Inside the Fight with 5th Special Forces Group | Drew Estell | Ep. 380

Former 5th Group Green Beret Drew Estelle joins Jack to walk through his wild path from a chaotic Texas childhood to Iraq, Afghanistan, and covert work supporting the Syria mission. Drew breaks down Iranian influence in Iraq, the intelligence nightmare in Kunduz, building ALP who actually fought, and the political headaches behind training Syrian forces in Turkey. A raw, detailed look inside modern Special Forces operations — and the personal cost that comes with them. Check out Drew here: https://baersolutionsllc.com/ https://www.instagram.com/baersolutions https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC18I4Yip4t76Pf9e6uGmoMw Today's Sponsors Perfect Jean ⬇️ https://theperfectjean.nyc/house15 for 15% off GhostBed⬇️ https://www.ghostbed.com/house FOR 25% off sitewide! For ad free video and audio and access to live streams and Eyes On Geopolitics... JOIN OUR PATREON! https://www.patreon.com/c/TheTeamHouse To help support the show and for all bonus content including: -live shows and asking guest questions -ad free audio and video -early access to shows -Access to ALL bonus segments with our guests Subscribe to our Patreon! ⬇️ https://www.patreon.com/TheTeamHouse Support the show here:⬇️ https://www.patreon.com/TheTeamHouse ___________________________________________________ Subscribe to the new EYES ON podcast here:⬇️ https://www.youtube.com/@EyesOnGeopoliticsPod/featured __________________________________ Jack Murphy's new book "We Defy: The Lost Chapters of Special Forces History" ⬇️ https://www.amazon.com/We-Defy-Chapters-Special-History-ebook/dp/B0DCGC1N1N/ —————————————————————— Or make a one time donation at: ⬇️ https://ko-fi.com/theteamhouse Social Media: ⬇️ The Team House Instagram: https://instagram.com/the.team.house?utm_medium=copy_link The Team House Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheTeamHousePod Jack’s Instagram: https://instagram.com/jackmcmurph?utm_medium=copy_link Jack’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/jackmurphyrgr?s=21 Dave’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/dave_parke?s=21 Team House Discord: ⬇️ https://discord.gg/wHFHYM6 SubReddit: ⬇️ https://www.reddit.com/r/TheTeamHouse/ Jack Murphy's memoir "Murphy's Law" can be found here:⬇️ https://www.amazon.com/Murphys-Law-Journey-Investigative-Journalist/dp/1501191241 The Team Room Reading Room (Amazon Affiliate links):⬇️ https://jackmurphywrites.com/the-team-room-reading-room/ Intro music by https://www.youtube.com/user/RemixSample "Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio" 00:00 — Start 01:00 — Texas Roots & Playing “Green Berets” 03:20 — College Chaos & Getting Kicked Out 06:35 — Enlisting & Fighting for an SF Contract 10:55 — SFAS, Failing 18D & Becoming an 18B 15:45 — Iraq: Firebase Brown & Early Combat 22:40 — Iran’s Influence & The Arrest Revolving Door 34:00 — Afghanistan: Kunduz, IMU, & ALP Who Fought 52:55 — B-Team, Kabul LNO & Turkey/Syria Mission 1:06:45 — CIF, Broken Neck & Building Bear Solutions Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-team-house--5960890/support https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-team-house--5960890/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:56Speaker 02

  The Team House. With your hosts, Jack Murphy and David Park.

• 1:08Jack Murphy?

  This is episode 380 of The Team House. I'm Jack Murphy with our guest tonight, Drew Estelle. Drew served in Fifth Special Forces Group. The guys most of our viewers know, they fixate on the Middle East, that's their AOR, and Drew did a number of deployments all over that place. And today, works on films, works on training with law enforcement and a number of other things. So we're going to get into all of that with Drew here. Thank you for joining us tonight.

• 1:38Speaker 04

  Yeah, man, I appreciate it.

• 1:41Jack Murphy?

  So, yeah. It's great to have you on the show finally. So I'm going to hit you with the first question, which we pretty much ask everybody, is if you tell us a little bit about your origin story, like, how did you grow up? Where did you grow up? And like, how did that sort of eventually take you towards military service?

• 2:01Speaker 04

  I was waiting for that one. Uh, been a fan of your podcast for a while, man. I think you

• 2:05Jack Murphy?

  Oh, thank you.

• 2:05Speaker 04

  You've got some phenomenal people on here, by the way. So it's really cool to get to sit here. So thank you. Um, so yeah, man, I grew up in Texas, Houston, Texas, outside of it, place called Spring. Um, and if anybody's from Houston, the way you know, the area is by what high school you went to, right? Like, oh, what high school, you know, so Klein Oak, I grew up in that area right there in the Northwest side. Uh, but yeah, so it's kind of funny. My buddy who is now also a Green Beret, like, we knew each other from kindergarten playing T-ball and all that. And we're in elementary school, we used to go out in the woods and play Green Berets, like my uncle's, you know, field manual, like special forces, you know, field manual, all that stuff, survival manuals and shit. And like all his old gear from Vietnam and we'd go to the arms surplus store.

• 2:49Speaker 04

  It's kind of cool. We both grew up to be Green Berets like we were when we were kids. So it was, uh, it's pretty neat, man. Um, but yeah, he's a good dude. He played football at Texas A&M, uh, and then he joined and I joined after my third freshman year of college, we can call it.

• 3:07Jack Murphy?

  Sounds like a hell of a lot of fun, Drew.

• 3:10Speaker 04

  Uh, I had a great time. Uh, so the, uh, yeah, man, I grew up in Texas, grew up playing football, also played lacrosse, uh, growing up, just normal family, good family, all that, middle class, just your standard shit. And then, uh, yeah, I went to a private school my senior year to, I got a scholarship because that's just the way Texas high school football works. Otherwise, I probably wasn't going to college because I was an idiot. And then, uh, yeah, it worked out really well. I went to a small D3 school called Marietta College my first year and I played football and I went to play lacrosse there too. Uh, but they dropped the program from like, but whatever. And I ended up leaving there and I went to Texas State University. Uh, I used to call it Southwest Texas.

• 3:52Speaker 04

  Well known for being a party school, the biggest party school in the state of Texas. So as I got kicked out of there twice, I uh did go to a community college. And then I got kicked out of a community college. Um, and then I was like, you know what? Maybe I'm gonna join the army. You know, I think this is a good idea. So.

• 4:10Jack Murphy?

  Drew, are, are, are any of those stories about how you got kicked out still classified? Or are you permitted to tell some of those?

• 4:17Speaker 04

  Oh yeah, dude. Oh, bro. Okay, so I, I was in a fraternity for a little bit and like, I joined a fraternity because my dad's like, hey, you're not playing. I went to play football at Texas State. But I couldn't, uh, I had too many head injuries and injuries and then they changed coaches. So I lost my transfer, like little offer and scholarship. And then, uh, so I joined a fraternity and my dad's like, yeah, it's a good idea. Fraternities are good. Not at this school, bud. You know what I'm saying? So I joined the fraternity that was literally all former military guys and former college athletes. Like my little dude, Granby or whatever, he was a, uh, captain in the Marine Corps. He was, I see he was, he was 28 years old, went to college to do like green to gold.

• 5:01Speaker 04

  And so then he went on and all the, dude, just military guys everywhere. And nobody knows how to party better than them. And, uh, yeah, so I got, I got, uh, got my nose broke. I got a fake tooth because I have a smart mouth. And, uh, so I got kicked out the first time I got in big trouble. Um, I thought some other dude stole like my pledge jersey, right? Like these shirts you wear. So I knock on his door. I'm like, yeah, man. Like you got my jersey. And he's like, no, no, I don't. I didn't take your shit. You know, and for some reason, I think I was still drunk when I did this. This is the next morning. And he was like, no. So I went in his room and tried to do all this. Well, he called his buddies and whatever and they showed up and this dude's the biggest dude I've seen in a long time.

• 5:45Speaker 04

  He, uh, he set the record for like collegiate bench press, like powerlifting in the state of Texas. His name is BJ, which I thought was hilarious. And he did not. And, uh, he punched me pretty hard and basically turned my face inside out. You know, he broke my tooth and everything. So that was a fun conversation with the dean. And then, uh, I had another conversation too where he's like, what are you gonna do with your life? You idiot. I was like, I think I'm gonna join the army. He's like, son, that is a great idea. You need to go do that right now.

• 6:16Speaker 04

  But yeah, I uh, I worked on Sixth Street in college, if you're familiar with it.

• 6:20Jack Murphy?

  No, no.

• 6:21Speaker 04

  All the bars.

• 6:22Jack Murphy?

  Okay.

• 6:22Speaker 04

  So it's like Broadway Street, you know, in Nashville, or like Beale Street in Memphis. It's like the, the bar club street of Austin. And I actually worked for MTV.

• 6:33Jack Murphy?

  Oh, really?

• 6:34Speaker 04

  So, yeah, dude. So like that TV show, The Real World.

• 6:37Jack Murphy?

  Yeah.

• 6:37Speaker 04

  Like, what they do, and at the time, it was a guy named Wes, was on the show, Nehemiah. They were super cool. They're the dudes. I remember the chicks. But um, when they go to the different bars on Sixth Street, what they do is they kind of work out a deal with the, the bar owners and the club owners. And somehow I got picked up at twenty years old to be like the security manager for them when they were at our bars. And uh, the only reason was because Wes, he and I looked a lot alike. With like drunk girls would think I was Wes. And then I'd be like, I'm not. And he's like, yeah, ladies, this is, I'm like, oh, God, here we go, right? So it was kind of neat, man. But yeah, I joined the army. I was uh, I had a great time before the army. And uh, I learned some valuable lessons, to say the least, so.

• 7:22Jack Murphy?

  So, what uh, what year was it that you enlisted?

• 7:26Speaker 04

  Two thousand, uh, two thousand five I enlisted and I went to basic training in like January of two thousand six.

• 7:33Jack Murphy?

  Okay. And what MOS?

• 7:35Speaker 04

  Uh, eleven X-ray.

• 7:37Jack Murphy?

  Oh, okay. So you were an X-ray.

• 7:38Speaker 04

  Yeah, I didn't, I didn't know what an X-ray, I just thought it was infantry. I'm gonna be an eleven Bravo. And I showed up and they're like, you're a mortarman. I was like, the hell is a mortarman? You know, like, I don't know. And they were like, you're gonna like, you know, thing. And I'm like, no, I'm not doing that. That's not what I signed up to do. Because they wouldn't let me have the SF contract coming in, because I had shoulder surgery from college football. So I was like, no, I'm not gonna do that. Or I mean, um, they wouldn't let me have the SF contract. So like, all right, well, they convinced you'll just get it when you're in the army. But so I was pretty pissed. I didn't know what a damn mortar man was. So I called my recruiter and was like, you son of a just cussing him out. Don't ever get Joe Flores. Phenomenal dude. I think he's a sergeant major in recruiting.

• 8:22Speaker 04

  He might have retired, but great dude, man. And he was like, calm down. You're fine. You can still go SF. You know, so I ended up, it worked out fine, but I was pretty pissed off. I was like, you lied to me. You mother effer, you know, like going off, like I didn't know what a mortar man was. I just know I'm going to carry heavy shit. And I'm not going to be like the other infantry guys.

• 8:40Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, yeah. Well, to explain to some of the young folks out there, within the infantry, 11 Bravo and every special forces guy has at least their secondary MOS is infantry. 11 Bravo split into, you know, riflemen and mortar men. Uh, and that's what Drew's talking about. So I imagine that training though, must have really come in handy down the line for you.

• 9:04Speaker 04

  It did because I ended up being an 18 Bravo. So I, uh, I was like, oh, well, God has a plan. That makes sense. And thank you. I, I know what to do with the little sticks and the, you know, turning thing and the.

• 9:17Jack Murphy?

  The whiz wheels and the.

• 9:18Speaker 04

  Yeah, all that crap.

• 9:19Jack Murphy?

  Fire direction center board that confuses the hell out of me. Yeah.

• 9:23Speaker 04

  Yeah. So like, I figured it out. I had a little leg up on the other guys. So that helped. That definitely helped. So.

• 9:29Jack Murphy?

  Uh, so 2006, you go through basic training and then SFAS, the Q course, all of that. What was that experience like for you?

• 9:39Speaker 04

  Yeah, it was a, it was good, man. I, you meet so many different people, right? But when I actually got into SF, I was supposed to go to Kelly, Kelly Hill or something like that. Uh, for, I was supposed to stay on four bidding and third ID, right? And I was going to be 11 Charlie there, but I called the SF recruiter like every chance I got during AIT, like the final, however many weeks and just left messages because we were always at the mortar square. So when he'd come by. Ah, he didn't, you know, I never got to see him. And so I would just call him nonstop and leave him messages like, oh, excuse me, Master Sergeant. My name's Private Estle, you know, can I please be SF? And he finally, I called and it was like, he's supposed to be gone for the day. He goes, I just hear Sergeant so and so.

• 10:24Speaker 04

  And I'm like, uh, hi, Master Sergeant, uh, my name's so and so. He goes, he just goes, God dang it, are you that little idiot that keeps calling me every day? I'm like, that's me, you know? So he's like, if you can get here in 20 minutes, man, I'll give you an SF contract. I was like, oh shit, okay. So I went over like the, one of the uh, drill sergeants who was this, you know, big old black dude from the city, you know, gold teeth and shit. And I was like, oh, drill sergeant. And I do this, lied to him. I was like, so and so said, you gotta take me down there right now. He was like, what? He's like, yeah, Master Sergeant, I'm listening, not late, I can't wait for life to make. And he goes, he said you by name gotta take me down. He's like, he said my name? I was like, yeah. He goes, oh, oh shit, oh, okay. Well, get your ass in the truck.

• 11:09Speaker 04

  So he drove me down, you know? He's like, you need me to go in? I'm like, nah, nah, we're good. He said, just drop me off. Uh, but thank you very much. I'll let him know. He's like, yeah, you tell him, tell him I, I was like, yep, absolutely. You know, so I got my ride down there and uh, I got my contract. It was really interesting cause like, I guess one of his friends was in town. Again, like massive dude, flame tattoos up his forearm, wearing a Harley Davidson shirt. And they were third group guys. And he just sat and he sat and he's like, you really want to join SF? I'm like, yes, please, you know, Master Sergeant. And of course, this other guy that's his buddy is just making fun of me the whole time. I'm like, okay, this is, this seems cool, so.

• 11:44Jack Murphy?

  I, I know exactly what you're talking about, that the little one story SF recruiting station on Fort Benning.

• 11:51Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 11:52Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, yeah. I remember I, when I went in there, cause I was with three, seven, five at the time. And I went in there and said, hey, I'd like to do SF. I want to go to SFAS. And I just remember like, well, a couple of things. Um, one of them was, he said, what MOSs do you want? And I said, well, I'm pretty open minded. And then he asked me what my GT score was. And I told him and he said, well, let me narrow your mind a little bit for you. You could be an 18 Bravo.

• 12:21Jack Murphy?

  And then the second thing was when I walked out of there, just a smile on that guy's face. He was like, he knew it. He's like, I got another one.

• 12:28Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 12:29Jack Murphy?

  Yeah.

• 12:30Speaker 04

  Yeah, dude. What year was that?

• 12:32Jack Murphy?

  That must have been 2000. That was probably 2006 because I graduated the course in 2007. Oh, so I went, I went to SFAS the last class of 2005. So it would have been 05 that I went in there.

• 12:48Speaker 04

  Okay. Gotcha. Nice, dude. Yeah, I got a, it's funny because I started out and I was an 18. I remember when you get your little sheet and you go through selection and you're like, I did it. You know, and you go to the room. You know what I'm saying?

• 13:03Speaker 04

  So it's funny, man. You know that guy Lively's Burger that blew himself up in the Tesla?

• 13:08Jack Murphy?

  Yes.

• 13:10Speaker 04

  He and I went to selection together and I knew him and we went to the Q course together. So like, you know, it's just not a random fact, but when you, uh, fuck, what was it? Yeah. You go through and they give you your MOSs and everything. It was like, I remember taking the D lab and then being like, are you retarded? I was like, I think so. Yes. Uh, there's a high chance of this. And they were like, okay. Well, then I guess they looked at my GT score and we got our MOSs. They're like, you're going to be an 18 Delta. I was like, I ain't getting fucking wrong. There's no way I'm going to be an 18 Delta. They're like, and Arabic. And I was like, no, thank you. You know, like, so I was like, I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm going to die.

• 13:52Speaker 04

  You know, like mentally, my brain's going to explode trying to do this, but we'll figure it out. So I started out as an 18 Delta and I remember the whole time in the Delta course, it was like me and like three former Marines and they'd always call us the Bravos. They'd be like, hey, future Bravos, you know, you're up, you know, for like T triple C and all this other crap, you know, and surgical skills. And they'd be like, like, why do you call us future Bravos? Like, because you idiots are all going to fail. And we're all going to put you in the Bravo course because you are retarded. And we're like, oh, okay, cool. Sounds good, you know? And sure enough, I think three out of four of us ended up failing and becoming Bravos, but.

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• 18:01Speaker 04

  But again, it was good. You know, God has a plan. And I did a lot of medical stuff overseas, man. And I think that really prepared me really well. And my team was a great team. So I got through the key course, did all that, and called the long Bravo, right? I was so happy to be in eighteen Bravo and not a Delta. However, I used a ton of medical, especially on the first and second trip to Iraq. It was a lot, so.

• 18:25Jack Murphy?

  So the, I mean, how much of the Delta course do you think you did, like eight weeks or something like that?

• 18:30Speaker 04

  There's A and P patho, which is like the first six weeks. And then there's, is it surgical skills, I think is right after that. I got through surgical skills. Yeah, so I'm like, but the hands-on, doing criques, chest tubes, all that. I was great at that, but you couldn't get me to pass a written test. Like if you, this pisses me off, right? Because have you ever seen the written test in the Delta course?

• 18:52Jack Murphy?

  No, no, I haven't.

• 18:53Speaker 04

  Okay. It's like, here's a question, right? And they give you like a scenario, go, what's the best answer? A only, A and C, B and D?

• 19:02Speaker 04

  B D E or E all or like F all of the above. You're like, what? Like, what, what do you mean? And they're like, oh, you're right. Your answer was right. But this other answer was a little bit more right. And you're like, that's the stupidest shit I've ever heard. You know, so like, that wasn't, I was not a Delta, honestly. So, yeah.

• 19:23Jack Murphy?

  That's awesome. But I mean, yeah, those skills came in handy later, the training that you did go through. That's cool. Um, so get the fifth group. Uh, do you go right to an O D A? Or do you have to spend some time on the B team first? Or how's it work?

• 19:39Speaker 04

  No, I was, I was really lucky. I went right to an O D A. Uh, I went to five, eight, four. And then it was five, three, two, four. Now it's five, eight, four again, because numbers are hard evidently. So they changed it again, like fucking commanders and their infinite wisdom, um, and O A R bullets. But they, they did that. I went to that team. So third battalion and I showed up. Like, you know, every new guy does, like, the only thing I can do is pass the eyeball test. I obviously don't know anything, so I'm going to show up in shape, you know, and whatever they throw at me, I'm going to be able to do. Have a great attitude. You know what I'm saying? Right mindset and do that. And, uh, ended up going to two, four, the Halo team or eight, four. And it was good. And I remember, uh, a guy named John Kneipp went up and worked for Magpul later.

• 20:24Speaker 04

  He was on the B team. He's like, what team are you going to? I was like, oh, Sergeant Major said two, four or eight, four. And he was mad. He was like, you're going to eight. He goes, that's the best team in the battalion. Guys work so hard to get on that team, all this stuff. And I was like, oh, shit. All right. I got a lot to work on. I gotta really, you know, do the right thing here and I gotta, you know, step up. And, uh, I did. I had a really great team, uh, very experienced team. There were three of us new guys that all got there pretty much within like a month of each other. And, uh, yeah, the rest of the team was really experienced. We lost a guy the trip before, um, Jason. So he was killed up there in Jalalabad, the trip before, Jason Brown.

• 21:05Speaker 04

  And then, so we were deployed in like two months by the time I got there. So I got there just enough time to do some, some ranges. We did P M T at Fort Knox and then we were off. And it was kind of like, the, the attitude in the team was, hey, get ready, because, uh, we're going right back there and we're going to fuck some people up. You know what I mean? I was like, okay, all right. This is low joint, you know?

• 21:25Jack Murphy?

  Where, uh, where, where did you, uh, get deployed?

• 21:29Speaker 04

  Jalula Asadiah.

• 21:30Jack Murphy?

  Oh, so back to the same place for them?

• 21:33Speaker 04

  Yep, back to the exact same. They just kept going to that team house. You know, I mean, it would be us and then another team and then us and then it was like a first group team and then us and then so it's a fifth group team. So like we were there every other time and they'd have another team kind of fill in between. So that was kind of our place. So they call it Firebase Brown.

• 21:52Jack Murphy?

  What was the general like friendly enemy situation at that base? Cause I don't think I've ever been in that area.

• 21:59Speaker 04

  It was a really interesting because we're right south of Khamis and very near the Kurd Arab line. So the situation was was different. We absolutely had a lot of, you know, you had your. Oh, man, you had your, who the hell was I'm getting all confused from Afghanistan and everybody else, but it was a J R T N was big up there. We had a lot of Iranian influence too. We had your typical like, um, you know, Al Qaida's or whatever the hell you want to call it, you know, um, but. It was very interesting because a lot of what we did, we had to do, we had to work with the Kurds and we had to work with the Arabs. So, and I don't know if you're familiar, they don't like each other. You know what I'm saying? So, I mean, hell, we go on clearing ops with them with Arabs and Kurds on the second deployment there.

• 22:42Speaker 04

  And it was like, hey, guys, here's what we're doing. Brief them, get ready, going out. We pull into the city and we'll turn around, look back down the road. And they both have their guns pointed at each other on the trucks. And we're like, oh, God dang it, you know, like. Point your guns out, not at each other. And they're like, no, them first, you know, like, oh, God dang it, fucking children, you know, so. But it was cool, man. Um, we did some hits, got out the door, got a few people. There was a lot of. Infiltration into the police forces where we were at and the military. And usually I feel like with other guys that would say, hey, the police are really where you see a lot of that. And yeah, we did. We'd go after targets, you know, like this one dude, uh, Anmar Mohammed use or whatever the hell.

• 23:26Speaker 04

  Went after him. Well, I mean, he was a police officer that, you know, was doing stuff and we went and got his ass and then. The military, though, had a lot of stuff too with the IA. And they were actually planting IEDs on the road into our base, which we shared with them on the bigger base, FOB Cobra. And so they'd be putting out IEDs and no shit dude, we'd go do like a sniper mission, set up the jammers, take over a little area and like just lay in sniper overwatch. And we'd watch these guys sneaking out there laying IEDs like, where the dude come from? It's like, dude, he came from base. Like, oh shit, you know, so. Yeah, man. Uh, and they always trying to blow us up and they end up blowing each other up and we're like, dude, you're not even hitting us. You know what I'm saying? Like, you're just killing your buddies. So.

• 24:09Jack Murphy?

  I mean, I, I imagine that like you guys had to be cleared to snipe the IED teams. But then there, there is like the inevitably, there's going to be fallout from that if there, you know, military people on a base right next to you.

• 24:23Speaker 04

  Yeah. And that, yes. And so we had to let them know what we were doing, which we didn't necessarily want to do, right? We had to let the command know. And as we let the command know, sorry, am I not close enough to this room? Um, as we let the command know, we went out one time to do it. So we took over a little checkpoint. We got out there, did it. And then the IA came out to do their own little ambush. And I don't know if you ever watched, you know, the Iraqi army under nods and thermals, sitting in an ambush line. It's hilarious, uh, to say the least, but we were like, well, we're not getting shit done tonight. We're not going to shoot nobody. You know what I mean?

• 25:02Speaker 04

  So, and then we actually did have some movement off to one side. We saw some dudes and we're like, ooh, here it comes. Well, then they obviously spotted the Iraqi army and we were like, dude, because they're just smoking cigarettes and performing sexual favors on each other. You know what I'm saying? So you're like, oh, great. We're just watching that and it's like, oh, that's cool. Like, bleh. So.

• 25:23Jack Murphy?

  Another day in the life. They don't teach you that part in the Q course, do they?

• 25:26Speaker 04

  No, they don't. They don't teach you that. They, they have one dude per company named Hamza and they're like, what does Hamza mean? Hamza like is a number. It's a little circle, stands for a butthole, you know, that's their dude. And you're like, oh, okay. I got it. You know, like, they don't teach any of that in the Q course.

• 25:44Jack Murphy?

  And so as that deployment went on, um, you guys rolled up some bad guys and dealing with IEDs. I mean, how did things kind of progress as you got deeper into that deployment?

• 25:56Speaker 04

  Um, so that the first deployment, I think it was pretty standard. I think for me as a new guy, I was just trying to learn as much as I could. You know, I was the junior Bravo, um, had a senior and just trying to pick up as much as I could from him. So I was learning, you know, base defense and operations and convoy ops and, you know, trying to stay on top of it as best I could. So for me, it was just a really good learning experience. You know, yeah, we went after some people, but there was always, everybody we went after, you know, they want warrants. And so it became like we're a SWAT team more than anything else. And now we got to deal with the Iraqi judicial system, which is not exactly stellar. You know what I mean? And corrupt as hell. So it's like, they wouldn't even like really fight back a lot of times. Because they just needed to be like, hey, what's up? I'll be out tomorrow. Like, who cares?

• 26:40Speaker 04

  You know, and it was like, well, that sucks. It's like, you know, and at that point I was like, can we just shoot them? And they're like, no, you can't shoot them. You know, it's like, yeah, but can we like shoot a guy? Can we just shoot the guy? They're like, no, he's not armed. You have to actually take him in. We're like, oh, this is stupid. So we did all that, but uh, that was frustrating. That really was. Um, but however, it was good experience. We did some clearing ops. We did get some dudes and we did get some, you know, we found out some very interesting networks and things that were going on. That uh, that opened up to see some of the connections especially. Um, the one thing that we kind of couldn't cross that line was a lot of the Iranian stuff going on, which I know you're very familiar with.

• 27:21Speaker 04

  But uh, one thing that was interesting was on that trip and then the second trip, uh, the second trip was Operation New Dawn, I believe.

• 27:29Jack Murphy?

  Oh, okay.

• 27:29Speaker 04

  And yeah, what they would do is they'd have these like, you know, those buses, like Greyhound buses.

• 27:36Speaker 04

  So they would actually blackout all the windows or put little things up where you think there's people in there, but inside it's just a giant Sagan bus. And like, they were driving those things around and we were like. Our, I remember our head, uh, human guy was telling us about it and our fox who was going over all that. And was like, wait a second, what? Like, yeah, they're, they're just hacking everything we have and just listen, whatever they can. You see the same bus parked out here. Then sure enough, the Iraqis pulled over like, oh crap, they saw it going, they're like, oh, let that go. You know, cause they don't want anything to do with that. Um, and then we, so it's like, we know the Iranians are driving sickant buses around us. And we know all this other stuff's going on, like, and there was, you go into a meeting and then the Iranians would be,

• 28:18Speaker 04

  they'd have their agents there going to talk to somebody right after you and just all kinds of crap, man. It was just, it was very interesting seeing that. Um, I think that was my first introduction into, I don't know, maybe the politics of it or a larger scale strategic, you know, kind of looking stuff, you know, instead of just what you see in front of you.

• 28:36Jack Murphy?

  And, and the ROE at that time prevented you guys from really actioning the Iranian targets?

• 28:41Speaker 04

  Yeah. Cause when we'd send that up, it was always, hey, don't mess with that. That's not for us. And I'm like, okay, cool. You know?

• 28:47Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, that worked out well.

• 28:49Speaker 04

  Yeah. So I was like, well, can we just like put an IED out, you know, cause these guys are good at blowing themselves up and just put one in front of this bus and call it a day. You know what I mean? So, but now there's nothing.

• 28:59Jack Murphy?

  I like, I like your thinking, Drew. Good initiative. Um, but they shut you down. That sucks.

• 29:05Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 29:06Jack Murphy?

  Um, so afterwards you get deployed, redeployed back home, back to Fort Campbell. And now you're going through the whole training cycle with your team.

• 29:17Jack Murphy?

  And, and I imagine they're sending you to MFF and all that stuff too.

• 29:21Speaker 04

  Yeah. So went to MFF, um, went to SOTC at fifth group. And as you know, uh, fifth group, my personal opinion, like I know some guys from other groups that do great stuff. I think fifth group really with our SOTC and Saffalic, they run a phenomenal course. Like I've seen some of the other courses out there and talked to people and it's like, I feel that fifth group does a really good job of stuff like that. So I went to SOTC like a week after I got back, uh, SOTC two at, at Campbell. Um, did that, that was good. Went to MFF. Um, as we got, right as we got a new captain, me and like, we sent four guys to Halo School all at the same time.

• 30:00Speaker 04

  And, uh, we weren't supposed to get all of us in, but like, one of our old teammates, uh, what was his damn name? Al, he was at the Halo Committee as an instructor and he was like, just send him, dude, get him in. And sure enough, he walked by some dude and was like, up, up, up. He goes, oh, you're fat, get out. And then he was like, Drew, you're in. I was like, yeah, dude, you know, like, and then some guy didn't have something and he was like, all right, out of here. Shitbag, you know, and then we all got in the chorus, which was super cool. Um, but, uh, we had our new captain, phenomenal officer, phenomenal team leader. He ended up being battalion commander later on, did really good stuff. He's a company commander, battalion commander. A guy I call friend, have a lot of respect for, his name's Bill Heffron, he's out now.

• 30:42Speaker 04

  Um, but, uh, yeah, I remember we go to Halo School and our team sergeant was, uh, old school team sergeant. And, uh, redneck as hell and he's like, hey, man, you break that captain in right. We were like, okay, sounds good, dude. You know, so captain bought drinks, we'd go out and hang out and do stuff and it was a great time, man. We had, we got real close, the four of us. So three new guys and our new captain, so.

• 31:04Jack Murphy?

  That's cool. Yeah, you're right. That's very rare for like, you know, almost half a team to go to the school at the same time.

• 31:10Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah. Yeah, we were very fortunate to be able to do that. So, but yeah, man, did that. Um, had some other stuff in there and then not too long after that, we went back again. So we went right back to the same place and we had our second deployment there. Uh, which I kind of already touched on was different because it's New Dawn. It's supposed to be the drawdown and we're doing less, we're letting them take the lead. Um, so it was a lot more advisory missions. When we did go out, it wasn't a whole lot, but we did get out the door some, you know, not as much as we liked, but you probably never get out the door as much as you, you want to in any job. So it was, uh, it was a good, it was good. That was much more.

• 31:54Speaker 04

  Seeing the effect of how you train your guys and then going out with them, you know what I mean? And seeing how that works, like, yes, they're different, you know, we're not working with ISOF, Iraqi Special Operations, we're working with Iraqi Army. And you gotta, you just, you know, set your expectations. And, you know, can I get them to do this? Did they complete the mission? Did they go out the door? Did they do what we told them to do? Well, they did, and that was good. You know what I mean? Uh, we had a, I got, yeah, I ate a charge on that one, uh, pretty good on that deployment. Um, I got knocked out pretty good, but it was fun. It was a good time.

• 32:29Jack Murphy?

  You, you got too close to the breach?

• 32:32Speaker 04

  Well, I didn't know the breach was going off, because, uh, my junior Bravo didn't fucking say shit. So, we, uh, he got so excited. We, uh, we pulled up to this house, you know, and outside the courtyard. And I'm in the truck and I'm the gunner and I'm covering the second story as they, you know, line up with the dudes. And so I remember two of our guys are standing there at the, and they're going to breach the gate. So I'm covering, you know, the 50 cal and a saw and night vision. I'm like, okay, we're good. I'm like, what's going on, man? Like, what, what's taking so long? So I looked down and all I see is them stacked up and I see Logan like this and he goes,

• 33:10Speaker 04

  and I see that quarter turn and I was like, oh. I mean, we're like, I can't be, I'm not even 15 yards, you know, 10, 15 yards from this thing. I'm right in front of the, like, gate, just because of how the street was and everything else. And I was like, oh crap. So I like started to go down right as the breach went off. And, uh, he's a Bravo. And you know, when a Bravo makes a charge, they do their math as P for plenty. And, uh, I'm pretty sure he just stuck a whole, you know,

• 33:39Jack Murphy?

  Block.

• 33:39Speaker 04

  Stick, yeah, block, you know, C4 on there. When it breached and it went off and I just remember going boom and like my head whacked off the turret and the gun flipped and came down and hit me in the face. My nose was all messed up and I was out. And I just remember hearing that, you know, and I kind of like, oh crap. So I got back up and I just remember. That it didn't just pop the gate open. It like it took the gate and blew it completely out of the like the courtyard, you know, walls. And it blew it all the way to the house and then it blew the glass out of the house like off all the windows. And so there was nothing to clear. All these Iraqis are just coming out with their hands up coughing, you know, we're sorry.

• 34:22Speaker 04

  And like the Iraqi army's coughing and they're just like, oh, it's okay. Please come over here. Have a seat. Let me get you some water. It was like, it was like a casualty event at that point. And I'm just, you know, I'm they're like, hey, Drew, you okay? And I'm like, yellow, seven. They're like, what the fuck are you saying? You know, I don't know. I was out. But then our team sergeant was pissed because he didn't call breach. So he thought an ID went off and we were all messed up. And I just remember to be like, I was just so excited to breach a gate. I don't, I don't know. You know what I mean?

• 34:48Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, I have control.

• 34:50Speaker 04

  Yeah, pretty much. But he said all that in his head, not out loud on the radios. So thanks a lot, jerk. So.

• 34:58Jack Murphy?

  Uh, and you, I think you mentioned that you got to use some of your medical training on these first couple deployments. I mean, was it mostly on you or on Hamza or how did that work out?

• 35:10Speaker 04

  So we, uh, we had a lot of guys on our team that had, we had several guys that started out in the eighteen Delta Corps and we had two medics. Um, at one point we had lost two of our medics. So I became the medic on the team and I carried the med bag. And by lost, I mean, like they had to go back to this base to cover something with like finance and something popped up. So I filled in for them. Um, but a lot of times it was just medical stuff. They'd get blown up and they'd call us and we'd rush over there, you know, and like do what we could. Um, usually they're putting out IDs on each other, whatever. But so, I mean, with that, like for instance, one time we had a guy's pretty messed up. Um, so I had to amputate his leg and I remember the CF medics were there, the conventional dudes. He's from a MIT team.

• 35:54Speaker 04

  And you know, he was a little overwhelmed and he's like, hey, guys, we gotta, here's what we gotta do. And it took about 10 seconds. And I remember one of our medics was like, get out of the way, like we're in charge. And I think he was very like appreciative of that. And so he was like, two, two eighteen deltas are working up top and they're cricking this dude. Um, he's trying to get an IV, the conventional force medic, and I was amputating the leg, right? And so cut off his leg. You know, set it down and this guy couldn't get his stick on the, get the IV started because he was, you know, I think this is new for him, you know, like it's probably a little bit less experienced dude and, you know, that's understandable, especially when a guy is, you're having to hold his arm down because he's still alive, kicking and we're cranking this dude, right? So,

• 36:36Speaker 04

  he's fighting the whole time. So finally I had to grab it and I just stuck him real quick, did it, you know, flash and we're up. And that guy was just like, oh my God. I'm like, I'm not an 18 Delta dude. I'm just the Bravo. I'm the gun guy. And he was just like mind blown, you know? Um, but I think that's a testament too. It's just, our team was very, very good at training each other up, right? And for example, I hate radios. I don't want a damn thing to do with a radio. I don't want to fill the radio. I don't like radios. I think they're stupid. Right? Very, very important part of the job though. And uh, like our, if I was ever like, hey Echo, how do I get this? He'd be like, you're gonna do this. You will learn. And I'd be like a child, just like, hmm, you know, I don't want to. And then I'd do it, you know?

• 37:19Speaker 04

  So we were very good about teaching each other how to do stuff. Like you had to be very, very self-sufficient. And that's something I was very grateful for our team sergeants on that team between Lee and Doug, that they really um, made sure of that. And the teammates too, you know, so, everybody had to do their own radios. Everybody could do medical. Um, everybody knew how to build a charge, right? I mean, everybody could, you know, had space and time to 50 cows and when the, you know, uh, grenade launcher went down, you know, we knew our 37s went down, you knew how to fix it and get it back up. You know, I mean, there was nothing. Like you don't get to call somebody else.

• 37:53Jack Murphy?

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• 38:36Jack Murphy?

  But, you know, I would say it's athletics ready. You know, moving furniture, doing things around the house. You're not going to have that like super tight, like constricted fit that you feel like you're not going to be able to move around in. And there are over 400,000 people out there wearing these jeans at this point. So not all of them can be wrong. I, I hope you guys will go and check them out. So a few scenarios where you can wear these jeans and where they really come together. Everything from, you know, doing yard work or doing things around your house. If you have to move furniture around or you have to do handiwork. They're perfectly comfortable.

• 39:16Jack Murphy?

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• 41:57Speaker 04

  So it was very, very good about that on our team.

• 42:00Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, there's only 12 of you. You're not getting anyone else.

• 42:05Speaker 04

  Yeah, I think, I think we only ever had on that team, maybe 10 or 11. We were never full with 12 that I can think of. Maybe at one time, but one time we only had eight guys on the team and we went to Afghanistan.

• 42:14Jack Murphy?

  Wow. And so after that, rotating back home, and what was kind of like the next sequence of events, getting jocked up to go again, I imagine?

• 42:25Speaker 04

  Yeah, we did a, I had a Jay sit in there, to Jordan. Was that after the second deployment? That was in 2010. I went to Jordan, I think. That was a phenomenal time. Like, I really, really appreciated going to Jordan and doing that JSA. We worked with a company of their special forces guys. And it was Amir Hashem, so the king's youngest brother, Prince Hashem, Amir Hashem. Amir stands for prince. It was his company, so we got to work with him very closely. And he was a phenomenal guy. And he had two ODAs that we were working with. One that was like younger guys and less experienced. One that was older guys and more experienced. And it was really cool seeing how they did stuff and just,

• 43:09Speaker 04

  you know, they're Jordanians, you know, they're Jordanian special forces. They don't do things the way we do. You know, they don't have the resources, they don't have this and that. However, we learned a lot from them. It was really great getting to work with them. And then on top of that, you're in Jordan, dude. We went and saw Petra, we saw Bethany beyond Jordan, we went down to the Dead Sea, like, we, uh, we really, our team sergeant Doug at the time was very, and our captain Bill, when he took over in that, at that time, was real big on like, these might be the only times you ever get to do this. We're, we're not just gonna be going and getting drunk at some Russian hooker bar, you know what I'm saying?

• 43:40Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 43:41Speaker 04

  We're going down and we're gonna go see sights. Like, you're gonna learn some shit. Like, this is stuff that 10 years from now, you're really gonna appreciate. And they were absolutely right. Like, it was phenomenal. And we did a lot of stuff together. So, I loved that trip. Uh, we stayed at Kasadik, if you've heard of that?

• 43:55Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, it's a huge facility.

• 43:58Speaker 04

  Yeah, it was like brand new. They just built the barracks. So, we stayed there during the week. And then we stayed at a ridiculously nice hotel in downtown Amman on the weekends. I don't know how we got that approved, but there's always a warrant somewhere, you know what I mean? Who knows how to do that crap? Um, but, yeah, man, it was, it was a really good experience. Um, and I, I had a lot of fun there. And then, let's see, we did two trips to Iraq. I did a JSA, I think in 2010, which was...

• 44:29Speaker 04

  I think it was between the first and second trip. Shit, I can't remember. Yeah, it was between the first and second trip. Cause I met my wife when I was in Halo school on the weekend out in San Diego. So, yeah.

• 44:39Jack Murphy?

  Out of, out of the Trident bor- uh Trident Bar?

• 44:42Speaker 04

  Absolutely not. Fuck no.

• 44:44Jack Murphy?

  The one that, what, what is it? Miller owns?

• 44:47Speaker 04

  Oh, I don't know.

• 44:48Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, dev group guy, uh, owns the Trident Bar out there.

• 44:52Speaker 04

  Oh, does he?

• 44:52Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 44:54Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 44:54Jack Murphy?

  Everyone met their wife at Trident. What's, what's up, Drew?

• 44:58Speaker 04

  Oh, did you?

• 45:00Jack Murphy?

  No, I did.

• 45:01Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 45:03Speaker 04

  Fair enough. Yeah, no, we met at, uh, on Halloween of all things. So she, uh, she was a very respectable lady. And I didn't know what that meant. I was like, what do you mean? We're not like, you know? She's like, no dumbass. Like, no. So I had to keep, you know, calling everything and it worked out. We, uh, we ended up getting married, man. So.

• 45:20Jack Murphy?

  That's great.

• 45:20Speaker 04

  But, uh, yeah, that was, so yeah, that happened between the first and second trip with Jordan. And then after the second trip, um, yeah, we went to Afghanistan. There was some other stuff in there. There was some J-sets. I missed one because I went off to a school. Um, I went, went to Afghanistan in 2012, which was a really good trip, uh, for me because I was the Fox on that trip.

• 45:48Jack Murphy?

  Okay.

• 45:49Speaker 04

  So.

• 45:50Jack Murphy?

  Do you want to, do you want to tell the, the listeners what the Fox is on the team?

• 45:54Speaker 04

  Yeah. So the Fox on the team is your intel sergeant, right? And if you look at kind of like the, the hierarchy on the team, you have your captain. And then sometimes you have a warrant officer, whatever that means. And then you have your team sergeant, right? And so below that is your Fox. And it's generally a more experienced guy that's been on the team before. And it is a position where not on every team, but for a lot of teams, if you're the Fox, you're going to be the team sergeant next, right? Um, I was in E6 and I was the Fox. So the reason I was is because ours had a terrible taste in women and he had a shitty personal life and she stole all his shit and sold it. And so like, he couldn't go. And I think she was in jail or something. I don't know, dude. We're like, bro.

• 46:39Jack Murphy?

  It happens.

• 46:40Speaker 04

  He's like, I can't go on the trip.

• 46:43Speaker 04

  So, yeah, but uh.

• 46:46Jack Murphy?

  Where, where, where in Afghanistan did you guys go?

• 46:49Speaker 04

  Kunduz.

• 46:50Jack Murphy?

  Oh, okay. I mean, that place got very hot at one point.

• 46:55Speaker 04

  It did, and we were the, the first team to be in Archie and Imam Sahib. So we had a team before us. They built the team house. And they situated themselves right in between these two districts called Archie, Archie and Imam Sahib. Archie was to the east and Imam Sahib was to the west. Just north of that was the border, right? So for us, the biggest thing going in was, it was a black hole. And actually, you know, a lot of people were trying to tell us, oh, this is how it is up there. And I remember thinking, no, it's not because you don't fucking know, dude. Like, nobody knows anything what's going on. This team that's been up there has been very concerned about building the base out, and they've only been in Imam Sahib. They haven't even gone over to Archie yet.

• 47:37Speaker 04

  Right? So we're going to be the team that pushes to Archie and then potentially from there, right? Um, and then kind of towards Badakshan province, I think it is, up that way. So for us, there was a lot of unknowns. And right before we got there, there was like a YouTube video of them like stoning a chick. There was like, you know, reports in Archie, they, the Taliban killed uh, all the police and then stole their vehicles and had a parade down the main road. And like, made everybody come out. And if you didn't, they cut their heads off. And I was like, okay, cool. So this is going to be a good time, you know? So that was very interesting though, being the fox. Um, I was not a school trained fox by any means. Uh, I got given the fox job, I think, three weeks to four weeks before we deployed.

• 48:21Speaker 04

  Um, and had to brief the commander. I got that on Friday and had to brief the group commander on Monday or like Tuesday. So that was unique. Um, but yeah, man, it was, it was interesting figuring out the area and then. Trying to get through everything and kind of what we found was this is kind of a financial hub.

• 48:40Jack Murphy?

  Yeah.

• 48:41Speaker 04

  And by that I mean they would harvest everything and they'd smuggle up through Tajikistan, I think it was right there.

• 48:47Jack Murphy?

  Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

• 48:49Speaker 04

  Yeah, that's it. Yep. And they would smuggle through there. So our goal was to help disrupt some of those routes, identify the money and then try and negate that or, you know, cross that out and create a block for it. Um, but when you don't have any information, you have to do a lot of fact finding when you get there. So we just had our ink blot strategy. We're gonna start here. We're gonna go visit this. We're gonna get to know this tribe and these people, you know, and like, these guys or whatever their names were and how they're all related, whatever. And then we're gonna go down here to this part, right? And there was a lot of Taliban influence, right? But there's a lot of other stuff too. You know, who, uh, who's the Uzbek guy that like was also the terrorist organization working in there? It was, um,

• 49:30Jack Murphy?

  Oh, I know exactly what, who you're talking about. Yeah, they were fairly dangerous, uh, as I recall.

• 49:36Speaker 04

  Yeah, they were kind of like the big hitters, smaller organization, serious stuff. Um, they, we had a lot of them in the area too. So that was interesting. And we, we got in some firefights, you know, we got some dudes. Um, we had some suicide bombers at the gate, you know, things like that. So it was a, it was a very formative time. And I think mainly because my team sergeant Doug at the time, uh, someone I respect almost more than anybody I've ever met, phenomenal guy, uh, very reserved, kind of soft spoken dude, but very squared away. And he was kind of, he was the fox before me and he picked me to be the fox. And he's like, hey, man, I know you're not gonna do it the exact same way I did,

• 50:19Speaker 04

  but I hope it has set a good example. The thing is, I want you to do what feels right and basically, you know, do your best. I was like, okay, you know, and he's like, you're gonna mess up. You're gonna get things wrong. But just remember, as the fox, your goal is to make sure when this team leaves this base, every time we leave, they're a hundred percent prepared for everything coming at them. Cause if you miss anything, that could be someone, you know, that could be their life or injury for the rest of their lives. And I was like, okay, no pressure. Thanks. Uh, so, you know, but that was really good.

• 50:49Jack Murphy?

  I'm sorry, I'm sorry to interrupt, but the, the group I think is Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, I Am You.

• 50:57Speaker 04

  No, maybe there was somebody else. It was like something network, maybe not was it Hakani Network?

• 51:05Jack Murphy?

  Hakani was in Pakistan. That was south.

• 51:07Speaker 04

  Yeah. God, what was the name of that? Maybe that is it?

• 51:12Speaker 04

  Man, I honestly, if you said it, I probably wouldn't remember now because it's been so long.

• 51:15Jack Murphy?

  I'm sorry to interrupt. Go.

• 51:18Speaker 04

  Yeah, the um, but yeah, Doug, I remember him saying that and I always took that to like, okay, I'm like, my goal is not to sit here and bore you with data and tell you where everything's at. Is to give you, obviously, your most likely, our most dangerous, and then make sure we're all prepared as we go out, right? So it was, um, it was good, man. It was very good, very, very good experience. And I feel like that's the trip where for me personally, I grew a lot. I was still just a staff sergeant. So it was, uh, sorry, am I getting all weird feedback?

• 51:49Jack Murphy?

  I think we got you. Okay.

• 51:50Speaker 04

  Okay, it's just my computer then. So that was, uh, it was really good for me.

• 51:56Jack Murphy?

  And so it sounds like it was, or it became primarily like a counter narco mission.

• 52:03Speaker 04

  Kind of, um, we didn't encounter the drugs where we were at per se. It was all the, again, the financial aspect of it, but we also had a lot of, um, pockets of IED makers. And there was this one guy, we call it, his name is like Dr. Z or something, you know, he was a, and we were very unsure about him. And I remember, you know, the B team and one of the sergeant majors being like, I don't know about that guy. He's probably just a little T Taliban. I was like, no, man, I don't, I don't know. That's the case. The things aren't lining up that says he's that. And he's very hard to pinpoint. So we know he travels from here. He goes to some other provinces. He does this. And he also spends time in the south. And if he was just a little T Taliban, he would, so the listeners by little T, think of that as like a gang member.

• 52:46Speaker 04

  Right? Like a guy who has nothing else to do. So they, hey, it's something to do. I'll join up with these dudes, whatever, right? They're not necessarily true believers. They might just be bored more than anything else. They're adventure seekers. Um, kind of like a gang member. And then your big T Taliban, how we looked at it was these are your true believers, right? That this is a real mission for them and this is a purpose. Um, so much more formal. Okay? And from what I'd seen, it kind of pushed him into that big T, you know, kind of classification and I, we really wanted to stay on him. And I remember just being real dismissive about it. Nope, that's not it. Nope, it's fine, whatever. And I gave a lot of pushback on that. Well, I kind of find out, you know, I was right, you know, as we went on, he was a

• 53:28Speaker 04

  very big player in the north for the Taliban, right? And then also, you know, everything that was associated with the Taliban and the other people too. He had a lot of the money. He also organized the different IED cells. Um, they were making the command wire and uh, remote initiated IEDs uh, as well as pressure plate IEDs. And so that trip, we had uh, multiple IEDs that I found out that we did our signal back, you know, and talk to people. And they're like, hey, man, listen to this. And it was the ICOMs chatter and the dudes talking from all the numbers we give them. And it was literally being like, hey, I can see these guys right now. Okay, go ahead, do it. And it's like, the, it's not working. The IED is not working. They're like, how is it not working? They're standing right on top of it.

• 54:11Speaker 04

  And it's like, they're like, oh, it's the, this truck, the second truck, or the third truck and the convoy. Cause we got like, when something got like, we had to stop, we got out and did some stuff. We were parked on top of the IED. And it never went off. And the thing is, it's like, oh, jammers, right? This was a command wire IED. It wasn't a jammer.

• 54:29Jack Murphy?

  Wow.

• 54:30Speaker 04

  So we couldn't figure out why their stuff wasn't working. That happened seven times. That we found out we were on top or drove over an IED and it didn't go off. So I think we encountered IEDs at one point in the trip, about every three days. You know what I mean? Um, and we were very lucky. We spotted them. We got out. We, we set out, you know, did all of our stuff, did our sweeps. Um, a lot of times it was our Charlie, uh, Aaron. Aaron is a super interesting guy, right? Like he was a marine. And then he was a cowboy before that, like an actual cowboy, like Yellowstone. You know, he like drove cattle, like in Montana and Kansas. And then he is out now. Now he's a smoke jumper in like Montana, right? Like, you're like, what the, he raises horses, right?

• 55:13Speaker 04

  He's the best dad ever. Like him and his wife are just phenomenal parents too. Like incredible. You're like, what? How do they make people like you, you know? But uh, he and I would actually go up and get the IEDs and be like, you know, like old school like.

• 55:26Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, with the pro.

• 55:28Speaker 04

  The stick and the knife, you know, kind of deal. Um, but yeah, man, it was, it was good. Um, we had a lot of IEDs, a lot of, man, my computer just froze on like the worst picture ever. It looks like.

• 55:39Jack Murphy?

  We got you.

• 55:44Speaker 04

  Can you guys hear me?

• 55:45Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, yeah, we got you fine.

• 55:47Speaker 04

  Back now?

• 55:48Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, yeah, we hit, we never lost you.

• 55:51Speaker 04

  Yeah, I saw the computer freeze, like the worst moment in time.

• 55:56Speaker 04

  But yeah, man, it was, uh, it was really good. He was a phenomenal guy and we'd go clear these IDs and everything and, and all that. We got a few firefights on that trip, pretty good. We had a suicide bomber, I remember it came to our gate, you know, as we're trying to get in our guys that we're training up to handle some of this. I guess something happened, we heard it outside and we saw this dude running and our ALP, Afghani local police, ALP commander ended up shooting at this dude. And he's like running away, so I just grabbed my sniper rifle and ran up in the towers. And I think I got maybe the record for like the shortest sniper kill in Afghanistan, so, which is funny, I think it was like 20 yards away, I was like, okay, cool. But, uh, yeah, that's my big sniper claim to fame, but

• 56:42Speaker 04

  anything over 30 yards, I'm not worth a shit, but as long as it's within 30. But yeah, man, did that. Uh, it was good. Uh, it was, like I said, it was, I think when I look at that deployment, when everybody hears what SF does and they look at all these different things, I think that really embodied that a lot. You know what I mean? Like you are going out, you have to be self-sufficient. There's only, you know, there was eight of us and we had

• 57:09Speaker 04

  10 third ID kits, like five infantry and five tankers and like a medic, you know, attached to us and like an extra intel person to help me out. Uh, we also had a CST team with us. Um, so, but that is your, and it was just us, you know, like sometimes we get in firefights, the Germans would come up and help us if they were in the area, but it's gonna take people, you're looking at people get on the ground, you're looking at a couple hours to get to you. You know what I mean? Um, so that was, that was awesome. I loved that trip, I loved everything about it. It was basically go do the right thing and let us know how it's going. I'm like, all right, perfect, we can do this.

• 57:44Jack Murphy?

  You're having to develop all of your own intelligence and I, I think, yeah, you're right, a lot of people don't realize that they think like, oh, SF, the CIA must come with a big binder full of intel and just like, here you go, Drew, you know? It doesn't work like that, you guys hit the ground. It sounds like in this case you had very little in terms of intelligence and situational awareness and all of that had to be built out.

• 58:06Speaker 04

  It did. Um, we had a guy on our team who was, uh, who kind of took over that human role, that level three, right? So the guy who goes out, he builds the networks and his sources and everything. Um, he and I never really got along that well. However, I have immense respect for the guy. He did a phenomenal job, right? Like, he was that, that was his thing that he, he really got good at. And he's gone on to do better things and bigger and better things in that world. And, uh, again, we never really got along, but I have an immense amount of respect for him.

• 58:36Jack Murphy?

  It's funny how that works, Drew, and, and, and it's because the, the fox and the human tours, they do have a different job. Like the fox is more of an analyst, whereas the human tours are talking to people. And I've seen that dynamic before where they don't necessarily get along with each other.

• 58:53Speaker 04

  Yeah, and we, well, it started before that, you know what I mean? Like when I was just a Bravo and he was an Echo, like, we're just very different personalities, right? Like, I'm not your average 18 fox. Like, I ended up going to the CIF and I was an assaulter and that's, that's my mentality, right? Like later on, I went over there, uh, I'm an assaulter. I'm not a sniper dude. I think that's boring. I don't have the patience for it. Like, let's, I don't like talking to people, you know, like as sources and be like, oh, you have many children. Oh, you are very strong and doing all that bull crap, like, let's get to the point, dude. You know what I mean? Like, what are we doing here? So, but he was, he was really good at that, you know?

• 59:32Speaker 04

  And he, he got to the point where he got us access to some very interesting networks, uh, and people that we would follow with ISR. And they would do exactly what he asked him to do and mark places for us. And it actually got us, uh, onto a named objective for, you know, some, some of the higher level dudes at JSOC. And we actually got to pass that off. Um, and they were like, we're gonna go hit it. It's like, we could just call him and he'll come in. You know what I mean? Like, he's one of our sources now, you know? Like, I think that's a pretty big deal for a dude like that. Again, he killed it, man, you know? Um, but again, I didn't help the situation. I was probably just a, you know, a meathead, you know what I'm saying? The whole time, but, uh, he was really good at that. So it was cool looking back at it, seeing that dynamic and how we built that out.

• 1:00:17Speaker 04

  So if it wasn't for him and then how we took it as a team and the things that we did, like, everything works together. It's a, it's a big environment and a lot of working pieces and that. When we left, like, I can honestly say, when we left Afghanistan after that trip, it was better off. For what we did. We were value added to that area and you could see noticeable differences in the area. Cause before people couldn't come out of their homes, you know, like there's people getting their heads chopped off and put on pikes, you know, and sticks out in the roads and we'd drive by and see them, you know? Um, when we left, there's kids playing outside with their families, you know, and it was like, all right, man, we did something good here. And we had people actually come up to our gate just to give us stuff and be like, hey, thank you. Like, and

• 1:01:01Speaker 04

  it wasn't like the typical, it was genuine. You know what I mean? Like, there was always, always gonna be little kids, you're gonna throw rocks at your trucks, cause little kids like to throw rocks at trucks, you know what I mean? But like generally speaking, I think we did a good job. So.

• 1:01:13Jack Murphy?

  Oh, that's cool.

• 1:01:15Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, it sounds like reminiscent of, you know, what you hear about those SFOBs in Vietnam, you know, where they, they really ingratiated themselves with the local villagers and become a part of that kind of community.

• 1:01:27Speaker 04

  It did, man. Um, we were, we had some very close relationships and alliances with the people there. Um, to the point where if we were with some of our ALP and there was a firefight, they weren't running away. They were, they were staying there with us and they were looking out for us, which I thought was very, it's like, ooh, that's not everybody's experience, you know, like they were bought in, they were with us. So that was really good.

• 1:01:51Jack Murphy?

  And so after this deployment, you're going back to the, the mothership at Fort Campbell? Is, is this when it starts coming into your mind? You're thinking you want to make the jump over to the A15?

• 1:02:02Speaker 04

  Yes, I knew I wanted to. I still did two more small deployments, um, before that. Um, I wanted to do something different and go on to try something else. And I, I always knew A15, like I just thought that was cool, man. That's very much what appeals to me. Um, but I went to the B team after that. And, and while I was on the B team, I don't think I spent more than a week actually on the B team. So when I got there, the first thing I did was I deployed to Afghanistan again. Um, and I was on a, I was the LNO for a General Nagata,

• 1:02:41Speaker 04

  was his name? So, and I was in Kabul at, uh, integrity over there. So my goal was basically to report back to him what's going on, and also to my group commander and everything else. But the, the side mission was I had another job, which was a.

• 1:02:58Speaker 04

  Surveillance-y type job and it was, uh, it was, anyway, I'll kind of leave it at that, but driving around, one or two guys in a truck, man jams, undercover vehicles, and we're setting up locations, right? Places for people to meet and things like that. Um, so I got to do that for a little bit, which was cool, because I got to go to England as one of the schools I went to before then, and I went to, uh, the CTR course, run by former British, uh, Special Reconnaissance Regiment. Um, so they're close target reconnaissance, so basically following people, surveillance, mobile and a vehicle and foot mobile, right? Then breaking into buildings and collecting evidence. And that was kind of neat. So there was a little bit of that. I got to apply to that job, you know, with vehicles and everything else. Um, so it was neat, man. That's super cool.

• 1:03:41Speaker 04

  It was. Uh, right after I left, that's when they attacked the base and McKenna got killed. So that happened like, I think within like weeks after I flew out. And, uh, we, we've been saying the whole time, like, hey, man, security here is not good, dude. But that integrity is literally...

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• 1:05:52Speaker 04

  Over half of that base is rank major or higher. So it's all generals, colonels, lieutenant colonel. I didn't know there was that many damn colonels in the army, first of all, and in Afghanistan. And then there's a bunch of majors who are all trying to be colonels, you know what I'm saying? And then there's the foreign guys, right? Like in there, you know, the Polish, and everybody, Polish are hilarious, by the way. And then those dudes, you know what I'm saying? And then there's like some random enlisted people. And like, I never wore a uniform. I just wore civilian clothes all the time. And I was told, like, don't tell anybody your rank. Like, whatever you do, don't tell, because they'll never respect you or listen to you. I was like, okay, cool. So like, the only person I knew was like the base commander and a couple of the colonels. Everybody else was like, oh, Drew, what do we, how do we address you? I'm like, Drew's fine, you know,

• 1:06:36Speaker 04

  like, so they were like.

• 1:06:38Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, you play it off. I got a beard. That's all you need to know.

• 1:06:42Speaker 04

  Say that again. Sorry, man.

• 1:06:44Jack Murphy?

  You just say, I have a beard. That's all you need to know?

• 1:06:47Speaker 04

  Something like that. But I told him, I'd be like, I'm in the Coast Guard. And they were like, what? Coast Guard? I'm like, yeah, Coast Guard Special Operations. You know, like, and we got like, there were a couple of people that actually believed it. But it was like, you're such an idiot. No one's gonna believe that. You know, so, uh, but it was good, man. And then, uh, so I did that for a little bit. And that was interesting because it's just, it's writing reports. But then in my off time, I'm going and doing these kind of things, you know, in a vehicle with maybe two other guys, driving around the city. And then, yeah, man, did that. I came home for a few weeks and then I immediately went, uh, that's when Syria was kicking off.

• 1:07:24Jack Murphy?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:24Speaker 04

  So I went to Turkey and I was Task Force Turkey. So, and it was pretty much just me. So from fifth group. There was another guy there before me, but he was kinda, it wasn't really his job, but they sent me over as, cause they were like, hey, you just did this for Nagata. Now you're gonna do it for our battalion commander and group commander. So you're gonna report back in Turkey and you're gonna set up all the training bases in Turkey for our guys. You're gonna help understand the people that we're bringing in from Syria. You're gonna do this and you're gonna work closely with some agency people and also JSOC. And I was like, okay. So I was at an annex from the embassy, wearing a suit every day.

• 1:08:02Speaker 04

  And I worked the agency office and that was eye opening. Um, I briefed a lot of politicians. I briefed colonels, generals, um, senators, um, and I had to know what was going on. And I, I'm really actually, but there was a female agency lady there and I'm very grateful for her. She was very good at her job and she always helped steer me in the right direction, but I was like, mm, I don't know if I trust you, right? So I gotta go back and they're like, no, that sounds right. Whereas like other people were trying, she'd be like, hey, you ought to look into that a little bit more. Like, okay, cool.

• 1:08:36Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, she was trying to help you.

• 1:08:38Speaker 04

  She, she genuinely was, um, and I, I really appreciate her. She might've been pulling one over on me the whole time. I don't know. But I feel like it was just with everything going on, I felt like she truly was, um, a team player with everybody and wanted to do the best. And, uh, she helped me a lot.

• 1:08:55Jack Murphy?

  And so were, were you mostly just kind of like briefing these visitors coming through on like the situation in Syria at that time? Or was it getting more intense than that?

• 1:09:05Speaker 04

  It was a little bit of both, um, but mainly what our unit was preparing for. So here are the training sites we've identified. Here's how we're gonna bring them in. Here's how many we're gonna train at a time. Once that kicks off, you'll see these many ODAs. Here's how we're going with recruitment, everything else and who we're identifying. And here's how we feel about this, right? So we narrowed down the training sites, um, we identified equipment. Part of that was coordinating with customs, right, through Turkey, which may be the worst thing you could ever do in your life because Turkey uses their customs as basically like, they hold everything hostage to get what they want from the United States.

• 1:09:41Jack Murphy?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:41Speaker 04

  So, for example, um, I'd be sitting in meetings and again, I don't know why the hell I'm in this meeting, but I was sitting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Interior Affairs. And they're asking me questions and giving me information. I'm like, mm-hmm, yeah. In my head, I'm like, I'm gonna have to Google that later. I don't know what the hell that means. But like, I'm gonna put this in a report and they'll say back, but they're trying to get us to sign a treaty, which is what we were absolutely trying not to do. And when I would ask questions, they would actually go out in the hall and they would call, uh, Erdogan. Is he the Prime Minister or President? Depends on what years he is because he just goes back and forth, right? Because he's a dictator. So like, as he does all that, they'd be calling him. They'd be like, here's what we think. I'm like, did you just call Erdogan? You know what I mean? Like, what am I doing here?

• 1:10:25Speaker 04

  I shouldn't be talking to you. I'm an E7 dude, like I'm a Sergeant First Class. But it was, it was really interesting. Um, so I would be taught, I'd have to coordinate with them and also Turkish soft a little bit. And then a lot of what, to get back to your question, sorry. Um, a lot of what I would do with the, the congressmen and women and the senators was we just have to be available for their questions. Um, and I really only had one that showed up ready with questions that genuinely wanted to know what was going on and had a clue. Uh, other than that, uh, I couldn't, I can't say enough negative things about congressmen and women that showed up over there. It was very disheartening.

• 1:11:09Speaker 04

  You know what I mean? It was very like, oh, wow. Um, and actually, so example for it. We're in a meeting, um, you mind if I tell the story?

• 1:11:17Jack Murphy?

  Please.

• 1:11:18Speaker 04

  One day. Okay, so.

• 1:11:21Speaker 04

  We go in and do this briefing, right? And at least some of the names out of it for people and all this, you could probably infer what's going on. So, um, we go in and we're giving our briefs and everything. I do my part. And I'm in there with the commander of a special operations unit. Um, he is there. He flew in just for this. I'm in there with an agency lady and then his sergeant major that's there also that's been there with me, right? And he's talking, giving the brief and he's like outlining the map. Here's what we have. Here's what we need, everything. And I never forget this congressman's like, he's like, well, what, what do you mean? You need this and that? He's like, sir, we got this. And he's like, why can't you just see them and shoot them? He's like,

• 1:12:03Speaker 04

  because there's clouds, sir. Like they can't see through clouds, you know? And like everything was like talking to a child, you know? And he goes, I need so many ISR birds with this capability, right? And this guy's the head of like that thing in Congress. And I'm just sitting there the whole time, like, and the, and the commander guy's getting mad. Vein's running out of his neck, right? And he's just like, you can tell he's frustrated. And he's like, well, I don't know what ISR means, but I got some, I got some drones. You want some drones? He goes, I got some with missiles on them. You want that? And the guy's like, yes, I would very much like this. Like, he's like, how many you need? You know, like, I'll get you some, son. How many you need? And he's like,

• 1:12:47Speaker 04

  for the third time, like 26 of them, because I did put them here, here and here. And he's like, can we do that? And some guy's like, uh, yes, congressman, we can do that. He's like, all right, I'm gonna get them for you, right? Well, then he makes this joke. It got real serious real quick because he made a joke and he's like, here, we're in this part of Africa. We're partnered with the French, this and that. And he goes, ah, the French, huh? He goes, oh, they're too busy being cowards and running away. I bet they suck. And starts ragging on the French. And this dude like stopped what he was doing, turned around and like slammed his fist on the table. And goes, the French are the greatest partner we could ever ask for. They're out actually targets and killing bad guys. We're waiting for bureaucratic approval. And you just saw this congressman.

• 1:13:28Jack Murphy?

  Damn.

• 1:13:29Speaker 04

  Melts into his seat. He's a big old fat boy too. And he just melted like he couldn't get small enough. He's like, okay, thank you, you know? But like, we walked out of there and this dude like grabs me by the arm, you know? He's a big dude. He like grabs me. I'm like, oh shit, did I do something wrong? And he's like, listen up. That man makes decisions that affect people's lives. And I was like, I don't know if I'm supposed to say anything. I'm just like. And he just goes huh, just walks out. I was like, okay, like. Sounds good, man. So, but yeah, it was. It was very interesting seeing that. And then all the behind the stuff too, then going to the embassy and having to interact with them between Department of State. You know, the Paul Mill officers, the people running USAID.

• 1:14:12Speaker 04

  Like that was a big issue back then. You know what I mean? Like, and obviously that's popped up in the news. Um, we had a lot of issues with USAID and what was going on. It was obvious they were just shoveling money straight towards. You know, all these terrorist groups in Syria. They were just giving them free money and supplies and everything else. It was crazy. So, it was, it was very interesting. Um, I, I, the term politics probably weren't for me. You know what I mean?

• 1:14:36Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, man. The, the massive disconnect between the people who are making these decisions and what's going on on the ground.

• 1:14:45Speaker 04

  Yeah, they, they live in a different world. Like they don't, they literally live in the high tower, looking down on everybody else. You know, like. I mean, you could have stories for days on this stuff, but it's like, that guy's not the right, that's not good. And they're like, well, you need to understand how they feel. Like. Just like rape, like killed everybody in this village and raped everybody and enslaved a bunch of others. Like what? You know what I mean? Like, throwing gates off a roof. Like, and I said, that's not good. You're telling me I need to think about how this person feels? Like, no dude, no I don't. You know what I mean? Like, I think that's pretty cut and dry. So it's just, it was fucking crazy. So I. Get to see behind the curtain a little bit.

• 1:15:28Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, yeah. The fat man behind the curtain.

• 1:15:32Jack Murphy?

  Um, and how do you like, what year was that when you kind of like left Turkey and kind of like, what, what kind of state did you feel like it was in as you were leaving out of there?

• 1:15:43Speaker 04

  Uh, I think that was twenty,

• 1:15:49Speaker 04

  fif- twenty fourteen. It was, it was either twenty thirteen into fourteen or fourteen into fifteen.

• 1:15:54Jack Murphy?

  That, that makes sense.

• 1:15:55Speaker 04

  Cause I saw Christmas over there. Um, I think it was thirteen. Oh, man, I don't know. I'm sorry. Uh, it was one of those years. It was Christmas. Cause I remember I was, I, I flew home for like three days for Christmas and flew right back. Right? I almost got arrested coming home too, which was crazy, but, um, it was what it is. I had a bullet in my bag. Got it all the way from America through Germany and into Turkey. And somehow there was a green tip five, five, six in my backpack. Don't know I, where it came from. Cause we weren't shooting guns over there. It was an officer job. And like, I came back through and they were like, ready to arrest me for this round. I was like, oh God, crap, you know, so whatever. But man, it was, uh, different. So very different deployment.

• 1:16:37Speaker 04

  But after that is when I went to A one five. I went to Sephardic, uh, did all that and everything else.

• 1:16:41Jack Murphy?

  Yeah. Yeah. So tell us about that.

• 1:16:44Speaker 04

  Uh, so people aren't familiars. Um, Sephardic is a school. It's considered like a salter school. It's about eight or nine weeks. Um, for you spend the first two weeks on the flat range shooting. We shoot about a hundred and fifty thousand rounds between fifty guys in ten days. Right? And we'll start with fifty and in my class, we bumped down to about thirty five by the end of that first two weeks. And then after that, you're doing CQB all day, every day, you know, minus Sundays. And if you suck at it, you gotta get one on Saturdays, right? Um, so, I mean, it's twelve, fourteen, sometimes sixteen hour days, just doing assaulter stuff, clearing buildings, vehicle interdictions, repelling outside of buildings, a- a- air inserts, you know, um,

• 1:17:27Speaker 04

  Halfs, all that crap. I mean, you're just nonstop CQB from hostage rescue to just regular going after a target, whatever it may be. You're working on breaching, you know, you're doing, uh, breaching charges, mechanical breaching, you're using quickie saws, you're doing broco torches. We're going elsewhere to like old rundown prisons, um, and stuff like that. So. It's a very, very intensive school. I'd say it's probably the best school in the entire military, but I don't think you can top it. It's everything the commercials make the military out to be. Uh, it's that, you know what I mean? And it's awesome. Um, so to be in the CIF, you have to go to that school and you have to pass. So I went over to the CIF without the school. They let me come over and they said, hey man, we'll get you the course when you get here.

• 1:18:08Speaker 04

  So I went the first time and I actually broke my neck. So, yeah, so, uh, we're doing combatives and the dude like neck control. This guy who's an idiot, I'll never forget him, this dumbass, he just grabbed my neck. Instead of doing what we all had done, he just dropped to his knees and cranked my neck down. Well, when he did, he cracked or, uh, broke two of the vertebrae and then herniated three of the discs over. So it's pushing on my spinal cord. Um, so when it came time, and that was in the first couple of weeks. So when I got to the shooting, the stress test on the flat range portion on week two, I, when I bring the rifle up, I couldn't see my sights. Cause my head wouldn't move from like right here. So I think they were always joking like, hey, Batman, you know, cause it was like, what?

• 1:18:54Speaker 04

  You know, you gotta turn like this. I couldn't do anything. Um, so I went home, uh, rehabbed it as best I could. And then I went back a second time and I passed. But after I went back the second time, I was like, man, I'm having some problems. I went back to the doctor and they were like, holy crap, it'd been a year. And they were like, your neck's broken. It's been broken the whole time. Why did you go to Sephardic a second time? I was like, uh, cause I wanted to go to the school and pass. You know what I mean? And like, I remember I was at jujitsu that morning rolling and they were like, get in here right now. And, uh, so the original MRI clearly showed it was there, but one of the, it was a PA. He had asked me, he goes, well, who told you your neck was fine? And I was like, oh, that guy right there. Yeah, that moron.

• 1:19:36Speaker 04

  And he was like, oh shit. So I had to get like emergency surgery, um, cause they were afraid my arm was gonna atrophy. Cause I had really bad, like my left arm wasn't working right. You know, I couldn't really grab things very well. So I went up to Walter Reed and, uh, Have my neck fused and then uh actually I was high as hell and I started bare solutions in the uh thing so. But yeah, man, it was uh it was good. I did a deployment before that and then we figured all that out. So after the fact, but. I went the second time I passed and then I did a deployment and then that's when we figured out what happened. So.

• 1:20:09Jack Murphy?

  Wow. Where um where did you go with uh with the CIF?

• 1:20:14Speaker 04

  Baghdad.

• 1:20:14Jack Murphy?

  Okay, cool. And I mean, again, uh didn't they used to call A15 like Baghdad SWAT?

• 1:20:21Speaker 04

  Yeah. Yeah, dude. Like back in the day, Task Force Raptor. You remember those days?

• 1:20:26Jack Murphy?

  Yeah.

• 1:20:26Speaker 04

  When we were in group, like those guys, they were going out every night hitting two, three, four buildings. You know that there's a video on YouTube with like the Team America song. That's pretty much. I do the mini guns and everything. Um, that's them. But when I was there, it was, you know, we were just mostly doing training stuff. Iraq had died down. Uh, we tried to get out the door a little bit, you know, um, not a whole lot happened. Uh, did a lot of training and just kind of hung out and doing standby for the crisis response force. Okay, so anything happened, we gotta be wheels up in three hours, ready to go to an embassy to evacuate it or whatever. Our guys did go to the US Embassy in Baghdad and help and reinforce them when there were the riots and everything going on around it. Um, but really not a whole lot that trip. Um, it was just really good being with the dudes.

• 1:21:11Speaker 04

  And uh seeing how that works and then just getting really good at what you do. Like. You know this man in fifth group, like we're not like other people. If you got downtime, you better be in the gym or be training. You know what I mean? Like you better be improving yourself somehow. And. I'd always heard things about A15 like, oh, they think they're cooler, this or that. Like, not really, man. They just, when you have more people. To do like to schedule the ranges and do everything, you get to set yourself up for success a lot better.

• 1:21:39Jack Murphy?

  Right.

• 1:21:39Speaker 04

  And you give yourself more opportunities. And I was really impressed with the guys there. They worked really hard and trained all the time.

• 1:21:46Jack Murphy?

  Their their mission is like, I don't mean to shortchange it at all, but like it is a little bit more focused than an ODA that's like all over the place.

• 1:21:54Speaker 04

  Yeah, it's very narrow, right? You, you have the ability to specialize and I think that's super cool. Like you specialize in CQB, you know what I mean? Personnel recovery is part of that. Um, you know, evacuating embassies, but you are assaulters and heavy hitters and hard and fast. You know what I mean? And you're doing hostage rescue and everything else. On a regular ODA, you've got to understand your networks, right? You gotta do that. You gotta develop all your own intel. And we do that in SIF too, but not to the same, you know? And then you've got to be able to do, you know, maybe one season, two season missions and split up. You gotta do the normal FID thing. You gotta do all this different stuff. Whereas, you know, if there's like five pillars to the missions you have, when you're in A15, you're only doing like one or two of them, you know, compared to all five or six or eight

• 1:22:38Speaker 04

  or however many there are. You know what I mean? So.

• 1:22:40Jack Murphy?

  Yeah. And, and after that was when they realized how jacked up your neck was. And did you have to be medically retired because of that?

• 1:22:48Speaker 04

  I did. Um, they gave me the opportunity. So at that point, I had had quite a few injuries. Uh, I've had shoulder reconstruction. I had both my knees done. I've had left ankle reconstruction. I have a broken neck, uh, that they fused and also my L4 and L5 is broken, uh, which I'm not letting them fuse my lower back. Like the doctor who fused my neck was like, don't do your back. Whatever you do, don't let them touch your shit. I was like, okay, cool. Um, I've had a lot of TBIs too, uh, head injuries from combatives. I used to do a lot of combatives, um, a lot of fighting, you know, here and there and rolling, um, eating some charges, you know what I mean? Just stuff like that.

• 1:23:25Jack Murphy?

  It adds up.

• 1:23:27Speaker 04

  It, it does, man. And it, it kinda came time for me. I remember talking to, uh, my battalion sergeant major, Sergeant Major Lyles, phenomenal guy. He came down and goes, hey, man, whatever you're just, he go, I want, you know, talk to the doctors. He goes, I will do whatever. I'll put you wherever you want. I will go out of your way to do everything. But it sounds like your time being a soldier is probably done, you know? And I was like, I think you might be right. I think it's time to do something different. Um, so my option was I could stay on a program called COED, called continuing on active duty, but I would be non-deployable. And if I stayed in, then I would, you know, go be a SOFAO constructor or a SOFADE constructor.

• 1:24:09Speaker 04

  But then I might have to go work in SOCOM in Tampa, right? Or some of those things. Which is cool, but I actually wanted to go to the Army Marksmanship Unit is really where I wanted to go. And if I can just finish my time at the AMU, because I love shooting, like, that would be awesome. But they did not, they wouldn't allow me to come over because I was an E7. They like to come over younger. Um, so at the time, whoever was running it said no. And I just decided, hey, man, if I'm gonna stay in the military, like, I'm not staying in the military if I can't deploy. You know, so I wanted to get out. That's the whole reason I'm in the military. So we decided to get out. And that conversation, I kind of jumped around a little bit. That conversation happened before I got surgery.

• 1:24:50Speaker 04

  Um, and then also kind of, you know, whenever. So when I started Bear Solutions, it was the morning after. I was had my surgery in Walter Reed Hospital. I was laid in the bed and I was making a website on Squarespace and like, oh, and I'm like applying for an FEIN, you know, and I'm like, what is this?

• 1:25:07Jack Murphy?

  And that's because you're already having to like kind of come to terms like, I'm not going to be a soldier anymore. What am I gonna do?

• 1:25:13Speaker 04

  Yeah, I, I don't like knowing, I don't like not knowing what I'm doing, right? I figured, I think that's something the military teaches you well. If you just wait, you know, like, the army will tell you what you're doing and you're probably not going to like it. But if you're proactive about it, you can kind of control where you go and what you do. Um, so I've always wanted to, you know, I always thought it was cool to have a training company, everything else. And I had some good buddies that I knew in the industry and they were like, hey, man, you should do this. You should, you should absolutely start a company and get out and train. I think you'd do okay. You'd do well. I was like, all right. So, uh, I remember I was sitting in the bed, you know, just high as hell, dude, just misspelling everything. Danny came in, he was like my escort and he's like, what are you doing? Cause he hadn't even seen me. I think he saw me like when I came out of surgery.

• 1:25:58Speaker 04

  And then he was like, okay, he went and got breakfast and came back. And he's coming in ready to make fun of me. And he's like, what are you doing? I'm like, oh, I'm starting a company. He's like, no, no, you're not, you know? Like, what are you talking about? So, but yeah, that's Bear Solutions and that's what I do now.

• 1:26:14Jack Murphy?

  Fentanyl kicking that ass.

• 1:26:16Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah, dude.

• 1:26:20Jack Murphy?

  Uh, and so tell us about Bear Solutions, what, what that company is, what it's sort of evolved into, what you're doing with it today.

• 1:26:28Speaker 04

  Yeah, man. So bear has been great. I've been very fortunate, very blessed. I've had a lot of people in the industry. You say, hey, man, you're doing good stuff. Let me help promote you, right? Let me do this. We've grown very well. So one of the things that, the number one thing we do is we do training. We do firearms training. We teach you how to shoot, right? We teach you how to shoot fast and accurate, right? It's got to be a balance. Okay, like accuracy, accuracy without speed is kind of worthless. You know what I mean? So we got to be fast while we do it. And then, so we teach pistol one, pistol two, rifle one, rifle two. But we also do a lot of courses for law enforcement. We do CQB courses. We've done hostage rescue courses for people. We've done a lot of CQB courses where I keep it just two man CQB,

• 1:27:12Speaker 04

  especially for those patrol officers. You know what I mean? Getting in and going and knocking it out and doing what they got to do. We do consulting. Man, we've done a lot of people. We trained some really cool people, got to know some awesome people. But number one, what we do is training. After that, we also make products. We just came out with our first belt, which is a, you know, tactical style belt called the Wojtek belt. It's spelled Wojtek, but it's pronounced Wojtek. It's a Polish word. Have you ever heard of Wojtek the bear, Jack?

• 1:27:42Jack Murphy?

  No. Oh, wait, yes, he's the one that carried the artillery shells. Yeah, yeah, yes.

• 1:27:48Speaker 04

  Yeah, did drank beer, killed Nazis. Like, dude, how do you not love that bear?

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• 1:29:49Speaker 04

  You know, and so we named it after that. So, but yeah, that's our first product. We have some building off of that. We have some others coming out, too. We do the YouTube thing and everything else, which brings us to Bear Senna. So Bear Senna is our video production. My business partner with that is Thomas Chee. Phenomenal guy, man. Just, he's been to film school. He does camera work for, he's been on Netflix. He's worked on Netflix projects. He's done music videos. He's done all kinds of stuff, man. He is an incredibly talented guy. So, everything that we do with our YouTube goes under Bear Senna. And then our other video production, like, we did a short film, right? So, Tom

• 1:30:31Speaker 04

  has, in Nashville, there's a company called Action Design Services. They are a stunt team and stunt coordinators and fight choreographers in Nashville. And they've done some great work. Phenomenal people. One of them is working on, she's incredible. She's like this tiny little former gymnast. She's working on some Netflix shows. She's like, she's insane, dude. She's such a badass, right? They have so, Jaren's great. They have so many cool people in this stunt team. So, we wrote a script and we made a short film, highlighting a lot of the stuff they can do, along with like our weapon stuff and everything else and tactics and things like that. So, we're almost done with that. We're just getting the special effects done and then we're gonna submit it to film festivals. So, yeah.

• 1:31:12Jack Murphy?

  So, it's like an actual, like, short film with a plot, but it's sort of showing the tactics that you guys teach?

• 1:31:19Speaker 04

  Yes, it's uh, it's about eighteen minutes long.

• 1:31:21Jack Murphy?

  Cool.

• 1:31:21Speaker 04

  So it does have a plot, right? And uh, it, we filmed it over about a week at a private school in uh, around the Nashville area. And then also some other locations, right? We actually went into like a, it's a studio and it's got these giant screens behind it. So we could like dolly in the truck for the driving scenes and then mount the camera on the hood. And then we filmed where it called Plates. And it's just the video you get and then they put it up on this big screen behind the vehicle. So it looks like he's driving, but we can control all the environmental factors. So that was super cool. Um, we use that, we did, I mean, tons of stuff, dude. We uh, make up artists, you know, for the blood and the gunshot wounds, um, blanks and gun. I mean, dude, it was sick.

• 1:32:06Speaker 04

  So it was super, it was a very big learning experience, I'll tell you that much.

• 1:32:09Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, well, I mean, I was gonna say, man, look at all this new stuff that you're learning. Not exactly uh, just a big dumb eighteen Bravo here, um, putting some things together.

• 1:32:19Speaker 04

  Trying to, yeah.

• 1:32:20Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:32:20Speaker 04

  I have a lot of really awesome people around me, um, which is great. They've taught me a ton of stuff, you know, Tom, I feel, sometimes I don't know what Tom works with me. Cause sometimes he'll be like, ugh, you know, he's just like, oh, you idiot, you know, like, think about this, you know? And he's like, explain to my, oh, okay, I get it. So it's been really neat, man. And that's worked into some writing, you know, uh, doing some stuff and everything else. But so, yeah, so we do that with Bear Solutions and Bear Center. Then I have another company called Agonic. And with that, we make concealed concealed carry belts. Um, so we make a flexible kinda, you know, one size fits most concealed carry belt, but it doesn't look super tactical. And then it helps to hide your clips. So that's called Agonic and we have that over there.

• 1:33:01Jack Murphy?

  Super cool. Um, so we'll have some links down in the description for the viewers or listeners. You can go and check out Bear Solutions and some of these products that Drew's talking about. Um, is there anything else you wanna talk about, about, I don't know, service, military service or post-service? What um, what you're doing today, anything that I didn't mention?

• 1:33:19Speaker 04

  Yeah, so it's, I think the thing is it. You never know where life's gonna take you, man. Like, I mean, look where you're at, dude. You're sitting in a big leather chair. You know what I mean? You probably didn't think you'd be sitting in that sucker, you know, in your fifth group. You know what I mean? Running a podcast. And all the incredible, like, stories you've done. You're a journalist, man. Like, you've done incredible things, right? They're probably not what you were thinking about when you were in the military.

• 1:33:43Jack Murphy?

  No.

• 1:33:43Speaker 04

  But for me, if you were like, hey, man, someday you're gonna be on a movie set. You know, like, I was just up in Utah and I'm working on this movie right now, and I got to be in the movie, which was super cool. It was also terrifying, because, like, there's real actors. And they're like, oh, you're so-and-so's buddy, aren't you? I'm like, oh, God, I know what that means. You know, I expected so. I was, like, rehearsing and practicing. And I was with this guy, Jeff, and Jeff is, uh, he does a lot of the casting for Clint Eastwood's movies. And, uh, he, his name's phenomenal guy, right? And so we do these video calls where he's, like, coaching me. I'm like, okay. And he's like, oh, that's not bad. I'm like, just say it sucked, Jeff. Just tell me it sucks, you know?

• 1:34:23Speaker 04

  And so, but, you know, it went well, you know? They told me I did a good job. I was like, oh, thank God, you know? So I'm actually in it doing that. I'm not trying to be a big action person, you know, movie star by any means, but it was a neat experience.

• 1:34:36Jack Murphy?

  I, uh, I recently.

• 1:34:37Speaker 04

  Get the insult there, too.

• 1:34:38Jack Murphy?

  I, I, I tech advised on a, uh, film over the summer. And just because they needed a, a body essentially to do it, um, I ended up having, like, a very small role, microscopic role. But I have one line where I tell someone to shut the fuck up or I'll blow their head off. This is a Vietnam War, you know, documentary film. Um, so there's not a lot of acting, like, to be like the disgruntled army guy chewing out a subordinate. Like, there isn't a whole lot of acting that I felt like, uh, you know, I wasn't outside my comfort zone, uh, with that.

• 1:35:11Speaker 04

  It was kind of the same in this thing. It was, uh, they were like, hey, you're gonna play Kenny, the gun store guy. And I was like, okay, I can do that. Yeah, all right, fair enough. Yeah, you typecast me for that, you know? So, uh, but I got to call somebody a stupid, you know, uh... Stupid moron or something dumb motherfucker or something like that. I was like, oh, cool. I can pull this off.

• 1:35:31Jack Murphy?

  You get to have your, your mug of coffee and be like, well, actually, if you knew anything about forty-five ACP, you'd know.

• 1:35:38Speaker 04

  Yeah, pretty much.

• 1:35:40Jack Murphy?

  Yeah.

• 1:35:41Speaker 04

  You have a red shirt. Just be like, slow down and get your hits, you know, like, but, oh, man. Yeah, it was fun, dude.

• 1:35:48Jack Murphy?

  That's cool.

• 1:35:49Speaker 04

  It's really cool.

• 1:35:50Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:35:50Speaker 04

  The funny thing about these, I'm sure you saw it too, like, I was just kind of blown away, like, being on set, like, all the moving pieces. It's like a large military operation.

• 1:35:57Jack Murphy?

  Exactly, yeah.

• 1:35:59Speaker 04

  It was, like, everybody has their roles in doing this. I'm like, oh, that's S four. That's S three, you know, like, that's S two, you know, there's this, you know, like, it's, they all have their pieces and they're all working together. And you have these guys in the top, they're just making sure everything's doing what they need to do. And it, it's very interesting. I was like, this is just like a military.

• 1:36:19Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it, and it required the other commonalities, like, it requires everyone doing their job, like, everything has to line up to get that shot.

• 1:36:29Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 1:36:30Jack Murphy?

  Right?

• 1:36:30Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 1:36:31Jack Murphy?

  It's a lot, and it's a lot of people and a lot of technology working together to get that, like, one moment. And I, I found that, yeah, it's very similar to what you experience in the military.

• 1:36:40Speaker 04

  It is. It's kind of like that, but just add an HR element and then you have a movie. You know what I mean? Like, like, you can't, what do you mean, I can't call that person retarded? And they're like, you can't talk like that. That's mean. And you're like, oh, okay. Oh.

• 1:36:54Jack Murphy?

  Yeah, yeah, the, the, the unions are, are a different thing. We don't have that in the military either. Um, I think we have a, a question for you, Drew.

• 1:37:03Speaker 04

  Sure.

• 1:37:05Jack Murphy?

  From our Patreon folks.

• 1:37:07Speaker 05

  Yep, this is Dan Bash. Ask him who his second favorite Border Patrol firearms instructor is from the Casa Grande Station.

• 1:37:14Jack Murphy?

  That's a very specific question.

• 1:37:16Speaker 05

  Very.

• 1:37:17Speaker 04

  Dan, it's, uh, it's either, it's probably Derling, because I know who my number one is. So, dude, Derling's my boy, dude. He's, uh, hey, dude, those guys down there at Casa Grande, Dan, Derling, all those guys, phenomenal dudes. I've gotten to know a lot of, uh, Border Patrol guys. I really, really, really enjoy the Border Patrol guys. Like, they are hilarious. So, they're really good dudes. Very professional. They do a really good job. So.

• 1:37:47Jack Murphy?

  Uh, Drew, anything else before we get going? Anything that I failed to ask you?

• 1:37:55Speaker 04

  I don't think so. I kinda just started going with it, so I hope I gave you what you were looking for. So, um, nah, man. Um, other than that, dude, uh, yeah, I'm just kind of a husband and a dad first and I try and do all this other stuff. I got a daughter and, uh, one thing you may not know, if anybody's listening, if you ever go to dance competitions, you might see me there. Okay. Cause I, my daughter's in dance and I'm a dance dad. So I will say hi if you're ever there. So which is awkward as shit for a guy like me, but I love it. So.

• 1:38:29Jack Murphy?

  That's awesome, man. Um, well, Drew, thank you for, for doing this, man. Taking some time out of your day. Really appreciate it. And, uh, thank you everyone who joined us tonight for the show and, uh, we'll see all of you next time. And make sure you check out Bear Solutions. Again, there'll be links down the description for you guys.

• 1:38:46Speaker 04

  Awesome. Thank you very much, Jack. Thanks, guys.

• 1:38:50Jack Murphy?

  Hey guys, I want to tell all of you today about a new newsletter that we're launching that encompasses both the Team House Podcast, the Eyes On Podcast and the High Side News Outlet, which I run with Sean Naylor. Uh, the newsletter is going to be once a week. It's going to come into your inbox and you're going to get the most current podcasts on Eyes On and the Team House and whatever's topical or current on the high side. So it's another way for us to get the information out to you as social media algorithms are pretty iffy and you never really know what you're going to get. Um, so this is a once a week email. It'll slide into your inbox and it will have, you know, the greatest hits of that week. It's really good, man. Checking it out.

• 1:39:34Jack Murphy?

  The website for it is teamhospodcast.kit.com/join. Teamhospodcast.kit.com/join. Uh, go there and you enter into your email list or you enter your email into, uh, the little thing on the website and you're good to go. And that'll be it. Um, so we really appreciate your support and hope.

• 1:39:56Speaker 06

  Hi, I'm Jenna Ushkowitz. You might know me from Glee. This is At the Table, the food allergy podcast, a show about food, connection, and what it really looks like to live with food allergies. Each episode, we hear stories from real people like Daniel.

• 1:40:11Speaker 07

  People would always think I was lactose intolerant, so I just kind of shortened my explanation to I'm deathly allergic, in a big way that defined a lot of my childhood.

• 1:40:22Speaker 06

  And while there are challenges, there are moments that remind you you're not alone.

• 1:40:27Speaker 08

  One of the best guys that I dated, he made a point to memorize all my food allergies.

• 1:40:33Speaker 06

  So join us and hear their stories and more, because living with food allergies isn't just about what you can't eat. It's about still having your seat at the table. Brought to you by Genentech and Novartis. Listen to At the Table, the food allergy podcast, on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow At the Table and start listening on the free iHeart radio app today.

• 1:40:53Speaker 00

  ChatGPT for Teens is designed to help teens learn, think critically, and grow their skills. ChatGPT for Teens supports active learning by breaking concepts down. Rather than giving teens the answer, study mode helps teens work through problems, and interactive quizzes test their knowledge and provide immediate feedback. Safety protections are on by default, and parental controls offer families additional options, like setting study hours and quiet hours. Visit chatgpt.com/parents to learn more.

• 1:41:20Speaker 01

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• 1:41:49Jack Murphy?

  You'll consider signing up.

• 1:41:52Speaker 04

  The link will also be down in the description if you're looking for it there. And that's teamhousepodcast.kit, K-I-T, Kilo India, ten.

• 1:42:02Speaker 06

  Hi, I'm Jenna Oshkowitz. You might know me from Glee. This is At the Table, the food allergy podcast, a show about food, connection, and what it really looks like to live with food allergies. Each episode, we hear stories from real people like Daniel.

• 1:42:16Speaker 07

  People would always think I was lactose intolerant, so I just kind of shortened my explanation to I'm deathly allergic. In a big way that defined a lot of my childhood.

• 1:42:27Speaker 06

  And while there are challenges, there are moments that remind you you're not alone.

• 1:42:32Speaker 08

  One of the best guys that I dated, he made a point to memorize all my food allergies.

• 1:42:38Speaker 06

  So join us and hear their stories and more, because living with food allergies isn't just about what you can't eat. It's about still having your seat at the table. Brought to you by Genentech and Novartis. Listen to At the Table, the food allergy podcast on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow At the Table and start listening on the free iHeart radio app today.

• 1:42:58Speaker 00

  ChatGPT for Teens is designed to help teens learn, think critically, and grow their skills. ChatGPT for Teens supports active learning by breaking concepts down. Rather than giving teens the answer, study mode helps teens work through problems, and interactive quizzes test their knowledge and provide immediate feedback. Safety protections are on by default, and parental controls offer families additional options, like setting study hours and quiet hours. Visit chatgpt.com/parents to learn more.

• 1:43:26Speaker 02

  OnDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OnDeck's loans up to $400,000 make it happen fast. Rated A plus by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of five-star TrustPilot reviews, OnDeck delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at ondeck.com. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 1:43:53Speaker 04

  Go.com backslash join.

• 1:44:03Speaker 06

  Hi, I'm Jenna Oshkowitz. You might know me from Glee. This is At the Table, the food allergy podcast, a show about food, connection, and what it really looks like to live with food allergies. Each episode, we hear stories from real people like Daniel.

• 1:44:18Speaker 07

  People would always think I was lactose intolerant, so I just kind of shortened my explanation to I'm deathly allergic, in a big way that defined a lot of my childhood.

• 1:44:29Speaker 06

  And while there are challenges, there are moments that remind you you're not alone.

• 1:44:34Speaker 08

  One of the best guys that I dated, he made a point to memorize all my food allergies.

• 1:44:40Speaker 06

  So join us and hear their stories and more, because living with food allergies isn't just about what you can't eat. It's about still having your seat at the table. Brought to you by Genentech and Novartis. Listen to At the Table, the food allergy podcast on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow At the Table and start listening on the free iHeart Radio app today.

• 1:45:00Speaker 00

  ChatGPT for Teens is designed to help teens learn, think critically, and grow their skills. ChatGPT for Teens supports active learning by breaking concepts down. Rather than giving teens the answer, study mode helps teens work through problems and interactive quizzes test their knowledge and provide immediate feedback. Safety protections are on by default and parental controls offer families additional options, like setting study hours and quiet hours. Visit chatgpt.com/parents to learn more.

• 1:45:27Speaker 09

  Cash flow crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds, up to $200,000, right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 1:46:06Speaker 06

  Hi, I'm Jenna Oshkowitz. You might know me from Glee. This is At the Table, the food allergy podcast, a show about food, connection, and what it really looks like to live with food allergies. Each episode, we hear stories from real people like Daniel.

• 1:46:21Speaker 07

  People would always think I was lactose intolerant, so I just kind of shortened my explanation to I'm deathly allergic. In a big way that defined a lot of my childhood.

• 1:46:32Speaker 06

  And while there are challenges, there are moments that remind you you're not alone.

• 1:46:37Speaker 08

  One of the best guys that I dated, he made a point to memorize all my food allergies.

• 1:46:43Speaker 06

  So join us and hear their stories and more. Because living with food allergies isn't just about what you can't eat. It's about still having your seat at the table. Brought to you by Genentech and Novartis. Listen to At the Table, the food allergy podcast on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow At the Table and start listening on the free iHeart Radio app today.

• 1:47:03Speaker 00

  ChatGPT for Teens is designed to help teens learn, think critically, and grow their skills. ChatGPT for Teens supports active learning by breaking concepts down rather than giving teens the answer. Study mode helps teens work through problems, and interactive quizzes test their knowledge and provide immediate feedback. Safety protections are on by default, and parental controls offer families additional options like setting study hours and quiet hours. Visit chatgpt.com/parents to learn more.

• 1:47:31Speaker 01

  OnDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OnDeck's loans up to $400,000 help make it happen fast. Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of five-star TrustPilot reviews, OnDeck delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at ondeck.com. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 1:48:09Speaker 06

  Hi, I'm Jenna Oshkowitz. You might know me from Glee. This is At the Table, the food allergy podcast, a show about food, connection, and what it really looks like to live with food allergies. Each episode, we hear stories from real people like Daniel.

• 1:48:24Speaker 07

  People would always think I was lactose intolerant, so I just kind of shortened my explanation to I'm deathly allergic, in a big way that defined a lot of my childhood.

• 1:48:35Speaker 06

  And while there are challenges, there are moments that remind you you're not alone.

• 1:48:40Speaker 08

  One of the best guys that I dated, he made a point to memorize all my food allergies.

• 1:48:46Speaker 06

  So join us and hear their stories and more, because living with food allergies isn't just about what you can't eat. It's about still having your seat at the table. Brought to you by Genentech and Novartis. Listen to At the Table, the food allergy podcast, on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow At the Table and start listening on the free iHeart Radio app today.

• 1:49:06Speaker 00

  ChatGPT for Teens is designed to help teens learn, think critically, and grow their skills. ChatGPT for Teens supports active learning by breaking concepts down. Rather than giving teens the answer, study mode helps teens work through problems and interactive quizzes test their knowledge and provide immediate feedback. Safety protections are on by default and parental controls offer families additional options, like setting study hours and quiet hours. Visit chatgpt.com/parents to learn more.

• 1:49:33Speaker 01

  Cash flow crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds, up to $200,000, right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 1:50:14Speaker 06

  Hi, I'm Jenna Oshkowitz. You might know me from Glee. This is At the Table, the food allergy podcast, a show about food, connection, and what it really looks like to live with food allergies. Each episode, we hear stories from real people like Daniel.

• 1:50:29Speaker 07

  People would always think I was lactose intolerant, so I just kind of shortened my explanation to "I'm deathly allergic", in a big way that defined a lot of my childhood.

• 1:50:40Speaker 06

  And while there are challenges, there are moments that remind you you're not alone.

• 1:50:45Speaker 08

  One of the best guys that I dated, he made a point to memorize all my food allergies.

• 1:50:51Speaker 06

  So join us and hear their stories and more, because living with food allergies isn't just about what you can't eat, it's about still having your seat at the table. Brought to you by Genentech and Novartis. Listen to At the Table, the food allergy podcast, on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow At the Table and start listening on the free iHeart radio app today.

• 1:51:11Speaker 00

  ChatGPT for Teens is designed to help teens learn, think critically, and grow their skills. ChatGPT for Teens supports active learning by breaking concepts down. Rather than giving teens the answer, study mode helps teens work through problems, and interactive quizzes test their knowledge and provide immediate feedback. Safety protections are on by default, and parental controls offer families additional options, like setting study hours and quiet hours. Visit chatgpt.com/parents to learn more.

• 1:51:38Speaker 01

  Cash flow crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds, up to $200,000, right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 1:52:19Speaker 06

  Hi, I'm Jenna Oshkowitz. You might know me from Glee. This is At the Table, the food allergy podcast, a show about food, connection, and what it really looks like to live with food allergies. Each episode, we hear stories from real people like Daniel.

• 1:52:33Speaker 07

  People would always think I was lactose intolerant, so I just kind of shortened my explanation to I'm deathly allergic in a big way that defined a lot of my childhood.

• 1:52:44Speaker 06

  And while there are challenges, there are moments that remind you you're not alone.

• 1:52:49Speaker 08

  One of the best guys that I dated, he made a point to memorize all my food allergies.

• 1:52:55Speaker 06

  So join us and hear their stories and more. Because living with food allergies isn't just about what you can't eat. It's about still having your seat at the table. Brought to you by Genentech and Novartis. Listen to At the Table, the food allergy podcast on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow At the Table and start listening on the free iHeart Radio app today.

• 1:53:15Speaker 00

  ChatGPT for teens is designed to help teens learn, think critically, and grow their skills. ChatGPT for teens supports active learning by breaking concepts down. Rather than giving teens the answer, study mode helps teens work through problems and interactive quizzes test their knowledge and provide immediate feedback. Safety protections are on by default and parental controls offer families additional options like setting study hours and quiet hours. Visit chatgpt.com/parents to learn more.

• 1:53:43Speaker 02

  OnDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OnDeck's loans up to $400,000 make it happen fast. Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of five-star TrustPilot reviews, OnDeck delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at ondeck.com. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 1:54:11Speaker 10

  She's been thinking about this sleepover all week, but I think about her food allergies all the time. Fortunately, her doctor prescribed Zolair, omalizumab. It's proven to significantly reduce allergic reactions if a food allergy accident happens.

• 1:54:24Speaker 11

  Zolair 150mg is a prescription medication used to treat food allergy in people one year of age and older to reduce allergic reactions due to accidental exposure to one or more foods. While taking Zolair, you should continue to avoid all foods to which you are allergic. Don't use if you are allergic to Zolair. Zolair may cause a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Tell your doctor if you ever had anaphylaxis. Get help right away if you have trouble breathing or if you have swelling of your throat or tongue. Zolair should not be used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. Zolair is for maintenance use to reduce allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, while avoiding food allergens. Serious side effects such as cancer, fever, muscle aches and rash, parasitic infection, or heart and circulation problems have been reported. Please see zolair.com for full prescribing information. Ask an allergist about Zolair. This is an advertisement for Zolair

• 1:55:08Speaker 11

  paid for by Genentech and Novartis.

• 1:55:11Speaker 00

  ChatGPT for Teens is designed to help teens learn, think critically, and grow their skills. ChatGPT for Teens supports active learning by breaking concepts down rather than giving teens the answer. Study mode helps teens work through problems and interactive quizzes test their knowledge and provide immediate feedback. Safety protections are on by default and parental controls offer families additional options like setting study hours and quiet hours. Visit chatgpt.comPARENTS to learn more.

• 1:55:38Speaker 01

  OnDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OnDeck's loans up to $400,000 help make it happen fast. Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of 5-star TrustPilot reviews, OnDeck delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at ondeck.com. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.