1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,720 All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio. 2 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:23,200 And now, your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry. 3 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:24,840 And welcome to Veterans Radio. 4 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:31,720 My name is Dale Throneberry and today is a best of Veterans Radio from 2021. 5 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:36,440 We're going to be talking with James Kittfield, he's the author of In the Company of Heroes, 6 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:41,920 the inspiring stories of Medal of Honor recipients from America's longest wars in Afghanistan 7 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:42,920 and Iraq. 8 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:47,040 It's a great story and I think a really good interview. 9 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:50,000 So I want you to stick around and listen to that. 10 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:51,400 And we'll get right into that. 11 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:54,400 But first, you know, we have to thank our sponsors always. 12 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:58,560 So first of all, we've got legal help for veterans specializing in veterans disability 13 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:05,120 claims, give legal help for veterans a call at 800-69-348-100. 14 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:10,520 The National Veterans Business Development Council, better known as NVBDC, is the nation's 15 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:14,920 leading third party authority for certification of veteran-owned businesses. 16 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:23,880 For more information, go to their website, NVBDC.org, or give them a call at 888-237-8433. 17 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:27,920 At Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 18 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:29,880 More information, go to va.gov. 19 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:37,720 The National Vietnam Veterans of America never again will one generation of veterans abandon 20 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:38,920 another. 21 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:42,760 For more information, go to their website, vva.org. 22 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:47,160 And our two local veterans service organizations, the Irwin Prescor and American Legion Post 23 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:54,000 46, and the Charles S. Kettles Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 310, both of Ann Arbor, 24 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:55,000 Michigan. 25 00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:00,720 If you'd like to support Veterans Radio, please go to our website, veteransradio.org. 26 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:04,000 Click on the donate button and thank you in advance. 27 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:09,800 The other thing is I got to remind you of Radio on the River coming up on September 22. 28 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:14,680 This is our annual fundraiser, so go to our website, veteransradio.org. 29 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:18,440 Click on the beautiful picture of the Huron River. 30 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:20,400 You'll find out all the information. 31 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:21,880 We're looking forward to seeing you there. 32 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:23,120 I hope you come on out. 33 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:28,120 We'd love to see you and have you meet all of the members of the Veterans Radio crew. 34 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:29,960 All right, so here we go. 35 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:34,400 Straight into our interview with James Kittfield in the Company of Heroes. 36 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:41,480 Well, I was always reading this book in the Company of Heroes and thinking about all of 37 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:48,240 these amazing men who are in a volunteer army to begin with. 38 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:54,720 I don't know about you, but that takes a lot of courage right there, I think. 39 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:58,440 Their missions that they had, especially in Afghanistan that I've been reading about, 40 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:03,920 of course, in Iraq and Fallujah and the stories that we've heard about these men on Veterans 41 00:03:03,920 --> 00:03:07,920 Radio, actually, I just had to get ahold of this book. 42 00:03:07,920 --> 00:03:12,280 So I want to bring on the author of In the Company of Heroes. 43 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:14,440 His name is James Kittfield. 44 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:19,560 He is a senior national security and foreign affairs correspondent for the National General 45 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:20,560 Magazine. 46 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:25,360 He has written on defense, national security, and foreign policy issues from Washington, 47 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:27,600 D.C. for over two decades. 48 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:33,080 He has written about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he's been reporting from 49 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:37,160 the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, Africa. 50 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:40,240 Seems like you've been everywhere, so I want to welcome and just get you right on the air. 51 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:42,600 So James Kittfield, welcome to Veterans Radio. 52 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:44,600 It's great to be with you. 53 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:46,360 Thanks for having me on. 54 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:49,440 Thank you very much for agreeing to be on the program. 55 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:55,880 As I was reading through the book and about all of the SEALs and the combat-controlled 56 00:03:55,880 --> 00:04:02,320 guys from the Air Force and Marines, everything else that is out there, how did you get involved 57 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:04,120 in this particular story? 58 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:09,720 Well, as you mentioned, I've covered these conflicts from their inception, so for a couple 59 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:17,040 of decades, but mostly for National Journal, which is kind of a policy magazine. 60 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:22,640 So my reporting was typically talking to the generals and the senior leadership about how 61 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:25,400 they thought their strategies would be implemented, et cetera. 62 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:31,160 But I was always struck by the young men and women who served so courageously on the front 63 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:32,160 lines. 64 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:36,840 The Air Force ran across them many times on my reporting trips, and wanted an opportunity 65 00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:41,520 to tell their stories, because it's their lives that are most directly impacted by these 66 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:45,080 strategic decisions that I've covered for so long. 67 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:49,000 And I got an opportunity, the Navy Department reached out to me, the most recent Medal 68 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:54,760 of Honor recipient at that time a couple of years ago was Navy SEAL named Britt Slavinsky. 69 00:04:54,760 --> 00:05:00,680 And I just, in the interviewing Britt Slavinsky, I was just so amazed at the story. 70 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:04,080 It was almost Homeric, and it's kind of dimensions. 71 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:10,720 And there's all these quick decision points where each time Slavinsky and his whole team 72 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:15,200 could have done the easy and the safer thing, and they chose to do the hard and dangerous 73 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:19,200 thing, because it meant going back up on a mountain and getting a fallen comrade. 74 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:25,800 And I was just so inspired by the drama, but also from the courage that these men to a 75 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:28,760 person show that I wanted to tell more stories like this. 76 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:33,480 Well, I mean, his story is, they're all amazing stories. 77 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:37,000 I mean, they just make the hair in the back of your neck stand up every time you read 78 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:38,000 them. 79 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:43,520 And I mean, the interesting thing about Slavinsky is that he is, I guess you could say his 80 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:48,560 friend John Chapman received his Medal of Honor for the same battle, isn't it? 81 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:49,560 Right. 82 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:51,720 And that's pretty rare. 83 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:57,120 There are three battles depicted in the book where there are not one, but two service 84 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:02,160 members received the Medal of Honor, which is exceedingly rare looking back in history. 85 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:06,000 And so, yeah, that's very rare. 86 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:11,040 And they were bunk mates in their tent in the Special Forces camp. 87 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:15,800 You sit plate chess all the time to take their minds off the war. 88 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:20,680 And it was just hard, it was heartrending because they lost John Chapman up on top of 89 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:24,640 that mountain and thought he was shot and killed. 90 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:27,920 But it turns out a drone captures him. 91 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:33,240 He was knocked out, but he was not killed, woke up and fought bravely for another 20 92 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:38,200 minutes, and eventually sacrificed his life, left his fighting position to give play down 93 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:43,080 cover for a quick reaction force helicopter that's coming to try to rescue him. 94 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:48,520 So it was, you know, these stories are full of braver but also heartrending tragedy as 95 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:49,520 well. 96 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:51,840 And it's part and parcel of these stories. 97 00:06:51,840 --> 00:06:53,360 You can't get away from it. 98 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:56,240 No, you really can't. 99 00:06:56,240 --> 00:07:02,200 I was thinking before we were going on the air, we had a Medal of Honor recipient here 100 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:04,000 in our local area. 101 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:11,040 Charles Kettles was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and he received a, I think it was 102 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:13,560 number two, the number two medal. 103 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:14,560 A service medal. 104 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:16,720 It could be with River Cross, I think, probably. 105 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:17,720 Right. 106 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:22,480 Finally got it upgraded when you only less than a year before he passed away. 107 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:27,240 But he was probably, and you mentioned this in a book, and this is kind of a common theme 108 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:34,520 that runs through all of these men that you've talked about here, how humble he was about 109 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:40,080 the award to begin with, which everybody looks up to, he can't help but look up to it, and 110 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:44,880 that he always gathered his whole crew around him. 111 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:49,440 Whenever he was talking about what occurred on the day that he earned the Medal of Honor, 112 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:53,560 he always talked about his crew and how he could never have done it without them. 113 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:59,360 And this seems to be a running theme throughout all of these, that they could not accomplish 114 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:02,240 their missions without the teamwork that was involved. 115 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:08,880 And when I said at the beginning of the program that I was part of Army Aviation and the motto 116 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:15,920 is above the best, I didn't even really appreciate that myself until I started talking through 117 00:08:15,920 --> 00:08:20,720 Veterans Radio really to all those men and women who have been on the ground. 118 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:25,040 Because those, I mean, that is really where everything happens. 119 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:26,040 Sure. 120 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:31,840 And you mentioned that is a common thread to these stories is humility, these remarkable 121 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:33,920 individuals show. 122 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:39,200 And the comment was made more than once to me that, although this is a great honor, it's 123 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:44,000 also a very weighty burden because it reminds that these individuals of the worst day of 124 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:49,600 their lives when they lost friends and comrades and brothers in arms and just saw horrific 125 00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:53,480 things and had to do extraordinary things to survive. 126 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:58,480 But they bear that burden because they want to bring attention to their teammates and their 127 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:00,720 colleagues and their brothers in arms. 128 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:05,800 And so there are 25 individual stories here of Medal of Honor recipients, but it's not 129 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:12,240 just stories of them, it's stories of their units and their teams because without exception, 130 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:15,680 the teams show just extreme, extreme valor. 131 00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:22,720 Yes, these individuals stood out, but the company of heroes reflected in this book is 132 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:25,720 not just the Medal of Honor recipients, there's many of the service members around them who 133 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:26,720 have their back. 134 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:27,720 Right. 135 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:31,880 Yeah, there's a lot of great side stories that you bring into this. 136 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:35,720 We're talking with James Kittfield, he's the author of In the Company of Heroes. 137 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:39,680 It's the inspiring stories of Medal of Honor recipients from America's longest wars in 138 00:09:39,680 --> 00:09:42,160 Afghanistan and Iraq. 139 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:47,800 And in fact, I'm going to read, there's a quote on the back cover here. 140 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:54,600 And this is from General David Petraeus, former commander of the Surgeon in Iraq, US Central 141 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:58,120 Command Coalition Forces in Afghanistan and former director of the CIA. 142 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:03,400 And he says, a tremendous tribute to the bravest of the brave in Iraq and Afghanistan. 143 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:08,920 James Kittfield, In the Company of Heroes is a dramatic and throw and enthralling reminder 144 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:13,520 that even in the toughest of times in the post 9 11 wars, the extraordinary men and 145 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:19,200 women in uniform who fought America's longest wars, never back down from the enemy, never 146 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:20,640 quit on the mission. 147 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:23,960 And most important, always remain true to each other. 148 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:28,960 This important book describes brilliantly why those of us, why those of us privileged 149 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:34,400 to lead our men and women in combat truly considered them America's new greatest generation. 150 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:36,080 I cannot recommend it too highly. 151 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:38,320 That's from General Petraeus. 152 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:41,760 And I was, you know, I was listening to some of the other interviews that you that you have 153 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:47,120 given and this is a kind of a topic that comes up because of the withdrawal from Afghanistan 154 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:54,440 that was so chaotic that some of these people are are some of these men and women are probably 155 00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:59,720 suffering from post traumatic stress, just from the idea that we didn't accomplish our 156 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:00,720 mission. 157 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:07,320 Yeah, I, you know, to a person and I've written a lot recently in my journalistic had about 158 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:11,280 the withdrawal from Afghanistan and how it went so wrong, but it's suffice to say, I 159 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:15,000 mean, it is a gut punch to all who serve there. 160 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:20,920 I mean, the scene that it's bad enough pulling out, but to see the Taliban rolling behind 161 00:11:20,920 --> 00:11:26,920 you was just, it was just heartbreaking for those who, you know, lost blood, sweat and 162 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:29,200 tears over there. 163 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:34,440 And there's no doubt that this will cause them to, you know, relive, you know, some 164 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:37,520 of the worst days of their lives. 165 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:41,000 And so, you know, the question was asked to me a number of times, you know, so what, 166 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:43,840 what we did, what we sacrificed was it in vain. 167 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:46,600 My answer is always no. 168 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:51,800 I was in Washington DC as a national security correspondent on 9 11 and spent the next, 169 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:57,680 you know, five to 10 years in in growth to try and understand how we got hit like that, 170 00:11:57,680 --> 00:12:01,280 who did it, why, and understand everything about al-Qaeda. 171 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:06,520 And I can tell you personally for all the many counterterrorism experts I spoke with 172 00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:11,840 in and out of government thought we would going to be hit again with successive 9 11 173 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:14,520 type terrorist by factors in the years to come. 174 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:19,680 And we weren't hit again left that because we sent our service members over to fight 175 00:12:19,680 --> 00:12:22,120 the terrorists where they were home base. 176 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:28,160 And that meant going to Afghanistan toppling the Taliban, decimating the top leadership 177 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:33,840 of al-Qaeda, including Assad bin Laden, it meant after the Iraq invasion, fighting al-Qaeda 178 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:39,560 in Iraq and decimating that organization and killing its leader Abu Musab al-Qarwi. 179 00:12:39,560 --> 00:12:45,000 And we also decimated the leadership and decimated the caliphate of the Islamic state of Iraq 180 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:46,000 and Syria. 181 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:51,600 So, those, all of those groups want nothing more than to strike a 9 11 type blow against 182 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:52,600 the West. 183 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:54,520 And the reason they weren't able to is because we had pressure on them. 184 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:59,000 They were constantly looking over their shoulders, having to wonder if we were coming to get 185 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:00,200 them. 186 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:01,320 And that's what kept us safe. 187 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:03,360 So that is that is not in vain. 188 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:04,480 That service kept us safe. 189 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:07,720 The question, you know, they were thrown off Afghanistan raises. 190 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:13,920 Will we be able to continue to keep the country safe now that that region is now pretty fertile 191 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:15,640 ground for them to lay roots again? 192 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:17,240 And we will find out about that. 193 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:20,240 Yes, it's that's always the issue. 194 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:25,320 And you know, when we leave these places is what happens to the people that are left behind. 195 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:31,360 And we can see some of the results from what news is coming out of Afghanistan. 196 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:36,840 And you know, I keep flashing back, of course, to Vietnam when we were when we were out of 197 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:40,560 there in 75 and you know, we had left behind with that. 198 00:13:40,560 --> 00:13:42,480 But that's that's getting way off topic. 199 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:45,160 And I apologize for that, James. 200 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:47,600 Let's go back to the Medal of Honor. 201 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:50,800 Let's talk a little bit about the history of the Medal of Honor. 202 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:54,520 How did this award come about? 203 00:13:54,520 --> 00:14:01,880 It's not it was started by President Lincoln during the Civil War wanted to honor. 204 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:08,000 Originally it was just for NCOs and enlisted personnel, but it was expanded in 83 to include 205 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:09,240 officers as well. 206 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:14,800 Just in time for Chamberlain who led the bayonet charge down a little round top to save the 207 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:19,680 flank of the Union line during the during the Battle of Gettysburg to to receive the 208 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:20,680 Medal of Honor. 209 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:27,080 And after from then on, you know, in every war we've had there have been Medal of Honor 210 00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:32,520 recipients showing from showing, you know, just extraordinary valor and that, you know, 211 00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:39,000 right up through World War I or World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and now the wars in Iraq 212 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:40,000 and Afghanistan. 213 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:46,760 It's just that when you when you have, you know, hand it, you know, face to face combat, 214 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:50,640 some people will distinguish themselves in those situations. 215 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:54,720 And we, you know, the services want to draw attention to that because those people are 216 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:58,880 exemplary and they want to they want to show the bravest of the bravest. 217 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:00,360 General Petraeus said. 218 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:01,360 Right. 219 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:09,120 And it's not the easiest award to be given because of there are, I guess, the rules and 220 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:15,000 regulations that go behind it because they're they're supposed to be witnesses and, you 221 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,160 know, written statements and so on and so forth, aren't there? 222 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:19,160 Right. 223 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:24,080 So it's a it's a very involved process, which is why in many cases there's years past between 224 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:28,600 the the action itself and the receiving of the award. 225 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:34,880 And so your your chain of command has to recommend a service member for the Medal of Honor. 226 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:40,000 It has to go up through the chain of command investigate if they think it's indeed as worthy 227 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:45,080 of launch an investigation that talks to witnesses, interviews, witnesses, looks at all the data 228 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:46,440 from the battle. 229 00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:50,760 And these wars is obviously a lot more data because we have full full video in some cases 230 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:54,960 of these wars because there's surveillance drones circling overhead. 231 00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:57,000 But it goes up to the investigation. 232 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:01,120 And finally, the Secretary of Defense has to sign off on it in the final decision of the 233 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:05,800 President of the United States makes the decision and and the awards are are given at the White 234 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:07,560 House. 235 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:09,480 So it's a it's a quite involved process. 236 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:11,800 It's not it's not something that's done lightly. 237 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:13,640 No, not at all. 238 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:19,920 And in your book, you mentioned that you had the privilege, I guess you could say of going 239 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:27,440 to a Medal of Honor reunion where there aren't that many left. 240 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:34,320 No, and yeah, there is they have each year the Medal of Honor Society holds this annual 241 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:35,320 meeting. 242 00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:41,280 The one you're referring to was held at the at the Naval Academy a couple of years ago. 243 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:46,240 But I went to the one just before COVID, which was in Tampa. 244 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:51,560 And it's a chance to honor all of these individuals and they go out and speak to local schools. 245 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:58,040 And, you know, it's just, you know, it is the most exclusive fraternity in the world. 246 00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:02,400 And so people are just flocked to be able to meet these people. 247 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:07,040 And and for good reason, they're just extraordinary individuals, like you said, them for all of 248 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:12,880 their accomplishments and achievements, they remain a very humble crowd. 249 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:16,760 I should also say that a lot of them have have been very public about their own struggles 250 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:22,600 with post-traumatic stress mental issues, and, you know, they're the bravest of the 251 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:27,080 brave, but they talk about this because they want they want, you know, veterans and others 252 00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:32,360 combat veterans and service members to seek out help when they are trying to cope with 253 00:17:32,360 --> 00:17:35,240 their own post-traumatic stress. 254 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:38,720 And that would be a good time if I don't mind, I can give the number out to the National 255 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:40,840 Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which is 800. 256 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:44,560 Don't get right in, I'm sitting here in front of me too. 257 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:49,840 Yeah, that's 800-273-8255. 258 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:52,360 That's the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. 259 00:17:52,360 --> 00:17:56,240 So these these individuals almost to a person have suffered post-traumatic stress. 260 00:17:56,240 --> 00:18:00,840 I mean, if you and you read these stories, you understand why what they've been through, 261 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:04,000 what they've seen, what they've lost. 262 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:11,520 And they are very open about those struggles, because in one example was an attempted suicide 263 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:15,800 himself, one of these Medal of Honor recipients, Dakota Meyer. 264 00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:19,000 They want they want those stories out too, because they think that, you know, it's they 265 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:23,400 want to get rid of the stigma about seeking help for post-traumatic stress, because they've 266 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:24,400 all been through it. 267 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:25,400 Absolutely. 268 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:29,200 And I think I think the other thing probably is they don't want people thinking of them 269 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:31,600 as, you know, Superman. 270 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:34,360 And you know, that they're above the fray, but they're not. 271 00:18:34,360 --> 00:18:38,080 They're just, you know, as we always say, you know, they're just ordinary people who 272 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:42,840 did extraordinary things in the service of their country. 273 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:48,640 And I can't remember the particular story where the Medal of Honor recipient, another 274 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:53,280 one of his team members after the after the battle and everything in a way came home that 275 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:56,400 did eventually, unfortunately, did commit suicide. 276 00:18:56,400 --> 00:19:01,800 And you know, for our audience out there that's listening right now, we're all very familiar 277 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:09,360 with the number 22 a day, and even though it has dropped miniscule, if that's a word, 278 00:19:09,360 --> 00:19:12,400 there's still over 20 veterans a day that are committing suicide. 279 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:17,640 So we have to we have to make sure that they're aware that help is out there and that it is 280 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:21,520 not it is not wrong to seek out that help. 281 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:27,640 And every one of these stories that I've read in this book, talk about the survivors that 282 00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:30,520 are talking about, yes, seek help. 283 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:34,200 We can't fight these battles by ourselves. 284 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:35,200 That's exactly right. 285 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:41,560 And these individuals are very outspoken about, again, what they've been through because 286 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:45,240 they want other combat veterans to know that there's help out there. 287 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:49,760 And there's, you know, the bravest of the brave need help too. 288 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:53,960 And they want to make sure that if people need that kind of help, they seek it out because 289 00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:57,040 you're right, you can't you can't fight those battles alone. 290 00:19:57,040 --> 00:19:58,880 No, not at all. 291 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:00,800 I want to read another quote here. 292 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:04,520 This is from Stanley McChrystal, General Stanley McChrystal. 293 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:07,400 And he says, every generation must do its part. 294 00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:09,360 Unfortunately heroes emerge. 295 00:20:09,360 --> 00:20:14,160 In his fascinating account, James Kittfield shared stories that will inspire Americans 296 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:16,520 of this and future times. 297 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:19,760 And I think we'd better get into some of these stories. 298 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:24,440 And I know I asked you earlier if you had any that you would prefer to talk about or 299 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:26,240 she want to talk about. 300 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:30,800 Well, you know, it's like choosing between your children, right? 301 00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:34,200 There's 25 just unbelievable stories in this book. 302 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:37,320 Each one of the individuals is extraordinary in their own right and did extraordinary 303 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:38,320 things. 304 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:42,680 I'll talk a little bit about Bruce Levinsky since he started that interview started me 305 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:44,680 on this journey, if you will. 306 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:52,080 So he was a he was in Afghanistan as a young team leader in 2002. 307 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:55,400 So very early in the post 9-11 wars. 308 00:20:55,400 --> 00:21:01,040 And they had, if you'll remember, an initial battle in Torobor. 309 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:05,760 They had al-Qaeda had been allowed to help Salman Laden and his team, the tenants had 310 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:12,200 been allowed to basically get away into Pakistan because we had trusted some local warlords 311 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:13,520 to close the news around it. 312 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:19,200 So this battle was to had singled out a group of al-Qaeda's that were in the mountains and 313 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:21,880 they were trying to close the net on them. 314 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:26,640 He was in charge of an overwatch team and they were inserted at night on top of this 315 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:27,640 mountain. 316 00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:35,560 Snow in the middle of February, snow drifts up there freezing cold. 317 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:43,480 Because of a screw up and timing, they can't disembark and sneak into their overwatch position. 318 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:46,680 They have to, the helicopter has to drop them off right at the top of the mountain. 319 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:47,680 Helicopters ambushed. 320 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:51,760 And in the ambush trying to get out of it and use the helicopter power to understand 321 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:53,260 this is miraculous. 322 00:21:53,260 --> 00:21:55,280 They took RPG hits. 323 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:59,200 They did get out of it and crash landed a few miles away. 324 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:04,880 But in the confusion, one of the seals falls out of the back of the helicopter. 325 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:10,600 So they've crashed, before even sunrise, they crash landed in a helicopter, got taken back 326 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:14,880 to, they've been ambushed, they've lost a man and they go back to base. 327 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:17,160 And Bricks Levinsky, this is one of those decision points. 328 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:21,200 They have to decide, do I risk my whole team and what is certainly going to be a suicide 329 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:25,520 mission to go rescue the Navy Seal Roberts, New Roberts? 330 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:31,040 Or do I just say that that's, you know, or do I save my team because it was clearly going 331 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:32,640 to be something like a suicide mission. 332 00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:38,560 The Al Qaeda group on top of the mountain was bigger than they were dug in and they 333 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:41,440 would be fighting uphill through snow drifts. 334 00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:46,080 And yet they decided to go back and he announced that decision to his team and to a person, 335 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:51,560 including John Chapman and all five of them, shook their head and said, let's go get them. 336 00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:54,240 And knowing what their odds were and they weren't good. 337 00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:58,080 Indeed, when they went back up helicopter again, as they ambushed, they get out this 338 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:02,800 time, they fight really fiercely. 339 00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:07,360 But John Chapman is hit and presumed that another Navy Seal shot through the leg would 340 00:23:07,360 --> 00:23:08,720 lose that leg. 341 00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:11,720 So he's a major casualty. 342 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:15,440 They have to retreat off that mountain or at least down the mountain. 343 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:21,320 But as I said before, the drone catches the firing position where John Chapman was laying 344 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:23,160 unconscious for 12 minutes. 345 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:29,120 He starts moving around and then starts fighting fiercely and in a couple cases, hand to hand 346 00:23:29,120 --> 00:23:34,280 combat as he held off the Al Qaeda group, almost out of ammunition when the quick reaction 347 00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:40,320 force helicopter appears to try to rescue him and he exposes himself to what he knew 348 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:44,920 was mortal danger to try to lay down fire for that helicopter and he's killed. 349 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:56,200 So just a heart-rending tragic story but full of inspiring men who live by decree, we leave 350 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:58,200 none of our own behind. 351 00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:02,600 And there's inspiration in that that I wanted to share with readers. 352 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:05,240 And there's 25 stories like that. 353 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:06,240 Exactly. 354 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:11,240 And that's something that is instilled in you from the first day of basic training, I think, 355 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:15,240 is that you never leave anyone out on the field. 356 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:23,800 I can think of so many missions where we would go back to try and find people and the helicopter 357 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:30,200 pilots that receive the Medal of Honor in from Vietnam, we're all going back to pick 358 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:32,120 up people that were still on the ground. 359 00:24:32,120 --> 00:24:34,400 And you can't leave them. 360 00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:35,840 That's just the way it is. 361 00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:41,560 And these mountains that you were talking about in Afghanistan are not, these are 15, 362 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:43,040 16,000 foot up. 363 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:49,520 Yes, the Hindu curse is, you know, if it wasn't for this conflict, I've heard this comment 364 00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:53,000 by many people who serve there to some of the most beautiful mountains in the world, 365 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:59,680 but they are, they have some of the most remote valleys, you know, valleys where the inhabitants 366 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:03,640 have never even seen the people in the next valley, much less American troops. 367 00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:08,520 So we spent, you know, probably five or six of these stories are from units that we put 368 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:14,760 up deep in these mountains to try to sort of plug the infiltration routes of the Taliban 369 00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:19,600 and al-Qaeda we're using to come from the Pakistan sanctuary, then to Afghanistan. 370 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:27,480 And those stories are harrowing because they are typically outnumbered surrounded by these 371 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:34,520 wily mountain fighters who grew up in those mountains, and they are very hard to be reinforced 372 00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:38,240 and very hard to get air cover because they're so remote. 373 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:44,280 And there are just a number of really, really dramatic battles in those, in the Hindu curse, 374 00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:49,200 this really heart-rending stuff because, because it was the probably the toughest terrain on 375 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:51,600 earth to try to fight in. 376 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:57,000 I know, and they were out there in such small fire support bases, you know, their bases 377 00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,040 were not very big at all. 378 00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:04,600 No, and if you'll remember, this was when, this was largely, it was when, you know, 379 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:06,760 the Iraq war was not going well. 380 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:11,360 So we had to siphon off the majority, but the Iraq war was the major effort in Afghanistan, 381 00:26:11,360 --> 00:26:13,720 it was like a holding mission. 382 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:19,760 And because of that, they didn't have anything like the heavy lift helicopters, the ISR in 383 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:22,760 terms of surveillance drones. 384 00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:30,120 They were short-handed and they were short-equipped and in these terribly remote places, often 385 00:26:30,120 --> 00:26:36,160 outnumbered because the Taliban can choose when to mass its forces on one of these remote 386 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:37,480 bases. 387 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:43,000 So that was a tactically really, really difficult duty in those mountains. 388 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:49,600 And eventually after the last one, Kop Keating, which is another one of these famous conflicts, 389 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:54,680 where there were two Al-Avana recipients from that same battle, they were very nearly 390 00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:55,680 overrun. 391 00:26:55,680 --> 00:27:00,840 There was inside the, the enemy got inside the wire, killed a lot of Americans, and 392 00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:05,640 they, they were just able to fight them off. 393 00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:11,160 But after that, the US military put all of our forces out of those mountains and bombed 394 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:16,360 them, and to, not that they could fall into the hands of the enemy, but they realized 395 00:27:16,360 --> 00:27:20,040 they did, they resisted putting, putting these units in really indefensible positions. 396 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:23,320 Yeah, and some of them, their positions were outrageous. 397 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:27,960 I mean, when, I think it's that story we're talking about where the base was between the 398 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:31,320 mountains, it was in the valley, everything was above you. 399 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:32,320 Right. 400 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:37,320 It was, that was Kop Keating, yeah, but they called it the fishbowl because everyone, and 401 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:41,960 one of the Al-Avana recipients said, looked up and said, you know, and I'm gonna, I'm 402 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:45,480 gonna have a very sore neck after this year deployment because I'm constantly looking 403 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:51,360 up this whole time and they were, and they were, they were, you know, shot at by snipers 404 00:27:51,360 --> 00:27:55,000 so regularly that they were afraid to, to, in daylight, to even go to latrine. 405 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,760 They, they had to wait till night to crawl to the latrine because there were so many 406 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:02,880 snipers and hiding the rocks on the mountain sides. 407 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:08,520 So, easy an idea of how, what kind of duty that was. 408 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:11,040 We're talking right now with James Kittfield. 409 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:15,280 He's the author of In the Company of Heroes, the Inspiring Stories of Medal of Honor recipients 410 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:17,360 from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. 411 00:28:17,360 --> 00:28:18,920 We have to take a quick break. 412 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:22,840 So James, if you'll stick around, actually this is where we pay a little respect to one 413 00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:28,320 of the Medal of Honor recipients that is in your book and that is going to be Paul Smith. 414 00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:32,640 So you're listening to Veterans Radio and we'll be right back after this short break. 415 00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:36,720 The Medal of Honor is the highest awards for valor and combat given a member of the Armed 416 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:38,560 Forces of the United States. 417 00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:43,400 There have been over 3,400 recipients of the nation's highest award. 418 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:44,400 This is one of them. 419 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:49,400 Sergeant First Last Paul Smith gave his life to protect his troops. 420 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:52,480 Tales after this. 421 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:56,320 If you have a VA claim denied by the Board of Veterans Appeals, contact Legal Help for 422 00:28:56,320 --> 00:29:00,560 Veterans at 1-800-693-4800. 423 00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:04,600 They're experts in handling cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. 424 00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:08,360 Their number again, 1-800-693-4800. 425 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:13,960 On April 4th, 2003, a call went out for a place to put some Iraqi prisoners. 426 00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:19,640 Sergeant First Last Paul Smith volunteered to create a holding pen inside a walled courtyard. 427 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:26,440 Soon, Iraqi soldiers, numbering perhaps 100, opened fire on Smith's position. 428 00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:29,040 Smith was accompanied by 16 men. 429 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:32,760 Smith called for a Bradley, a tank-like vehicle with a rapid-fire cannon. 430 00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:36,040 It arrived and opened up on the Iraqis. 431 00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:40,520 The enemy could not advance so long as the Bradley was in position, but then, in a move 432 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:44,640 that baffled in angered Smith's men, the Bradley left. 433 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:48,720 Smith's men, some of whom were wounded, were suddenly vulnerable. 434 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,160 Smith could have justifiably ordered his men to withdraw. 435 00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:56,280 Smith rejected that option, thinking that abandoning the courtyard would jeopardize 436 00:29:56,280 --> 00:30:00,600 about 100 GIs outside, including medics at an aid station. 437 00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:05,320 He manned a.50 caliber machine gun atop an abandoned armored personnel carrier and fought 438 00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:09,320 off the Iraqis, going through several boxes of ammunition. 439 00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:12,720 With a battle wound down, Smith was hit in the head. 440 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:15,680 He died before he could be evacuated from the scene. 441 00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:19,560 The Medal of Honor series is a production of Veterans Radio. 442 00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:21,960 Military veterans touch everyone's life. 443 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:27,200 I'm guessing right now you're thinking of a veteran, a close friend, relative. 444 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:28,360 Maybe it's you. 445 00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:33,120 Even the toughest of us sometimes need help, but don't know where to turn for support. 446 00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:35,640 You don't need special training to help a veteran in your life. 447 00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:38,520 We can all help someone going through a difficult time. 448 00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:40,880 Learn how you can be there for veterans. 449 00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:43,560 Visit veteranscrisisline.net. 450 00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:55,600 Veteranscrisisline.net, a message from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 451 00:30:55,600 --> 00:31:01,760 We're back here on Veterans Radio, and we are talking with James Kittfield, the author 452 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:06,520 of In the Company of Heroes, the Medal of Honor recipients from Iraq and Afghanistan, 453 00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:11,440 that Medal of Honor that just played was about Paul Smith. 454 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:16,480 And I just wanted to read a paragraph from the end of the chapter on Paul Smith in here 455 00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:18,040 called The Gates of Baghdad. 456 00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:24,080 It's evidently when Paul Smith's belongings were sent home, his parents found a letter 457 00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:27,440 that he had written from Iraq but had never mailed it. 458 00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:32,520 An entity told his parents how proud he was of the privilege to be given 25 of the finest 459 00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:36,280 Americans we call soldiers to lead into war. 460 00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:40,800 And then Paul Ray Smith made a pledge to put their welfare first, which he would honor 461 00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:41,800 with his life. 462 00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:47,760 He was prepared, Smith wrote, to give all that I have to ensure all of my boys make it home. 463 00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:54,560 And this is like a common story for all of these Medal of Honor recipients, James. 464 00:31:54,560 --> 00:31:58,600 Yes, that's exactly right. 465 00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:04,240 And the thread that runs through all these stories is people who are selfless. 466 00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:08,360 And when they had a brush with eternity, instead of doing the safe thing, they put their lives 467 00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:11,760 on the line in order to save their buddies. 468 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:16,960 There were seven, I believe, that were actually through themselves on a grenade or tackled 469 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:23,880 a suicide bomber to absorb the blast and protect their brothers in arms knowing that they were 470 00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:24,880 about to die. 471 00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:27,600 But they went ahead and did it. 472 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:33,440 And certainly Paul Smith, I was actually embedded with the small headquarters element, tactical 473 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:36,160 headquarters element right behind his unit. 474 00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:39,000 And so that was the original invasion of Iraq. 475 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:43,400 And I mean, that his engineering battalions did amazing things. 476 00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:51,720 They captured a contested bridge and waded into the water and were cutting the wires 477 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:56,360 of the demolition that the Iraqis, Republican guard types had put on the bridge to blow 478 00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:57,360 it up. 479 00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:00,800 So they were just, they were a quieter unit. 480 00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:05,600 And at the Air Force battle, the Baghdad airport was from the very beginning, the place where 481 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:11,160 we were going to try to capture and then launch the battle for Baghdad, if you will, from 482 00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:13,880 the airport complex. 483 00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:20,360 And that little courtyard that he set up and was going to be for prisoners, that turned 484 00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:24,760 out to be the flank of the unit that was fighting to capture the airport. 485 00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:29,200 So if he had allowed the Iraqi, the Republican guards to sweep through them, he would have 486 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:33,800 jeopardized the whole, the flank of the whole effort to capture the Air Force. 487 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:40,320 So he, the airport, I should say, so he was, he was an amazing guy and he was determined 488 00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:46,480 that they would go no further than him and his PPP-Helper machine gun on top of a armored 489 00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:48,640 personnel carrier that was disabled. 490 00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:52,480 So he couldn't even pull that out of the field of fire if he wanted to. 491 00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:53,480 And he never left. 492 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:57,720 He just said, keep feeding me the, keep feeding me bullets and I'll keep firing. 493 00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:01,400 So he was, he was an extremely heroic sergeant. 494 00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:02,400 Go ahead. 495 00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:03,400 Thank you, Waz. 496 00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:09,920 And you were talking about the couple of people who jumped on brigade, on grenades. 497 00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:15,640 And I'm, you know, we, we have another one of our Medal of Honor segments to where we 498 00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:17,840 talk about Ross McGinnis. 499 00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:19,480 Can you talk about what he did? 500 00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:20,480 Ross McGinnis. 501 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:23,920 Well, I'm trying to remember right off the top of my head. 502 00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:33,080 Oh, so he was, he was in Iraq, his, his, you know, fighting in a, what they call it, sort 503 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:36,120 of the really, really rough part of Baghdad. 504 00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:41,160 I've actually been through myself, wouldn't want to go back again. 505 00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:43,040 And they were in a convoy. 506 00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:46,920 He was, he manned the machine gun on top of a Humvee. 507 00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:51,760 And so he's the gunner and they turn a corner, you know, down a dusty street and someone 508 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:58,520 dropped a grenade through the, the, you know, through the, his turnstile, if you will. 509 00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:04,400 And at that point, he was the only one in this armored Humvee who could get out. 510 00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:08,240 He could have just hopped out the top because he was standing up, you know, behind his machine 511 00:35:08,240 --> 00:35:09,240 gun. 512 00:35:09,240 --> 00:35:15,840 Instead of that, he drops down into the, into the Humvee and basically captures the grenade 513 00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:20,560 against the ballwork with his, with his, you know, his body armor, knowing that that was, 514 00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:23,360 that was going to be the last thing he ever did. 515 00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:29,000 But he saved every one of his, he saved everyone else in that Humvee by that heroic sacrifice 516 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:30,000 of his own life. 517 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:35,160 I can't, I just can't believe what these, these people did. 518 00:35:35,160 --> 00:35:41,000 We talked with Flo Groberg on Veterans Radio back in December of 2017. 519 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:49,160 He, his Medal of Honor was received for, for basically tackling a suicide bomber who was 520 00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:54,400 trying to get to a, I believe it was a general or some brigade commander or something along 521 00:35:54,400 --> 00:36:00,160 those lines and pushed him aside and the vest went off. 522 00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:01,160 Yeah. 523 00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:09,280 And Flo is a great guy and yeah, he, he not only tackled this, the suicide bomber, but 524 00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:14,600 he, you know, he went through just incredibly difficult rehabilitation. 525 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:17,800 He lost most of us, one of his legs. 526 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:23,240 You know, he had been a kind of a standout track star in college. 527 00:36:23,240 --> 00:36:29,360 He's an immigrant and yeah, his story just was just amazing to how he found his inner 528 00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:36,200 warrior again, that allowed him to, to, to press through really excruciating rehabilitation 529 00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:43,720 and become this really, you know, interesting entrepreneurial guy who has a great life. 530 00:36:43,720 --> 00:36:47,320 But it was the story of how he struggled. 531 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:54,360 I mean, the survivor's, survivor's guilt that he suffered almost drove him crazy. 532 00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:59,720 And he admits this in his book and he's, and his lowest point, another one of the soldiers 533 00:36:59,720 --> 00:37:06,120 at Walter Reed who had lost, I believe, all those arms and both legs came to him and said, 534 00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:08,840 you know, look, I know you're having a bad time. 535 00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:12,640 There's people in this hospital who haven't even worse than you and you need to, you need 536 00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:20,040 to rediscover your warrior and he's, and Pro-Burg said that that person saved his life. 537 00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:24,760 So just, that's another one of the stories in there that just shows you how these people 538 00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:31,240 all have each other's back and, and, and really showed amazing courage in coming to each other's 539 00:37:31,240 --> 00:37:33,640 aid when it mattered most. 540 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:39,760 I think it's really interesting and just, I don't know, awe inspiring when you, when 541 00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:45,080 you think about, especially some of the ones that did survive you, you talked about in 542 00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:48,800 the book you're talking about Corporal Kyle Carpenter. 543 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:55,120 And then we had a privilege of talking with him back in December of 2019, but he was literally 544 00:37:55,120 --> 00:37:58,440 blown apart and survived. 545 00:37:58,440 --> 00:37:59,440 Absolutely. 546 00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:02,600 He's, he's an amazing person. 547 00:38:02,600 --> 00:38:09,120 You know, another case, a young Marine in, in Afghanistan and the Kandahar, you know, 548 00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:13,840 sort of the birthplace of the Taliban and they're manning an overwatch position on top 549 00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:20,520 of a roof on their little makeshift base and a, and a grenade gets thrown on top of the 550 00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:25,120 rooftop and he jumps on top of it to try to save his friend. 551 00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:30,760 And you know, he was hurt so badly that I don't think many people thought he would 552 00:38:30,760 --> 00:38:33,520 survive, but it was miraculous that he survived. 553 00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:39,920 He had to go through more than 40 operations to put himself back together and, and really 554 00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:40,920 excruciating pain. 555 00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:44,200 You know, you're doped up on a lot of pain medication. 556 00:38:44,200 --> 00:38:46,840 You're having hallucinations. 557 00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:51,240 He hallucinated the solid zone burial and none of his Marine friends came to see him 558 00:38:51,240 --> 00:38:54,800 because they were mad at him for leaving them in, in Afghanistan. 559 00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:57,120 If you can imagine that. 560 00:38:57,120 --> 00:39:01,520 But this, you know, so this, this young man, you know, who could have been totally embittered 561 00:39:01,520 --> 00:39:09,640 by this experience really found his meaning in life and it's become a motivational speaker. 562 00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:10,640 You've talked to him. 563 00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:17,640 He's just a really inspiring person and has a Twitter handle chicks, Doug digs cars, 564 00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:22,240 you know, has a sense of humor, but he's almost like a warrior philosopher. 565 00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:26,920 And he, so he took the worst, the worst day of his life and he made it life changing. 566 00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:30,160 And just an amazing, amazing young man. 567 00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:35,200 I, you know, to our audience out there, as I mentioned, we're, we're talking with James 568 00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:36,200 Kittfield. 569 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:37,720 The book is in the company of heroes. 570 00:39:37,720 --> 00:39:44,320 I could, I can't recommend highly enough that you go out and read these stories. 571 00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:48,560 These, and I know that sooner or later there's going to be a woman is going to receive the 572 00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:52,360 Medal of Honor and it's, it's, it's going to be the same thing. 573 00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:55,440 They're just, they just go above and beyond. 574 00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:56,680 Never it isn't. 575 00:39:56,680 --> 00:39:58,520 And they never, ever give up. 576 00:39:58,520 --> 00:39:59,520 I can't. 577 00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:00,520 I can't. 578 00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:01,520 I can't exactly. 579 00:40:01,520 --> 00:40:02,520 Go ahead. 580 00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:03,520 Sorry. 581 00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:08,040 I'm just going, I'm looking at the names on the list here, you know, and I can't even, 582 00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:14,000 you know, I don't even know where I want to go first because they're all such just fantastic 583 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:15,000 stories. 584 00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:20,840 I'm going to ask you a while I'm going to go on here for a minute about Kyle White and 585 00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:22,480 in a second. 586 00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:30,600 But there are 25 stories in the book about Medal of Honor recipients and, you know, luckily 587 00:40:30,600 --> 00:40:34,600 it seemed like most of them survived. 588 00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:36,640 Some of them did not. 589 00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:40,760 But I wanted to ask you about Kyle White. 590 00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:47,520 So Kyle White was with a unit in again, one of these units I talked about in the Hindu 591 00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:49,880 deep in the Hindu curse. 592 00:40:49,880 --> 00:40:55,960 They go into a village late at night and camp out and they're supposed to meet with the 593 00:40:55,960 --> 00:41:03,160 elders the next morning to do outreach like what their mission really was was try to gain 594 00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:06,680 at least the trust of these mountain villages. 595 00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:12,680 So they would be told when the Taliban was lurking around and something didn't feel right. 596 00:41:12,680 --> 00:41:16,760 They were, the meeting kept getting pushed back and pushed back. 597 00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:21,800 And when it finally happened, almost every man of fighting age showed up and they started 598 00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:28,720 hearing strange, strange commands on the radio in a language that even their interpreters 599 00:41:28,720 --> 00:41:29,720 didn't understand. 600 00:41:29,720 --> 00:41:30,720 So something didn't feel right. 601 00:41:30,720 --> 00:41:36,840 So they exited this village and were walking back in a single file on this goat trail trying 602 00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:37,840 to get home. 603 00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:43,600 And they go to a park named ambush alley because it's famous for the Taliban like an ambush 604 00:41:43,600 --> 00:41:44,600 people there. 605 00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:46,440 And indeed they do get ambushed. 606 00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:53,440 He gets knocked out by an RPG and when he awakens almost his whole unit has disappeared. 607 00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:56,280 He doesn't know where what happened to them. 608 00:41:56,280 --> 00:42:01,160 But he and a couple of Afghans and a couple of the wounded Americans are the only people 609 00:42:01,160 --> 00:42:03,080 left on this ridgeline. 610 00:42:03,080 --> 00:42:07,560 And he helps save one person. 611 00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:10,040 He increases wounds. 612 00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:12,400 He's fighting off the enemy. 613 00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:17,840 And it wasn't for him, you know, everyone who was left in the mountain would have died. 614 00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:23,880 He's calling and finally he's calling in, you know, airstrikes, et cetera. 615 00:42:23,880 --> 00:42:29,120 And quite famously had almost every commander in Afghanistan was on the radio. 616 00:42:29,120 --> 00:42:33,440 And that listen to this young trooper who I think was, you know, early 20s at the time 617 00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:37,280 was just managing this fight all on his own. 618 00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:42,360 And he was the last person to, the last person to, he made sure that they evacuated every 619 00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:44,640 one else besides himself. 620 00:42:44,640 --> 00:42:52,200 And finally he was the last man off that mountain and saved a lot of life in the process. 621 00:42:52,200 --> 00:42:55,560 It's just, it's awesome. 622 00:42:55,560 --> 00:43:03,280 I know that's not the right word, but it's just, you know, what these people can do. 623 00:43:03,280 --> 00:43:09,600 Your last story in the book is about Army Sergeant First Class Thomas Payne and you 624 00:43:09,600 --> 00:43:11,560 call that chapter Last Man Out. 625 00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:13,600 Why is that? 626 00:43:13,600 --> 00:43:18,400 So Sergeant Payne was a member of the Ranger Regiment. 627 00:43:18,400 --> 00:43:27,880 They famously fought in so many battles in these wars, especially in both Iraq and Afghanistan. 628 00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:36,040 But he's involved in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. 629 00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:41,280 So he's the most recent and the last, chronologically the last Medal of Honor recipient when I wrote 630 00:43:41,280 --> 00:43:47,160 this book, which is, you know, I finished last, end of last year. 631 00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:54,960 So they get word that ISIS is going to execute these hostages, more than 80 hostages, Kurdists, 632 00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:59,920 most of them Kurdist military types and Kurdist civilians. 633 00:43:59,920 --> 00:44:03,640 And they're digging, the ISIS is already, they're seeing them, they're digging the graves 634 00:44:03,640 --> 00:44:06,880 outside the prison where they're going to shoot them and execute them, which is their 635 00:44:06,880 --> 00:44:09,400 sort of brand, if you will. 636 00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:13,840 And they launch a very dangerous hostage rescue mission. 637 00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:21,040 And during that mission, they lose, Thomas Payne lost one of his, lost one of his, you 638 00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:22,920 know, colleagues. 639 00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:26,760 But the prison is burning. 640 00:44:26,760 --> 00:44:31,680 It gets lit on fire during this firefight trying to rescue the hostages. 641 00:44:31,680 --> 00:44:32,960 And he has the bolt cutter. 642 00:44:32,960 --> 00:44:34,960 So he runs into under machine gun fire. 643 00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:38,880 The firing, ISIS is firing from within the prison. 644 00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:43,840 He goes under machine gun fire three times into a burning building where the smoke is 645 00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:49,600 so deep, so dense, it's about knee high that you could get a breath. 646 00:44:49,600 --> 00:44:53,640 And three times he goes back in there to try to get open this door on the fire. 647 00:44:53,640 --> 00:44:59,320 And eventually actually does do that and is able to then usher out. 648 00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:03,600 Many of the hostages were so scared because there was still an ongoing firefight inside 649 00:45:03,600 --> 00:45:04,600 the building. 650 00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:09,880 And they were just burning and he had to basically, you know, bodily sort of get them out of 651 00:45:09,880 --> 00:45:10,880 there. 652 00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:13,840 And they rescued all 80 hostages. 653 00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:19,680 And it was just an amazing thing to hear how this, this, this, I'm assuming not very 654 00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:26,640 big guy, like you think the Tolkien guys and their, their, their wiry types frequently. 655 00:45:26,640 --> 00:45:32,400 But he just, you know, was telling me this story and I was, I was just, I couldn't imagine 656 00:45:32,400 --> 00:45:37,000 what it would be like to, to be him and to decide not once, not twice, but three times 657 00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:41,720 to run down a hall while you're getting machine gun shot at you into a burning building. 658 00:45:41,720 --> 00:45:46,920 You know, it's about to collapse at any moment and to, to, to save strangers. 659 00:45:46,920 --> 00:45:47,920 That's what he did. 660 00:45:47,920 --> 00:45:53,960 And yeah, it's an inspiring story, but it was harrowing as well. 661 00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:58,280 Every one of these, as I mentioned earlier on, I got the hair on my neck standing straight 662 00:45:58,280 --> 00:46:01,280 up going, why, why, you know, it's like watching a movie. 663 00:46:01,280 --> 00:46:06,160 Let's go in there because it's not going to be good for you. 664 00:46:06,160 --> 00:46:10,440 What would you say would be one common trait that all of these, these men had? 665 00:46:10,440 --> 00:46:13,680 I mean, most of them, as you mentioned, were, were fairly young. 666 00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:14,680 Right. 667 00:46:14,680 --> 00:46:23,160 So there is a selflessness in all of these stories that when it came right down to it, 668 00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:27,680 they were willing to sacrifice their lives to save the lives of their fellow servers, 669 00:46:27,680 --> 00:46:29,520 members and brothers and arms. 670 00:46:29,520 --> 00:46:32,920 And that is, that comes through in literally, I think, every one of these stories. 671 00:46:32,920 --> 00:46:36,760 Yeah, they could have taken the easy way out there and no one would have thought less 672 00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:42,120 of them because some of these things were, you know, like I said, as stark as jumping 673 00:46:42,120 --> 00:46:45,720 on a grave knowing you're going to die or going back up in a mountain when, you know, 674 00:46:45,720 --> 00:46:47,520 it's a suicide mission. 675 00:46:47,520 --> 00:46:53,240 But they did it and they did it because they valued the lines of their colleagues and the 676 00:46:53,240 --> 00:46:58,280 creed that you, that you, you leave no man behind more than their own lives. 677 00:46:58,280 --> 00:47:01,080 And that's a common thread that comes through all these stories. 678 00:47:01,080 --> 00:47:08,360 And that's, you know, that's the inspiring part, I think, that we have such a, you know, 679 00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:14,120 this force of volunteers that we sent to fight these wars as are as good as any force we've 680 00:47:14,120 --> 00:47:16,960 ever fielded in our country's history. 681 00:47:16,960 --> 00:47:19,120 And each one of them volunteered for duty. 682 00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:23,840 They weren't drafted and they didn't have to do it, but they volunteered to do it. 683 00:47:23,840 --> 00:47:29,520 And so many of them were on their fifth, sixth, seventh, ninth tours. 684 00:47:29,520 --> 00:47:36,040 Granted, they're not a year long, but they're, you know, still just a psychological buildup 685 00:47:36,040 --> 00:47:42,040 to going back into combat is just, is so foreign to my thinking. 686 00:47:42,040 --> 00:47:48,920 I know there wasn't any way you were going to get me to go back to go back to Vietnam. 687 00:47:48,920 --> 00:47:49,920 And then keep going back. 688 00:47:49,920 --> 00:47:56,640 And that's, you know, that was one of the, you know, military would never go back on 689 00:47:56,640 --> 00:48:01,320 the all volunteer force, but one of the repercussions of having a fairly small volunteer force that 690 00:48:01,320 --> 00:48:06,640 fought our longest wars was they did have to go back and back and back and back. 691 00:48:06,640 --> 00:48:13,120 And each time, you know, studies have shown your post, your likelihood of having post-traumatic 692 00:48:13,120 --> 00:48:15,000 stress issues goes up. 693 00:48:15,000 --> 00:48:20,720 And it's also very tough on families to go through that again and again and again. 694 00:48:20,720 --> 00:48:24,280 So that was one of the detriments of having an all volunteer force that was relatively 695 00:48:24,280 --> 00:48:28,240 small that we never reinforced with an all-round draft. 696 00:48:28,240 --> 00:48:32,200 The military would tell you that the fact that their volunteers is why they're so good, 697 00:48:32,200 --> 00:48:37,360 you know, it's a professional force, but it did have some drawbacks in the sense that 698 00:48:37,360 --> 00:48:41,680 we had to send it back to so many times and that, you know, they suffered for that. 699 00:48:41,680 --> 00:48:42,680 I can't imagine. 700 00:48:42,680 --> 00:48:48,600 I mean, I know, you know, the draft supposedly, you know, went after everybody and we know 701 00:48:48,600 --> 00:48:53,880 that didn't necessarily work out quite evenly, but, you know, they weren't professional. 702 00:48:53,880 --> 00:48:57,080 They just, you know, okay, I'm going to be out in two years or I'm going to be out in, 703 00:48:57,080 --> 00:49:00,280 you know, 60 days or whatever it might be. 704 00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:03,560 You know, the politicians couldn't stand up under the pressure of the people at home 705 00:49:03,560 --> 00:49:06,640 saying, no, no, no, not my son. 706 00:49:06,640 --> 00:49:13,360 And, you know, right now you're talking about an elite fighting force that's from all over 707 00:49:13,360 --> 00:49:14,360 the country. 708 00:49:14,360 --> 00:49:16,880 And that's a great thing. 709 00:49:16,880 --> 00:49:21,640 I liked about the military is you've got to meet people from everywhere. 710 00:49:21,640 --> 00:49:24,960 And you know, you'd never would have, you know, I'm from New Jersey originally and I 711 00:49:24,960 --> 00:49:31,280 never would have hung out with people from Mississippi or Texas or Kansas or California 712 00:49:31,280 --> 00:49:33,280 if I hadn't gone into the service. 713 00:49:33,280 --> 00:49:36,080 I would have known nothing about that part of the world. 714 00:49:36,080 --> 00:49:37,080 That's right. 715 00:49:37,080 --> 00:49:42,520 And that's one of the beauties of military service is that you are thrown together, you 716 00:49:42,520 --> 00:49:47,920 know, with people who you would never normally associate with or even have a chance to meet. 717 00:49:47,920 --> 00:49:52,880 And I found that to be one of the most ennobling things about military service. 718 00:49:52,880 --> 00:49:56,400 And I think, you know, we lose something when we don't have that. 719 00:49:56,400 --> 00:50:00,840 But, you know, like I said, the military, you know, politicians were not anxious to 720 00:50:00,840 --> 00:50:04,960 make a tough decision on reinstating the draft and the military didn't want it because they 721 00:50:04,960 --> 00:50:09,680 had these really good volunteers who were professionals who stay around a lot longer 722 00:50:09,680 --> 00:50:11,880 and for a high tech military. 723 00:50:11,880 --> 00:50:16,160 That's what you, that's preferable than having drafties who don't really want to be there. 724 00:50:16,160 --> 00:50:20,760 Can I read you a quote from David Belavia who's one of the Medal of Honor recipients 725 00:50:20,760 --> 00:50:21,760 in here? 726 00:50:21,760 --> 00:50:22,760 Sure. 727 00:50:22,760 --> 00:50:23,760 Absolutely. 728 00:50:23,760 --> 00:50:28,200 So he, this stuck out to me because it gets to this partisanship that we're experiencing 729 00:50:28,200 --> 00:50:32,320 this country now and how these stories, none of that comes through. 730 00:50:32,320 --> 00:50:38,840 And he says, he said, there's a million plus reasons why Americans are divided right now. 731 00:50:38,840 --> 00:50:42,480 And throughout our history, we've always disagreed and dissented, but we always found a way to 732 00:50:42,480 --> 00:50:46,920 put our differences aside and focus on what's best for the nation when it counted most. 733 00:50:46,920 --> 00:50:49,320 He's talking about the army here. 734 00:50:49,320 --> 00:50:52,520 We don't care if your dad died and left you millions of dollars from that. 735 00:50:52,520 --> 00:50:58,520 I personally never cared what God a soldier worship, what color they were or who they 736 00:50:58,520 --> 00:50:59,520 love. 737 00:50:59,520 --> 00:51:02,160 I was willing to get shot at for me and my buddy. 738 00:51:02,160 --> 00:51:04,480 I will lead or follow you anywhere. 739 00:51:04,480 --> 00:51:13,440 I think that's pretty reflective of the values of these guys put on the teamwork and the bonds 740 00:51:13,440 --> 00:51:17,320 of friendship and brothers and arms that form. 741 00:51:17,320 --> 00:51:25,120 And no one's asking what part of your from they're a team and they'll literally die for 742 00:51:25,120 --> 00:51:26,120 each other. 743 00:51:26,120 --> 00:51:29,720 That's something you don't see very often in American society anymore. 744 00:51:29,720 --> 00:51:31,520 No, you don't. 745 00:51:31,520 --> 00:51:33,760 And unfortunately, we are coming up against the clock. 746 00:51:33,760 --> 00:51:36,400 So I want to make sure I get this out one more time. 747 00:51:36,400 --> 00:51:41,200 James Kittfield, the book is in the company of heroes, inspiring stories of Medal of Honor 748 00:51:41,200 --> 00:51:45,200 recipients from America's longest wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. 749 00:51:45,200 --> 00:51:48,720 James, I want to thank you very much for your time today. 750 00:51:48,720 --> 00:51:51,880 I encourage people to go out and buy this book. 751 00:51:51,880 --> 00:51:55,400 I think you're going to be really impressed with the kind of men and women that we've 752 00:51:55,400 --> 00:51:56,400 gotten today's military. 753 00:51:56,400 --> 00:51:57,400 Thanks for having me on. 754 00:51:57,400 --> 00:51:58,400 Thank you very much. 755 00:51:58,400 --> 00:52:06,400 I hope you enjoyed today's program in the company of heroes, the book by James Kittfield. 756 00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:08,600 Wow. 757 00:52:08,600 --> 00:52:13,560 These men that have been awarded the Medal of Honor are just so special and they are 758 00:52:13,560 --> 00:52:15,560 all so humble. 759 00:52:15,560 --> 00:52:22,040 I've had the privilege here on Veterans Radio of talking to about 30 living Medal of Honor 760 00:52:22,040 --> 00:52:25,640 recipients and it's been such an honor to talk to these men. 761 00:52:25,640 --> 00:52:30,480 But that common thread that runs through all of them is how humble that they are, how it's 762 00:52:30,480 --> 00:52:31,480 never them. 763 00:52:31,480 --> 00:52:38,440 It's always the other troops that deserve the award and just great men. 764 00:52:38,440 --> 00:52:41,040 So anyway, I hope you enjoyed the program. 765 00:52:41,040 --> 00:52:46,080 It was very meaningful to me to play this today. 766 00:52:46,080 --> 00:52:50,880 Somebody was asking me, Dale, why are you playing God Bless America and America, the beautiful 767 00:52:50,880 --> 00:52:53,440 at the end of the programs these days? 768 00:52:53,440 --> 00:52:59,480 I said, well, mainly it's to remind everybody of what an incredible, wonderful country that 769 00:52:59,480 --> 00:53:00,600 we live in. 770 00:53:00,600 --> 00:53:01,600 It's not perfect. 771 00:53:01,600 --> 00:53:02,600 We know that. 772 00:53:02,600 --> 00:53:07,880 But we are a work in progress and we are still continuing to try and try and try. 773 00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:12,920 And I just feel that I am so fortunate and lucky to have been born in the United States 774 00:53:12,920 --> 00:53:13,920 of America. 775 00:53:13,920 --> 00:53:17,920 I just want to share that enthusiasm with you every week. 776 00:53:17,920 --> 00:53:23,880 So we're going to go out today on a version of God Bless America and America, the beautiful 777 00:53:23,880 --> 00:53:25,600 done by the brothers of the heart. 778 00:53:25,600 --> 00:53:28,000 This is one of my favorite versions. 779 00:53:28,000 --> 00:53:32,680 So until next week, this is Dale Throneberry for all of us here at Veterans Radio. 780 00:53:32,680 --> 00:53:48,720 You are dismissed. 781 00:53:48,720 --> 00:54:04,760 Thank you. 782 00:54:04,760 --> 00:54:18,960 doors. 783 00:54:18,960 --> 00:54:27,440 Alright. 784 00:54:27,440 --> 00:54:44,440 Oh God bless America, my home sweet home 785 00:54:44,440 --> 00:54:57,440 Oh beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of green 786 00:54:58,440 --> 00:55:10,440 For purple mountains majesty above the fruited plains 787 00:55:10,440 --> 00:55:22,440 America, America, God shed His grace on thee 788 00:55:22,440 --> 00:55:34,440 And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea 789 00:55:34,440 --> 00:55:54,440 And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea 790 00:55:54,440 --> 00:56:07,440 From the mountains to the prairies to the oceans white with foam 791 00:56:07,440 --> 00:56:28,440 Oh God bless America, my home sweet home 792 00:56:28,440 --> 00:56:45,440 Sweet home