Shawn Ryan Show #008 Retired Navy SEAL Tried for War Crimes Eddie Gallagher

Welcome back to the Sha Ryan show this is the final episode of 2020 and what a hell of a year that's been huh right yeah I think we can all agree on that to kick things off once again thank you for the massive influx of patreons we've had coming to patreon if you're looking for tactical training if you're new at the game and you're just trying to learn how to use your new piece that's your spot we keep the [ __ ] to a minimum There's a ton of us over there it's not all about

the bling or the most expensive [ __ ] that you've bought it's just about how to become proficient with whatever tool you picked so head over to vigilance Elite patreon if that's not your thing and you don't mind leave us a little Christmas present head over to iTunes leave us a one-word review even if it's just one word it's not that hard we'll link it below that helps us out Gets the show out to where it needs to go so that everybody can hear [Music] it I mean the [ __ ] that we saw in

that deployment what is some of the [ __ ] that you saw look we trying to wrecky a spot and I look over and they had uh kids heads little kids heads on the spikes there was dead bodies all over the place we had our turp blown in half uh got pulled into the master chief of trade it um and said hey you're under Investigation they went and raided my house he went to fight you know for our country to prevent people from terrorizing you know members of the United States and then they take him

and they lock him up on American soil and then they lay Siege to his home and terrorize his wife and his children it's pretty sick my my oldest son opens up the door they're all screaming at him they're pointing rifles at my children and they're saying put your hands up 8 Years old with a gun in your face yeah there's like two other people with rifles and like the lasers are like right on us so you wound up not guilty yep and and what what did that I mean bro the courtroom erupted our next guest

is a former Navy SEAL he was a sniper he's a medic he's a breacher and he was also tried for murder only to be found innocent he's the most controversial Navy Seal of our Times he's all over the news he needs no introduction without further Ado please welcome 008 Mr Eddie Gallagher [Music] Mr Eddie Gallagher welcome to Tennessee thank you for having me it's it's awesome to be here yeah man it's a pleasure to have you so um just a quick introduction you know so you are probably I would say it's a good chance you

are the most controversial name in This in SE team history with actually without a doubt and uh yeah you know you've been through hell and back you've had teammates you know betray you who went to court you know and uh wound up not guilty and uh you know another reason that I think you're so controversial is uh president Trump stepped in to your case not once but twice and that has not happened um since I think Richard Nixon the uh M melee Massacre yeah yeah 1968 mhm and um you Know with the election cycle and

how divided the country is right now it it it put you in the Limelight even more than you probably wanted to be yeah so but so we're going to talk about all that but first it is December and uh I give everybody a yes gift so this is the main reason I came out here that's what I'm saying dude we give some good presents oh my man I appreciate it any Guesses uh could it be uh squishy soft and Squishy guys it might be it might be I don't want to ruin the uh the Box

Ed Calderone took the last one he's the first guest to ever take the present box oh I'm this is it's nice so we got the we got the updated version Oh sick heck yeah brand new hat that's what I'm talking about so that you know Eddie you are a Sniper you're a medic you're a seal you're a breacher but if there's one thing you are not it's a [ __ ] escape artist so uh so I got you a extra handcuff key dude a saw blade that will go through metal and uh there's also a

get out of jail free card in there for Monopoly so you know you know what my wife will appreciate that for sure good you know keep that in handy you know you might Need to use that sometime it's never never out of the realm of possibility nice this is this is it right here that's what I'm saying this is what I was waiting for I should have sent you some of those in prison but uh we didn't have them yet but dude I appreciate that brother yeah my pleasure be rocking this hat today sure so

uh moving on you just wrote a book it's not out yet I think you said it's still Under review but riew it should be releasing soon man the man in the arena from fighting Isis to fighting for your own freedom and uh I can't wait to read it I want to hit some of the topics I'm hoping that you'll bring some stuff up that's exclusive this podcast that's in that book but uh when's the release date on that so right now like you just said it's in DOD review um it's out of our hands of

when they're going to be done with it uh they've had it for about two And a half months I'm being optimistic and saying I'm giv it about two more months so I'm hoping that the release date will sometime being first quarter of uh 2021 hopefully uh March you know April uh but we'll we'll constantly put updates out um but right now it's on pre-order um you can pre-order it and it comes with a pre-order bundle uh you can go to Eddie Gallagher book.com and uh with the pre-order bundle you'll get um uh challenge coin and

a note from myself And Andrea and my wife and then you will also get the book a month early before it's actually out before everybody else and it'll be uh signed by both myself and my wife awesome yeah I pre-ordered one and uh can't wait to get it if you could just tell the people over at uh you know the pagon or whoever's reviewing it to hurry the [ __ ] up that would be great I'll drop your name over there hopefully it'll speed up the process right on man but Um you know your career

in the SEAL Teams uh to be honest with it seems like up until the very last part like a [ __ ] dream career I think you did eight deployments uh [ __ ] ton of combat time a lot of Trigger Time and um I don't want to spend too long on your childhood or anything actually I'd rather Breeze through that you have some really good podcasts out there already um so I just want to start off With Seal Team 7 Alpha platoon your last deployment and you know from what I understand you have you

have a a handful of combat deployments before you ever even showed up there you have multiple Awards with Valor which uh for you civilians that means combat Trigger Time uh which you were awarded for MH um you're a sniper you're a breacher you're a medic you got sailor of the year which is a very high honor you know that means you're the Highest or the the the best seal at the Seal team was that at Seal Team 7 that was I got sale of the year for group so all the West Coast oh [ __

] one yeah that's a huge deal wow you got your own parking spot yeah and I got a I got a funny story about that too which uh well we can get into later but yeah I definitely got my own parking spot and uh honestly I don't know how I made group one sale of the year but you know somehow I got picked for it you know I Had uh my best friend was my platoon Chief at the time uh so he he did a good write up for me which is how I think it

got pushed through but yeah oh whatever you got it yeah that's cool and you know am I missing anything oh yeah you were ra the number one platoon Chief uh Team seven and you took the worst rated platoon uh and made it into the most effective uh best uh highest rated platoon at Team seven and in what a year Year and a half yeah um so and you were only able to bring one guy with you uh I remember you saying you know you wanted to stack the deck and you were trying to bring some

friendlies over and to a team that was complaining about weak leadership and you were told you were only allowed to bring one guy with you and and um so let's kick it off from there Seal Team seven Alpha platoon you're taking platoon Chief getting ready to lead these men Into mosul Y and their prior deployment they were bitching about weak leadership and now they have you with with a magnitude of [ __ ] combat experience yeah so I uh was just coming off um a rotation out at uh the cre crisis response element which was

uh in UAE I just picked up Chief and um I was given the opport to do a platoon chief for the next rotation um the master chief of the team told me he was going to uh I was in Charlie platoon at the time um and he was going to take me out of Charlie and put me in charge of alpha platoon um the word around or everybody knew that Alpha Team didn't do alpha platoon didn't do so hot uh the last rotation um nobody really knew knew why I mean I didn't know any of

those guys um but that was pretty much just the word that was put out and uh it showed you know when you when you saw those guys perform um so once I was Given the opportunity to go over to Alpha um you know I didn't I went over there with no preconceived notions um I wasn't going there like okay you guys are a bunch of turds or whatever it was everyone starting off on a clean slate um because I didn't know anybody um so I I took over I I sort of uh entered that platoon

pretty slow um just sort of feeling it out um the as you know like so when you come Back from deployment you're in professional development phase that's where everybody goes off to their specialty schools um so the platoon is never really fully together until you start uh ulti workup um but while I while during prodev um I came up with a training schedule um where we we were going to work on the basics two three times a week um and I didn't care if the whole platoon was there or not I was like well You

know do it with what we got right now and then this gu filter and come back from schools will just you know enter the training um it was not nothing sexy about the training it was all just basic um stuff when you know patrolling post pre pre-op assault procedures um you know two fourman room entries uh starting at Basics going through um which is good news see each other building some cohesion yeah um seeing How everybody walks yep and uh the older the third PL tuners um at the time I think thought that they were

too good for you know that I was taking up their time by doing this basic training uh and there was I didn't know at the time but there was definitely a lot of grumbling from these third B tuners which is about there's probably four of them so let's just take um let's just take all the like stuff that you Learned about them afterwards and just like first impression how to go okay first impression and one actually one question I do have is you hit a Crossroads before you took platoon Chief and uh if I understand

correctly and you were going to go back to Green Team to screen to go over to become a operator of Dev group yeah or the other option was to take your platoon Chief slot and you chose your platoon Chief slot did you know the platoon you were Going to take over before you made that decision no you didn't no um I had uh called up uh my buddies over uh at Development Group you know told them my situation um what my options were I still wanted to go over there my my goal was to go

screen um they gave me the advice or like no take the platoon Chief spot um you know I don't think there was much going on or they weren't doing much at the time um and I had I was pretty long In the tooth when it came to my uh years in service I think I was at 16 and a half years at that point I had been putting off doing picking up Chief or uh taking any leadership roles just because I wanted to maintain just be a shooter um and door kicker but um you know

my time my time had come and they were like no you're going to do you know your next stop is a leadership role uh so I I decided to take that um you know but the the downfall was once you do your Platoon Chief you can't screen to go over there I mean that's like a hard fast rule um so that was a huge decision for me at that point but uh you know I made the best one um I think for uh and it was also good I made a decision for my family as

well um I didn't want to my wife you know Andre would do whatever I chose to do but I knew she did not want to move to Virginia Beach so that was that was a big factor in there too even after you found out what which Platoon you were taking over I had so I had no qualms like at all about taking over to that platoon um you know I I learned early on that I I'm not going to listen to rumors or whatever of people's reputations of platoon's reputation um I was like you know

what I'll go in there there I mean they're all Team guys um and I'll see what I got like I said everybody started off on a clean slate um and honestly they were a bunch of Good like good dudes good operators um you know after we started training together and what I what I came to found out is like their last leadership and I'm not talking bad about them at all but I mean I think it was pretty LAX um there wasn't a lot of effort put uh into getting better at your skillcraft it was

just like go through the motions and then we'll go on deployment um which to me that's not you know we should always be striving to be better uh And you start doing that by working on the basics of your craft and then go from there yeah so that's like the mentality I came in with I was like Hey we're just going to start from the bottom work our way up and especially when you have we had about four new guys uh two Jos um and then two enlisted new guys um and you know you're only

as good as your slowest guys so I was like hey we got to bring these guys up to speed as well there was only four new guys in The whole yeah and that's the least amount I've had um in all my other platoons so why were these guys rated the lowest or the worst platoon at Team seven when you showed up what they told me when I what the platoon told me um after I got to know them a little bit cuz I wasn't I wasn't going to like pick like pick ad and be like

why were you guys rated last but you know eventually it started coming out and a lot of it was uh what they told me was due to Their leadership um they blamed it on their lpo their Chief and their OIC uh saying that they you know none of them got along and that they didn't have good command and control and you know it all went downhill from there I guess um were their tactics Savvy yeah I mean they weren't they weren't bad at all that's and that's what I came to found out I was like

as soon as we started you know working from From ground up I was like these guys are he's good to go you know they just I think they just needed to have somebody there that's like this is what our job is this is what entails and we're going to work at this uh and uh by the time we had started work up you know a big uh example of of it is we started work up um our first block was CQC um and usually what trade at the guys who run QC will say is like

you know the first platoon to come through from a team is usually sort of a mess because they have you know they're sort of figuring it out real quick CQC is Close Quarters combat so CQC is when you see a team of operators kick a door in and and flood a structure so just uh for that yep so yeah trade at they you know they usually and I saw it too like you know a platoon isn't fully there yet you know they're they're still getting used to working Together um I wanted to cut that out

by making sure we busted our Aster on prodev and when we showed up we were pretty much a cohesive tight unit at that point and it showed you know tryad told me they're like you guys look like you've been working together for you know two years like this is this is the best we've seen in platoon come for your first block [ __ ] really yeah so you like which was awesome I mean it was the hard work paid off and I think the guys you Know whether if they were bitching about it or not

finally saw that they're like oh we're actually doing awesome this time you know and that that continued all the way through UL um so how long is prodev nowadays prodev is it fluctuates but usually it's still still around the six month five to six month Mark um from the time you get back from deployment to where UL starts so in six months and in UL or or prodev the guys aren't even all together So you took a team who's not even all together until until the actual workup started and they're already [ __ ] going

from the worst Splatoon to operating at the highest level at that particular team yeah they're getting high remarks from trade atad um which I don't think they were used to from their last you last go so they were you know they were all riding pretty high I think and feeling good which they should you know they put in the work um big thing I Did during prodev is I took the new guys and I had them go watch a team going through CQC or and I'd have them come back and I was like you guys

are putting us through CQC you're in the rafters and you're going to critique all the older guys as they go through you know I had them take notes of everything that trade it was putting out and I think that was a huge huge thing I mean some of the older guys didn't like it at first because they were like you know why are These new guys critiquing us but it built confidence in the new guys um I think that's how they they got up to speed real quick um and it also humbled which you know

I told him I was like you critique me you know the OIC the chief everybody down I was like there's no no rank here this is this is about our craft so you know you see something say something so we'll fix it um so it it humbled everybody you know guys that thought they were you Know above it all um and then it also brought the newer guys up yeah I mean [ __ ] you that's God damn that's good call uh you crush the egos yeah right at the very beginning and that's what yeah

I think that's huge is take ego out of the equation and it's uh you know you'll flow better for sure yeah so uh yeah we went through work up worth fine um work Up's about six months um and we had no no issues during any of That I think you know you had your kind of minor bumps uh um I'm one of the J got a safety violation or a couple safety violations which is not out of the norm you know we we push the envelope and training uh but I started noticing like he he

get the safety violation and was very like I'm not signing that this isn't right I shouldn't get that uh which I've never seen before um you know usually you get handed something by trade it you're like Roger that sign it and move on um so that was sort of like a first indic of okay you know the attitudes I I was dealing with but you know I pulled him aside gave him a talking tun was like you're sign this and move on it doesn't this has nothing to do with you as an operator like as

long as you don't make the same mistake we'll be fine you know and so he did reluctantly but uh there was definitely a little bit of attitude there um but I you know I Didn't think anything of it uh and uh we we ended up finishing work up um we knew from the ge-o or I knew from the Geto that I wanted to go deploy to missou um when did the team find out um the end of end of workup I believe is when they officially were like this is where you're going um it's it

was it's pretty designated beforehand like this is where you know this troop's going to S conom this Troop's going to Guam but that can change at any time so if a troop is messing up or platoon's messing up and they're like okay we're not sending you guys to the hot spot like we'll send somebody no another platoon that's got their [ __ ] wired tight um we're going to send them there instead so I mean your your place can go at any time yeah um it's sort of you know it's competition based which I think

the way it should be yeah well I mean that's a pretty [ __ ] Good spot to go at that time um I had done my homework uh beforehand um I had one of my best friends was actually out there well um in missou at the time uh from Team five so I was keeping in pretty good comms with him sort of getting a getting a read on like how it was going to be you know by when it was going to be our time to deploy uh and it was it was looking good um

you know they they hadn't started clearing mul yet until the very end of their their team FES deployment and they managed to push through the East Side um and uh we we were going to come in and take the whole west side which was all Urban and pretty massive Dam um so it was it was definitely what we were you know what we were wanting uh I mean was the team I mean pretty fired up about it the you mean the platoon yeah yeah the platoon I mean everybody was on board um and I let

that I let that know soon as I took over uh that that was my Intention was like we will go to the hot spot wherever that's at like that's my goal um I plan on being the best platoon here going to the best spot on deployment and having a good deployment um and everybody was on board you know yeah I mean I would think they'd be pretty [ __ ] stoked to have you know they have weak leadership supposedly and and then and then you come in a [ __ ] hot operator with a [

__ ] metric [ __ ] ton of combat experience to take it over They were ranked the worst Splatoon now they're the best Splatoon and uh you're going to do exactly what you signed up for which sounds like you know it's another dream deployment yeah it should be you know any team guy should be chomping at the bit to uh go on a deployment like that um so yeah we got uh we did we got picked to go um exactly where we wanted to go which was awesome um it was our ourselves and Then another

uh golf platoon which they were from another troop they paired us together and we were going to fall under marso cuz they had uh control at that point um so we were just going to fall under them and operate under uh marock um so we started before we deployed I started you know communicating with uh the guys over marso just seeing how they were going to operate so we just have a good working relationship with them um and it turned Out that the x or the co that was going to be out there was actually

when I was with the Marines was uh one my EXO so we knew knew each other no [ __ ] yeah it was a small world that definitely helped out a b oh big time and he was this guy's an awesome probably one of the best dudes I've ever been around in the military I mean I I pretty much idolized him when I was 20 years old you know with the Marines just a stud uh but yeah we um ended up getting you know getting to go Where we wanted to uh everything was fine no

no issues um I think you know it the typical issues near the end of um with you uh not UL but with the next one uh s sit um you know near the end I think you get a bunch of guys constantly working together for a year and a half um there's going to be little gripes here and there um I started noticing some of the guys bitching about on my OIC uh you know that he talks too much during debriefs or like this just Nitpicky little stuff um which I wish I would have nipped

in the butt right there um but I just took it as like gu's just bitching yeah uh but then uh we got on deployment and we uh hit the ground running um you know I the um we landed uh in herbal and ended up going to we we the platoon split uh one went to the mosle dam house uh and then and um I forget the uh we Ended up going to this Mansion I think it was in shaon and um that's where team five had been operating out of their whole deployment but right when

we landed we found out that we weren't even going to be they're like nope you guys are going living in missou at of fob and uh operating out of there like right in the middle of missou it's right on the outskirts yeah I mean so we we drove out to that fob to sort of uh get get our Eyes on it and seeing what gear we needed to bring and yeah it was literally on the outskirts of I mean they were getting mortared um you know you could see the city you know burning and getting

bombed which you know not too far away yeah um so it was yeah it was pretty close um shitty living conditions um they pretty much just took over some houses and made it into a fob no no real security I mean there was some but it was uh it was just you know Pretty shitty living and just uh no showers no you know we had two portons between you know three platoon and a whole admin unit out there um but that's you know that's what I expected I was like that's whatever this is all we

got to live in yeah I mean that [ __ ] sucks unless you're [ __ ] getting to do what you want to do and then it doesn't matter exactly yeah and it was I was like yeah this is fine um we ended up moving you know into the house that we Were going to live in and it was it was shitty it was like some squatters had been living there for I mean there was feces everywhere so we cleaned that out and I could tell um some of the guys were like what the [

__ ] like pissed that we were living in conditions like that uh but it was like this is this is the way it is you know um and it's not like conditions that we haven't worked in in the past you know doing vso and all stuff like That um we definitely uh hit the ground running but it was like a huge learning curve um we were doing triaa which is a vis assist in a company um which I had never done before in that capacity um we got introduced to our partner Force then pretty much

the night before we went out what were they like they were ER emergency response division um They were a pretty they're a pretty massive partner Force I don't know the I remember the exact number Iraqis yeah they were Iraqis but they were not vetted um so there was a mix Mash of Iraqis with a lot of Iranian influence oh [ __ ] um so we were told you know to keep eyes in the back of your head the whole time um you know you can't really trust them fully um but honestly like I met their

leadership and uh Um they I was fine it was good to go they were all about getting after it um they were motivated to go clear um which is wasn't I wasn't used to seeing that you know I think a lot of times you're partner forces you sort of got to work work at it to get them to to work these guys were ready to go um we were told pretty much you know you're going to go out with them and advise and assist in the company and that was pretty much like it and you're

Like okay uh and we were also told we were not going to be allowed within 800 meters of the front line of Front Line trace of where they were how many of these guys were there ERD probably uh 5 600 five or 600 M and how many of you guys are there well just platoon was 24 and then we had two other platoon there but you split them in half yeah so each of us each platoon had uh their own Iraqi Officer which whatever rank they wanted to give themselves uh but we would coordinate with

them and then they would tell the guys in the front lines like who were actually the ones Clearing Houses and pushing through the city of like hey this is where you should go or this is what you should be doing holy [ __ ] dude I was expecting you to say like 20 30 guys 5 or 600 [ __ ] and that's you know I could be like strong over estimating that by just by a little Bit you know it was hundreds of them uh so you weren't really like with the actual guys themselves on

the front lines you were back with the whatever Leon they had with you um and our our main mission was to go out there and support them through air um we had we all carried AXS on us and we could you know with the um ERD like one out of every five of them had a beacon on them that we could follow them on see them on our Attacks and know their positions you know so we'd be like okay that fire team's there this fire team's there and that not that that worked all the time

so an AAC can you describe that for uh an AAC is pretty much just like a handheld device you know looks like an iPhone um and it pretty much gives you a clear uh picture of the battlefield um and and you can have your position your uh friendly positions on there and also you know the Allies or the partner force That you're with um you can track them so that way when you're dropping bombs or making movements you know you're you're uh there's a clear yeah um picture like real time yeah real time like drone

feed looks like right yeah I didn't have that [ __ ] when I was in no that's that's the first time we we used it as well um but we were we we boned up on it pretty good before we uh got out there so each pretty much each operator had one um in The platoon and AAC uh so um the first like I said the first couple weeks were like a learning curve um we I would brief the CEO of marock each night like this is where I'm going tomorrow um they would approve it

long as it was like 800 M behind the front line and then we would I would usually pick a secondary and tertiary spot just in case that didn't work out um but the uh first couple weeks we went out there and um it was a uh it was a crazy sight Um it reminded me of like something out of Brave heart to where we got out there the Iraqis hadn't started clearing yet they were like lined up in a line Vehicles tanks and then all you know mortors were just like coming in from Isis Just

Landing all over the place and uh I was like okay what's the game plan here and they were like go and they just started driving into the City and you know IDs going off and you're just sort of Watching it holy [ __ ] you're just like okay this is pretty pretty legit yeah um but then uh what we came to find out is you know we would set up in this position um and I at first I had the whole platoon out you know so we were going out with six Matt V's um and

we'd all set up in this position and you know there was mortars going off everywhere and uh Isis would fly drones over and so they would they flew a drone over your position They would just get your grid and next thing you know mots are coming in you know near you so myself and my OIC Jake porier we decided we're like you know what this doesn't make any sense to have the whole platoon out here where we have too much of a big footprint here and somebody's going to get you know hit with a mortar

one day uh if we just have this have everybody go out so we decided to split the platoon up um I would send I'd sent half plon back to the mansion and mle damn house so they could just chill rest and refit for a week and then uh I kept half Bon out with us and they would rotate week on week off so that way guys were able to go back and get a break and you know we're getting a fresh set of guys um every other week that we're ready to go um real quick

uh just kind of like paint the picture a little bit do you have an estimation of how many Isis Fighters Were in mosul at that time thousands thousands I I would say I mean they were yeah I mean it was I so moo was like I don't know three or four times the size of San Diego yeah so I mean they had years like three or four years to fortify that place um waiting for exactly what was going on which is us trying to come in there um so they I mean it was it was

pretty crazy to watch They had intricate tunnels dug all over the city that went for miles holy [ __ ] they had um I've never seen so many IEDs in all my deployments I mean I mean they had them everywhere every parked vehicle you might as like it was a v bid um they had it ready to blow they had vbid staged hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of V bids staged all throughout the city and [ __ ] we would push through and we usually around noon we Called it vbid paloa um they would just

start coming out of the woodwork and you just see them blowing up left and right um and you know maybe like 10 12 a day you would watch go off what were they targeting so they would Target the uh partner forces so as the partner forces are clearing through Isis has you know it was like drone wars in the air there was drones all over the place and uh they would have a guy sitting in the Ved which he Is welded in there he might might have been in there for days um just waiting and

then they activate them through comms or like turn your car on and this guy can't half time they can't see you know everything is um looks like a Mad Max vehicle um they have plates welded onto every every piece of the car and so they're directing them through comms you know back up go forward take a right you know they're going slow and then they' be like okay put your foot on the gas And now blow yourself up and they you know Target you know they'd be guiding them into wherever the partner forces were or

us if they saw us we we came pretty close to one um had one go off about 20 yards from us damn these guys got pretty high tech yeah it was definitely a new environment um for me because it was it was definitely like a 360 and you know you're looking up in the air and not not only down at the ground for IEDs but you're now you're Looking up in the air for drones because as soon as a drone flies over you're like okay here come the MERS or they have our position uh so

it was uh it was different yeah but it you know it was uh something that we just adapted to along the way um and that's when uh after about two weeks of doing the rigar roll of going out there picking a spot getting mortared you know drone would fly over we would take Morts until we're like okay this isn't safe Anymore we're going back uh became pretty frustrating because it didn't feel like we were making that big of a dent U or having that big of an impact um at that time all we were doing

was just launching a puma and Reporting enemy movement and uh so me and the OIC talked and I was like hey um I'm pretty frustrated with the way things are going he was too I was like let's take more of an offensive posture here I was like this is what let's split the group up When we go out I was like We'll go pick our spot um and then we'll go wrecky a a good building that we can get into and that we were able to engage from um and so he was like yep that

sounds like a good idea how were you rcking were you so we would go out to our spot designated spot and then I would take myself uh probably three other dudes from Platoon along with um maybe three or four partner Force guys that I thought were good to Go um and we would go on a little Patrol not too far from you know the spot where we're at you know we probably you know 2 300 M on foot were you guys gared up like the locals or were you was no k out no we were

kitted out um patrolling just like you know in the open it was Daylight um but we were pretty far like behind the front lines so we're still 800 M so it's not we weren't going into Enemy territory but you always there's there's always that chance yeah because the front lines would fluctuate you know yeah Isis might take a huge step forward one night and we show up the next day and be like holy [ __ ] we just lost all this ground overnight yeah and there's [ __ ] thousands of them throughout the city so

it would be nothing for you know somebody to [ __ ] skate by exactly I mean that's the other thing is when we drove in every day There was I mean hordes hordes of women and children and Men leaving fleeing the city so we're literally driving through hundreds and hundreds of people you know you don't know which one who's Isis and who's not it was it was chaos um but yeah so we started splitting up the ele like the elements so I would take a wcky element up pick a good spot um that had good

advantage point of the uh Battlefield come back grab all the Weapons uh Gustaf javelins whatever we needed and then we would just send set up an op in there for the day um and it ended up working out really well um we started seeing really good effects good effects from doing that the uh partner forces were loving it um because we were actually engaging um with them with our organic weapons and not just the air and what I came to realize is the the partner forces would uh clear to a certain point until and if

they they Were taking you know gunfire and they would just stop and they're like we're not moving um until something they would just be like blow this whole block up drop bombs on it which we're not you know like we're not doing that like well then we're we're not moving and so what I found out is i' go up like okay where are you taking sniper fire from they're like oh that building you know like okay cool look at it like all right third Third level like yeah jab you know shoot a javelin at it

we jav it and they would all start cheering and start clearing right on so uh javelin's a kind of it's a missile launcher for those of you that don't know yeah so they're ask so your partner force your men are taking they're getting engaged they're getting shot out they're getting [ __ ] blown up they're asking you to blow up a city block and you say no which so you're showing restraint there somebody that's A you know accused of being a uh merciless killer your guys are getting [ __ ] killed and you're telling them

that you can't you can't do what they want you to do because innocent people are going to [ __ ] die exactly yeah so yeah um but once we we were able to engage with the javelins which are uh you know pretty precise and accurate um they they loved it and they would just start moving forward so that's how we sort of kept them going every day um and The you know the command marot command was like loving it you know we'd come back and they're like you guys are kicking ass like this is this

is great you know and the fact that we were requesting to go out not requesting but we were like we're going out every day um we could have taken so we had three platoon and we could have worked in shifts to where you'd have go out one day two days off um but me and my o were like no we want to go about every day um This is a golden egg of a deployment we want to get every every little bit out of it we can um so you were tight with with your OIC

oh yeah yeah me and him had a really really good relationship um just an awesome dude um really good officer but also he was not uh how to say this politely like not like every other o where he thinks you know like I'm I'm the officer and I'm in charge like he really like we bounce Stuff off each other and he listened to me on a lot of things and was like okay you know he's receptive yes big time um and so yeah we that was that was thank God me and him got along um

and I think that's what really like helped us move forward to that deployment um because we were on the same page the whole time um the uh so we started implementing those tactics um you know breaking up and Doing the wrecky wrecky piece and um we started getting deeper into the city um and it got a little more hairier the deeper we got in um the front line like I talked about earlier started really getting skewed a lot um because the closer we got to Old mosul which is the little little city inside of mosul

which is like a the oldest city there is there um you know it's from Biblical times yeah they had that place locked down like that was their isis's like Call like the Beehive you know and so when we started bumping up against that that's when the partner for like were I mean they were getting swacked left and right um [ __ ] so it and it out a little hairy for us sometimes too we had our uh we had our turp was um blown in half or uh by a some kind of rocket that was

shot at us um and uh it just got it it started getting a little too too dangerous I guess um and we made the command made the call M was like Okay we're going to switch um fobs and we're going to go all the way to the North End of Missoula and start clearing from that way um because either like the partner forces aren't going to they're not going any further um y so was it just uh was it just team seven Alpha platoon andar ele and team seven golf platoon so that's what maybe like

50 [ __ ] people well you also um you also had uh other partner forces out there Dude it was it was a hodg podge of so we had er um which we were partnered up with you had um I forget the the name of the other one it was like uh yeah I forget their name but they they were actually a vetted group um which nsw was in charge of so there was another platoon a Bravo platoon but they were working under a whole different they were working under nssw so they were taking a

whole different section of Mosul so you got to think like you know there's the whole west side of mosul I mean it's massive so you had Bravo platoon working with their partner for us here us on the other side working with ours and then you had a contingent of like other random Iraqi forces like fed pole which is their police unit I guess they're also clearing so what end up happening is we're clearing through and we just started conversing on each other um and How was the communication it was good like with Bravo we we

would you know talk to them while we're out there and we're like hey this is you know this is where we are this is where you guys are cool there was never any problem between American forces now with the partner forces like fed pole ERD and uh whoever Bravo was with I forget their name that got super hairy um you know our golf platoon got lit up pretty bad uh B fed pole just driving in one day um the Whole other hve started getting shot at um you know we'd have green on Blues almost every

other day like not actual green on black they weren't shooting us but they would shoot at us because it was just it was hard you could try to mitigate it as much you can but eventually you know once we started conversing on each other it got real uh pretty hairy um so that's I think the decision to move to the north was a was a good one um because it sort Of opened it back up again uh so we packed up within 48 hours and moved to the north side of mos and started clearing from

there um that is actually the first day the first day we started clearing from there is uh the day of the the incident um that became so famous um we we uh you know it's sop we had a pres predesignated spot um we went out and we were actually a lot closer that day to the uh enemy Than we had been it was probably we were probably like 300 300 400 yards from them from this uh Village that they were there was this little village or a town or whatever you want to call it right

right before you get into the main Urban part of missou that we had to go through and we were told that the Isis was you know they've been using that Village and they were all in there um and sure enough we showed up that morning probably around 6:37 in the morning um Picked a pretty good spot behind some walls where the uh Matt V that the turrets could see right over the wall and yeah it was like a turkey shoot they were I mean they were all out in the open just walking back and forth

between Huts armed yeah um we waited we sat there and watched them probably for about 10 15 minutes waiting for the our partner for us to start actually clearing through um which you know typical Iraqi fashion they were just Taking their time um so we decided like all right we're just going to start engaging and we probably engaged these guys for an hour um I mean it was it was awesome everybody you know 50s were going off snipers javs um and we pretty much decimated most of the most of the guys in there that Village

before ERD started clearing no [ __ ] yeah how many like how many guys do you think there were in there in that Village total probably 60 maybe 60 guys and how many Of you uh there was at the time probably like 13 or 14 of us and the partner force was partner Force L gagging ass around yeah they were just back there waiting you know as we're engaging how much do you think you thinned them out before they got there oh big time we thinned out most of them before they even started clearing and

we let them know um I think that's what they were waiting for you know we finally were like hey why did you guys Do all the Dirty Work yeah which is fine we were like yeah [ __ ] it we'll do it yeah it's is uh thanks you know uh but they they started clearing through um really had no issues um because everybody was pretty much dead um I mean do you think you you guys killed what 75% of them 80% I'd probably say 80% or even higher maybe 90% of them cuz they really had

no they they went through that Village pretty quick um we Had uh hell fired a couple buildings um and actually the one one of the buildings that we hell fired um is where they dragged this Isis fighter out of the partner Force as they cleared through dragged him out and brought him back to us um and that's where the whole debacle happened yeah you know uh I know I said we weren't going to talk about the uh the controversy but you know I don't understand I watched this documentary called The Gallagher effect And uh put

out by somebody on the New York Times and they basically paint this [ __ ] Isis fighter like some little innocent little [ __ ] kid yeah and you know one thing I just don't understand how half of the nation can be so up in arms even if you did stab the [ __ ] kid you know to death I mean here's a journalist ripping you apart when 2014 they've got journalists on getting b tv getting their heads like literally Saw off on [ __ ] television and then they paint this [ __ ] kid

like he's some little innocent the poor little Isis kid yeah it's pretty disgusting they put people in cages and burn them alive oh yeah you know I mean the [ __ ] that we saw in that deployment too not to like whatever Sidetrack but dude I haven't seen anything like that in any any of my other deployments um you know you always see like the atrocities of war And stuff you know innocent people get killed it's just that's War um you know civilian casualties on both sides uh what is some of the [ __ ]

that you saw that these guys were doing um I think one of the first things I saw um going through we ended up pushing into this neighborhood and uh we were driving through and uh they had uh like a playground in the middle of these like apartments and they had like this fence Going around it and I remember getting out and like walking up look trying to wrecky a spot and I look over and they had uh kids heads little kids heads on the spikes just sitting there um and women too there was dead bodies

all over the place so I I don't like it's hard to even put like I tell people that and they're like oh yeah yeah but like no they nobody was cleaning up the dead as we Were pushing through so there was you just like walking over either piles of bodies that they just pile up or they were just scattered through the streets [ __ ] man so they were cutting little kids heads off and sticking them on a [ __ ] pole yeah um and then at certain points we would be uh in certain areas

where there was like a field or some kind of open space between us and Isis you know and it'd be they'd probably be like 800,000 meters Away and um they would send hordes of uh women and kids running over the through the field towards us and then just mow them down uh about halfway because they were trying to draw us out or our partner Force out to the open to come help them um which uh a couple times they succeeded you know the partner forces they would try and run out and help these you know

women and kids and then they end up getting smoked too uh but yet again you you held restraint Yeah it's well there's nothing I mean and it's you know it's one thing to like talk about it or you know like you know I see it's funny to see like uh reports on missou now or they do like these documentaries and they they do like oh there was horrific stuff that happened but they don't go into detail about like what horrific things they were doing you know it's another thing to actually be there and see it

going on and um that's tough man I mean it Does it it emotion gets involved um you know you're just like how can people be doing this to and you can't [ __ ] do anything yeah you can't you just sit there and you're like okay well we'll wait until we can push forward um they would also they were using our Roe against us um they uh would chain civilians into uh buildings you know chain them along the walls inside and then they would put silhouettes on the roof of like with Weapons so then ISR

would see it and be like oh there's two dudes down there and we'd end up dropping on the building and then they would come out and use it as propaganda against us like oh you see what they just did uh you know it was one big like Evil game they were playing um that's hard to do man to watch people get mowed down I mean yeah it sucks so yeah it's it's crazy to think you Know after this whole thing and like how much the med you know half the media or most of it tried

to empathize with this Isis Fighter um and you know I think NPR just recently went they sent A team out to Iraq and they interviewed this Isis Fighters family they found him and they were like you know trying to be sympathetic and even the Isis spider's dad in the interview which I was watching and was like yeah he joined Isis I told him not To like that's it you know it's uh it's pretty black and white you know yeah um but yeah the uh to see like you were talking about to see the media just

try and twist it and well I'm just trying to show like you want to talk about [ __ ] restraint you know that's that's that's hard to watch and uh I mean I can relate to it one of my biggest regrets is uh was sitting in a sniper hide and we were supposed to be killing anybody that blew up a [ __ ] Convoy and it was in front I was set up in front of a school with my partner and we were all ghillied up and these kids [ __ ] came down and got

out of school they were probably about 10 12 [ __ ] years old and pulled out a cell phone and you know we [ __ ] called it in and uh they were like don't [ __ ] do anything and you know that sounds weird like oh who gives a [ __ ] they had a cell phone well back in 04 05 nobody had [ __ ] cell phones unless they were getting ready to call something that was going to detonate a bomb and sure as [ __ ] you know I saw a [ __

] Convoy get blown up and didn't do anything about it and that's that's what I don't think people get is like they think civilians maybe think war is black and white I'm like it's gray it's all gray that's that's where you have to live and you got to make you got to make Decisions in that gray um you know it's nothing you know like You' see guys like even on this deployment or even Afghanistan guys with Icom or whatever I mean that's considered a weapon yeah you know because they're communicating but then it's on you

as a shooter to make that choice like okay is this guy actually doing something on that icon or or is he just somebody else and sometimes that decision yeah you know it can be right or wrong but as long you as Long as you can live with it um I think you do a bed at night knowing that you did the right thing then y you should be fine uh yeah so yeah the um going back to this they brought the Isis fighter in um they brought him to you or you went to him no

they brought him to us and it was very like confusing and chaotic when they brought him back um the I was actually in another spot so I had moved once they had cleared through that Village I had uh moved my vehicle and another one um to the flank sort of set up like in an L to cover them as they went through um so I was probably like 400 yards away from the main element and uh it came over the radio that hey I think they they have an Isis fighter here um I was like

all right check I was like they're done clearing I was like we we'll come back there uh went back and um you know Walked up there's a crowd around him um a lot of guys from my platoon and a lot of my rackis were around this guy I walked up and he looked like he was on death door um just out of it um and I was like hey get the med bag and we'll start treating this dude um and I wasn't to be clear like I didn't give a [ __ ] whether this guy

lived or died yeah um it was more of like this guy's here what are we doing you know I I can't just execute this guy that's not the right I Mean know I I would have it didn't it wouldn't have mattered to me but I was like get the med bag and we'll work on him until he dies um and that's pretty much it did you come over comms and say everybody standof he's mine no you didn't no I I said something to the effect of like yeah just keep him there and we'll come back

okay um the yeah that whole thing they they somehow coordinated to three of them and came up with that same line um but then it was Just whatever they're ridiculous the it was like two or three of the guys in trial said you know like oh he said this but then and even their buddies were like oh I didn't hear him say that so it's it's all convoluted um but I did say you know hold him there we're coming back um cuz I wanted to see what we had uh but the guy was pretty much

on death door so I got a medag uh walked up and Um I started assessing him um the the Iraqi General was actually putting him back on the they brought him in on a hood of a Humvee and and they were throwing him back on the hood of the hve um just like willly Dilly I was like hey we'll we'll treat him we'll take care of him he's like okay uh left him there I assessed him he had been think he had a either shrapnel or gunshot wound to the left leg and he definitely he

wasn't breathing properly So uh I did a cke CED him um K had no issues uh got missing in the tube and then by that point two or the other medic and my platoon had come over and started assisting real quick just for the the audience and the listeners a cke is when you cut a hole in somebody's neck so that they can breathe yeah and uh you know and when I was uh kind of doing my research and they said that you had stabbed this kid to death this poor Little Isis yeah young boy

uh they said you stabbed him to death and then I found out that you CED him and I was wondering if they SP spun that because it would technically no they they didn't use that no they they legitimately um Craig Miller who was my lpo lied and said I legitimately took my knife out and started just going to town on this guy's neck in front of everybody which is a complete Lie um I cracked him and then the two other Medics were there I just got up and we at that point the Iraqi partner force

was like all circled around us um and I looked up they had phones so I went and got the general and I was like hey back these guys up and get them out of here and tell them stop taking pictures of us because they were Infamous for they would take pictures of everything over there and we were like hey we don't want we didn't Want to be any of the pictures um so he did so he was like you know back off um clear everybody out I went back and at that point they had already

done uh two chest tubes on them uh one was jacked up on the right side they messed that one up but on the left they got a chest tube in him and um they just started doing other procedures on him so at this point he was pretty much like a live tissue lab and so guys were who were interested in Becoming a medic one of the new guys came up and were like yeah go ahead and do an IO like it's pretty much like a pig Lab at this point U and no there's no issues

what was going on like nobody was like hey this is you know I'm bothered by this everyone was on board um and uh the one of the new guys started giving him a inner Aus um in the chest plate um to try and get some fluids in him they tried to give an an IV he had no veins so they went IO um and at that point I had walked away again went and talked to the OIC um he was just like what's going on with that guy I'm like he's he's done you know he'll

be dead here or he is dead already he's like okay um he was you know busy talking to the jtac at that point and there was nothing going on at this point so I think that's another thing there was no firefight it was pretty much they had cleared to that Village and it was they were done for The day um so I had walked back and Corey Scott who was at the head of the patient or the Isis fighter not the patient but uh he was like yeah he's done he's dead I was like okay

are you sure he's like yeah I was like okay NE got on my knees I flicked him in the eye no response uh think I gave him like a sternal or a side rub nothing and then uh this is where the story becomes what it became is I took my knife out I just like poked Him in the side didn't break any skin jabbed him no response put it back uh and that was it it was so the reason is doing that for the listeners is it's just you're just confirming that he's dead yeah you

know sternum rub somebody's going to they're going to move an ey tap you're going to see [ __ ] their eyeball move you know and same with a knife they're you're going to get some kind of a re some kind of response so yeah I did you know three Different things and I just wanted to make sure this dude was dead and we're not like leaving this guy barely barely breathing U so yeah he was done and that was uh pretty much it we um you know all got up and I requested we actually requested

to go back to base because we're sitting around doing nothing um we were told to stay out there for the remainder to like a couple more hours just to see if the partner for us would clear anymore but We we knew the partner Force Enough by then and we were like they're not they're not moving the rest of the day they're done um but we stayed out there and uh that's when uh you know board Team guys um were all sitting around they started messing with the body uh which would I mean it was no

nobody was thinking anything of it at the time yeah um my OIC came up and was like hey since we have time we not do Anything do you want to reinlist because I was planning on reenlisting that deployment at some point and I I just like other deployments I've been on i' reinlist i' reenlisted out in the field uh so I was like yeah let's we do it now we got time um so we did a short little reenlistment ceremony not over the body not like the body body wasn't even part of it uh it

was in the vicinity with along with three other bodies that were off to the left uh we were at I mean That sounds like there's [ __ ] bodies everywhere in the entire city so where the hell are you even going to have rein list out there whether's not a [ __ ] body yeah it wasn't like yeah the body wasn't even an issue or a thought in no Rel listman thing so I reenlisted um and uh got done with that and guys started coming down and they were taking pictures they were doing stupid pictures

with the body um you know onesie tws coming down just pretty Much [ __ ] off yeah um you know didn't think anything of it at the time and then I even went over there and took couple pictures with them just [ __ ] around um and uh the started uh a couple of guys started flying the Drone they were playing games like seeing how low they get you know drone to the body and bounce it up and down and all all this saying it right now sounds pretty [ __ ] Up but at the

time it's like nobody you know we were just like whatever we're just waiting here uh I I think what people don't [ __ ] understand is is no human is supposed to experience this kind of [ __ ] yeah and when the when that [ __ ] that becomes the [ __ ] daily Norm yeah you don't think anything of it and that's it's hard to explain to people like you're in a completely different mindset over there you know people don't understand too is the [ __ ] comedy like and I'm you know that's how

look go to a firehouse go to a police station go to a [ __ ] Seal Team go to a Marine base and when when humans deal with trag tragedy on on a regular basis the only [ __ ] coping me mechanism that you have is humor yeah and that humor gets [ __ ] dark but the important thing is you you're finding something you know what I mean to to to kind of keep your [ __ ] mind going exactly yeah if you Can't laugh about it then you know have have fun while you're

in chaos then you're going to be pretty miserable uh so yeah guys were [ __ ] off and uh then it was time to go home you know we went back to base um I went came back debriefed uh the day uh the body wasn't brought up during the debrief you know uh then went and got a workout did did a little workout and uh after the workout I walked in to a uh a meeting that was going on with the lpo And everybody below um and every got you know real quiet when I walked

in and I was like what's going on what's up uh nothing was said everyone sort of like dispersed well then uh Corey Scott came up to me after ID walked out and he was like hey uh there's guys have some issues with the uh pictures that we're all taking today and I was like okay um what's the problem they're like well some of the guys are scared that the you know They're going to get in trouble for taking pictures or that they're going to be you know out there and I was like all right well

then just delete them like it's pretty simple solution uh he was like all right so he he walked off then Craig Miller my lpo came to my room and pretty much emphasize the same thing to me like hey some of the guys or have issues with the uh pictures and I was like all right I was like bring all this Senor E6 is in uh I brought him in and I Was like what's the issue here um same thing was brought up by the pictures and there was a uh TC burn who was one of

the Medics had a helmet cam on you know during the whole thing and I was like okay I was like so I don't understand what you guys are stressing about I was like don't you know show the pictures anywhere or delete them uh we came to an agreement and uh it was like just delete you know was like you guys have issues then delete it Delete everything and we'll move on and like nothing was done wrong but like you guys think you're going to get in trouble or stressing about it then delete everything they're like

okay um the problem is some of the other guys didn't want to delete them um they were like I'm I don't have a problem with this at all uh but you know I thought the issue was resolved it was everyone was like went on their merry way and like okay Wasn't brought up ever again did you think anything you know anything of it no with the team cohesion or these guys didn't like you or I already knew at that point I was pretty well aware that two of the guys didn't like me um Dylan delay

and uh doton Tolbert they I could just tell from body language and the way they like you know interacted with me that they didn't like me but you know and all honesty I didn't really like them too much but it was this was a Job I'm like you know we have a job to do I'm not going to let uh personal things get in the way here uh but I could tell yeah that they didn't there's something about me they didn't like you know um you could just you know you walk into a room you're

like all right what's going on here um um but uh I think at that point because I don't know if that that that was what fractured or whatever but uh the pictures or any of that was never Brought up again you know the rest of the ployment I think what was what started happening is uh you know the we kept working and it got busier um you know we were going out all the time and I had uh one of the guys in my platoon come up to me and was like hey um I think

we're working too much um you know we're tired and I was like okay um let's have another meeting and I want to hear it you know and the the I pulled the Senior sixes again in and the complaints I heard from that meeting were I don't have time to work out um you know the workloads too much you know or it was sort of petty complaints to me where I'm like dude this is a deployment and not only that I have you guys on a week on week off rotation I'm like you're getting a whole

week back RNR I'm like myself the OIC have been are staying here the whole time and we're not complaining or Whatever I'm like the workload is not going to change and I just let them know that it's like we're going to be going out like you guys have a week to go back and rest and refit and come back out there should be no excuses you know um they didn't take that I don't think too well um didn't say anything to my face but I could tell they were like okay um you know our complaints

didn't get us anywhere uh doltan Tolbert was screening to go to Green Team when We got back so he came up to me and was like I I'm pissed because I don't have enough time to work out to get ready for Green Team uh I was like okay I literally was like I will I understand CU I completely understood I was like you know that's a big thing you um I was like I'll take you off some of the the Ops so you have time uh he's like okay so I took him off you know

the next two days of Ops and was just like hey you you can chill and work out and I came Back the next day and then he was pissed that I took him off the Ops and that I was saying I was punishing him uh and at that point I didn't know what to say to him I'm like dude you just just told me that you didn't want to like go out I'm trying to help you out to go work out and now you're saying I'm punishing you I was like I can't where's where's the

you know where when are you going to be content you know like yeah and that's That's just the kind of attitude I was sort of trying to deal with and honestly like as a leader I was having a hard time uh with it as far as I've never been around guys who were complaining about going out into combat or like actually getting to do the job um so I mean I I don't know if I dealt with it in the right way I didn't I didn't know how to deal with it I was just like

this we're going to keep going the ad Mission first Um you know and I mean what the [ __ ] are you supposed to do tell the United States of America hey we're not going to uh take mosul because uh we need to [ __ ] work out guys yeah you know my butt's starting to Sag a little bit yeah [ __ ] I mean but honestly that was like the dilemma I was in to where I didn't know you know what to do as far as you know I I had called my sea I'm

like dude these guys are [ __ ] bitching you know about this and he was Just like tell him to stop being a bunch of [ __ ] you know I was like all right exactly so I'm I'm doing the right thing then uh but yeah I think from that meeting on it just started you know fracturing like I think guys were these guys that were saying they were tired and didn't want to go out they started really being a toxic group and started trying to get the rest platoon you know to go against me

but it was all this is all done behind the scenes um I had no Idea like any of this was really going on until after the fact how early was this in the deployment and um this was probably 4 months in what was it a six-month deployment seven seven mon but six it was six months of straight work and then the last month we had nothing cuz Miss was clear um so which was good it was like to me I took that as a month of like decompression before you go home which I told the

guys I'm like dude this take this month to Like work on yourself get ready to go home you know this is it was a busy deployment uh but yeah it was it was six months of straight work so around the fourth month I think is when the guys really started not not not the whole platoon I'm talking start picking it up picking up sign these four guys were really working to you know turn the platoon against me um were they all on the same team you said you had broken the team up Into two yeah

so these guys were all in the same same team same group um all Liv together in the same room the whole so they had plenty of time to conspire commiserate you know yeah you know in goes on you know um and it was probably around the fifth month is when I really the end of the fifth month is when I really like found out just how bad it had gotten um I was living with so my I roomed with uh the OIC in one of the Jos M um I asked to Use the J's phone

one day to call back to the uh Shak on house to have them bring up some gear whatever when they came and rotated out he was like threw me his phone and I looked at it you know pulled up who I was going to call and a text thread came up and I saw my name like all through it so um naturally I was like what's this started reading it and this guy was like we're [ __ ] sick of working for Eddie he's going to get one of us killed like he's making us go

Out too much uh he's too aggressive like just a list of complaints this guy was you know and just talking [ __ ] um so I read that and I was like what the [ __ ] is this I mean it sort of took me by surprise um I pulled the Jo in I was like dude what is this and he you know pretty much got white like oh I I don't want I don't have anything to do with it and I was like well obviously they're texting you these things I'm like so you knew

this was like there's Some discontent going on I'm like why don't you just bring it to me and he he completely you know I don't want anything to do with it um so I decided to I didn't know what to do um I was pretty pissed so I you know went and worked out and thought about it and I was like you know what I'll just remove this this guy send him to another platoon and you know rotate him out with another guy that wants to be here and I had guys the whole deployment calling

me Knocking down the door trying to get you know augment us because we were doing the most work uh so I called back and let him know I'm like hey man uh pack your [ __ ] you know I'm going to send you over to Delta I'm going to get somebody else over here take your spot um that didn't go over well that turned ended up being like he was pissed uh so I had one final meeting with the e6s the day the next day uh my OIC calm Me down um was like dude I

know you're pissed just let's all go talk and hash us out which was the right call uh so we drove we actually called off an OP or like going out so we could settle this drama and uh I drove we drove up to the shayon house and um I pull up there and it's all the accusers so it's Craig Miller delay Dalton uh Corey Scott and uh this other guy who ion I won't mention because he's Still active duty and he actually did the right thing um I went and talked to him I walked in

the house they were all standing there looking at me me and I was like called the guy into a room and uh sat him down was like hey let's emotions off the table or trying I was like let's just talk and hash this out what's going on like I like I don't understand why you know your complaints or like what the issue is here and uh we had a good conversation for about 10 15 Minutes and it what it came down to was you know the guys were what he was telling me is the guys

were rotating back for rest and refit for a week and then they were commiserating and creating this hate Circle and it was all you know everything was my fault was all directed at you yeah which I completely understood I was like dude that's not my first rodeo I make usually when guys get tired or whatever leadership gets blamed uh for some you know they're they want To point the finger a [ __ ] about something which is completely normal um so you know we talked about it and he came you know he was like dude

I I realize what you know we're working we're working ourselves up here um and uh you know I explained some tactical things I was doing um to him and he was like no that does make sense and I'm like this is why we're doing this um he was like no I got it um and that was the end of it I was like dude let's just Finish this deployment out I I did tell him I was like dude you are going to like do some [ __ ] Duty for the week because you're texting the

Jo here talking [ __ ] about your Chief uh I was like so I had him doing like Supply runs for a week you know but that was it were they pissed at the the O see at all so while I was in this meeting with this guy the O my OIC was out with the rest of the guys and I guess they were all trying to get him to turn on me they Were like you know he's they told him I was manipulating him uh that I he's not really in charge that I am

um I mean this is coming from E5 E6 is to you know an officer uh the Jake immediately chewed him out told him you know shut the [ __ ] up um that you know he had we had a good working relationship that I you know and that he was pretty pissed that they were they were pulling this like mutinous type crap you know and he was uh he put them In their place I didn't I wasn't there to witness it but I heard about it which is I mean I respect Jake for doing that

you know for standing up um and so I came out after that after that meeting and uh pretty much pulled the rest of the guys in I told him to go ahead and get everything off the I was like get it off your chest I was like what else I'm like why are you guys so [ __ ] angry um and then it came out uh delay was like we heard you called you called us a Bunch of [ __ ] and you called us cowards and uh I was like yeah I did say that

they're like yeah well we're [ __ ] pissed about it um and this is where they told me they're like we've all been together for three this is our third platoon you're the new guy like whatever we like we're together they said that straight to my face so as a like as a chief I was like I was pretty worn out by this point dealing with the drama dealing with this Petty [ __ ] that I didn't think I'd have to deal with on a deployment um I just looked at him I was like you

know what man I was like I apologize I'm like I apologize for calling you guys [ __ ] and cowards all right I was like let's just get over this crap and move I was like if that's what you guys are really mad about then let's just move on and uh finish this deployment out strong you know we' had a good deployment we're being very successful I was like this is All this is doing is just dragging us down this little petty thing we got going on they all agreed um they're like yeah you're right

okay we shook hands uh I'm like all right we'll move on unfortunately I moved on or tried to and they kept their little circle going um which culminated to when we came back from deployment and that's when I found out that they were uh still spreading little rumors about me um I had Uh I had gone home on the first flight on deployment as well which wasn't a easy call um there was you know you usually rotate out three different flights um and then usually the chief is supposed to stay to the end do turnover

go out in the last flight I had uh some personal problems at home with uh my kids um Andrew was having rough time um and uh to be honest I was [ __ ] over being around yeah some of these guys so she has Andrea had never Asked me to come home once early from a deployment no matter what was going on but she was like I'd really appreciate it if you got home you know quicker or sooner and so I made the call I called my uh Mass chief was like dude this is what's

going on he's like yeah no worries go home on the first flight he's you know everything's good to go um so when I left on that first flight these guys really turned it on because I was no longer there and Started going to the OIC and like really trying to hammer home like dude [ __ ] him like you know he was manipulating you the whole time the whole thing all over again yeah um how did you find that out my OS told me he uh he came back on the third flight and um he

was like Hey man and he pulled me aside or we just talked and he was like dude this is what these guys were doing uh he was like they were even so my wife had taken a picture of my me and My kids like you know reuniting deployment reuniting whatever you know hugging each other posted it I mean they were using those pictures like look at he's home with his family and we're not like he shouldn't be home like using all this crap uh to stir things up um luckily my oicc he told me he

was like I they had me going for a second uh but he's like this isn't right you know this none of this it's all [ __ ] um so that's when uh and I had also Heard I had got back on the first flight and nobody was really back at the team just yet um you know guys were still coming in from everywhere they were deployed so there was like handfuls of guys back and I had a couple guys come up to me and they were like hey man like there's a couple dudes in near

your platoon who were saying some [ __ ] about you and uh I was like what are they saying you know he's like well they said That you're tactically unsound you're too aggressive uh that you're dangerous and all that I was like okay you know yeah heard that you've already been [ __ ] proven time and time again yeah but then they were like they also said you're a thief and that's when I was like what and like oh yeah they said you were stealing from everybody that set me off to where I was like

I've never been called a thief before um nor did I steal from anybody I Was like so this needs to be addressed um and i' heard it from it probably two or three people different people at that point so once the whole platoon was back I called them in for a meeting um and you my myself OIC everybody and um I was like dude came in and you got to think like more than half platoon has no clue that this any of this drama is going on they're if they do they don't think it's as

bad as it is um so you Know the Hun and there sort of like what's this meeting about um I was like Hey ranks are off I was like I want to know like what's going on here like what I was like I've been called you know told him everything that I'd heard um and I was like I've been called a thief I was like I want to know right now what I stole from somebody I was like because I've never stolen anything from anybody and I was like so if I somehow did I want

to either fix it or if it's rumors That you guys are starting I want to squash it uh nobody said a word for about two minutes and I told him I was like listen I've already heard it enough times let's just get it out uh Doon tobert was like okay will you stole a Red Bull at a refrigerator six months ago and I looked at him and I was like what and he's like yeah you stole somebody's Red Bull six months ago a Red Bull yeah I was like out of the platoon Fridge and uh

I didn't know what to say to that I was like dude I don't know if I took somebody's Red Bull or not 6 months ago out of the platoon fridge where everybody goes in and just grabs whatever uh but um I was like tell me that's not why you guys are calling me a thief um he's like well that caused a huge issue I was like okay um well I was like I can't either confirm nor deny if I took a Red Bull or not I don't remember I was like Please tell me there's something

else you have something more concrete that you guys are calling me a thief on um the uh what was the Tom mcneel who was the J that I live with the whole deployment um he didn't say anything but Dalton tobert again was like you didn't pay somebody for a haircut you got it didn't pay somebody back for a haircut that they uh paid for I got one hair one haircut that deployment near the end and Tom McNeil paid for it CU me and him went together so I looked at Tom and I was like hey

he's right I didn't pay you back for the haircut I was like I'll I'll go get the money out of the ATM Tom's like no no no it's not a big deal I don't I don't care I was like well obviously you do if this guy's talking for you you know this has been talked about before it must be an issue uh I was like tell me there's something else and there was nothing um Craig Miller Said uh he stated that I stole sunglasses and I um was like I don't have them and he's like

well I have them back now and so I was like well how did I steal them and he's like well I wrote it on the board that somebody stole them and all of a sudden they appeared the next day I was like so you're putting that on me and he was like yeah I was like well but I didn't steal him man you know um and that was pretty much the end of that meeting where I was like dude You guys need to cut this [ __ ] out like stop spreading this I was like

I don't know what's gotten into you and I told them I was like you guys need to decompress like it was a hectic deployment you guys need to go chill out take whatever this two weeks of leave block leave you have and just you know I was like we need to talk somebody talk to somebody but I was like this isn't gonna this isn't going to help anybody you guys keep spreading this hate Um they all were like you know the rest of platoon I think was confused on what was going they were just like

what the [ __ ] but these guys you know some of them not of their head like okay we get it but dton tobert he was like staring daggers at me um when I said this and so I looked at him and I was like or I was like we can go to the fight room which is that trade at and I was like and let's just fight it out I was like if you you guys I'm Like you guys don't like me I don't [ __ ] like you personally I was like ranks are

off I was like we can just go get it out that way and then go on our merry way if that's where you guys want to go um I was like I'll fight every one of you one after the other and I was like and you'll kick my ass but I was like I think it'll we'll feel better at the end uh nobody said a word you know dlon just like looked down at the ground I was like all right then I don't want To hear [ __ ] and I was like I'm still your

Chief and if you guys need help with anything and I did help them out with their next Duty stations you know I was like I'm not holding anything personal here I was like but I did tell Craig and them I was like dude I'm not like your buddy I was like especially after this you guys accuse me of all the [ __ ] and spread lies about me like we're not hanging out or anything but uh I will help you out in your career if you Need help going to your next station or assignment um

that uh they went from that meeting and went to the command and told them like doton and Craig that I had threatened to assault them um that I was threatening their lives because I invited them to go to the fight room and uh settle it that way um and that's where I mean they they started from there and then the the escalation of allegations started I mean It went from that I was too dangerous you know blah blah blah all the other crap with the tactics then after you know he's a thief and then it

escalated too now he's like trying to come after us which wasn't far from the truth I wasn't even thinking about them yeah uh the command actually when Craig and them came up to them and started giving them these complaints they were like hey he's too Dangerous it's tactics are this and this like so the command's like okay well give me some of the tactics he was doing I think this was my uh Tu Commander was like I want all right what was he doing that was so dangerous give me an example they're like oh he

used us as bait he was trying to get us killed so like I was like okay well then give me an example and this is the examples the example they gave me like well we were on a roof getting shot at by a sniper And he uh had one of us put our helmet on a stick and put it you know up at a over the wall so we could see where the fire was coming from and they were like yeah that's been a tactic that's been used yeah forever like did they make you put

your own grape up there like your own head head and he's like no and he was like well what's the issue so they really had no like they were coming with these complaints with no nothing to Back them up they were just I mean the more they tried to explain it the Dumber they sounded um and the command just told them the same thing I did like it sounds like you guys need to go decompress like it sounds like you know you guys need to go chill um they were like well he's a thief and

then my T Commander is like what was he stealing and they're like oh he took power powers out of a care package uh that wasn't his and I think my two Commander's like This all seems pretty Petty and uh if you take that up with the chief's mess then like if you you know which they never did cuz it was all Bs but uh they came back three different times to my T Commander with the same complaints and I think my Tu Commander got fed up and was like listen is there something valid here why

do you guys keep coming back and saying stuff like did this did he do any low act violations or anything like that no They denied it three different times they're like no nothing like that he's like well then if there's nothing like that then go [ __ ] de impress like he got number one Chief out of the team he's you know doing marlock had nothing but good things to say about him like we don't understand why you guys are coming with this BS unless there's something valid and uh they got pretty frustrated at that

I guess um and they about four months later is when they came back and They're like oh we have something like four [ __ ] months mhm yeah and uh they and what we came to find out is you know afterwards they were conspiring over text messages like figuring out a plan like I mean you could see it in all their text messages like we need to make sure our story is water tight so no one could poke holes in it like this and this they were having little meetings you know uh and that's when

yeah for about four months later Craig Miller Went to the TU Commander again who was now he was at a different command so everybody was probably scattered around everyone was scattered off you know to different commands um and that's when uh yeah he came to them and was like okay we have something and he was like what is it and he's like oh he stabbed a prisoner and my Tu Commander was like okay well are we're going to Route this up you sure you know like yeah and that's where it I mean it Skyrocketed from

there it's like they they went and reported it to these guys went and reported to NCIS uh called NCIS themselves and told them that I had murdered an Isis prisoner and that's when it just went off the rails uh you know ncas got involved um this guy agent War Pinsky who was the lead agent D you couldn't have put a a worse actor in this whole situation I mean he uh he pretty much came just to give you like an example or context the first Interview he did like hadn't even done started investigating the case

he brings in Craig Miller um and the first thing he says is this is a black and white open and shut case we already know we got him so go ahead and say whatever and you guys aren't going to get in trol over anything that you did so it was like gave these guys car blanch to just spew out whatever they wanted [ __ ] so basically what with Pinsky did is he formed a prosecution And then did the investigation you know did it completely backwards before we go on with that just heading back yeah

you when you took that platoon over you had one guy that you brought in which sounded like he was your boy your right-hand man your lpo and he got transferred to another platoon because that Chief got shot in the chest correct yes did he live he did yeah dude uh that guy's an animal that Got shot in the chest yeah big old Indian um is that when you started to see maybe the wheel fall off and that's a good point man um I'm glad you brought that up so I did have Craig Miller was not

my lpo um during workup or any of that I had uh this other guy who was was my right-hand man awesome awesome guy awesome operator um and he picked up Chief right before we deployed um but uh he you know the team or the command was like he's going to stay with your plon Cuz usually like if someone picks up Chief they're not going to have two Chiefs in the same platoon they'll move him somewhere else um at least that's the way they did it on that West Coast for a little bit um but uh

they were like yeah he's going to stay as your lpo the whole deployment you know which I was thankful for I mean that guy he was an awesome lpo um just had a good good read on the dudes and he would also come to me if there was anything like right Away like hey man guys are bitching about this or they're wondering about this and we would address it you know uh but yeah about month and a half into deployment Bravo platoon yeah their Chief got shot in the chest um and they uh were needing

a chief so I sent my lpo over there to mosul too yeah um so my lpo went over there and that's when Craig Miller had stepped up as lpo and that is actually where I think Things started to take started going down because Craig was best like really good buddies with all the other senior e6s and I think he found he found it difficult to detach himself as an lpo and not just like a friend peer you know so it was the guys were coming to him with complaints or and whether they were Petty or

not and he was instead of like coming to me and being like hey he was keeping it to himself and sort of just Encouraging it you know yeah um and all that was you know after the fact obviously that I found most of this out or I had you know an idea some of it was going on but not to the extent no confirmation no and I wasn't really worried about digging into it uh I was focused on just going out I mean that's that's the one uh one of the downfalls I'll say like that

I that happened me and my o both admitted it to the platoon like you know We were too focused Mission focused and just like worried about going out every day and we apologize if we didn't we weren't like focused on how you guys were doing I guess you know it was um it could have done a better job at that um but that's yeah that's just my where my mindset was at the time so we're getting ready to take a break before we head into the NCIS investigation and and in the courts and everything but

I do have two questions And one is do you get personal satisfaction out of killing the enemy and two do you respect the enemy I respect the enemy for sure I mean I respect they especially Isis going through I mean they were I mean the I respect their will I respect their will to fight I respect How they're you want to talk about loyalty yeah that's a [ __ ] loyal Bunch right there and they're willing to die for their ideology how [ __ ] up it is it's to me it's impressive to watch guys

blow themselves up on a daily basis off off an idea you know uh do I get personal satisfaction I don't know how to answer that without sounding like a psychopath but like or however I was painted Because now I I find it hard nowadays to answer questions like that because of just how I was painted but yes I get personal satisfaction of taking evil off this Earth um I would say that's a valid answer yeah I do I don't know anybody that I've worked with or myself that doesn't yeah and you know I respect the

[ __ ] out of too I hate them I [ __ ] hate them but you know when you get down to it it's [ __ ] another man that's yeah standing up for what he [ __ ] Believes in which to be honest with you is more than you can say about 99% of the people that live in this [ __ ] country that's the truth right there yeah and that's that's where that level of respect comes in for them you know because at least they're stand they're standing up for something it might be

on the wrong side at least doing it and you know if if you would asked me that Question before all this mess I would have probably been like [ __ ] yeah like I get complete satisfaction out of it um which I do but uh I think just because of the ri roll everything I went through now it's like now you have to be political yeah not even like political but also like just the Judgment you know like I was I've been painted as this war criminal psychopath so therefore I'm always like well if I

answer it truthfully then People like oh you are a [ __ ] yeah crazy bastard where it's like I'm I'm not but yeah I do get personal satisfaction out taking evil off this Earth and killing the enemy just like a firefighter gets personal satisfaction about putting out fires you know yeah it's it's my job well thanks for the honesty on that note let's take a [ __ ] break all right well my fire is kind of Suck but my gummy bears don't head over to vigilance lead.com buy yourself a bag of Gummy Bears and if

your fire suck too get yourself a vigilance Elite beanie Keep Those Grapes warm enjoy the show all right so we're back from the break and uh she just had a hel lacious deployment and your task unit Commander told the boys to get a hold of NCIS so just rewinding real quick Um this [ __ ] is just blowing my mind that um from the era that I was in and every other guy that sat in that [ __ ] chair across for me this would have been a dream deployment so it's it's it's um you

know for whatever it's worth I I would have loved to have been in a [ __ ] platoon like that doing that mission and uh everyone that I know uh from what you're saying in your account would have given anything to been a part of that So um I mean that was some [ __ ] man yeah it was an awesome deployment um probably one of my better ones for sure like just action wise and work-wise um and you know that's what I had I had told these guys you know that same pretty much speech

I was like you know guys will give their right not right now to be where you're at uh you know and you guys are sitting here bitching and complaining about going out too much like that's ridiculous uh that's is that Is that Seal Team wide now is that like how the community is no okay no no well that's good to know no and that's I want you know I made sure I I try to get that point across like the first interview I did um like the actions of these four to five individuals do not

in any way like replicate what what the feelings are in the community as a whole I mean most of the guys that are out there just like you and I would were banging down the door trying to get in On that deployment everybody wants to get in the fight every wants to go on the the hot deployments with the good ones um I just think these four individuals you know they're just it's just a different different breed of uh I you know it's and I'll tell you this like I've tried to wrap my head around

it like how did these guys like get to this point and how why did they go to this you know level to like come at me and I'll never be able to Figure it out honestly like I can come up with try and come up with as many excuses as possible for them or like oh maybe it's cuz they were tired or they were this or that and everything that they did nothing justifies their actions at all um and it's not it's not in my DNA or I'm sure it's not in your DNA to ever

pull some [ __ ] like this where you're like oh I don't like this person so therefore I'm just going to do stuff to take him down and possibly send him Away for life especially another teammate you know well moving on what happens when uh they tell the boys contact NCIS So they were uh pull I think they were pulled into a little meeting um and they were pretty much told like if you guys want to move forward with this here's the number to NCIS um and so these guys contacted NCIS uh my Tu Commander

went and reported it up the chain of command that This was told to him um they the headshed um above him which was at group one I think it was a group one Jag told him is there anybody willing to come forward and say they saw this um he said yeah I don't know um went back and he's like are you guys willing to come forward um and at that time not all of them were uh they weren't on board Craig Miller was like well I'll come forward and say it um but they were like

we need You know if this really happened we need more people to come forward uh they you know they got I think so at that at that same time when the the command Jag was telling them to come forward they were already talking to NCIS as well uh so it was like this discombobulated um who reported what you know and I think that that became a whole another piece of drama later on um which they tried to charge my Tu Commander with uh obstruction of justice Or hiding it whatever not reporting it um which is

he did um but once they they called NCIS themselves and were like you know we have this case or whatever um that's when it started went off the rails um I was pulled in around that time and told that I was under investigation um officially uh it came out on the command uh whatever they call it um the blot whatever it goes out to all of nsw um and it said that I was being investigated for uh laws of armed Conflict is that is that how you found out I was pulled into the Master Chief's

office um this is actually uh I got pulled into the master chief of trade it um he uh he's out now but uh he he pulled me in and said hey you're under investigation um for low act violations I asked him what were what is it like what's the lowak violation he's like he told me he couldn't tell me he couldn't talk to me about it um wasn't I you know He's like I'm not going to talk to you about it and um I asked him what I should do uh I was like I've never

been in a situation like this and he was like no I I can't tell you anything um which was pretty disappointing uh but then one thing I remember he said to me uh before I left his office is he looked me straight in the eye and he said if if you did what they're saying you they you did you need to come out out and fess up to it now and own up to it and I was Like I don't even know what you're saying I did he's like you know what it is and you

need to fess up to it uh and that's when uh I I shut the door to his office and told him I was like dude I'd been on I knew this master chief I'd been on offs with him before um I'd seen him pull some sway [ __ ] and I was like you know I've never judged you or anybody else for their actions uh and I appreciate if you didn't judge me especially when I don't even know what's Going on right now um and I'd appreciate some help you know but if you don't have

anything helpful to say then just shut the [ __ ] up like don't talk to me then you know uh so I walked out of there and that's when I I went to my buddy uh another another operator and asked him what I should do and he gave me the name of uh his lawyer um who I contacted he told me I should contact him just in case this thing went off the rails which it did uh but yeah I called him and just Sort of had them set up on the side um waiting to

see if anything happened damn yeah um the um once I so once I got told I was put under investigation I was immediately started I got pulled out of um I was the sca senior enlisted adviser over at sa um Urban combat trade it I got pulled from that position thrown into an office with no job no responsibility just to to come report each day um that lasted for about a month and they pulled me from there And sent me to supply uh across the street where there's no seals um there's a one seal Master

Chief in charge but the rest are um you know support um and admin guys and uh that's when I I mean I had already known it was like this isn't going well but then once you sort of get pulled away from the teams in general and thrown in a supply you're like okay this is this is where they send the [ __ ] Birds um so from there I I went to talk to the Group one master chief um I want I want to know what was going on um which was Steve Ward at the

time uh that he refused to talk to me but I went over there on my own um and sort of forced a meeting with him um was like hey he said the same same line to me I'm not going to talk to you about anything um you know don't bring up anything to me and all I told him was like the stuff that's being said isn't true um that I Suggest they did some internal investigation of their own before they further this uh and I that I told him this will be the biggest black guy

in the community if he keeps progressing this way are these guys did you have personal relationships with all these guys or I knew so I knew uh you talking about the master Chiefs yeah I knew them yeah like I didn't uh I hadn't done platoons with Them or anything but small community like you know them they knew who I was too uh you know there was nothing personal like where they would have something against me or I had something against them like not that I know of anyways uh but it was definitely weird the way

that everybody sort of you know hands off like you're on your own um I got told by a m another master chief that I was pretty much I had to look at it as I was on an island all by Myself and I had to swim my way back if I wanted to come back and no one was going to help me uh and that's after I heard that that was like the honest truth uh and I was like okay um and I was like I'll swim my way back then damn yeah so it was

it was pretty uh disheartening um you knew it was NCIS at this point oh I dealt with NCIS in the past I mean and this is what's funny is like I I was brought up in the teams obviously it was like day one [ __ ] like Don't trust NCIS they're you know they're always out to bag a seal um they're always trying to find something to take a seal down um and I they actually my first platoon when I was a new guy they took my my platoon Chief uh off a deployment um just

came up swooped him halfway through and he was gone um for some I don't even know some BS that didn't even happen but I I had dealt with him like very minimally just like in that case and Then uh this nothing like this though um it's so when I knew they were involved I I didn't know I had no uh no idea just how [ __ ] up those guys were like what a clown show um they were you know and I pretty much you know got firsthand experience just seeing how they operated and when

they uh well I'll get to the point where they they raided my house but yeah they they pretty much Um they started the investigation uh I think in late April of uh 2018 and um I had no idea just how extensive they were investigated like all I was told was an investigation no one had ever come and talk to me this is like so this is like a year after the actual yeah after the after the deployment the kid yeah the kid that was May of 2017 correct so this is about a year later um

You know I I obviously was told I was under investigation but no one was saying a word to me um and uh I was sitting in supply for however long a month month and a half um no job that you know I I'd show up and there was nothing for me to do so I took it upon myself at that point I was like okay well I'll just start prepping for retirement or like maybe I'll get out I don't know so I I started taking classes On a transition I went to the honor Foundation which

is like a transition type program to just see what's like out there in the civilian world and prep you uh I started putting in for uh Intrepid spear which is like a branch off of Niko um for um TBI and everything else like that I had uh been recommended to go after that deployment um I've been you know taking enough blasts at that point that they were like hey you know just get checked out um and that's pretty Much protocol now like before you retire it's like I want to go get checked out and you

know get n full head to body scan uh or head to toe scan because as we know during our career I don't report anything I didn't you know you suck everything up and uh my medical record was pretty thin um so I started all that process while I was in Supply and it was still nobody you know nobody was blocking me from doing that um but nobody was saying to Me either and in around in June I get a phone call at home uh from somebody at Supply one of the Chiefs that worked there and

he had me that the EXO wanted to speak to me in the following morning um EXO was a seal and that I hadn't met with him yet and he just wanted to have a face to face with me U since I was attached there which made sense to me I was like okay you know whatever uh got up the next morning went there um showed Up you know at his office 15 minutes prior in uniform and uh knocked on his door and um he cracked it open looked at me told me to wait a second

shut the door and then about a minute later he opened it and there was probably five to six NCIS agents in there um I walked in and they you know flashed their badge told me that they uh were going to take me to for some interrogation um question me um and um they started you know pulling Everything out of my pockets at the time I didn't you know I I played it cool I was just like you know I was pretty pissed but uh I knew if I had reacted in any negative way wasn't going

to look good so I was like okay just like compliant but what pissed me off is they a handcuffed me for nothing I was like why do I need to be handcuffed I'm going they're like oh it's protocol it's not protocol you know they handcuffed me and paraded me around In front of the whole Supply command um damn you know for a shame Factor because once somebody sees you in handcuffs they like oh this guy did something um had you done any research on what on what you should be doing to prepare for what might

happen the investigation um all I knew was I mean what I had been told since day one like I want my lawyer you know I'm like I'm not talking to him uh one bit but other than that no I hadn't done anything else Um you know the lawyers that I had on standby there was no like nothing was being told to me at the time so there was really nothing to go on it was like I just know I'm under investigation and they were like okay well we'll just see where this leads um it could

go nowhere or you know it could go the way it went and once they they pulled me they drove me across the 32nd Street which is um another navy base there um across the bay from Coronado which is where the NCIS little headquarters is and they they brought me in there and put me that's the major base in San Diego right yeah um they put me in the interrogation room um just like something you see out of the movie you know had the little see-through glass thing there and um they sat me down tried to

be all buddy buddy with me like hey man like we're just you know we've heard some things and uh you're being you know just accused that's the first time I heard um You're being accused of uh murder um and I knew better than to I wasn't even going to start having a conversation with them I just was and I was polite to him I wasn't a dick I was like hey I even said that I was like I don't want to be a dick to you guys but uh I want my lawyer like before I

say anything and uh they were like oh okay and I was like you know can I call him you know can I call him they had my phone they were like yeah just give us His give us his number and we'll call him um I gave it to him they both walked out shut the door and that was it for seven hours um no one came back I think twice somebody knocked oh cracked it open to see if I needed a piss but um seven hours seven hours from well i' say like at 8:30 in

the morning till 4:00 or 5 in the afternoon I don't I can't remember exactly when they let me out and they told you you were being charged for murder they didn't tell me I Was being charged with anything they just said that I had been accused accused of of murder of murder for did you have any idea what for they said it was on the prior deployment that mosle deployment um and that's it that's all they really said to me um and then once I told them I wanted my lawyer they left when they told

you that and they told you it was the last deployment did you have I mean it sounds like you guys Got a [ __ ] down to trigger time yeah is there any specific no in that scary um part of it was you know I think you kill enough individuals you know an employment you can be like well this could be any one thing and not saying that we murdered anybody but you know yeah you don't know you don't know what what's being said I had heard enough rumors up to that point and I heard

some I mean the teams is like one big sewing Circle um so I had Guys obviously coming up to me like oh these guys are we heard this I mean I heard they heard I was stomping babies out uh it was like it went from like the most craziest rumors to the most like mundane I mean that's why you know Andrea coin coined the term I think it was like from Red Bulls to war crimes you know it was it just everything that and everything in between and uh so I I had no real concept

of like or idea what they were Actually saying I did you know or What scenario that I was supposedly involved in um uh so once they locked me in that they kept me in that room um you know I had no idea what was going on but uh while I was in that room they went and raided my house uh they raided my cage my car which was at the team they went everything um and they also they sent A I don't even 20 to 30 man SWAT team to my house um and uh the

crazy this is the crazy thing is when they were taking me over to that interrogation room I asked them I was in the back of the car handcuffed I'm like how long is this going to take and they're like why I'm like because my wife's not home she's at a lunch or like a brunch with a friend and I was like my oldest son is leaving and I need to be back by I think it was like 1:00 cuz my youngest son's there I Specifically remember this as those two looked at each other like and

they're like oh no yeah we we'll get you out you'll be done by then I was like okay well as I'm being you know I'm in that office with no phone uh wondering like what my kids are going to do uh they were actually raiding my house during that time um they my uh youngest son was downstairs watching TV um my oldest was still in bed old old uh he had just turned 18 and your youngest uh eight years old at the time um the way they both like have described me what happened is you

know my my youngest was watching TV we have a big window that looks out into the street in our living room he looked out the window and saw guys with automatic weapons coming up to the house in like a train you know um he said he saw a guy in the window I Think with a gun which he's eight years old he ran upstairs um got my oldest son woke him up um and was like there's guys with guns outside um my oldest son don't get the [ __ ] out of his room or you

know was like whatever you're thought he was just being kooky uh and he started crying and was like no there's guys with guns like you you need to go look so my oldest son walked downstairs and he said uh he could see Somebody out of the window and um when he opened the door there was uh a guy on his knees with a gun to him pointed at him and then two guys with other guns pointed at his head the 8-year-old no this is my 18-year-old and my 8-year-old standing behind him crying um they're yelling

at uh my oldest son to get his hands up um which he did and um then they were like when you need to come outside now you know this is all my oldest son is Like doesn't know what's going on um and he calmly was like well can I put my hands down to open the door and they didn't know what to do they he said they just sat there like trying to figure out how how to actually conduct a [ __ ] raid or um so these guys uh oh they were this is the

first house they ever raided yeah you know and the crazy part is is they these are all NCIS agents they had an FBI agent somewhere in the mix because they wouldn't they would not be Able to conduct that raid without an adult there present so that's what they used like they had an FBI guy there like being like Oh I'm overseeing this um but that's I mean that doesn't show you anything these guys can't even conduct raids without an adult presence so they don't do anything stupid um they ended up pulling my kids out in

the middle of the street in their underwear um by this time the neighbors you know are all looking out seeing this Go on they have my whole street every Avenue to my street barricaded off um you know it looked like I was a cartel member um so they yanked an 8-year-old kid out of your house at gunpoint and threw his ass in the front yard in his underwear for everybody to see yeah and left them there for a while um and just they started lay Siege to my house now my wife is Andrea she's down

the street probably like two miles at a uh breakfast place having brunch with a Friend she gets a phone call from my daughter who my daughter was in in Ohio at the time um with her uh biological dad and uh so one of the neighbors had called my daughter a girl that was our neighbor and was like there your brothers are outside with guns pointing at their heads and their underwear like and there's people all over the streets with guns holy [ __ ] so my daughter was like calls my wife and she's like I

just got a call from so and so and this is What's going on and you know all this is probably like crazy they were just like what and so my wife gets up and she's like I got to go um races try races home um and she said that she tried to pull up in her neighborhood everything was blocked off um she somehow got a call from one of the NCIS agents and she was like I'm I'm coming home and they they opened it up and let her through um she parked and then they Immediately

started interrogating my wife uh it brought her into a van I think um and just started asking her all sorts of questions uh you know and you had no idea this [ __ ] was going on no idea that any this was going on um my I think it was my youngest son at asked one of the NCIS agents why they were there um and they pretty much said he's your dad's a murderer or he's being like told told the kids that I'm being like charged with murders Pretty much telling My kids I'm a murderer

which is insane to me why you would tell somebody's kids that when you don't have anything you know at that point uh and then um you know my wife pretty much told him to screw off and in some form or fashion was just like I'm I have nothing to say to you uh and then she went in and watched them pretty much take everything out of my house uh you know took all my kids electronic equipment took anything they could damn Um they found going through my garage just like any other team gu garage I

have all my kit bags and [ __ ] in there so they were pulling out I you know magazines that are high Capac magazines for California and pretty much being like Oh got them on this uh I had a this is actually pretty funny I had a um a dummy grenade of the blue body in one of my kit bags yeah they called EOD and said I had a live grenade in my house so EOD I guess rolls up to my House and come to find out it's literally a dummy grenade and they're like this

is you know just to give you an idea how incompetent these [ __ ] guys are um you know the best thing I I think I heard my wife say is uh when they were you know they'd been there for hours and she's just like watching them go through all of our [ __ ] and take it and she told me she's like they all look like it was just a bunch of beta male like dudes like just you could tell like These [ __ ] guys have no idea what they're doing um and one

of them came up to her and I don't know if he put his hand on her shoulder like did something it was like this must be really hard for you you what's going on right now and I guess she told me she looked at him and she's like you have no [ __ ] clue what we go through in this community she's like you think this is [ __ ] hard she's like you're out of your mind like get the [ __ ] hurry get your [ __ ] get the [ __ ] out you

know yeah uh so they you know dispersed I have no clue that this is going on uh get they come back in the interrogation room finally and they're like hey all right you can go um at this point I'm like just [ __ ] BN out just from sitting there for so long wondering what's going on I I come out they had my phone and they're like we're keeping your phone um I was like all right and they're like do you I was I said can I call my lawyer or I think It was either

my lawyer or my wife and they're like oh yeah um they gave me my phone I put the code in and then they yanked it out of my hand and they're like you can't have it and uh that's how they got into my phone um and right before I left the NC office one of the agents this little turd uh Brian Frank he actually testified at my trial he's in there all kitted up it looks like he's like this little kid playing Airsoft he looks right at me and He's like hey when I was walking

on he's like I saw your wife today and I turned and looked at him like what and he's like yeah I saw her and I didn't I was like okay like what the [ __ ] are you talking about I just walked out like little did I know you know until I got home that they had pretty much laid Siege to my house so they're [ __ ] taunting you yeah everything they did was to taunt me and try and get me to do something so they could be like we got Them I mean it

was at that point I had no idea but it became more evident as this whole nightmare went on but um uh I got home and that's when you know my my wife and kids were in the living room just like what the [ __ ] and uh yeah that's when we knew I was like dude this has gotten real you know like what is going on um I went into the command the next day Furious um went demanded to talk to the group on mass Chief again um usually we take phone calls on the show

but uh this time we happen to have your son and your wife here and so I'm going to bring him on and we're going to get their firsthand account of the raid so Ryan yeah do you remember when the police came to your house uh I did um it was uh I forgot what day it was it was on a weekend it was like a Saturday And um he was gone my dad was gone at work and my mom was at a photo shoot and my sister was in Ohio I was my brother and I

was watching TV and I heard a pounding on the door and someone was like yelling it out so I opened the curtain and there's a ton of people with guns outside how many people there was about 15 people 15 people and there was like cars blocking the entrance to the like cuz it was a three Street and they were blocking the entrance like it was Our house that was blocked like we couldn't get out and um I went upstairs and I was telling my brother like I was crying that there's people outside with guns and

it was funny because he was like if it's your friends with Nerf guns I'm going to hit you so hard so he goes outside and we're both in our underwear and there's guys that with guns and um how old were you I was eight or seven and so I walk outside and there's people like there's a guy Camped with a shotgun like by the side and then there's like two other people with rifles and like the lasers are like right on us they have their lasers shining on like and they were like decked out with

armor and stuff and there's like a guy with a thing like to knock down our door and um we these people made us go in a car and we waited for like 30 minutes and they were in our house like taking everything and like there's people everywhere what did they Do when you open the door or they open the door um my brother did and what happened when the when the door opened uh there was like five like like all everyone's yelling like get out of the house get out of the house house and yeah

were they pointing their guns yes at you mhm where were they behind the Cars and Stuff what about the guys in the door um they were like less than a foot away and like the gun was like right at my head so it was It was really close so you're 8 years old and you had a whole team pointing gun at your face in your underwear yes and they made you go outside in your underwear yeah did they hold a gun on you while you were in in the front yard in your underwear um there

was a couple people that were but most of them went inside to go inspect the house and like move they were moving all the furniture and like they didn't like it was dumb were they asking you questions no they Were I think they were asking my brother questions and then like yeah we sat in a car for about 30 minutes and um since my sister was in Ohio my her friend she was calling her and calling her and texting her that like there's a SWAT team at my house like and we're in a car and

my mom didn't know it was going on he my dad he was like like he was somewhere and he wasn't able to contact us or anything so do you think they knew that your dad Wasn't home no they knew they did know yeah they knew that they like I don't know what was happening but all I knew was they knew he wasn't home and they were trying to scare us and they wanted him to do something I don't know but did they scare you yeah I was scared I'll bet 8 years old with a gun

in your face yeah and your underwear well thanks for sharing Ryan I appreciate it mhm well thanks for coming on Andrew I Appreciate it thanks for having me uh so we just got your son's account of the NCIS raid and uh I just wanted to get kind of where you were what it felt like what it was like when you showed up at home to see your 8-year-old son and uh and your 18-year-old son in the front lawn with their underwear on at gunpoint by the NCIS yeah so it was June 20th uh 2018 um

an unb to us our house had been being cased for weeks by NCIS and we Actually had a neighbor that was working in tandem with NCIS I think he thought he was some type of uh Matt Damon informant type character from the movie so he had started to report our movements and Report different things and he had also informed them that we were going to be moving um so NCIS had been watching us watching our movements and so that day I had left the house um I was leaving to go to meetings and I had

work um work meetings uh Eddie had Already left to go to work and it just seemed like a normal day um we left the boys at home travin was still asleep who was our 18-year-old at the time um Ryan would have been 8 and so he was at home he was up he was just like watching cartoons and I went to my first meeting um and it was actually with a girlfriend um since we were leaving we were kind of having one last get together um and I was at the table and my daughter had

called me but my daughter was not home My daughter was actually in Ohio and she called me asking where I was and I was like I'm I'm with my friend like what's going on and she sounded very worried and she's like Mom she's like the neighbor girl just called me there's police everywhere and the boys are outside of the house like they're in their underwear and I'm like what what are you talking about so I just like got up left the table jumped in my car and as I'm driving I'm trying To like call my

neighbor and it just kept on going to voicemail and voicemail and voicemail and finally by the fourth time I think I called she picked up the phone screaming and so my neighbor my next door neighbor is on the phone screaming and she's like they've got your kids they've got your dogs they're everywhere and I'm like who is this who is it damn and and she's like screaming on the phone saying this is their mother this is their mother and I'm hearing Someone screaming back at her saying get off the phone get off the phone get

back in your house so I'm in full like what is going on freaking out what did you think do you have any idea no I had no idea well we lived in point llama which is kind of like Point llama military housing uh we lived at The Village at NTC so it's kind of like a thorough Fair between like rose crayons which is a very busy street and also Harbor and we have a lot of homeless so in my mind I'm Like is there like a homeless person or a bum like in my you know

garage or something like what are they doing I didn't know it was even NCIS I had no clue once I found out what was going on I got another call from a blocked number and the woman was like we are from NCIS we're at your home uh tell us what kind of car you're driving they had the streets barricaded they had the streets barricaded they had people in full militia riot gear they had people staged And set up like they're going to war and I'm so when I come through there's like seven to eight black

you know armored vehicles in front of my home and there's people just like spurting out everywhere out of my garage out of my front door and my son had only turned 18 2 to three weeks prior which they also knew and so they took advantage of the fact that Eddie was gone I was not there and they gained entry through an 18-year-old that just woke up so when I got to the home They actually pulled me into a vehicle and started a question me but what I found out later was Eddie had already been apprehended

he was at work they came they got him and they threw him in a room for seven hours they denied him legal counsel so there was no Navy SE threat there so you didn't need to lay Siege to my house with two children in it in that fashion why do why do you think they showed much force for an to terrorize us and intimidate us and to Convince people that you know we did something wrong and that's exactly what happened that's it worked because you don't go to that level and then people just were like

oh my gosh it has you got you guys had to have done something yeah and so it worked so they had Eddie he did not know the whole day what was going on he did not know that our home was being raided so if you think of the psychological Warfare that they started at that moment to entrap him in an Office building and then basically did not tell him all day what they were doing it was just a form of psychological warfare on him because he went to fight you know for our country to prevent

people from terrorizing you know members of the United States and then they take him and they lock him up on American soil and then they lay Siege to his home and terrorize his wife and his children on his own land I mean it's it's pretty sick yeah um what they did So that was Eddie's story what was happening to him while this was happening to us but what I found out later from the boys was that Ryan was actually sitting kind of in a chair like this watching TV and looks out the window and sees

people with guns and like battering rams lining up at our door and you can imagine an 8-year-old he starts freaking out he runs upstairs he tells my son who's in bed asleep in at this point that there's people with Guns at the door and so my oldest is just like dude what are you talking about he's thinking it's maybe neighborhood kids with Nerf guns or something and Ryan's being Ryan but then Ryan starts to break down in tears and so my son gets up obviously and is like okay they walk downstairs my oldest son opens

up the door and so there's a main door and there's a screen door and um they're all screaming at him they're pointing rifles at my children and They're saying put your hands up and they're also simultaneously saying open up the door so if you can imagine the level of bush League that this operation is so my son's like do you want me to put my hands up or do you want me to open the door and they're like do you give us permission to enter put your hands up and so he basically gets pulled out

into the street along with my son and their underwear and they're just paraded right into the you know middle Of our housing complex and then they all just rush in and that was the start of a 7h hour raid on our home I just want to you know I'm sorry that you and your family had to go through that and um I just want to tell you you are a strong motivated effective and just amazing human being and uh I mean the campaign that you started from scratch and and what it turned into I mean

if it wasn't you know for you then you'd still be in there so I mean what an example you've Said and hell of a job so thank you yeah thank you for coming on I appreciate it all right so you're going to talk to the master chief at the command after your house just got R yep so I went in um demanded to talk to him he came over to supply um sat down with me and another master chief that was in charge of supply and uh I was like what you know I was pissed

I was like my house just got raided my kids were pulled out A gunpoint yesterday what the hell's going on um why aren't you guys like at this point I was beyond I think I was beyond frustrated um because nobody had been talking to me at this point now my family was getting they involved my family and started you know they're putting my family to [ __ ] which I don't I have a line that everybody knows you can mess with me all you want like you know I might fight back I might not I

don't know but you mess with my Family like that's it you know um and that was pretty much well known through everybody that knew me in the community like that's when my family is what matter to me the most so I was I was definitely uh beyond pissed off um the group on mass Chief Steve Ward told me that uh he's like denied knowing anything about it which is [ __ ] and uh then he told me that if I had any issues with it that I should go talk to a Chaplain and that was

the only thing advice to get I was like that's what you have to say to me right now is that I can go talk to a chaplain about what's going on he was like yeah and he's like oh and one more thing and he slid a piece of paper across the table I had picked up E8 or got selected for E8 and uh he was like you're not going to pick up E8 um we're going to hold it off until this whole investigation is over with um and that he had me sign it and At

that I wish at this point I didn't sign that but I didn't give a [ __ ] at that point I was like I don't care I like here yeah um and that was it he left um and I think you know as you can expect that raid spread like wildfire through the community oh yeah you know and of course the the dummy grenade they found in my garage got spread into they found five hand grenades and blah blah blah like just escalates as the telephone game Passes through the teams uh did you have any

friends at this point yeah I mean I had I had my my but you know my brothers my teammates that I was talking to but it's very hard you know what can they do yeah they're they're almost like dude this is [ __ ] up and they're anybody that I talked to that I was what I was going through automatically got scared themselves and they were like dude what are they going to do to me you know If I you know step in and say something it's um that's how they drive fear into you know

especially with raiding your house like that I mean that what that does is there was no reason they they could they could have easily walked up knocked on the door and got the job same job done they did it for that reason because they want to put shame onto you they want and it worked the neighbors our neighbors were like cuz we went and asked them afterwards like hey did you Happen to videotape any of that or and they're like we're not like that you they don't come and do that to you unless you did

something yeah and it so it it worked and then uh it also what they do it to drive your family apart too they hope that you know they cause enough stress onto your wife or onto yourself that you guys start going at each other and then one of you flips on each other starts you know doesn't help out but you know obviously that didn't Work with us but um that's I've seen that happen enough heard enough stories of that happened enough times when I was in the brri that I mean it's all for a purpose

of why they do those things um but yeah at that point you know I had talked to my buddies about it and they were all just like dude they had no advice or anything they were just like dude this is [ __ ] up just like you know we were thinking um but that was pretty much the the Deciding point for me that I was getting out I'm like I'm getting out you know um you know I felt that point betrayed uh just sort of just left hung out to dry um I had a couple

of buddies that were Master Chiefs at that point that were told me exact thing they like they are railroading you um like this is what's happening they're just hanging you out to try uh why why do you think they're I think it was to protect what it well what it comes down to is they're Protecting the institution right the nsw um anything that's brought out in the public Arena or in the media that is bad against nssw they would rather just dispose of whatever that problem is than actually put up with it and fight back

you know they're like because they don't want any stains at all and that's I mean that's due to the fact of how big nsw has gotten over the years with all the success that we've had I think they you Know a l with success come comes with comes uh public scrutiny yeah you know so any little thing that happens you know anything that says seal on it gets pointed back to nssw and they're like oh what's this so obviously if there's a murder they're like we're just going to [ __ ] hang this guy out

to dry instead of actually looking into this because this looks bad on the institution damn that's and that's a sad part I mean it's a sad reality of what I Found out you know it's there's a difference between Expendable and disposable um I I'm Expendable like I that's that's part of the job but I'm not [ __ ] disposable like you just don't you can't just throw me away because you feel like this might look bad on you or your career um picking up three stars so I think that was a big driving force of

why the headshed um like group one or the Admiral really didn't look like never they never talked To me once still haven't never talked to those guys and why they came down on me so hard um you know they were just like we're just going to make an example out of this guy and that's it um at that point I was getting you know I decided to get out uh we had already bought a place a house in Florida um so I moved my family down down there uh I think like two weeks after the

raid um drove across country moved them in and Then the plan was I was going to come back to San Diego go and geobatch until my retirement date and just uh fly back and forth and just finish out my career um they waited NCIS waited until I came back from Florida um got back to San Diego and I got accepted into the uh TBI Treatment Center which is uh Intrepid spear um started going to that I was in uh about the beginning of September and was going through that nothing was being said to me still

um was doing my thing and then on September 11th um the my old sea um Brian alawi and two Mas showed up to the intreped center and told me that uh they were going to take me away that they were ordered to take me away to the brig um [ __ ] I was like in shock and I was like why they couldn't tell me why we don't Know like the Admiral Admiral green and Comal Ros Bloom just signed off on it and they W they want us to take you there um and you know

at that point I remember looking at I was in the room with three of them and I did think for I was like I'm about to start fighting right now like this is you know I was going through all sorts of scenarios in my head um but I decided again to remain calm I was like you know Doing anything stupid is not going to help situation I let them handcuff me and put me in a van um and the two masas drove me to the brig um I had no idea where the brig was I

thought it was something on a ship still I was like where are you guys taking me um it was to uh myar U Marine Corp air station um they had a pretty those two guys had a pretty good idea of well they Were what they were telling me was they're like oh you'll be out in a week you'll be out of the break in a week and I was like well how does this how am I going to get out in a week they're like oh they have a hearing for everybody that goes in there

their first week and they that decides whether or not you should stay in there or be let out I was like okay um either way I was I was like I I was like in survival mode at That point I was like I don't know what the [ __ ] going on um they they took me first before we went to the brg we went to a a medical uh place on Miramar to make sure I was healthy enough to get put in the brri they did like a full checkup on me um so I'm

sitting in handcuffs in the medical place with families everyone staring at me um and uh they did the full checkup and then took me to the brig and as soon as I got in the brig is When I was like dude what the [ __ ] like there was probably 8 to 10 guards who met me just me for intake they all treated me like I was Jason Bourne um each of them were like posted up like every time I moved like I was about to do something um the first thing I I got check

when I was getting checked in they asked you do you know what you're in for in here for for or while you're here and I at the time I was like sort Of jokingly I was like killing Isis and they're like yeah and I was like okay like I was joking but they're like no that's why you're here um and uh that was all that was said to me I got told the CEO of the break came down told me um that you know it doesn't she saw my service record or whatever and she's like

it doesn't matter in here um you're not technically a prisoner but you will be treated of how you you will Be treated as good as you treat the guards I'm like okay I you know I told her I was like ma'am I'm not here to cause any trouble I I should be getting out of here in like three days this is a big mistake like whatever's going on here they threw me in solitary confinement right off the bat for three days why just just to get in your [ __ ] head yeah um put me

in there I wasn't allow out of that cell for three days not even I think they let me shower Once but the every time they move me at that point they Shackled my arms and legs so it was like uh you know even from my cell my solitary cell to the shower was probably 10 ft and they have to Shackle me arm like take me down there put me in there it you're a seal yeah and that's all what it came down to um I finally got that little hearing that they were talking about about

six days in and that's when I knew that I was [ __ ] Um because I really had no at this point I have no clue what's going on um you know I'm just sort of trying to figure it out as I go uh they have this hearing my lawyer when the lawyer that I had on standby showed up and um that's when I first saw the prosecution um and they had the NCIS agent come or Pinsky and literally I went in there and the pro they have a uh it's not a judge They just

appoint some officer on base to come in and act as the judge and he just decides whether you stay or can get out um the prosecution got up and pretty much let loose a flurry of just crazy allegations for about 10 minutes they called me they called me everything from a murderer a drug mule that I said I beat my wife um that I'm danger to my kids uh I'm a fake Christian um a fake Christian yep they said that oh he goes to church But he really doesn't practice what he like it like making

crazy statements like that like that's uh and I'm telling you I sat there listening to this how the [ __ ] is that even relevant they brought up all sorts of like [ __ ] because all they were trying to do was like taint my who I am as a person I guess which it would that was probably one of the craziest moments just hearing them say this [ __ ] and I can't like not allowed to say anything back um the Lawyer that I had at the time wasn't stopping them from saying it he

was just like like it's like he'd heard this all before you know um then the uh a NCIS agent got up and said his whole piece um was like pretty much just regurgitated whatever this you know the prosecution said um said that I you know murdered you know this Isis Fighter um they had the picture at that time they like here it is look at him you Know uh and then the main reason why they kept me in is because the the second prosecutor got up and pretty much went over every qualification I had every

school that I'd been to everything I'd done in my career but used it as like it's a b like against me it's a bad thing and that was why they could not in good conscious let me out because at any moment I could do anything um you know I could escape to somewhere and disappear at what point did Andrea find out that You were in prison uh probably the second day um or maybe that night I I you're allowed one five minute phone call which they weren't even going to give me but I uh luckily

I remembered it in my cell and I was like Hey I want to call uh I called my lawyer um told him what happened and I told him to call call my wife and let her know um so I think they they kill they might have called her that first night second Day but my lawyer told me right off the bat he was like there's no there's no bail system in the uh uniform code of military justice so he's like you're not unless they let you out you're not getting out um and that's pretty much

after that uh hearing that we had they deemed that was too dangerous to let out oh and one other thing this is so one of the guys in my platoon Josh BRS um one of the accusers who was my Neighbor he lived four houses down from me um had no idea this guy was even like really involved with the other accusers um in my platoon he was I didn't even give him any thought you know and I I even saw him all the time like a head nod like what's up uh he was staking my

house out for NCIS the whole time um for NCIS So he was pretty much a volunteer NCIS agent um so he was feeding them information letting them Know my whereabouts you know when I worked out when I did what uh and he also so they got him to write a letter which they read off at that hearing saying that I was stalking him and that I walked my dogs past his house every day and was scaring his family so that was like a huge Factor they were like oh and he's stalking one of the guys

in his Splatoon which was complete like I when I read that letter when we were in that hearing I'm like that was like another punch in the face like what like this dude's I'm stalking him like and I had no idea this guy was involved um but yeah that was that was it they're like you're not you're not leaving um until your court date uh which was which was undetermined at the time I hadn't even been charged of anything yet um so I just sat I sat in uh the brri for About two months at

that point um not so you when you're in the brg you can't all the phone calls are recorded there's they have two prison phones there that you split between 60 people um you're not allowed on the phones until after 5:00 p.m. to like 900 p.m. um if you want to use a phone it cost a butt ton of money uh it's some ridicul like every minute some ridiculous charge and all the phone calls are Recorded and comes in weekly and takes all my calls they're or whoever they're investigating and listens to them so you know

I was told right away don't say anything over the phone uh when you talk to your family don't talk about the case because they'll just they'll pick apart any little thing you say and try to use it so I mean phone calls were pretty rough like back and forth Just because at that point there's only so much you could talk about without it like coming Back to like the nightmare so we it was uh it was tough um to be able to sort of communicate what was going on cuz Andrea started fighting back right when

they threw me in there is when she pretty much was like [ __ ] this and she started a Grassroots campaign to like put the truth out about what was going on she wrote a letter to the community um asking for help from everybody did she get any she did she go well behind the scenes like people that were like dude We want to help but um when it came down to like help from foundations nothing nothing they were like nope how were people helping uh people I mean it was all my boys that i'

you know prior platoon whatever reached out and they're like dude we'll write character witness whatever you need character witness statements this and this what else can I do but at that point I mean there's not a there wasn't a lot guys could do Except write character witness statement or but she or you know go around and try and advocate in some way which is difficult to do but she was just more calling it out like there's like they threw him away in prison for not like he wasn't doing anything you know which is the truth

like I wasn't a threat to anybody um and she was just like let him out so he can be with his family and defend himself against this uh and they just ignored her completely uh the Command did uh um so she started she started the Grassroots campaign on her own um decided to she has she has a background in marketing and business and stuff you know doing stuff with uh helping um spouses get businesses off the ground and she just took the tools of what she knew from that and was like I'm applying it to

this and pretty much started a you know uh started an Instagram page and all that to like get the word out about What was going on and throughout the process I mean she gained quite a following a lot of people which is it was amazing to see um but I had no real idea that all that was going on you know like I knew she was doing certain things but certain things couldn't be said over the phone um damn I guess you know I remember when that was all going on and damn to think that

you had no [ __ ] clue in there you know yeah how big it had gotten and all the news Stories and everything I mean yeah it was uh it was a shock when I got out like I had seen I knew she was going she went on the news eventually um and we had one TV in there in the uh in the Pod and you're only allowed to watch CNN in there uh I think they do that for like torture purposes but it's if you had a cool guard what you could get him to

change the channel um so I think once I you know I knew she was going to be on so like I begged one Of the guards I'm like dude and so he turned it you know and I got to watch her on Fox News uh but I had no real idea like I don't think I could grasp how big it had gotten until I got out and I was like holy [ __ ] she did a hell of a job yeah dude she's a hell of a job yeah she's the hero her and my brother

both my brother's also uh another one that's dude he both of them the dynamic duo the two heroes in my book um they dropped everything and just worked their Asses off to get the truth out um but yeah like so when I was about two months in is when I finally got um the charges so these are your uh charges right here the first three of them specification premeditated murder and that Chief Special Warfare operator Edward R Gallagher US Navy Naval special Warfare group one on active duty did at or near mosul Iraq on about

3 May 2017 with Premeditation murdered a wounded male under the care of the said s so Gallagher by means of stabbing him in the neck and body with a knife when you showed up and that Isis fighter was laying there the do you have any [ __ ] idea this [ __ ] was going to come out like this no not in a million years not one bit and then basically it goes on to you murdered an old man you murdered a young Girl mhm and but these there was one that was an fistan if

I remember correctly that wasn't a uh a charge that was they were looking to charge me with throw that on there but they again that was all on hearsay from the accusers who weren't even in the teams at the time that went down wow yeah and then there's there's actually I think Eight Pages of this and uh everything from murder To little bottle of uh tramol that they found yeah but yeah they throw so pretty much the way it works for which I you know we found out the military judicial system is they have the

main charge which is premeditated murder and then they can get just a laundry list of other charges and it's like spaghetti they just throw it all at the wall and they'll just see what sticks none of it has to have any Merit they'll just charge you with it and be like okay We'll see which ones we can get them so the more charges they have on you then when you go to court the more likely they are to get you on something did all the charges come at once or did they just keep adding more

and more and more they added the uh two uh murder charges the extra ones The Old Man and the little girl um at my article 32 so to explain that um the article 32 is like a civilian equivalent of a grand jury um just with the military so you go Up there the prosecution presents their case or what they have at the time and then the judge rules whether to proceed with those to court marshal or not or some other form of you know punishment or whatever else um while at that article 32 they they

were you know presenting all the other charges or trying to you know get them to go to court Marshal they had uh the NC agent take the stand again and just regurgitate everything Uh we requested that the accusers come and take the stand on my article 32 um because we're like we want to hear it from them um because I as I I said that and I said the whole time I'm like these guys are lying did you know how many people at that point yeah I knew uh who who the uh I had already

read I got a um binder full of evidence so I got to read all of their NCIS interviews I got to watch their NCIS videos I knew everything that they had said and I I Was like they're I knew I was like they're [ __ ] lying and they have lied you could tell that they had tried to like get a story together but then once they got separated into little interrogation rooms NCIS they couldn't keep their stories the same so there were so many discrepancies and big ones um that that's why I was like

I want them to take the stand um right now which the judge and the prosecution denied they're Like oh there's no need for them to come up here and say anything the NCIS agent is just regurgitating what they said so that's good enough interesting um going back to the The Old Man and the girl did so was that just hearsay because I could find a whole lot of yeah so this information this is what happened with the old and the girl uh and you got to like bear with me on this because it sounds as

stupid as it sounds Um Josh friends during his NCIS interview told agent War Pinsky that um he had seen a little girl get shot um which we all saw you know kidss get shot that the point but and that he thought Isis had done it but now he thinks that I did it and so aent War Pinsky was like well did you see him do it he's like no I wasn't in the same building as him but so and so another guy in my platoon told me he saw Eddie do it and he'll so they

called that person in and that person's like I have no idea what you're talking about I never said that once and I never saw Eddie shoot any little kids so what they did is they took so and so's testimony and just hit it and they were like just gave him Josh friendes straight up just straight up hit it um didn't fit the agenda nope and they did that's the common theme throughout my whole thing is they had they hid every piece of Evidence that would have been like this is all [ __ ] they just

if it didn't fit their agenda of the prosecution they just tried to bury it somewhere um so that the little girl got thrown on oh this is the other thing that's just going to blow your mind uh so the old man um is actually has some truth to it uh but look a guy from my platoon came and testified um at my trial and was like I was with him and that was that was an Actual [ __ ] that he shot and not no man um and it was a Justified shooting and he even

said he had an argument afterwards with one of the accusers that day when when that accuser tried to be like oh I think that guy was unarmed and he was like no he was armed I was there with him you know watched the whole thing and that's you know yeah got pretty much thrown out um but uh the judge at my article 32 ruled that the two murder charges the Little girl and the old man should not go to court Marshal he was like there's and he even said he's like there's not enough evidence here

this is all off here say little did I know that the judge really has no control of what goes to court Marshal the command common Rosenbloom overturned the judge's ruling and was like no you keep those charges on there holy [ __ ] so my own command was like even though there's no Evidence here just keep them on there and so that's how I went to court Marshal with those three three murder charges now are these videos of these guys their interviews with NCIS are these the same ones that the New York Times got their

hands on yeah but they spliced them up how did they get their hands on those uh because I mean it sounds like it's you know such a sensitive investigation so who the [ __ ] released That to the New York Times the prosecution and uh warcom why did they do that to paint me um in a bad light to went to help wi over I mean for exactly the reason that we're here talking about it so this doesn't [ __ ] make sense to me because you have what sounds like almost an entire [ __

] Community saying that you're guilty of of murdering murdering an Isis fighter which makes no [ __ ] sense to me uh and a little girl and an old man and Then a whole list of U you know basic misdemeanor [ __ ] charges it sounds like I don't understand the the and and and you say that they were coming at you hard because they they you know they wanted to protect the institution yeah so they wanted to protect the institution but yet they leak the [ __ ] videos to the New York Times which

because of the entire [ __ ] world knows yeah cuz at that time so they didn't leak all that information Out at first it wasn't until uh my wife started really fighting back and getting a bunch of people you know behind us that now I think the command felt like okay there's we're losing this battle let's pull this number right here and the prosecution the prosecution was leaking stuff to the media from the gecko um we tried to call him out on it two to three times during our uh motions hearings like it was it

was so blatant and so bad that uh the Media was putting out evidence or like before we even got it no [ __ ] yeah so we would be like how is it that this is being printed in the newspaper last night and we haven't gotten this evidence yet and the pro this is and this is how they investigate things in the the judicial system there with the military the judge will be like okay yeah that is disheartening to hear that this is happening prosecution we want you to look into this and see who's Doing

it prosecution comes back the next day like we looked into it we don't know who's it's not us and that's it it's move on yeah and so that that was happening over and over um they you know they leaked everything to do exactly what what was done to slander me in the media because it it'll drive you know when they go to the court Marshal the jury will be tainted already and everyone's going to have a preconceived notion you know that I'm I'm guilty and that just helps them win their case uh so yeah I

mean that was that was going on pretty much the whole time but I had again I'm locked up I am I'm not seeing any of these crazy articles that are coming out um I'm just hearing about them from my brother my wife over the phone or like people that came and visited me um would say you know there's pretty shitty articles coming out about you and it's it's not good yeah um I had no idea like what Really was being said um but yeah you got you got to think too man like they added those

so they didn't have those old man and the woman on there at first okay but they had the they had the the NCS interviews where all that [ __ ] was said they added those two on because they were getting the same reaction on of everybody that you just gave like he murdered an Isis fighter like who [ __ ] cares yeah They're like okay we're not winning people over like that what are the two most uh you know um controversial things we can get him he murdered an old old man and this is the

best thing I I murdered an old man on Father's Day that's what they were putting out it was Father's Day when I murdered this old man and then I murdered a little girl that right there drives some emotion I mean even if I heard like somebody kill a little kid I'd be like dude what the [ __ ] you know that's that's messed up so they knew like that would drive people to be like this dude is a monster this dude is crazy uh and you know they just went from there uh and they just

continue to smear me um you know every chance they got and it was all just like false misinformation that was being put out um you know I I try to explain it to people like my case is sort of like um almost like a false rape case to Where it's like a girl comes in it's like oh I got raped last night but when really she just had sex with a dude that made a mistake it does that dude is screwed no matter what just that one allegation is like even if he's found innocent at

the end but it sounds like throughout W throughout the entire Community um I've heard you say that you know they were they were counseling guys for wearing the fre freti shirts anybody that talked about it was going to get Counseled I mean it was an active campaign big time like straight up legitimate active campaign the Commodore oh here's oh this this another story um my mom and dad um flew from Maryland out to see me to visit me when I was locked up uh I think like the first month I was in there you know

came in and saw me had visitation on the weekend um they didn't know what to do they were like distraught uh my dad is a retired Lieutenant colonel he was like well I want to go talk to your command and find out what the [ __ ] going on and I was like yeah go you know go ahead um they went to group one waited there for um you know they got there at 6:00 in the morning waited until the Commodore came in um The Commodore refused to speak to them and uh Mass Chief Ward

and the uh command Jag talked to them and this is the exact words that were told to them they told my mom and Dad if you knew what we knew about your son you'd want him locked up for life and they just left him with that didn't tell him anything else like who the [ __ ] would say that to somebody's parents you know even if even if you had all the evidence and you knew like he's guilty why would you put somebody's parent like say a statement like that to somebody's parents you know it's

but they had nothing and they were just actively trying to screw me this is Where this is the other crazy thing is the Commodore was going around went around to each team while I was locked up and had all calls with every seal each command and I was told this but through M by multiple seals from each team it's the same speech he gave that I was guilty that nobody should better support me nobody should support me and this is the worst this is the kicker that he'd seen the video of Me doing said act

and that I was it showed I was guilty no [ __ ] he said that to each command to so now you got to think man like I mean that's not only is that unlawful command influence but you are straight lying to everybody and uh you know there there was that this video the rumor of the video was what really turned you know made everybody question like oh is there a video like does it show it no there was no this is the Video where where I come up and I that's it like that's the

only video um but he lied so that video was not allowed to be shown to anybody at the time because it was part of evidence right uh there was I forget what the word is for it where you can't show the evidence did the video really shut off do you ever seen that video uh I saw it was part of TC Burns helmet cam I mean I saw the video Once the evidence was presented to me you never saw before Then you didn't have uh no not really I never paid really attention to it I

knew TC had his helmet cam on and that was like the big discussion uh where it was like hey just if it bothers you delete it or whatever you know the pictures um but this is what's funny is there is a fulllength video of everything that happened that whole day I he had his helmet came on the whole day um it just so happened to show just me coming up and then Shutting off and doesn't show anybody else now TC's one he was one of the like got in with the accusers um and he pretty

much gave up everything to NCI is like oh here's here's everything right here so they either spliced it up or like cut it off at certain points so it didn't show anybody else you know doing any medical treatment or anything like that I mean it's and that's the big question everyone's like why does the video shut Off or stop I'm like ask the accusers that ask NCIS that I wish it would show the whole thing like it would vindicate me even more but they deleted it and there was there is deleted actual deleted files that

video which we brought up in trial like why are these I mean they're there but why are they gone why can't we watch them what did happen after you were there you know obviously cuz you're in the video what happened after that camera shut off Is that when you cracked him yeah I was starting to so that camera shut off right when uh I was doing my initial assessment of him and then I pretty much qued him after that um and then all the other treatments that were done which TC did the chest tube and

everything else that was done to him it would have just shown that we we pretty much medically treated him to death there are some uh pretty controversial texts that you Sent and uh I'm just going to read them I've got a cool story for you when I get back I got my night skills on and then another text thread that says good story behind this got him with my hunting knife yeah now I did listen to uh you say that those were there was a whole another thread that that um they basically Cherry Picked a

couple of things out what else was in that thread so the knife skills and just the knife thing uh so the one Was like got him cool story behind this got him a honey knife that was to one of my best friends another team guy um he would you know text we could text back and forth while we're on deployment the whole time and uh he would you know check in periodically uh like High House deployment going what's going on there is it you know and I was like dud this deployment is awesome like giving

him updates um just like this is a pretty epic one uh and that Day was uh I fig it was like two or three days after the incident um my dog guy who was in the platoon sent me the P that he sent me that picture of me with you know posing with the body and the knife as like I'm talking to my best friend and I was like oh [ __ ] and that's why I just sent him that like cool story behind this one got him like a joke and he was like it's

a joking thing which to the I that is The that right there was the worst and best piece of evidence the prosecution had really it was obviously the worst because it doesn't look good it's like well here it is right here but if you go ahead and zoom in and really inspect that picture yeah there's no blood anywhere on me there's no blood on the knife they did a DNA test everything on that knife nothing came back um except that it had been touched had some Iraqi like it had been touched by an Iraqi at

Some point which is like yeah it was we were in Iraq for s months so like when it came down to it they were like dude there's you know yeah that text was stupid to send they te they tested the [ __ ] out of the knife oh dude nonstop and they came it was nothing um why was the knife out did you cut his clothes off or uh that was the one I I jabbed him with to see if he had any stimuli left in him or was alive and then uh it Was just

a St I pose for stupid picture you know it was like just being whatever um the person you sent that to did they bring him in no didn't even talk to him once they didn't even talk to him no never called him never I mean that's because they knew like if you follow and my my one of my lawyers went through this in the trial like if you go ahead and look at the rest of the text thread like it's not there's no admitting to a murder here or being like Oh I did it's Just

series of [ __ ] jokes you know of just dark humor I get it we talked about it earlier you know but uh and you don't have to answer this but who'd you send the text to no he's active duty Roger that yeah okay yeah well so that [ __ ] got thrown out then yeah the uh which ones the the text it got I mean they got read in my trial yeah it was I mean it's all I mean it's definitely doesn't look good it doesn't Make me look good uh so yeah they kept

that and they kept I mean they would keep reading those in the trial and like you know look what he said uh yeah um but it's like I I me like dud you could go through you take any team guy's phone go through every text message he sent and you can pick you can charge anybody with you know with anything uh you know not making excuses for you can take anybody's [ __ ] phone in the whole world and they'll find something to Charge your ass exactly um so yeah those I mean like I said

those were the best and worst piece of evidence that the prosecution had the whole time and believe me I was [ __ ] my pants I was like dude I was like why did I send like if I could just go back in time and just not you know do that but it happened and uh you know it actually ended up being good for us cuz cuz it was like dude look at the picture where and this is Where Craig Miller's lies like got the best of him is uh he during his NCIS interviews had

said that I had you know stabbed him uh by he was either by the collar bone or the neck um maybe like once or twice um never mentioned seeing any blood or anything like that it was just like oh he just stabbed him well when he gets to trial he goes on the stand and completely Changes like he's like oh I saw him he knelt over him started jamming the knife into his neck and knife started pumping out of the prisoner's blood or prisoner's neck like uh he called it baby vomit it looked like baby

vomit coming out of his neck when he said that and I was just sitting there listening to him I was like you're done like you just [ __ ] yourself because not only is that not true but Now that I mean you can go ahead and look at my clothes on the pictures like if it was really pumping out and I'm sitting there I'd have blood all over me yeah and you know because I already you know none of that was true I was I think that really he [ __ ] himself pretty good on

that one um but he you know that's with those guys they got up there a lot of them got up there and tried to either overemphasize her story or change it up a little bit you know Um and it just did the fighter even have that much blood on him he had um a pool of blood like right over his right shoulder right here and that's what they were saying is that came from the neck wound or whatever but in reality if you look at it the messed up chest tube that was done you can

see I think this is what I think where it came from is that it was bleeding out and it was just going under his armpit And pulling up there um oh cuz they had a failed attempt yeah okay yeah so they went to the other side yeah and because it wasn't that blood's not there from the cke it was a clean cke so that's the only way I can see that blood being pulled up there but of course you know they were trying to say it was from me stabbing him in the neck but this

is the other thing so there's three guys that only said they saw me stab Them at first so one said I stabbed him in the neck one said I stabbed him in the ribs and then the other one said I stabbed him both like but they all had different versions of where I had stabbed them or not uh and in the end only uh one of those Craig Miller was the only one who went up there and the other two were like no we we were this isn't true um and they refused to testify Jesus

I had Uh one of the guys when I was in prison came and visited me um one of the accusers and uh I sat down with him and he straight up told me was like this is all a lie this all this got out of our hands and we don't know what to like we don't know what to do and I'm sorry this happened to you one of the accusers came to visit you in prison and told you that this was all a lie mhm and he was sorry yeah yeah what I mean what what

the [ __ ] was your reaction to that Um at that point uh I looked at him and was like I I mean I was like dude I apprec at that point I was like dude I appreciate you like coming in here and let you know stand being a man and letting your tongue the truth I was like but and he straight up told me he was like dude I the NCIS is now hasn't trapped everybody that's involved like well if you go back on your story we're going to throw you in prison um so

he was like I don't know What to do uh and I told him I was like dude I can't tell you what to do because I'm in here but I was like you know I'm going to be going away for a life if it's like this is [ __ ] up but I stood up and I looked at him and I was like I forgive you and I hugged him and went back to my cell and then um he left and then about you hugged him mhm yeah I didn't know like I was you got

you got to think man like at That point I already knew these guys were you know were lying and I had sort of I had a moment when I was in the in the brave we can go over to where I just got levity and like I was good um but uh after he came in um you know I hugged him for you know it's like I forgive you um and then about two and a half weeks later another one showed up same like I don't know what to Do um has all gotten out of

hand um I did the same thing man just like dude I hugged him I was like dude I I forgive you guys man but I you know I told him I was like just think about my family U what they're going through and they were like you know we're going to try and make this right uh but I was like at that point I was like don't tell me any like I don't want to hear what you're going to do or not do I was like I'm already enough [ __ ] as it is I

don't Need to hear anything or what what you guys are doing with I mean you guys started this mess so U but that was I mean that those were two crucial moments for me because I mean I was like [ __ ] did that I mean did that feel did it feel good it did uh you know it's so when I was when I was locked up man like I the first probably two months I was [ __ ] having like it was bad I was just losing my mind I mean I wasn't like out

in the Open losing my mind so everybody could see it but I would sit in my cell and just like you know I was like in my own head freaking out uh I couldn't control the situation you know just like any operator you want to be able to have control and like be able to fix any problem or deal with it and there was nothing I could do man like I was literally helpless um wasn't in control of anything and then I had a pretty uh eye openening Conversation with my wife on the phone um

where at that point I still thought I still thought there was some hope that the command was like going to come through for me you know like dud this is how brainwashed I was um or you can call it you know loyalty to a fault where I was like there's no [ __ ] way they're doing this to me like I couldn't process it um and my wife she was like I want you to listen to me real closely she's like I sat there and waited for you the Past however many years while you deployed

over and over you left us over and over um you constantly told us you were doing a righteous thing and we believed in you and that's why we stuck around and waited for you every time to come back we put up with everything the teams has thrown at us because you told us it was the right thing to do and we believe in you she's like no I want you to listen to me she's like the command is against you she's like no One's coming to get you you don't have any control you or you

know you're on all you have is me your brother and whoever you know couple other people that are here fighting for you she's like you need to get that out of your head right now that anybody's coming to help you from the command and after that conversation I like it was hard to hear you know and I went back to my cell and sat there for a little bit and uh I got down on my hands And knees man and I like talked to God out loud and was just like take this from me like

like I you know I can't deal with it um no I just like you're in control and whatever happens happens like it's this is in your hands um you know it pretty much was just like that's it and I'll tell you what man like I got up walked out of my cell and I felt like the weight of the world was off my shoulders I was like And it that's not to say it was like on Easy Street the rest of the time but like that right there I mean you know and I would talk

to God every night and just be like dude help me to get through tomorrow you know um and he did it was it's like I physically felt it it was uh it was pretty insane so I think by the time those guys had come uh and like and I think that was God you know they came and they were like straight up like we di uh I to at that point I was like dude I can't like sit here and get angry anymore you know I was [ __ ] wore out uh but I was

like dude thank God you know that they've come to their senses you know you were in prison for 9 months right mhm what did your I mean I'm assuming you told your attorneys or you told Andrea you know that you had two of the accusers come out and uh you know yeah come clean what did the attorneys say um my I had I think I had my old Attorneys at that point and they were like well they were like you shouldn't trust them like this is how I was being told that they were still working

for NCIS and they were just really just trying to get stuff out of me um which I didn't believe I was like that doesn't uh I just didn't believe that that's what they were doing uh but that's what my old set of lawyers were trying to tell me uh but then once my new set of lawyers came on they were like what the [ __ ] okay and they ended up talking to them um talking to those those two and uh one of them was Cory Scott who went and Fest up to the murder so

if I remember correctly you did say that a lot of the prison guards were kind of coached by NCIS to to try to get you to snap um what kind of [ __ ] were they doing so yeah they were told so it was I didn't know it was Happening at first but like anytime somebody visited me anytime I had like any kind of interaction where I had to speak through somebody through a glass or wherever I would get strip searched like butt naked you know lift up your nut sack do all this crap and

I thought that was like you okay they don't do that to everybody that's so they were doing that to me a bunch at first um and then they would randomly I'd be sitting down um they just Randomly like get up search me um then go toss myself cell um uh they were constantly [ __ ] with me uh with my visitation they would they wouldn't let me have visitation sometimes um or tell me like certain people weren't allowed to visit me um and uh it became pretty evident like the other prisoners were actually like dude

they are we haven't seen this like they're messing with you um and I was like all right well one of the guards Finally came up to me there's a couple cool there there was there were some cool guards in there um that were definitely like this is [ __ ] that you're in here uh but they were like hey man you're NCIS um they they were like somebody some enlisted guy from your command was in here and they're telling they're having meeting every the guards have a meeting every morning before they go on shift and

they're like make him Snap today like keep [ __ ] with him until he does something and uh once he told me that I was like I I was laughing I mean there's nothing nothing in that brg is scary I mean yeah there's a bunch of [ __ ] putsy E5 you know kids so I was like dude all right and I just treated it as a game I was like every time they would do something uh you know I had this one time this gunny sergeant who was an MA he like stripped me naked

and then Was having me do stupid [ __ ] like pick up your boots now do this now bend over and do this as I'm naked and I'm looking at him like bro like what's I know what you're doing man like let's just give it a rest and he was like you know you got all up in my face like what the [ __ ] do you mean what I'm doing and like are you getting smart and I was like dude I just smiled I was just like hey man thanks for your thanks for your

service bud you know Great job on the warant ter your your contribution and just walked out like it's all you could really do is just keep it to yourself because that's that's what they wanted they wanted me to do something uh they even had um the prosecution was getting other prisoners to try and befriend me or you know get me to say stuff and to take lesser sentences for them so like if you get Eddie to say something we'll cut your sentence in half or we'll do this I Mean that it was pretty rampant uh

you know the other prisoners were coming up and telling me these things um and all of it is like you would think like this shit's illegal yeah no I mean I brought it up to my lawyers my lawyers brought it up in court and it's like yeah okay move on how how did you wind up getting the new lawyers um that's another like act of God is uh you know Bernie Carrick yeah so Bernie Carrick who I didn't know uh read one of those smear articles about me and literally was like something doesn't seem right

here um he made some phone calls down to uh I think the Pentagon some seals that were working there I was like what what do you know about this guy Eddie um what's going on with this and they told him that uh they didn't hadn't worked me personally but that I had a very good reputation from what they've heard and that this doesn't seem Right either uh and that there's something fishy going like they just were like there's something's not right about this uh so he ended up connecting with my wife reached out and was

like if there's anything you need um let me know um and he started asking questions about the legal team that we had at the time and he was like what are they do for you tell me what their you know what's their plan of action which they had none um and uh it wasn't probably until a couple Months down the road when Bernie initially had contacted my wife that we were F like my or Andrea was like we got to get rid of these guys and Bernie's like I have uh my lawyer standing by ready

to like help you guys out um Tim parlor and that's who this is It's so nutty cuz I didn't didn't know Tim um at that point all I was doing was just listening to Andrea she was like if she was like this is the best route I'm like then do it done you Know so she's like I talked to this guy Tim um he seems like a legit lawyer she's like I think we should hire him I was like okay uh I talked to the I talked to him on the phone for five minutes and

he was like I'm coming up there to see you he was he's from New York um I after I had fired Phil or no I fired kobby um first and I kept Phil stack house on um just for some continuity Because he had already been on the case Tim flew out and uh first time I saw him it was definitely not what I was expecting he was uh you know you're hear a New York lawyer like you I'm expecting like this H you know high power suit high power tie walking in but Tim is like

just this big old looks like a football player just massive dude uh you used to be in the Navy was an officer in the Navy um and uh that was it man what he it was Like a 180 like as soon as he took over it was dude he knew more about the case after taking it from in 48 hours than my two other lawyers did and they'd been on it for 5 months he was [ __ ] oh dude it was insane to watch and then to go to the courtroom with him like the

first courtroom appearance I had with him was like holy [ __ ] I have a lawyer like he was fighting back like calling the prosecution out and everything uh I mean it was awesome you know he it's uh that Was definitely like some divine intervention and then um Mark mucasey uh was my other lawyer I had and that uh he was one of's he is one of the president president Trump's lawyers um but he had nothing to do with anything he knew Bernie Carrick um you know I grew up knowing Bernie and was just talking

to him one night and was like dude I saw this what's up with this Navy SEAL say like this doesn't this looks [ __ ] up And Bernie's like dude I'm helping them and uh he said he's like we'll tell them I'll offer my services like if they need help because this is jacked up and um of course once that was like told to me like hey this guy Mark be Casey said he'd help you and he's one of Trump's lawyers I'm like well yeah like why wouldn't I want yeah you know that so ended

up hiring him as well and dude it was it was definitely like an awesome dream Team that I had um at what point did Trump get involved for the first time the first time uh he got involved was uh when I was locked up the um uh my wife and brother had uh hooked up with Congressman um Duncan Hunter and Congressman Ralph Norman um and they um obviously my wife had been on Fox and Friends a couple times at that point or once and she knew that that's the president watches that religiously Every day um

so she was pretty much got on there and was like this is what's going on and I think that got his attention and then uh you know he didn't do anything at first but then we got we got 50 over 50 congressmen to sign um a petition or whatever saying to let me out of pre-trial confinement so I could properly defend myself well God damn I'm glad he uh didn't label that portion fake news yeah he uh yeah so like all he did Is um which that was a crazy day like I got told and

by this point we had a lot of people people promised stuff that just didn't weren't come wasn't coming through you know it was definitely an emotional roller coaster of like oh this is this person's getting involved you know we've been told the president was going to get involved like four times at that point you know it was was always like a crap shooter you and I wasn't putting you Know I knew my wife was doing a lot of work but I I wasn't getting my hopes up to just be like the president of the United

States as you're back yeah yeah um same SP pitched yeah and so like I walk I was walking to uh Chow lunch and one of the guards the female guards walked by me and she was like giving me a weird look and I was like what's up and she's like are you you're getting out today and I was like no and she's like what the President just tweeted about you on TV and said that you're leaving and uh I was like what the [ __ ] he's like are you serious she's like yeah so by

the end of that day man they they [ __ ] came in they were like prisoner G stand up like you're out of here and uh I so this is the this is the crazy part all he tweeted was to get me out he's like get him out of confinement so he can properly defend himself for trial didn't say like he's guilty or not Guilty um he just said because of his prior service he you know he has a right to a fair trial a right to a fair trial um the command Rosen Bloom I

get let out of the brg like not even let out I'm like checking out they sent an MA down there um and pretty much took me from the brig and then threw me in a uh Barracks room with like restriction on steroids or I wasn't allowed out of the room I wasn't allowed a TV I was I wasn't allowed anything it Was like I was still in the brg still had to be in the same uniform and I had to get escorted if I wanted to go eat cuffed and everything no no cuffs that was

the one like I just but I just sat you know sat in that room for an extra month and a half so it was N9 months in prison it was no it was uh 7 and a half months in prison and then a month and a half in this room but the judge ended Up uh adding that on to my he was like you guys he pretty much told the command he was like what you guys are doing to him is confinement just like the break like so he just just added that on to my

he's like he's pretty much served 9 months in the break from because it was ridiculous I mean the command my my family would try and come visit me this is when I was in the barracks they would command would deny them like my wife and kids um like no you can't see him unless We we say you can during these hours so it was pretty much like I was still locked up uh just now it was almost I don't want to say worse but it was like I was by myself in a room now I

wasn't seeing anybody you know um they had a a guard on post outside my door at all times um yeah it was St it was just stupid talk about the phone call from the president no they brought you a phone to make a call that had no Service oh yeah so um we threw we had to throw we had to put together a complaint when we back to court saying that um what the commodor and the Admiral were doing to me was tan himount to confinement and that I still I basically they weren't following the

president's orders I still wasn't allowed to talk to my legal team I still I had no no communication with anybody so therefore how could I properly defend myself uh so the judge told the Prosecution like he said uh I'm not ordering you to do this because I can't but I suggest you guys get him a phone so he can contact his lawyers and so the command shows up about a week later nothing took their time and they're like here here's your phone it was like some you know 1994 like Samsung uh that had no service

they locked I I could only call my lawyer and my wife and I think my Brother um you know I wasn't allowed to dial anything else out but which didn't matter because the phone had no service so they gave that she the command Jag gave that to me and then they gave me a laptop with no internet no nothing and uh they're like you can't have this laptop in your room we're going to they locked it in another room in the barracks so if I wanted to go use it to go look at any evidence

I had to have a whoever they had from the Command watching me standing over me watching in or like watching me do this which is a violation in itself you know I'm looking at my own trial stuff like yeah uh we brought that up to them after they gave me the phone I brought it up to uh the command actually the the Jag that gave it to me I was like hey my phone doesn't have any service and she just looked at me and she's like too bad and walked off I mean they knew what

they were doing yeah um they were just Block I mean they were blocking me from being able to defend myself at every turn and it wasn't until um the prosecution finally got caught uh cheating and spying is where I was led out of confinement um that was the judge's remedy so they the um as soon as Tim and Mark and all them got together as a legal team um the prosecution sent them an email this is a check as plack was a Prosecutor um and on that email it was just some random email too it

wasn't nothing of like significant importance but on there was a tracking Beacon at the bottom um it's like an embedded virus and luckily my Tim my lawyer caught it um because he had a case two cases ago that dealt with it the same thing and he saw it and he emailed back and was like tell me this isn't what I think it is and got no response from the prosecutor he's like dude they looked Into it found out it was spy like they sent them spyware so that became a whole another like side issue of

my trial so then we had to bring that up like this is violating I don't know how many of my rights uh was that uh was so that Beacon was that an attempted breach or did they breach no they didn't it was so if he would have clicked on that Beacon it would have been been a full breach what what did the beacon look Like it was the symbol for the um the RSL the the um pry much the the command that the that the prosecution falls under it's their symbol uh but there's something like

about it that Tim was like this isn't right uh and yeah it turned out they prosecutor sent that Beacon to my whole legal team including all you know my civilian lawyers um the lawyers that were representing my OIC uh the Navy times because the Navy Times had just started writing articles that were actually looking good for me because that the Navy times was uh his name is Carl pry who was writing all the Articles he started doing some digging of his own into what was going on and started finding out the truth like this is

these dudes are [ __ ] lying and he started writing articles that you know insinuating or saying like hey man this is maybe this isn't what we think it is and the prosecution didn't like that um So they sent them a track and Beacon as well so that's to the media now we're violating the media's rights um so it became a real big deal um and we thought that I mean it was a good chance that case was going to be thrown out over that um because in a civilian Court it would have been thrown

out hands down um but their remedy was they and this was a complete surprise um this was pretty much an awesome day um we went in just to talk About the spying Caper and all that stuff and uh at the end of the that day the judge like so nonchalantly was just like all right um you know due to the fact that I think you violated some of his rights I'm just I'm letting Eddie Gallagher Go free or out of confinement and it was like I couldn't I was like what the [ __ ] and

my wife was like in she like jumped up screaming like you know and that was it I got to go be with My family until trial um which trial was like I think at that point a month off um but that was uh that was a big day like just to be able to go see my wife and kids um I went flew home you know for like two days and then came back and all we did was prep for trial from that point on so you go to trial and you need to explain to

all of America how an entire [ __ ] Seal Team or actually an entire seal Community has turned against you and you need to prove your Innocence I mean were you ready to do that at that point were you confident that yeah uh I mean I had confidence in my legal team uh you know I knew I knew they had they had done their due diligence I mean they worked their asses off all the way up till trial preparing for it um and I like I knew the I had the truth on my side that's

what I was like dude I have God and the truth on my side and I'm going into it With that mindset and uh cuz at that point so much corrupt [ __ ] had happened I was like I definitely wasn't putting any faith in the justice system or like that they were going to do right by me so I just had to have faith you know in God that it was going to work out and then I trusted my legal team I had full trust in them um and so we went into it with that

attitude I mean it was like we were every day I went to trial was like going into like an almost like an OP you Know how many days was the trial oh was like two and a half weeks two and a half weeks every day yeah it was uh it was nuts um you know it's and it's not like anything you see out of a Few Good Men or Rules of Engagement like the the courtroom is not you know made of Rich mahogany wood and like it's dude it's a piece of [ __ ] courtroom

like shitty carpeting like nothing there's barely any room for uh People in the back and they fill those seats with media those are the first people that fled in and then any supporters I had were told to like wait outside or you know they put like an extra room for them somewhere else I mean I barely thank God they let my mom and dad and wife in there and brother but uh dude it was it's a circus um you know the media was there it was you know I'd pull in every morning uh with with

Andre and my Brother and that's they're like little vultures man they're waiting and they come up to the car and they're all around you and you just got to like open the door and I just would walk into the courtroom you know there're shouting all sorts of questions at you um but once I you know once you're in the courtroom it's like game on uh and I just kept a straight face the whole time I wouldn't look at the jury the jury so Jury you know we started off the first day with jury selection which

is a whole process I had no idea how like intricate it was um they have like 20 jurors showed up at first uh and you can so in the military justice system there's no like um not everybody has to vote the same you know like in the civilian world like everyone has to be not guilty or guilty it's not that way in the military justi system it can Be like you know five people voted guilty four people voted not guilty therefore he's guilty [ __ ] there was a seal on the jury yep did you

know himm yeah that's uh yeah he uh so he was one of the jury so there was three seals originally on the jury um but one of them who I knew he was smart enough to be like get me the [ __ ] out of here he came up with some excuse and you know I'm doing something classified so He got off the other two were from warcom um one of them said right away like they had to fill out answers on a paper that he thought I was guilty and that's what he would find

me so they were like all right you're gone uh straight up lied um they asked him if he he knew me um he said nope um he'd been to my house five times I know I know him I know his wife or his ex-wife uh and uh he lied and said that he had Never talked to me he said he uh I think he said that he saw me in the gym one time or whatever that was it is this is this [ __ ] yeah I I mean he's the dude's been at my house

it was crazy dude he uh like straight up lied and was like no I don't know so when he did that we had to go back and so we had to deliberate on who to pick you know like who we're going to kick off and that was like a big point of contention because I went Back I'm like dude's [ __ ] lying but then they were like oh is he lying to like help you and I was like it does and we came up with the like it doesn't matter like we have to have

integrity and yeah we got to kick him off but the problem was we went back and the number the jurors that we wanted was seven that's like my lawyers were like we have to have seven jurors it's whatever lawyer math they have um and we started kicking so I kicked all the officers off I was like get rid of them that we kept one Navy officer and uh by the time we got down to like we were at seven Jers and uh my legal team was like just leave them on and then we were like

dude what the [ __ ] and they're like we are not going to six like he's staying so we left him and then uh come to find out he was try actively trying to find like get everybody find me guilty uh so I had six Marines on the jury and they were all like this is all [ __ ] like They because I guess after the trial my my lawyers and the prosecution go back there and talk to the jury to think to get like what were you guys thinking and the Marines were just like

dude everybody was lying like there's no way and um was like no like I think he's you know he said something to my lawyers like dude I think that guy tried to find you guilty and um I didn't believe it at first either I was like no [ __ ] way until this idiot did a whole post on Facebook the next day like a [ __ ] rant on Facebook about how I was really guilty but this and this and this and posted it on uh yep posted that [ __ ] on that right there

I was like I was like first off dude like you have to be a complete [ __ ] [ __ ] to you're on the jury and now you're posting [ __ ] on social media like and second I'm like dude you lied and I didn't you know I didn't say anything About it but now I'm like dude and there's enough I've had enough people talk to him after the fact and there I mean I've had two guys who were like good buddies with him they're like dude [ __ ] that guy like after I

talked to him he's he's completely he was at warcom and he'd been tainted I mean they were like he's guilty they were you know they were telling everybody that and uh God damn yeah dude it gets it's nasty it's Like and that's that's the crazy part yeah it's um holy [ __ ] so uh God damn that's that's wow yeah it's it's wild it gets the level of like corruption and like just nasty stuff that people that were tainted you know it's I would never believe it unless [ __ ] a man so what what

what was the turning point in court I mean I know it but yeah um I think you know the turning point in court for the media and Everybody else was you know obviously Corey Scott um who was the one of the prosecutor's main witnesses that you know he was going to get up there and you know what the prosecution thought was like he was going to get up there and be like oh you know he stabbed him and um he got up there and completely was like no I'm the one who killed him uh but

uh you know that was like the big oh [ __ ] moment that you know everybody Talks about but to me that wasn't the the whole trial was a turning point for me what uh I mean it was you didn't know he was going to do that so I mean do I would love to see her facial expression when he gets on the stand and says I'm the one that [ __ ] killed him I can tell you it look just like this you didn't D make a freaking move because I at that point there

had been so much [ __ ] that had gone on in this Case like ups and downs and twists and like to me when he said that I mean I was like oh [ __ ] but I was like here's another monkey wrench like where's this going to go you know um and it went exactly the way I thought like they didn't care that he said that they were like we're still charging him with pre like it was like yep we'll just dismiss him um you know after he got when he said that the prosecution

got up and just straight attacked him and was Like you're a liar you lied and then they would all they did was attack with every other witness like Cory Scout's a liar and so it's like dude that was your main witness yeah um you know I that definitely was a turning point in the case for the prosecution and I'm sure the jury they're probably like dude these prosecutors are so [ __ ] up uh but to me it was like watching every every one of those dudes get up on the stand Was it couldn't have

gone any better yeah I mean I knew they were [ __ ] up like I knew they had told so many lies but dude I it was even worse than I thought watch them get up there um Craig Miller was Pro Craig Miller to me was a big turning point he he was he just complete [ __ ] got like like we I talked about before changed the whole story about blood spurting out um then he was making up lies that didn't even happen like it was Not about that day um he was talking about

blowing down on a wall which that never like didn't even exist uh he even said that he had put hands on the Isis dude and like was kicking him down that never happened I mean it was it was really odd the [ __ ] that they were like lying about they really hadn't know no relevance to charging me yeah but I think they had told so many lies at that point that they either they thought some of it was the truth or they just Couldn't keep up um and it showed I mean even the media

they were sitting in the back like especially when Craig Miller was testifying and they were first off they were like how is this guy a Navy SEAL like he's an idiot and they're like how do the prosecutors even call this guy up it's it was that bad um wow you know he got flustered finally my lawyer was asking him enough questions he then he all of a sudden got the case of he got a case of Amnesia and then all of a Sudden couldn't remember anything you know um and it's the same with uh every

other you know delay and Tolbert their two stories about shooting the old man they didn't match up at all um they were talking about the same guy but there was like one guy fired you know said they fired warning shots one said they didn't uh you know it was just this discombobulated mess um on your uh mini documentary that uh your buddy at the New York Times made uh He he said did well for starters did was Andrea and Ryan and uh your other sons did they go every day to court no they they did

did they really just show up the one day was that just a coincidence that was yeah and that's yeah I mean I'll give it to the New York Times and then for trying to put that together but uh yeah we my so I had all three of my kids were there um at the Airbnb that we were using as when the trial went on and uh you know we Were coming back every day and of course that's all that was being talked about back there my family was staying there and so my two older kids

Trev and ABA um they were like hey can we go and I was like I no problem with you going you know me Andre both like if you guys want to go um so they that's how they showed up that day um like had nothing to do with Cory Scott or what was said that day um it just happened to fall on that day all right but I mean that's the That's the first question the media asked when we came out of walking out of court that day um uh Andy Dyer from the Union San

dieg Union Tribune instead of like the big bombshell that somebody else just submitted to the murder his his question was how could we in good conscious take our two kids to a trial that shows dead bodies like there's pictures of dead bodies in there and you're gonna let your kids watch that and I wasn't Allowed to talk you know but dude Andrea lit him up like it was it was awesome uh she was just like you know we don't hide our kids from Evil we don't hide them from what you know their dad does and

you know that's the that's the question you have yeah it was they they would try and pick at anything try and demonize you so you wound up not guilty yep and and what what what that I mean that uh did you still have the uh Stone Cold stare when you heard that no I think uh well d That's I it's hard to explain that moment um because it would it was just uh it was crazy yeah you know they we closed our case uh you know prosecution went Clos our case defense went close our case

and they were like all right you know jury's going to deliberate um it took them about a day and a half um that was crazy day like just waiting um for Them to come back and uh yeah when they finally did it was it was like Hey the jurries got their decision and it was you know real quick got into the courtroom um they really didn't yeah I didn't hit me until like I was like sitting there waiting for them to come out I was like this is it you know like oh [ __ ]

yeah B man [ __ ] yeah they called him in and then you stand up at attention as they come in I'm just staring Straight Ahead um and It's like no time wasted they're like read them off and uh the crazy part is they don't read they weren't reading the charges like you know for premeditated murder for this it was like charge one specification two so I had no idea like which ones they were talking about so they were like not guilty not guilty not guilty not guilty so there was that one and I remember

like as they were reading them off I wasn't even hearing it I mean my heart was like felt like it was Coming out of my chest and it was just like you know ringing in my ears uh and uh once they got done reading them I was like [ __ ] like which one was like guilty of and my Tim my lawyer grabbed me and he's like it's the picture you know and like hugged me and dude it was like bro the courtroom erupted I mean everybody was crying uh it was pretty nuts it was

uh I mean you saw team I mean Team guys flowing in just balling like grabbing me uh it was Pretty epic like I was I think I was just like in shock you know people just like grab me like hugging me and uh you know my wife was everybody was balling my lawyers all my lawyers are crying just I think everybody was so happy you know cuz like everybody had put so much like time and effort and just you know people believed in that case like it was it meant a lot to him yeah so

yeah it was it was nuts um and then uh yeah I went right from There went and got sleeved up I went right I drove right to the tattoo parlor uh it was uh and of course the media turned that one into a Heyday you know said something like Navy SE gets acquitted and goes right to getting alcohol and tattoos or something it was like some crazy article they wrote but what' you get I had so I had no tattoos um at all through my whole career so the first one I got was uh well

actually first one I got you know Mike Martin yeah so he you know he passed away um during my whole thing but he snuck in when I was in the er's from had me confined he came in on a Saturday and snuck in uh with the silencer tattoo gun and tattoo the U my bone frog on my back and then my wife's name right there and then uh after my uh trial [ __ ] yeah it's [ __ ] badass oh yeah it was he's such an awesome guy um and uh yeah after the tattoo

I the first thing I got was my wife's eyes With like the flag wrapped around it and then pretty much this whole arm is dedicated to my wife wife and then my kids that's awesome man yeah it was uh you know I never like thought about getting tattoos or like it was always I was like there's got to be something you know that has to have like real meaning behind it and that was it for me I'm like dude this if this isn't it then I don't know what is so yeah went and uh did

that Um you know I had the uh I had to go back for my sentencing for the picture um which they threw the book at me big time uh I think I'm the first person ever to get sentenced to a court marshal for taking a picture uh but yeah they they pretty much turned that into you know they try to turn that into a war crime yeah which it's not uh you know it's not I don't think it's in good taste but uh it's not a war crime other that if that's the Case then there's

been tons of war criminals in the military since the beginning of the P you know camera yeah you know it's but whatever you know they wanted to get their pound of flesh out of me um I think the Navy was definitely they were pissed embarrassed um and then they came at you again then did not stop yeah um I uh after the trial I went back to work thinking like just like I talked about that mass Chief had said you swim your Way back and I thought that's what I had done like went through the

gauntlet was like I'm back showed up I was like I'm ready to go back to work they were like you're banned they Banned Me from all the teams uh the bases and they stuck me in Supply down at another base again um and they said uh you know it was the same deal like report there every morning um I wasn't allowed to put in my retirement because the punishment for uh my court Marshal hadn't like been officially gone through yet I had to wait for like some Admiral signature which they said could take months um

so I just had to you know show up and not do anything uh and so all I did at that point I was like I'm going I had so much leave uh like I never took it so I was like I'm just going on I would I would go back to Florida uh and spend time with my family and then come back you know every two weeks come back and be like okay what's You know what's going on um it was they were block they were completely blocking me from getting anything done um I was

not allowed to go to I was still I still belong to trade at but I wasn't allowed to go there uh so all of my paperwork everything I needed was there and but I wasn't allowed to access it so it it was just a stupid game that they were playing with me um the command would toy with me like group one Mass chief be like oh we need to you to move all your Stuff out of your cage into this conx box and then next week I'll move it out of that conx box over here

like it was just stupid stuff and um you know I I was pissed but my lawyer and a couple other people would advis me they were like do not do any like if they're [ __ ] with you just let them [ __ ] with you like don't give them any reason um to come you know come after you Anymore so I played it cool the whole time um and then uh that's when I got the uh phone call from the president uh I was coming back from Florida back to San Diego and I landed

in San Diego and I got a te a call from my lawyer saying hey if there's a weird phone number that comes up pick it up and uh it's like why and he's like just do it and I like all right and sure enough it was one I think it said it was from Egypt and so I Picked it up and yeah it was the president United States and the vice president um on the phone and uh they he called and was like listen um I'm calling to tell you that you're I'm I'm going to

let you retire or you're going to retire as a chief uh with everything that you've earned over the past 20 years because uh the punishment they had tried to give me is I was going to retire as a E1 an E1 yeah and that's what I don't think Anybody really knows is because they had thrown the book at me and they sentenced me to uh four months in the brg which I already served almost triple that uh or over twice that um but because you get that 4 months that's automatic reduction that you w um

and so I would have it would been like 20 years never existed yeah um so he was like that's not happening um I'm letting you retire as a chief and uh with everything that You've earned you know and then he talked to me about I mean this he knew more about my case then I think most people like he knew all the intricacies of everything that had happened um all the crap the prosecution had pulled I mean he was disgusted by it he was like you know he's like we don't treat our war Fighters like

this he's like this is not not all I'm president you know he's like you don't throw away hardore Fighters uh and he's like so I'm you Know thank you for your service and I'm going to let you out with or let you get out with everything that you earned um and then he you know really made a bunch of remarks about my wife how amazing she is and how why she's a reason that he was even involved um that he was he's was like she's a remarkable person to watch uh fight you know he's like

I forget what he said he said uh you know she stands she's a good salesman she stands by her product and She's like that product is you you know and so talked to him and both the vice president just I I was you know in shock you know what are you going to say phone I just sat there and listened to them and thanked them over and over and um yeah so that they were going to pull your seal Trident too well that's so after I get off the fun with them I go into work

the next day and I go right to trade at where I'm banned from I drive right on I'm like dude [ __ ] this I walk in and I'm like hey I want my paper like all all I wanted was my paperwork to put my retirement in which they were not giving me I go up to the uh third deck walk into the admin and uh it you would have thought I walked in with a shotgun I mean it was all admin people in there and they all like stopped what they're doing and they're like

oh my God and I literally was like Hey I just need this this and this and I'll be out of here you know and they were like oh you know they're all helpful they're like definitely and the mass chief of trade it comes walking out sees me and uh it was so awkward he was like oh what's up and I was like hey how's it going he's like oh and then he walks back in his office and shuts the door and I'm like okay comes out about 30 seconds later completely different demeanor like bowed up

gets in my face And is like who gave you authority to even come in here like you're not like just being a complete douchebag and he's like you're not allowed in here I don't know what you think you you know what makes you think you can walk up in here and I just turned and looked at him was like you know he cuz he said who gave you the authority to come here and I looked at him I was like the president of the United States when he called me yesterday I was like get the

[ __ ] out of My face he looked his face was like and he like walked back into his office and I like I had it at that point I was like dude yeah [ __ ] you [ __ ] all of you guys um I was like you my paperwork I mean the admin people were cool I had no problem with them but just him and then the co of trade at comes walking out this is literally this happened I turn he comes walking out of his office looks at me and then goes back

in his office office and shut your Door like these are grown ass Navy Seals we're talking about here and I'm like dude are we like really you know but either way I I left there I didn't go back I just got everything I needed um and uh I go back to supply to put in for retirement and I get notified by group one they call me you're like oh uh yeah you're not you can't put that in because now we're going to take you to try to review board and we're pulling your bird Um man

they just wouldn't [ __ ] allow to go you couldn't make you couldn't make it up I literally sat down with the group one Master Chief and had to have like I tried to have like this heart-to-heart talk with him I'm like dude I get it you guys are coming after me like I'm public eny number one I was like but do you know what this looks like like the president just said I could retire and just let me go and now you're coming After me again I was like this looks like you're giving the

middle finger to the president of United States and I was like you do understand that and he was like no no no that's that's not what we're doing I was like okay I'm like that's what it's going to look like but I I welcomed they were like you're going to go to the Trident review board and I welcomed it I was like fine I was like I'll go I was like because that is the first and only time you guys have ever Offered to hear my side of the story and if it has to be

in front of a trident review board and I I'm able to talk to a bunch of senior enlisted and give my side I welcome it I was like even though I already know there's a predetermined outcome that you guys are going to pull my bird but if that's what it takes you know and uh I went and reviewed so when you have a try and review board you can go and review the evidence uh beforehand to see what they're going to you know Bring up and I was going to trial all over again I mean

it literally was like I had never been to trial they were just like all the charges again um which I was like okay but uh literally the next day the president steps in again and tweets I wake up to a tweet that said you will not be taken his Trident uh get back to work like dude I mean and so I walk into work the next day and I'm like you know what are you gon to do now You know what's and uh they told me they were like oh no no we're still pulling your

Trident and I was like okay you know I I don't know where this is going but it's like it's not going to end I mean you're going up against the president yeah which that's on you you know but they they never ended up doing it they tried um and uh we ended up fighting back pretty hard to where they they were going to take my Trident my Tu Commander's Trident my oic's Trident um anybody that testified on my behalf they were just going to pull their Trident um but they end it all ended up getting

dropped wow yeah but it was like that to the very last day uh when I got my retirement ID just constant trying to like Target me in some way man that is [ __ ] sad dude yeah it was super sad uh um and it the sad part is like watching the guys in the community um Who were not you know they were all coming up to me like dude this is [ __ ] you know like they were all on my side but they it was a very like looking over your shoulder type of

yeah and it's uh yeah it was pretty bad I mean adal green he's gone I know out of that seat now but dude he I mean they got rid of the secretary of the Navy over this yeah well that was uh that was another so I think I got hammered pretty Good um because I spoke out against Admiral green right when I was on active duty people were like I mean even other seals like oh you shouldn't have done that's whatever I don't know what they conduct them becoming or you know but at that point

I had I mean they had done so much stuff to me yeah I was like dude I don't give a [ __ ] anymore uh and uh Fox News was like ask me to come out I was like done and I flew out over the weekend flew in on like a Saturday and Um I was fired up I was like ready to start putting people on blast and uh my lawyer was like don't do it don't mention anybody's name because you're still in active duty and they could still charge you um but when I went

in there um I had evidence I had already evidence that the secretary of the Navy was meddling in my case I had an email um that somebody gave me that he was he he personally was reached out to Organizations and told them not to support me uh which why is the Secretary of Navy reaching that low into something uh wow but I put went I went on Fox News and I put that on blast I was like this this and this I put emal gre's name on blast I was like dude I don't care um

and then within 3 hours after the interview the SE everyy was relieved um which I'm not saying it was because I went on there but I think you know maybe it might have Had a little something had a little something to do with it yeah uh so I mean and then he got caught going behind the secretary of defense is back yeah so he didn't do himself any favors before we uh you know close the book on this this chapter I do have one question and uh you were going to get a silver star for

that deployment mhm do you know what that was for um yeah uh I mean I saw the so the way it was Explained to me and this is I didn't know I was being put in for it Silver Star well the Silver Star for those of you that don't know is the third the the third from the top yeah award best combat award you can get it's it's a I mean yeah it's uh I mean it's a big deal for guys that that you know get them I mean um and I had no idea that

I was being put in for one until we got back from that deployment and the only way I found out was because One of these junior junior guys said it they were like oh well you you got put in for silver store and I was like what like yeah that's and so I went and talked to my OIC and uh T Commander like yeah we ran up we recommended you for one and it was for um at the first it was for multiple AXS um because they changed and I can't keep up with the awards

system but they changed it from doing one act valorous act to multiple acts and then now they Change then they changed it back to just one act again uh um the write up I got for it was uh you know we we were in a position uh and we started getting shot at pretty good shot up uh we had taken PKM and all sorts of fire um and I had requested the the Matt V's to pull up on this bridge and light up where we were getting the shot from um they Didn't they wouldn't do

it uh because they were like it's you know we're taking fire so I ran I ran down I was at the third story of building but it was like open I was running down through bullet fire whatever sprinted across the field which this is I'm just read this from the right up it all you know to me I'm like I don't uh it doesn't sound as crazy but like I uh yeah I jumped across ran across the field jumped in the mat V Pulled it up onto the bridge hammered down on that building that was

we were taking fire from and then uh got out ran across the field again taken fire grabbed the javelin went up uh ran up to the third deck again and then engaged and uh smashed to the enemy phys um that and the fire Subs sued or whatever Jesus dude all by herself yeah holy [ __ ] but it's it dude it sounds like like it's believe me to me it wasn't That crazy you know it was like but that was like the one write up they did it for um and whatever it when I got

my uh that was the funny thing when I got my award finally when I could retire I I was like you know processing it through with the admin guys and the admin guys like dude I've never seen this before and I was like what and he's like come look at this they had Whited out the SilverStar and wrote bronze with v and Pen are you Shing me I still have it and I'm like at that point I was like dude I don't even care like I I don't care like I think you know rewards are

here and are there man I think there's people that get them that don't deserve them and I think there's people that don't get them that do deserve them I and it's a cross in between so I don't put any like whatever well just for reference I think it's Metal of Honor Navy cross SilverStar yeah so pretty big [ __ ] deal man but you know well let's take a break [Music] yeah there's a lot of people looking for land these days as we continue to uh lose our freedoms so we're on our way to look

at a piece of property out in the middle of nowhere and uh this particular piece only sits on an acre and a half I believe 1.5 [Music] Acres all right Eddie we just got back from the break and um I just wanted to bring up we were talking about the book on the break and uh that QR code thing you were talking about I think yeah is amazing I've never seen that in a book and uh if you don't mind just in a brief description like give everybody a rundown of what that's going to be

like in the book yeah um so the way I wrote the book is um obviously it's from my Point of view of everything that happened uh I have you know chapters in there from my wife um my brother and uh I think my lawyers have a you know chapter in there there's a couple other people that were involved um but obviously the book is from my point of view um I wrote it in such a way that the reader you know can see everything that my family went through um and then everything that happened at

the trial but it's going to be it's up On the reader you know I wanted to write it in such a fashion that the reader can make his decision at the end whether they think I'm guilty or not or what decision they would made if they were the jury so the only way I could do that is I put uh you know to do it honestly and not just from my side I put QR codes in the book so as you're reading it um like if you're reading about the trial and you're like okay you

don't believe like certain things I'm putting in there Or you want to know more you can click on the QR code and you can listen to all the trial audio um you can listen to uh or watch all the NCIS videos um and you can see it all like I'm not hiding anything it's uh you know put everything out there and so by the end of the book you can make your decision on what you would what you would find me as as jury member um that's amazing yeah I tried to write it in that

fashion I can't wait to to get My hands on it and and the like the cute the fact that you put the original Court audio in there and and and by just by scanning the QR code so it's like oh if you don't believe me then yeah I want to be as transparent as possible you know there was enough um you know during my whole the whole trial and everything else I mean the media put out enough stuff that was completely uh bias um against me um and they spliced you know certain things uh To

make me look evil and I'm like I'm not going to do that I mean yeah there's there's going to be things in that QR code that don't make me look good because they you know they dug through my life but I you know I'm not going to hide I don't have anything to hide you know I'm not a angel uh you know I'm try to be a good person but I'll just put everything out in the open yeah well moving forward uh this will be the last segment I just want to talk about um kind

of your transition which uh holy [ __ ] man I I can't even [ __ ] imagine uh what that was like you know most guys just have to you know not just have to but you know dealing with uh the the post-traumatic stress and and trying to figure out what the [ __ ] you're going to do and and uh you know not being able to feed the addiction to the adrenaline and all that [ __ ] coming into play on top of you what you were dealing with Um it's amaz it's a miracle

that you got through it and uh that you're still sitting here and then after that uh we'll talk about you know what you're doing now with the PIP hitter Foundation which which I think is [ __ ] amazing but um yeah um so you did eight deployments and just the just your last deployment uh you saw more [ __ ] than most people will will ever see in a lifetime and uh even even More than a lot of other operators in one deployment and um you know kind of talking with the online you had brought

up that there were other deployments that were that were you there was more action and um you know you saw a lot of death you saw a lot of trend uh uh you saw a lot of traumatic [ __ ] I'm sure you've lost more friends than you can count and you have Killed a lot of of bad bad guys so what about guys that you've saved from being a medic um yeah I mean we just I mean just this last deployment uh one I was on our EOD guy got shot um you know he

was up on the rooftop setting up some charges uh for some uh loopholes and you know one random shot rang out um tagged him in the leg and and uh we managed to pull him down uh myself and another medic worked on him Uh you know he he's actually back operating um now um just good dude but yeah we you know ended up working on him um and having the Buddy carrying back to uh you know the um Rally Point which we had stay pre-staged uh but I mean that's you know on prior deployments you

know you work on guys or partner forces all the time um whether they're you know shot or I mean most time I've worked on a lot of partner Force guys um that have been you Know blown up or shot up pretty good um it just comes with the job of being a medic and it's just you know one of the qualifications U how many guys do you think how many men do you think are still alive because of the fact that you patched them up um Counting Team guys or and also any human life that

you I would say probably like 20 to 25 maybe um just that's what I can think of the top of my head um you you're thinking you know we also take Care of you know when we were doing vsso uh vill ability operations out in Afghanistan you're taking care of the villagers nearby would do like medcaps bring them in and you know the they don't have the stable you environment we have here so that you know they're bringing you these kids that are you know got dragged I remember I remember this one kid got dragged

by a a horse you know um he had be like five or six years old and they brought him in and I Mean his whole scalp was gone peeled off um we worked on him ended up metab backing him and saving him um and just there's that's you know that's the one part of uh going over there you know taking the war aspect out of it um you know when you start helping the actual civilians over there and they're you know they're stuck in a war zone that and they're not you know taking part in

it but they're just stuck there and helping them out definitely Gives you like you know a feeling of satisfaction or gratification like you're you're actually doing some good you know yeah amidst all the violence and everything else like being able to take care of like you know some female or even like you know pregnant women over there they came and saw us and we' we'd help them out uh but just be able to like take care of them and send them on their way you know as do as best you can It it makes you

feel good yeah like you're you're doing something good in the world have you ever have you ever thought about the [ __ ] magnitude of the fact that there's you just estimated 20 20 20 guys that you saved and I'm I'm and it's more than that because you just brought up a Med Cap but in combat there's 20 human beings walking on this [ __ ] Earth that wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you being there that's pretty like amazing [ __ ] Yeah it's uh I mean you you never think of it like

that you're just you're just doing your job you know um that's part of what you know being a medic it's just uh helping other people out um but yeah it's when you take a you know step back like you just did and look at it in the big picture it's uh it's pretty awesome feeling you know yeah it's pretty [ __ ] amazing dude yeah but uh well did you did you even have time to I mean deal with no post-traumatic stress While all the other [ __ ] was going on in in court and

with the NCI or not at all um and uh it it's uh it was pretty crazy because you know I was at that TBI clinic trying to get you know um at Intrepid uh spear um getting worked on um you know I had multiple I've had multiple concussions um you know throughout my career and you know when I got there I hadn't reported a lot of them or some of them were just half ass reported so when They really started digging deep into everything that's been going on I it was pretty eye opening and be

like oh [ __ ] you know this is what I've done to my brain um and then they bring back the scan and show you like you know this this is what's you know part of your brain looks like from all the the blast it's uh it's pretty eye opening but you know I didn't have any I got pulled out of that clinic and thrown in prison so I didn't have any uh real time to Like treat myself or take care of myself and um I remember going you know while I was locked up I

had uh buddies visiting me and other team guys and they they were constantly you know checking up on me and being like are you okay and I you know like any typical team guy I'm like I'm [ __ ] fine you know um I'm good and I was I was good at the time because I was in fight mode um you know during that whole process I think my I was just focused on like fighting you know for my Freedom and getting out um I really wasn't worried about any other the ramifications um and it

it really didn't hit me until uh I got out um you know even the last day you know I think I was telling you about it at dinner last night uh you know I hadn't during that whole time I didn't I hadn't processed everything that was going on it was just every day was a fight um and the day that I went and got my retire my ID uh retired ID you know Was by myself it was very just like went in they were like here it is and you're gone you know thanks for coming

out um I went back to my truck and I just sat there and I let it I mean I just started balling uh by myself in my truck it was it was like everything just started dumping out of me uh and I was it was more of a Bittersweet um cuz I didn't I didn't want to get out you know that I that job I love that job um I mean it was my religion for 20 years um and to leave like that was not the way that I had ever pictured it or planned it

um but it was also like I was glad it was over you know I was glad I was going back to my family uh to start a new chapter um but once I got home uh I was probably I was good for a couple months I think you know just sort of s it's like the I guess the honeymoon phase of getting out um but once I started writing the book It everything sort of Came Crashing Down on Me uh I went into like some pretty dark spaces you know just going rehashing everything that had

gone on I hadn't you know taken the time to sort of unravel everything that had happened to me and my family uh so once I started rehashing everything and having to like really dig you know go into the details everything that happened and it was so much that I couldn't even remember half the [ __ ] Yeah uh went on but uh you know I was get I got angry um I think that's the only emotion I had for a while was just like anger and frustration um you know my Andrea saw it my wife

saw it my kids saw it uh you know I'd come down from working on the book and I'd just be in a dark space uh wouldn't talk to anybody um and you know thank God I have I'm tell you the only reason I'm halfway like good now is because my wife uh you know She's my rock and she's like she told me she's like you know you need to deal with whatever's going on and she's like it's not just with the book or what happened it's like your career you know everything that's you know you've

been through and uh because I think when you're going through you know and I try to explain to people how it is you know in the teams or it's like you're on a train going 120 miles an hour all the time and any traumatic event that Happens you whether you lose you know a teammate or you know something else you see some atrocities it just goes in the Caboose you don't even you're like yep throw it back there and just keep going well once that 120 M train stops guess where that Caboose is coming it's

going to come crashing right into um so that ended up happening uh so I went you know Andrew and I talked and you know I focused on the focus was just doing the book but it was also Taking this year to like get treatment um and really fix myself and make myself a better person to be around uh and just you know and that's that's the right thing to do um it's you know she sent us a Andrea sent us a list of the treatments that you went through and that is a that's a pretty

[ __ ] extensive long list I mean and I feel dude I I feel blessed that I even got to go to those treatments you know and it was through The uh you know seal Future Foundation um those guys reached out to me right away and they were like listen whatever you need um hit us up uh I went got all my blood work done right off the bat um and that was a pretty another eye- opening thing when they came back and told me you know everything that I was loow uh my body had

you know they're like yeah your if your brain's not working properly the rest of your body is going to pay for it and um so I was Low on a lot of stuff they hooked me up with uh a lot of like supplements um got me on trt which my testosterone was low uh and then um I went and did hbot treatment which is uh the um I forget the what hbot stands for uh but pretty much you go into a uh it's like going down a depth you're going into um the dive chamber um

the hyperic chamber yeah hyperic chamber they take you down and I did about 65 treatments of that did you uh find that effective I did um You know it's not the end all Beall but I definitely felt uh better afterwards I wasn't feeling the effects during it um I was s that was sort of frustrating but about 2 weeks after it like a fog had been lifted a little bit so the science behind that correct me if I'm wrong is they take you down um to depth and it because the blasts have kind of loosened

up the membrane on your brain correct yeah and so basically when they go down to depth in the in the Hyperbaric chamber they're it's con it's compressing that all back together I think that's kind of like in uh in D ter scientific as we're going to get and dummy terms uh I can't explain it any better than that either like it's yeah it pretty much helps you uh it supposed to heal your brain they've been they've been doing it for years with uh NFL players and they're just now seeing that uh this treatment is doing

wonders for guys that are coming out of our Profession um who've taken multiple concussions or like they call them little mini concussions over and over uh and they're seeing a lot of good effects from it um I recently just got actually my dad is a uh you know retired lieutenent Colonel he was a Desert Storm um and you know he was I actually got him to go down and do it and like seeing I mean the big change when he got done with it as well I mean it's you can see the they had the

positive changes and The effects that it has on on people um so it I definitely got a lot out of that um and then I you know dealing with I still had this like weight on me uh it felt like you know where I would still go into these dark you know just places or just angry um and I couldn't figure out you know I knew it was going on um and I I'll tell you like that's having podcasts like this or any other seals are doing podcast they when they have their guests On and

guys talk about the stuff they go through and they're vulnerable and able to be like hey this is what I went through and uh it helps like it helped me a lot to be able to listen to those guys because I'm like okay I'm not the only one feeling like this uh and then it just gave me the self-awareness to be like I need to I need to do something about it and I'm just not going to sit here and be angry and Miserable I'm like I want to I want to change you know I

want to be different um so I went uh and did this pretty um not invasive but uh it was different uh plant medicine um it's called iigame is this is this when you went to Mexico yeah so it's through uh the vet um program um and it's Amber and Marcus Capone run it um and they uh flew me out to Mexico and you take this Iva game um it's just a pretty powerful Hallucinogenic um kind of like I Wasa is this like is this soloc cybin no okay so this iig comes from like a tree

bark uh it's I think and I I don't want to mess this I think it's they said South America um which you know certain tribes use it um as like a write a passage when they you're you know they take it and like to become a man or like to find your your your purpose um but uh they' come to find out that this medicine is like they also used it to treat um Addicts um so they use it for heroin addiction any kind of addiction they were using to treat patients and they were finding

that it was working um and then they started to now treat vets you know guys who have massive you know tbis or PTSD uh or and which also we know comes along with addiction problems you know alcohol abuse pills everything else and they're I mean they're finding out like it's doing wonders it's almost like you know a game changer for a lot of Guys uh so I had talked to a couple buddies that had already done it um you know they sort of explained it to me but even when you haven't done it and you

have you know people explain it to you you're like I was still I was nervous about it um but Andrew and I talked about it and we she was on board you know and so I went down there and um yeah it was it was a game changer for me um it it um what's the process like down there So they you go down there um you just go to this house and they have uh doctors on you know there um they have like this nurse or and she's also a shaman uh she prepares the

medicine um they you know everything is done with like reverence they they're very professional about it they have uh people watching you 247 while you're on it um they hook you up with EKGs just so they can monitor you how do you take it it's uh in capsule form how long does it Last 10 hours 10 hours yeah and it's intense um it's super intense you so what we did is um and actually it was on your last podcast uh he sort of T pretty much exactly how he said it um you go in there

you write your intentions of what you want to get out of it um you know um I so I I wrote down like you know I just want to be happy again uh I want to feel like innocent again like you know sort I look at my kid you know Ryan who's you I see he's just an awesome kid laughing And just happy I was like dude I want to feel like that again you know and not have this burden or whatever you want to call this weight on me um and I wrote it down

on a piece of paper uh and then you throw it in the fire and then you take the medicine and they lead you upstairs to a a room with beds you just lay down on the bed you put a uh one of those eye covering sleep masks on and you just wait um until it kicks in and uh how long does it take it mine Took a while to kick in so I I was there with three other guys um are you guys all in the same room yeah so they were all on beds and

everyone's in there so monitoring us uh they play like you know real chill music um and I mean everything is like to make you comfortable um but those guys I could I could hear that they had kicked in like some of them are throwing up um because that's sometimes what happens uh so I was getting pretty frustrated I was like Dude you know did I get a bad dose or what's going on but then uh yeah all of a sudden it's like ringing or buzzing started happening and it and I can feel it come up

the back of my spine and like it feels like the back of your brain is just explodes and you are it was like 10 hours of like I got went into space um you know I was like actually like in space around you I could see the stars and you actually feel like you're there you know it's Like this is actually going on um but what's crazy about the medicine is you're I could literally if I wanted to take my eye mask off I'd know where like I'd be conscious to be like okay I'm in

this room you know but then I'd go back to it um back to you know in space but uh you know it was it really it started off super intense At first I felt like the bed was trying to like Buck me off and like it was flying all over the room But uh I just remain calm and like worked on my breathing um just to like chill and then pretty much I watched a whole real of My Life um I watched myself being born um watched myself as a child growing up all the way

uh you know I forget how far it went but um it what it did for me is you know um it just made me really appreciate you know what I had uh which was my family um and just I mean stuff that I think I was like overlooking you know because of The everything that had happened and um it just you know I came out of it like that's with this like weight off me um and just like a feeling of Peace um and it just gave me like a foundation to you know if I

start feeling a certain way I can bring myself back to that place uh a lot easier than I could have before the medicine damn when did uh so you're basically you were accessing memories that you hadn't access forever it was insane and then this is this will Trip you out like this this is hard to explain to people so I mean it sounds crazy but uh I was watching so you're watching it's almost like a old film of yourself and then at some point during it I started I was watching my dad as a little

child and like him growing up and then how you know him with his dad uh and it was I mean but it was like actually you're you're like dude this is actual foot Like [ __ ] but it was like I was accessing my dad's memories um which sounds insane um and I know like you know people listening like what the freak but I mean I it was nuts well you know I did some research on this [ __ ] and um we not [ __ ] but this stuff is like still cybin in particular

and and uh I I can't remember the exact percentages but I think they say you can only access 10% of your brain or or human beings can only access 10 or 20% Of their brain it's a small amount and uh when the psoc side hallucinogenic uh takes effect it like literally unlocks the rest of your brain which gives you access to all these memories and and is the way I kind of understood it but yeah it's that's pretty much how it felt like it just act like the rest of your brain has woken up and

you it just starts bringing back or you start seeing all these memories that you don't even know you had um I mean Stuff when I was little I mean they were they were actual memories but like you know i' when I was four years old like walking into the store with my mom like holding her hand or it was actual like I was watching that go on uh it was it was pretty crazy um was it first person or was it like you were watching no it's like you're watching um it's like right in front

of you and you're watching like old film you can see yourself yeah so I'm seeing myself and whoever's with me Uh through it and then you it was like if you wanted to stay stay on a certain memory and be like okay I want to dive into this and see what you you could do that um but it was it was almost like uh like if I didn't want to I was like oh I don't need to see that I could just scroll through my you know to the next film um it was it was

crazy wow and then each the film that I was seeing which was gnarly and I didn't think about this till afterwards it all had burnt marks Like like it had been singed around the end ends of the film and I think that was you know cuz part of the intentions you know cuz we threw in the fire and it was like showing me you know this is what you wanted to get out of this and this is why we're showing you this so it's D it's you know the way they they do it it's not

and that's you know I think people if certain people are like oh I don't know about that like they treat that medicine with such Reverence and they do it in such a professional manner I mean that's how guys are getting a lot out of it it's not guys aren't just going down there to take this and be like Oh I'm tripping out like it's done for a certain uh purpose you know to help guys heal and then you after you take that you do another drug called 5 Meo DMT um which is a uh which

is actually pretty crazy it's poison from a toad uh so they have you smoke that um and that Is supposed they call it the handshake so when you do the Ia gain it pretty much shows you everything that you know you want to get treated or worked on right so you you come out of that like okay I just got shown all this stuff and you're trying to process it then when you do the 5 Amo DMT it's like a handshake like you're like oh my gosh okay now I understand you know um it sort

of like releases everything um and I like I got out of That like I had a lot of uh obviously you know anger and um you know I was holding on to you know even the guys that these accusers you know that was you know I angry about that um and uh you know it's one thing just you know I I was like I forgive you know some of those guys and um but you know the human nature and me I was still holding on to some some stuff and uh it just it gave me

the realization like I came out of it and I'm like you Know what like there's no reason to be like me being angry at those dudes or like you know have this hate like all this doing is hurting me right like those dudes I mean they they proved exactly what they were you know I had called them cowards on deployment cuz they had acted like it and then I think they proved to the world exactly what they were and uh you know I've been asked like oh what you know if you saw one of them

what would You do and I'm like dude nothing I was like there's nothing worse that can be done to those guys than what they did to themselves so this this treatment put you a peace with all that [ __ ] I would say like not I and I'm not I'm not going to say like 100% because you know if I depending on what mood I'm in and if something is brought up you know I might start getting a little irritated by it but uh it gave me the tools to Like realize like that's happening and

be like you know what that that none of that matters so when you said you took the second drug and it just released everything it released what like the emotion or things just made sense or it's hard to explain so you uh when you take that the or the 5 Meo DMT you inhale it in for I think 10 seconds and hold it for 10 and let it out and you you know they have you on a bed and you literally fall back into the Bed but when after you take the uh drug it's you

don't feel like you don't hit the bed you just keep falling and you're just going it's a it's a pretty scary feeling but they you know they prep you beforehand are like hey just trust it uh don't you know try not to fight it just they tell you just to let go and so that's I mean I did exactly that I just let go and it you keep falling but eventually it brings you to This this this place uh where I it's hard to explain like I saw it was like these pink and blue hues

and it was just like you feel nothing but love like it's like the most intense love you can feel uh and you're it's the way I can explain it because I'm a Believer and I you know believe in God in Christ like I feel like it brings you closer to God and Christ like you feel like his love and just how much he loves you and everybody else and you're just like it just helped Me come to realization like dude all this baggage and all this crap that I'm holding on to or that's bother me

like none of that matters like it's fine you know like you're going to be okay and you have all these people that love you like I have my wife my kids you know all my my teammates my friends like you have all of this so why are you focused on everything else like be appreciative of everything that you have uh in front of you and so that's what it That's what it did for me you know and I think it for it for each different person it does something different depending on what your intentions are

going into it that's [ __ ] amazing yeah it's uh it was it was a game changer and then um I went to after that I was you know good and then uh I went to another um Retreat which is almost a similar feeling but no no drugs or anything it was uh called operational restored Warrior Um they take you up to the mountains in Colorado uh there's probably and you don't they don't tell you anything about it uh before you go they're just again like just trust it um so I went up there for

4 days and you are pretty much at this uh you're at a ranch it's like pretty desolate nothing around and it's all very spiritual uh based and they they uh you know have you go over everything it's they it's all veterans um who are not doing too hot uh a lot I Mean I felt when I went there I was like dude I'm doing pretty decent compared to some of these guys I'm here with uh but they pretty much heal guys there spiritually um you know they and it's not what like you know they're not

like oh Jesus God is what you know it's very it's based around you know God and Jesus and but they it's it's almost like you're in a spiritual battle constant L um and that's like they explain to you like you know the negativity that we Have or especially with you know us when we get out and we like you know there voices in your head that are telling you like you know to get pissed off at certain things like that's all you know whether you want to call it the devil or like he's trying to

get in your head to he wants you to be in like this negative space like that's where he wants you and then they give you the tools to be like you know that's not that's not where I'm supposed to be um you I'm better than That and they give you the tools to fight back against that you know it was it did a lot I mean that that was a big big thing for me too I came out of there feeling a lot better um and then my wife actually did one for um they do

one for uh female vets as well and then spouses so Andrea went just recently and uh she came back and the same thing she was like it was amazing wow um so that was really cool do you think it has to do a lot With just checking out I mean I'm assuming there's no no phones there's no [ __ ] social media text phone calls anything from the outside world just you and you know nature that God created without any of the oh that definitely has a lot to do with it I mean it's the

same thing with the Ia gain too they take everything away from you so you have not like there's no distractions at all and I think I mean that's The the both those treatments that's sort of the hard thing to overcome because you at the end of them everybody's feeling like I feel awesome you know I'm ready to go back into the world and like start crushing it uh but I think the reality is you got to know like hey you're going back to pretty much what America like or not America but uh you're going back

to the world back to social media back to you know the news back to all the negative Information that's just constantly being pushed at us and I think you just got got to know before you do that like hey you know these things are out there and there's some there's stuff every day that's going to try and take you down that's going to try and get you in a negative mindset um and you just got to be self-aware to be like okay I shouldn't be watching this or I shouldn't be reading these comments um it's

not doing anything for me you know And you know I think that's that's always going to be a struggle um to trying you know to fight against uh but as long as you I think as long as self aware um and you you have the tools to be like okay I this shouldn't be bothering me or I'm not going to let this bother me right now um that's that's what that those places give you um and I think I mean that's I think it'll help tons of guys if you know I think that's What guys

should be going through um you know I'm all about the plant medicine um especially as you know you know the VA and the big Pharma that's I won't even [ __ ] go to the VA yeah they just want shove pills down your throat and you know be like oh then of course once that pill starts having bad effects they just add more pills on to fight those effects and before you know it you know guys are on like 15 different medications then they wonder why guys are blowing their Brains out you know they're like

oh it's like dude because all that [ __ ] it's all one big money-making process for them um yeah and you know this this plant medicine if it if it's as like invasive as people want to think it is or not invasive but uh sort of out of the ordinary um and just but if it's getting guys off pills off alcohol off you know helping them out I'm all about it and I mean I've seen the positive effects of it uh on hundreds of guys so I know it's Working you know back to the VA

I mean I hate to go down a negative row while we're trying to be positive here but you know it just [ __ ] makes sense for him to overmedicate because the minute a veteran drops dead guess what that's more money us G's [ __ ] bank account Y and so it is not in their best interest to give veterans the care that they [ __ ] need nor does you know sorry but I don't think the majority of America gives a [ __ ] you Know we the VA has been [ __ ] up

forever yeah it will always be [ __ ] up it's never it's never you know a top discussion in politics and um and um so I I [ __ ] refused to go yeah I don't I went there when I got out I went and checked into the one near me uh just to like register and um and I'll tell you what like the people that work there like the lady I talked to nothing against her at all like she's like super nice and was like okay and She this it was the crazy part is

uh went and she started going through my record and she stopped and just like they're not used to dealing with soft individuals at all and she was like oh my gosh like I haven't seen something like this in a long time and I'm like to me I'm like well that's me and all my friends are just you know that's all we're used to being around so you're like there's nothing out of the ordinary but they don't know how to treat Um individuals that come out of the soft community and and like what they've seen uh

or like what they've dealt with and the first thing they do is just like oh take these you must be depressed take these antidepressants or like cuz you tell them like what how you're feeling or like what symptoms and it's you know it's all because of TBI or stuff like that but they automatically start treating it for oh you must be depressed or you must have this and that's when They start putting you on these medications um you know they tried to give me give me some and I was like no I don't want any

pills um and they almost in a way try and force you like why don't you want these pills like you should be taking them you should be on this I I mean I had to they were calling me a couple times like do you want them do you want us to send you them and I'm like no no you know why are you you know trying to push this on me uh and then When they ask you what you're doing so she was like what are you doing if you're not taking pills what are you

doing to like help and I'm like you know plant medicine I was like I'll smoke some weed you know something and they're completely against all that you know they're like oh well you know that's uh well if you're if you're doing that then we can't help you yeah like okay well then that's the why I'm doing it so you yeah I'm telling you this is helping me And you're [ __ ] telling me it's not helping me and you want to give me you know it's backwards you know um but yeah I mean that's I'm

I'm glad and I think that's why these foundations like seal Future Foundation um the uh maybe seals fun like just well these are the ones that I know cuz coming from the seal Community I mean they have really taken an interest in forming Alliance to help because they're seeing that you know guys aren't getting the help they Need um when they get out and so that's their main mission is to help guys when they get out and get them back on their feet mentally who who what's the name of that organization it's the Navy SEAL

found or not no not Navy SEAL Foundation um seal Future Foundation seal Future Foundation it's run by uh Johnny Wilson okay um awesome guy I went to buzz with him he's that's his mission in life is to help guys when they get out and to get them back on their feet mentally uh And physically and spiritually uh and so I mean I think he started off that Foundation to help get guys jobs when they get out but what he found out is I mean you can take you know the best operator and when he gets

out and be like get him a job at Golden Sachs or something you know he he's still not going to be doing good yeah you know nothing you have to treat you know you have to fix yourself before you can start moving on it's what they're Finding out so it's good you said you smoke weed sometimes MH yeah how much does that help uh it helps big time like you know if it's uh if I start feeling anxiety um and it's crazy like the little things that'll set me off or like get my anxiety going

which it's almost frustrating to where I'm like dude am I feeling like this over you know this little thing right now like it's working me up uh it'll help me you know just Bring me back down the level and be like everything's good you know and I don't you know you're not smoking it and I think there's a big misconception on uh the whole you know marijuana and they've done so much forward progress on that now like they have certain things where you can take it and you're not high you're not like oh I'm you

know but you're just calm and relaxed and it's you know just helps you sort of uh you know even Out so yeah I'm I'm all about it I'd say the same thing man I um when I started when I used to live in Florida and it was legal there I it took my doctor forever my doctor outside of the VA to talk me into doing it and uh you know I was like I'm not doing this [ __ ] this is you know I need to [ __ ] stay on task and and uh and

then and then uh I finally tried it and it was like [ __ ] life changing for me and uh it's funny like I didn't uh you know I started Doing it like Andrea she knew you know that I was going to try it but that's how I knew that it was helping um because she was like I noticed a difference like you're more chill you know and I'm like good then it's working yeah I wish uh you know I'm a conservative I know whatever but that's one thing I can't [ __ ] stand about

you um the right side is they're so anti- marijuana and it's like if you [ __ ] [ __ ] would you know come out Of Washington and actually do some research and talk to you know the some of the guys that are doing this and how it's helping them maybe you would change your [ __ ] mind yeah I think yeah that's and there's also a big push against it because big Pharma runs everything you know and they're that's why they don't want to Legalize It know it'll get people off pills y yeah anyways

but uh man it sounds like you Were extremely proactive coming out uh and getting yourself up to par before not that you didn't hit a [ __ ] alltime low when you're in prison but I mean you know the fact that you hit the ground running it was like all right that's done I mean did Andrea push you to start going to these programs oh yeah um she she pretty much put the orders down right when I got out like you're not doing anything this year like I don't Cuz I I was already like all

right what am I going to do next like get a job do you know whatever my I was going to plan on Contracting I mean that's that was my next go-to before like all that mess happened I was already on my way to you know do what you what you have done um and uh that was a no-o now because obviously my face has been plastered everywhere so she was just like that's it like you're you need to chill out um and she Knew it was going to be rough for me you know um she

was like you know I'd be chewing the carpet after a month of being in the house which did happen uh but it was we were both on board with you know like all right let's just get these treatments done this year let's focus on fixing you and then we can move on 20 21 will be more like what are we going to do you know our Ventures uh and I'm glad you know I'm glad I did it uh you know it was I'm stubborn at times uh For sure gave her a hard time about it

but uh you know I'll tell you what man and like I said before it was from listening to podcasts like yours or other guys when guys come on and start talking about their issues like it g it gave me it was almost like I wrei it before I got out I was like okay this is what I should be looking out for you know at this and eventually i' you know start feeling that way or Have the same issues as some what these guys were talking about so I knew right then I was like okay

this is you know those guys had talked about the dark Road they went all the way down to where you know they had a gun in their mouth I'm like I don't want to get to that point you know like I could and it's very easy to like I could go to that point real quick if I just like keep on this Nega mindset and just be pissed off um then you know I don't want you know I Have look at my kids and my wife I'm like I don't they don't deserve that they've put

up with you know 20 years of service of me being gone all the time um and you know losing losing friends who are like my kids uncles like you know watching them get put in the ground like they've been through enough to where I'm like they don't need to deal with me when I get out and be my all the problems that now are happening so I was like I need to Fix myself quick um just so I can be a good husband and father and move on [ __ ] man well it looks like

it's it's working I mean so far it's it's going all right you know [ __ ] I mean but it doesn't end and that's the I think that's the other thing is like the the problems aren't they don't go away you know it's not like you're fixed and you know our job has you know uh consequences and and those will be with you for the rest of your life um But just as long as you find tools how to deal with them um you know but they they're never going to go away yeah but as

long as you can uh find ways to deal with them and get through it I think that's that's the key yeah you know being with every uh being through everything you've been through and just the fact that you said you know that the [ __ ] job has lifelong consequences you have a son who um uh obviously really really loves his dad And looks up to you um a lot um it which is really cool to see and we kind of talked a little bit and um it sounds like he either wants to join the

military and uh kind of go down the path that his dad did MH or go to space would um would you want Ryan joining the military and going down your path um yeah it's that's the I mean it's it's not what I want um but if that's what he Wanted um I'd be behind him 100% uh you know I I treated like my dad treated with me like he was never you know pushed me to join um but my family has a very uh deep like every everybody has most of the males have served um

in the military and usually they're careerists uh so I I think you know I ended up joining just it was whether genetics or whatever like I just just pushed myself towards that path um without my dad or anybody I Actually went and did it without telling anyone uh with Ryan um you know yeah he he wants to be a seal uh that's all he's grown up with since he was a baby you know he's been he hung out at the teams as a child non-stop I would take him into work all the time he loved

being around the guys uh he has definitely definite attitude for it um unfortunately uh but yeah he if he wanted to do that I'd be 100% behind them um you know and I I've told people This like uh you know I know the consequences of the job and I'm hoping you maybe by the time he joins they'll have it figured out or they can mitigate some of the stuff that we went through um just as far as like the the all the blast you take during training and all that um but then again I don't

think there's a there's a way around a lot of that um yeah uh yeah I'd be 100% behind him man if that's what he Wanted um I'd rather him go to space though for sure keep him on the astronaut path uh but yeah I have nothing against kids I mean I dude I wouldn't give back my 20 years for nothing you know um despite the last two years it's like I like I said before that was just a few bad you know Bad actors in the whole big scheme of the military um so you know

I'm proud of my service you know I'm glad I did it um I got to be Around what I think are the greatest individuals I'll ever be meet on this Earth uh just guys that are there's something to be said like to be around guys like that that just you're constantly striving to be better you're constantly striving to be as good as a guy next to you yeah and and whether you know it or not he's doing the same thing he's trying to strive to be as good as you and you're constant I mean it's

hard to find that anywhere else No so it's hard to find anybody that'll just do their [ __ ] job over the top yeah yeah so I mean it's uh yeah to answer your question yeah I would have no problems with him joining at all right on man so what are you doing now tell us about the the PIP header foundation and and how it's started where it's at where it's going yep so we have the so right Now um you know the book is finished it's in DOD review um and then the B big

project we've been working on all year is the PIP Pitter Foundation uh we got that up and running uh in April or May um and it was been slow going due to the uh the vid um this year but um we decided to start it pretty much near the end I mean we had talked about like we got to do something cuz after we saw behind this curtain that we Didn't know existed which was the you know military justice system if you want to call it that um you know I saw a bunch of guys

when I was locked up who shouldn't be there um granted there are guys that belong in there for sure but there's a a number of dudes I mean a lot larger than people would like to hear about that just got caught up in the system and are being unjustly incarcerated uh due to the corruptness of how the system entraps People um and it's not talked about you know it's sort of hidden um nobody really knows about it um so when I was going through when I was actually locked up you know we came to the

realization like okay this this happened to us you know for for a reason like we didn't understand what at first um until we started seeing I started seeing other people uh these kids in my position uh that are don't have any help they didn't have the help that I had uh they didn't Have an Andrea Gallagher or Sean Gallagher you know my brother to get behind them or a family to get behind them and fight with them you know a lot of people don't have that they're not as lucky or as blessed uh and so

we're like you know what we need to we need to be that for you know these people um so that's the purpose of the foundation uh is we pretty much raise money um and then people can uh go to our site and fill out a a grand application um and we Tell them to be as thorough as possible um about their case about what they're going through um and I have a awesome board uh board members I have um you know Rob O'Donnell it's a prior law enfor m u awesome Mark mu Casey's on there

one of my lawyers um I have another team guy on there Carl higgy um Joanie Marquez and Tommy who worked for uh Congressman Duncan Hunter and as a board we review each case uh once a month we take all the cases Review them and then we you know decide yay or nay like we're going to help these people um and uh once we like yep we'll do it then we'll we end up you know talking to the individual um and seeing what they need and what we provide is if they need uh money for their

legal defense you know provide that or we know how stressful it is going through something like that so provide emergency relief funds for their family uh because you know when you're Going through a stressful situation like that uh you know you're paying for lawyers you're also you know it causes all this undue stress in the family um so we sort of try and take some of that away um and just so they can get through it and then we also uh will do advocacy um if they want it you know some people obviously like no

I don't want my name any like okay you know but if people want to be advocated for and like hey do you want do you want us to help get the Word out about what's going on with you then we'll do that for them as well um and then we you know we help active duty law enforcement and First Responders uh [ __ ] man how long have how long have you been doing that uh we so we got it our nonprofit approved in like April or May and we've pretty much been helping guys and

girls um probably for three months now holy [ __ ] so we're are you uh how's funding so far it's been rough uh obviously due To this year you know doing some funraising but uh you know it comes in every once in a while we we uh obviously because of the co and you can't go do a lot of fundraising um stuff like that but uh we you know we put out mailers and you know the people that are generous and you know just the Patriots of this country will donate whatever they can and and

every little bit helps um so and that money is going directly I mean we're helping people out Now so once we we see that money it's going to a family or a service member or an officer right away to help them out um yeah we're hoping next year you know we'll start be able to build uh more of a base of funds and start uh be able to help more people that's solid man yeah it's good and that's dude that's super gratifying uh you know do getting the nonprofit started and all that was I had

nothing to do with that Was a lot of administrative [ __ ] that I'm I can't even handle so like Andrea like and uh the board uh we have Dina cruden who's also the uh executive director she's amazing um they pretty much got everything going uh got everything approved and then you know once we started actually helping people and you know having guys call me and being like dude I just got you know whatever $1 thousand Grant from you guys and you have no idea like how much I Needed that at this time like that

right there I'm like dude that's that's why we're doing this that's awesome man um so it's yeah it's good it's uh it gives us a purpose you know it gives me a purpose um which is I think one of the number one things is hard to find when once you get out is trying to find another purpose to like how you can serve and luckily you know we have this so do you have any idea how many uh guys are Out there that uh are are in the middle of a situation like yours um there's

off the top of my head right now I can you know I can come up with like eight eight mhm how do you decipher whether cuz potentially you could be if you made a wrong decision you could be helping somebody that yep you know is an actual [ __ ] criminal MH so how do you I mean you said your lawyers on there Yeah how do you kind of determine so that's why we ask people when they F the grant to be as thorough as possible um like with everything and if they they fill out

a grant and there's you know we'll look through it pretty you know in detail and we're like all right there's some information missing here and we'll reach out back and like hey you know can you fill out some more just because so we can get sort of an idea um most of the time you know you can tell when Someone's getting screwed or someone's getting [ __ ] like and there is always that chance you know you're like okay we're going to help this person maybe they are guilty but uh you know if if we're

we're looking at a person's case and this is just my from my point of view when I'm looking at it I look at how they're being treated through the process and if I you know start seeing the same things that was done to me what I've seen done to other Guys um in just the in the unjust way they do things I'm like right away I'm like okay guilty or not guilty this person's not getting due process yeah at all like he hasn't even he or she hasn't even had a chance to like speak out

or say their side they're just automatically guilty until proven innocent you're helping them get the right to a free trial yeah I'm helping them get and that's the thing like we you know if it ends up being like okay We help this person they go to trial and they're found guilty well okay you know but I did my due diligence to help that person and like take the stress off them and their family until that point you know um you know I'm not a jury member we're not that's we're not there to like say whether

you're guilty or not guilty we're just here to help you through the process and just take as much stress off you as possible uh and you know help you actually the only rights that you have During a situation like that are the ones that you can afford yeah service members and law enforcement don't make enough money to buy you know to hire good attorneys so we're that's where we come in and we're like hey we'll help you fund so you can have have a good attorney and uh actually have a Fighting Chance that's [ __

] awesome dude yeah it's it's a definitely a gap that's missing in um you know helping or service I'm glad that we're feeling it Yeah I mean I didn't you know had it not been for what you went through I mean I don't I don't think anybody would know no you know and that's the other reason we started it too um you know the amount of people that got behind myself and my family during and my whole thing like the the Patriots that got behind us and I mean I had people reaching out you know

left and right like you know we're supporting you whatever we can do I mean These people I don't know any of these people these are people from all over the country I mean that right there I'm like we we have to give back you know we we got all this support from all these people we have to give something back I mean we can't just like okay yeah we're done like thanks it's like no that's not how it works it's you pay it forward you know um so like I feel I almost feel like it's

our duty to be you know to be Doing this yeah so on top of the nonprofit what what do you see yourself doing in the next 5 years and what what are you hoping to accomplish and um so I actually I recently uh I think it was like about a month and a half ago two months ago I um went out with uh TSI the shooting Institute um just volunteer to come along and help uh teach they they did a trip where they went and taught uh some uh SWAT guys and I think some Air

Force guys out in Texas so I tagged Along on that just um to see how I I would like it or see how it would feel and I like I I loved teaching I love teaching those guys uh you know tactics um I just felt like I was at home you know again doing it um so I think I'm I'm looking to do something like that next year um I want to do it locally where I live and just be able to uh instruct and shooting um and hopefully tactics um you know if I can

get a kill House nearby um do some training like that um that's in the enany stages right now but that's what I plan on uh hopefully doing next year um and I also I hooked up with um a company Precision tactical uh they make you know all sorts of firearms um and they uh just awesome individuals um and they built so they built a gun um around me they let me pick out all the parts you know just exactly how I would want to how I'd want to have it and they uh we're going to

be Selling those um here soon um so we'll see how that goes right on yeah you got a picture of it uh yeah I do Co we'll post it up top I appreciate that yeah man yeah well uh good luck with teaching there is definitely no shortage of people wanting tactical training with the current state of the country right now I can [ __ ] guarantee you that [ __ ] I'll be picking your brain for sure so but um well man I kind of want to wrap this thing up it's been a long Podcast

and it has been a [ __ ] honor having you sit across from me and and and share your experience and everything and you've already answered this but I want to properly ask you um even though I already know the answer but with all the [ __ ] that you've been through and the what seemed to be the entire Community trying to ruin your very existence for doing what America asked you to do would you [ __ ] do it all over again in a heartbeat yeah I I love that job um that was it's

hard to like that's all I ever wanted to do you know once I got got into the teams that was it man like it I loved every bit of it and I don't have like when uh you say like you know the entire Community like it's not the you know the entire Community wasn't against me it was just some individuals in the command like the guys themselves man like you know they I knew most of them had my back you know they they couldn't come Out and say it right right then but I've had enough

phone calls um from guys you know congratulating me and just that they were supporting me the whole time and um you know the teams are made up from the enlisted you know the enlisted is what makes the teams the guys the shooters you know in the platoon not the not the headshed not the guys in charge of warcom you know they might make the decisions but they'll never be able to Change how the culture you know they can try as much as they want but Team guys are Team guys and as long as we have

them in the in the platoon it'll stay similar to why we you and I joined yeah well I just want to say man once again it's been a [ __ ] honor having you here and I can't [ __ ] imagine what that felt like to go through all that and um and it's just really awesome to see where you're at now and see you doing Well and and uh and helping the next guys help helping the Next Generation coming out and and and you're just a solid [ __ ] dude dude I appreciate it

you are too man I'm glad I came out here it's an honor to be out here and like your podcast is is exceptional and I'm glad I got to be on it thank you