missed years worth of time with
with their spouses and children

1476
01:23:56,800 --> 01:24:02,040
because of trainings and
deployments, people who had

1477
01:24:02,040 --> 01:24:08,480
given so much of themselves, all
of a sudden it was they were

1478
01:24:08,480 --> 01:24:10,880
totally worthless.
If you don't get this one shot,

1479
01:24:10,920 --> 01:24:13,400
you're worthless.
You're unpatriotic.

1480
01:24:13,920 --> 01:24:18,880
Your, your integrity was
questioned openly on Fort

1481
01:24:18,880 --> 01:24:22,880
Leavenworth, where I was
stationed, even before the shot

1482
01:24:22,880 --> 01:24:26,920
was mandatory.
I say again, before the shot was

1483
01:24:26,920 --> 01:24:30,480
mandatory, if you didn't have
it, you had to walk around with

1484
01:24:30,480 --> 01:24:31,960
a mask on.
But if you had this shot, you

1485
01:24:31,960 --> 01:24:34,440
didn't have to wear a mask.
They marked you.

1486
01:24:35,840 --> 01:24:39,120
Fort Bragg.
There were there were certain

1487
01:24:39,120 --> 01:24:42,840
parts of the base that were open
to the so-called vaccinated and

1488
01:24:42,840 --> 01:24:45,320
closed to the so-called
unvaccinated.

1489
01:24:45,320 --> 01:24:49,240
There were some places that
actually made you wear a band on

1490
01:24:49,240 --> 01:24:51,000
your arm if you hadn't had this
shot.

1491
01:24:51,000 --> 01:24:53,520
What's that that that bring back
any historical well?

1492
01:24:53,600 --> 01:24:56,680
Eerily reminiscing to Germany in
World War 2, you know.

1493
01:24:57,200 --> 01:25:01,800
Yeah, I did a training exercise
out at Fort Riley, KS and this

1494
01:25:01,800 --> 01:25:05,080
is after I got the shot.
And so it didn't affect me

1495
01:25:05,320 --> 01:25:08,080
personally, but I'll never
forget it.

1496
01:25:08,680 --> 01:25:12,920
The commanding general out there
put out a a policy that if you

1497
01:25:12,920 --> 01:25:16,600
were a visiting military member,
and I was a visiting military

1498
01:25:16,600 --> 01:25:18,440
member for that training
exercise because I wasn't

1499
01:25:18,440 --> 01:25:20,640
assigned there, that.
But if you're a visiting

1500
01:25:20,640 --> 01:25:24,280
official and you don't have the
shot, you can't use any of the

1501
01:25:24,280 --> 01:25:27,400
base facilities.
You're restricted from the from

1502
01:25:27,400 --> 01:25:30,480
whatever place you're sleeping
at to whatever training location

1503
01:25:30,480 --> 01:25:32,160
you go to.
And you can't go anywhere else

1504
01:25:32,160 --> 01:25:34,720
on the base.
And I just thought that is the

1505
01:25:35,320 --> 01:25:43,480
dirtiest, most low scum, low
earth homunist thing an officer

1506
01:25:43,480 --> 01:25:46,200
of the United States sworn to
support and defend the

1507
01:25:46,200 --> 01:25:50,720
Constitution could do.
It was just.

1508
01:25:50,960 --> 01:25:54,000
And that was accepted.
That was accepted.

1509
01:25:54,000 --> 01:25:57,280
And I saw all the sudden were
allegedly a force for freedom

1510
01:25:58,080 --> 01:26:01,760
and we're not granting the most
basic freedom to our our

1511
01:26:01,760 --> 01:26:04,080
military members.
It's one thing to say, hey, the

1512
01:26:04,080 --> 01:26:08,120
policy came out and you, you
have a choice to make.

1513
01:26:08,120 --> 01:26:10,760
You either get the shot or your
career is going to be curtailed

1514
01:26:10,760 --> 01:26:15,000
and you can fight that legally.
It's another thing to be

1515
01:26:15,480 --> 01:26:19,960
personal about it, to be
vindictive about it, to be cruel

1516
01:26:19,960 --> 01:26:24,520
about it.
And writ large, with a with just

1517
01:26:24,520 --> 01:26:28,840
a handful of exceptions, that
was how it was across the

1518
01:26:28,840 --> 01:26:30,920
military.
And I've had many, many people

1519
01:26:30,920 --> 01:26:32,760
who are victims of it on my own
show.

1520
01:26:33,280 --> 01:26:37,680
And the stories that they tell,
I just may, I struggle not to

1521
01:26:37,960 --> 01:26:40,080
slam my fist on the table
sometimes.

1522
01:26:40,080 --> 01:26:45,040
It's cruel and unusual
punishment that the Department

1523
01:26:45,040 --> 01:26:49,720
of Defense made it out to
patriotic military members over

1524
01:26:49,720 --> 01:26:53,120
a shot that now we know actually
increased your likelihood of

1525
01:26:53,120 --> 01:26:55,160
getting sick.
My own.

1526
01:26:55,200 --> 01:26:58,200
Carditis, blood clots, the
whole, the whole, the whole

1527
01:26:58,200 --> 01:27:05,400
spectrum, right.
I look, I was working for I, I

1528
01:27:05,400 --> 01:27:08,600
live in Missouri now, down in
southwest Missouri.

1529
01:27:09,160 --> 01:27:13,040
But when COVID was happening, I
was living in Utah and I was

1530
01:27:13,040 --> 01:27:16,920
actually working for Salt Lake
County at the time.

1531
01:27:17,760 --> 01:27:21,640
And when COVID hit everybody,
you know, it was like one of

1532
01:27:21,640 --> 01:27:23,040
those things, everyone goes
home.

1533
01:27:23,040 --> 01:27:27,800
Except by state, state statute,
the office had to remain open.

1534
01:27:28,200 --> 01:27:29,800
So they were looking for
volunteers.

1535
01:27:29,800 --> 01:27:32,080
And there was like 3 people that
volunteered.

1536
01:27:33,200 --> 01:27:37,160
And because I was, had been
there a certain amount of time,

1537
01:27:37,160 --> 01:27:40,360
I already had, you know,
leadership experience through

1538
01:27:40,360 --> 01:27:42,200
other, other careers that I've
had.

1539
01:27:42,640 --> 01:27:45,160
They said, OK, you're, you're
going to kind of head things up.

1540
01:27:46,040 --> 01:27:50,360
And that forced me to have to go
to meetings every week with the

1541
01:27:50,360 --> 01:27:54,200
state health director.
And we get all these numbers now

1542
01:27:56,240 --> 01:27:59,040
I'm, I'm a, a land surveyor by
profession.

1543
01:27:59,720 --> 01:28:02,760
And so data and numbers are big
on what I do.

1544
01:28:03,280 --> 01:28:05,840
So I thought, OK, I'm just going
to, I'm just going to look at

1545
01:28:05,840 --> 01:28:07,880
this, at these numbers here,
right?

1546
01:28:07,880 --> 01:28:11,520
I'm just going to take a good
hard look at these numbers and I

1547
01:28:11,520 --> 01:28:16,960
start crunching the data and I'm
like, OK, so, and this is, this

1548
01:28:16,960 --> 01:28:20,720
is a month in now, right?
This is past the initial just

1549
01:28:20,720 --> 01:28:23,840
for two weeks, right, that we
were sold.

1550
01:28:25,600 --> 01:28:28,480
I start looking at the numbers
and I realize, gosh, the the

1551
01:28:28,480 --> 01:28:31,880
average age of death on this is
like 79, right?

1552
01:28:32,560 --> 01:28:36,320
And you start doing the math,
the average American male lives

1553
01:28:36,320 --> 01:28:40,600
to be like 7274, right?
And then you start looking at

1554
01:28:40,600 --> 01:28:42,760
the comorbidities that are going
along with it.

1555
01:28:43,240 --> 01:28:47,160
Even most old people are kicking
this and moving on.

1556
01:28:47,400 --> 01:28:50,800
Even most people with
comorbidities are kicking this

1557
01:28:50,800 --> 01:28:53,560
and moving on.
And I remember I was sitting in

1558
01:28:53,560 --> 01:28:57,520
a meeting with this woman and
she says, is there any questions

1559
01:28:57,520 --> 01:29:00,120
now?
I was just dumb enough to think

1560
01:29:00,120 --> 01:29:02,760
that oh, they, they really want
to know my opinion here or

1561
01:29:02,760 --> 01:29:05,520
questions on this.
And so I just kind of tell them

1562
01:29:05,520 --> 01:29:09,680
what I found, right?
So why don't we, we, we kind of

1563
01:29:09,680 --> 01:29:12,000
like do a soft lockdown, so to
speak, right?

1564
01:29:12,280 --> 01:29:14,760
If someone's immunocompromised,
keep them at home.

1565
01:29:15,360 --> 01:29:17,800
But if you're young and healthy,
let's get you back in the

1566
01:29:17,800 --> 01:29:21,160
office.
And dude, the chilling effect

1567
01:29:21,160 --> 01:29:24,040
that happened, that was the one
and only time I've ever worked

1568
01:29:24,040 --> 01:29:28,160
for government because of just
what you're talking about.

1569
01:29:28,800 --> 01:29:33,680
When, when there's a decision
that is made, you don't

1570
01:29:33,680 --> 01:29:35,920
necessarily have a choice
anymore, right?

1571
01:29:35,920 --> 01:29:39,880
Especially if you're working.
And it has to be doubly bad in

1572
01:29:39,880 --> 01:29:43,160
the military, right?
Because like, look, worst thing

1573
01:29:43,160 --> 01:29:45,000
that's going to happen to me is
I'm going to lose my job,

1574
01:29:45,200 --> 01:29:47,720
whatever.
I trust the private sector more

1575
01:29:47,720 --> 01:29:51,200
anyway.
But regardless that it's, it's

1576
01:29:51,200 --> 01:29:52,960
not a bad, it's it's not
horrible.

1577
01:29:52,960 --> 01:29:54,320
It's not the end of the world
for me.

1578
01:29:55,240 --> 01:29:58,280
You're in the military.
I mean, there's a plethora of

1579
01:29:58,280 --> 01:30:00,840
things they can do to you while
you're there.

1580
01:30:01,400 --> 01:30:05,080
So is it during COVID chase that
you finally get to the point to

1581
01:30:05,080 --> 01:30:07,200
where you're like, I'm done, I'm
retiring.

1582
01:30:07,360 --> 01:30:09,080
What's what takes you out of
there?

1583
01:30:09,080 --> 01:30:12,760
Because we, we got just about
you're, you're at a hard 2 hour

1584
01:30:12,760 --> 01:30:16,520
break and I'd like to get some
solutions before we we move on

1585
01:30:16,520 --> 01:30:19,000
here.
So real quick, what is it that

1586
01:30:19,000 --> 01:30:21,040
ultimately makes you decide you
know what, I'm out?

1587
01:30:21,040 --> 01:30:23,680
Or was it just a combination of
everything that you've just

1588
01:30:23,680 --> 01:30:27,080
talked about?
It was the military's response

1589
01:30:27,080 --> 01:30:29,560
to COVID.
When I saw that all the sudden

1590
01:30:29,560 --> 01:30:32,760
military members were being
treated so terribly that they

1591
01:30:32,760 --> 01:30:36,840
were having their their last
vestiges of American citizenship

1592
01:30:37,400 --> 01:30:41,000
taken away from them, their last
vestiges of rites taken away

1593
01:30:41,000 --> 01:30:44,000
from them, that that they were
being told them and their family

1594
01:30:44,000 --> 01:30:47,760
members, your service no longer
matters.

1595
01:30:48,240 --> 01:30:51,880
You are no longer an honorable
person because of this.

1596
01:30:52,280 --> 01:30:56,520
Really, Because you questioned
this rightfully, righteously.

1597
01:30:57,080 --> 01:30:59,600
That was the moment I realized I
can't be a spokesman for this

1598
01:30:59,600 --> 01:31:04,160
agency any longer.
And we, we as Christians do not

1599
01:31:04,160 --> 01:31:07,760
have the luxury of all of us
working for Christians.

1600
01:31:08,280 --> 01:31:13,120
And the Lord calls us to abide
where we are until he comes.

1601
01:31:13,600 --> 01:31:17,360
And you look through Scripture,
you know, men and women of God

1602
01:31:17,400 --> 01:31:20,360
served in places under some
pretty bad people.

1603
01:31:20,360 --> 01:31:22,800
Daniel served in
Nebuchadnezzar's court.

1604
01:31:23,280 --> 01:31:26,120
I'm sure that was not sure.
That was not the career path

1605
01:31:26,120 --> 01:31:28,680
that he decided that he wanted
to go on.

1606
01:31:28,680 --> 01:31:32,760
It's where the Lord took him.
But I, I just, I don't see in

1607
01:31:32,760 --> 01:31:35,240
scripture anywhere that we are
called to be the public

1608
01:31:35,240 --> 01:31:39,640
apologist and communication
strategist for Lucifer himself.

1609
01:31:40,280 --> 01:31:43,800
And so COVID was was it for me.
We had planned a 30 year

1610
01:31:43,800 --> 01:31:45,800
military career.
I had done a fellowship at

1611
01:31:45,800 --> 01:31:49,200
Georgetown.
I'd been a select for the Army's

1612
01:31:49,200 --> 01:31:51,840
command and General staff
college resident course, which

1613
01:31:51,840 --> 01:31:55,000
is also restricted to the top
half of majors.

1614
01:31:55,400 --> 01:31:59,720
I, I had good report cards.
It was it was pretty certain

1615
01:31:59,720 --> 01:32:03,800
that as long as I made maintain
my momentum in spite of the

1616
01:32:03,800 --> 01:32:07,200
number of senior P OS who didn't
like me, I would probably still

1617
01:32:07,200 --> 01:32:09,880
make Colonel.
And so my wife and I were had

1618
01:32:09,880 --> 01:32:11,720
committed to a 30 year career we
liked.

1619
01:32:11,760 --> 01:32:14,640
I liked soldiering it.
It wasn't perfect.

1620
01:32:14,640 --> 01:32:17,080
There were a lot of frustrating
days or a lot of frustrating

1621
01:32:17,080 --> 01:32:19,520
bosses, but there are a lot of
great days and a lot of great

1622
01:32:19,520 --> 01:32:22,400
bosses and, and there's some
parts of military, a lot that

1623
01:32:22,400 --> 01:32:24,080
are fun, like jumping out of
airplanes.

1624
01:32:24,520 --> 01:32:27,320
And so we, we were convinced
we're going to do a long term

1625
01:32:27,320 --> 01:32:29,040
career.
COVID killed it.

1626
01:32:29,320 --> 01:32:33,920
I realized I, I, I can't go out
and defend an institution that

1627
01:32:33,920 --> 01:32:38,120
is telling me I'm a bad person
because I questioned this, that

1628
01:32:38,120 --> 01:32:43,160
is looking at my colleagues and
treating them like filthy lepers

1629
01:32:43,600 --> 01:32:45,920
because they question this, not
because of misconduct, but

1630
01:32:45,920 --> 01:32:48,600
because they question.
Then add to that the whole thing

1631
01:32:48,600 --> 01:32:50,840
with my boss and the
transgenderism policy.

1632
01:32:50,840 --> 01:32:55,320
And again, I, I thought, they're
telling me in order to get

1633
01:32:55,320 --> 01:32:58,680
ahead, I have to completely give
up my rights of conscience.

1634
01:32:58,680 --> 01:33:01,240
I have to completely give up who
God called me to be.

1635
01:33:01,240 --> 01:33:05,600
And so that 2020 was the
breaking point for me.

1636
01:33:05,600 --> 01:33:09,120
And if I could have got out,
then I, I probably would have.

1637
01:33:09,280 --> 01:33:14,360
But we looked at it and we
thought, OK, we're 17 years.

1638
01:33:15,040 --> 01:33:17,760
I've worked really, really,
really hard to get to this

1639
01:33:17,760 --> 01:33:20,360
point.
If we can hang on for if we can

1640
01:33:20,360 --> 01:33:23,480
hang on for these three more, we
will.

1641
01:33:23,480 --> 01:33:28,400
And so we kind of hung on for
dear life, But, but we'd given

1642
01:33:28,400 --> 01:33:30,360
up.
We'd given up on the idea of

1643
01:33:30,360 --> 01:33:32,760
doing a longer term career.
Now I kept that to myself for a

1644
01:33:32,760 --> 01:33:35,160
long time because I didn't want
to kind of get put off to the

1645
01:33:35,160 --> 01:33:39,120
side of the total, you know,
just handing out cows at the gym

1646
01:33:39,120 --> 01:33:41,920
job.
We didn't make it known that I

1647
01:33:41,920 --> 01:33:44,520
was getting out until the year
before when I could actually

1648
01:33:44,520 --> 01:33:47,520
drop the paperwork.
But we had decided internally as

1649
01:33:47,520 --> 01:33:52,040
a family, 2020 has just killed
it and we will get out in 2023,

1650
01:33:52,040 --> 01:33:55,280
which isn't my, which isn't my
20 year mark so that we don't

1651
01:33:55,280 --> 01:33:57,000
have to walk away from
everything.

1652
01:33:57,000 --> 01:34:01,200
So in the military, you know, if
you, if you work for 17 years at

1653
01:34:01,200 --> 01:34:03,920
that point in time, there was,
it wasn't like I'd been able to

1654
01:34:03,920 --> 01:34:07,120
put in an IRA.
You're like your military

1655
01:34:07,120 --> 01:34:10,720
retirement or bust.
And they've changed the system

1656
01:34:10,720 --> 01:34:14,120
since then.
But the system I was under, it

1657
01:34:14,120 --> 01:34:17,200
was all or nothing.
And so 2020 killed it.

1658
01:34:17,720 --> 01:34:22,080
We hung on for three more years,
but but we knew at that point in

1659
01:34:22,080 --> 01:34:25,440
time we were going to begin
preparing for a new adventure

1660
01:34:25,440 --> 01:34:27,600
and and try to start laying in
the groundwork for what I'm

1661
01:34:27,600 --> 01:34:30,160
doing now.
Fantastic.

1662
01:34:30,560 --> 01:34:34,720
So let's talk about that, right?
You, you, as I was looking

1663
01:34:34,720 --> 01:34:38,000
through some of your, your stuff
here a little bit, but one thing

1664
01:34:38,000 --> 01:34:41,200
it looks like you're you're big
on is, is constitutional

1665
01:34:41,200 --> 01:34:44,920
training for military reform.
How are you going about that?

1666
01:34:46,720 --> 01:34:50,760
Well, I'm arguing and I'm
writing and I'm talking to my

1667
01:34:50,760 --> 01:34:54,120
congressman about that.
To anyone who will listen, this

1668
01:34:54,120 --> 01:34:56,120
is a very simple thing to get
done.

1669
01:34:56,760 --> 01:35:01,200
Every branch of the military has
required annual trainings that

1670
01:35:01,360 --> 01:35:04,400
every military member, and I
mean every single uniform member

1671
01:35:04,400 --> 01:35:07,200
is required by regulation to to
complete.

1672
01:35:07,200 --> 01:35:12,200
And in the Army, we, we call the
350-1 task list and it's, you

1673
01:35:12,200 --> 01:35:15,360
know, I could 20 ish, I forget
the exact number, but we'll say

1674
01:35:15,360 --> 01:35:17,280
it's 20 ish.
Things like you have to have

1675
01:35:17,280 --> 01:35:19,360
your annual physical fitness
test.

1676
01:35:19,360 --> 01:35:22,840
You, you have to, you're
supposed to qualify on a weapon.

1677
01:35:23,320 --> 01:35:27,480
You have to take the annual
online anti terrorism brief

1678
01:35:27,480 --> 01:35:29,800
training and so on and so on and
so forth.

1679
01:35:29,800 --> 01:35:31,800
Like these are the, and these
things are all tracked very

1680
01:35:31,800 --> 01:35:33,120
closely.
And if you fall out of

1681
01:35:33,120 --> 01:35:38,160
compliance, you, you do get, it
is brought up in command

1682
01:35:38,160 --> 01:35:41,480
briefings and there's the chart
and next to your name is a red

1683
01:35:41,480 --> 01:35:44,320
dot, right?
And no one wants to have that.

1684
01:35:44,360 --> 01:35:48,440
And so you're very highly
encouraged to self track that

1685
01:35:48,440 --> 01:35:50,560
stuff so you don't fall out of
compliance on it.

1686
01:35:52,000 --> 01:35:56,200
There's no reason, and I mean,
there is no reason at all why

1687
01:35:56,200 --> 01:35:59,480
there is not a similar
requirement added in that says

1688
01:35:59,480 --> 01:36:02,920
you have to do an annual
constitutional refresher and it

1689
01:36:02,920 --> 01:36:04,400
and it doesn't have to be
arduous.

1690
01:36:04,400 --> 01:36:08,240
It doesn't have to be in depth,
but it needs to be something.

1691
01:36:08,440 --> 01:36:11,920
Now, in my ideal world, you'd
have like Hillsdale College

1692
01:36:11,920 --> 01:36:15,200
quality level people going
around the military training it

1693
01:36:15,200 --> 01:36:17,960
every year to make sure it's
done, done right, done well.

1694
01:36:17,960 --> 01:36:20,240
And it's not just some online
thing that people just check

1695
01:36:20,240 --> 01:36:22,600
the, you know, check the video
and then walk away and get

1696
01:36:22,600 --> 01:36:27,480
coffee.
But if the military wanted to

1697
01:36:27,520 --> 01:36:31,120
want to save money, there are
there are several online courses

1698
01:36:31,120 --> 01:36:33,760
right now.
Hillsdale offers them there.

1699
01:36:33,960 --> 01:36:36,840
I, I when I wrote in my piece
for the case for constitutional

1700
01:36:36,840 --> 01:36:39,040
training in military, there are
three or four different places.

1701
01:36:39,040 --> 01:36:42,320
I even listed the ACLU and the
ACLU and I don't have run much

1702
01:36:42,320 --> 01:36:45,240
more than the sky is blue.
Wow, I wouldn't have went there,

1703
01:36:45,240 --> 01:36:48,080
but yeah, that's one way to go.
All right, but even they have a

1704
01:36:48,280 --> 01:36:49,880
even they have a constitutional
training.

1705
01:36:49,880 --> 01:36:52,800
Now I probably it's not the one
I'd probably recommend, but you

1706
01:36:52,800 --> 01:36:55,360
know, I didn't want someone to
make the counter argument.

1707
01:36:55,360 --> 01:36:58,080
Well, he's only showing
conservative points of view now

1708
01:36:58,400 --> 01:37:01,240
constitute the Constitution is
necessarily conservative.

1709
01:37:01,240 --> 01:37:05,320
That's one of the topic.
But that should be a required

1710
01:37:05,320 --> 01:37:07,840
annual training.
It should be a required training

1711
01:37:07,840 --> 01:37:11,200
block, like a full day.
And every basic training class,

1712
01:37:11,760 --> 01:37:14,520
every commissioning officer
class should get minimum,

1713
01:37:14,520 --> 01:37:18,800
minimum of a solid week of
American history and

1714
01:37:18,800 --> 01:37:22,040
constitutional coursework, every
single one of them.

1715
01:37:22,040 --> 01:37:25,720
And, and again, that now that
that needs to be closely

1716
01:37:25,720 --> 01:37:28,560
guarded, closely supervised to
make sure that you don't have

1717
01:37:28,560 --> 01:37:33,120
radicals coming in, you know,
you don't have, you know, and

1718
01:37:33,120 --> 01:37:36,640
cared weirdos who would, you
know, get along well at Harvard

1719
01:37:36,640 --> 01:37:39,000
University showing up saying the
Constitution's a living

1720
01:37:39,000 --> 01:37:41,000
document.
That means everyone has rights

1721
01:37:41,000 --> 01:37:43,920
except Christians, right?
We need, we need quality control

1722
01:37:43,920 --> 01:37:46,000
on it.
But there should be legitimate,

1723
01:37:46,440 --> 01:37:49,960
truthful constitutional training
required for every entering

1724
01:37:49,960 --> 01:37:51,360
military member.
And there should be a

1725
01:37:51,360 --> 01:37:54,760
maintenance refresher required
every year to remind people,

1726
01:37:55,160 --> 01:37:59,000
this is what you signed your
life on the dotted line for.

1727
01:37:59,000 --> 01:38:02,600
This is what you swore to.
This is what it actually means

1728
01:38:03,200 --> 01:38:06,040
and this is what your oath means
that you're supposed to carry

1729
01:38:06,040 --> 01:38:07,520
out.
It can be done.

1730
01:38:07,520 --> 01:38:11,400
It would not be difficult.
It's not a lack of ability to do

1731
01:38:11,400 --> 01:38:13,320
it.
The military trains people on

1732
01:38:13,320 --> 01:38:16,280
how to run nuclear reactors, for
crying out loud.

1733
01:38:16,960 --> 01:38:20,200
We, we can solve this problem.
It's just a lack of willingness

1734
01:38:20,200 --> 01:38:22,440
to do it.
And I, I had a conversation.

1735
01:38:22,440 --> 01:38:25,200
I will not name the person at
the person's listening.

1736
01:38:25,200 --> 01:38:30,600
You know who you are.
Let's just say it is a very,

1737
01:38:30,600 --> 01:38:36,920
very high placed member in the
Pentagon who has the power to

1738
01:38:36,920 --> 01:38:40,240
make this happen for a sizable
section of the force.

1739
01:38:41,240 --> 01:38:45,160
And he and I talked about this
and I was told, yeah, just let

1740
01:38:45,160 --> 01:38:46,520
me get through Senate
confirmation.

1741
01:38:46,520 --> 01:38:48,040
And this is part of what I'm
going to do.

1742
01:38:48,400 --> 01:38:51,960
And the individual got through
Senate confirmation and is in

1743
01:38:51,960 --> 01:38:53,920
that role.
And that's the last I've heard

1744
01:38:53,920 --> 01:38:55,720
of that.
It can be done.

1745
01:38:55,720 --> 01:38:57,760
It's a lack of willingness to
get after it.

1746
01:38:57,760 --> 01:39:00,720
And there's no excuse.
There's no excuse at all.

1747
01:39:00,720 --> 01:39:05,320
We have to do this.
Yeah, Chase, I'll, I'll level

1748
01:39:05,320 --> 01:39:11,080
with you on on, on that.
I'm not hopeful.

1749
01:39:11,960 --> 01:39:15,400
And and that doesn't mean we
shouldn't still try, right?

1750
01:39:15,720 --> 01:39:20,520
I do think we should try, but I
do think that that the

1751
01:39:20,520 --> 01:39:24,280
government is by and large
captured at this point, right?

1752
01:39:24,800 --> 01:39:27,400
I'm not going to sit here and
try to pretend I know who it is

1753
01:39:27,400 --> 01:39:31,320
or anything else or how it
works, but it's pretty apparent

1754
01:39:31,800 --> 01:39:35,120
at this point that we at least
have a 2 tier justice system.

1755
01:39:35,440 --> 01:39:45,280
We have we have some issues.
This has been 100 year plan that

1756
01:39:45,280 --> 01:39:47,480
has been in the making for quite
some time.

1757
01:39:48,000 --> 01:39:51,600
If we go back to the early
Progressive Era, right, The

1758
01:39:51,600 --> 01:39:53,840
reason they were called
progressives and this ties in

1759
01:39:53,840 --> 01:39:56,160
with Fabian socialism, the whole
ball of wax.

1760
01:39:56,640 --> 01:40:00,280
It was this idea that rather
than have a bloody revolution

1761
01:40:00,280 --> 01:40:03,960
that that Bolsheviks would have
would have been OK with, we'll

1762
01:40:03,960 --> 01:40:07,800
do this in increments.
And it really starts, some say

1763
01:40:07,800 --> 01:40:09,760
Woodrow Wilson.
I think it actually starts with

1764
01:40:09,760 --> 01:40:12,080
Teddy Roosevelt.
I think you can see those

1765
01:40:12,080 --> 01:40:20,080
leaning start even even there.
And my my contention is, is that

1766
01:40:20,080 --> 01:40:23,760
while Trump, I don't believe was
a savior of the Republic, he did

1767
01:40:23,760 --> 01:40:26,240
scare the establishment to
death.

1768
01:40:27,320 --> 01:40:30,680
And what we're seeing now is an
overreaction, right?

1769
01:40:30,680 --> 01:40:35,880
Because they're so close and
they can't let this go, right?

1770
01:40:35,880 --> 01:40:42,320
They put in too much work that
that, quite frankly, it has

1771
01:40:42,320 --> 01:40:45,440
permeated every part of our our
culture, right?

1772
01:40:46,640 --> 01:40:52,040
Just as an example, again, I am
a nerd when it comes to the

1773
01:40:52,040 --> 01:40:54,680
founding period of America.
A nerd.

1774
01:40:55,120 --> 01:41:00,360
I eat that stuff up like my 30th
wedding anniversary, My wife's

1775
01:41:00,360 --> 01:41:03,840
like, where do we want to go?
I'm like Philly baby, because I

1776
01:41:03,840 --> 01:41:06,960
want to go look at Independence
Hall yet again, right?

1777
01:41:08,600 --> 01:41:14,360
And so the idea is, is if you
can progress past the founders,

1778
01:41:15,040 --> 01:41:17,560
you can progress past those
founding documents.

1779
01:41:17,920 --> 01:41:20,480
But the only way you're going to
do that is by not teaching

1780
01:41:20,480 --> 01:41:22,680
accurate history or not teaching
history at all.

1781
01:41:23,440 --> 01:41:26,400
And part of that history is
civics, right?

1782
01:41:26,400 --> 01:41:30,520
That is the key.
That is how the system works.

1783
01:41:31,240 --> 01:41:34,280
And I don't think it's by
accident that that has been left

1784
01:41:34,280 --> 01:41:38,280
out by and large for the better
part of 50 years now, right?

1785
01:41:38,400 --> 01:41:41,080
If you talk to your dad, I'll
bet you he remembers taking a

1786
01:41:41,080 --> 01:41:43,360
civics course in high school,
right?

1787
01:41:43,880 --> 01:41:46,760
I could tell you all the way
through my high school

1788
01:41:46,760 --> 01:41:48,720
experience, civics wasn't
taught.

1789
01:41:49,560 --> 01:41:53,960
And this culminated for me,
really crystallized when we were

1790
01:41:53,960 --> 01:41:56,920
living in Utah.
And look, Utah isn't exactly

1791
01:41:56,920 --> 01:42:00,280
known or hadn't been known up to
that point as a bastion of

1792
01:42:00,280 --> 01:42:03,400
liberal thinking, right?
It was pretty conservative.

1793
01:42:04,760 --> 01:42:10,040
I was sitting down to dinner one
night and I remember, you know,

1794
01:42:10,040 --> 01:42:11,680
I was just cutting into my
steak.

1795
01:42:11,680 --> 01:42:13,720
I was just bringing the fork up
to my mouth.

1796
01:42:14,280 --> 01:42:16,520
And the kids were talking about
what they learned in school.

1797
01:42:16,520 --> 01:42:20,040
And I had a, I think he was in
the eighth grade at that time.

1798
01:42:20,400 --> 01:42:22,760
And he goes, yeah, we, we
learned that the founders were

1799
01:42:22,760 --> 01:42:26,760
rich, white slave, slave owners.
And I remember I just kind of

1800
01:42:26,760 --> 01:42:28,120
looked at him and dropped my
fork.

1801
01:42:28,160 --> 01:42:31,560
Now I'm a guy that has Valley
Forge, you know, the Prayer

1802
01:42:31,560 --> 01:42:35,000
Valley Forge on my wall.
I have the replicas of the

1803
01:42:35,000 --> 01:42:37,640
Constitution, the Declaration of
Independence and the Bill of

1804
01:42:37,640 --> 01:42:40,560
Rights hung in my in my house,
right.

1805
01:42:41,000 --> 01:42:43,160
And I'm like, what?
What the hell did you just say?

1806
01:42:43,640 --> 01:42:47,200
Right.
Like at my table and I had to go

1807
01:42:47,200 --> 01:42:51,120
and talk to the teacher, right.
And I said, have you looked at

1808
01:42:51,120 --> 01:42:53,320
original sources?
Have you looked at Madison's

1809
01:42:53,320 --> 01:42:54,960
notes?
Have you looked at any have you

1810
01:42:54,960 --> 01:42:59,560
read common sense?
Have you have you you done any

1811
01:42:59,560 --> 01:43:03,920
of these things?
Well, no, not even The

1812
01:43:03,920 --> 01:43:07,640
Federalist Papers.
No, we just read what what we're

1813
01:43:07,640 --> 01:43:09,000
given.
Right.

1814
01:43:09,000 --> 01:43:11,160
And so I'm like, OK, let me see
your curriculum.

1815
01:43:12,120 --> 01:43:15,880
It's horrific, it's horrific.
It's designed to move past it.

1816
01:43:16,640 --> 01:43:22,280
And I know certainly for me,
and, and maybe it's because I'm

1817
01:43:22,280 --> 01:43:26,160
a little cynical, I tend to look
at anybody who's probably over

1818
01:43:26,160 --> 01:43:29,680
the age of 1820 at this point
going, probably not changing

1819
01:43:29,680 --> 01:43:32,600
much, right?
It's that next generation coming

1820
01:43:32,600 --> 01:43:35,920
up that I think that that I know
I really aim for.

1821
01:43:35,920 --> 01:43:41,480
But you're, you're 100% correct.
If we have a a military that is

1822
01:43:41,480 --> 01:43:45,560
not tethered to the Constitution
of the United States, we have

1823
01:43:45,560 --> 01:43:50,080
deep, deep problems that I don't
think have even fully manifest

1824
01:43:50,080 --> 01:43:52,720
yet.
Absolutely.

1825
01:43:52,720 --> 01:43:56,080
If you don't know what you
defend, you're a mercenary.

1826
01:43:56,600 --> 01:43:59,640
Like the Army's.
The Army's saying this like the

1827
01:43:59,640 --> 01:44:02,200
motto for the US Army, it's it's
on the top of the seal.

1828
01:44:02,560 --> 01:44:07,520
This will defend.
This will defend.

1829
01:44:08,280 --> 01:44:13,160
My question is what is this?
What does this represent?

1830
01:44:13,280 --> 01:44:17,240
What is give me one second.
Hey sweetie, you need to go.

1831
01:44:20,600 --> 01:44:23,480
Sorry my my 5 year old decided
she would come pay me a visit.

1832
01:44:23,680 --> 01:44:28,640
She got got the don't enter son
on my door, but she wasn't she

1833
01:44:28,640 --> 01:44:34,560
wasn't having it anyway.
This will defend what is this is

1834
01:44:34,560 --> 01:44:39,560
this bailing out Ukraine and and
their arguments pro and con that

1835
01:44:39,560 --> 01:44:43,640
is this bailing out the Taliban,
right?

1836
01:44:43,720 --> 01:44:46,880
What is this?
And if you don't understand what

1837
01:44:46,880 --> 01:44:50,440
this is and this it should be
the United States of America,

1838
01:44:50,440 --> 01:44:52,760
the American founding values.
What are we?

1839
01:44:52,760 --> 01:44:55,480
We are a nation.
A nation is a people who share a

1840
01:44:55,480 --> 01:44:59,760
culture and a religious heritage
and a geographic location.

1841
01:45:00,680 --> 01:45:04,000
And we're to the point now where
we're only seem to share that

1842
01:45:04,000 --> 01:45:06,360
geographic location.
And we've been told for years

1843
01:45:06,760 --> 01:45:09,360
diversity is our strength.
And we've opened our borders and

1844
01:45:09,360 --> 01:45:14,360
we've invited the entire world
in and we've told, we've told

1845
01:45:14,520 --> 01:45:20,080
Americans that everyone is
entitled to a nation, a place, a

1846
01:45:20,080 --> 01:45:24,840
tongue, a culture, except you
European descendants like

1847
01:45:24,840 --> 01:45:27,080
you're, you're, you're the
oppressors.

1848
01:45:27,120 --> 01:45:31,880
And it's the culmination of
Marxist theory that's a problem.

1849
01:45:32,160 --> 01:45:35,360
If you don't know what this is
and you have a military that is

1850
01:45:35,360 --> 01:45:41,600
not just radically in tune with
the Constitution, fully bought

1851
01:45:41,600 --> 01:45:45,840
into American values, the
original American values, not

1852
01:45:45,840 --> 01:45:48,640
what progressives today say
value should be, but the values

1853
01:45:48,640 --> 01:45:49,760
of.
But once this nation were

1854
01:45:49,760 --> 01:45:54,120
founded, one nation under God,
then you don't have a defense

1855
01:45:54,120 --> 01:45:57,240
force, you have a mercenary
force.

1856
01:45:57,760 --> 01:46:01,960
And that's one of the reasons
our founders did not want a

1857
01:46:01,960 --> 01:46:06,000
large standing army.
There's a reason for that

1858
01:46:06,000 --> 01:46:08,520
because they saw throughout
history what happens when you

1859
01:46:08,520 --> 01:46:11,880
have a large standing force, how
quickly it becomes a danger to

1860
01:46:11,880 --> 01:46:15,480
free peoples.
And that's where we're that's

1861
01:46:15,480 --> 01:46:19,520
what we're going towards right
now, towards a military armed up

1862
01:46:19,520 --> 01:46:24,160
to the nuclear level.
And if you don't think for a

1863
01:46:24,160 --> 01:46:28,320
moment that the White House
changes hands in the next 4

1864
01:46:28,320 --> 01:46:32,360
years and goes to someone like
Gavin Newsom or Kamala Harris,

1865
01:46:33,040 --> 01:46:37,720
and that they gave an order to
the military to start using the

1866
01:46:37,720 --> 01:46:40,880
levers of war to prosecute their
policy against Americans.

1867
01:46:40,880 --> 01:46:42,800
If you don't think that there
are people in the military who

1868
01:46:42,800 --> 01:46:46,360
wouldn't enthusiastically March
to that drum beat, you're sadly

1869
01:46:46,360 --> 01:46:48,720
mistaken.
That's and that's why I argue so

1870
01:46:48,720 --> 01:46:52,240
forcefully.
We've got to clear this rot out.

1871
01:46:52,240 --> 01:46:54,840
It's not a Republican versus
Democrat argument.

1872
01:46:55,080 --> 01:46:58,680
It's a preservation of the
nation versus a loss of the

1873
01:46:58,680 --> 01:46:59,960
nation argument.
How?

1874
01:47:01,560 --> 01:47:07,040
Do you do that?
You need ruthless men.

1875
01:47:08,680 --> 01:47:13,480
And I, I steal that quote from a
good buddy of mine, Caleb Byrd.

1876
01:47:14,040 --> 01:47:16,440
He's a, he's a Christian
attorney and he's actually going

1877
01:47:16,440 --> 01:47:20,840
to be on my podcast here soon.
We've got a lot of really good

1878
01:47:20,840 --> 01:47:24,680
men in the Department of War
today at top levels.

1879
01:47:24,720 --> 01:47:27,560
I mean, I think a lot of
Secretary heck, Seth, I think a

1880
01:47:27,560 --> 01:47:31,920
lot of many of the people who
are up there at senior levels, a

1881
01:47:31,920 --> 01:47:34,560
couple of them are people who
I've known pretty well.

1882
01:47:35,560 --> 01:47:37,120
We don't have enough ruthless
men.

1883
01:47:37,880 --> 01:47:42,040
We need ruthless men, men who
are who are willing to fire

1884
01:47:42,080 --> 01:47:45,720
people and to be lampooned in
the New York Times and to be

1885
01:47:45,720 --> 01:47:49,280
castigated in the NBC and ABC
evening report.

1886
01:47:49,560 --> 01:47:53,920
Who are willing to have
congressional so-called leaders

1887
01:47:54,400 --> 01:47:58,160
call them all sorts of names and
to count it all joy because this

1888
01:47:58,160 --> 01:48:00,000
is what you do to preserve the
Republic.

1889
01:48:00,000 --> 01:48:05,000
But we, the current proper
leadership up there is letting

1890
01:48:05,000 --> 01:48:09,000
too much of the rot stay.
I mean, my goodness, the the man

1891
01:48:09,000 --> 01:48:12,880
who was just confirmed to be the
Vice Chief of Staff of the Army,

1892
01:48:13,200 --> 01:48:14,840
Everyone assures me he's a good
guy.

1893
01:48:14,840 --> 01:48:18,520
But you know, I'm not.
I'm not impressed by what people

1894
01:48:18,520 --> 01:48:20,760
say by you.
I'm impressed by what you do.

1895
01:48:21,160 --> 01:48:24,320
And when he commanded the 82nd
Airborne Division, he signed an

1896
01:48:24,320 --> 01:48:28,600
enthusiastic LGBTQ plus letter
that literally rewrote history

1897
01:48:28,920 --> 01:48:32,520
and bragged about how
homosexuality and transgenderism

1898
01:48:32,520 --> 01:48:35,120
has been something that's been a
force multiplier since the days

1899
01:48:35,120 --> 01:48:39,680
of George Washington.
The US Army signed his name to

1900
01:48:39,680 --> 01:48:41,440
that.
But I'm told, oh, but he's a

1901
01:48:41,440 --> 01:48:42,360
good guy.
He's a good guy.

1902
01:48:42,520 --> 01:48:44,240
Maybe he is.
Maybe he is.

1903
01:48:44,520 --> 01:48:47,440
If he were, if he were as good a
guys there tummy, is he 1, He

1904
01:48:47,440 --> 01:48:49,640
would send that letter and two,
he'd come out and repudiate it

1905
01:48:49,640 --> 01:48:51,880
right now, right?
But he won't do that.

1906
01:48:52,160 --> 01:48:56,600
We need ruthless people who
will, who are willing to go

1907
01:48:56,600 --> 01:49:00,560
through and get rid of the
communist sympathizers in the

1908
01:49:00,560 --> 01:49:03,280
ranks.
We don't have that right now,

1909
01:49:03,280 --> 01:49:06,400
so.
So let me and this is an

1910
01:49:06,400 --> 01:49:10,440
interesting situation we find
ourselves in, right?

1911
01:49:10,440 --> 01:49:15,240
Because when Trump was elected,
it was done from the premise of

1912
01:49:15,360 --> 01:49:20,640
drain the swamp and restore
sanity, right?

1913
01:49:21,600 --> 01:49:24,560
But none of those two things
seem to have been done as of

1914
01:49:24,560 --> 01:49:27,200
yet, right?
No new foreign wars.

1915
01:49:27,200 --> 01:49:29,760
It looks like we are minutes
away from going to war with

1916
01:49:29,760 --> 01:49:35,960
Iran.
And so how do you vet them,

1917
01:49:36,400 --> 01:49:37,480
right?
How do you vet them?

1918
01:49:37,840 --> 01:49:41,440
Because if you can't take them
at their words, what else do you

1919
01:49:41,440 --> 01:49:44,600
got?
If you can't take them at their

1920
01:49:44,600 --> 01:49:47,720
word, you have to take action
that based on what they're doing

1921
01:49:47,960 --> 01:49:50,120
in real time.
I remember when I was company

1922
01:49:50,120 --> 01:49:53,360
commander and I had an executive
officer who who I found out was

1923
01:49:53,360 --> 01:49:55,960
actively working against me.
It was actively working to

1924
01:49:55,960 --> 01:49:58,640
undermine my command with the
organization and to undermine

1925
01:49:58,640 --> 01:50:02,640
the orders that I was giving.
And I, I'm a patient person.

1926
01:50:02,640 --> 01:50:06,160
I tried to teach, coach, mentor,
see if maybe this person

1927
01:50:06,160 --> 01:50:10,800
misunderstood, maybe if I hadn't
explained things well enough to

1928
01:50:10,800 --> 01:50:13,920
the individual.
And I was not a hard commander

1929
01:50:13,920 --> 01:50:15,600
to work for.
I've I've worked under hard

1930
01:50:15,600 --> 01:50:16,960
commander.
So I was very deliberate.

1931
01:50:17,120 --> 01:50:19,480
You know, I'm fair, not a
pushover.

1932
01:50:19,480 --> 01:50:24,560
My orders stay, but I'm not
unapproachable, right?

1933
01:50:24,560 --> 01:50:28,160
I, I, I believe that I'm here to
steward the organization.

1934
01:50:28,160 --> 01:50:30,080
And so I was very, very open
about that.

1935
01:50:31,280 --> 01:50:33,360
But it reached a point where
it's clear to me this person is

1936
01:50:33,360 --> 01:50:36,680
undermining me.
This person is not on board with

1937
01:50:36,680 --> 01:50:40,160
my vision for the organization.
This person has to go.

1938
01:50:40,760 --> 01:50:43,040
And I relieved that executive
officer.

1939
01:50:43,040 --> 01:50:47,560
And yeah, I had to go hot to my
boss to get the official

1940
01:50:47,560 --> 01:50:49,520
approval to do that because
that's the way it works in the

1941
01:50:49,520 --> 01:50:51,440
military.
But I did it.

1942
01:50:51,480 --> 01:50:53,600
And I went months with that seat
being open.

1943
01:50:53,920 --> 01:50:56,760
And you know what?
My unit worked better without

1944
01:50:56,840 --> 01:50:59,920
someone who was fighting me in
that seat period.

1945
01:50:59,920 --> 01:51:05,040
Even if Memphis seat went empty.
I mean, there Trump has gotten

1946
01:51:05,040 --> 01:51:07,440
better about betting people the
second time around.

1947
01:51:08,360 --> 01:51:12,520
It's but by gum, you have to
hold people's feet to the fire

1948
01:51:12,520 --> 01:51:15,040
and say you were put in this job
for a reason.

1949
01:51:15,680 --> 01:51:18,360
Get after it or I'll find
someone who will.

1950
01:51:18,520 --> 01:51:21,160
Now I I acknowledge there's a
there's a lot of fear, right?

1951
01:51:21,160 --> 01:51:25,000
I mean, look, just just last
night this video came out with

1952
01:51:25,000 --> 01:51:30,200
Susan Rice, Obama's national
security advisor, saying very

1953
01:51:30,240 --> 01:51:35,600
clearly, hey, if you support
Trump and you were doing any of

1954
01:51:35,600 --> 01:51:39,720
his bidding, when we get control
again, we're coming after you,

1955
01:51:40,120 --> 01:51:41,760
right?
It's the same thing we saw with

1956
01:51:41,760 --> 01:51:44,640
Mark Kelly and the seditious 6
with the don't give up the boat

1957
01:51:44,640 --> 01:51:47,720
thing.
They they all went on, Well, not

1958
01:51:47,720 --> 01:51:50,440
all of them, but several went on
afterwards and and pushed this

1959
01:51:50,440 --> 01:51:53,880
narrative towards the military
that hey, if you do, if you obey

1960
01:51:53,880 --> 01:51:56,880
orders under the Trump
administration, we'll hold you

1961
01:51:56,880 --> 01:52:00,400
personally accountable.
Nuremberg style, when we get

1962
01:52:00,400 --> 01:52:02,920
back in power, they're trying to
sow that fear.

1963
01:52:02,920 --> 01:52:05,640
And I, and I get it, like law
fair is a real thing.

1964
01:52:05,640 --> 01:52:08,480
I've been in the room and talked
with people who have been

1965
01:52:08,480 --> 01:52:10,200
bankrupted by law fair.
I get it.

1966
01:52:10,200 --> 01:52:12,120
I don't want to be on the
receiving end of it.

1967
01:52:12,720 --> 01:52:16,440
Like it's a scary thing.
But again, if they want to play

1968
01:52:16,440 --> 01:52:19,360
that game, let's play that game
right.

1969
01:52:19,960 --> 01:52:24,480
That game can go both ways.
We need we have too many good

1970
01:52:24,480 --> 01:52:26,160
men.
We don't have enough ruthless

1971
01:52:26,160 --> 01:52:27,960
men who are willing to take
scalps.

1972
01:52:28,200 --> 01:52:31,120
The left does.
We need to grow some ourselves.

1973
01:52:32,000 --> 01:52:34,520
Yeah.
Let me ask you two more

1974
01:52:34,520 --> 01:52:35,520
questions.
I'll let you go.

1975
01:52:35,560 --> 01:52:40,680
I'm sorry we're a little over,
but in these matters, I always

1976
01:52:40,680 --> 01:52:42,400
find it's helpful to make it
personal.

1977
01:52:45,000 --> 01:52:48,320
If you had a son that came to
you today and said, Dad, I want

1978
01:52:48,320 --> 01:52:51,680
to join the military, he's of
age and it's a real possibility,

1979
01:52:51,680 --> 01:52:54,920
what do you tell him?
Well, we've actually walked

1980
01:52:54,920 --> 01:52:56,760
through that.
I have a son who's currently

1981
01:52:56,760 --> 01:53:01,000
serving in the Kansas National
Guard, and I never thought he'd

1982
01:53:01,000 --> 01:53:04,440
want to join.
He, I had, I had some wonderful

1983
01:53:04,440 --> 01:53:07,520
years in the Army.
It's hard to remember that a lot

1984
01:53:07,520 --> 01:53:10,360
of times because the last few
years were really, really hard.

1985
01:53:11,000 --> 01:53:12,400
But I did have some really good
years.

1986
01:53:12,400 --> 01:53:17,480
But but you know, my, my kids,
my sons were coming to age,

1987
01:53:18,480 --> 01:53:21,720
seeing the hard years and that's
what they remember the most.

1988
01:53:23,240 --> 01:53:28,320
So what I remember the most, and
he came to me and said, Dem

1989
01:53:28,320 --> 01:53:29,520
starting to think about the
Army.

1990
01:53:29,760 --> 01:53:31,920
And I had this talk to him.
I said, here's the deal, son.

1991
01:53:32,280 --> 01:53:34,440
He was 17 at the time.
So he was going to require an

1992
01:53:34,440 --> 01:53:37,960
age waiver.
I said I will sign a waiver for

1993
01:53:37,960 --> 01:53:40,240
you to join the National Guard
if you want, because the

1994
01:53:40,240 --> 01:53:44,640
National Guard, there's still a
level of local control and

1995
01:53:44,640 --> 01:53:46,520
National Guard.
I've worked with a lot of

1996
01:53:46,520 --> 01:53:48,400
National Guard units over the
course of my career.

1997
01:53:48,400 --> 01:53:50,720
I kind of deliberately steered
myself to work with Guard

1998
01:53:50,720 --> 01:53:54,480
soldiers whenever I could
because they still kind of got

1999
01:53:54,480 --> 01:53:56,320
this idea that they're American
citizens.

2000
01:53:56,800 --> 01:53:59,440
And they have.
In general, my experience was

2001
01:53:59,440 --> 01:54:04,120
they had a more humane culture
because hey, when you demobilize

2002
01:54:04,120 --> 01:54:07,520
and you all go home, you all
still got to live together.

2003
01:54:07,520 --> 01:54:10,880
Same community, you're shopping
the same stores, you're going to

2004
01:54:10,880 --> 01:54:14,120
same churches.
And the guy who's the the

2005
01:54:14,120 --> 01:54:18,800
commander on active duty might
be the subordinate back home.

2006
01:54:19,320 --> 01:54:22,800
And they remember that.
And so I said, if you want to go

2007
01:54:22,800 --> 01:54:25,080
in the National Guard, I will
support that.

2008
01:54:25,080 --> 01:54:27,600
I will sign an age waiver for
you to join the National Guard.

2009
01:54:28,400 --> 01:54:31,240
If you want to join the active
component or the reserve

2010
01:54:31,240 --> 01:54:34,000
component, you'll have to wait
until you're 18.

2011
01:54:34,000 --> 01:54:35,520
And if you do that, I will love
you.

2012
01:54:35,520 --> 01:54:38,240
I will support you.
I might even swear you in.

2013
01:54:39,160 --> 01:54:42,080
But you will have to sign for
yourself because I'm not.

2014
01:54:42,080 --> 01:54:47,720
I am not going to accept that
burden on myself for your life

2015
01:54:48,560 --> 01:54:51,680
for either of the two federal
components right now.

2016
01:54:52,200 --> 01:54:56,320
And I still hold to that.
A lot of good things have been

2017
01:54:56,320 --> 01:54:58,320
done in the military.
It is.

2018
01:54:58,480 --> 01:55:03,040
It is not nearly as bad a place
as it was when I left.

2019
01:55:03,640 --> 01:55:05,840
But there is still been no
accountability.

2020
01:55:06,400 --> 01:55:11,120
All the nefarious actors who
persecuted for the last six

2021
01:55:11,120 --> 01:55:13,200
years, they're almost all still
in.

2022
01:55:13,880 --> 01:55:16,280
And you can't convince me that
they've all seen the light.

2023
01:55:16,280 --> 01:55:17,920
A lot of them are just waiting
it out.

2024
01:55:18,280 --> 01:55:21,600
And the absent accountability,
if the White House flipped

2025
01:55:21,600 --> 01:55:24,040
tomorrow, the Pentagon would
too.

2026
01:55:24,280 --> 01:55:28,200
And so I I still caution young
people about joining until we

2027
01:55:28,200 --> 01:55:31,200
see the current leadership
leadership be willing to take

2028
01:55:31,200 --> 01:55:35,280
accountability.
Gotcha, gotcha.

2029
01:55:35,280 --> 01:55:40,520
And then last question is this.
If my audience wanted to help

2030
01:55:40,680 --> 01:55:45,280
and they're a smaller audience,
right, somewhere between 10 and

2031
01:55:45,280 --> 01:55:51,040
15,000 is my best count.
They're small, but they're

2032
01:55:51,040 --> 01:55:53,160
active.
What can they do to help?

2033
01:55:55,000 --> 01:55:56,920
I'd say there are a couple of
things they can do.

2034
01:55:57,640 --> 01:56:01,120
First off, get active with your
lawmakers.

2035
01:56:01,360 --> 01:56:04,360
I went to my congressman about
the constitutional training

2036
01:56:04,360 --> 01:56:07,200
issue and he listened to me.
He heard me out.

2037
01:56:07,200 --> 01:56:10,720
I got to talk with him for about
5 minutes, an event we were at

2038
01:56:10,720 --> 01:56:12,960
together in the state capitol
here in Topeka.

2039
01:56:13,440 --> 01:56:15,160
And he handed me out to a
staffer.

2040
01:56:15,160 --> 01:56:17,640
And it's very clear to me, the
staffer wanted me to do all the

2041
01:56:17,640 --> 01:56:19,760
work.
And it was like some young 20

2042
01:56:19,760 --> 01:56:22,440
something year old who had no
clue of what I was talking

2043
01:56:22,440 --> 01:56:24,960
about.
And I didn't have time to do his

2044
01:56:24,960 --> 01:56:27,240
job for him.
And so that's something I'm

2045
01:56:27,240 --> 01:56:30,400
going to continue approaching
with lawmakers is I had the

2046
01:56:30,400 --> 01:56:34,120
opportunity through my other
spheres of influence, get

2047
01:56:34,120 --> 01:56:37,560
engaged with lawmakers, raise
hell with lawmakers like we need

2048
01:56:37,560 --> 01:56:40,240
constitutional training in the
military and we need you as

2049
01:56:40,240 --> 01:56:44,400
congressman and women to
reassert yourself in the

2050
01:56:45,160 --> 01:56:48,480
constitutional oversight role of
the military.

2051
01:56:48,680 --> 01:56:51,120
Stop with these silly
performative circus games of

2052
01:56:51,120 --> 01:56:55,120
bringing the brass up to wire
brush them in front of C-SPAN

2053
01:56:55,120 --> 01:56:58,920
cameras and then send them
across the river and not do

2054
01:56:58,920 --> 01:57:00,760
anything to hold them
accountable through funding

2055
01:57:00,760 --> 01:57:02,960
mechanisms.
The, the military understands

2056
01:57:03,440 --> 01:57:05,920
funding all does it understand
funding.

2057
01:57:05,920 --> 01:57:09,920
And if if funding were attached
to things Congress says they

2058
01:57:09,920 --> 01:57:11,880
need to do, they would do it
right.

2059
01:57:12,040 --> 01:57:14,240
But they don't because it's all
performative.

2060
01:57:14,520 --> 01:57:17,640
So get engaged with lawmakers
separately.

2061
01:57:17,680 --> 01:57:22,440
I'm, I'm trying to figure out
how to get people the kind of

2062
01:57:22,440 --> 01:57:26,400
conservative intellectual realm,
how to get them engaged on this

2063
01:57:26,400 --> 01:57:29,840
because one, we have an issue
with general civilian ignorance

2064
01:57:29,840 --> 01:57:31,560
about what's happening in the
military today.

2065
01:57:32,080 --> 01:57:35,960
And two, the left wing actually
puts their money where their

2066
01:57:35,960 --> 01:57:38,360
mouth is on this.
You look at organizations like

2067
01:57:38,360 --> 01:57:42,680
Vote Vets, which is a far, far
left fringe organization, but

2068
01:57:42,680 --> 01:57:44,760
it's extraordinarily well
funded.

2069
01:57:45,000 --> 01:57:48,560
And and they they raise up that
left wing veteran candidates to

2070
01:57:48,560 --> 01:57:51,120
run for office to continue
perpetuating this stuff.

2071
01:57:51,360 --> 01:57:55,320
And these and these candidates
abuse the uniform and they

2072
01:57:55,320 --> 01:57:58,120
pretend they're patriots because
they were the uniform.

2073
01:57:58,920 --> 01:58:03,360
They're selected by by left wing
packs to run because of that

2074
01:58:03,920 --> 01:58:05,400
right.
But they're fully on board with

2075
01:58:05,400 --> 01:58:08,880
the revolutionary mindset.
Meanwhile, conservatives I

2076
01:58:08,880 --> 01:58:10,640
talked to, they just kind of
wring their hands like, oh,

2077
01:58:10,640 --> 01:58:13,240
whoa, what do we do against such
formidable odds?

2078
01:58:13,240 --> 01:58:17,200
And my reply is we, we need
people who are willing to put

2079
01:58:17,200 --> 01:58:20,680
money where their mouth is.
And to we, we need, we need a

2080
01:58:20,680 --> 01:58:23,840
couple of really good, strong
conservative think tanks that

2081
01:58:23,840 --> 01:58:26,560
are focused on military issues,
that are helping to write

2082
01:58:26,560 --> 01:58:29,840
military policy, that are
helping to shepherd things into

2083
01:58:29,840 --> 01:58:32,480
the National Defense
Authorization Act, that have the

2084
01:58:32,480 --> 01:58:35,160
horsepower to do that.
Who can spend time on the Hill

2085
01:58:35,160 --> 01:58:39,240
lobbying this and getting
conservative vets elected who

2086
01:58:39,240 --> 01:58:42,680
will continue fighting for vets?
Now the left wing gets it.

2087
01:58:42,680 --> 01:58:45,560
They're they're fighting in
every echelon And, and

2088
01:58:45,680 --> 01:58:47,400
conservatives are just talking
about it.

2089
01:58:47,400 --> 01:58:52,160
So we, we need my plea to your
listeners is get engaged with

2090
01:58:52,160 --> 01:58:55,840
your lawmakers on this.
Fight it, fight for it.

2091
01:58:56,160 --> 01:58:59,560
And if you have the financial
means, I, I'm trying to get

2092
01:58:59,560 --> 01:59:01,880
together with some people and
see what we can do to try to get

2093
01:59:01,880 --> 01:59:03,520
some sort of organization
together.

2094
01:59:04,760 --> 01:59:07,600
You know, if you want to reach
out and talk to me about that,

2095
01:59:07,600 --> 01:59:09,400
I, I, I welcome it.
You can reach out to me through

2096
01:59:09,400 --> 01:59:12,960
my website, chasespears.com.
There's a contact form there.

2097
01:59:14,320 --> 01:59:16,840
Or if or if you know other
conservative packs, if you have

2098
01:59:16,840 --> 01:59:20,080
influence and other conservative
packs, take this to him.

2099
01:59:20,080 --> 01:59:22,840
This is a 'cause we need, we
need all hands on deck to get

2100
01:59:22,840 --> 01:59:24,240
after.
Because if you lose the

2101
01:59:24,240 --> 01:59:26,240
military, you really do lose the
nation.

2102
01:59:26,640 --> 01:59:30,480
And I've seen it get danger
close in my time where we've got

2103
01:59:30,480 --> 01:59:34,000
a bit of a reprieve right now,
but we need to never assume the

2104
01:59:34,000 --> 01:59:37,440
reprieve is permanent.
The reprieves are given to us

2105
01:59:37,440 --> 01:59:40,760
to, to build.
But I can promise you on the

2106
01:59:40,760 --> 01:59:43,280
other side of our enemies are
building and rearming as well.

2107
01:59:43,280 --> 01:59:45,520
We have to be ready for it.
We have to be ready to be on the

2108
01:59:45,520 --> 01:59:48,320
offensive and stop being on the
defensive every time.

2109
01:59:48,680 --> 01:59:52,960
A. 100% I'll, I'll, I'll say
this and then we'll, we'll wrap

2110
01:59:52,960 --> 01:59:54,760
up unless there's something else
you wanted to say.

2111
01:59:58,520 --> 02:00:02,760
My life's been a series of
inflection points from accepting

2112
02:00:02,760 --> 02:00:11,800
God, finding God, to my opinions
and my beliefs on on the United

2113
02:00:11,800 --> 02:00:16,160
States.
One of those inflection points

2114
02:00:16,160 --> 02:00:19,840
came back in O4 when I went to
Philadelphia for a football

2115
02:00:19,840 --> 02:00:24,880
game.
The other one came very

2116
02:00:24,880 --> 02:00:28,160
recently, back in September.
Like I said, my wife and I

2117
02:00:28,160 --> 02:00:32,600
celebrated our 30th anniversary
and we went back east.

2118
02:00:34,200 --> 02:00:37,680
And for a couple years I've been
feeling like, OK, I need to go

2119
02:00:37,680 --> 02:00:40,000
back and I need to look.
I need to see Independence Hall

2120
02:00:40,000 --> 02:00:42,320
again.
I didn't know why.

2121
02:00:43,520 --> 02:00:46,600
I didn't understand.
Now, we weren't supposed to take

2122
02:00:46,600 --> 02:00:51,640
that trip until October, but
because of some extenuating

2123
02:00:51,640 --> 02:00:55,200
circumstances, we ended up
moving up the trip to just a

2124
02:00:55,200 --> 02:00:57,640
couple weeks after Charlie Kirk
was shot.

2125
02:00:58,960 --> 02:01:01,560
And look, that rattled me a
little bit because of two

2126
02:01:01,560 --> 02:01:04,760
things.
One, I talk a lot, right?

2127
02:01:05,480 --> 02:01:08,480
The next is because my daughter
went to that school.

2128
02:01:10,800 --> 02:01:13,760
I may edit this part out that
that little part about where my

2129
02:01:13,760 --> 02:01:19,240
daughter goes to school, but I
was sitting in an impense hall

2130
02:01:22,000 --> 02:01:24,880
and I was just sitting there and
I was thinking what what, what

2131
02:01:24,880 --> 02:01:27,880
is it you want me to see?
What did I miss last time or

2132
02:01:27,880 --> 02:01:29,960
last times?
I used to go there quite a bit

2133
02:01:29,960 --> 02:01:34,400
when we lived back east and it
just came to me.

2134
02:01:34,480 --> 02:01:38,600
We hold these truths to be
self-evident, and I think it's

2135
02:01:38,600 --> 02:01:40,800
super important that we know
what time we live in.

2136
02:01:41,480 --> 02:01:47,200
But when you speak truth in a
time where lies are what are

2137
02:01:47,200 --> 02:01:55,880
favored, where where lies are
what's are endorsed, insanity

2138
02:01:55,880 --> 02:01:58,160
reigns.
To speak truth as a

2139
02:01:58,160 --> 02:02:03,760
revolutionary act.
Right now I'm teaching a course

2140
02:02:03,760 --> 02:02:06,680
on the Constitution because I
feel strongly about this.

2141
02:02:07,600 --> 02:02:10,280
If people are interested, they
can find that information on the

2142
02:02:10,400 --> 02:02:16,200
on, on my, my podcast website.
But get involved somehow,

2143
02:02:16,320 --> 02:02:18,000
whether you know, that's with
Chase.

2144
02:02:18,000 --> 02:02:20,440
What Chase is doing here I think
is a fantastic thing.

2145
02:02:20,880 --> 02:02:23,280
I think it's so needed.
The people who guard the country

2146
02:02:23,280 --> 02:02:27,240
better know what it is they're
guarding for because not every

2147
02:02:27,240 --> 02:02:29,360
politician, let me rephrase
that.

2148
02:02:29,640 --> 02:02:31,920
So far I haven't found a
politician that I believe is a

2149
02:02:31,920 --> 02:02:36,520
truly sincere actor outside of
maybe Massey that I can see so

2150
02:02:36,520 --> 02:02:40,120
far.
But nonetheless, I think, I

2151
02:02:40,120 --> 02:02:42,280
think the days of sitting on the
sideline are over.

2152
02:02:43,000 --> 02:02:47,440
And if these rights were given
to us by God, which I believe

2153
02:02:47,440 --> 02:02:50,320
they were, they also entail
responsibility.

2154
02:02:51,120 --> 02:02:53,000
I do.
Part of that responsibility is

2155
02:02:53,000 --> 02:02:56,160
making sure those rights are at
least as in good of condition as

2156
02:02:56,160 --> 02:02:59,400
what you inherited them, if not
better for your posterity.

2157
02:03:00,080 --> 02:03:07,280
If we fall asleep on this, I
promise you the day will come,

2158
02:03:07,280 --> 02:03:11,600
will you, where you will stand
before God Almighty and you'll

2159
02:03:11,600 --> 02:03:14,080
say, what did you do with those
rights?

2160
02:03:15,280 --> 02:03:21,840
And either to your relief and
your joy, you can say I did

2161
02:03:21,840 --> 02:03:26,040
everything I could, or you're
going to have to say I kind of

2162
02:03:26,040 --> 02:03:31,320
fell asleep.
And the only thing that could be

2163
02:03:31,320 --> 02:03:34,960
as bad as having your kids look
at you and ask what it was like

2164
02:03:35,840 --> 02:03:38,880
before.
We have what we could have if we

2165
02:03:38,880 --> 02:03:41,040
are not very careful in the near
future.

2166
02:03:41,560 --> 02:03:44,200
And I'll just leave it there.
Chase anything else you want to

2167
02:03:44,200 --> 02:03:46,960
say in response, or or anything
else you want to say in

2168
02:03:46,960 --> 02:03:49,520
conclusion.
Well, I appreciate your allusion

2169
02:03:49,520 --> 02:03:51,120
to the parable of the talents
there.

2170
02:03:51,120 --> 02:03:54,680
That's something that I, that I
argue frequently, and I'm glad

2171
02:03:54,680 --> 02:03:57,280
you're tuned into it as well.
I, I would leave with this.

2172
02:03:58,040 --> 02:04:03,560
We have been blessed to be
entrusted with this beautiful

2173
02:04:03,560 --> 02:04:05,760
thing that is the United States
of America.

2174
02:04:05,760 --> 02:04:08,600
If you drew out, you know, the
timeline of history is wide, as

2175
02:04:08,600 --> 02:04:12,320
my office is, and you were
trying to figure out where we we

2176
02:04:12,320 --> 02:04:14,920
sit on that line and be about,
you know, the end of this pin

2177
02:04:14,920 --> 02:04:17,240
here.
It's a very small window of

2178
02:04:17,360 --> 02:04:21,200
goodness and graciousness into
which God let us live for some

2179
02:04:21,200 --> 02:04:24,120
purpose.
And this was handed down to us

2180
02:04:24,120 --> 02:04:29,600
by people who have suffered and
died and fought and guarded the

2181
02:04:29,600 --> 02:04:32,360
flame.
And my challenge to everyone

2182
02:04:32,360 --> 02:04:36,440
listening is let us not be the
generation that the flame goes

2183
02:04:36,440 --> 02:04:40,800
out.
I wake up every day hoping that

2184
02:04:40,800 --> 02:04:43,960
I will be able to lick my kids
and my grandkids and if God

2185
02:04:43,960 --> 02:04:46,480
willing, my great grandkids in
the ice someday.

2186
02:04:47,160 --> 02:04:50,360
And so I tried.
I didn't just sit on the couch.

2187
02:04:50,720 --> 02:04:53,520
I didn't just moan, bring my
hands, lament.

2188
02:04:54,480 --> 02:04:59,440
I tried it's it's time for us to
close the book of Nehemiah, to

2189
02:04:59,440 --> 02:05:03,480
have Lamentations and open the
Book of Nehemiah.

2190
02:05:03,480 --> 02:05:06,680
I say again, it's time to close
Lamentations, open Nehemiah.

2191
02:05:06,680 --> 02:05:12,760
We have some walls to repair.
Let's get after it. 100% that

2192
02:05:12,760 --> 02:05:14,600
was good stuff.
Hang out for just 5 minutes, all

2193
02:05:14,600 --> 02:05:15,880
right?
You got it.

2194
02:05:16,440 --> 02:05:18,200
Bye everybody.
Thanks again, Chase.

2195
02:05:19,320 --> 02:05:19,920
My honor.