Transcript for:
Tyler Vargas Andrews: Marine's Journey and Advocacy

ladies and gentlemen here at sha Ryan Show we are rapidly becoming known as the outlet that brings truth that nobody else will talk about and this episode is no different today I have a 24-year-old Marine who's had his arm blown off his leg blown off more surgeries than any of us can even count all due to incompetent leadership all the way up to the president of the United States it's one of the toughest interviews probably the toughest interview I've ever sat through it's enraging that the president of the United States is this incompetent we're talking about the withdrawal in Afghanistan and I'm going to tell you another thing this story has been suppressed the media won't cover it they tried to suppress his con Congressional hearing and the list goes on we are one of the only Outlets that will actually cover this topic and on top of that two of our previews have been slapped with demonetization in 18 plus which means they're not going to get any views because you know why they don't want how incompetent this Administration is to get out we had to edit this video this entire episode we pulled all the real footage Tyler gave us more real footage that happened that day than anybody has ever seen so what we did once again there's a link below you can go to sha Ryan show.com and see the uncensored version there with all the footage you can handle this is some of the most disgusting stuff I have ever had to cover all because of the incompetence of our president in the leadership in the military it's been a downward spiral for a long time ladies and gents we're going to uncover it right now I took this interview for two reasons one somebody has got to get the truth out on what happened that day two this man needs to build a new life 24 years old one arm one leg he's got a Knife Company started these are his knives I got some of the first ones that he's ever made that Link's also on the website go buy yourself a fix blade knife from this guy they're amazing knives he's trying to make a new living Let's help this guy build a new career cuz nobody else is going to help him do it ladies and gents I've seen a lot of you out there making content off of our episodes and I really appreciate it this one is more important than just about any of them so below there's another link that has hundreds of raw reels for you to take build what you want be creative get them out on every social media Outlet you can make money monetize it do whatever you can all we ask is just tag the Shawn Ryan show or link the show so that other people can watch the full episode please go to Apple and Spotify leave us a review on our audio platforms like comment subscribe to the Sha ran show channel below I love you all thank you this is going to be a hard one to stomach it enrages me just filming this intro but ladies and gentlemen without further Ado please welcome this hero Tyler Vargas Andrews to the Shawn Ryan show Tyler Vargas Andrews welcome to the show man thanks for having me Sean very very happy to be here I can't even believe you're sitting across from me right now it's amazing I I can say the same we had we had a a little conversation at breakfast but I got to give credit my buddy Carter Gattis was we saw your testimony on the news he's like Sean you got to get this guy on the show and I was like look man I'll try but I know this guy's getting blown up by about 50 news agencies and every podcast on the planet right now and I was like but whatever we we'll give it a whirl and we messag I got a message right back I about my pants I was like holy he messaged back so seriously man I want to it's it's a real honor to be sitting here with you and you know I've I've said it on the show many times before Marines are just on another level man um especially infantry Marines like you some of the most horrific stuff I've ever heard in my life come from Marines and even the guys that were marso that have been on the show mhm man all the all the their their their the worst trauma happened before they got to Maro when they were when they were in the Infantry and and um dude just seriously it's an honor and to all the Marines out there I don't think you guys get near the credit you deserve and and I want to give it to you well thank you very much yeah thank you for being here it's seriously it's a real honor it's an honor for me as well you've had a had a lot of Great Men in this chair before me so very happy to be here well you're one of them so thank you I appreciate it but uh if you don't mind I'd like to kick it off with a little introduction about you so Tyler Vargas Andrews you joined the Marines at age 19 you were a pig radio operator first Marines Camp Pendleton California crisis response team in Saudi Arabia prior to Afghanistan you had aspirations to become a marso operator you deferred sniper School two times uh to make that happen you were blown up by a suicide bomber during the Afghan withdrawal he lost your right arm and your left leg 13 service members were killed 11 Marines one Sailor One Army soldier 170 a Gans were killed and 45 US military personnel were wounded like I said you lost your right arm your left leg missing parts of your organs 43 surgeries you're given 54 units of blood and you still have 13 ball bearings and two pieces of shrapnel stuck in your body testified in front of Congress will'll get to all that but um wow short but incredible career man I appreciate it thank you so we have a lot to talk about yeah let's dive in all right well before we dive in as you know everybody gets thank you very much a little something it's awesome I uh I will have to tell you that uh I had a friend of mine from back home send me some some of your gummy bears when I was in the hospital no way yeah and uh I couldn't figure out who it was for the longest time I just found out a couple weeks ago who it was was but yeah she sent me some gummy bears and I have to tell you these are the best gummy bears I've ever had oh man to be honest that's not me blowing smoke up your asset these are the best Gummy Bears um thank you very much that's awesome I appreciate that yeah I look forward to to sharing those I I have a gift for you as well um oh yeah they want to come empty-handed my uh kind of briefly talk to you about my two buddies who wed Warriors we started a knife business so we each wanted to they're big fans of the show as well we wanted to give you something from from us to you if the NRA tied poorly it wasn't me I'll tell you what man these damn Marines and 550 cord you guys just it's incredible yeah my my buddy uh that the national Guardsman I was telling you about he uh he made that uh knife roll too use some uh parachute rigging in Corda so oh damn dude this is just started that that's the first one nice how many you got what is your what's the name of the company Flatline hard Goods Flatline hard Goods we'll link that in the description thank you very much oh yeah that's got an edge to it beautiful work how long have you guys been doing this um man since uh August of last year and it's been very uh very spotty so um kind of kind of all working through getting out of the military and um or not well not all of us but myself getting out of the military and other jobs and stuff so it'll be a lot more time dedicated here soon yeah yeah well there's no doubt you're going to do very well I'm not going to use these I'm going to frame these and they're going to go right on this wall over here so for everybody that comes in to see thank you I really appreciate that of course we'll link this in the description and appreciate it thank you very much hopefully that'll get you guys started business thank you but um well Tyler the way I want to do this interview is you know at first I just wanted to make it about the Afghan withdraw and what you experience there then we kind of dove in a little bit deeper into your background and you know I want to start with your childhood so I know you're raised in folsome California near Sacramento uh raised by a single mother mother your your mom is the top family law attorney in California your biological father is it okay if I go here yeah uh is a child molester you had a very traumatic event at age 12 that changed your life and gave you a new purpose to protect innocent and you consider yourself a very spiritual person so we bring a lot of Hope to the Hopeless in this podcast uh whether that's military veterans children now we're starting to dive into sex exploitation and sex trafficking and um and in all of these Realms people that experience this amount of trauma this they feel hopeless and so let's start with your childhood with your dad or and and I'm unfamiliar with the event so yeah no worries so uh so my mom got pregnant with me um from from my dad uh at 19 had me at 20 and to start uh kind of giving some background on him uh he tried to forced her have an abortion uh really tried to you know get her to get R rid of me uh and uh treated her horribly and left left a picture my mom was like I'm going to raise this kid and uh she did and had me he came back around when I was about six or seven I think seven um kind of trying to get to know me and be involved and uh I might have been five excuse me they they got uh married I think when I was seven um got back together and stuff um he was around for about four or five years um and I mean I mean he was now today knowing what it is um you know domestic violence and domestic abuse I mean screaming throwing Christmas trees across the room Breaking All the ornaments putting holes and dens you remember all those yeah I me how old were you when you started when this when I started recognizing it I mean I was probably maybe nine or so eight or nine um never saw him put hands on my mom she never talked about that or anything um and but I mean he would scream and scream and scream do it do it to me um and uh just I mean uncontrollable temper um and kind of just progressed from there uh you know I was I want to say you know my old s my little brother was born in 2010 my old sister would have been born um 2008 I think or something like that 200 I was nine 2007 2008 or 2007 I think um and uh so she was born first um and about she was about two or three um my older brother had just been born he was a baby uh newborn and you know I'm sitting uh he had come to find now um you know I've got like seven or seven like half siblings out there from him really found out he's kind of one of the things he gets off on is like impregnating women and things like that and uh he's got kids all over the place and um so I knew about a half brother at the time and so he he would bring him around here and there into the family um when we were little we were connected I want I don't know if close is the right word but we were siblings and uh he was he'd get them on weekends or for a week or two at a time um we were sitting in my in my room in our house in Vacaville California and um I like playing on a on like a PlayStation 2 or Playstation One or something and uh that day uh you know kind of conf conf I don't want to share too much of other people's stories but uh you know some things were said um by one of my family members that day um that he was touching them sticking things up them um you know anything you can imagine it was from and it was from the mouth of uh a very young individual and things that a child would have no idea of unless these things happened and he comes in and my mom confronts confronts him and he's a uh just like stark white just like looks like a ghost and she was like this is what they just said what the and along those lines I can't remember the exact conversation but I'll never forget the look on his face he was just like a oh they caught me look and he was like holy sh like it just world came crashing down and uh called the police on top of that he was worked for CPS for child protective services he worked for child protective services worked for child protective services friends with all worked at the police station friends with all the local police and stuff um obviously my mom called the police and uh there were his buddies coming to the door pretty much and separated uh him from the house I think she went down to the police station that day if I remember right um and I hung out the house I hung out the house with a family member um and then from there it just kind of kept spiraling um you know I went went and was questioned um you know uh if he' done anything to me which he hadn't um but then you know the stuff started coming up about me witnessing the domestic abuse and domestic violence and stuff um and I so I was like 12 or 13 at the time when that happened um and from there it was like they kept them separator for quite a few months uh trying to figure this out my mom trying to protect us um you know I mean she and she struggled financially I mean just suddenly being a single mom taking care of three kids in a mortgage and uh she made it work I mean um I don't know how honestly I mean I remember there was times she just struggling hard but but she made it work she filed bankruptcy um at one point and I mean today she has her own business she's kicking ass runs her own Law Firm um multiple offices in different locations things like that but um going into this more you know they started uh I I was I was conflicted obviously because I I was you know old enough to be consciously aware of what was going on but and the situation that was happening with going to court and things like that and uh things started happening he started he tried coming to the house one time when the we had like the metal like kind of graded door closed like the screen door but it was metal had it closed and locked and like the main door was open and my little sister's in the living room my mom and I are in the kitchen I was doing homework or something and he came to the house after there was like a a no contact order or restraining order at the time trying to like coers my little sister into opening the door and stuff to get into the house and she called the police again um pulled him away and just little things like that she started doing we started really seeing who he was then uh even more so started doing things like driving around following following us around I caught him like following me around a few times cuz he where he moved to I mean he was still in the area but following me around I like go to the park with friends or whatever um and they started forcing us because this some of these uh you know him molesting raping it was so far away that when they started taking physical evidence uh and going to court about it there wasn't enough physical evidence to convict him and put him in jail but there was enough evidence and like damning evidence psychologically and through the domestic abuse and domestic violence that the judge was able to you know give full custody to my mom um but forced us to go to supervised visits for a while are you serious yeah forced us to go to supervised visits my my sister included my little brother included myself all like all the kids included and uh I I mean I'm like here I am you know 13 years old whatever um just like oh I love my dad but he's this horrible person what the going on I'm being forced to go to these visits and then I started you know as as I was getting older and understanding like what he did was really understanding like what he did was wrong and horrible my mom was trying to do her best to protect us and um I mean my mom is a hell of a woman she you know was like I'm trying to protect the kids but if you want a relationship with your dad I'm I'm not going to stop you he's your dad and like I love you I want you to do what you want to do pretty much and she's always been like that to this day for all of all my siblings and I and uh but trying to protect us at the same time and so she's having to pay for these supervised visits having to go through this while paying for an attorney to protect us from him at the same time and they're she's fighting you know custody battle and and you know child molestation case and here they are making making us go to visits with him and uh it got to the point where I was just like he started I started catching him in Lies over and over and I was you know 13 I I was intentionally asking him questions that I knew the answer to um you know I knew he had other other uh like other half siblings and stuff started reaching out when this was going on and so I knew about these things my mom knew about these things and I was a nosy kid like looking through my mom's stuff cuz it was a it was a strange time in my life you know going through that traumatic event and uh trying to make sense of everything that was happening and uh so started finding out about these other kids and so I would started confronting him at the visits and stuff and I was like you know is there uh do I have any other siblings any other half siblings or anything and he was like No just like to my face and I was like okay so you're lying to me because I know I do and then came back and then started trying to say oh well yeah you do whatever um and just over a couple weeks or months you know I was I was catching him in Lies over and over and over and that finally made me realize what a monster he was and uh you know everything kind of solidified in my own mind of what kind of person he was um the lack of humanity that he had and uh I told him I was like I don't I'm not going to go to these these visits anymore like I I will not go and they're like you have to it's court ordered visits and I'm pleading with my mom and she's trying to do everything she can to take care of us and she's said I can't they won't let me not let you go pretty much and uh they're forcing us to go and I remember one night I just like broke down in tears in in our house and I was like well would happen if I just hit him in the visit or if I like you know tried to kill him or something cuz it was at that point where I was like I want to kill him for what he's done and uh I mean he deser he he deserves worse than that um and my mom's like you you don't know what he's going to do like he he might hurt you don't do this like just trying to take care of me be a mom um and I was like if they send me in there like I'm going to kill him and like I I I schemed to do that I was like if they make me go in there one more time with him like I'm going to kill him how old are you at this time 14 maybe 13 um yeah 13 or 14 and uh just got to that point where and I I was I was set I was like I'm I'm going to kill them if they put me in there and so then they're forcing me into the visit and I like get into the building and they have like back rooms inside the building that where they have the visitation and that and uh I told the like the the supervisor or for the visit I was like if you make me go back there I'm going to kill him and uh she just like laughed it off thinking I'm just a you know just a little obnoxious kid and I said I hope you put me back there with him cuz I'm going to kill him I'm going to try and kill him if you put me back there and I want you to and then I really was like go ahead please please put me back there and I'll kill him and uh she finally took me serious and she's like what well nope go back out like I remember I sat in the waiting room out there they brought my mom back came back and then from that point on the courts listened and cut visitation for me um didn't have to go anymore and uh they still made my my siblings go they were I mean they were really really little um and continued like that for many years just just recently like maybe maybe like 2 to 3 years ago or something like that uhbe about 3 years ago I think they they stopped visitation finally my mom was they my my siblings are old enough now that they were like I don't want to go like this guy's a monster and my my little brother he's he's 12 about to be 13 now um he's a little but he's he's super intelligent for his age and my old sister's the same way she's about she's 15 about to be 16 and uh I mean they can they can think for themselves well enough to understand and recognize what a horrible human being he is and uh woman beater I don't think so not not to my mom maybe um she she never said anything about that um but he's he's done a lot of things I mean he wrote Anonymous letters um things that my mom tried to keep from me I being the kid that I was started looking through things in the house and whatnot wrote Anonymous letters when the court like trials were going on trying to frame her for what he had done and wrote an all these different um pretty much she got these letters these Anonymous letters and took them to the court or took them to a like a forensic analyst or something and it showed that he had written in like multiple different personalities and but it was like enough to show that it was from him but that he had like different versions of himself like split personality disorder things like that came out in the letter trying to frame her for part as of this absurd Anonymous letter you know trying to frame her for the things that he had done and uh started kind of showing that he was like a real psychopath and uh just kind of from there things went on they uh you know my mom had her had her lawyer and then she also hired a lawyer for my siblings and myself and uh and they were awesome and you know they asked me you know do you want to testify in front of him in at in the court and uh I said yes did you know that one in five Americans have learned a new language on their bucket list it's true if that's you check it off your bucket list this year because with Babble you can start speaking a new language foreign language in about 3 weeks why Babble because it works instead of paying hundreds of dollars for a private tutor or fooling yourself with language apps that are a little little more than games babbles quick 10-minute lessons are designed by over 150 language experts to help you start speaking a new language just like I said in as little as 3 weeks here's a special limited time deal for our listeners to get you started right now get 55% off your Babel subscription but only for our listeners at babel.com SRS with over 10 million subscription sold Babel is real language learning for real conversations get 55% off babel.com SRS that's spelled b a bb.com SRS rules and restrictions apply visit babel.com for terms and details you know with his his piece of attorney harassing a 13 or 14-year-old on the stand uh you know like things like oh did your mom yell at you or you know did she reprimand you and uh like oh well was it too many times to count is that how bad it was and just stupid how how lawyer some lawyers are um and uh you know I went out there and I I testified and laid out I mean I did it through you know tear streak face and and uh cracked voice but sat there and testified in front of him and told the courts what he did and what I had seen and and witnessed as a kid and I mean he's he's still my mom told me stories of you know when he's tried to come back in her life at like very pivotal moments like when she graduated from law school um and then when I came home for the first time in July uh he knows I mean he he he knows like from other times when I was young um not to come around me and he chose when I came back home uh to California for the first time last July he chose to show up at the airport I had a really big welcome home uh with the police motorcade and my my city I mean my hometown showed out for me they did a lot for myself and my family and uh couple hundred people or thousands at the airport and like welcom me home and stuff really awesome um and I'm sitting there and nund with news and stuff coming up to me and uh he he he chose that moment to show up and come and Pat me on the shoulder and my buddies I mean my my friends know what what happened and my buddies chased him down and he ran away and uh just things like that little things like that to like show he's crazy enough like hey I'm still here just so you know but um yeah that's kind of it's kind of the story did any of your half siblings did they go through the same stuff I've stayed I've stayed um apart from them I personally I haven't had any interest to build Rel relationships with them um especially as I grew up I mean many of them reached out I think maybe one or two of them had I know I know the parents of of my half siblings like came forward and testified about the things that he's done and the way like the horrible ways that he's treated them and their family I don't know specifics other than just I I don't want to say just but other than like domestic violence domestic abuse screaming yelling harassment and things like that um I don't know much more past that because I've stayed apart from them um why do you stay apart from him if you don't mind me asking yeah no um honestly I I just wanted that part of my life to I wanted to move on with my life and uh you know I told my mom you know she was worried for a long time cuz I you know I kept a lot of hate in my heart for him and I told her I was remember one time I was like Mom I was like I have I have enough room to hate him in my heart but I don't uh I don't let the things that he's done and how he's treated my family uh and what he's done you know um negatively impact my life I don't let it weigh on me I don't let him have any control over me and what I do um I wouldn't hesitate to put him down in some pretty horrible ways but um yeah I don't I don't let him take any space up in my brain so this guy's still running around out there yeah how I mean the courts just the court system is I mean we have supposedly you know the best the best justice system in the in the world right now but it still has its flaws and some good things that have come of that um situation and what he's done is my mom has worked she's gotten legislation passed to protect kids to do better background checks on on CPS and their social workers and things like that and uh used the worst moments of her life to to help p pass better laws in the US and well in California specifically um and she does a lot of work for for child abuse and and domestic violence and things like that is this is this what drove her to become the top family attorney in California I would I would say so I you know she's she's talked about and shared you know what what's what we went through has has definitely pushed her to to help others and to damn good at what she does um I mean she like I said she filed bankruptcy during paying for all of the attorney fees and going through what we did and uh I mean now she's a successful business woman more than successful um yeah what's your mom's name Tiffany Andrews Tiffany Andrews yeah yeah so you've experienced a lot as a kid a lot of kids unfortunately experience very similar situations as you did what kind of advice do you have for somebody that's in that situation whether it's a parent being abused by their spouse or or kids you know I'd uh first thing I would say is that it's okay to talk about it you know a lot of people are scared uh I think when they experience those traumatic events to scared of backlash from the person the abuser scared of um you know all of the wh ifs that come afterwards and I think people need to understand that it's okay to talk about the just as we talk about everyday things the good it's okay to talk about the bad and uh people need to be aware of this because there are not there are not ways to help individuals going through those those things if they don't speak up about them and and uh I mean coming personally speaking it's it's a hard thing to talk about but the hard things need to be talked about who would you recommend they talk to I think I think maybe some of them will be willing to talk but maybe they're scared and they don't know who exactly to talk to who can they safely talk to who would you recommend they talk to I would say say if they feel they can't trust their their local police they don't want to listen to them um I would start there I would start with I would start with um going to the police um going to the hospital cuz I think I think if I'm correct you know doctors and providers are mandatory reporters as well if I I might be misspeaking but um actually that makes perfect sense call 911 report an injury yeah get to the hospital tell them what happened M they take care of the rest they should take care of the rest they're not I know hospitals aren going to release individuals going through that back to the person unless there's police involved post post that so I would I would start with I would start with the police and the hospitals honestly that's a damn good piece of advice Marine Corps what into the Marine Corps yeah so uh funny enough I I had actually grow growing up started with aspirations to be an astronaut I think as a lot of young kids do but uh really wanted to be an astronaut and then it went into uh wanted to serve my country and being a fighter pilot and I I was for a while I was dead set on joining the Air Force and becoming a fighter pilot and before I moved to fsam California I was down in bville Fairfield going to um middle school and high school and uh the first half of high school all my friends were down there around trais Air Force Base and so many of my friends came from military families had family in the Air Force and uh so I from an early age I didn't the only person in my family who was in the military is uh my great uncle and he was in the Air Force but it wasn't something that we talked about really I mean I knew it and he he' you know mentioned it before but uh the military was was never in my face through my family or anything like that it was uh friends at school and I you know I would have friends come and leave all the time make new friends all the time because they'd come for a year or two or whatever and then change Duty stations and whatnot and uh my high school it literally went High School the street next to high school Air Force Base and so we had uh Air Force jrtc and high school um and my freshman and uh into half of my sophomore you year I did I did Air Force jrtc kind of set on still becoming a fighter pilot um prior to that when I when I was in e8th grade I did Civil Air Patrol which is pretty similar to like jrtc but they do it on Travis Air Force Base and uh kind of trying to find my way through that while still navigating um you know what my family was going through and uh really just you know the traumatic events that I experienced Maybe me want to help people and uh help the innocent help those who couldn't help themselves and that was very important to me and I knew that I could do that through the military and just seeing my friends and their their parents serve and interacting with with their parents and stuff um seeing the kind of people that they were the men and women that they were people to look up to um kind of set my sights on that and when I was five um I was I was in kindergarten uh I found out I was color deficient and so I'm not color blind but my Reds and greens are pretty pretty the same and uh uh quite a few other colors blues and blacks and things and um Went to went to talk talk to uh recruiters about going to be a fighter pilot and uh found out cannot be a fighter pilot with uh being colored efficient as I how how bad I was and uh so I was like well that's that and then uh moved up to halfway through my sophomore year my mom took us and moved us up to fulam um get away from my my biological father and uh put my kids into better schools or I mean her kids into better schools than myself and um moved to New high school and I mean that was kind of the start for me of a lot of um what I guess now would be uh depression and just anger I was like why did you take me away from my friends like hated hated the move it's horrible like in my mind it's the worst thing that could have happened to a 15 and a halfy old kid 15-year-old kid and uh I was just hated school didn't want to make new friends I was playing soccer and baseball at the time uh my my club soccer coach actually from my first Hometown he reached out to some uh Club coaches up there and got me some tryouts he was like if you want to stay on the team you can he's like I know it's going to be hard for you to make practices but if you want to keep playing and you should you know make you know work to be at practices and be at all the games he was like I I'll reach out to some Club coaches up there and get you some tryouts which he did and uh tried out for um a soccer club up there uh they wanted me and that was like one of my first weaks up there and uh started making friends that way and um still really wanted to wanted to join the military and you know the I mean I sure you know I mean the Marines are in your face all the time with with advertisements and oh yeah crisp dressed Blues um the old the old ads of them fighting the dragon and turn it around uh wearing dress blues on the spot but you know I mean it modern day war fighting shown on TV and I'm like man that's badass and you know I'm 15 at the time and the more I looked into it I was just like you know oh the Marines on the front line the Marines are first to the fight that's what I want to be that's who I am and uh it just it grabbed at me in a way that being an Air Force fighter pilot and you know doing jrtc never did and uh I just knew I was like I'm going to enlist on the Marine Corps and uh I think I was like 16 when I told my mom that and at this point now I um I got to the point probably within a year of of the move um where I told my mom I was like you know I'm sorry for the way I acted moving here and I mean I I I was just like that shitty depressed kid just didn't want to be there and uh I was like I'm glad we moved I was like I think this is the best thing that's happened to me and made a lot of great friends met a lot of people it took some time it took some time but uh I mean the saying you know those uh if it was easy everyone would have it and started really understanding and becoming who I was more into my later teen years up there and fome and uh just making great relationships me awesome people and I told her I was like you know I'm sorry for the way I acted but this is I think the best thing that's happened to me and I'm I'm glad I'm glad we moved and I know that for her probably was just the best thing that she could have heard cuz she knew how how much I did not want to be there and uh and then I told her not not too long after that uh we moved we were in an apartment we moved up there moved into a rental house then moved into our house now where did they my family still lives and uh remember walking upstairs in my mom's room and I was like all right today's the day I tell her I'm going to enlist in the Marine Corps and like I had briefly like joked about it just to kind of see her reaction before that and uh you know I went up to her room and I was like all right Mom I was like I'm going to enlist in the Marine Corps when I'm out of high school and she was like what and I was like I was like I'm going to enlist in the Marine Corps in the Marine Corps infantry and I mean she just bowled her eyes out she just she knew and uh she just bowled her eyes out and she was never like no you're not she was support but uh I think that was my end of my or maybe junior year that I told her my junior year of high school that I told her that and I was like hey this is where I'm going and uh yeah she she took it pretty hard and but she was supportive and then she you know she was like my mom is very Academia oriented um and not so much now but she was and she was like listen she like go to try college for a year you can you know you can still play it you can still play soccer for college um I know her at the time trying to get me to like go go to college go to college and uh and I was like Mom I don't want to go to college like just just give it a try she was like I'm not going to force you anything I can't force you to do anything she's like but go give College a try you can still play soccer you love soccer it's your passion and uh give it a try and I was like I like all right you raised me been through a lot I love you I was like I'll go I'll go give College a try and uh I was like but but I was like as soon as I'm done I'm still going to the Marine Corps and uh whether that's a year or that's four or more I was like I'm still going to the Marine Corps it's like all right she's like I know in the back of her mind she's hoping that I'm just going to latch on to college and not go to the military but uh it's like all right I'll go play um for the the local junior college and uh start majoring in kinesiology and Kinesiology yeah Kinesiology what is kinesiology uh Sports Medicine okay yeah so I I mean I had I had always through the later years of high school I was very interested and you know kind of that young time frame where I feel like young men start getting into the gym and working out and stuff and I had a buddy uh Ryan chaffy one of my best friends growing up he uh he I'll never forget I think it was my junior at high school he's like come to the gym with me man we went to I went to one high school in our hometown he went to the other one but we played on the same soccer team and uh he's like he's like he's like just come work out with me after after school and I'm like dude I I do not want to go work out with you why why would I go to the gym I don't want to go to the gym and he's like like quit being a quit being a pretty much and uh finally he suckered me into going into the gym with him um and then I just spiraled and I was like all about going to the gym all the time getting on a routine being healthy and uh just being young and dumb and mixing Diet Coke and coffee like you old YouTube uh freaking bodybuilders and stuff uh uh doing that kind of hyy mud pre-workout stuff and uh horrible from my heart but um yeah things like that and he he is the one who really kind of started my uh my fitness journey at that age and uh and then it was just that it was it just took off I mean I was I was about I was like all right I'm going to the military I need to be as fit as I can be and it helped with soccer as well and um so I'm in college now and first semester is going by and I'm like this sucks and I did not I just was not school was not for me school I never like I could always take tests really well but I never had the diligence to just like sit down and do my homework or do anything like that um I did not just didn't want to do it I didn't want to be in school I wanted to be out I mean I remember I would I would I was 18 for quite a majority of my senior year of high school and I would just like I was old enough to call myself out of school and like go and do whatever and uh uh there would be days i' skip period just to go play soccer at the park or like go work out and stuff and I hated hated going to school and uh I'll never forget I got a you know I got a TR and see letter in the mail my mom was like get your ass home right now and I'm like oh and I mean uh my mom was strict enough growing up you know what I mean right and uh she she was hard on me but in a good way and uh and she she was like you got to you know bad grades like soccer's gone um like you're not playing I me she came out onto my soccer field one time in the middle of practice cuz I had poor grades and I'm like Mom what the are you doing here cuz she told me she's like if you if you go to practice I'm going to walk I'm going to walk out onto the field and pull your ass out in front of all your friends in the middle of practice I'm a senior in high school and uh I was like I called her Bluff I was like no the you're not no you're not Mom go to practice I hear Tyler Andrews I'm like oh no way and I turn around I'm in goal at the time I was a goalkeeper turn around and and she was like get your ass over here right now and like we're in the middle of like a scrimmage and I'm like oh I'm like Mom and I'm like I'm like coach I got to go I'm so sorry and he like stops and he comes over and I'm like Mom like like I like I'm sorry and she was like I told you I was going to take my ass out here if you came to practice she said get your ass get your ass home right now and my co came over and he was uh he's like what's going on he was like you know he's got really bad grades he's not doing his homework and stuff like and he my coach was cool he was like he's like all right well we'll figure it out we'll get him we'll get him on track and uh so he worked with me and my mom to get me to practice but also make sure I was doing my homework and stuff so good on them but I was just I hated school and uh kind of another thing for the military and in high school my the the first half of my senior year High School uh my government teacher he I can't remember if he was a vet but he was uh the old JV soccer coach if I remember correctly and uh he was always all about you know he's very patriotic and and bringing letting the recruiters when they'd come to the school like come talk to us during government class and it was always really cool and uh I mean I would pay the most attention to the Marines when they'd come in and listen to them and he gave every government class the opportunity to uh like they they would come and um test like take the asab at the school and so like he was like all right you guys are all going to go take the asab he's like you don't got to do anything with it but just so you have that in your back pocket just another you know tool for the toolbox um and so senior year I had taken the ASVAB I think the beginning of my senior year and I got like a 91 on it and um I was like all right well this is cool I don't got to take it when I go to the recruiter and um you know I go go to college and I was like all right Mom this semester is going to be over um I'm going to the Marine Corps and she's just kind of same thing sad but all right all right we we'll get you on the right track but your your great uncle's coming out here your uncle Cam he's coming out here and uh he's the only one who is in the military and he's going to take you to every single recruiting station and uh you're going to talk to every Branch's recruiting station I was like like all right I was like I'm still going to we can do this but I'm still going to go and list in the Marine Corp and she's like well we'll see about that but he's going to take you to every Branch's Recruiting Station first so we started uh you I'm I'm 19 or end of 18 going into 19 years old and uh he um he flies out from Long Beach California and we're going around the S local fome recruiting stations and the Army and the or the Air Force and the Navy's one were right next door to each other and so we we go in the we go in the Air Force One and they're like so what do you want to do and I was like want to be a marine Raider and uh like oh well you can come you know you can come be a PJ and you can you know you can look into being a sear specialist and stuff and the sear stuff was pretty pretty like cool um when I was looking at it I was like oh wow this is like I loved I mean my whole childhood was spent soon as I got a license and I wasn't working or like working out or doing soccer I was in the mountains and the sier Nevadas I was hiking taking my friends camping and hiking and backpacking and stuff and I loved it that was like my go-to was doing that and doing all the survival stuff making bugout bags teaching myself how to start fires any way I could think of um just teaching myself how to survive it was kind of my my thing as a as a young kid and uh um I remember like I would anytime I would do chores when I was younger I would go and uh or or like try and like work for people around the neighborhood and make some change I'd go I wouldn't be old enough to like buy a knife or an axe or something so I'd go and scr up any change I could get go to like Walmart or like the Ralphs down the street and uh buy like a Visa gift card and then go my mom's uh ancient laptop and uh uh order a knives and like axes uh with with a Visa debit card cuz I wasn't old enough like I had to have like ID proof or whatever and uh or if I went into stores I had to like show them that I was 18 and so I would buy like knives and axes that way and my mom would be like what the is this like where did you get this from like an axe or something would show up on the doorstep or like a whatever and uh I'd be out throwing them at trees throwing knives at trees and just doing all that stuff and uh and then like remember taking her old cabinet boards and like breaking down an old desk and using them to throw at in the backyard and stuff and so so uh the sear stuff really I was like oh wow this is pretty cool I was like but you're not getting me it and uh it's like all right let's go to the Navy and my uncle's like all right well we'll go to the Navy he's like maybe you like that you think about it and they're like all right we'll come back you know um and they really liked that my ASAP score was as high as it was and uh like why why are you going to go for me I you know I wanted to uh I I knew I wanted to go into the Infantry and then be a Raider and that was very important to me me to kind of start where I knew Marines would be in the at least in my mind and uh so I went to the Navy uh their Recruiting Office like again what do you want to do I was like I want to be a marine Raider uh I want to be in the Infantry and um like h no don't worry about that you can come be a seal and uh they uh I was I never I never uh being a seal like I had always seen it i' had always seen it kind of like how the Marines are on your face like know like oh Navy Seals like like they're hard and uh but I still I just I was like I don't want to be in the Navy I I really I just I don't want to be a Sean and uh I don't blame you yeah and uh yeah I was like no I was like it's pretty cool and like listen you can come and we we swim more than they do and and uh yeah we like we're amphibious too and all that stuff and uh it's like no I was like it's all right like I'm I want to be a marine and then now we go to the Army's office we go to the Army and the Army and the Marine Corps next to each other their offices and um going there first thing I W I see when I walk in is bunch of out of shape unfit dudes and I was like Wow and on top of that I had been in I had been um uh in a Marine Recruiting Office once before or gone by it that one that was there and like saw how they had all the all the motivational stuff in there and had to pull up bars out front and inside and out back and I go to that Army office and see a bunch of them out of shape bunch of these recruiters and uh they have a pullup bar in there and uh like yeah we got I was like why do you have a pull-up bar in here and cuz they don't do pull-ups and uh they're like well you know the Marines do pull-ups but we can uh we can do pull-ups and I was like okay I was and he was like you think you can do pull-ups is that why you want to be a marine I was like yes I can do pull-ups and uh like why don't you hop up there and do some pull-ups and I was like why don't you hop up there and do some pull-ups and they like no like we don't need to do that you should hop up there and show us how many pull-ups you can do I was like no I was like I'll save that for the Marines I was like if you hop up there and do pull-ups I'll do pull-ups didn't want to hop up there and do pull-ups and I was like all right well that's it I was like I'm walking out and the Army was the fastest one I was in the door and out and uh went to the Marine Corps let my mom know hey I'm going to the Marine's office right now and going to talk to them about enlisting sat down with uh my recruiter actually he was he was the one who uh recruited me but um sat sat down with him at the time Sergeant Wallace sat down with with him and uh he's like all right he's like he's like so why you're here and uh you know something along the lines of that and I was like well I was like I want to be an infantryman and I want to be a marine Raider say okay he's like well uh have you thought about recon at all and uh I like I I had I had even ever heard of recon at that point you have never heard of Recon no and I just had only heard of Raiders and surprisingly now I mean the the reconnaissance Community is way more in your face than the Raiders are and uh I don't even know how I first heard about Raiders I think I I just uh being a marine was it just seemed special to me and I was like well does a marine have special operations and I looked that up online and they're like yep marso marine Special Operations Command and I was like looked at what they did and it really appealed to me that they did a mix of kind of everything you know fid counter Insurgency um like just a little bit of every every branches stuff and I was like well that's I feel like that's who I am I'm I'm a try and be as versatile as I can be and that that seems really appealing and uh that's where I want to go and so I told him that and he's like all right he's like well he's like we can get you scheduled for an ASVAB uh if you you really want to move move forward with this and I was like I do this is what I want to do so he pulled out these uh these cards he's like plastic cards and they all have different things on them and it's like the whole like honor courage commitment but it's also like um physical fitness and like heroism um bravery courage like um like in intellectual stuff all these different um you know adjectives of like what makes a person a person what appeals to them and they like what are the most what are like first he asked me like what are the 10 most important to you and so I'm picking them out and I I don't even remember all of them it's so long ago but picking them out and he was like all right he's like now pick three and uh strength was one of those or um uh strength and and mental fortitude was one of them I can't remember how it was worded but one of those and uh picked out the three I don't remember the other two but that one stuck out to me and uh he's like all right and like you know what does that mean to you and obviously at that point my my background had been going through the traumatic experience I did when I was a kid um I mean I was still a kid but going through that with my my dad and stuff and and what he had done and um he was like you know this is the right place to be um brought in my ASVAB scores or he pulled them or something and the day that he did it was a week or two later he was like you're not going to be a grunt and I was like what do you mean I was waiting for this yeah he's like you're not going to be a grunt and I was like yes I am what do you mean he's like he's like you got a 90 or 91 on your asab he's like you could do anything else you could do literally anything else he's like let's look at some other options and I was like no I was like this is what I want to do and he's like dude he's like he's like you could do anything else in the Marine Corps like anything at all and I was like this is the only thing I want to do I I want to be an infantryman and I want to be a Raider and th those are the only things I want to do and that's where I'm going to go and he was like you serious he was like and he like pulled up the list of everything and he's like explaining stuff and he's like you could do literally anything any one of these jobs I was like I don't want to do anything else and he was like all right he was like I'll leave it alone he was like this is what you want to do he's like well let's get you on a good path and uh he briefly brought up again like the how you can kind of do uh I think at that time there was still um there there's always like weird contracts in the Marine Corps where you can like contracts to kind of in any branch to suck suck dudes into something but there was like oh you can be a a team leader like a team leader contract or something like that and I was like all right well I'll do that and it was just like a basic it was like a name just for the same exact thing of like 03xx so I'm an 031 0311 Rifleman and it was just like 03xx like team leader and that's not how the inventory works like you started the and you push through the to get you know get to be a team leader and things like that that never uh nothing else ever came of that uh doing that contract but I so I I kind of uh got on a path where I became a pulley um with them and then uh started working out all the time with them I was still going to work I was working at uh Target actually and uh working at Target and um working out and just preparing to leave real quick I want to backtrack yeah and this doesn't have anything to do with your story what I'd like to do is call out look back to the recruiting stuff especially the Army mhm you know just think about how many people went in there and were unimpressed with that first impression of these guys who can't who can't lead from the front yeah you know what I mean and think of how many people that thought about joining the US Army that walked into that office and saw those slobs representing the United States Army there and walked right the back out yeah and we have a major problem with military recruiting right now and if they don't unfuck that they're never going to get anybody in there yeah no I agree I mean it's that's ridiculous it is ridiculous to put some like that to represent the United States Army to these kids that want to serve the country and that's what that's their first impression they have to look up to whoever made that decision good job good job no I agree and uh it's definitely uh I mean I've got I've got buddies who are Marine Recruiters and I mean fit strong leaders of men and uh that's good that's who they were in the Infantry and that's who they were as recruiters and the recruiting life any branch I'm sure it's not easy but I know Marine Corps Recruiting specifically because I I I know Marine Recruiters and uh it's a tough it's a tough life and I've never seen any of my buddies who Marine Recruiters or the Marine Recruiters that I worked under as a py going into the Marine Corps I've never seen one that I was just like you're disgusting you know I've it's like man I want to be like you and uh it's always been that way least for the Marine Corps good yeah continuing on yeah so uh I uh started started going to the py events and stuff um I had my senior high school I had or junior year I had taken so I was a goalkeeper and I had taken a uh a block off my wrist weirdly my right my right arm and it had sprained uh my wrist pretty badly and I was just like well wrap it up keep playing and just did that for years every game I would wrap my wrist and just play just keep beating on it beating on it and finally got to the point where I could barely move my wrist and uh I was like man this is uh this is bad and it hurts a lot and I could feel like it was always swollen it was like permanently swollen in my wrist and so I was like all right Mom I need to go to the doctor like I'm about to leave for the Marine Corps I need to get see if I need surgery or something before I go and uh um I go to get an MRI and you're like well you've torn some tendons in your wrist and uh you have a ganglion cyst and so I had a cyst in my my wrist I don't remember how big it was but uh it was like pushing all my joints apart and it was fluid filled up all inside my wrist and they're like yeah like this is really bad um you know how long has it been this way and I was like uh like 2 years or something like that and uh like why didn't you come in sooner and I was like oh I mean just young kid playing sports and uh went and got surgery on that while I was already in the like the Delayed Enlistment program um so I was a pie already and I told my recuit was like hey got to go get surgery and he's like what the like that is the last thing the want recruiter wants to hear I'm like I got to go get surgery my wrist like it'll be all right they've assured me it's going to be okay um and sure enough they went in uh it's a short procedure they went in repaired some of the soft tissue and tendon damage and uh removed the gangling on Cy they like cuz the options were is they could they could leave it and like put me in a brace and stick a needle straight through my wrist into the cyst and drain it but if you drain it there's about a 90% chance that it's just going to come back and uh or I can get it cut open and it would be a longer recovery process but it would be like a 99% success rate like well I was like I mean I know if you guys drain it I knew in my mind I was like if if I just let them drain the the cyst in my wrist that I'm not going to take the recovery seriously because I never had with any other injuries like I'm just going to go back to injuring it again probably pretty soon after um and if I get the surgery I've got a higher chance of being successful and I'm going to be forced to not move it and in a cast and so I I chose to go that route and uh went in cut it out did the rep the the repairs and uh had me in a cast for like 2 weeks and it wasn't that long but had me in a cast for like 2 weeks and then put me in like a um a hard brace I could I could like take it off but they put me in a brace um and had stitches in for another like 3 weeks and I couldn't push I couldn't uh like really twist my hand much um but pushing was just painful and I still wanted to be around the the police and go to the you know go to PT and stuff and the one thing I could do is I could pull and so I could just crank out pull-ups and that's the only exercise I could really do with my wrist and fortunately for me that's what we need to do for PT so uh for the physical fitness test and so I was just cranking out pull-ups with my brace on and uh didn't didn't damage it anymore fortunately but cranking out pull-ups and uh then uh did a few events uh and my now best friend I'm the goddaughter to or Godfather to both of his daughters um Christian Ritter we both both uh we're both in the the pool together uh or the Depp and his recruiter my recruiter brought us in they're like or we might have the same recruiter but they brought us in they're like hey you guys are uh leaving on the same day to boot camp um in a couple months you know do you want to do the Buddy program and like we had just kind of said what's up and passing didn't know anything about each other and I looked to him and I was like sure and he's like sure and so the Buddy program kind of set you on the track to where we had this same 03xx contract so we go to boot camp together go to infantry school together and then hopefully have a pretty good chance of going to the same unit um and we both wanted to be Riflemen so that was that was a plus too and so from that point on we just got to know each other dude became my best friend through boot camp um went to boot camp on hold on let's backt trck before you go to boot camp extremely traumatic childhood how old are your brother and sister when you left um think 20176 my old sister would have been 10 I think my little brother would have been six six yeah was that was that hard was that a hard decision for you to make to leave your mom and your siblings known everything they' had been through what they could Poss POS go through again to go serve your country it it it definitely was and uh I for me I had I I I had this conversation with my mom a few times you know I was worried that uh worried about me not being there in case my dad showed up or something and not being able to be there to protect them and I mean as I as I grew up and got older from that and away from the the traumatic events of my life it was I took like being the man of the house very seriously um I could imagine more so just like protecting my family that was all that mattered to me um and I uh you know made sure my mom knew like with the firearms that we had in the house like that she knew how to use them properly and stuff and uh you know my siblings I remember my old brother was uh like cried a little bit um and and I defin I definitely worried um but I was very excited about going and I was like well I was like if I go be a marine and I get all this training and stuff I'll be able to protect my family even more you know and that's how I viewed it and uh yeah I think definitely definitely nervous about leaving um for them but it I knew it was the right decision yeah were they nervous about you leaving my mom definitely was um I don't know if you know my siblings fully understood what was going on um they knew I was leaving for a few months but uh actually I take that back my little brother um I remember talking to him about leaving you know he's six or whatever and uh he was like well Tai he's like you you want to go to the military but what if you die and uh I was like I'm not going to die I was like I'm not going to die buddy like I'm going to be okay I'll be all right he's like yeah but what if you die and uh you know I didn't really know what else to say other than like I'm going to be all right and uh obviously I know that today I'm here now but um yeah that kind of that hit me pretty hard I was like damn I uh this definitely is is weighing heavy on them and uh yeah I mean I have I have a close relationship with my siblings and uh I'd Die For them today if I had to yeah did you have a plan on how you would protect them um I definitely did so when we moved into our house I uh I mean I remember even talking to my buddies about when about leaving you know just kind of look after my family and stuff and my all my friends were close with my mom and and my siblings a our house is like the house all my buddies and I would go to um to hang out my mom was very much about like oh if you want to if you want to hang out and stuff like um I don't want you being idiots elsewhere so all the boys can come over and be idiots here um but uh so that was definitely the place and I know for me um I was the only bedroom downstairs in our house and I beg my mom for that room uh and she was like yep she's like I I mean I wouldn't want anyone else downstairs like I trust you to protect the family and that meant a lot to me and and uh I would have done it if I had to but yeah yeah that's awesome man that's that's that's growing up fast and uh you handled it perfectly from what I can tell but on that note let's take a quick break before we get into your Marine Corps career I want to tell you a little bit about my morning routine so it used to be at wake up and it was pills Galore had my multivitamin had my probiotic had my greens replacement had a bunch of other stuff that my multivitamin didn't cover and then I found out about these guys ag1 this is one of their travel packs ag1 has 75 vitamins and minerals packed in here and they're all Whole Food sourced ingredients the good stuff right so basically dump this travel pack or this other stuff right here the home pack I guess you would call it you just take a scoop dump it into some water guys helps you with gut health helps you with energy it's a total greens replacement there's tons of good stuff in here I recommend taking it every morning and it actually tastes pretty good too if you want to take ownership in your health try ag1 and get a free oneyear supply of vitamin D and five free ag1 travel packs with your first purchase go to drink a1.com SSRS that's drink a1.com SSRS check it out shocking scenes of desperation and Chaos in Afghanistan are being seen around the world can't believe my eyes says the man who shot this video of people clinging to an American cargo jet as it takes off machine gun fire could be heard as thousands of panic-stricken Afghans sto form the airport for Special Forces or Green Berets as our nickname calls our our specialty is irregular warfare unconventional warfare where we work with indigenous people to help them stand up on their own and fight against oppression when that pull out started I had friends sented me videos of what they were doing to our Commandos there must have been 20 Commandos lined up yeah hands behind their back and they were just put one round at the back of every one of their heads just going down the line it looked like yep it looked like World War II the call that I knew was coming from naam and he said sir they're they're looking in my window right now I said to him something to the effect of look you're not going to die alone you're not going to die at all um we're going to get you out man you're going to get across that City you're going to get through the crowd you're going to get past the Taliban you're going to get past the Marines why why does this kid have to die like it's just not right and and everything in my life in that war came down to him if we don't get him in on the inside of that Taliban ring they're going to check his credentials and he's dead all right Tyler we're back from the break picking right up at the very beginning of your Marine Core career yeah so uh so I left um August 27th I believe it was um of 2017 for boot camp and uh did the whole went went to MEPS doing the naked crab walk and stuff um things went well they took my they took my paperwork for my surgery and uh went smoothly surprisingly and Lea for MEPS or Le for boot camp uh with Ritter my buddy and I think it was just it was just the two of us leaving together from our recruiting station that day uh got put up in like a Double Tree in in Sacramento um the night prior do like one last final check-in at Ms and uh do like pull-ups crunches uh just to make sure that they kind of make sure like the guys we're about to leave are like fit enough to go um leading up to that I mean while you're in in the pool you do like ists it's like uh individual strength test or something like that just like a a uh kind of slim down version of the physical fitness test that you do for the Marine Corps um to prepare you and do that last test uh before you leave um they put us on a plane flight to I Know M my mom was funny she's she uh was like oh we'll get you a bunch of all these extra things to take with you to boot camp and I was like I'm just going to have to throw it away like like I don't want to get in trouble or like more tension brought on me than necessary she like we'll get you all these like like toothbrushes and basic and uh you get to um you get a small I think I don't even think there's really a a list a big list of stuff you take to boot camp for the Marine Corps it's like your ID like your shoes like the clothes you're wearing and uh almost nothing like stuff you carry in your pockets if I remember correctly and um you get to boot camp and we we flew so we flew into San Diego and then we got busted to uh I think we flew in drove from the us so we waited at the Uso for a couple hours um in San Diego and MCRD Marine Corp Recruit Depot San Diego is like here's the airport here's the Recruit Depot and so the whole time you're at boot camp you're just whatever you're doing no matter if you're having a bad day you're just watching those planes take people wherever they're going all day long and uh definitely a tease but uh yeah we rter and I um we actually had another buddy actually uh Kevin kago I think was his name who went with us that day but uh get shipped to or driven to MCRD and uh do the whole drone instuctors run on the bus and start screaming at you to get off the bus and grab your stuff um I mean I know for me even the plane flight there I was just like man what the is this like what what am I doing and I didn't I wasn't like regretting or anything I was just like man I'm really doing this like this is here we go here yeah I mean when you're at the um when you're at the recruiting station prior to that I mean they show you all the motivational videos and you see Marines and like 29 Palms blowing stuff up and shooting and running gunning on ranges and so I'm just like all right like that's just where I got to again I just got to get to that and uh at this point in time there's been 17 years yeah of two different Wars you guys took fujia you guys took Helman Province I mean the Infantry Marines did a lot of took a lot of casualties I've heard a lot about it on this show I've seen a lot of it what is it like you know what are you 20 20 20 at this at this time frame what's it like being a 20-year-old drinking from the fire hose from somebody with that much experience I mean I'm I would hope that they're utilizing that experience yeah no they they definitely are um our combat instructors who had been you know been overseas and been in hostile environments would would share things with us and they'd get on guys not the way the drill instructors do but like you're dead your buddy's dead because of what you just did like they they definitely instill from the get-go the day you walk you step foot in SOI like and pick up with an infantry school like these are lessons that have been learned and paid in Blood and uh don't waste that you know I mean we had to had to figure out a lot of to to get to where we are but it's like why do we clear rooms the way we do why do we throw grenades the way we do why do we say the things that we say you know on ranges preparing for combat the way we do because these things have been learned and earned in Blood and uh definitely some big shoes to fill and for me I know I I just I mean I couldn't wait to get to it I I I took everything I could as seriously as I could and uh you know the first four weeks are teaching you how to be a basic Rifleman um and you know doing basic room clearing um working together as as a fire team and as a squad just very basic stuff um fire maneuver and then learning um the you know I mean you you already in boot camp like you you learn how to take apart in M16 and you lay it out on a little map that has like a piece and a name where everything goes and stuff and um you do that and you do like weapons classes and stuff so you get all you get taught so if you're not in the field you're not doing ranges and stuff they you're you're in classes and they're teaching you your stuff and uh they're teaching you you know like max effective ranges and um you know how weapon system works why why you know the Infantry is the way it is today they're showing you videos of um of combat and stuff and uh here and there you'll get a speaker or two um that comes in and you know they'll talk to you about their time in um and their time in combat and so it's I think I think the school of infantry does it well um you know breeding young young War Fighters um they definitely they definitely get the point across that you do have big shoes to fill but you you can have the feet to fill those shoes and you know that they're giving us the tools to be successful and get prepared for the fleet um I mean you definitely learn the most like coming out of of infantry School infantry School gives you a good foundation of being being a grunt the first four weeks are are everyone learning the same thing being a basic 03xx like 0311 and then it's the split and so the if you want to go be a mortman they basically ask you one day like hey you know this is a split you're done at this phase of infantry school now we're going to ask who wants to be a mortman who wants to be a machine gunner who wants to go to Recon um cuz at that point at the four weeks you can go to like like go the reconnaissance pipeline you can try at least and uh or you can stay a grunt and or be an assaultman or an anti-tank Gunner and so at this point now um I was just like I want to be a door kicker like R and I are both on the same page like we we want to we want to be in the um and try and get there as fast as we can and uh obviously we know like at this point now you know the war has died down a lot it's not it's not what it was in the early 2010s and before that and uh we're just but we're not really thinking like oh we're not going to deploy to a combat zone we're kind of thinking that's how it's going to be the whole way through and so uh to be they needed like one one more machine gunner so I we stayed like they ask who wants to go where and they have you out in front of the big you know the building it's called the h like just on the concrete slab and uh like mortars over here um anti-tank Gunners like come upstairs assaultman over here or actually assaultman wasn't a thing I had I had thought about wanting to be an assaultman as well cuz you'd still be like a Rifleman but um you'd be using like SMS and stuff and uh doing demolitions and um like as your job but they they start they were starting to phase them out so they didn't have that available our cycle um like all right well like I still want to be be a Rifleman so staying here and then they go all right we need uh we need uh one more uh anti-tank Gunner and like one more Cat Guy and um one more machine gunner and to be either of those things you had to have passed all the tests and have or like have like really high scores or whatever it was and uh myself and like two other guys were the only three out of like 100 people left that had pass all of the tests and um but none of us wanted to be a machine gunner or an anti-tank Gunner and they called the three of us out to the middle in front of everyone and uh so we've got like multiple platoon like couple hundred people just like we're in the middle of them and they're like all right well one of you is going to be a machine gunner machine gunner and uh one of you is going to be an anti-tank Gunner and uh one of the guys like caved and went I think there yeah there was four actually one of the guys caved and he went to go be anti tank Gunner there was three of us now and uh they're like all right well uh one of you one of you is going to be uh machine gunner and I was like I told him I told my combat was like I'm not going to be machine gunner like I want to be a grunt and so they sat there they made us sit there and come up with a speech on why we wanted to be an 0311 Rifleman and why we wanted to be a door kicker and I don't remember everything that I said but it was convincing enough that they're like all right go back like you're going to be a Rifleman and they took the other guy and he went to go be a machine gunner and uh it was it was funny cuz I was like oh I was I'm really having to do this in front of everyone right now and so we had to like say our peace in front of everyone and uh convinced him so uh here I am today but um being a young Young Junior Marine I had uh I had been out in town with like a bunch of guys um intoxicated and one of my buddies let him uh kind of scratch off part of my ID and to like to to get in uh to like like the club and stuff and uh not really like thinking appropriately marinees trying to drink to to sneak into the club to get drunk yeah oh Bo never would have put that together but uh so that so that happened and I never even used that idea to do anything with it but about N9 or 10 other guys did it too and one dude wrote with like Sharpie on the back of his cat card and went in uh this is like month one that were with the unit maybe and went in uh to ipac to get a new ID and they're like you altered your ID and wrote on it with Sharpie like nope you're not getting your ID back or new one we're calling your unit and you're paying it paying for it and so they called the unit let them know what happened and it's like a Sunday and my at the time like my first team leader they hit us up and they're like hey like this just happened the the whole whole platoon was like does anyone else have alter IDs or anything like that and I was like well I was like it's a little bit like it's almost not even noticeable but I'm going to like be honest about it and I told him I was like hey I do this is what happened I told him the truth told him what happened he's like all right it doesn't look that bad like just tell him you had your keys in your pocket or something and you like had your ID in your pocket and it got scraped up and I was like you sure and uh not really known any better and he's like yeah he's like you're fine he's like they're not going to take your ID he's like I wouldn't even have noticed it if you hadn't said anything and uh so the next day it's like a Monday they bring us all in uh into formation and they told us what was going on that they had you know someone had an altered ID and they're like all right all the new joins all the boots just get the over here and they're like all right you're going to hand over all of your IDs and there was I don't know like 30 of us or something and uh everyone handed over their IDs this uh the staff sergeant at the time staff sh Cipher he was definitely uh definitely looking out for the boys um he looked through all the IDS and he didn't they had they had already like pulled out uh that gunny at the time who who also was kind of on a power trip he uh he had already had like the IDS that were like sharpied and like really bad and uh he just hated everyone anyway before that and uh just cuz we're new and that's just how it goes it's how the Marine Corp is um and so he didn't I didn't see him pull out any more IDs and so I'm like oh thank God like I'm okay like I'm good thank God and that gunny comes up he's like let me see the IDS and that STS it's like I already checked him like trying to just like be a good dude he's like I already checked them they're good and he's like no he's like let me check them and he's like I already checked them gunny like they're good and he was like no he's like let me check them and so he handed over the stack of IDs pulled out like three more and then they start calling names handing IDs back and I'm standing there with like two other guys and our IDs have not been handed back and I'm like oh I was like ah my career's over like my career's over and uh callson the the company office office and I mean just start laying into us I think I had every every first sergeant and like the sergeant major every single senior enlisted in there yelling at me at one point just I was going from room to room getting screamed at just like Upstairs Downstairs down the hall like I was just like oh man and I I didn't know anybody I was like H I was like ah my my career's over but I always remembered my mom telling me if you ever get in legal trouble request a lawyer don't say anything don't do anything no matter what happens whether you're in the military or you're a civilian like request a lawyer and talk to a lawyer and so I'm there and they're like you're going to get Court marshaled you're going to get blah blah blah and they're like they like all right you're going to get njpd like if and you have to like come in and accept you can accept or deny the njp like they read you your rights and whatnot you can come and accept or deny the njp and uh everyone accepted it like on the spot accepted it and I'm like Jesus here's this big old like all these papers with all this legal stuff and uh I like all right well I was like like they told us like yeah you can also request a lawyer but like no one did that and uh like none of the other guys and so now there's like eight Marines who are like accepted njp and like in trouble on the spot and I was like I want to request a lawyer I want to go speak to a Jag and uh they were like what and I was like I want to request a lawyer and I want to speak to a Jag um they're like are you sure you want to do that like if you do that you're going to get in more trouble pretty much and I was like yes I was like I want to make sure I make a good choice a good decision here this is like you know legal punishment I want I want to make sure I I know what's going on fully and so I get taken over to the uh it's like the 51 area on Camp Pon where all the Jags are and I've got this like fresh fresh Lieutenant uh as a Jag and I told him the whole story told him exactly what happened told him the truth word for word and he's like well look at this he's like right here on the njp it says you altered your ID he's like you didn't alter your ID he was like your buddy did deny the njp and you won't get in trouble he's like you can't get in trouble uh like they can't njp you for this because the njp says you altered it and you did not and I'm like are you sure about that and he's like yeah he's like legal terms he's like this is why you come talk to us he's like it says you altered the ID um you know but you didn't and you know or deny the njp I was like I okay I was like are you sure he's like yeah and I I just texted my mom I was like hey just want to let you know like I'm getting in some trouble for some things and uh she's like oh my gosh just like of course and uh you know same thing she's like go talk to a lawyer and I was like already talking to a Jag and so I go back to the unit and I go and I deny the njp and they told us like yeah If you deny njp it could like come back on you harder but I'm like all right here I am trusting this Jag who's been afforded to me I go back back and deny the njp and then uh and then they asked me and they're like like no you're not getting out of this like why are you denying ajp and uh and like my J I think my Jag was there or he like like he had like talked to them and I was like well I was like you're trying to njp me pretty much like I had to explain like why I denied njp like that it wasn't me that altered it and they just like tore up the njp typed up a new one this Marine altered his ID or this Marine let another individual like knowingly alter his ID just like tore up the first njp and I was like I was like all right well it's like so much for that and now these dudes who are already like this happened over like a week or two and so these dudes had already been njpd and uh you know they're on like two weeks restriction or something and uh just like stuck to the base cleaning the the command post and um I go upstairs and like this the sergeant Major's talking to me and this is right before they tore up the njp uh and he just like calls me into the office I'm like I was like I'm going to the sergeant Major's office like oh man like what is what is this I go in there and he he's like close the door I close the door and uh there's like another Marine in there and he just like pulls out my ID and he slams it on the table and uh he like pulls out a razor blade out of his desk and he's just like running it over the one little like scratch in the ID he had like a super heavy acccident he's like he's like you think me a stupid sergeant major if I can figure this out he's like you think NCIS will figure this out he was like what the and he's like tell me what happened and I'm just like sitting there I'm like I'm done I was like I'm getting kicked out of the military like not knowing that you know I can receive punishment but not not getting kicked out and uh I told him I told him what happened he's like all right he's like I appreciate your integrity Marine um I'm going to push for this njp to he's like I'm going to you know push for it to be like a 6105 um you know not not not a not an njp and so I go down there and that that company gun was like dead set on njp me he's like nope all these other guys get njpd like he's like no he's like it's not up to the sergeant major it's up to the company commander and he's there whispering in the company Commander's ear like nope njp this dude and so I had to get a bunch of character Witnesses from these guys who barely know me damn you know yeah and get a bunch of character witness from these guys who barely know me who now think I'm like these dudes think I'm like the biggest scumbag in the world yeah and uh I remember going to my just a young marine trying to get a beer yeah what the hell happened and I'm trying to yeah I I I remember going to my um I hate you you want to you want to drink a beer under 21 I'm going to you up geez man yeah and I I go to uh my it was my squad lead of the time later platoon Sergeant uh stash on adamopoulos hope I hope watches this he uh I'm telling him I'm just like I'm like I'm screwed and he was like he's like yeah he's and I'm I'm sitting there I remember like tears in my eyes like my career's over like I just got here and I'm I'm done like and he's like he remember him telling me he like listen he's like he's like you can only do good from here you know he's like just don't up anymore pretty much something along those lines and he's like you just have to eat it you just have to take this punishment so then they gave me like a month of restriction and like um I think like restricted like a little bit of restricted pay for a couple weeks and but I didn't it was just a um company njp it wasn't a battalion so I didn't lose rank fortunately but I was on promotion restriction so I'm a a PFC at this time and it was like 6 months promotion restriction or like a year or something I can't remember um to where I couldn't get promoted to E3 and from that day like I took that njp and I just it was probably like the best thing that happened to me in my Marine Corps career cuz I like sat that night and I was just like man like this really happened I can't change it it's like but I have to be like and and it's what I plan to do but I really just like hammered down on myself I was like I can't up from here like I've I had this stupid page 11 that they don't really care about but in the Marine corps's eyes above you it's like paperwork's paperwork you know and uh I've got this page 11 I've got this njp I was like but that's not who I am um I have to you know be on my my p's and q's like I need to Dole my eyes and cross all my tees from here on out and be the best version of myself that I can be I was like that's that's who I am and I have to show them that that's who I am that I care and I'm here to here to do work and uh I did that I um I I took every training every bit of knowledge they gave me a ser seriously as I could um tried to be as physically fit as I could I remember that was like a big thing as you get to a new unit and like your seniors your your senior Marines senior Lance coral and stuff you know they're they're uh training you hard um training you very hard and majority of it's because you're not as fit you know what I mean you they've you know been doing this for a few years and know how to run around with weight and had some experience um but I was already a fit dude and and going to the gym all the time working on myself and I was like well I was like I can start with I can I can control a couple things I can control how strong and how fast I am and I can control how I think you know I can control my attitude and uh you know the whole the whole positive mental attitude crap I I took it seriously I was like well I'm going to I am going to be you know be the best grunt that I can be and uh you know I had some really good leaders see that you know my my uh one of my best friends Dalton Hanigan who he was my uh squad leader after that they kind of moved around squads and like finally solidified them for for training and through the deployment and stuff and uh throughout training he really him and my team leaders uh really saw like how much I was trying to how much good I was trying to do and how hard I was working to be like a stellar Marine a stellar infantryman specifically and uh it really it really I had in the back of my mind every day I was like I already got in trouble I can't up I can't up and every bit of knowledge I got I mean I would sit at night and just read it over and over and really try and understand it and look things up on my own know all my max effective ranges and all you know these different tactics and strategies and read and I love to read which was great because all of these older guys who are getting out were like here's you know this mcdp one on like War fighting and like all these Marine Corps doctrines like that they you know that they have and all these guys were getting out in retune like just handing out books left and right and I be like please like I'll take them um you know I want to I want to be you know be the best and uh I definitely um definitely shine in my platoon I think um and my gu saw that and uh I fortunately my promotion restriction it lined up to the day almost it was like the same exact month that I was supposed to get promoted to E3 was the day or was like the month or day that my promotion restriction ended so it didn't set me back really I got promoted to E3 on time um I was like one of the first like Junior Marine like boot squad or boot team leaders and then uh and that was pretty awesome that was like a all right like they see that I care and they see that I know what I'm doing and I'm I'm taking everything that they gave me if I didn't know something it was because I wasn't taught it you know and that's something that I learned early on you know you can't especially being being a young leader after that you know I can't I can't get mad at dudes if they don't know something if they don't know something there's there's one of two reasons it's because they don't care to keep working on on their own or I haven't taught it to them and uh I you know I noticed that early on and so every time like like Dalton he he would see like all right this guy can handle this and so he'd go to like Advance schools or my team were to go to advanc school and they'd like feed me a little more like hey we'll just prepare you for advance and stuff so like teaching me call for fire and stuff like that as as a really Junior Marine like picked it up like that um and like okay now I'll teach you like close air support and like picked it up like that and uh just worked at everything that I could as as hard as I could they really took you under the wing very much so and uh you know a lot of a lot of guys uh don't have phenomenal leaders and you know in their in their careers I think but I definitely had some some solid Some solid leadership and guys that I'm thankful for today you know for molding me in into more of the man that I am now and uh the Marine that I am today and you know saw some good leadership at a young at a young age a young time in my career um that's good I got to see the good and the bad you know I got to see the kind of leader that I wanted to be and the kind of leader I did not want to be so good for you yeah well Tyler let's take a break and when we come back I want to push towards August 26 yeah let's do it ladies and gentlemen it has been a minute since I've done a bubs Naturals commercial but it has not been a minute since I've taken the best of my entire life actually just knocked one out this morning it was amazing and I'm going to give you the secret you ready here's the secret you want the secret for the best of your entire life that you could do I don't know every day maybe multiple times a day here's a secret bubs Naturals collagen peptide says it's good for joints Hair Skin and Nails I'm surprised I don't put on there it'll give you the best of your entire life but hey I get it right and you mix that with the Halo creamer that's MCT oil put these two together you're going to have a explosive hell of a day these things are both Whole 30 approved NSF certified and USDA approved so there's that on top of that hold on wait there's more if that doesn't get you going which I guarantee you it will you've got Bub's new coffee so this is the first ever Coffee Bean Whole 30 approved if you can believe that and we all know coffee can you know speed things up a little bit in the morning but hold on wait there's more apple cider vinegar gummies guys I'm going to be honest I don't know exactly what these things do for you but uh here it says promotes energy immune support promotes healthy digestion and supports healthy metabolism I can tell you one thing good luck just eating one of these things because at the end of the night I will crush an entire bottle of these that will not give you the best of your life I wouldn't recommend it it will speed things up but you may not like the final outcome and hold on wait there's more there's more bubs came out with a lot of new products they have these hydrate or D hydration packets great for post-workout all this stuff is great for post-workout especially the uh calogen protein guys here's another thing about bubs bubs is a tribute company it's named after Glenn bubs dhy who is a Navy SEAL and CIA contractor he died defending our predom in Benghazi and bubs donates a portion of every order to the Glen dhy foundation and they donate 100% of the proceeds from their products on Veterans Day every year I love this company they are just solid people with a solid product and they just want everybody to to experience the best of your life go to bubs naturals.com use the promo code Sean for 20% off and let's get it going we just pumped Nick full of like six units of the wrong blood type there's no way he survives the flight so just be prepared to receive his body we would be getting dudes that were coming in from these other elements for uh for us to work with did that bother you that can get [Music] tricky one of the individuals that was inside that Ford Ranger jumped up on the back of the truck and engaged into the group with that PKM I see what's happening all right Gunner 15 or so feet away from the group ripping into the crowd guys are dropping guys are scrambling things are blowing up kind of all around and uh I just feel the impact I have to cauterize your face back together taking an AK-47 round to the side of my [Music] face young kid first deployment fresh out of B basic and he's 15 ft in front of a guy who's shooting machine gun in his general direction I know everyone in the truck is dead and my right leg is just mled it's just like hammock meat and tissue and exposed bone and there's just a river flowing it's a the ultimate Mass cowl scenario to this day considered the most catastrophic Insider attack since the global war terrorism began all right Tyler we're back from the break you just finished infantry school you're getting ready to go on your first deployment yeah so um so my my squad leader at the time uh you know I was a team leader with uh being a junior Marine with a couple with majority I had maybe one or two other guys who were my peers and in the platoon in different squads who were uh junior Marine team leaders as well um the rest of them were senior guys per se um and so my squad leader actually went to um isil uh infantry small unit leaders course and uh that was like couple couple weeks be or a couple months before deployment like right before deployment just enough time to get back and deploy with us and so I was his um assistant Squad leader um over my over my seniors he he pointed me and over your senior yeah over over my seniors and right when he was leaving you know like the day before he was leaving for that course he said uh listen he's like no more uh you know no more no more answering to to your seniors like you're below them um not that I was ever that way but you know you're the same rank as them um you're holding B over over them he's like take this and run with it he's like you're going to be acting squad leader until I get back and I was like take this and run with it got it so I got it so I uh did what probably any Lance corpal would do in that position I I grew out a nice big old mustache uh none of my peers had mustaches grew a nice big mustache and uh just did my best to run the show from that point on and uh we did our uh McCree so Marine Corps combat Readiness evaluation it's what each unit goes through right before I don't actually they might not do them anymore but up until that point they did them for deployment to pretty much uh see if the entire Battalion was ready if they could use air and C assets um if they could maneuver troops appropriately and all the way down to the team level um you know operate and in a hostile environment and so you go all over penlon and uh like we got Hilo inserted into you know into different places in penlon you hike go on a mission it's like it like four or five days long um uh much more difficult than The Crucible but uh they they I mean hiking up the fire brakes on mountains and stuff breaking brush that you need machetes to break like really testing testing the abilities of of a marine infantry battalion and so I was like this is awesome this I'm I can show you know what I'm capable of and what my my s capable of and uh I just took it and ran with it I mean even even all the way down to you know making a fire like like a a fire sketch pretty much you know of the area I mean I I put as much detail as you could in it and um I know I got um acknowledged for the way I performed during during that McCree um I was just going to ask how do you think your peers received as a leader definitely definitely challenging um but they knew that I was about my and my guys and my team who are all my peers I mean I I was leading all of my peers when I was a team leader and I'd get into them it with them but at the end of the day they knew like they had to respect what I needed to say and needed them to do and they did and uh I mean it's it's a two-way street for that relationship but it was good and and generally it goes like this yeah until you do something to prove yourself did you do something to prove yourself I think just being thrown those tasks being thrown McCree really really kind of helped me shine um and show that I knew what I was doing and that I was just as capable as do to deploy one two or three times before me um The Challenge was definitely like my seniors the the you know the Lance corporals who had been Lance corporals uh had been in my shoes but now I'm in their shoes and I'm a lot farther behind them as far as military careers go um in the Infantry and they that was they were probably the challenge um over over that first deployment um definitely grew closer with them um just being kind of that guy I was always in on the meetings I was always in on on the briefs and stuff because that's what my role was as a as a leader of you know of a fire team um and did you fall over them were you over them yes okay yeah yeah so I was I was over them um I so we went on that first deployment um 31st Mew it was to uh we went to okanawa first uh Camp Hansen and then got on ship for a couple months went to South Korea spent some time near the DMZ uh where were you guys was primar presence in South Korea show of force cuz at that time right when we got there they started launching the icbms um into the ocean and so then W Hogs and started doing gun runs on the DMZ like mock gun runs and all the all the tanks there started doing LIF fire ranges so we we I mean we went to it was it's uh I think Camp Rodriguez is what it's called Uh and it's like specifically a live fire like training facility and it's up in the mountains in South Korea and so go there and uh it's all wif fire stuff um shoot houses things like that so we did a lot of that out there um I had been told uh earlier in that deployment that I was getting put up for uh meritorious Corporal board and so took like a picture on ship in my Chucks Charlie's and uh didn't really think much of it and then uh I was just kind of like a paperboard so I didn't other than like speaking of my direct leadership I didn't have to go in front of anyone so I I didn't really think much of it cuz I'm like well I got this page 11 I've got this njp in my past on the board I mean my physical fitness scores are phenomenal I have I've done a lot and so they did like character statements from leadership and stuff and uh there's one thing in the Marine Corps there's there's always uh there's always people watching no matter what you're doing the good and the bad there's always people watching and uh come to come to have learned that after this but uh we're in we're on a LIF fire range just just finished running it um Dalton he let me take the squad on on a run for the range and um did that did that live fire run um and they call they call us in uh they call in our our platoon to formation and you hear stories of guys who get like njpd in front of like the company and stuff who like they'll bring them in and njp them in front of everyone and whatnot um and they act they were acting really serious like really really serious our platoon Sergeant was and so all right like everyone get the over here get formation um and I was like oh and then they they said my name and I'm saying information and I'm like my heart's just raced I'm like oh like what did I do just thinking I'm like all right I didn't do anything stupid or drunk in okanawa I didn't do anything like this I've been good like what the going on come out of formation go to the front and uh read off my meritorious corpor promotion uh in front of in front of all my buddies and AR platoon I think the entire company might have been there but read it off in front of everyone promoted me and I was just like Star Struck just like just like stunned at what happened and it didn't really process my brain I was like oh my God I thought I was getting in trouble again and uh everyone came in gave me a hug uh and that was a cool moment cuz I I was the uh I was a first first person out of my entire peer group to get promoted to Corporal in our Battalion um an entire unit and I got promoted to Corporal above before um and above a lot of my senior leadership that's a hell of a Redemption yeah it was it was an awesome moment I mean there was there's definitely um the majority who were like one year above me pretty much like one cycle above me in the Marine Corps um that I had I had surpassed and it was it was like a moment where I was like man like this this is you know the what I've earned from from what I've put in and uh I mean I I I I was still hungry I um that didn't it didn't satisfy me but in a in a positive way um I was extremely thankful and still I mean I couldn't believe it probably took like a year to settle in and uh so we we went on that deployment came back um and then I went to Advanced infantry course um just more another follow on school um they typically send like Squad leaders too so I took over um Dalton went to platoon Sergeant I took over as a squad leader they sent me to the Advance infantry course um it's pretty much like the squad leaders course and uh fortunately him and my other team leaders when I was younger had kind of pin me out with their knowledge and stuff so everything at Advanced infantry school was stuff I already knew and it was was stuff that I was very good at um so that was a lot of a lot of just kind of going through the suck you know carrying heavy packs carrying a lot of weapons a lot of ammo and uh still learning a lot but um kind of getting to see you know some some older some older combat instructors some older combat vets really share their stories with us from ratti and um Helman Province and stuff and and really talk to us about you know the reality of the Marine Corps um because a lot of a lot of our direct leadership wasn't uh there was only so many combat vets at that time you know there there and it was very very much the minority of them in in the unit really yeah and uh like not that's surprising my in my platoon of like 35 40 people um coming back from that deployment not a not a single person that have been to combat are you serious yeah not a single person um it was typically there was like onesies and tu's here and there like in the mortar section I think and then like more senior like staff ncos who had been like a couple of the platoon sergeants um our platoon Sergeant at the time um adamopoulos he was he was a younger guy too and had to fill some some big shoes um but like the two the platoon charging before him or two like he was a combat vet but yeah there there was not many I don't know if few and far between is the right phrase but yeah it was a small amount and um so obviously we're doing our own thing training how we know how to train and what we're taught and um fortunately those like where did they go had they Advanced up into the higher ranks or they separated yeah so some of them had uh had Advanced into the higher ranks or you know been cut orders got sent to the like Advanced infantry training batt or like to be combat instructors and stuff um a lot of them had gotten out uh but most of the more of the combat events were like an advanced infantry training Battalion which is like where I went to Advanced infantry course at and there's like all the follow on Advanced more advanced infantry courses um like all those guys are seasoned veterans um that's interesting I I would have thought that some of that knowledge would be in the in the platoon it was more in uh definitely in the staff andos um I think uh there's yeah it's like that for the majority of the platoon like maybe the platoon Sergeant hit been to combat everyone else pretty much now and uh so then I got my first wave of fresh Marines um you know straight out of infantry school and I was like all right well now it's my turn to really step up and be a leader because I've been I mean I've been leading my peers but um really my turn to see if I know what I'm doing and uh mold mold some some great men some great young men and they are those guys are all Squad leaders now on another deployment which is cool um and I was still at this time of that deployment I Was preparing uh for assessment selection for marso I was I was set on going uh very excited and well prepared physically and mentally I felt like um speaking of marock at what point at what point in your career did you turn you turned sniper school down yeah two different times yeah why did you turn that down because so there's a big um so I was I was in the I was a rifle squad leader for about a little under a year and then Dalton said hey I'm going to the sniper two and they running an Indo and I'm like well I'm they're about to make me try and reinlist because I um I want to go to ANS but I'm I need to have like a backup for them like they wanted something just like another contract ready in case that fell through what's ANS assessment selection okay um for Maro and so I was like damn dude he told me he we were just on a fi do and he told me uh on a Thursday he's like hey you're the only other person that knows this besides our LT like I'm going to I'm going to sniper indoc on Monday like the screener and I was like I was like damn dude I was like I should have I should have done it I was like it's too late and uh this whole the one of the the backup to my my plan that they that I was going to do would be the squad leader development program and you spend another at least 2 years in an infantry battalion and then I would go um if I didn't go to Marsh loock I would go on to like another unit or to be a combat instructor or something and get a pretty good bonus um but they Ked them like they only grandfathered in people who had already had them signed and they didn't do them anymore and I was like okay that's fine like I'm I'm going to make a like going to get selected that just solidifies it even more for me I can't cannot not get selected and um I was cool with that and then he told me that and I was like damn dude I was like I I would really like to go with you but it's too late there's deadlines and stuff for filling out packages for for uh for snipers and he's like well Chaz is uh uh you know the um chief chief scout sniper uh my former team leader he's a chief scout sniper the plon I'm buddies with him like let me hit him up and see if um you know you you know if he can like squeeze in cuz I I had a bunch of buddies in the platoon and they had wanted me to come for a while guys i' been Advanced infantry course with and guys in the platoon were like you need to get over here and uh when I was a fresh Marine got njpd I had tried to go actually run a sniper and Dock and they're like nope you just got njp you have to wait a year and so I never got to do it and uh so he hit up Chaz Friday came around they like all right you you can if you can fill out a packet in the entirety of Friday which is normally takes like a week to get done and like get all the signatures and stuff for he's like and you can get him this packet by the end of like close business today like you can like show up Sunday or Monday morning whatever it was for the screener I was like I was like great I need new boots too and uh and so got the packet filled out turned it in they're like all right show up Monday at like 02 or whatever it was and uh it's kind of how I FASTT tracked into that um showed up you know 2: a.m. with the packing list started doing the uh all the phys I mean it's all physical mental stuff but it's uh they definitely try and break you off with the physical stuff and so um I mean let me ask you what was the question you asked me I was trying to lead up to it with that I asked you why you turned down sniper School two different times okay so more suck I uh so pass the screener uh we started with I think like mid to late 30s of guys or something like that on day one and then uh by the end of it there was like maybe eight of us of that week and uh there's eight like eight of us or seven of us and then like four or five of us got selected and Dalton and myself being one of them or two of them and so I told them uh we had to go where our Charlie's go in front of them and they interviewed us um right like to figure out if they wanted to select us for the platoon and you know they're like you're coming from a position of you you know being a squad leader you know kind of being at at you know one of the top spots in your platoon um do you think you could handle having someone above you and you know not being necessarily the leader of the team again or the leader of the squad you know having having a team leader above you I was like yeah like I'm I'm here to work I want to be with more proficient individuals and guys who really do give a um cuz I mean you get those guys in infantry it's like 70% of them 60 % of them like really care but there's a good chunk who are just kind of Getting By and uh you're not going to go put yourself through the suck if you don't want to be there you know what I mean yeah and so um I told them that and I was like and then they told me they they wanted they after that they came back and told me that they wanted me and uh I told them I was like listen my intent is to go to assessment selection from Maro I want you to know if I come to the platoon I'm going to go there um it doesn't mean I'm going to work any less um in any capacity being here because I'm going to go there it's like honestly I'm probably going to work harder because that's where I want to go I want to go to a better place and being around better individuals is going to help push me to be a better version of myself and so um they're like all right we understand like you can come to the platoon and we'll let we'll let you go that's not going to be a problem we want guys like you and I was like awesome cool and then right away away they offered Dalton th spots to sniper school and uh I had I had orders already um like in hand to go in like two uh in like two months to go to assessment selection um and they or maybe it's like a month and a half and so they were like hey sniper schools like during selection like we and we want you to go do you want to like asking me if I want to go pretty much and I was like no I want to go to assessment selection I want to be a Raider and uh it was more important to me I mean you see it and i' I've I've saw it even more as my time went on on the sniper tune but respect all my all my hogs out there Hunter of gunman Scout snipers but it's definitely more of a pride thing wearing that wearing that hog too that 762 bullet around your neck you know a necklace and a title for me is not going to make me a better man me my actions and and how I choose to how the Marine I choose to be is is what matters and so that title wasn't important wasn't important as important to me as becoming a Raider um so I turned it down uh and then I had around around the 4th of July selection was the month after um I gave my I I just was way over training like I was running really hard rucking really hard and still lifting weights um and uh I gave myself a hemorrhoid like the size of a quarter almost right on my my and uh I could barely walk I was waddling around I couldn't sit down I always had to lay down and I remember going so our platoon Corman at that time our head platoon Corman he was a sarc um uh so he uh he had gone through like the basic reconnaissance course Pipeline and uh and and I'm like hey like I might not be able to go to selection like something's wrong I've got like something wrong with my ass and he's like what the did you just say to me and I was like I need you to look at my and he was like oh my God he's just like what the and so he's like are you serious I'm like yeah and he's like all right drop your pants and like spread your cheeks and I did that and I'm bent over cheek spread he's staring at me and all that comes out of his mouth oh my god and I stand up and I put my pants up I was like are you serious dude that's your response I was like you're my doc you could have taken volunteers styler oh man and so that that was his response I was like that's that's your response is oh my God I was like yeah that's bad man and uh he's like all right you need to go to Medical right now and then got like sent to the actual hospital cuz it was a pretty bad one and got some antibiotics and some medicine and stuff and it was like for it to even go away um to the point where I could like I wasn't allowed to work out like it hurt really bad but even if I wanted to push through the pain it um I could have like burst it or made it worse gave myself a hery and stuff and so they're like you can't do anything for like five weeks and that was like the like a week into selection and so I could have could have pushed it uh I talked with my marock recruiter about it and he was like you could do it but it might just your chances up of everything and I was like man and I at that point I mean I had I was a capable infantryman and being in a cyber platoon I mean I was I was fit and capable to go I was ready for selection but it was just like I you know I don't want this to be my one shot and then not happen because I'm hurt and so I had to get my orders uh drop my orders and then um we're in the middle of doing our pre sniper course too and so I would go and do like stock Lanes with them uh as I was still healing up and I would like start halfway and like set up like ffps like final firing positions cuz I couldn't actually like crawl around so I would like start halfway and set up my positions and stuff and still do training and stuff cuz I still want to be involved unfortunately I could still I could still go and shoot I just could only stand kneel or like prone I couldn't sit so I was still able to like participate in training and stuff and I wanted to um and then we went to 29 palms for training leading up to that deployment they're like hey you guys are you guys are going on the SPM T centcom like you're going to the Middle East and this is end of 2020 like October November of 2020 20 and like excited as we're like wow we're actually like they started so they solely kept the Middle East rotations to seventh Marines for a while and uh and then I think fifth Marines as well maybe for a little bit but they moved them back to the rest of the Marine Corps so that everyone would get a chance to like go to the Middle East go to okanawa and and go to Every everywhere we deploy so told us that and then at the end of that training cycle in 29 Palms uh I had another date to go to selection again and also to go to sniper school and they're like all right you like do you want to go to selection or do you want to go to sniper school like we want you to go to sniper school still and um it's like I want to go to selection like I'm good like I'm I can perform outperform a lot of the Scout snipers in this platoon like I'm I'm good I'm I'm I'm good where I'm at and this is what I want to do so turned down sniper School again uh and we had a training event to come up and I was like hey I need to go to this I I appointment for some depth perception issues um if I don't go you know kind of telling my command if you guys don't let me go and miss this like one day of training um you know I'm I'm going to miss my opportunity to go to selection again and they're like no you'll be fine you have time to get it when you get back naturally I didn't have time to go get this appointment done and get these like dep perception glasses when we got back uh uh my timeline overlapped by like two weeks so I missed that selection date again because it didn't let me go get that uh that appointment that I needed while we were in training and uh and then I'm I'm I missed school as well because I turned that down too um so then we deployed and then I was like all right well there's another there's another course that's after uh deployment and uh I'll I'll go to sniper school this time and then I'll go to selection yeah um that was kind of the after that and so jumping into this deployment um you know we were told we're going to Kuwait so the special uh we the spmf uh is special purpose Marine airr task force and we were the CR so crisis response um sent us to Kuwait and Al jaabra Kuwait originally um I guess I should jump back real quick so that February um we deployed in April 1 I think uh of of that year in February I was at a non-lethal weapons instructor course and uh we were we were the guys in my platoon were telling me we had already been told we were awaiting a brief on Syria um going there and kind of pulling out of Syria which obviously didn't happen um and they're like hey the like the Battalion commander and the sergeant major are going to come uh talk to us about it and like one of the colonels or something and so I'm like okay and I'm at this course like hey you need to show up to like the range or guys are on the Range and I was at this course they're like hey show up to this course this afternoon so I had them contact my instructors at this course and like told him something he kind of like made a weird face looking at me and they're like all right yeah we'll send them over there this afternoon and uh go to the range and I pull up to the table like the range table one of my buddies was sitting at and everyone everyone's on the firing line um behind the long guns and uh my buddy him he's like comes up to me he's like hey brother congratulations on the promotion I was like what and I just see like a rock come flying out of nowhere and like Adam you stupid like he doesn't know that he's getting promoted and then uh I was like oh like what the and so I had actually uh when we were in in 29 Palms that prior year I had been put up for a meritorious Sergeant board and uh I won and like I remember my my platoon Sergeant I mean my platoon Commander asking me like I want to put you up for you know I and everyone else wants to put you up for a uh meritorious Sergeant board um you know do you think you deserve that and I was like I think I can handle it and so he's like all right Roger that and so they put me up for that not much more came of it and then uh yeah they they come over to me like all right well when the BC and like Sergeant Major get here like you got to act surprised cuz like it's supposed to be a surprise and so got meritoriously promoted to Sergeant um and that was pretty cool it was with all my boys again uh at this point I had it's funny cuz I told Dalton when I was a young young young guy like a PFC or a lance corporal I was like like giving him as much as I could him being above me I go uh I he was pinning me to to Lance corporal I think and uh I was like you're going to be pinning me to Sergeant one day when you're a sergeant so I promise and then it came and he's like you but um yeah that that was a cool moment so he he promoted me to to Sergeant as well and uh then we deployed shortly thereafter uh went to Kuwait and obviously now this is the you know almost it's like the end of the first quarter of 2021 and we see things in Afghanistan wrapping up and uh with the Taliban and you know everyone the entire world if you got two eyes and you're not blind you can see what's going on in Afghanistan at that time and um we push out to Kuwait we're getting all these briefs on Syria and stuff and we end up um getting prepped to go to Syria and then like all right nope you guys are going to Saudi Arabia now we were in Kuwait for like a month or so get sent to Saudi Arabia as a show of force for Iran and uh started getting told about like briefs on Afghanistan and this is now March April May like May and June it was like two months before we ever left to to Afghan um maybe like three two or three months before we ever left that we were like really getting briefs like hey like the government's collapsing and there and our Colonel of the SP magta we had a good working relationship with him us being uh like sniper sniper platoon sniper teams they they Battalion level asset so they're not controlled by the companies the infantry companies we answered directly to like the battan commander and and at that time where we were in in Saudi Arabia was with the flag pole so the colonel and everyone was there um of the SP magta and so he was always letting us know what was going on we were getting briefs on Afghanistan and they were pushing for us to go like the the Marine Corps was pushing for us to go so you guys you guys went to withdraw Syria then you go that doesn't happen then you go to show Force to Iran yeah and then you get pulled from that to go to Afghanistan yeah so this leads us into you guys going to Afghanistan yep for the withdraw in the incident on the 26th yeah about two two to three months prior to us going you know they our our Colonel told us he's like I'm pushing for us to get over there um we were told the Marine Corps was pushing for us to get over to Afghanistan as well and they instead us being the closest to Afghanistan that that was one of the reasons too for us you know being in not just being a show of force for Iran but we were the closest to that action and closest to Afghanistan and then we started getting told hey you guys aren't going right now they're spinning guys up in the states who have no preparation or anything going on right now to go to Afghanistan like why the are you not sending us like this is what we this is what we're here for did you guys know you were going to Afghanistan to do the withdrawal at this point no they were we knew that our Colonel and the um the Marine Corps was trying to get us to go but we didn't have any dates set didn't have like okay you guys are going what I mean was did you know the administration was going to withdraw all forces uh or was it just because of the civil unrest so the civil unrest and then it uh we were getting briefed on how the president you know and the administration talked about um pulling out by like like September 11th pretty much and so we were told about that and so we knew that that was like hey he that's when he wants to withdraw um why aren't we going now why are we not going now when we can prepare before everything collapses even further than it already is and so guy other guy other units other troops are getting spun up in the states we're waiting to go and we start you know getting told hey this is going to be like a non-combatant evacuation operation which is essentially pulling refugees out you know clearing them vetting them looking at special immigrant visas passports citizenships and no one really knew what that was other than a passport non-combatant pullout huh yeah what all was going what were you guys' Intel briefs that were being reported uh collapse of the government Taliban fighting heavy fighting uh with the national resistance front um so how would this have been a non-combatant withdraw I think uh we all wonder that to this day oh okay yeah um yeah doing what the Taliban does best raping and murdering um tyranny and that's what it was but we did small scale on the the little LSA Air Base that we were at in Saudi Arabia with like the soldiers and air Airmen that were at that base um they would come through our lanes pretty much they'd set up like very nice neat organized lanes and like Marines would have to search them fright like potential threats search for citizenships and stuff passports primarily none of us knew what a special immigrant Visa was even until we got to Afghanistan and even then it was 3 days before the bomb went off before the suicide bomber detonated that we that I even knew what it like special immigration immigrant Visa looked like for the first time um I know what passports look like we all did but that was about it not anything else and uh so those months pass Afghanistan further collapses and on itself with the Taliban closing in on Kabul and uh we're still waiting we're still just sitting around waiting and just trying to get the president to let us go pretty much and and finally when it's at the point where the Taliban are surrounding the entirety of Hamid carai international airport they're already they've taken the rest of Afghanistan and they're you know in the capital um we've you know the decision to close bogam Air Force base was made um not sure why because that's where we should have pulled out from um what we were told we were going to pull out for them and we I mean we got sent in told you were going to withdraw from bogam yeah that that was the better place to withdraw from and that was the weeks leading up to it and then a couple weeks prior said that we're going to kabo to pull out from there um why do you think that decision got changed poor planning honestly I think just just a lack of preparation a lack of planning um the state department weigh in over their heads um and I mean I'll dive into that when when it gets to it but yeah just everyone in way over their heads with that um we so we start prepping getting combat loadouts ready and this is now we're we're in Kuwait and uh we're in Kuwait for training using some of the army sniper ranges there um and they tell us you know we're going we're going to uh like hey you're going to Afghanistan in 2 weeks and they only told our team and I'm like well you guys are crazy if I'm not going to talk to my buddies so the unit that we got or the company that we got attached back to our team was the company that I came from to go to snipers so it was all my buddies who were platoon sergeants and Squad leaders and I was like you guys are crazy if you think I'm not going to help these guys prepare to go in two weeks cuz they were going to wait another week to tell them and so we started letting the guys know what was up um and so obviously we're we're I mean my team we were stoked we were stoked we like all right finally like we get to do our jobs hopefully and uh it really hit us when uh maybe a couple couple days prior to us like our date set to leave that our team Corman Jorge Mayo he came in and uh he was like all right guys it's real I'm like what do you mean he's like got my med pack and you know he's got everything in it he's got all of his drugs all ketamine everything um like oh like it is real like you're not they haven't let you touch that unless you're in a hospital um like we're going and so uh they made us send a rep from our team uh with one of the platoon to Afghanistan um so Dalton went a day before the rest of our team um and Chaz and I went into the the command center to to watch the Drone feeds of them getting in safely and flying in and I mean Chaz and I uh spent hours and hours and hours watching those drone feeds and and the days leading up to it as well and I mean all you saw was the Taliban outside the gates just Bam Bam Bam just civilian after civilian after civilian how many civilians do you think you saw executed by Taliban from drone feed from the Drone feed probably probably like 20 or 30 at least and uh and that was just in the short moments that I was in there saw a lot more in person um what did that feel like seeing that on drone um what's the right word I would say those are our allies yeah I mean I it was it was saddening to watch it was horrible to watch what is the leadership saying were they disgusted they wanted us to get the over there to do something about it um I mean everyone in in our unit and our kind of echelon of command and and that SP magta and that side of it like they're ready we were ready to go like or what we thought would be ready anyway like ready to go help is is what I mean um I mean we were all disgusted by what we saw um and then that day them coming in so they flew in on that plane and that's the day that uh I mean we were watching the feed and there's just tens of hundreds of thousands of people just collapsing in on the airport you can see it from every angle there's just crowds as far as the eye can see and just going to going to the airport cuz they know that that's the only way out and uh Dalton gets there with that platoon I think it was force platoon and they start they get there we watched them get in safely I think they might have taken some a couple of the birds were taking rocket fire and machine gun fire and as they were coming and uh they got they touched down we made sure they did and we were supposed to leave the next night and so that day was when you see all those videos of the guys holding on to the landing gear in the wheels and I'm falling out of the sky and crushing I mean my guys were on the ground there watching those people firsthand drop out of the planes I mean I know Dalton and my you know my buddy Jake like they they W they watched those bodies hit the pavement they watched them hit the runway they they were there and had to control th that crowd of thousands of people that broke into the gates and just all these unknown individuals rushed them um they were they spent I think like 30 30 something hours like clearing the Airfield um of all those people and we have no idea who they are some are the some are allies some are not you know um and so they got that Under Wraps right when we went to touchdown and so we we loaded up at the runway what day did you get in we got in August 15th I think I think we flew out the 14th and got in on the 15th um so August 15 2021 is when we got we touched down um give or take 12 hours but touchdown and they're like hey it's going to be the alamoo you guys are going get off the bird the last bird of you guys I got here I mean they were fighting the crowds coming out of the plane throwing tear gas and which they were and uh you guys are going to you know Fighting fight them coming out of the plane and stuff and and uh a funny moment was we we come off the bird and it's the middle of the night and everyone's running out immediately setting up at 360 and I'm just looking around and there's like just calm as can be like right there on the Airfield and uh just in that immediate area where we landed and this like Army soldier or this Airman walks up with her Kevlar like strapped to her her pack or her plate carrier walking up to us with a clipboard hi guys welcome to Afghanistan like what the and and uh remember Cooper one of the guys on our team at the time one of our our only Junior Marine in the team uh he post up on security I'm like Cooper get the up like I don't know what the this is but it's not uh it's not not what what we thought it was going to be when we landed and so they come to find out now our guys had already secured the Airfield and we just had him in P pass that Intel um and so we get up we immediately push uh with that platoon to uh this this abandoned gym in h Kaa and we're just anxious to get to work we go back grab our rucks cuz a few of our rucks were palletized and um or like our main rucks were palletized and I mean I I came in I was carrying we we like Chaz Chaz carried in I think like a mark 13 so like 3 Win mag and then I I carried like I was primarying a SASS and then had my m481 as well um so we took a couple long guns with us on the bird and palletized a couple other ones um and had had a can or two of ammo as well but got there got off the bird uh grabbed our stuff went to the gym ran into another sniper team from uh from 18 and they were trying to talk to us but they they're trying to the other guys were trying to Usher us into our little area in the gym and so we get there um and we're like all right well let's get to work like let's find a job that's what we do best so our other another sniper team of ours from our platoon just got in there like that morning or something so they were there with our platoon commander and so like all right let's go find uh uh LT and uh we go out there um we go over to where they're staged by like the The Joint Operations Command and the rest of our weapons uh company so like snipers are organic to like the weapons company pretty much and then we got it's like um Echo company Fox company golf company um and then like weapons company and so is like heavy machine guns um cat snipers um like heavy mortars or medium mortars and then uh so we got met up with the rest of our guys said what's up we're like hey like we want to let's get to work um and everyone was still kind of trying to figure out what was going on on the ground and they're like all right well we're going to send you out in the morning early morning for a uh to observe the Taliban on the civilian side of the terminals on the Airfield and so we go out there that next morning uh didn't have any rides or anything so we're trying to just guys are stealing cars and stealing literally guys are driving around with like the luggage vehicles that like put the belts onto the plane CU they needed rides around the the airport and stuff um we didn't have any utvs to roll out or anything like that um and it was quite a ways away so we're like we got a we got a lot of we we'll hump it if we have to but let's let's try and source some Vehicles so we had someone with a gator uh pick us up got taken out there to this uh this radio like Radar Site with a satellite and um 18 had there a sniper team up there already and like a a small hide and so we we went up there swapped out with them and uh they were kind of updating us just saying they were seeing people firing off rounds like Taliban firing off rounds in the terminal and uh uh talking on phones and stuff but I mean everyone out there now has phones so you know it is what it is um but we got up there swwa ripped out with them and then uh guys started setting up more of a perimeter around around the airport literally just like almost entrenching along the Airfield and um we observed the Taliban for for that whole day uh maybe a little bit into the next day and what were they doing uh some of them were were executing people in the civilian terminals on the far side um a couple of our guys had got not our team but couple of the guys from Echo company had gotten shot at and at the time it was like if you get shot at shoot back like that's what the Roe is what we were told and then those Roe just started just dropping going to the Wayside they were like all right don't do anything um don't do anything unless yeah yeah unless you unless you're like getting shot at or you see someone's life threatened like don't shoot and like specifically for us cuz we're like like so so hold on yeah Roe are don't shoot unless you get shot at yeah you're literally you showed me videos of this yeah you you're literally witnessing people get executed from all angles yep and then they make the Roes even more strict on you yeah they they go who's telling you this where's this coming from it was a mix uh I mean what is the leadership saying but as they tell you this yeah so it's like Battalion and higher and for us we're like okay so obviously we're in a more unique situation being in a cyer team you know what are we doing if we perceive a threat and so now we have to request permission to engage um if we see someone getting shot or executed we have to make sure that they're like they are like an American citizen or an ally and like how the are we supposed to know that when they've got someone on their knees with a gun to their head um um and so we're there um and I'll jump more into the Roes when we get to abig gate but we uh how many people do you think you saw executed in person myself uh probably at least 50 50 people yeah yeah and it was all primarily like at abig gate about 98% of it um we so I myself and Jorge we went to women yeah children I didn't see any children um but I did see dead children because of the Taliban forcing these civilians to be so scared that they'd throw their babies over the wall or they would get trampled to death um yeah you have a lot of video this I'm going to put the video Yeah in in the episode definitely um so myself when we're at and Jorge at this satellite tower we go to find a place to uh use the bathroom and we do that we find this ship there's a few bunch of shipping containers next to this where we're at where our hides at and so we start breaking them open um and he he's like hey there's one over here with like a bunch of tools in it and I'm like like power tools or what and he's like everything and so we go in there and uh he's like oh he pulls out this like three and a half 4T tall um pair of B Cutters out and he's like oh we need these he like oh we can toss him this bobcat had just found a a bobcat with like a forklift and a bed on the back uh that we hotwired and like maybe an hour or two prior I was like We'll toss him in the back of the Vic and then he's like oh here's just like twoot like tall pair of Bol Cutters like what about this I was like oh hell yeah like I'll keep those on me so I put them on my kit um we pull off of that position that day and they're like hey you guys are going to Abby gate um abig gate forward and they're going to open the gate and start like letting people through is this the 26th this is now like the 18th I think of August um cuz we were maybe the 17th we were there at Abbey for like almost 10 days uh leading up to the the suicide bomber and uh we get there and you know pretty much dalon and Chaz went up in the tower like our Sniper Tower that was there and there were some uh some Brits up there the gate was still closed and there was a company of a golf company I think of their marines that were there at the gate cuz they were going to be the ones with us to like push the gate open and start working on the crowd and uh D and Chaz go up in the tower to scope it out I'm waiting down on the ground with the rest of the team and they're like hey come up like we'll set up a position in here this is a good spot we can see the entire neighborhood to our left we can like there's windows on all sides and they're they're bulletproof windows um at least rated for 762 cuz when we got shot at it didn't uh it didn't break it just cracked and uh so we have Windows on all four sides and the middle of them like slides open and so we go up there and it's maybe the bottom of the tower is like 12 x 12 ft maybe or so and then same with the the second story is 12 x 12 ft and just the ladder well on the right side and so we can see the neighborhood the canal is next to us uh this way and then in front of us is like the big part of that of like Kabul City right there and the right side is like the Gate entrance and then like the Airfield and like the wall to the airport and um we go uh we set up the position they're like okay we're going to open up the gate here in a minute and at this point I mean there's couple thousand people outside the gate um and more still coming um why are you hold on let's let's backtrack just a second so you're about ready to open this gate are people being executed right outside of the gate so the Taliban had a checkpoint so from our gate the Taliban had a checkpoint right past the baron hotel where the British were at and they had gotten blocked by the crowds they couldn't get through the crowds from the baron Hotel the Taliban were about5 165 yards in front of us so that's where they were killing people and doing stuff and it those killings beatings were happening more before we got there and then died down a little bit cuz we could see them and then shipping containers were moved out to set up like a blocking position for V bits to not be able to come through um once those shipping containers were set up it it put a great great wall in front of the Taliban that they couldn't be seen at least by the guys on the ground we were in an elevated position so we could see everything that they were doing and uh it was probably about 3 days or two or 3 days into that being at the gate that they put those shipping containers out there um so we're getting ready to open up this gate and I'm uh I was like I told Chaz and D I'm like hey I'm going to go down on the ground cuz uh they pushed out a platoon in right gear out through the crowd just like sent out a platoon just through this crowd of hundreds of people I mean any one of them could have detonated a bomb and uh I I mean I've got a video of this too and so they pushed the they pushed the platoon out to ping off like a couple hundred of the people in the crowd and um to we started opening the gate a little bit and they just collapsed and I mean dudes were coming out the funny thing is is it's like it sucks about the Allies that we left behind but what sucked even more in seeing the women and children suffer through that is seeing the military AED males just running not not trying to stand up and fight for their country and that was a big majority of who was coming through the gate yeah um and 90% of them you know didn't have they just didn't have the opportunities to get um you know passports or citizenships or visas and stuff and so uh those people were coming through and I mean pretty much the military age Mills they were those ones would come through and they would just be throwing Haymakers and fighting us u i mean physically fighting us all day um trying to like get past us into into the airport and so finally um Cooper and Adam are like down where at the entrance of the gate and they get sucked into the crowd and they're like pulling them into like all this crowd's pulling them into them and they're like holding on to the gate and so I go down there cuz we're looking for them and uh I help pull uh Cooper out find Adam and then uh they kind of close up the gate a little bit and then bring up two SUVs to two SUVs and like an outward V to funnel people through those SUVs so they can't um um just started muling us pretty much um or trample us and so when that gate was first open I mean there was I pulled out one lady who like they they the crowd just broke over the top of her and just trampled her to death and like we tried pulling her out and I was there and pulled this lady out and she was she was gone she got trampled to death and uh that happened a lot um I witnessed it probably four or five times as just myself at that gate um you know quite a lot with babies too cuz they'd get suffocated in the crowd damn yeah um what were you guys doing with the people when they got up started searching them um we hadn't we didn't have a safe way to search at yet uh I mean as safe as can be in that situation but uh we you know they'd come through in onesies and Tuesday and we'd search them and then uh try and link them up with the state department uh and and get them processed and a lot of the time it would just be the state department saying nope they can't come through send them back and uh we send them back straight out to the Taliban and a lot of them who get sent back I mean on the spot I remember we watched this lady who walked around the ship one of the shipping containers metal pipe just comes and just bam straight into the forehead just out gone just like that and I mean they like at night it was the worst they'd uh you know they knew there weren't as many eyes on them and night and um they'd line people up along the wall and just execute them um I you know there there was uh like flashbangs that had to be used and stuff to try and Crow control and um we we got the first couple hundred people set in place and then we're slowly pushing into like the main part of the canal off of like the left edge of our Tower there was a chain link fence that ran out about 100 yards and so then the canal was on the left side of that and uh you know I don't remember what day it was but uh they brought those shipping containers out and then they brought the Ground Force Commander out um to speak with a tban I don't remember who specifically did it but we were told that they paid the tile ban off uh to stop fighting us pretty much to stop like getting in our way um and there what we were told is the rules in place were leave us alone we'll leave you alone if you let us take these people out but there was nothing like hey to the Taliban that hey stop like if you kill these people or execute them we're going to do the same to you and uh there was none of that in these agreements so they they had free will to do whatever they wanted out there um yeah I'm speechless right now yeah it was it was it was a lot heavy I mean of people spent a lot of time over there and a lot of those Afghans had our back yeah and for the president of the United States to allow this to happen is absurd and it gets worse yeah it does and it gets worse yeah we uh you know I'm going to try to never mind so this is what happens when you vote for somebody that cannot put a sentence together this what happens yeah we uh I mean I you know it we like it was right in front of everybody's face on that first debate it was right there in the open you voted in an incompetent to run this country and this is the that happens I think you know you should be ashamed of yourself I think you know firsthand too like a lot of us have bled for a lot of those allies over there but it's the same on their end a lot of them have bled for us too and uh I mean we um yeah those shipping containers were put up um I typically would stay up all nights because you know I thought all right if they're going to do something they're going to try something at night if they're going to try and shoot us attack us blow us up like they're going to do it at night that's when I would do it and uh so I stayed up almost every night from uh sun down to almost Sun up and um at one point I got I mean I got so fed up I was I was counting bodies over the net like the Taliban have killed two people the Taliban have murdered three people they've executed four five six like I got fed up and uh kept requesting engagement Authority um letting them know like what are we doing about this and just like you know go about your job that was what was passed down from the the Battalion or above the Battalion um and I took I took four of our guys up to the baron Hotel like right next to the Taliban checkpoint to to get some footage of like up close of like the bodies and what they were doing over there and so uh we walked up to the baron hotel and there's just like this British version of a PFC or a private and he's just like standing guard out front and he's like what's your business here and I was just like I we got a bunch of cameras and in our bags and I was like it's classified he's like okay she like opens the door and uh like all right well that worked and so we go in there and it's like all the British command and I'm like all right just got to look like I know what I'm doing like turned right walked up on top of their conx boxes there and uh set up the guys on security and started taking pictures from this Tower and I I have pictures of this too of me doing this um and started taking pictures of the piles of bodies that were on the ground uh the guys lined up on their knees against the wall the women lined up against their KNE on their knees against the wall and stuff with guns pointed at their head um and then and still the Biden Administration would not allow you to save these people they're literally on their knees facing the wall getting shot in the back of the head one after another and our president is not going to allow you to engage we turned uh we turned uh that footage over to uh The Joint Operations Command to our in Intel assets that night and got given a new SD card and we're like all right go back out to the gate that was that was that so went back out nothing came of it no one made any any decisions on um dealing with the Taliban executing people and I mean that was just the Pinnacle of it I mean it had been going on for days prior many many days prior and uh you know I um I mean one one one memory of of these how desperate these people were to escape the Taliban is this lady we had to send her back out out of the gate and I don't remember who did it um but some individuals are taking her back out of the gate go back into the crowd and she jumps like leaps at the the razor wire and starts trying to cut her throat with the razor wire she was like if you send me back they're going to rape me they're going to torture me like I kill me kill me and like couple Marines grabbed her and prevented her from killing killing herself but I mean that's that's how bad it is there like she was willing to just slit her throat on razor wire can you imagine that that's it's uh it's not I ever could have made up you you know I wouldn't have I couldn't have dreamed about this and I mean it was Unreal um like I said those crowds the crowd just continued to build up next to our Tower um finally I want to say two days before the suicide bomber and the gunfight um and of the morning of we we took two impact uh from the neighborhood on our window like got shot at like impact impact and then crack crack and uh shut the door I climbed up the tower Cooper was up there and like right where his head was there was two 762 bullets that impacted right next to him fortunately the glass was bulletproof I have pictures of that as well um and you know we told told command what was going on nothing came of it you know guys said keep operating keep pulling people out keep keep doing what we're doing so we continue to search for a shooter couldn't find one I mean that neighborhood was two and three story buildings just able to see everything that we were doing and I mean you could have hidden in 100 different rooms um the morning of the 26th uh what what is the what are the discussions between you and your team were you guys wondering why you're not engaging I mean how much chatter I mean it's it's a lot we're just like honestly disbelief of what the situation is and uh and disbelief at the lack of leadership um the lack of decision- making on what was going on I mean this is we're going to have to live with for the rest of our lives you know every single person out there saw the things that we did that we're going to have to live with for the rest of our lives and there's in combat anywhere there's there's hard decisions to be made and and outside of combat but it's the it's the lack it's the lack of decisions that that cause these things to happen that's it was a complete it was an it was absent leadership Dam nobody's there no not one person is stepping up to the plate yeah all the way from the president of the United States down not one decision was made yeah it's um the uh so we get we get close it's the 26 now and at this point we had we had a few ID probes so guys had come into the crowd with the same kind of making model backpack and drop them in the crowd and uh we called it up to EOD halted operations and stuff and we're witnessing this firsthand I mean we're letting them know like hey there's guys in the crowd and they would there's so many people that they'd come in drop a backpack and just duck into the crowd because there's thousands and thousands and thousands of people and um they'd go out and they' pull out the same backpacks and all right well there's nothing in it it's clear and then be like all right well go back to operating um and so that we had gotten um we gotten confirmation on a couple V bids uh like a like a gold Corolla like um two or three different vehicles and uh like a green Mazda and fortunately we had those shipping containers set in front of us so we were we were good on that end um they couldn't car couldn't drive through the crowd on on the canal um and so waiting for that and as the days are going on the Taliban building up more and more in front of us at that position first it was like couple vehicles and like guys with with guns and and their own kit excuse me their kit and our guns um the guns that we left yeah M27 that we abandoned yeah like HK um 46s and uh M4 m4s M16s pmags I mean I saw I saw a lot of guys out there with the same gear that I was using other than my plate carrier I mean they had plate carriers too but same R helmets vehicles yep armor LC's yep bringing over they drove over mrap at one point um like a mavi or whatever it was um and they were slowly just building up with gun trucks in front of us as well with PKM and dishas on the back and stuff and um uh the I think it was the 25th or the morning of the 26th I can give you the dates after this cuz I have the time stamp on my phone uh they brought the Taliban up to to our gate and they brought a few of them up to our gate to crowd to crowd control they The Ground Force Commander out there um the leadership out there allowed them I'm sorry what they allowed the Taliban to come up to our gate you us leadership invited Taliban to come to the gate yeah to do crowd control y who who is this do you have names uh the only the only Commander that I know of out there was uh was General Sullivan at the time General Sullivan yeah I don't know um he sounds like a genius I don't know who gave that okay but he was the Ground Force Commander out there um well then he gave the okay yeah uh and we got um I mean I've got that was the plan I've got footage video and uh I've spread it around to ensure that it something doesn't happen to it um of Taliban I mean from me to my leg that close to Marines um hitting civilians with sticks next to them just beating civilians right next to them we were told not to do anything right outside our Tower um and that for some of the senior guys who had been to combat not not even just the senior guys but the senior guys who had who had been there and done that who had watched their brothers get killed by the Taliban and them brutalize and terrorize these people for the entirety of this war and since since their Inception I mean I saw grown men break down because of it's like what the are we doing literally grown men staff sergeants Gunnies breaking a tears and in a private space the of our Tower became like the go-to spot to let your tears out I mean I saw countless Marines come to the bottom of our Tower and just ball their eyes out because of what they were seeing because of the Dead children because of the Dead women the dead men because of the Taliban coming up the guy who just killed this this this senior nco's buddy back in the day now allowed to be working next to working in beating civilians next to Marines so now we're allies with the Taliban who are killing our our previous allies yeah for 20 years yep and uh this is America this is the United States of America now yeah it it uh and like I said Sean it's uh it should I should I couldn't even have ever made up other than having experienced it and uh I mean yeah there's a lot uh there's a lot to unpack there and I mean every everyone everyone who is out there has stories like that like similar to mine in in regards to the the terror like the terror and the brutalization of of the populace out there and the taliban's actions um a big thing is the state department so we would process civilians throughout the whole day we'd be stuck all night so for us our team slept in our Tower we slept there and we operated for us obviously sniper like operations are are 24/7 they're continuous operations so we we were always up then Non-Stop and uh obviously cycling guys out through the team there was seven of us there and um cycling guys out and um guys the guys like the the grunts on the ground uh so for us if we weren't if we weren't like observing or weren't reporting we'd go down and we ourselves like my team the guy not doing anything we'd be pulling out civilians we'd be helping everyone on the ground we'd be day in and day out doing down there and the with the guys cuz we wanted to help and uh our Corman I mean I don't even think he Jorge I don't think he slept he was just rendering Aid all day and all night long to civilians who were dying from heat stroke Suffocation malnourishment stomped to death I mean beaten and bloodied and bruised the people who' come to the Taliban checkpoint the ones that they let through they'd be bloody and have cuts and bruises all over them from the Taliban having beat them 20 minutes prior I mean and so he was he was down there doing that the whole time um the dude he would come up and and conduct observation to take a break from from seeing all of that and uh and then go right back to it and I mean there was countless orphan CH orphaned children out there um getting ripped away from their families or their families would get killed um yeah that uh so we what do you think happened to those kids some of them uh I know I know like a lot of the state department would tell us like send them back out and finally like I don't remember which Commander at the at the company level did it but it might have been the Echo company Commander but someone like someone did at the lower level like of leadership above me but was like put their foot down and like like was like we're not sending these children out like we're going to create a spot for them and a lot of them were the orphan children there was finally like something set up for them to where like even the ones I I've pulled out orphan children like they would wait by the bottom of our Tower and like the extra vehicles that we had there and they'd sleep until we could process them in and then they'd get uh they got sent out to other Allied countries and um and processed but it wasn't all of them you want to know what happened to the kids that got sent back out there you know what happened yeah they got raped yep and then they got killed yep it's exactly what happened yeah the uh or they got um taken under the wing of an extremist and we're looking to kill Americans um so 26 rolls around let me uh yeah refresh the audience with some facts on the 26 so suicide uh bomber detonates near abig gate 13 service members killed 11 Marines one Sailor One Army soldier 170 Afghans killed just in the blast 45 US military personnel wounded you lost your right arm your left leg missing parts of multiple organs 43 surgeries 54 units of blood and you still have 13 ball bearings and two pieces of shrapnel stuck in your body all that is correct so let's under the 26th yeah so uh the night like early morning excuse me yeah early morning of the 26th about 1 130 um we had gotten Intel from The Joint Operations Command and our assets uh coming from from the jog assets that were out there that uh there was a confirmed suicide bomber in the area traveling with another individual um and they had given us the exact that they had that they told us that they had the exact description of it and so I'm getting this word from our Intel assets me and a couple guys on the team uh Chaz being one of them and it might have been our whole team actually um cuz at one point they we didn't want to leave the tower because we were just trying to help as much as we could and our our leadership was like Hey like come come off the tower for like an hour or two like go back to the packs like chill out for a second and then like go back we'll send they had extra guys on the team they had uh over to team like eight guys or something just like nine guys so some extra dudes to go up to the tower and like hold hold our position for an hour and we're like no we're good but they're like just go back for an hour and like decompress and uh like all right so we did that went and really just got some grabbed some more MREs and uh Intel and so they're like he's uh a younger individual probably clean shaven uh wearing a brown M dress with uh some like black outer Garb of some sort and a black bag and uh traveling with an older individual who um is probably the guy kind of guiding him to do this and my first reaction I was like how the do we have an exact description of this guy I was like who if we have an exact description of this guy and we know that he's coming to abig gate that means you have a wife watching him you have someone watching him someone operating in the AO or who knows where he's going to be why are we not stopping him before he gets to us and we were just told the Intel asset couldn't be compromised and uh unfortunately that's the only thing I agree with so far yeah the the that's the only de decision I agree with because you know why because he the Intel never stops he's an Insider yeah yeah and uh that's why yeah it's our job to eliminate the uh the yeah hard those hard decisions have to be made but like that's a great way to put it is we're told these things so we can stop these stop what's happening but our leadership denied it yeah and so we go back out to the gate um I and obviously at the time you know we're all kind of thinking like for us it's like why the wouldn't we do something what would they do something earlier but that's a great way to explain it um and so we go back out to the gate and I mean we're not that we weren't hypervigilant before but I mean even even more so now and uh as much as we could be looking for looking for this dude and we let everyone all the ground forces know like like hey this guy is out here this is what he looks like this is who he's probably going to be with um you know keep an eye out and obviously we're up in Toler in an elevated position um scanning this crowd of thousands and thousands of people and the morning of the 26th uh they sent back what was it yeah they sent like some of us back uh to prep our packs to to bounce out of AF Afghanistan they're like hey you guys are probably going to um like you need to either prep to like thermite your packs and stuff if things like get really bad and it's a hot xville um or just make sure everything's tight all the extra weapons and ammo and whatnot are uh are in a good spot so someone can throw it on a bird for you if we got to get out of here quickly so myself and um one or two of the guys went back and then uh early that morning and then um around man like 12 in the afternoon um around there 12 to 1 we see this guy who fits the exact description probably about about 300 yard back in the crowd and he's traveling with an older gentleman this guy's the only guy that is clean shaven and is not that dirty um he's sweating a lot but he's he's definitely the anomaly in the Baseline and um she's wearing a brown M dress black outer Garb like a vest or something in a backpack or backpack or duffel bag um we're like man this looks like this guy and he was he was quite a ways back and and I mean to get through that crowd it would take it takes all day unless I mean you're pretty unless you start really pushing people out of the way and hurting people and stuff um takes takes a few hours to get from where he was at to the base of our Tower and um like okay we get one of the some of the Sops the psychological operations guys individuals uh the army guys they they come up to our Tower and we show him show them the pictures that we have and who he is and I mean this whole time is working closer towards us and we pass over the net like that we've got this you know this possible threat and uh that we're linking up with the scops guys to get you know another set of eyes on him and for us we're like this is the guy the scops guys are like yeah that's him that's the exact description that we have like that's that's who we think it is too and we're like okay cool and so we pass over the net that two were you know requesting engagement Authority I I mean me I was I was spotting Chaz was on the gun and then someone else took over for spotting and I was on the net I was just on the radio you know requesting engagement Authority for this individual giving them the description getting denied and uh then the counter Intel guys uh some counter Intel individuals they came up to our Tower and we showed them the photos as well so now this is the third third group of of individuals this is like 12 sets of eyes now on on on these pictures 12 PS yeah and they're like yep that he fits the description and so does the old guy older guy traveling with like that's who we think he is too and we're like all right well that's three separate entities that that think the same exact thing um you know dalon he's always got a saying like if it walks like a duck it acts like a duck is probably a duck and uh I passed it over than that again like hey we have confirmation for three separate entities um we need to I'm requesting engagement Authority on this individual American lives are going to be at stake if he continues to come up here and we had we had watched him I didn't get to portray it fully in front of Congress but we we were watching him for a couple hours like quite a few hours still continuously requesting engagement Authority and finally it's like no um like like you like engagement authorities denied and I was like who the like who has it or we don't have they're like we don't have the engagement authority to give you and I was like we'll send the Battalion Commander up here cuz we're going to shoot this guy if you don't and obviously in our eyes right and I said I said this to Congress too I said even if this was a potential if this was possible if it wasn't the guy the bomber in the crowd is going to think twice twice about doing what he's about to do because he watched some dude's chest get caved in because he watches this dude just get taken out he's going to know that we're watching he's going to know that when he does come into view we're going to deal with him we're going to put him down because bad people need to be put down that's what our job is and not what our job is but that's what we're supposed to do in that situation with those individuals and 300 yard shot is an easy shot to take from a stable platform with high powerered Optics and long guns not to venture with everything else that's going on around it yeah all the executions dead babies women trying to cut their own throats on razor wi that's how bad it is and and and they're denying you permission to take this guy out on top of allowing the Taliban to come up and work next to Marines and so they say all right the Batali maners on his way at this point I mean this dude's closer he's within like 200 yard 150 yards an hour maybe even maybe even closer than that um and the Battalion Commander comes up uh Lieutenant Colonel Brad wied and he he comes up to the tower we show him the photos and he's just kind of sitting on you know the heels of his feet like what and we're like well sir do we have your permission to engage like we've had counter Intel psychological operations and and ourselves positive ID on this guy this is the description and he was like well yeah it does look like it but I don't have that I don't have that Authority what's this guy's name Lieutenant Colonel Brad weed um it's like I don't have that authority to give like what the what the is he doing there then yeah we're like what the then who what rank is this guy at the time he was a lieutenant colonel um and I say um myself and chazer both have a have a intense conversation like who the does have the authority sir and he goes well I don't know like what the do you mean you don't know he doesn't know his chaining of command no and this guy has to live with this for the rest of his life life and I'm glad you do Lieutenant Colonel you piece of the thing the thing is too is we got um so he said I don't know and uh you know we chass I both reiterate well you need to find out because American lives are at stake and if this is the bomber a lot of people are going to die and he leaves the tower leaving us with the sense that he's going to go get us an answer and now at this point it's later in the afternoon it's like 2: 3 p.m. um and this guy disappears into the crowd we don't get an answer back it's like I said the uh like I said in front of Congress I'm not I didn't just throw his ranking name out there to destroy this guy's career but he's who it started with and it ended with General Sullivan and we were told General s and this is me quoting him he said that request never got to me so somewhere between here and here someone didn't give a you know what you're doing Tyler is you are exposing how weak United States leadership is in the US military it's that week now and you know when it got that week right after this last election everybody that was worth a either got fired or pulled out or left because they knew this was going to happen that's what you're doing you're exposing how weak military leadership is now because of who's in office and it's good you're doing that I appreciate that Sean it uh it's definitely like I said in between in between the Battalion commander and and the general suvin it someone didn't give a enough it's we get taught it's our job to to push down as Leaders as Marine leaders as leaders in any any sense of the word it's our job to push down on our subordinates but it's also our job to push up you might have we take a break for a second let's take a break all right I want to give a big thank you out right now to all the vigilance Elite patrons out there that are watching the show right now just want to say thank you guys you are our top supporters and you're what makes this show actually happen if you're not on vigilance lead patreon I want to tell you a little bit about what's going on in there so we do a little bit of everything there's plenty of behind the scenes content from the actual sha Ryan Show on top of that basically what I do is I take a lot of the questions that I get from you guys or the patrons and then I turn them into videos so we get right now there's a lot of concern about self-defense Home Defense crimes on the rise all throughout the country actually all throughout the world and so we talk about everything from how to prep your home how to clear your home how to get familiar with a firearm both Rifle and Pistol for beginners and advanced we talk about mindset we talk about Defensive Driving we have an end of the month live chat that I'm on at the end of every month where we can talk about whatever topics you guys have it's actually done on Zoom you might enjoy it check it out and if zoom's not your thing or you don't like live chats like I said there's a library of well over a hundred videos on where to start with prepping all the firearm stuff pretty much anything you can think of it's on there so anyways go to www.patreon.com vigilance Elite or just go on the link in the description it'll take you right there and if you don't want to and you just want to continue to watch the show that's fine too I appreciate it either way love you all let's get back to the show thank you all right Tyler we're back from the break I'm sorry it's getting it's getting pretty heavy and uh I am I'm having trouble controlling my thoughts my words and my feelings and um and I'm sorry no you got a lot more self-control than I did no need to apologize I've had a had a few opportunities to talk about it so it's uh yeah it's have to we talked a little bit earlier but I think uh I have to be myself but portray things appropriately so people listen so you're a wise man I appreciate that so we left off Sullivan uh was promoted for the superb job that he did being the what was he the Ground Force Commander over there or something whatever whatever he was in charge and he got a promotion so let's continue yeah so uh salian Commander left us with that uh without an answer um as to shooting this p and uh about 30 minutes after that um after him leaving this individual and you know for a little bit they were sitting you know they at one point they I mean they were doing everything differently than everyone else in the crowd they were handing out small white cards to everyone throughout the crowd the the older gentleman who was seemingly coaching the bomber um trying to keep him calm and um they I remember at one point they sat on the edge of the canal for a little bit and then continued moving around and after our Battalion Commander left um I want to say within 30 minutes of that they disappeared like just completely disappeared into the crowd and we were like well and we again we were updating everyone on the ground right at our Tower like hey the this individual's disappeared and when we initially called in uh you know these individuals like we halted operations for a little bit like they halted operations on the ground they the guys on the ground took us seriously um and then they were told to continue and after we told them that these individuals had disappeared into the crowd they were told to continue pulling people out putting themselves In Harm's Way and now half of our team the other half of our team went back to our packs again I was talking about um making sure their gear making sure the gear was tight and ready to punch out if we needed to and so myself and Andrew Valencia our joint fires Observer we stayed back we were the two senior pigs in the platoon um guys with a little bit of experience and very competent individual so they trusted us to stay at the tower by ourselves and he and I continued conducting observation and uh the other guys went back uh taking two vehicles and half of our half of our team came back or uh Jorge and Adam they came back first from the packs and Adam came up to the tower Jorge went down and continued helping people and triaging people Chaz Dalton and Cooper um were still over at the packs and getting ready to punch back and so they were creating a plan to to demo everything if like that became necessary um cuz they're like it's going to be the Alamo getting out of here like we're going to be taking rocket fire and machine gun fire and like the taliban's going to try and blow us up as we come out of here and and so we were prepping for that I'm at the uh I'm at the tower and Adam's up there Andrew's up there and at this point we had been waiting for um we had been waiting for an interpreter from uh it was it was one of the one of the a group guy uh I don't remember what group but uh they reached out to us about pulling out an interpreter uh for them that they had worked with and were like and that's what a lot of it had been it was like hey um you know these guys helped us back in the day like Raiders old SF guy like buddies of ours other people just reaching out through Instagram CU I knew we were out there um and other social media platforms and you know texting and stuff they're like hey the like can you pull this dude out in his family like he's got documentation he was and that you know they've bled for us and you know sweat tears blood for us and just like likewise for for them and uh they're going to be here on this day and we're like yeah and so a lot of that what we were doing is processing those guys who would reach out to us we would pull out their interpreters and allies of ours who helped us in the past 20 years and um Dalton had specifically had contact with that those individuals and uh said that he he asked one of us he said hey I gotta like I'm going to go back to the packs and make our make sure shit's good if we got a demo it or just stage it can one of you guys go down and get this interpreter when he comes out cuz he might be here when I'm gone and uh I was like yeah dude I got you don't worry like I'll I'll go down and um so we had told him to hold up a sign uh that said like Dalton 21 sta on it like surveillance and Target acquisition platoon that's what our sniper platoon are and so uh you know about 5 5:00 p.m. 5:20 p.m. or so um uh staff sergeant Darren Hoover um a friend and mentor of mine guy I looked up to for sure and one of the one of the few one of the few guys in in the Battalion in in the company who had been to Afghanistan before and who had combat experience um so definitely someone a lot people loved and looked up to because of that and passing on his knowledge to everyone um he came up to the base of the Tower and I'm on the gun at the time and he goes hey Snipes and he's like yelling up from the bottom and I'm like yeah what's up man and he's like hey uh there's a there's a guy down here I think he's an interpreter uh he's got he's got a sign that says dalon 21 sta on it he's like oh yeah that's exactly who we're looking for and I was like give me a sec I'll come down uh with you and he's like all right all right Roger that so I pull uh uh Adam he gets on the gun or Andrew gets on the gun and Adam's on observation uh behind the spotting scope and same thing we're still just scanning the crowd for these dudes and so throw on my kevlar and grab my um my rifle and go down and so we walk out and uh Hoover and I are just kind of talking like you know these like what the is going on here like what is what is this and Hoover is like man this is not like anything I've ever experienced before overseas and he's said I can't believe this and obviously I start I started talking about how they brought the Taliban up to our gate next to the Marines and stuff and uh how that was affecting the guys so we're walking out and this that 100 yard chandling fence that I was talking about they cut a hole in it about 70 yards down and there's like a jersey barrier there and so we walked through the hole to get into the canal faster and at this point so at one point um there was dispersion in the crowd uh for about 300 M all the way down the crowd there was a marine for dispersion on on this side of the canal and it was like that due to our recommendation of hey if there's a bomber in the crowd and this was four or five days prior uh to the 26 you know we need to the only thing that's going to protect us is dispersion I mean that's one of the first things you're taught is standoff distance uh from iids and so they had that dispersion for about 300 M and someone that morning someone on the ground um I don't know what lader but someone on the ground decided to okay the collapse of all of that dispersion and so now that 300 M of dispersion collapsed down to the base of our Tower right underneath our Tower are you yeah so there's a suicide bomber threat you guys P the suicide bomber he gets lost in the crowd and they collapse the standoff yeah from the ID yep yeah so they they collapse a standoff like I said they're at the base of our Tower um if we looked out the left window across from the neighborhood there's like another two Jersey barriers and then this now bunched up group of a platoon of Marines almost like and I I'll share the pictures in the videos but I mean 20 30 Marines in one spot and uh it sucks there's a lot of bad that comes comes a lot of bad that has occurred in this but it's like that it's just like that eats at you it's like why why and uh we brought it up multiple times like hey who okayed this like why is there not dispersion it's down here still why did you guys collapse your dispersion that we had the guys like Echo comp guys had worked for days to get hours fighting this crowd back just to get this dispersion they just were like no it on the morning of the bomb and uh so it was majority golf company down there it was that morning yeah yeah and it was so immediate feedback on why you do not do that I woke up yeah I I went to I went to sleep at like 6:00 a.m. maybe that morning and I woke up at like 8:00 and because it was the first time and we it was like s days of just constant like like from the crowd just really loud just non-stop screaming people crying babies sobbing and there was like a couple days where it wasn't as loud at the base of our Tower and then I woke up because it was loud again like really loud right next to our Tower and I'm like what the I looked down and the whole crowd was collapsed and just hundreds thousands of people in this small area um and so I'm I'm walking out there with Hoover I walk through the hole in the fence um at this point I'm kind of like coming back I'm coming we're coming back down this way in the canal so it's like chain link fence about a 12T 15t Gap little 2T High Canal wall like maybe KNE High Canal wall and then like the actual Canal drop off like 7 ft in the water sewage water and then the wall 2 ft High uh dirt 12 15 ft and then like chain link fence in neighborhood and the chainlink fence ran all the way across the neighborhood and there was holes all over it and you could see there were buildings above it looking through the top of it and uh another another way to show how desperate these people were to escape the tyranny of the Taliban is at first people weren't there was like one onesies and twoes coming through the water cuz that's what it was it was a sewage canal and uh there was like one or two people coming through and then by the 26th I mean there was thousands of people in the sewage water like coming across to to escape and try and get processed through and I mean literally just waiting through and blood and piss and uh like families everything and I I went down there uh and I look across uh the canal and I see this dude hold up the sign and like point to get in the canal and like come across cuz at this point it's the only way they can get across is through the water so for us it was a good thing because it was like okay they have to cross this canal now to get to us as long as we keep as long like that crowd that's on the left side is kept at Bay and uh he came through I or he like came beneath me and um checked he had uh he had American passport and um he had his brother with him and had American passport and I guess they had they had he had been an interpreter uh with with group or something for for quite a while and uh so he was he was legit pulled him out just H did a search on him search on his brother I'm like all right hey I'm going to take you guys over to the main search area which is right at the base of the tower almost um and we can get you guys processed through to the state department and you know this this dude he he spoke pretty decent English and he was like like wait wait he's like my family my family and I was like yeah like what's up man your brother's right here like you got your family and he's like no no no my my wife and four kids he's like there's seven of us and I was like what and Hoover is standing next to me he's like what the he's like no there's two of you he's like no my wife and four kids they're still back in the canal they're still back in the crowd I was like dude was like you were given very specific instructions like come with your whole family at one time because in our eyes like we know the gates already supposed to be shut at this point it was supposed to be shut that that morning or something and it's still open we're still processing people we were told that it was going to be shut by the 26 or like the morning of the 26 and it still hadn't been and now it's almost it's like 5:30 p.m. or almost 5:30 p.m. and um I pull you know I I'm like all right well do you have paperwork for them and he has paperwork for all them they're good and I'm like I'm like okay I was like listen man you know do you have a phone like can you call your wife does she have a phone he's like yes yes like I can get a hold of her and uh okay like call her and see where she's at and so he calls her and he's like saying she's at like the bend in the canal or the corner which is like where he was describing her at was like 6,000 people away like so far away and I'm like all right dude tell her she needs to get her and the kids and get into the sewage water and start working their way up cuz if not there's not a great chance of you guys getting through together and so he relays that to her and he's just like thank you thank you and I sit them down on the on the chaining fence I'm like listen I'll stay down here for like 20 or 30 minutes and help you guys out and wait to see if your family can make it up here if not I'll make sure another Marine helps you guys out and knows your situation and he's just like thank you thank you so much and so I'm like waiting on the side of the Canal uh wall like standing against it facing across the canal and uh I'm like I don't know what these people look like like they look to me they look like everyone else out there and so I'm like hey man like come here and I don't remember if it was him or his brother and I'm like hey come here and help me spot them if you see them like we can pick them you can help me pick them out easier and he's like yeah of course and I like stand him up on the canal wall and like 10 minutes goes by and just flash and just get hit with this massive wave of pressure just like straight on and uh and then I'm like my eyes my eyes are closed my vision's black and I'm like slowly coming to my right ear is just like super high pitched ringing my left ear is muffled and I can just hear people screaming in the distance and I I just I knew right away as soon as I like was coming to I was like holy like I just got blown up and I just my brain knew instantly and I I my immediate thought was just like disbelief I was like there's no way this just happened and I can't see it and I'm just like struggling open my eyes and later to come to find out I mean on top of a you know 20 30 lb bomb detonating like 5 m away from me someone CS gas canisters it exploded on all of us and so on top of the bomb there's all the Cs gas cloud that we're engulfed in and so none of us can see and or struggling to see and so I was just like holy like I actually just got blown up and I finally can open my eyes and I'm just like laying on the ground in the dirt looking to my left and like really close to the fence like I I had almost gotten thrown to like to the fence and uh I'm like looking to my left and I mean there's just where this crowd of hundreds of people was is just flattened like nothing at all and I can still people just screaming in the distance and yelling and I I look to my left and I mean one of the first things I see is just Marines laid out just desert marpat next to me and uh I was just like oh like this really just happened and uh before I fully like my brain fully registered everything when I woke up in the hospital like my mom said I talk for like 9 hours straight but I I thought uh um I was crawling away from my leg and it was someone else's body part just like laying in front of me I mean there was body parts and dead bodies everywhere and the people on the other side of the canal just immediately in front of me just got evaporated just or viscer just gone just in an instant gone and then outside of outside of that just bodies body parts guts and pieces of people and human beings and uh I was laying on the ground and I mean I felt like I was on the ground for like a hour I felt like forever and uh almost immediately after the bomb like I was I was trying to stand up and I couldn't stand up I could like move my head forward and like move my arm a little bit and I kept trying to stand up and like like why can't I stand up and I was like I'm I'm hurt and then it just like crack crack crack crack right across from us so I'm now facing like kind of like the tower like our for the way I'm looking like my tower the tower's kind of to the left the canal is like right here and then the neighborhood's right here and we start taking shots from the neighborhood and like almost immediately after the blast and my first thought I mean I always say like we all want to be the hero in our own story but my first thought in my brain was like I'm hurt and I look down and I'm he hearing us getting shot at and hearing cracks and impacts behind us and over us and I'm like I can't fire my weapon I'm up like my my I mean I had come come to find out I had gotten hit with 100 to 150 ball bearings and um 150 ball bearings yeah and and I mean I took them everywhere but my neck and my head and my knees down because of that that wall um and so I was like well I don't want to get shot I can't fire back and I just knew the hole in the fence was behind me um and I tried I tried my hardest to crawl backwards towards that hole in the fence and I kept trying to get up couldn't get up um I don't know how far I got maybe a couple feet and uh I uh I was moving backwards and all I could do was like put my left arm on the ground and I kept trying to lean over onto my right and I'm just like like why is my right arm not working and I remember lifting it up I just seeing it it's there but it's just like shredded up at the elbow and bloody and I'm I'm just red everywhere and I was just all that my thought in my brain I was like my arms up I was like okay that's why it doesn't work and I just kept going I wasn't fully processing like hey let me put a turnning kit on my arm I was just like I'm I'm up and uh I need to get to the hole in the fence cuz that's where my friends are and um finally I just I couldn't move anymore and I all I could do is kind of lift my head up and I mean I took I took ball bearings into my chest and like right around the cut of my plate carrier um into my shoulder all over my arm obviously a ton into my abdomen all over my stomach I mean I had I mean they were practically from what I've been told just dumping ball bearings out of my intestines um and all down through shot out throughout my leg caught shra onto my hand ball bearings I mean they were burning so fast that ball bearings just like burned through my radius like perfect hole through my radius didn't even break it that's how fast they were going and from the force of the blast burned through my radius all into my arm and shoulder and um unfortunately the Army burned my kit I didn't get to keep my kit but uh I took three ball bearings in my in the lip of my kevlar like right above the lip of my kevlar right into my forehead and and uh that's that's not a reason to wear your gear then I don't know what is but yeah I mean that would have killed me like for sure would have killed me I got to be honest man I can't believe her sitting here right now I I can't believe it either honestly um some some incredible individuals in my line of care um you know and uh it's it's been a Journey but but uh thankful to be here and you know I'm I'm on the ground and I can't I can't move and I mean all of this is happening it's like 3 minutes but to me it feels like forever and I'm on the ground and I'm just like wow I can't move I can't even really yell I'm like man I'm dead it was like that's it I could feel myself starting to fade starting to pass out and I was just like I knew I was bad I could see myself covered in below blood and I the pain hit me probably like a minute or two afterwards and I was just like when it finally hit me cuz for I couldn't feel for a while and finally hit me I was like I was in so much pain I just wanted to die like I remember laying there on the ground and I was just like please kill me like I'm in so much pain just please put me out of my misery that's like all I was thinking about and then I I just just kept trying to move and I couldn't and the eyes I'm fading I'm like man yep I was like well it's how it goes and that's like all I really thought I was just like well I'm I'm dead but I'm proud of what I've done and who I am and I remember thinking that on the ground and was like this is how it is and and I was I was I was in disbelief but I wasn't scared I just was like wow I was like well this is how it is like I'm I'm GNA die here on the dirt in Afghanistan and uh I just hear chat or I hear Tyler Tyler Tyler coming buddy and I like like come to again and I'm like oh it's Chaz like he's going to get to me I'm not going to die and they were coming back from the packs Dalton was driving he just pulled up to the gate and one of the combat engineers were like hey like move move away from the tower a little bit turn the vehicle around so he turns and like puts it in park blast goes off and they him and Chaz look at each other like that was like Chaz was like that was a ID he was like what he's like that was a ID and they just hop out of the car and we had this SUV that we had ripped the seats out of and tore the license place off of because there was um the command that was just sitting back at like near the Army command had all these vehicles and none of us at the Gates actually operating had any vehicles and so we I I was asking everyone around I'm like oh you guys got any extra Vehicles like oh no we only I remember asking someone like oh no we only have one and so me and my buddy just went and acquired a vehicle from from them and uh rip the license plates off spray pained the out of it and uh like put Pig Pride Reaper to like sta on it we're like all right this is ours now thank God we did cuz we ripped the seats out of the back of that to fit our gear and our guns and and and uh but the the back doors are broken and so Cooper's in the back seat trying to kick the doors out trying to get out out of this SUV he gets out Dalton's the assistant team leader so he runs to the tower to get accountability of people in gear and uh they go up there he gets up there and uh or Chaz is up there dton gets up there and has his like I see Tyler and because like I think Adam Adam saw me like when I was still trying to stand up like reaching my hand up and I remember I remember seeing someone in the tower like one of my guys in the tower and like that's why I was trying to get up and I could just see him but I didn't know who it was I couldn't make out who it was and turns out it was Adam and um there was so many people killed that Andrew was on the gun and like on the Sass when the blast went off and he got they got rocked I mean that whole blast W was right next to the Tower and it and they aimed it at us and the tower and that's what happened so all that over pressure from the blast ran through the Tower we had two windows open it was just like boom boom instantly just I don't know shook their brains up instant concussion and uh they were rattled Andrew like barely held on to the Sass hanging out the window and they thought that their faces were bleeding and it was just so much blood and guts from the people that had gotten blown up cuz they were like at the window that it was just covering their face and I mean the the Sass was caked in blood they had to clean the they had to clean brains off our sass after that because of how many people were killed that's it coated our rifle one of our rifles and uh I mean that I'm sure that haunts him you know I mean that's some heavy and so Chaz and Dalton like had the briefest engagement of like Chaz is going out there to get me cuz he's the most profis medically and like as he saw me like hey I'm going out there or whatever and that's when he was yelling for me and I was like wow I'm not going to die Chaz is going to get to me and uh I remember hearing him run behind me along the chaining fence and hearing him yell my name and then I remember seeing him stand over me and he he told me like he thought I was dead cuz I was just like looking at him and I said something along the lines of like take off my belt take off my Kevlar for for a little bit um I thought like I had moved really far like I thought I had crawled really far and I was just like kind of confused in my brain I was like man how did I move so far but I know at one point I couldn't move anymore but I also remember moving really fast he's like no like I dragged you like 30 feet like I grabbed you and dragged you um I was like that makes a lot more sense and then uh I mean started throwing tourniquets on me right away he I mean he he just disregarded like we had guys shooting back and he just sprinted for me I mean he like I I brought him up in front of Congress because he had never been acknowledged for saving my life that day and there was other individuals involved now now he is I got um my girlfriend actually she when she was doing a shoot for the Secret Service uh met the assistant commandant and his assistant and was like hey this is my boyfriend like this is who he is you guys need to reach out to him and uh he did he called me the general called me General Smith and uh since then um has has brought up uh certain things about acknowledging acknowledging him but I I acknowledged him in front of Congress and no one uh nothing came of that and uh you know he's a humble guy he's not going to be like hey I saved Tyler's life like he any one of us would have been like yeah I was doing my job like he's my buddy I was doing my job but a year and a half later and this man who helped save my life is not acknowledged for doing so I uh yeah it was it's pretty shitty but he um started throwing tourniquets on me and uh trying to plug holes but I mean I had so many like holes in my body that it and and a lot of them those bbb's from the the B bearings were so small that like my skin was just like closing right back up on top of them um and uh another another individual um Eric EMT one of the platoon sergeants um got another man I looked up to he came over started taking control of everything at the gate taking control of the situation um I'm sure he's not been you know awarded for those his actions that day either um because most people weren't you guys are going to be rewarded yeah they will be yeah they will um somebody's going to get in there and see what they did see what all you guys did and you're going to be rewarded yeah I there's not a doubt in my mind it's just not going to come from these yeah I've been I've been working on some things and pushing on some people um so it was kind of cool you know my team leader EMT uh mentor and friend that I looked up to and couple other individuals who were really good buddies of mine uh Mitchell cus and sjun Smith they all got to me and were working on me it was all my buddies working on me and uh just trying to stop the bleeding I'm riding around screaming moaning trying to talk can't talk cuz I'm in so much pain just like mumbling and moaning and they're trying to keep me from going into shock and uh I just remember the whole time just like I just want to die I'm in so much pain and uh Chaz right before he ran out there he's like in the tower and he's like give me Tyler's bolt cutters and threw my bll Cutters to him he ran out there got to me when they were trying to move me they realized they couldn't like carry me how he was going to carry me because my whole stomach's ripped open and how bad my injuries were they're like all right I can't just like we can't just pick them up normally so he cuts open a hole in the fence close to the Tower and cuts down the casualty carrying Distance by like 200 yards and um Mitchell seus um good buddy of mine they're looking for or something to carry me on and he runs over and uh kind of how I was talking about your your patch you know with your shielder on it they threw me on a riot shield and carried me out to the CCP and uh just so happened that one riot shield was lying around and they dragged me out there on it and ran me back to the B behind our Tower to cover and um I don't remember being carried there um I've been told that I was just cussing and screaming sounds about right um but I remember being on the ground and I'm going in and out of Consciousness and uh I remember them like cutting open my pants and then I remember hearing Chad say it and I didn't think he I thought I had made it up in my brain but then he told me he did say it and he was like he was like wow he like nice dick Tyler like cutting over my pants and uh uh I'm laying there and I can see our Tower like up up in my vision and um I'm just screaming for drugs like just like someone put me down or give me some drugs and uh I see Jorge our team Corman he runs over and he's like flipping me over looking for Exit Wounds and stuff and uh cuz he so what's crazy is he had walked out there so I was on this side of the fence where he walked out and right in the cone of fire of the Blast Zone the ball bearings he had just walked past it when the blast went off he was walking out there to meet me and he got knocked out on his feet all the pressure hit him fortunately he didn't get hit with ball bearings or shrapnel but he got thrown on his ass got up and forgot that he was going out there to meet me and because he like went to the tire like where's Tyler at and like oh he's down there and so Jorge was got got thrown off his feet and first thing he gets up he just doing what he does best and that's helping people and starts a and Marines left and right like immediately gets up people are he like I think he threw a turn kid on someone's arm who whose like arm was just losing a lot of blood and then immed like sees someone else on fire from the blast and I mean he just goes he just goes into work mode and then after like five or six patients he's like and I he he ended up uh he ended up you know working on um uh Max and soviak and uh I think I think Deacon paage as well who were both killed and and died out there um but and you know he called called their times of death on on on them and uh then he was like oh I was going out there for Tyler like where the Tyler and he's yelling for Chaz and uh Dalton's yelling for him trying to get accountability to the team still and so he runs back to the base of the Tower and he's flipping me over and I'm like coming to and I remember seeing him he's like Tyler Ty he was like SLA me in the face like trying to wake me up and I see him and I'm like Jorge Jorge I was like Jorge is a doc Jorge has drugs like and I remember like I was trying to reach for him I don't know if I grabbed him but I was trying to and I'm just like Jorge give me drugs I'm like give me drugs Jorge and he was like I got a finish triaging you Tyler and I'm just like you J God damn it give me some drugs and uh he's I mean he was doing what he was supposed to he's going through just trying to you know put chests on and make sure you know everything's plugged up and uh got you know they put chest tubs in me right there and I was like barely conscious for it um I mean I was bleeding out and like almost completely bled out at that point and so he was drawing out ketamine to administer to me and the medical officer that was there was like nope like we got to send him like if we don't get him to the hospital like he's dead like we got to go now and so never got my drugs uh they threw me into the back of our SUV our Pig R SUV and uh I bled out all over the back of it and one of my buddies um I don't know who drove but a buddy of mine Castillo was back there holding me down trying to prevent me from swinging my arm my up arm around and hurt myself more and the majority of that ride I don't I remember like being put into it and I don't remember uh I remember seeing like the the ceiling but I don't remember like being held on to and held down I just remember um like moving around and just like I need drugs like are we there like I need drugs like please like give me drugs are we there yet and uh he was just trying to comfort me and uh you know it's like a 4 or five mile drive around back to the hospital I get there um you know my surgeon he he's checking on uh on on Degan page and uh at the rule two and you know he he passed already and he was just going from Patient to Patient to Patient trying to do what he could to keep the you know people alive and do his job and uh after he you know made sure Paige had you know he confirmed that Paige had passed um my like right foot was on top of his left shoulder and or vice versa and uh he was like well he's like I'm going to him next because he's right here and so just because of that he happened to happened to work on me next and um you know disbelief at how I uh how I was still alive um and how I was still breathing on my own and my heart was still beating um went into surgery for like 10 to 14 hours um him and other other nurses working on me and another a little girl and so I know they couldn't they couldn't stabilize me for forever for for hours and uh they were you know giving me blood and and warming it up obviously and put it in me and I remember you know they were like can't figure out why he's not uh stabilizing why he's not taking this Blood pretty much and so he was the one who was like well get him let's get him fresh whole blood and as soon as I did that it was like I just took a jump and started climbing again and I was I was doing a lot better um you know cleaning out my intestines he cross-clamped my aorta to stop myself from bleeding out into the rest of my body um and uh I know I had a I had an artery stint put in um in my femoral artery my leg was just so shredded and there was so much to work on here that you know was told that they had to make the decision to to let my my go to save my life and uh something that I said to them is that that was the right decision to make you know I wouldn't be here today if he hadn't made that decision um so I'm thankful to him for that but yeah I uh got flown on like the night of the August 28th he I mean he continued to work on me and there was a lot more wrong but got flown to Germany from there um now I'm in Germany and uh on August 28th the guys pulled the casualties in from the gate the rest like made sure all the casualties were in and closed up the gate and uh you know D dalon talked about um just the Sea of bodies that was there and I mean I've seen photos and videos post blasts um post moving the casualties and just hundreds of people just taking their last breaths on the ground and he talks about a you know sitting up in the tower and um after you know after the north window got hit and they're searching for the for the shooters still um you know one of one of the Marines Kristen Sanchez he got shot through the shoulder after the blast went off and he picked up his rifle and put him put that Isis down he put him down and uh you know a lot there's a lot of people um and in the army investigation it was said that we didn't get shot at that no one got shot Christian Sanchez got shot through the shoulder he put one of those Isis Isis gunmen down my buddy David trailer he got shot through his thigh and I mean it literally it went through I got hit with 100 to 150 ball bearings and they just you know bore little tunnels in me he got shot through a diey and the whole backs side's blown out I mean it's pretty obvious what happened um he's got a he's got a cone shaped indent in his leg from getting shot and you know in that Army investigation it was said uh you know they were concussed and unreliable because of what happened that these somehow 40 50 60 Witnesses Marines Sailors soldiers what what they witnessed didn't happen because of the blast yeah that's Army Brigadier General Lance Curtis backed all decisions made by commanders at abig gate on that day in quotes based on our investigation at the Tactical level this was not preventable yeah and uh certain individuals um recently testified in front of the house Foreign Affairs committee saying that uh you know they were asked by a congressman if they they regret what happened and how the evacuation was handled and they said I don't regret what what happened or and I don't regret the way the evacuation was handled and uh that's pretty you imagine being the family or the friend of one of those 13 service members killed an action hearing that I couldn't imagine I know how much it pisses me off hearing that um yeah yeah going back to to the to the gate Doan talked about um watching this dude in in the canal choke on his own blood he was sucking for air just choking on his own blood in his throat because he was continuously just bleeding into his throat from the blast and he had to sit there and watch watch this dude just take his last gaps gasps of air of blood into his lungs and suffocate to death um at that point we had closed up the gate and obviously trying to deal with the casualties and prevent a second second ID blast um so they pulled out uh two days later after that um or right before that they started going around destroying all of all the equipment and all of everything they could think that would be useful destroying spray painting everything across hkaya and came back from uh from The Ground Force Commander that the vehicles that had been flipped over and the spray paint that said you Taliban Isis needed to be covered up the vehicles needed to be flipped back over they needed to fix the damage like to those vehicles and things that they had done so after after these 13 service members are killed killed after they're tasked with destroying everything so the Taliban Isis don't have access to it they're then told by Ground Force Commander to fix that damage are you serious yeah I wish I wasn't I wish I wasn't so they went back told the covered up with spray paint told to flip those Vehicles back over and uh I mean man it's just like it's one thing after another post that and it it I just I can't I can't fathom why you can't we can't change the fact that these 13 service members were killed so why the do you have to lie about what happened why do you have to lie about what happened what what we experienced what everyone out there went through what we saw how how can how can John Kirby stand and say as the as the Press representative from the White House how can he stand there and being a a former Admiral in the Navy how can he stand there and say that he didn't see any chaos from his perch and that's quote I didn't see any chaos from my perch who the talks like that from your perch who talks like that who says that 13 Americans were killed and you're going to speak like that and say that everything was done right that you couldn't see any chaos from your perch it's just disgusting I'm sorry man yeah it's not your fault I'm sorry but it's someone's let's take a break all right Tyler I think I think we left off you're in Germany yes so I'm in Germany now uh from from a uh from Afghan um getting to that role too they they sedated me and uh I actually I forgot to say this but I um I got to the role two and I was asked you know what I what I remembered about getting to the role 2 facility in Afghan and uh I was like you know I remember getting there and like being on an operating table and you know the individuals working on me were saying like we need to intubate him right now we need to State him we need to do this this and that and this whole conversation and uh I remember I told him I was I remember being intubated and all of this and you know was I was kind of resp responded to with wow like you what's crazy is that happened but you were not awake for that like you were barely alive you heard all of that you heard that whole conversation your brain remembered that you weren't actually awake and so it's just pretty pretty pretty strange thing to hear and remember being unconscious but um I'm in Germany and right now you know they're telling my mom like hey like he's been hurt he's been hit and it was actually my little brother who was like Mom like a bomb like an explosion just went off in Afghanistan and my mom was like what and they like had the TV on and pointed it out and she got a call on like the 27th or in the states I think and they're like he was hit he's going to Germany um don't don't fly here like the mil and the military they called my mom and said there's been explosion at abig gate um there was gunfight there was gunfire people were shot they said this on the like that phone call recording that you get like your family gets home from from a service member wounded like they told my mom like there was gunfight there was gunfire they were they were shot at there was an explosion and your your son is very critically injured she they told her that she that I was very ill very critically ill and not to not to go to Germany because she'd probably be passing my dead body in the air coming back to the States and uh my mom was like that like I'm going to be there I don't give a and they're like well if you fly here like we can't they told her this too they're like we can't we can't promise that we're going to you know we can reimburse your flights or pay for your flights she like this is my son do you think I care about that she bought her flights and went on her way to Germany and uh I she met me in Germany um at launch stool and so I'm there now they still had me sedated just operating on me they took my leg there they took my arm there and uh my mom she was like in the operating room the whole like in the they would let her stand there as they were operating on me um and you know they're working on me and um they told like that the doctor came out and told my mom actually that they they're like yeah the nurse almost fell over when they we handed your sons liked her like that's how heavy it was and uh they were like telling her how just like funny funny things like trying to trying to cheer her up a little bit um and they were telling her how like at the time my neck was so thick that they were struggling to get the like IV like the drains into my neck like they couldn't get through like the the muscle in my neck and uh just like random things like that which is pretty funny but they like they told her there in Germany for the first time like he's not supposed to be alive like we have no idea how he's alive and the only reason that he's alive that can be because he's alive is because of how healthy he was how physically fit he was is what saved his life I just happen to be able to take the entire impact of that and all all of these injuries I mean I showed you the pictures at breakfast of how much weight I lost but I was 208 lb 210 lb when I got blown up and pretty lean um not a huge dude but I was definitely um a muscular dude and for me I had I had I've always for as many years as I can remember in the Marine Corps I've lived with the Mantra of like you know you you can never train too hard for a job that can kill you and I I took that seriously I really did and I always tried to steal that in my Marines and that was one thing as like a young squad leader I never had to I never had to really Haze anyone one I I could just run them into the ground and be like listen just be fit and that that was something that I lived by and it saved my life and that's you know that's why I when I speak now and I talk to people and I I you know I'm look looking to open my gym and getting certified right now with uh CPT and stuff it's it's important to me and it's uh it always will be physical fitness because because it's what saved my life and I mean a lot of a lot of modernday issues like physical problems and diseases can be solved with with having good physical health and uh you know to to hear that it was like I I was training hard because it was important for me um to be fit one I wanted to be able to be the one to if I need to run with someone on my back for a mile I'll do it if I need to carry the heavy Rock I'll do it and I also had aspirations to go be a Raider and so I mean it was quite a number of things that led me to that but um um knowing that you know there's that saying of like everything in your life leads up to one moment and for me everything I had done up until till getting blown up was right because I'm here today and not perfect by any means I've made my mistakes in life but I can say that I was prepared for the worst moment in my life and that's something that I try to pass along to others is be fit be mentally and physically fit doesn't matter if you're in the military or you're a civilian you could get hit by a car tomorrow I mean being prepared is is important you know you don't know when your your bell is going to be wrong and fortunately for me I was able to withstand that and uh you know I'm in Germany and at one point I I flatlined and uh I I did a few times but they brought my mom in and had her say goodbye to me because they're like he's not going to make it like he's he's probably not going to make it and um I mean I couldn't imagine being my mom's shoes my mom you know she was like I'm just you know I'm so sorry this happened to you and and my buddies all said have said that to me too and they don't feel they don't feel sorry for me you know I told him like you feel sorry for me I want to kick your ass like I don't feel sorry for myself and uh your mom sounds like a very special woman yeah she she is a fierce woman and I from childhood to now I mean I've always said you know my mom's my hero and it's true um I I wouldn't be the man I am today without her and the way that she raised me and I mean seeing her go through the struggles that you know we did as a family um and how she lost everything and built it back up even better it it always proved to me I was like my mom got through it a so and eye and I every time I had a hard moment in my life I'm like my mom went through all this to give me a good life like I'm going to be successful I will be successful and uh I'm very thankful to her for that um yeah she came and said goodbye um and then and uh the regimental Commander um he was he was great my mom my mom was there uh Colonel Graham and they were like what do you need like to my mom and she's like you get his best friend here right now if you want him to live get his best friend out here and so they cut Ritter orders um I got flown to to Andrews Air Force Base and he was flying they flew him out to Walter Reed um to DC and so he met us at Walter Reid but some I don't remember this but another Marine was saying uh in the Wounded Warrior Battalion like the liaison who was there for my mom was saying that uh they were trying to LifeLight me to Walter Reed and I like woke up and I I don't know if this is true or not but this this is what he said uh um that they were trying to Life Flight me to Walter Reed and they were and I like woke up and they were talking to me uh or they were talking over me about like flying me and talking about putting the other Marines on the bus and he said that I was like I want to ride on the bus with these guys and like turn turn down the flight I was like no I want to ride on the bus with the Marines going to Walter Reed and uh so they they put us on the bus with them and and drove us drove us to Walter Reed and then uh which I feel like would only make sense cuz I don't know why else I would not be LIF flighted over with how critical I was um so now I'm a Walter Reed it's like four or five days post post blast and uh it's like August 31st or something like that or yeah and they like wake me up they pull me off of out of intubation pull the sedation off me and um I woke up and um you know my my mom's there my my buddy Ritter he's there and my mom's like hey sweetheart how you doing my mom she knows me really well like she she took photos and videos the whole time from the time she got to Germany to me she took photos and videos of all of this and threw tears and one of the first things I said when I woke up I was like did you take pictures of this or what and she was like like yeah I took pictures like she knew I would want pictures and videos of like my surgeries and stuff and and uh I mean that's that's a testament to her strength as well but um before I jump into this she on the way back to to to Andrew's Air Force Base from Germany they actually had put her on a plane with all of the refugees so a few of us who were injured and like hund and something refugees were on this plane my mom was saying obviously she grew up you know 20s in in her 20s uh when 911 happened and I was like 3 or four years old and I remember seeing it on TV but she talked about you know having a lot of bias as a lot of Americans did after that for uh middle easterners and her first thought when she realized ized that all these refugees are on the plane she thought oh is this plane going to blow up like this just happened like is this plane going to blow up and then uh she looked over at some point during the flight and saw this Afghan woman standing and holding like these three onto these three medical beds and it was three of her kids and uh who had been one of them had been like in the operating room with me and she like went over to her and like tried to converse with her and she like pointed like are these your kids pretty much and and like the lady noed and then my mom like pointed over to me and was like this is my son and they just like held hands and cried and she just like let her know that she was there for her and not alone so I was pretty cool to hear um and she told me she's like you know being on that plane and seeing what happened and seeing all those refugees she was like people don't get to see this that was the first time that I realized this is this is why this happened this is what my my son and all these men and women serving were out there doing they were rescuing all of these families all these thousands and thousands of families this is this is why this happened um like well this is why this is what they were out there doing this is what they were there for and uh it's pretty cool to hear her talk about that um yeah so I'm at Walter Reed and the first things I say when I wake up like first words out of my mouth I was like coming to and just really high obviously I'm like like me she's like what I'm like me and she was like what's wrong sweetheart like other than the obvious and I was like right away I was like those blew off my leg like said that right away and she's like well no they didn't blow off your leg sweet I just knew like I remembered like almost immediately when I woke up like I had remembered uh most of what happened um and she said I talked for 9 hours straight just like about everything that happened like the the gunfight the bomb the interpreter going down to the gate everything leading up to it and uh you know that I I was awake for like two days um and on like on or yeah they started bringing in uh generals and like all these people to do photo ops and and you know like come meet me and stuff and I'm I don't know any better I'm really up and really high and a few people came in few generals I don't even remember who honestly um and then they're like you know do you do you want to see the president of the United do you want to see the president and I was like like what it's like the president they like yeah yeah the president I was like the president of United States like yeah the president United States like it's like the president wants to see me like yeah he wants to come see you and like thank you and meet you and I was just like what the and I was like my my buddy my buddy Ritter he's he's a he's a black Republican and uh I'm like yeah I want to meet the president who does want to meet the president and he's like looking at me like what the and uh kind of makes sense a little later but uh I was like okay and so I told him I was like hold all of my hold hold all of my uh opioids like hold all of my narcotics and stuff like I want to be coherent when I when I meet him and and they're like no we can't do that I'm like you're going to hold all of my drugs other than my antibiotics like I want to be coherent when I meet him she like okay and my mom's like listen to him and uh they held all my my pain meds they're like he's you know when when is he going to be here like he's going to be here in about an hour well one hour goes by nothing two hours goes by nothing I'm still I keep coming in like do you want you know it's time for your meds you want your meds I'm like nope hold them hold them hold them and uh like 3 hours goes by it's like 4 hours at this point and my mom's Furious like she's like what the like where is this guy and um you know I'm uh she finally she like kind of sits up and I see her get get a little anxious and she's like okay like like the Secret Service are coming into the floor um he's probably going to be here in a few minutes and then this uh average looking white dude with brown hair uh comes in the room like presidential seal on a shirt and a and a black mask on with a presidential seal and I'm just like looking at this dude and he like Pats down my mom Pats down my buddy I'm like looking at this guy and I'm like looking at my mom my buddy and this dude's just like standing in the corner of the room like what the going on and he's like over there and I'm like mom and she's like sitting to my right like Mom Mom she's like like what what she's nervous you know and I'm like is that the president and like they everyone in the room starts laughing and uh the secret service agent starts laughing and he like pulled down his mask and he's like like no he's like but I work for him and I was just like what the what I was like is isn't the president I like what do you mean you work for him and uh I was like oh my God who's the president and just so much had happened just had so much trauma on me I had no idea who the president was I didn't think it was Trump I didn't think it was Biden I just my brain couldn't make the connection I couldn't I had no idea who the president was and I'm like holy like this dude's going to be here in here any minute I have no idea who the president is and uh I look over my mom like Mom Mom she's like what like what what's up sweetheart and I'm like who's the president and she's like laughing and she's like what I'm like who is the president and she's like are you serious I'm like I have no idea who the president is and she was like she like sweetheart it's like it's Joe Biden and uh this is just me talking about what happened but I just leaned back and I was like oh my oh my God and uh this I was like oh my god that's what I said and the secret secret service dude just like beat red like trying not to laugh and uh I was like and this dude like two minutes later he walks in with him and Jill Biden and their little Entourage of people and like a photographer and uh right away like remember him coming up to me um trying to shake my hand like try to shake my right hand and I look at him I'm like I don't have an arm and my left arm is in this big ass cast with this giant orange foam block around it I completely immobile all I can do is move my head my arm's gone like I don't have an arm and he says oh and like kind of hands up and then like goes over to reach for my fingers cuz about an inch of my fingers are showing and just like grabs my fingers doesn't say doesn't greet me or anything just that's what happened just grab my fingers and uh I was like okay that's weird and you know almost immediately starts talking like about how their son served in the military doesn't say anything about what happened and starts talking about how their son served in the military and uh my mom is just like she's furious at this point and they're like taking pictures and stuff and uh she goes she was like L my mom said this she was like I don't give a I don't care what you guys do she's like you better take care of him for the rest of his life and uh like she said that and um I'm sitting there and he comes over to me and he leans over me I have I have a picture of this to prove it I'll show you this picture that I have um it's a pretty funny picture uh he leans over me and he's like this close to my face and he's like what do you want when I said what do you want yeah he said what do you want I said what he said what what do you want and I'm just like confused I just got blown up just saw my friends die next to me and like I just want to be myself and he's like huh and my mom's Furious and she's like he said he just wants to be himself he just wants to be him he said he just wants to be me and he goes oh okay and they just continue to talk about everything but what just happened and then um they just ushered him out of the room he didn't know what to say they ushered him out of the room and that was that and uh my mom tried multiple times to get help from from from them reaching out to the first lady and try to get some some legislation passed for caretakers like herself who own businesses who don't get any financial support for helping their service member that just got his whole life torn apart and uh she wanted to help other caretakers in the future have you know cuz they didn't there's caretaker there's certain amount of money that you can get As a caretaker depending on what you do and uh or help but it's it's a process and so she was working through that but she wanted to pass legislation for future caretakers to to help get you know like hey if you run a business and you need to come take care of your son who you know served their country and just got blown up like you can do that and not have to worry about financial for a little bit you know what I mean and so she was trying to get help with that and they just pretended to help they kind of just brushed her off and uh pretended like they were connecting her with the right individuals and didn't help her at all and so um obviously because of the Congress stuff now my mom is since you know going to be moving forward with some with some stuff with some individuals were actually going to help but nothing came up that and uh yeah that was uh two days after that I'm I'm in the uh I'm just in bed and I'm telling I'm telling the doctors and nurses for a couple days for like two days I'm like I can't breathe like I can't breathe and uh uh my a buddy of mine um a doctor works at the hospital he um he's a resident right now he was a reserve uh he's in a reserve sniper platoon and now he's in the Army as an officer uh being a trauma surgeon to be a trauma surgeon and uh soon as it happened he came in and he connected the Recon and sniper Foundation guys like got them to send out a flag and like decorate my room really nice and and be there for my mom and family so he was there as a friend um also like working on me and stuff too but uh or like helping with that and also put a Marine Corps flag like right on the ceiling and so that's the Marine con the Marine Recon sniper Foundation yeah yeah the Recon sniper Foundation um so it's a nonprofit doing good things yep yeah very much so and uh so they sent out a flag just to cheer me up and you know give me something to smile about and so I'm I'm like hey I can't breathe like I'm struggling to breathe and they're like oh you're fine like you're good you're good your pulse ox like is 98% like you got like 98% oxygen in your blood like you're good I'm like I can't breathe like I I can't breathe and they just brush brush it off and they're like you're fine you're good next thing I know 2 days later I'm tunnel vision staring up with this American or at this Marine Corps flag on the ceiling and then just black out and uh I wake up and I'm in Inova Virginia now and I had uh double pulmonary embolisms one in each along couldn't sure couldn't breathe they were racing back to my heart and uh didn't listen to me and passed out flatlined between there and getting to Inova I flatlined like three or four times um they came in one of the Marine corons came in when there was a doctor literally straddling my chest in the room just doing chest compressions on me trying to resuscitate me and uh brought me back started moving me out to the the helicopter to LifeLight me there because I needed eemo to like clean out my blood and the only place I had EO is is was over there in Virginia for some reason Walter doesn't have it um state-of-the-art facility it's great place great people but there's some things that AR perfect um and so of course the one thing I needed they didn't have and uh they move me out to the bird and then I crash again I Flatline again they bring me back in they resuscitate me and now they're looking for a machine to connect to me and I they take me back out to the bird and then crash again and then finally they get me stable get me on the bird fly me over to Inova get me on emmo and I'm good I'm good they clean out the get the blood clots out clean up my blood and I'm awake and in Virginia and it was it was uh and they had to put in like tubes through my groin and my leg and stuff into like straight into my heart and whatnot so I like wake up and on top of the 50 tubes I've already got me I've got these massive tubes going through my groin and stuff and um you know my my uh I lost uh obviously I lost my my right arm a couple inches above the elbow um hip dis Artic or dis articulation so I don't have any of my leg I sit and I walk on my pelvis um and you know a couple inches above the elbow yeah so can you show me yeah so um I'm like right here this is about the height of my of my arm so enough to be able to allow me to wear this socket and move around and use it and open it and stuff and I mean I I work out I shoot rifles I can still see clamp a rifle with this like I I work to like I told you at breakfast to be as proficient as I can and do the things that I love doing now or that I did before today but um yeah the uh the prosthetist at Walter Reed crush it they kick ass and I want to ask you a question yeah it's a tough question to ask but I'm going to ask it people get very uncomfortable being around around MTS they don't know how to act around you they don't know whether to feel sorry for you they don't know what the to do man yeah how do you like to be treated like a regular person I think it'd uh it definitely benefits me um people underestimating me because I can do my thing you know um but I like to be treated like a regular person because I am one you know I've been been through been through a lot but there people have been through worse and uh I mean it's definitely the kids I love the kids are kids are Honest Kids uh you know they'll they'll be like Dad where's his leg like I mean I've gotten that so many times I've been in the bathroom and there'll be a little kid just like jaw dropped just just taking a back like I've had a little kid come up to me and they'll literally just like walk in front of me and like check me out from every angle I'm like what's up and I'm like where's your arm and especially like if I'm in a wheelchair I'm not wearing my leg or something like where like this one little girl I was fishing and uh fishing with my former team leader and I'm passing her and she's fishing with her dad and she was like where's your leg and the dad's like oh my God I'm so sorry and I'm like dude it's it's good like it's it's it's okay it really is and I thought it was hilarious and I was like well I was like it it's gone and she's like she she was probably like six or seven that's what she said yeah oh yeah it's gone she was like six or seven and she she she goes yeah I know she's like where is it and I was like damn I wasn't prepared for that one I was like well I was like I got hurt um you know I got hurt and they they cut it off of me and threw it away and she's like yeah but where what did they do with it where did they throw it away at and I was like oh my gosh I was like it's in Germany and she's like what do they do with it in Germany and was like they they burned it I was like they burned my leg and she's like she's like oh and she's like so I kind of nodded her head and then turned around and went back to fishing like okay but uh yeah I mean I'm I'm I'm a normal dude um you know this is uh it's just how my life is there's no way around it I mean there's no way but through and uh can't feel sorry for myself there's uh would it be appropriate for somebody to joke around with you oh yeah like Tyler hurry up and get up those stairs you're taking too long oh most definitely my my buddies uh my buddies um you know make it very clear to me and they know like I I told my friends and they they know me anyway but I'm like I'm I'm still still me I'm still Tyler you know um you know don't don't don't feel bad for me I was like if if you don't treat me like I'm a piece of the piece of that I am then like you always have then I'll be upset so uh yeah they definitely joke with me or they'll uh the whole the whole uh only fans thing you know they tell me I need to need to create one and make it only hands and only hands yeah but uh funny funny jokes my buddies have come up with some pretty funny jokes and uh I love it it's I'd be doing the same if it was if it happened to them um yeah it's uh yeah I mean it's it's I'm a normal person I mean maybe there's some people who would be respected by it but I I think coming from a a service member most service members who are wounded in action um like this and you know they they just want to be even other amputees um in the military who you know wounded in other ways but uh or injured in other ways you know they they just want to be treated like regular people cuz that's what that's what they are yeah yeah I'm glad we had that discussion yeah definitely Tyler let's take a quick break yeah when we come back let's uh let's hit what happened to [Music] Congress I want to uh start my comments um with looking at the causation of this crisis at our Southern border you know it wasn't more than a couple years ago um during the Democratic primary that your boss now President Biden said during a debate We're a nation that says you want to flee you're fleeing oppression you should [Music] come what what's with the open borders what are they hoping to accomplish well I think I don't think it's you know one simple answer like a lot of things I think it's complicated like human beings are complicated but I think there's a couple different buckets there in my opinion I think there are globalists around the world and within our own country that don't want to see you know they don't want to see borders anymore this is in historic moment we have in this past year made great progress in ending the long era of conflict and Cold War we have before us the opportunity to forge for ourselves and for future Generations a new world order a world where the rule of law not the law of the jungle governs the conduct of [Music] Nations all right Tyler we're back from the break what is that like six breaks yeah I think so something like that but um all right so let's get into Congress how did you how did this all come about you testifying or giving your testimony in front of Congress so uh um had an individual at the um good friend and someone who's helped me along through my recovery Journey at Walter Reed connected me with um a former patient of theirs who Congressman um Congressman Brian Mast double MPT um he's from Florida right yeah yeah he's a EOD and uh really great guy from what I've gotten to know of him um genuine and he I've heard great things about him yeah he's he's he's a phenomenal individual and I got got the awesome opportunity to meet him in person as well but uh probably about 3 or four weeks um before the the these first hearings in front of the house for Affairs committee on the evacuation um you know he reached out to people at Walter Reed like hey is there anyone from you know the evacuation there who's wounded um you know I want to present them with you know kind of what's going on these hearings and stuff and just give them a heads up so they know and uh obviously I'm I was the only one there and um connected with me gave me a call same day um gave me a heads up that they were doing these hearings because not a single hearing had been held on the evacuation of Afghanistan and how we how we pulled out um but as soon as it was a republican majority as soon as chairman McCall became the chairman congressman Mall became the chairman he called for these hearings he called for some answers and uh started getting the ball rolling and so Congressman Mass you know kind of you hold on you had to nobody gave a until the the Republicans took control of the house y Democrats didn't give two shits about what happened there weren't any hearings held nothing no answers asked for search for um when it was a democratic majority so I hate hearing that I really hate hearing that but I know that's far for the course yeah so those uh he he he kind of you know shared his story with me um told me about a little who he was obviously I shared my story with him um and a little bit about who I was and just gave me kind of a heads up like hey you know these hearings are happening I wanted to make you aware cuz no one's probably going to tell you um which is which is pretty cool and uh he's like you know you can testify if you want um but I want to you know recommend that at least you know coming from coming from a former service member I want to recommend that you wait um he's like not coming from a politician I want you to think about maybe waiting on doing that just so you don't get any backlash for it um but he's like you know if you want to do anything let me know um and you know we we'll help you out and so nothing really came of it I just kind of kept that in the back of my mind let's rewind a minute did he talk about what implications might happen if you test if you testify he didn't or why would you uh more more so implying that uh the government um the military might not like me speaking out against the way we pulled out um he definitely he alluded to that you know not no specifics but alluded to you know trying to protect myself and you know my you know what I'm what I'm Pro while I'm processing out of the military so that they don't try and screw me over um fortunately uh come to find out that there are whistleblower Protections in Congress that I never knew about none of my buddies ever knew about but there's protections against testifying in front of Congress and telling your truth telling your story you can't get in trouble for it as a service member if you come on the record you tell what happened obviously say I can't say you know can't go on and say all these negative things about the administration and the government but coming on and telling your story and about what happened to you you can't get in trouble for testifying in front of Congress like that and uh that that was news to me but um I a couple days before I maybe the week before that hearing I had an individual reach out from the house Foreign Affairs committee to me directly saying hey these hearings are going on we'd really love to hear from you if you have some time um you know you have the you have uh you know you can maybe have a phone call with us or an interview or something and I had I had a really bus busy schedule at that time so I got on a phone call on uh on the Saturday so Wednesday March 8th was when that hearing was got on a phone call that Saturday and shared my my story with them um with a few individuals from the house forign Affairs committee and let them know um you know my my story and what happened you know what actually happened out there and how things were handled and um I mean they were they were odd they were blown away and it's just it's just another Testament to like how much the truth has been kept from all of America and the world the truth of what happened out there and you know to hear these people who are working congress not have any idea to be told shake my hand by a congressman and congresswoman and them to tell me the the people who are in charge of the state department um and tell me uh I had no idea any of this happened that's that's pretty telling and uh you know they Shar I shared my story and uh you know they again they said uh you know we'd really love to have you you um testify if you want you know no one wants to push you to do anything but you know you probably have the most unique and I know this just because of what happened you know you know they you you have they're like you have probably the most powerful story that's been said in front of Congress for this that's going to be told in front of Congress for this and uh you know if you want to testify let us know we'd love to have you um you can do you can come and testify orally um or you can just do written testimony um or you can do both well you have to you have to do a written if you do an oral in front of them um and the written can be as long as you want so I wrote like nine or 10 pages for that um but yeah they that Sunday night I I really sat down and thought about it and I was like well this is uh this is Wednesday morning um not a single person has come forward about what's happened and the four individuals that are testifying you know they uh were not at Abby gate like I was you know three of them were individuals who went out of their own way and use their own money and funding to I think you had uh Lieutenant Colonel Scott Mann on here I did yeah he was one of those individuals who testified did you meet Scott I did good yeah yeah um and the other individuals they all you know work through operation Pineapple Express and went out of their way to pull these Afghans out and uh help our allies like we should have they shouldn't have had to do it the way that they did and um you know continuing to help and helping the Nationals distance front but I uh Sunday night I was like well if I don't do this no one else will and I owe it to my you know my a buddy of mine Hoover he he you know died in arms reach away from me and um you know I had another Buddy Hunter Lopez who was also killed in action out of the 13 and owe it to them I everything that I do today everything that I've done up till today I do it for them and uh you know it's it's a it's a Cheesy Mantra of of you know the whole if not me then who but I really took that to heart and I was like if I don't if I don't do this no one will and uh I was at the point where I don't care care about getting I didn't care about the the repercussions of that it it it was something that needed to be done and needed to be said fortunately had to vet it through the Marine Corps all of Monday and Tuesday and uh working on what I wanted to say Wednesday and so you had to vet it through the Marine Corps yeah like going in front of them there's a proper way to like did you have to talk to them about what you were going to say uh no so I I did give them my first like brief summary of my oral statement um was there any push back no they they were supportive they were supportive yeah that's good yeah um all the way up to the comant himself they were supportive wow yeah and uh obviously I was like well we'll see what happens but um you know they sent out reps from the Pentagon they sent out um a master sergeant a guny to come help me out and uh the you know two those two individuals who kind of bridge the gap between Congress in the Pentagon and work with some congressmen and so they were they were really looking out for me um but yeah they ran it up through there um they were they were good with obviously stressing out about it I know the Marines the Wounded Warrior Battalion the staff was getting calls from the Pentagon nonstop like what the going on but um they never once said no you know they didn't say you can't talk about this you can't do this you can't do that um they just offered for me to protect myself and uh you know really just really wanted to make sure that I I had help um it's definitely something that I'm thankful for because I've been very very wary of you know obviously what what might happen through the military but regardless of the politics and any branch the the Marines the Marine leadership at the top has has helped me um and I'm thankful for for that it's good to know that there's good leaders at the top um regardless of everything else with the one thing that mattered they they helped with and um so obviously you know testified and uh kind of told you know there's a point where the house Foreign Affairs committee said all right your testimony is too long and you know my my legal aid kind of came back and like my oral testimony was too long and I told her I was like listen I was like I've known what I needed to say since the day I woke up at Walter Reed I was like you tell them if they want me to testify then they're going to have to let me say what I need to say and I can do my best to get through it quicker she like Roger that and so didn't hear anything after that and like all right you're good to go for Wednesday and come to find out here I am with a um two day you know two-day prep of this and meeting an influx of people and you know they're like yeah you know typically uh like the the Marines that I had helping me out they were like yeah typically um you know you have quite a few weeks or a month or so to prepare for these things um so this is the fastest turnaround that we've ever seen and obviously that's why the Marine Corps was stressing about everything going on but I uh just like I'm you know I I enlisted to serve my my country and my brothers and sisters in arms those congressmen are there to serve us and serve the American people and I was going to make sure they heard what I had to say and they did good for you um yeah let's um so have your entire testimony right here on this folder and I'm going to put this in a downloadable file in the description next to all the links your knife company and everything that's going on everything that you're doing also let's just go ahead and roll the entire testimony good morning chairman ranking member Meeks and members of Congress thank you for inviting me to speak to you all about my Marine Corps scout sniper team's experience during the evacuation in Kabul Afghanistan this is my perspective this is my account and not the dods I'm Sergeant Tyler Justin Vargas Andrews I'm 25 years old and from Northern California a professionally instructed gunman and radio operator for my team my sniper team was Reaper 2 part of Victor 21 weapons company attached to Echo company second Battalion first Marines from Camp Pendleton California in June of 2021 after having just left Kuwait we were deployed to Saudi Arabia as a show of force we practiced a few smallscale non-combatant evacuation operations in the event we were needed in Afghanistan August came and two weeks later we left for Kabul Reaper 2 and Echo company had a close relationship with the colonel of the special purpose Marine airr task force he kept us informed of the situation on the ground in Afghanistan and we were ready to go so we thought an infantry platoon of roughly 40 Marines and my assistant team leader left for Kabul on August 15th they eventually faced the Afghan civilian crowd that overran the Hamid carai International Airport the rest of us arrived on August 16th all the Marines Linked UP And staged inside a gym in h Kaa not far from the Airfield we connected with our Command and received our first mission later that night from August 17th to the 18th we surveilled and reported on Taliban activity from the top platform of satellite tower near the civilian airport terminals in hqa we reconnected with another sniper team and moved back towards our staging area that night our team traveled to abig gate forward in the afternoon of the 19th and set up a position in the tower as Marines in riot gear were sent through the crowd to coordin off a couple hundred people as we tried to begin some form of processing hundreds of people came and waves surging through the gate multiple times physically fighting us living out of our Tower we conducted 247 operations at the gate the next seven days were surreal nothing prepared us for the ground experience we were about to encounter it was chaos but we worked together to figure out the next best steps tens of thousands of people descended upon abig gate we were looking for anyone with a blue passport first and foremost people were suffering from extreme malnutrition dehydration heat casualties and infants were dying Afghans were brutalized and tortured by the Taliban flocked to us pleading for help some Afghans turned away from hkaya tried to kill themselves on the razor wire in front of us that we used as a deterent they thought this was merciful compared to the Taliban torture that they faced with only shipping excuse me they thought countless Afghans were murdered by the Taliban 155 yards in front of our position day and night with only shipping containers between us the Taliban would routinely murder people under our observation at their checkpoint we communicated the atrocities to our chain of command and Intel assets but nothing came of it the troops on the ground had to tirelessly work to control the crowds stay and night Department of State staff and H Kai would completely shut down processing Afghans every evening and into the morning leaving Ground Forces with a nightmare they did not work in reasonable rotations and very much presented in unwillingness to work in other situations as well no matter our health or condition the Marines stood watch and engaged in disorderly and dangerous crowds state was not prepared to be in hkaya in fact state would not want to deal with the Afghans unable to be processed weakening the security of the perimeter state would take us away from our mission to walk Afghans out to meet the fate of the Taliban condemning them to death the Taliban grew in numbers and strengthened their position around H Kai with gun trucks while having occasional visits by Taliban leadership on August 22nd an improvised explosive device IED probe took place down in the canal running along the perim of H Kaya this was Isis or the Taliban performing an IID test run we reported this to our chain of command days later we received word to be on the lookout for two vehicle born IEDs described as a gold or white Corolla and a green Mazda convertible around 2: a.m. on August 26th Intel guys confirmed the suicide bomber in the vicinity of and nearing Abby gate described as clean shaven Brown dressed black vest and traveling with an older companion I asked the Intel guys why he wasn't apprehended sooner since we had a a full description I was told the asset could not be compromised throughout the entirety of the day on August 26th 2021 we disseminated the suicide bomber information to ground forces abig gate he was spotted somewhere from noon to 1 p.m. by myself then Sergeant Charles Schilling and another the anomaly in the crowd who was clean shaven and fit the description exactly traveling with an older gentleman the individual was consistently and nervously looking up at our position through the crowd the older of the two wore a black silky hijab that was covering his face most of the time they both had obvious mannerisms that go along with who we believed him to be they handed out small cards to the crowd periodically and the older man sat calmly and seemingly coached the bomber over the communication Network we passed that there was a Potential Threat and an ID attack imminent this was as serious as it could get I requested engagement Authority while my team leader was ready on the m110 semi-automatic sniper system the response leadership did not have the engagement Authority for us do not engage I requested for the Battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Brad wided to come to the tower to see what we did while we waited for him psychological operations individuals came to our Tower immediately and confirmed the suspect met the suicide bomber description he eventually arrived and we showed him our evidence the photos we had of the two men we reassured him of the ease of fire on the suicide bomber pointedly we asked him for engagement Authority and permission we asked him if we could shoot our Battalion Commander said and I quote I don't know end quote myself and my team leader asked very harshly well who does because this is your responsibility sir he again replied he did not know but would find out we received no update and never got our answer eventually the individual disappeared to this day we believe he was a suicide bomber we made everyone on the ground aware operations had briefly halted but then started again plain and simple we were ignored our expertise was disregarded no one was held accountable for our safety about 1730 staff sergeant Darren Hoover friend and mentor [Music] came to get me from the tower to go help find an Afghan interpreter in the crowd we found the interpreter and his brother born with American passports they told us five told us of five family members still in the canal I stayed there waiting for the family members standing against a two-foot canal wall 10 minutes passed then a Flash and a massive wave of pressure I'm thrown 12T onto the ground but instantly knew what had happened I opened my eyes to Marines dead or unconscious lying around me a crowd of hundreds immediately vanished in front of me and my body was catastrophically wounded with 100 to 150 ball bearings now in it almost immediately we started taking fire from the neighborhood and I saw how injured I was with my right arm completely shredded and unusable I saw my lower abdomen soaked in blood I crawled backwards sevenet roughly 7 feet because I thought I was still In Harm's Way my body was over welmed from the trauma of the blast my abdomen had been ripped open every inch of my exposed body except for my face took ball bearings and shrapnel I tried to get up but could not laying there for a few minutes I started to lose Consciousness when I heard Chaz my team leader screaming my name as he ran to me his voice his voice calling to me kept me awake thank when he got to me he dragged me to safety and immediately started triaging me tying tourniquet on my limbs and doing anything he could to stop the bleeding and start plugging wounds with the help of the other Marines I was awake through most of it screaming moaning and cursing please ask uh I ask you to please ask me about getting shot at the tower in abig gate and how no one wanted my report post blast even NCIS and the FBI failed to interview me asked me to elaborate on my ordeal post blast and asked me about this one little girl in her family that I reunited our military members and Veterans deserve our best because that is what we give to America the withdrawal the withdrawal was a catastrophe in my opinion and there was an inexcusable lack of accountability and negligence the 11 Marines one sailor and one soldier that were murdered that day have not been answered for thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak thank you Sergeant for that very powerful um and courageous testimony I want to turn to you Mr uh Sergeant Vargas Andrews uh you described the scene as chaotic uh that the state department was not prepared that they would completely shut down processing every evening and into the morning leaving you and your colleagues with a nightmare you called it could you describe that yes I can chairman um so for us obviously um guys Ground Forces at Abby gate were rout and I'm sure it was like this at other Gates as well but at Abby um you know helping process between you know seven of us in our sniper team uh we would go down and if we weren't on the gun or we weren't catching a few Winks um we would be down processing Nationals and civilians and uh you know talking with everyone down there and from us we were pass from our chain of command you know throughout the evening to to Halt processing Afghans to stop searching them um they we you know we kind of had to keep keep control the crowd that was left over in the evening throughout I would say sun down to Sun up um there was no there was no plan in place throughout the evening and um the state department would not take Afghans that we process or search So eventually we just stopped throughout the evening they um I'll go back to you yeah and um I think because you're correct there was no plan there was no plan and then the plan was to leave the Taliban in charge of this evacuation which led to the chaos and the Bloodshed that ensued after that I want to focus specifically on what you saw on August 26 I know be on the lookout an intelligence bulletin went out uh identifying two individuals as a potential IED threat that is correct gate yes we um routinely we send um two or three guys back uh to collect Intel from from our Intel assets um over in the joint joint Operations Command and that morning around uh 2 a.m. we were passed that the suicide that a suicide bomber was in the vicinity and in the you know surrounding neighborhoods uh potentially moving towards the gate we were told that he was uh wearing a brown mandress a black vest um he would look clean shaven and be younger with an older man um traveling as His companion and we saw just that on the 26th um you know around 12:30 in the afternoon and in fact uh you said you uh passed along the communications Network that there was a Potential Threat an IED attack imminent and in your words this was as serious as it gets that is correct we we had eyes on um these two individuals that fit the exact description that we were given of from our Intel assets and we had pictures we had them a clear as day to be able to see through our scope um with ease of fire on both individuals as well as through our spotting scope um we have high powerered Optics with quality lenses on our cameras to take clear clear-cut pictures of everything that we see that's our that is an enormous part of our job you still have those photos they were taken on an SD card when we turn them over to intelligence um then you said you requested from your commander uh Lieutenant Colonel Brad wited to come to the tower to see what you saw and the psychological operations came to the Tower and confirmed that the suspect met the suicide bomber description is that correct that is correct yes so you had them we did and then you showed this evidence and you asked your commander if you could shoot we did Chairman um both myself and my team leader asked asked for engagement Authority and he responded with uh he did not have that Authority so we asked who did he told us he did not know and would go find out in that time um in the time of talking with him and keeping eyes on this individual over the course of 30 minutes uh the two individuals both disappeared into the crowd of thousands as shown on um the slides as I was talking I mean I think everyone can understand um by looking at some of those pictures that that I had up there how enormous the crowd was I mean it it was unfathomable um very easy to move through and conceal yourself and that's what happened so you ask for engagement permission and your commanding officer says I don't know that is correct he doesn't know if you have permission to take out the threat yes there are no rules of engagement on the ground we were told to pass our Command if we saw any um suspicious activity or hostile intent and that's exactly what we did we were not returned with an answer and then you ask well who does who does know and he says he doesn't know but would find out and he never got an answer to you he never did and the individual disappeared that he did and you believe that that was a suicide bomber we do and then you said we made everyone on the ground aware operations had halted started again plain and simple we were ignored our expertise was disregarded and then lastly no one was accountable for our safety that day that is correct chairman no one was account no one was held accountable no one was and no one is to this day did your com Battalion Commander run that request at the chain of command he should have that was his responsibility too I don't know if he did would that be the normal protocol that would be the normal protocol chairman but we we don't know and as a result we have 13 dead servicemen women we have 170 Afghans killed and 45 including yourself sir injured that is correct because that threat could not be taken out because your commanding officer couldn't give you the order that is correct amazing so that testimony was about 10 minutes long mhm how did you fit we just talked about this incident it took about 2 hours I believe yeah how did you fit that into 10 minutes f it was hard it was really hard um because I didn't want to take away from what I had to say um I didn't want to take away from the important details about about what I um you know what I did say and uh I you know I had some some Congressman kind of let me know that I could one I could word I could word things towards the end of my testimony you know asking asking the the committee to ask me questions so that that helped a little bit I I think I put in like three things for the congressmen and women to ask me about and fortunately they did um I just I picked out the most important things you know us our PID on the suicide bomber um us being told no by our b or us not being given an answer from our battin commander or anyone above him and you know the absolute chaos that was the Afghanistan evacuation um how do you think it was received by Congress I mean there was quite a few congressmen and women in tears um I think there's some of them who probably just are there for to be a puppet like a lot of politicians are but uh and you can kind of see who they were by the way they spoke about why by the way they spoke when they had the opportunity to speak but is there any specific Congressman in particular that stands out to you um good or bad I'd have to go good would definitely be um uh Congressman Mast and Congressman Mills um where is Mills from oh man Tennessee maybe might be wrong he might be from Tennessee uh I I could be wrong but I'm not I'm not too sure um and then you know the the last congresswoman uh and the last out of any of the Congress Congress members there to ask me a question uh to ask me anything she came on she came uh you know she's the last one in there and uh came on her like time slot her 5 minutes to speak and spoke directly to me um I can't remember her name but she she wears uh a starfish like lapel pin almost it's pretty big um and she's she's on the Democratic side and she gave me her time to speak about you know um uh a little girl that I reunited with her family and uh on the first chaotic day at abig gate and helping resuscitate a little baby so she she gave me her entire time to speak about that day and that was that was pretty cool this is painful powerful testimony that is important for us to hear so I'm glad you're here I thank you for being willing to go through this uh repeated pain we owe a tremendous debt to all of you we owe a tremendous debt to the more than 800,000 servicemen and women who served our country over the course of 20 years more than 2400 lost their lives more than 20,000 wounded and I'm not even beginning to touch those who will never be the same in in spirit and and following post-traumatic stress we've lost so many as you've cited uh to death by Suicide I come to this hearing aash with awe in all of you sadness with the reality of this war and other Wars of course but I also come to it with great humility knowing that I can't get near what you do what you've done what you've sacrificed I can't get near it but I do think this is important to bring out the facts the truth of the end of this war as you as some have cited it is not over so I'll start with Sergeant Vargas Andrews thank you for your service your sacrifice it's inadequate to say I'm sorry but man oh man we are proud of you I want to follow up on two of the questions you wrote in your testimony that I had read and then you also mentioned it again you said ask me about one little girl that I reunited with her family would you tell us that story I would thank you ma'am um you know I think I think what I can say is for a lot of a lot of people out there the actions that they had specifically at Abby gate and around the airport um there were a lot of moments to them that were worth the mental strain um to to the service members for myself that first day at Abby gate after we were working to push back the crowds um I was on the ground and a little girl had squeeze her way through the crowd of about seven or eight years old holding a four-month old I would estimate four or five-month old baby in her arms and holding the hand of who I assumed to be her little brother who was about four or 5 years old and they were all dirty and bruised I mean tear streak faces and uh kind of in this in this chaos it was just like I had tunnel vision and saw her and I was like I need to help them it was just very odd sight to see um and uh I picked up the baby and the little boy and she followed me like motioned for her to follow me um and to get to get to a safe area away from the crowd I noticed the baby's face was blue and purple and so I went to the nearest um person that resembled a medic um and started asking if they had um a small small breathing bag a BVM to uh to conduct CPR because I um you know I didn't know if the baby had already passed but assumed it wasn't breathing um and uh didn't want to you know injure the baby by trying to perform CPR on it myself and the individual um I don't know who it was uh you know I sat there watched them resuscitate help resuscitate this baby and face flushed pink started crying and then the little girl started asking for her dad just crying and tugging on my uniform um I took her back to the gate and could tell that she was asking for her father and uh climbed up on the SUVs overlooking the razor wire and held her up and was just trying to ask her you know do you see your dad like ABA like trying to you know uh um make her understand what I was saying and she she understood and uh we sat up there for a minute or two and In This Crowd of hundreds of people below us um she just pointed in the direction um you know maybe 30 40 people back and there there's just all these hundreds of people holding up papers documents whatnot and there's this one individual just holding a bunch of family's luggage with his hands on his head um just crying and looking at her and I was like that that is her dad and uh I let the troops down right there at the opening of the know to help get this guy through pulled him through and the little girl hopped off the SUV and ran to him um and hugged him and he hugged her both cried took them over took and reunited them with um the other two children and he had paperwork for all those families um showing their pictures and whatnot and so for me that was a moment that my my personal injury um was worth it and uh you know I know those three little kids will have a life um of freedom and opportunity now because of that thank you you know there's an expression in the Jewish tradition that I always lean on even though I'm a person of Catholic faith and it is to have saved a single life is to have saved the whole universe so many of you have done that you're in the process of it help us make sure we live up to Our obligation to the re remaining people whom we must save rescue get on with their lives a lot of I mean a majority a majority of the of the Democrats um you know they came on and were like well we don't want to make this about the Trump Administration but let me make it about the Trump Administration and would proceed to talk about that and like I said you know earlier breakfast I don't give a who's in in office but whoever is in office it's their responsibility to make those sound and right decisions it's their respons responsibility to take action and be a good and strong leader that's what matters doesn't matter what your what your party is it matters that you take care of the American people politicians are getting real good at passing passing the blame the uh pathetic yeah the the most important thing besides Congress and the nation hearing what happened out there and making them aware of what happened for me coming out of that was asking for accountability and uh you know Congressman Mills um accountability for the lack of decision- making in Afghanistan the lack of um the lack of leadership out there and you know I know the chairman you know he said he's going to subpoena you um spent some time with him afterwards that he's going to subpoena our Balan Commander to get some answers on who he passed that Intel and that P to after him so I'm going to keep keep riding riding these congressmen about these answers Congressman Mills just drafted recently articles of impeachment for the Secretary of Defense um I won't say too much more on that but yeah he did that and uh quite a you know a few Congressman came up to me and said that I don't care about getting reelected they looked me in the eye and said I don't care about getting reelected I care about getting you some answers and holding people accountable and I'm going to do everything in my power to ensure that they hold true to that because it's easy to it's easy to say but it's it's the actions that matter do you think anybody's going to be held accountable I don't know I would like to say yes are these guys keeping in contact with you yeah I I will say that the few a few of the congressmen um that have made some promises have left me with some genuine hope good and uh dare I say trustworthy politicians but uh have you know their quite a few of them are are veterans as well and uh are trying to make a change and I mean that's what I'm trying to do too um that's what we're trying to do yeah and you you do that you do that with every episode you definitely do um that gives me hope yeah I think that's going to give everybody that's watching some hope let's let's hope that these are held accountable yeah for what they did y it's uh it was a some an opportunity I was very grateful for um I mean I never you know when I when I woke up and I was in the hospital I told myself I was like everything I do from here on out is going to be before those killed in action to to advocate for what happened and man I never I never thought it would never thought I would be in front of Congress I never thought I'd be sitting in front of you here today and uh so I want to say thank you for giving me that opportunity to do so it's an important important message and what happened out there is important and I thank you for the platform you're welcome it's Tyler it's a it's a real honor man really it is a real honor to have you here I appreciate that I mean that thank you let's talk about what happened after your testimony of Congress how many media Outlets pick this up a lot um I mean we went on our first break in in Congress after like four or five hours and I had already had like 12 media requests to to do things um I've since been on CNN with Jake Tapper um and I was kind of skeptical skeptical about going on CNN um for obvious reasons but the chairman chairman mcco um he's the one who reached out to me about doing so and kind of let me know that Jake Tapper uh you know cares about veterans and the service members and it was actually very uh he even told me himself he's like yeah you know some of our viewers have some issues with us covering the Afghanistan hearings but it's it's what needs to be done and and when they covered the Afghanistan evacuation itself he's like but it's it's what needs to be done so I was very thankful for that I think I'll uh at some point in the future I'll be going on with uh chairman McCall to you know to talk about um on on like fox and friends as well but it's working through right now with my you know my kind of team on keeping this message relevant and um finding you know continuing to work on ways to um actually have action taken not just repeat the same stuff over and over and keeping keeping close close eyes on and in close contact with some of these congressmen and women is is the first step in that and ensuring that what they promised me on record in front of Congress in front of the nation that that is what they will do so the um there was another Congressman uh couple seats to the left of chairman McCall in the committee that um put in for an official an official inquiry on why our request was not dealt with so um he put that on record um so I'll be following up about that as well at breakfast we had talked about Good Morning America I believe how did that go so ABC News Good Morning America uh obviously they reached out and that was sometime in and 2022 um I don't remember exactly when I think I think it was like right around the year mark who is the interviewer it was a it was a it was a lady I don't remember her name um kind of goes to show how important it turned out to be but uh you know they sat me there for like 7 hours and my mom included and spoke with us and I think f 5 Seconds to 10 seconds of what I had to say was broadcasted so they had you they interviewed you for 7 hours yeah and they rolled 5 Seconds 5 to 10 seconds of what you had to say and that's 7 hours yep just goes to show you it just goes to show everybody how censored and controlled the news is yeah on and I'm not talking about right and left I'm talking about all of it oh yeah I all of it I was looking at a a diagram like a vend diagram of how every news no matter if it's left or right how every news majority of every news Outlet or news media like beds back to like two or three like organizations that control them all it's all yeah it is all of it yep I mean I'm sure you've seen it the videos of them linking like a hundred news stations together saying the same exact thing yeah and uh most Americans don't realize I don't even watch the news I don't either it's it's it's completely irrelevant at this point it is um it's it's it's just inviting yourself to be brainwashed yep that it is I will say um I did the Washington Post the next day with Dan L and uh another another lady on his team um and they kind of did a podcast slash um you know production of it and that that was good Dan Dan really um it was heartfelt I mean they had tears in their eyes listening to my story you could tell that they really they really cared and were serious about it um I'm actually going to be going to uh the Marine uh like Marine Corps Heritage Foundation Galla with with them and um he he digs for the truth and he put it front page Washington Post and then recently after this Congress hearing um same thing front page he's get he's getting award for for front page like news on his reporting and stuff and um he's a genuine genuine guy who who just wants the truth to be heard and he's been covering the war in Afghanistan since like 2003 something like that 2003 or 2004 it's a long time and he he cares about the service members and about America so that was that was cool to see that he uh he took everything I had to say down and listened good yeah that's good to hear do you have anything else you want to say about your experience with Congress the Press um August 26th I don't think so I think uh just that I'm thankful for the team of individuals that have helped me you know through through this and and the individuals I've met through Congress my my legal aid um or leave unnamed but uh big thank you to them for for the help that they've given me up to this point and uh same goes for my mom my uncle and my entertainment lawyer they've they've really done uh guided me where you know I've just lacked some knowledge in some areas so it's been nice how are you doing how are you doing getting through all this dealing with the trauma I think I'm doing pretty well um you know I've I I I've said it before and it's I have I have my hard days you know there's I mean what's happened has happened and I think uh what does a hard day look like man I uh I have I have an osty so I had my my intestines rerouted through my stomach um so I have like a bag that I into and uh there's days where I'll get out of the shower or whatever and go to change my my medical supplies and I just poop all over myself and like that and that uh that'll definitely do it in for me but I'd say a hard day would be or hard hard moments would be um sometimes just struggling to do certain tasks because I'm missing a leg and an arm and uh even with prosthetics some things are hard you know spe some some things are hard and uh it's definitely it's just like God damn it like why did it like not why did this happen happen but it's just like like it just sucks honestly I guess you know it it there's some days it just sucks but every every single time I have a moment or a time I want to cry or I want to just or I almost feel sorry for myself I uh I remind myself that there's 13 service members killed in action and I'm so I should have been number 14 and you know I'm here today and they're not and their families and their loved ones have to live without them and you know I've said it before but I get to struggle through the things that I do and I'm thankful for that yeah what are you doing to get better finally getting getting back to uh my roots I would say uh getting back to fishing getting back to hunting getting to the outo getting into the outdoors um again spending time with family and friends um working on knives has been great being being with my my two buddies and working on that small business um it'll be nice to dedicate a lot more time but I mean you know we each have our own design and for me it's it's nice like I uh it's nice to be able to make something um with my own hand again and make something of value and worth and that I mean it's it's I don't know it's kind of like cleaning your weapon you know it's it's just kind of brings me a little bit of Peace being able to do that and just know like I'm putting my sweat into something again and uh it's not perfect cuz I'm making it with one hand but it's uh it works and it's it's uh it's a really it's a really therapeutic thing honestly that that in the gym um getting back into trying to be physically fit I mean my body wears down a lot quicker now just because of my injuries um obviously I mean people really only see the the leg and the arm but I've you know I've got countless injuries and my uh you know my my rotator cuffs are fried and just damaged to everything it definitely takes a toll but um yeah doing doing those things are you doing any therapy no I uh you know I had qu I had the behavioral health individuals um bug me a lot in the hospital uh the mental health Team and I finally I got to the point I was like please just leave me the alone I was like I'm not I told him this I was like told the therapist like I'm not going to kill myself like just leave me alone I'm all right like I I for me um and that's not to knock on physical therapist I mean uh you know mental health therapist and whatnot but uh for me you know my occupational therapist like she's been with me since I got to impatient in the hospital and she would come and literally just like bend my fingers and move them herself cuz I couldn't and just like excruciating pain like bend my hand backwards and stuff to get my tendons to stretch out again and she'd be in there for an hour or two and I would just sit and talk just sit and talk with her and one of my physical therapist I'm there you know doing physical therapy i' sit and talk with her and my prosthetist I sit and talk with them and my TBI therapist sit and talk with her and talking with um for me talking with people you know like my friends um that's a big one talking with people that are close to me and people that really genuinely care um not the therapist don't but like the people who are in my direct you know line of care like pts and OTS and whatnot um my prostitut and my buddies that they're people I know that care and people's opinions and uh people's opinions that I value and they see me for who I really am I think um and that's been really helpful to talk with them cuz it's like my my physical therapist I mean she's been at Walter Reed I think for like 13 years or something and so she's seen the war you know she's seen the guys the men and women come through there um some worse off than me and uh it's definitely that's definitely how I go about you know talking about things is is talking with with those closest to me so that's kind of my therapy have you ever thought about psychedelics I have yeah I've definitely I've I would uh love to hear some about you know about your your personal Journey um something I would love to look into postmilitary well I'll tell you this much we can talk offline about it but um and Tyler I'm I'm reluctant to talk about it cuz I've not experienced what you've experienced but I will tell you that post psychedelics it changed my life in a lot of ways mhm and they were all very profound and all good and um I came to peace with a lot of things and maybe you will too and if you want I'd love to connect you with some people that can help that' be that'd be awesome I really appreciate that Trevor Miller runs Ambia life and that guy's changing lives every single day and um that's that's who I want to and uh I'd love to connect you I'd also love to connect you with do you know who Nick Laver is yes I actually it's kind of funny I I had not um I had not ever heard of him until maybe like six months ago and uh glad I glad I did hear about him but yeah it's probably about probably about six months ago was the first time that I had heard heard of him and uh you know his story which is an incredible one I'd love to connect you with him that guy is really he's done extremely well for himself postmilitary career fellow amput and uh I I just I think I just think you guys need to connect yeah I would I would very much appreciate that yeah it would be my honor to do that thank you very much um you know there's there's another thing I want to talk about yeah and there's a reason I want to talk to you about it let's talk about the movie deal all right um so I got I got the offer to do um to be a part of a documentary on the war in Afghanistan and through you know through Steven Spielberg's production team um in Paramount Pictures and you know I kind of uh talked about my entertainment lawyer a little bit and my my family and uh those closest to me and I was like yeah I think you know I think I'm going to do this this would be cool and you know I wasn't I'm not naive to the fact that the more I share my story um potentially puts it out there to putting it out there you know can devalue it and uh but also good things can come of it and it's why I you know chose to S here sat here in front of you today when you ask me to be on the show and uh think you have a phenomenal platform and you always put out a great message thank you of course and so I think posit a lot of positive things will come of this but when I said yes to doing it and we we we even got up to scheduling a date and uh really close to that date and just I I sat on it more and more and more and uh you know they weren't this is like you know Paramount Pictures and all these people it's it's a millions and billions of dollar industry and you know I asked asked about were they giving you know were they paying these veterans because they had a lot of veterans coming on to be a part of this documentary I was like were are you paying these veterans to you know talk and share their story cuz you're making way more money off of this and they are going to ever make and the answer was no uh you know are you giving back to any foundations or anything like that the answer was no and I I mean like nonprofits that are doing good work for you know for veterans and active duty you know service members and Wounded Warriors and not that I'm someone out for money but if I'm going to you're going to have you're going to come to me the way that they did and saying we got all these these you know Steven Spielberg's production team and Paramount Pictures well why why would you not pay these individuals to do that you know that that's they're sharing their trauma and their story and everything that they've been through and that's all that's probably going to get done out of it because the only other thing that's going to come out of this is the money that you're going to gain and I'm all for speaking about my things I you know I look forward to contining my speaking platform um you know whether it's motivational speaking or sharing my story in positive ways to better people's lives you know I don't need money for that that's not what I'm here to do but when you're throwing out all these big names and you're kind of showing your ass saying hey we've got a lot of money we got a lot of big people behind this but you're not doing anything to give back it was it was probably and they probably think I'm going to askle for it but it was like the day before I was like sorry I'm not doing this like sorry not sorry but I can't get behind that and uh like I said you know the more I share it with them it's uh the more I share in improper my story in improper ways and my message in improper ways the more it will devalue that and uh I want people to listen to you know what I have to say and for right now people care about you know the things that I've experienced and the men and women that I've served with and what happened in in Afghanistan in the evacuation and uh I hope it continues that way until I get some answers until we all get some answers until those 13 service members are accounted for until someone's held accountable for the 13 Americans that were murdered that day for the 13 families that have to live without their sons and daughters I want to talk to you about something and this is veteran to veteran and it's my opinion mhm can I share it with you of course I think you made it an awesome judgment call with that movie deal because those pieces of that's why that movie should have been made none of those people probably served they're only there to make money y they're selfish pieces of that's Hollywood that it is at breakfast we were talking about all the things you're wanting to get into with the speaking maybe doing a documentary all these things and it sounded like you want to donate all of that to these foundations and the families and I want to tell you something you've given a lot you've given your leg you've given your arm you've given your time all the mental trauma all your other injuries it's somebody else's turn to donate and it took it took me a long time to figure that out because here's what's going to happen this is how this is how it works if you don't take care of yourself nobody's going to take care of you and it's good to give back and I spent probably the first five years of my business and I've only been in business for eight years I've I spent the first 5 years giving every thing I made away to nonprofits to families a lot of it is to people that don't even give a about it because it wasn't maybe as significant as a big donation take care of you always always give back always give to the little guy always give to the guys that are coming out I mean that's why this that's why I started this show was to give people that don't have a voice that should have a voice like you a voice that's what I do here you know I do Consulting but at the beginning it was donating all the money I made off of apparel to some organization that doesn't even give a or it was wasting my time donating tactics courses and all these things the nonprofits that didn't give a you know all they care about is the money and I'm not saying all of them are like that and I'm not saying everybody doesn't appreciate it but what I am saying Tyler is make sure you take care of you cuz nobody else is going to do that and look at everything you've given look at everything you've given this country I really appreciate that I'll defin take care of you man you have you've given enough it's somebody else's turn to pick up the ball set your rck down and set your life up man because nobody's going to do it for you and if you give everything away there's not going to be anything left for you yeah I'll definitely hate those words please do because that can build a lot of resentment and take you into ex an extremely toxic place man and uh and you're probably screeding that line right now you know I appreciate that advice take care of yourself please I will I uh think my mom would agree with you you good it's okay to be a little selfish yeah especially after everything she said that as well good I really appreciate that good so what are you getting into we got the knife business yeah you're trying to get into public speaking who do you want to speak to man I uh I think uh the younger generation honestly they need it there's a yeah there's a there's a lot of bad in society today a lot and uh you know I'm I'm very much the way I grew up looking at my Mom it's like well if she can do it so can I and uh not to make not to be Mr high and mighty on my horse but showing some of these people what you go through it's not that bad and I look at my situation I'm like this sucks my buddies are dead it's not that bad sucks but I'll get the over it and uh helping people who feel sorry for themselves it's uh you know I I I've I've maintained the Mantra um since since I uh think I got to impatient in the hospital out of the ICU and I really kind of got a clear head off of of the of the drugs and stuff I told them to take me off of my my opioids and narcotics um you know I told I told myself that I I would never be a victim I'll never be a victim of what happened to me and uh I try to I try to show others that you know I um it's a choice I think I think uh I think weakness is a choice and uh you have to go through the hard you have to go through hard things to become strong you you know you have to you have to struggle and you have to deal with pain and go through the pain and struggle and strife in life to become strong and no matter what happens in your life it's your choice no matter how hard it is it's your choice if you want to be a victim or not and for me I choose to never be a victim and that's that's the message I want to put out to people it's your choice to as bad as it as bad as things can get someone has it worse and it's not to diminish anyone's pain or what they go through because everyone's own pain and experiences is relevant to themselves and that that should not be overlooked but it does come to a point where feeling sorry for yourself is not going to get you anywhere in life you're not going to be successful if you feel sorry for yourself I know that I'm I'm missing two of my limbs I'm I'm not going to get anywhere in life if I feel bad for what's happened to me and I I don't choose to be strong good for you man thank you you know you are never going to understand how how many people you've impacted how many lives you've saved how many people you've walked off the edge how many lives you've turned around you're never going to feel it you're never going to understand it you're never going to comprehend it and it gets frustrating but you're going to help hundreds of thousands of people maybe millions and um I'm proud to know you man I appreciate appreciate that me likewise keep after it I will and take care of yourself thank you you do the same don't forget that I appreciate that keep putting out a great message I will yeah I hope uh I hope that you don't get censored by anyone I saw the uh the episode with Dallas Alexander so good for you thank you go for him thank you yeah it'll happen but we'll keep going y that's all I can do it's an honor man thank you very much means a lot it does means a lot to a lot of the people that I've served with as well [Music] yeah hey everybody I'm Shawn Ryan click here to subscribe to the Shawn Ryan Show YouTube channel channel for the hottest and most compelling interviews that you will not see anywhere else I've also made a playlist of all the previous SRS episodes so they're easy to find you can find that right here