WEBVTT 00:00:04.809 --> 00:00:08.630 All across America and around the world, this 00:00:08.630 --> 00:00:15.009 is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio. And 00:00:15.009 --> 00:00:19.030 now, your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry. 00:00:22.059 --> 00:00:25.039 Hey, welcome to veterans radio, my name is Dale 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:28.839 Throneberry Cw2 helicopter type pilot in Vietnam 00:00:28.839 --> 00:00:32.700 1969 Welcome to veterans radio. We've got a really 00:00:32.700 --> 00:00:35.359 good program today. I'm really excited to talk 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:38.240 with our guests Now we're coming up. Number one 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:40.520 is we've got Colonel Christine cook and we're 00:00:40.520 --> 00:00:43.060 going to talk about the history of the army No, 00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:45.640 yesterday was the 250th anniversary of their 00:00:45.640 --> 00:00:49.200 founding. And she's really an expert on that 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:51.100 kind of stuff. So I'm excited to have her on 00:00:51.100 --> 00:00:53.780 the program. And then later on, we've got a song 00:00:53.780 --> 00:00:56.280 that's going to be coming up. And it's a song 00:00:56.280 --> 00:01:01.640 called Raise It High. And it's a song from an 00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:05.120 organization that produces Braille American flags. 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:09.769 And stay with me on that. Kind of cool. And so 00:01:09.769 --> 00:01:13.590 it's a song that was commissioned by them. And 00:01:13.590 --> 00:01:16.090 David Cayley is going to be on later on to talk 00:01:16.090 --> 00:01:17.629 about his song. And we're going to play it for 00:01:17.629 --> 00:01:21.269 you then. So we've got two things covered here. 00:01:21.430 --> 00:01:24.049 We're going to be covering the birthday of the 00:01:24.049 --> 00:01:25.790 United States Army, and we're going to be covering 00:01:25.790 --> 00:01:31.659 Flag Day. So all for you. I've got to remind 00:01:31.659 --> 00:01:33.799 you that, you know, in order to do this program, 00:01:33.819 --> 00:01:36.280 we have to thank all of our sponsors and thank 00:01:36.280 --> 00:01:38.140 you especially for turning in and listening. 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:42.060 So our sponsors, as usual, are Legal Help for 00:01:42.060 --> 00:01:44.819 Veterans. Legal Help for Veterans specializes 00:01:44.819 --> 00:01:47.599 in veterans disability claims. You can give Legal 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:52.480 Help a call at 800 -693 -4800 or go to their 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:56.489 website, legalhelpforveterans .com. The National 00:01:56.489 --> 00:01:58.609 Veterans Business Development Council, better 00:01:58.609 --> 00:02:01.950 known as NVBDC, is the nation's leading third 00:02:01.950 --> 00:02:04.129 -party authority for certification of veteran 00:02:04.129 --> 00:02:06.590 -owned businesses. For more information, go to 00:02:06.590 --> 00:02:10.669 their website, NVBDC .org, or give them a call 00:02:10.669 --> 00:02:17.419 at 888 -237 -8433. PuroClean is known as the 00:02:17.419 --> 00:02:19.860 paramedics of property damage and each PuroClean 00:02:19.860 --> 00:02:22.539 office is independently owned and operated. In 00:02:22.539 --> 00:02:24.840 fact, PuroClean is one of the nation's leading 00:02:24.840 --> 00:02:27.759 restoration franchise networks and is made up 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:30.819 of entrepreneurs, just like you. And veterans, 00:02:30.939 --> 00:02:34.180 this is for you, get 25 % off the franchise fee. 00:02:34.659 --> 00:02:37.840 So for more information, go to puroclean .com. 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:40.379 The Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center here 00:02:40.379 --> 00:02:42.830 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For more information, 00:02:42.909 --> 00:02:45.569 you can go to va .gov slash Ann Arbor Health 00:02:45.569 --> 00:02:48.490 Care. And finally, the Erwin Prescor and American 00:02:48.490 --> 00:02:51.949 Legion Post 46, and the Charles S. Kettles Vietnam 00:02:51.949 --> 00:02:55.330 Veterans of America Chapter 310, both of Ann 00:02:55.330 --> 00:02:58.090 Arbor, Michigan. If you'd like to support Veterans 00:02:58.090 --> 00:03:00.669 Radio, and of course, we hope that you do, please 00:03:00.669 --> 00:03:03.530 go to our website, veteransradio .org and click 00:03:03.530 --> 00:03:06.490 on the donate button. Right now thinking you 00:03:06.490 --> 00:03:09.219 in advance. Mark your calendar. I've got to remember 00:03:09.219 --> 00:03:12.360 that, right? So September 28th is going to be 00:03:12.360 --> 00:03:16.819 our fourth annual Radio on the River. And for 00:03:16.819 --> 00:03:18.659 more information, you can go to our website. 00:03:18.919 --> 00:03:22.319 That's veteransradio .org. We've got music, we've 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:24.659 got food, we've got all kinds of gifts and things 00:03:24.659 --> 00:03:29.039 that we can raffle off. And we've got UH -1 Huey 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:32.009 that's going to be providing rides. You have 00:03:32.009 --> 00:03:34.870 to pay tickets to ride on the Huey, but it's 00:03:34.870 --> 00:03:37.210 from the Michigan Flight Museum So we're really 00:03:37.210 --> 00:03:39.990 excited. So that's going to be on Sunday September 00:03:39.990 --> 00:03:44.129 28th from 1 to 5 p .m. And you're all invited 00:03:44.129 --> 00:03:46.050 no matter where you are in the country. Come 00:03:46.050 --> 00:03:49.270 on out It's going to be at Freedom River. It's 00:03:49.270 --> 00:03:52.349 a great organization. That's built this incredible 00:03:52.349 --> 00:03:55.449 complex just north of Ann Arbor where they've 00:03:55.449 --> 00:04:00.520 got games and fields and they're going to have 00:04:00.520 --> 00:04:03.000 services for veterans. It's all going to be veteran 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:05.259 oriented. So I encourage you to look them up 00:04:05.259 --> 00:04:09.439 too. Just go to freedomriver .org and they just 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:12.000 put up a 60 foot flagpole yesterday. It was really 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:14.539 cool. So, you know, we're going to be one of 00:04:14.539 --> 00:04:16.000 their first events that they're going to have 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:18.579 out there. Alright, so let's get right into our 00:04:18.579 --> 00:04:21.160 program today. Coming up, we're going to play 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:23.540 a little interlude of music, and then I'm going 00:04:23.540 --> 00:04:26.740 to be bringing in Colonel Christine Cook. So, 00:04:26.819 --> 00:04:52.300 Derek, let's play that little intro. All right, 00:04:52.420 --> 00:04:56.480 so joining me on the program right now is a good 00:04:56.480 --> 00:04:58.240 friend of Veterans Radio. Actually, she's been 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:01.439 on our program numerous times. Actually, we got 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:06.040 her shortly after she was deployed to over during 00:05:06.040 --> 00:05:09.980 the Iraq thing over there and talking to her 00:05:09.980 --> 00:05:12.660 about. being deployed as a woman in the military 00:05:12.660 --> 00:05:14.959 and leaving a family at home. That was the first 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:18.139 time I talked with Christine. Christine, right 00:05:18.139 --> 00:05:20.879 now, she is an associate professor of theories 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:25.160 and war and strategy, and Department of Distance 00:05:25.160 --> 00:05:28.279 Education military historian at the US Army War 00:05:28.279 --> 00:05:31.079 College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It's also 00:05:31.079 --> 00:05:33.100 part of the Department of Distance Education. 00:05:33.500 --> 00:05:36.180 She has received her PhD in history from the 00:05:36.180 --> 00:05:39.189 Wayne State University. before entering the program 00:05:39.189 --> 00:05:41.990 there. She served 30 years in the US Army Reserves, 00:05:42.230 --> 00:05:44.790 retiring as a full colonel. She's got a bachelor's 00:05:44.790 --> 00:05:46.790 degree in English from Princeton, master's of 00:05:46.790 --> 00:05:49.370 strategic studies from the US Army War College, 00:05:49.769 --> 00:05:51.670 and a master's of arts in women's and gender 00:05:51.670 --> 00:05:56.050 studies from Eastern Michigan University. Anyway, 00:05:56.949 --> 00:06:00.329 so she knows what she's talking about and I'm 00:06:00.329 --> 00:06:02.810 really happy to have Christine back on the program. 00:06:03.129 --> 00:06:05.829 So welcome to the show and go with your disclaimer 00:06:05.829 --> 00:06:09.360 first. Sure, so I have to say that the views 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:12.779 that I have here are not necessarily those of 00:06:12.779 --> 00:06:15.519 the US Army War College the Department of Defense 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:21.139 or the US government Okay, so we're covered All 00:06:21.139 --> 00:06:25.300 right, well I asked Christine to come on the 00:06:25.300 --> 00:06:28.500 program Today to talk about the United States 00:06:28.500 --> 00:06:32.360 Army because she studied history and she's heavily 00:06:32.360 --> 00:06:36.800 involved in it. So Let's talk about the army 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:41.079 and how did it get started? So as you might remember, 00:06:41.139 --> 00:06:43.720 we were colonies first before we were a country. 00:06:44.379 --> 00:06:47.319 So the first military that we had was actually 00:06:47.319 --> 00:06:50.579 colonial troops. They were militias for each 00:06:50.579 --> 00:06:52.680 of the states. And the very first one of those 00:06:52.680 --> 00:06:56.019 was Massachusetts. Massachusetts militia got 00:06:56.019 --> 00:07:00.699 started in 1636. So we can actually date our 00:07:00.699 --> 00:07:05.079 army. back to 1636 if we're thinking about the 00:07:05.079 --> 00:07:09.319 National Guard, because they track back all that 00:07:09.319 --> 00:07:13.620 way. The reason that we think of the United States 00:07:13.620 --> 00:07:18.800 Army as having a birthdate of June 14th, 1775, 00:07:19.420 --> 00:07:21.500 has more to do with the fact that that was the 00:07:21.500 --> 00:07:25.540 first continental non -British army that we had. 00:07:27.079 --> 00:07:33.860 OK, so what did we do between 1636 and 1775? 00:07:34.660 --> 00:07:37.779 Well, as you might recall, we had indigenous 00:07:37.779 --> 00:07:40.620 forces here that were not necessarily always 00:07:40.620 --> 00:07:44.519 friendly. So the militia was often there for 00:07:44.519 --> 00:07:47.720 the protection of the people who were living 00:07:47.720 --> 00:07:52.939 in the colonial American area. And in addition, 00:07:53.100 --> 00:07:58.920 you might recall that in 1754, The colonial americas 00:07:58.920 --> 00:08:01.920 were basically involved in a world war it was 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:04.139 the seven years war otherwise known as the french 00:08:04.139 --> 00:08:07.939 and indian war. Which got a lot of people around 00:08:07.939 --> 00:08:10.319 the world kind of involved you know if we if 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:12.600 we want to talk about world war one this was 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:16.019 actually a world war before that right mostly 00:08:16.019 --> 00:08:19.959 it was france versus the united. Britain, I should 00:08:19.959 --> 00:08:22.819 say. But of course, because of the fact that 00:08:22.819 --> 00:08:25.339 there were French in Canada, there were French 00:08:25.339 --> 00:08:30.720 in the Louisiana area, and then there were British 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:35.200 colonists here in the, you know, the the 13 colonies 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:39.100 on the on the seaboard, that became a very big 00:08:39.100 --> 00:08:43.360 conflagration. So the British Army was here, 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:48.889 and they also basically seconded the militias 00:08:48.889 --> 00:08:52.669 to also fight in the British Army during that 00:08:52.669 --> 00:08:56.210 war. And in fact, that's where George Washington 00:08:56.210 --> 00:08:59.889 got his kind of chops, right? His experiences 00:08:59.889 --> 00:09:05.009 were first in the French and Indian War. And 00:09:05.009 --> 00:09:09.190 then it ended in 1763, but not in a happy fashion. 00:09:09.450 --> 00:09:13.309 It was extremely expensive to Britain. They had 00:09:13.309 --> 00:09:15.929 to figure out how to pay for it, so they taxed 00:09:15.929 --> 00:09:20.409 us. And that did not go over very well, as you 00:09:20.409 --> 00:09:23.669 might recall. They started having tea parties 00:09:23.669 --> 00:09:25.889 and things. They started having tea parties. 00:09:25.950 --> 00:09:28.830 That's right. That's right. So that actually 00:09:28.830 --> 00:09:34.169 kind of led to the anger that the colonists had 00:09:34.169 --> 00:09:36.590 over being taxed for something that was a war 00:09:36.590 --> 00:09:38.549 that they didn't really want to be involved in 00:09:38.549 --> 00:09:42.269 to begin with. They were kind of salty about 00:09:42.269 --> 00:09:49.950 that, shall we say. And so in April 19th of 1775, 00:09:50.350 --> 00:09:53.789 the Lexington and Concord battle kind of broke 00:09:53.789 --> 00:09:57.350 out. And that was against British troops and 00:09:57.350 --> 00:10:01.809 basically, you know, citizens that got kind of 00:10:01.809 --> 00:10:06.850 added to with some of the Boston and Massachusetts 00:10:06.850 --> 00:10:10.450 militia members. And that was kind of the first 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:14.240 major battle of the American Revolution. At that 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:16.980 point, the Continental Congress, which was beginning 00:10:16.980 --> 00:10:20.759 to form at that point, decided that this was 00:10:20.759 --> 00:10:24.500 becoming an actual revolution. They needed to 00:10:24.500 --> 00:10:27.379 have their own army to fight against the British 00:10:27.379 --> 00:10:33.419 Army. And so in June 14th, 1775, they decided, 00:10:33.659 --> 00:10:37.220 okay, we're going to commit number one to forming 00:10:37.220 --> 00:10:40.529 this Continental Army. and we are going to commit 00:10:40.529 --> 00:10:44.070 to paying for it. So there were actually two 00:10:44.070 --> 00:10:47.610 different documents that they signed during that 00:10:47.610 --> 00:10:51.590 time period. They also decided that Washington, 00:10:52.289 --> 00:10:54.629 George Washington, had some experience from that 00:10:54.629 --> 00:10:58.009 French and Indian war. And so they decided he 00:10:58.009 --> 00:11:01.370 was going to be the commander in chief of this 00:11:01.370 --> 00:11:04.129 Continental Army. And they basically told him, 00:11:04.529 --> 00:11:06.669 go ahead up to Boston. It looks like the British 00:11:06.669 --> 00:11:11.629 are coming. Right. So he headed on up there without 00:11:11.629 --> 00:11:13.789 any troops that actually were falling in under 00:11:13.789 --> 00:11:18.809 him yet. And he ended up there probably slightly 00:11:18.809 --> 00:11:23.230 after the conflagration at Bunker Hill, which 00:11:23.230 --> 00:11:26.730 was actually Breeds Hill, but the British didn't 00:11:26.730 --> 00:11:29.230 seem to know that it was that. So they called 00:11:29.230 --> 00:11:35.289 it Bunker Hill. So the idea that Washington had 00:11:35.289 --> 00:11:39.419 was we don't really want to fight with them. 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:42.480 At the time, they weren't really all that interested 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:45.940 in starting the United States. What they instead 00:11:45.940 --> 00:11:49.879 wanted to do was to reconcile with the Brits 00:11:49.879 --> 00:11:55.419 by basically whooping them on home turf and then 00:11:55.419 --> 00:11:58.940 saying, hey, let's figure out how we can not 00:11:58.940 --> 00:12:03.049 be taxed and this kind of stuff. But what ended 00:12:03.049 --> 00:12:05.370 up happening was he was hoping for a short war. 00:12:05.509 --> 00:12:10.129 He got a long war because the Brits did get whooped. 00:12:10.690 --> 00:12:14.190 And then they basically went back onto their 00:12:14.190 --> 00:12:18.570 ships, but they didn't leave. And so that was 00:12:18.570 --> 00:12:21.909 when Washington realized, okay, we're gonna have 00:12:21.909 --> 00:12:25.129 a little bit of a problem here. And then he had 00:12:25.129 --> 00:12:29.250 to figure out how to get the military. One of 00:12:29.250 --> 00:12:31.710 the first units actually came from the Carlisle 00:12:31.710 --> 00:12:36.169 area. It was led by a guy by the name of, at 00:12:36.169 --> 00:12:40.009 the time, Colonel, eventually he became a brigadier 00:12:40.009 --> 00:12:45.279 general, but William Thompson. You know, basically 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:47.299 they were known as Thompson's Riflemen, but they 00:12:47.299 --> 00:12:50.840 basically were a group of soldiers that fell 00:12:50.840 --> 00:12:55.500 in under his company and he took them northward 00:12:55.500 --> 00:12:58.500 toward Boston. But it took a couple of months 00:12:58.500 --> 00:13:02.539 to form these various units, right? So for the 00:13:02.539 --> 00:13:04.399 first couple of months, what they were dealing 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:09.200 with were militiamen. who basically decided that 00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:11.779 they were going to try to help. So they got kind 00:13:11.779 --> 00:13:14.940 of attached to the Continental Army and the Continental 00:13:14.940 --> 00:13:18.899 Army took months to try to form. So that's one 00:13:18.899 --> 00:13:21.940 of the reasons why it was important in Valley 00:13:21.940 --> 00:13:28.779 Forge in 1770, you know, early 1776, 1777 that 00:13:28.779 --> 00:13:31.539 they really formed into an actual Continental 00:13:31.539 --> 00:13:34.879 Army because until then, you know, it was kind 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:38.909 of ad hoc. It was all malicious, wasn't it? Yeah, 00:13:38.970 --> 00:13:41.389 by and large. And in fact, there was a group 00:13:41.389 --> 00:13:44.049 of people who were trying to do the stuff in 00:13:44.049 --> 00:13:48.190 battalions and in companies and in platoons and 00:13:48.190 --> 00:13:51.470 looking like what you would think was a normal 00:13:51.470 --> 00:13:55.590 army of today. But the other thing that we had 00:13:55.590 --> 00:13:58.149 was the group of people who were basically kind 00:13:58.149 --> 00:14:00.850 of, they had learned how to fight from the indigenous. 00:14:01.990 --> 00:14:05.809 forces here, and so they were doing guerrilla 00:14:05.809 --> 00:14:09.970 operations in addition to the conventional force 00:14:09.970 --> 00:14:13.570 operations. So those were not technically, I 00:14:13.570 --> 00:14:15.230 mean they were sort of part of the Continental 00:14:15.230 --> 00:14:17.769 Army, but they were sort of apart from it as 00:14:17.769 --> 00:14:22.049 well, and they weren't necessarily under the 00:14:22.049 --> 00:14:29.990 command of Washington per se. I find that really 00:14:29.990 --> 00:14:33.809 interesting when you think about, you know, here's 00:14:33.809 --> 00:14:36.769 this guy, he's put in charge of an army that 00:14:36.769 --> 00:14:41.149 isn't even there yet. And he's supposed to go 00:14:41.149 --> 00:14:46.309 off and fight these battles. And, you know, I'm 00:14:46.309 --> 00:14:48.450 trying to remember my history is, you know, when 00:14:48.450 --> 00:14:51.429 they, you know, from Boston, they ended up in 00:14:51.429 --> 00:14:54.129 Brooklyn and they got really whooped there as 00:14:54.129 --> 00:14:57.159 far as the Continental Army was concerned. And 00:14:57.159 --> 00:14:59.620 that's when he retreated back into New Jersey. 00:15:00.740 --> 00:15:02.159 And I can't remember if you went to Mars. And 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:05.299 then into, you know, the Philadelphia area. Right. 00:15:05.580 --> 00:15:07.559 Yeah. And then, and then they, of course, did 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:10.940 the, um, the first Trenton, um, thing, which 00:15:10.940 --> 00:15:14.120 was on Christmas Eve, right, where they came 00:15:14.120 --> 00:15:16.799 across the, yeah, they crossed the, the Delaware 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:20.460 and, um, the, the Trenton, the British troops 00:15:20.460 --> 00:15:22.480 didn't think that they would fight on Christmas 00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:27.610 day. So they were partying. And they got themselves 00:15:27.610 --> 00:15:33.269 whooped again. And then the Continental Army 00:15:33.269 --> 00:15:36.309 crossed back over into Philadelphia. And then 00:15:36.409 --> 00:15:40.110 they waited about a week, and then, surprise 00:15:40.110 --> 00:15:42.909 of all surprises, Washington decided to do it 00:15:42.909 --> 00:15:45.490 again. And that's when the Princeton battle happened. 00:15:46.309 --> 00:15:49.850 Again, the Brits got whooped, right? So that's 00:15:49.850 --> 00:15:52.950 when they went back into New York and kind of 00:15:52.950 --> 00:15:56.330 took over New York, because they had a fairly 00:15:56.330 --> 00:16:03.549 strong contingent there. So we've got the beginnings 00:16:03.549 --> 00:16:06.570 of the Army being set up here. And I think One 00:16:06.570 --> 00:16:08.090 of the things was, of course, that Washington 00:16:08.090 --> 00:16:12.070 didn't like the idea of all these militias going 00:16:12.070 --> 00:16:15.429 off in 13 different directions. And, you know, 00:16:15.450 --> 00:16:18.610 he was, I guess he was in favor of, you know, 00:16:18.809 --> 00:16:21.710 with centralizing it, I guess, making it actually 00:16:21.710 --> 00:16:28.690 a real army. Right. And so he actually was able 00:16:28.690 --> 00:16:32.710 to take advantage of a couple of people. They 00:16:32.710 --> 00:16:35.129 actually said that they had been generals in 00:16:35.129 --> 00:16:39.009 their respective European forces, but they were 00:16:39.009 --> 00:16:41.809 actually, most of them had been captains, right? 00:16:41.950 --> 00:16:44.269 So you had people like Lafayette, you had people 00:16:44.269 --> 00:16:48.909 like Kosciuszko, and I'm trying to remember. 00:16:50.149 --> 00:16:56.929 the German guy, the Prussian guy, but they all 00:16:56.929 --> 00:17:00.250 came over and they said, well, we work with the 00:17:00.250 --> 00:17:02.009 European army. And remember this was kind of 00:17:02.009 --> 00:17:05.210 a world, it had been a world war, right? And 00:17:05.210 --> 00:17:08.109 this was beginning to become a world war again. 00:17:08.829 --> 00:17:12.529 And so they were coming over because they all 00:17:12.529 --> 00:17:16.319 hated the Brits. right? So they were trying to 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:19.099 show the Brits that they weren't as hot stuff 00:17:19.099 --> 00:17:22.059 as they thought that they were. And so they brought 00:17:22.059 --> 00:17:27.819 over some of the European tactics that were popular 00:17:27.819 --> 00:17:31.319 during the time. And so, as I said, during these 00:17:31.319 --> 00:17:34.480 winter encampments, they would actually teach 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:40.380 these which they were all basically volunteers, 00:17:40.680 --> 00:17:45.700 right? And they had to be, you know, similar 00:17:45.700 --> 00:17:52.079 to today. We had about 30 % who were rabidly 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:55.460 revolutionary and wanted to install this Republican 00:17:55.460 --> 00:17:58.619 government. We had about 30 % who were loyal 00:17:58.619 --> 00:18:03.240 to the crown and were constantly making it difficult 00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:05.940 for these revolutionary soldiers because it's 00:18:05.940 --> 00:18:09.380 like, you know, they were acting as spies sometimes. 00:18:09.799 --> 00:18:13.079 And then you also had about 40 % who Just don't 00:18:13.079 --> 00:18:17.599 bother me. I just want to be on my farm and take 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:22.019 care of my crops and leave me alone. So they 00:18:22.019 --> 00:18:25.039 were having the same kind of situation. So they 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:28.819 were working around people. They had to be volunteers 00:18:28.819 --> 00:18:32.039 because they had to be people who were pro -revolutionary. 00:18:33.640 --> 00:18:36.500 And then you would have to try to train them 00:18:36.500 --> 00:18:42.710 to be a part of an actual force. Well, I guess 00:18:42.710 --> 00:18:45.529 they did it With the help of a lot of people 00:18:45.529 --> 00:18:48.029 and a lot of major mistakes by the British I 00:18:48.029 --> 00:18:50.910 think yes, I think that that is probably and 00:18:50.910 --> 00:18:54.869 Really long as we would call them, you know lines 00:18:54.869 --> 00:18:58.569 of communication, right? They they had a situation 00:18:58.569 --> 00:19:01.809 where For a while it was the king and then it 00:19:01.809 --> 00:19:06.509 was a general who was in Britain giving the giving 00:19:06.509 --> 00:19:09.539 the orders It would have to come over. It would 00:19:09.539 --> 00:19:12.259 take like six weeks sometimes to try to get the 00:19:12.259 --> 00:19:15.339 ship over here. They would get the orders. By 00:19:15.339 --> 00:19:18.200 that time, a battle or 10 had already happened. 00:19:19.079 --> 00:19:23.420 They moved on. Yeah. Which was the problem with 00:19:23.420 --> 00:19:26.799 the whole Saratoga campaign, right? The reason 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:30.299 that Ticonderoga ended up being so... desperately 00:19:30.299 --> 00:19:32.619 bad for the British was because of the fact that 00:19:32.619 --> 00:19:35.460 they were dealing with countermanding orders 00:19:35.460 --> 00:19:37.859 because of things coming in after something had 00:19:37.859 --> 00:19:43.980 already happened and so on and so forth. Being 00:19:43.980 --> 00:19:47.539 from the East Coast, most of us are ingrained 00:19:47.539 --> 00:19:52.299 with many of these stories of the Saratoga, the 00:19:52.299 --> 00:19:55.079 Battle of Monmouth, Princeton, crossing the Delaware. 00:19:55.450 --> 00:19:57.450 all these things and then you know there are 00:19:57.450 --> 00:19:59.789 other parts of the country that you know are 00:19:59.789 --> 00:20:03.109 they just read about them in the books and they 00:20:03.109 --> 00:20:05.950 don't they don't get to go to Valley Forge and 00:20:05.950 --> 00:20:08.289 or Morristown New Jersey and see the you know 00:20:08.289 --> 00:20:11.390 where people stayed in the winters and so forth 00:20:11.390 --> 00:20:15.250 so we've got the army now they won their their 00:20:15.250 --> 00:20:18.150 war that we've won our independence now what 00:20:18.150 --> 00:20:20.349 are we going to do what do they decide to do 00:20:20.349 --> 00:20:24.170 with the army back to your farms Basically, the 00:20:24.170 --> 00:20:27.970 Continental Army kind of fell apart and on purpose, 00:20:28.190 --> 00:20:30.630 because if you read our Constitution, it basically 00:20:30.630 --> 00:20:37.349 says that the Congress can call up an army for 00:20:37.349 --> 00:20:42.049 up to two years for events. Otherwise, you can 00:20:42.049 --> 00:20:46.930 go home. Now, they were almost all part of the 00:20:46.930 --> 00:20:50.710 militias. um which when they became states they 00:20:50.710 --> 00:20:54.410 became state militias um and and those people 00:20:54.410 --> 00:20:59.190 you know if you are white and male you're part 00:20:59.190 --> 00:21:02.349 of the militia congratulations right and the 00:21:02.349 --> 00:21:04.950 and the officers came from the landed gentry 00:21:04.950 --> 00:21:08.130 class um everybody else was going to be you know 00:21:08.130 --> 00:21:11.569 enlisted um but but they were there you know 00:21:11.569 --> 00:21:15.210 in case war breaks out that's where our our soldiers 00:21:15.450 --> 00:21:18.589 are going to come from. Otherwise, we don't have 00:21:18.589 --> 00:21:23.609 an army. So it was very ad hoc and it was purposely 00:21:23.609 --> 00:21:29.329 so, which kind of messed us up when we suddenly 00:21:29.329 --> 00:21:33.630 ended up having the War of 1812. Right, yeah. 00:21:33.890 --> 00:21:39.710 I'm looking at some of my notes here and I see 00:21:39.710 --> 00:21:42.269 it looks like around 1800, 1802 or somewhere 00:21:42.269 --> 00:21:44.779 in that neighborhood that they they decided that 00:21:44.779 --> 00:21:48.779 they needed to establish an officer corps. And 00:21:48.779 --> 00:21:53.460 so West Point was founded. So and this is something 00:21:53.460 --> 00:21:56.940 that Washington, I think, implied as he was leaving, 00:21:58.059 --> 00:22:01.079 you know, this is what we got to do. And so they 00:22:01.079 --> 00:22:04.779 started that. But as you mentioned, now, we're 00:22:04.779 --> 00:22:08.400 into the war of 1812. And that didn't go well 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:14.470 for us. No, we didn't lose, but we didn't win 00:22:14.470 --> 00:22:20.890 either. It was pretty sad. A lot of war of 1812 00:22:20.890 --> 00:22:24.730 was actually fought on the water because the 00:22:24.730 --> 00:22:29.369 Brits knew that they had a very strong Navy and 00:22:29.369 --> 00:22:32.230 we didn't have such a strong Navy. And they were 00:22:32.230 --> 00:22:37.630 actually trying to take our ships and make them 00:22:37.630 --> 00:22:40.640 part of the British fleet again. Right. And that 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:43.680 was what the fight was really over. Now, that 00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:45.960 didn't mean that there weren't skirmishes on 00:22:45.960 --> 00:22:49.680 the ground. There were. But we, again, had to 00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:52.720 basically create the army sort of out of whole 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:55.099 cloth. As you said, we had a couple of officers 00:22:55.099 --> 00:23:00.480 that had gone through the military academy. At 00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:02.460 the time, it was basically the only military 00:23:02.460 --> 00:23:05.299 academy. Over time, we also built things like 00:23:05.299 --> 00:23:07.519 there was a Valley Forge military academy. There 00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:15.160 was a Citadel, there was the VMI. But by and 00:23:15.160 --> 00:23:18.359 large, for a while, the Military Academy was 00:23:18.359 --> 00:23:22.839 kind of the only person on the block. And we 00:23:22.839 --> 00:23:26.380 had a Navy Academy. So those were the people 00:23:26.380 --> 00:23:30.619 who kind of ended up sort of collecting people 00:23:30.619 --> 00:23:35.609 under them. to create units. And then those units 00:23:35.609 --> 00:23:39.029 would fall in under this kind of scaffolding 00:23:39.029 --> 00:23:44.269 style military. Okay, we want to run out of time 00:23:44.269 --> 00:23:47.089 today. So I think we, we got to move forward. 00:23:47.289 --> 00:23:50.430 So the army really, from the revolution up until 00:23:50.430 --> 00:23:54.690 the Civil War wasn't that big of as far as numbers 00:23:54.690 --> 00:23:58.259 was concerned. Right. Right. And in fact, because 00:23:58.259 --> 00:24:02.539 of that statutory, we lose the army when we're 00:24:02.539 --> 00:24:06.299 not in a war kind of thing. That was really the 00:24:06.299 --> 00:24:10.819 case all the way up to the 1900s. So we had a 00:24:10.819 --> 00:24:14.220 situation where basically they had to do a draft 00:24:14.220 --> 00:24:18.940 and have volunteer soldiers for the Civil War. 00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:22.599 And of course, then we had two You know because 00:24:22.599 --> 00:24:25.380 the confederate states decided that they needed 00:24:25.380 --> 00:24:27.599 to have their army and then there was the US 00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:30.500 army was actually the northern army right so. 00:24:31.720 --> 00:24:35.579 So the US Army continued to be the US Army, but 00:24:35.579 --> 00:24:40.140 they were really only in the North. And so basically 00:24:40.140 --> 00:24:42.799 they had to do a number of things to try to get 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:44.940 the number of people that they needed to have 00:24:44.940 --> 00:24:47.960 for that Civil War. But then once that happened, 00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:50.839 they all basically, other than the occupational 00:24:50.839 --> 00:24:53.980 forces that went down to the South to try to 00:24:53.980 --> 00:24:58.289 get them to come back into the fold. There was 00:24:58.289 --> 00:25:00.650 a very small occupational force that was doing 00:25:00.650 --> 00:25:03.690 that, otherwise not doing much. By the time of 00:25:03.690 --> 00:25:06.109 the Spanish -American War, we had a situation 00:25:06.109 --> 00:25:10.309 where people were basically, if you're rich enough 00:25:10.309 --> 00:25:13.150 to create your own military, then they're going 00:25:13.150 --> 00:25:15.170 to go to the Spanish -American War. This was 00:25:15.170 --> 00:25:17.470 why the Rough Riders were under Teddy Roosevelt. 00:25:17.809 --> 00:25:20.950 He basically said, I want to fight. I'm going 00:25:20.950 --> 00:25:23.930 to take my own people and my horses, and I'm 00:25:23.930 --> 00:25:28.140 going to go over there. And he did. And there 00:25:28.140 --> 00:25:32.519 was not much in the way of professionalism when 00:25:32.519 --> 00:25:35.839 it came to this stuff. And so the people who 00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:38.200 were involved in that war were all like, we have 00:25:38.200 --> 00:25:40.980 got to do something better than this. This ad 00:25:40.980 --> 00:25:43.940 hoc business is not going to work for us. So 00:25:43.940 --> 00:25:46.880 we started to have a more professionalized army 00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:50.519 starting in the early 1900s, post -Spanish American 00:25:50.519 --> 00:25:54.900 War. And Ilahou Root, who was the Secretary of 00:25:54.900 --> 00:25:57.960 War at the time, was the one who said, we've 00:25:57.960 --> 00:26:01.809 got not just to have this U .S. Military Academy. 00:26:01.930 --> 00:26:04.910 We have to have an education system for our troops, 00:26:06.349 --> 00:26:09.910 both officers, especially officers, but also 00:26:09.910 --> 00:26:15.490 more training for soldiers writ large. So in 00:26:15.490 --> 00:26:20.710 1905, he started the war colleges. And so that 00:26:20.710 --> 00:26:24.130 started to get, you know, the people who were 00:26:24.130 --> 00:26:28.839 colonels and generals were having more uh, strategic 00:26:28.839 --> 00:26:31.619 level thinking about the way that they would 00:26:31.619 --> 00:26:34.880 run things. But even between, you know, not World 00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:37.880 War I and World War II, we still had a situation 00:26:37.880 --> 00:26:41.039 where they went down to a skeletal crew of just 00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:46.859 a few officers and a few enlisted who would basically 00:26:46.859 --> 00:26:50.720 be the seed for if we had another war where they 00:26:50.720 --> 00:26:53.970 would be the ones training the the troops that 00:26:53.970 --> 00:26:57.690 fell in with the with the draft that we ended 00:26:57.690 --> 00:27:00.289 up having. Yeah and that's where you know people 00:27:00.289 --> 00:27:03.230 like Eisenhower came into play because you know 00:27:03.230 --> 00:27:07.430 he was you know later obviously became a great 00:27:07.430 --> 00:27:10.210 general but he got stuck training during World 00:27:10.210 --> 00:27:15.069 War II World War I. Yeah. And during that time 00:27:15.069 --> 00:27:17.269 period in the 20 years between the wars he really 00:27:17.269 --> 00:27:21.089 didn't get advanced too quickly. Well, he was 00:27:21.089 --> 00:27:25.049 a colonel when World War Two started. And yeah, 00:27:25.049 --> 00:27:28.009 from there he went, you know, went to great heights. 00:27:28.549 --> 00:27:32.150 So our army went from, I think it was a little 00:27:32.150 --> 00:27:35.329 over a million or so during World War One down 00:27:35.329 --> 00:27:38.190 to a couple of hundred, maybe 100 ,000 max. I 00:27:38.190 --> 00:27:41.069 think it was 250 ,000, but yeah. Okay. And then 00:27:41.069 --> 00:27:46.190 up to 13 ,000, 13 million eventually for World 00:27:46.190 --> 00:27:50.990 War Two. Yeah. And how did, in that World War 00:27:50.990 --> 00:27:52.809 II, we had a couple of other things that changed. 00:27:53.609 --> 00:27:59.029 We had black units. We also had Japanese units. 00:28:01.789 --> 00:28:06.950 Yeah, and in fact, when they started realizing 00:28:06.950 --> 00:28:09.210 that there was going to be an issue and that 00:28:09.210 --> 00:28:11.089 they were going to have to have all hands on 00:28:11.089 --> 00:28:17.589 deck, basically, that's when units like the African 00:28:17.589 --> 00:28:19.430 American units, they were sitting there saying, 00:28:19.650 --> 00:28:22.829 you need to have us, we need to be able to volunteer 00:28:22.829 --> 00:28:27.529 and we wanna have better rights when all is said 00:28:27.529 --> 00:28:29.690 and done because we're pushing it in. But they 00:28:29.690 --> 00:28:33.509 were not allowed to do combat. So most of them 00:28:33.509 --> 00:28:36.210 were like transportation units, they were driving 00:28:36.210 --> 00:28:39.170 the trucks, they were cooking the food, they 00:28:39.170 --> 00:28:43.059 were doing the laundry. and it was rare, like 00:28:43.059 --> 00:28:47.599 the Tuskegee Airmen were one example, that they 00:28:47.599 --> 00:28:51.079 were able to do some combat, but they were really 00:28:51.079 --> 00:28:53.960 supposed to be supporting the big bombers by 00:28:53.960 --> 00:28:56.259 protecting the big bombers so that the bombers 00:28:56.259 --> 00:28:58.140 could go through and drop their load and then 00:28:58.140 --> 00:29:03.319 come back without being shot at. So yes, we started 00:29:03.319 --> 00:29:09.890 having a much more you know, more variety of 00:29:09.890 --> 00:29:12.950 soldiers, right? So we had the Women's Army Corps, 00:29:12.950 --> 00:29:16.450 of course, came in during that timeframe, first 00:29:16.450 --> 00:29:18.970 as an auxiliary, and then they became a part 00:29:18.970 --> 00:29:22.430 of the military, supposedly going to be left, 00:29:22.430 --> 00:29:25.490 you know, leaving as soon as the war was done. 00:29:25.849 --> 00:29:29.609 But they actually, as my own research works, 00:29:30.190 --> 00:29:33.829 you know, they became a part of the Cold War 00:29:33.829 --> 00:29:38.430 Army as well. So. Yeah, there were a number of 00:29:38.430 --> 00:29:41.049 things that happened then. The other issue that 00:29:41.049 --> 00:29:45.490 happened was it was not too long after 1945 that 00:29:45.490 --> 00:29:49.150 they started realizing there would never be a 00:29:49.150 --> 00:29:51.869 point at which we could actually go back to 250 00:29:51.869 --> 00:29:56.720 ,000 soldiers. you know, we were having a situation 00:29:56.720 --> 00:29:59.519 where we had to occupy Germany and we had to 00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:02.720 occupy Japan. That took quite a few soldiers 00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:05.440 to do right in and of itself. And then we had 00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:11.579 a situation where shortly thereafter, the Soviet 00:30:11.579 --> 00:30:15.059 Union decided that they were not going to leave 00:30:15.059 --> 00:30:19.640 their section of Germany. And they started kind 00:30:19.640 --> 00:30:24.590 of rattling their sabers. And that was when the 00:30:24.590 --> 00:30:28.029 army in general and the military writ large, 00:30:28.089 --> 00:30:31.750 they were all sitting there saying, we have to 00:30:31.750 --> 00:30:34.349 be ready to fight at a moment's notice with them 00:30:34.349 --> 00:30:39.430 because they're not backing down. So they never 00:30:39.430 --> 00:30:43.450 did get back to the 250 ,000 soldiers. They were 00:30:43.450 --> 00:30:46.509 in the process of trying to deactivate a lot 00:30:46.509 --> 00:30:49.769 by 1947 -48 when they realized that they had 00:30:49.769 --> 00:30:52.950 to start rebuilding their military and then shortly 00:30:52.950 --> 00:30:58.069 thereafter Korea occurred and so they instituted 00:30:58.069 --> 00:31:02.490 a constant draft starting in the 1950 time frame 00:31:02.490 --> 00:31:05.950 that continued in some form or fashion all the 00:31:05.950 --> 00:31:10.170 way till 1973. Right and that's where I got caught. 00:31:10.509 --> 00:31:14.509 And many and many people obviously did so if 00:31:14.509 --> 00:31:17.009 you know what we've gone I don't want a short 00:31:17.009 --> 00:31:19.930 change Korea because what's what's occurring 00:31:19.930 --> 00:31:23.750 during all of these Wars that we've gotten involved 00:31:23.750 --> 00:31:27.069 with is that the technology is changing so dramatically 00:31:27.069 --> 00:31:30.829 And so we need to we need to be get become more 00:31:30.829 --> 00:31:33.890 and more educated as far as not only our officer 00:31:33.890 --> 00:31:37.170 corps But also the enlisted personnel as well, 00:31:37.170 --> 00:31:41.059 right? You know everything and especially in 00:31:41.059 --> 00:31:46.099 today's army. As you know, every day, it's, you 00:31:46.099 --> 00:31:50.380 know, it's very high tech. Well and it's interesting 00:31:50.380 --> 00:31:52.759 because you know that that is part of what ended 00:31:52.759 --> 00:31:55.079 up happening with the all -volunteer force as 00:31:55.079 --> 00:31:58.279 well. So the all -volunteer force happened in 00:31:58.279 --> 00:32:02.759 1972, really got going in 1973, but the idea 00:32:02.759 --> 00:32:06.019 was after the Vietnam War they really did not 00:32:06.019 --> 00:32:09.119 want to have a draft. They knew that that had 00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:13.079 really angered a lot of people. It had created 00:32:13.079 --> 00:32:18.119 a situation where there were a number of people 00:32:18.119 --> 00:32:20.859 who, instead of being the top, the cream of the 00:32:20.859 --> 00:32:24.440 crop, they had been convicted for a crime and 00:32:24.440 --> 00:32:26.460 they basically said, go to work or go to jail. 00:32:27.160 --> 00:32:29.779 We were not getting people who were necessarily 00:32:29.779 --> 00:32:33.880 high school graduates or a variety of other things. 00:32:34.160 --> 00:32:38.289 A lot of the college level people were able to 00:32:38.289 --> 00:32:42.009 defer out of the draft. So it was really a number 00:32:42.009 --> 00:32:44.890 of issues that were kind of creating a situation 00:32:44.890 --> 00:32:47.329 where we were not getting the best soldiers. 00:32:48.210 --> 00:32:50.869 And at the same time, we were, as you were saying, 00:32:51.170 --> 00:32:56.569 having more and more fancy equipment, more technology, 00:32:56.569 --> 00:33:00.069 you know, and we needed to have the people who 00:33:00.069 --> 00:33:02.269 are high school graduates or college graduates 00:33:02.269 --> 00:33:07.240 in order to just run the equipment. A really 00:33:07.240 --> 00:33:09.680 classic example is the multiple launch rocket 00:33:09.680 --> 00:33:12.019 system, which has a computer system that you 00:33:12.019 --> 00:33:17.220 have to be able to use. And that was a big difference 00:33:17.220 --> 00:33:20.400 from, you know, the gun bunnies who had the artillery 00:33:20.400 --> 00:33:23.099 and, you know, just stuff that thing in and, 00:33:23.099 --> 00:33:27.140 you know, have a go, right? It's very, very different. 00:33:27.160 --> 00:33:29.180 Things are a little bit more precise these days. 00:33:29.619 --> 00:33:34.460 Yes, exactly. Exactly. We're you know, I've got 00:33:34.460 --> 00:33:37.359 about five minutes more to go has gone really 00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:42.079 fast, but Where you know, where do we see the 00:33:42.079 --> 00:33:44.660 army, you know in the next ten years would you 00:33:44.660 --> 00:33:48.799 say? That's uh, you know, it's always kind of 00:33:48.799 --> 00:33:51.000 hard there's there's a lot of stuff that's going 00:33:51.000 --> 00:33:56.460 on with you know drones and A lot of people are 00:33:56.460 --> 00:34:01.900 talking about AI changing things a lot. We've 00:34:01.900 --> 00:34:05.740 got unmanned systems that go in. But there's 00:34:05.740 --> 00:34:08.179 always got to be the brains behind the operation, 00:34:08.340 --> 00:34:13.210 right? So it's never going to be 100%. a military 00:34:13.210 --> 00:34:19.230 that is clones. That is very unlikely. But we 00:34:19.230 --> 00:34:22.190 are going to see even more high -tech going on. 00:34:22.309 --> 00:34:25.510 We're going to see what are known as non -kinetic 00:34:25.510 --> 00:34:32.369 operations, where you've got cyber warfare that 00:34:32.369 --> 00:34:37.949 might jam the equipment that we have. um and 00:34:37.949 --> 00:34:41.050 and make us go back to more of a manual thing 00:34:41.050 --> 00:34:44.030 um and so we have to kind of be ready for everything 00:34:44.030 --> 00:34:47.030 but it's definitely that the technology is not 00:34:47.030 --> 00:34:48.789 going to go away and it's just going to keep 00:34:48.789 --> 00:34:51.869 building kind of in Moore's law you know exponentially 00:34:51.869 --> 00:34:56.369 how many how many i don't know if you know the 00:34:56.369 --> 00:34:58.070 answer to this but how many people are in the 00:34:58.070 --> 00:35:02.980 army right now approximately So 435 ,000 are 00:35:02.980 --> 00:35:07.239 on active duty. We've got about 200 ,000 roughly 00:35:07.239 --> 00:35:09.800 in the U .S. Army Reserve, and we've got about 00:35:09.800 --> 00:35:15.679 500, I want to say 538 ,000 in the various National 00:35:15.679 --> 00:35:20.860 Guards. So it's 1 .1, I think it's like 1 .1 00:35:20.860 --> 00:35:25.460 million total. Just in case. Right. Well, and 00:35:25.460 --> 00:35:28.900 most of them are on part -time, right? Yeah. 00:35:29.630 --> 00:35:33.250 Yeah, I was I was reading something about about 00:35:33.250 --> 00:35:35.550 about that especially with the guard and the 00:35:35.550 --> 00:35:38.610 difference between active duty is you know, that's 00:35:38.610 --> 00:35:43.650 your 24 7 What is the reserves how does that 00:35:43.650 --> 00:35:48.289 work versus the guard? Yeah, they they have operationalized 00:35:48.289 --> 00:35:51.030 so they have sometimes if they know that they're 00:35:51.030 --> 00:35:53.050 going to be deploying they have a little bit 00:35:53.050 --> 00:35:57.150 more training time, but the average is a weekend 00:35:57.150 --> 00:36:00.530 a month, which is two days, sometimes two and 00:36:00.530 --> 00:36:06.610 a half days. And then two weeks per summer, usually 00:36:06.610 --> 00:36:08.570 in the summer, not always in the summer for their 00:36:08.570 --> 00:36:12.630 annual training. And then they also, they will 00:36:12.630 --> 00:36:14.989 come onto active duty to get the schooling that 00:36:14.989 --> 00:36:18.590 they need to get here and there along the way. 00:36:20.250 --> 00:36:24.730 But by and large, it's a part -time job. you 00:36:24.730 --> 00:36:29.289 know, 16 hours per month and then 24 -7 for two 00:36:29.289 --> 00:36:33.650 weeks. Okay. And the Guard is the same approximately? 00:36:34.190 --> 00:36:36.909 That's both Guard and Reserve. Okay. But the 00:36:36.909 --> 00:36:39.110 Guard, theoretically, from my understanding, 00:36:39.150 --> 00:36:42.570 the Guard is mostly controlled by the governors 00:36:42.570 --> 00:36:46.889 of the various National Guard units. Except when 00:36:46.889 --> 00:36:49.750 federalized, yeah. The President has overall 00:36:49.750 --> 00:36:54.449 control over all of them. They do but the you 00:36:54.449 --> 00:36:56.750 know, basically it's it's serving two masters, 00:36:56.909 --> 00:37:01.489 right? So the National Guard primarily Goes with 00:37:01.489 --> 00:37:05.090 the governor Unless they have been federalized 00:37:05.090 --> 00:37:09.650 on orders for a and usually an overseas mission 00:37:09.650 --> 00:37:16.869 Okay So I'm assuming based on what you're doing 00:37:16.869 --> 00:37:21.110 and everything that the are the next 50 years. 00:37:22.889 --> 00:37:24.610 And we don't have to worry about anything after 00:37:24.610 --> 00:37:34.730 that. So I'd be very old. Yes, we would all be 00:37:34.730 --> 00:37:41.409 very old by then. So I'm trying to think, you 00:37:41.409 --> 00:37:43.769 know, we had that they had that big parade yesterday 00:37:43.769 --> 00:37:46.659 and You know, which is kind of cool I you know, 00:37:46.659 --> 00:37:49.199 I like the idea that people get to see some of 00:37:49.199 --> 00:37:52.840 the things that the army is actually doing or 00:37:52.840 --> 00:37:55.699 showing I guess you could say Equipment wise 00:37:55.699 --> 00:37:58.980 and so forth. I mean, they're never gonna See 00:37:58.980 --> 00:38:01.320 everything they can do but it's it's kind of 00:38:01.320 --> 00:38:06.880 interesting. I think That they did that I'll 00:38:06.880 --> 00:38:11.239 give you any anything you'd like to wrap up Yeah, 00:38:11.420 --> 00:38:14.610 well, you know hopefully the Army will continue 00:38:14.610 --> 00:38:17.650 to function for another 250 years. You and I 00:38:17.650 --> 00:38:21.130 will not be here to see it, but I am assuming 00:38:21.130 --> 00:38:24.210 that we will always need to have defense forces 00:38:24.210 --> 00:38:29.889 and the occasional offense too, so. Okay, well, 00:38:29.989 --> 00:38:32.349 let's see that we're trying to have a little 00:38:32.349 --> 00:38:37.949 difficulty getting ahold of my next guest, but 00:38:37.949 --> 00:38:40.889 Christina wanted to thank you so much. for joining 00:38:40.889 --> 00:38:44.090 us here on Veterans Radio again. I wish you all 00:38:44.090 --> 00:38:47.010 the good luck that that you can that you need 00:38:47.010 --> 00:38:50.070 and that you can be successful in what you're 00:38:50.070 --> 00:38:52.449 doing. Hopefully, they'll let you come home someday. 00:38:55.869 --> 00:39:01.639 I come home occasionally to Ann Arbor. I know. 00:39:03.179 --> 00:39:07.139 It's crazy, I tell you. It's crazy. Yep. All 00:39:07.139 --> 00:39:10.860 right. Well, thank you very much. Colonel Christine 00:39:10.860 --> 00:39:14.360 Cook, United States Army and War College. She 00:39:14.360 --> 00:39:17.199 teaches out there and we're just kind of talking 00:39:17.199 --> 00:39:21.199 a little bit about the Army over the last 250 00:39:21.199 --> 00:39:24.219 years and how it's developed, you know, from 00:39:24.219 --> 00:39:30.599 kind of a one man show to two million. or a million. 00:39:31.699 --> 00:39:34.199 So hopefully we won't have to use them all again 00:39:34.199 --> 00:39:38.880 too much. Right. Well, yeah, they're there to 00:39:38.880 --> 00:39:43.159 protect us in case of bad things that happen 00:39:43.159 --> 00:39:46.539 overseas. They do. All right. Well, we're going 00:39:46.539 --> 00:39:50.000 to take a break here. It looks like we made contact 00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:51.719 with the people we're supposed to make contact 00:39:51.719 --> 00:39:54.940 with. So Christine, thank you very much. Thank 00:39:54.940 --> 00:39:58.570 you very much. All right. Hopefully as soon as 00:39:58.570 --> 00:40:01.690 we get an opportunity we're going to be doing 00:40:01.690 --> 00:40:04.110 our Medal of Honor break here and then when we 00:40:04.110 --> 00:40:07.869 get back on we are going to be talking with more 00:40:07.869 --> 00:40:10.010 and more hopefully that we've got David Cayley 00:40:10.010 --> 00:40:16.010 here here to talk about his song for that he 00:40:16.010 --> 00:40:19.170 put together for the American Braille Flag Project 00:40:19.170 --> 00:40:21.469 and this is kind of an interesting organization 00:40:21.469 --> 00:40:28.599 that I thought was kind of cool. in that they 00:40:28.599 --> 00:40:32.719 make flags out of bronze. And so, oh, I see he's 00:40:32.719 --> 00:40:36.000 on the phone so I can stop stalling here. And 00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:37.699 so we're gonna do our Medal of Honor. And when 00:40:37.699 --> 00:40:40.780 we come back, we've got David Kaley here on our 00:40:40.780 --> 00:40:43.579 program. So you're listening to Veterans Radio. 00:40:43.659 --> 00:40:46.579 We'll be back in just a couple of minutes. The 00:40:46.579 --> 00:40:48.420 Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor 00:40:48.420 --> 00:40:50.380 in combat given a member of the Armed Forces 00:40:50.380 --> 00:40:52.579 of the United States. There have been over 3 00:40:52.579 --> 00:40:55.440 ,400 recipients of the nation's highest award. 00:40:56.079 --> 00:40:59.000 This is one of them. Lieutenant J .G. William 00:40:59.000 --> 00:41:01.440 Hall pressed the attack although seriously wounded 00:41:01.440 --> 00:41:04.739 during the Battle of the Coral Sea. Details after 00:41:04.739 --> 00:41:10.119 this. If you have a VA claim denied by the Board 00:41:10.119 --> 00:41:12.159 of Veterans' Appeals, contact Legal Help for 00:41:12.159 --> 00:41:16.760 Veterans at 1 -800 -693 -4800. They're experts 00:41:16.760 --> 00:41:19.000 in handling cases before the U .S. Court of Appeals 00:41:19.000 --> 00:41:21.679 for Veterans Claims. Their number again, 1 -800 00:41:21.679 --> 00:41:25.780 -693 -4800. Hall was the pilot of a scouting 00:41:25.780 --> 00:41:28.179 plane in action against enemy Japanese forces 00:41:28.179 --> 00:41:31.619 in the Coral Sea. In a determined attack on 7th 00:41:31.619 --> 00:41:36.380 of May, 1942, Hall dove his plane at an enemy 00:41:36.380 --> 00:41:39.139 Japanese aircraft carrier, contributing materially 00:41:39.139 --> 00:41:42.539 to the destruction of that vessel. On 8th of 00:41:42.539 --> 00:41:45.039 May, facing heavy and fierce fighter opposition, 00:41:45.289 --> 00:41:47.650 He again displayed extraordinary skill as an 00:41:47.650 --> 00:41:49.969 airman and the aggressive spirit of a fighter 00:41:49.969 --> 00:41:52.550 in a repeated and effective counter -attacks 00:41:52.550 --> 00:41:55.590 against the superior number of enemy planes in 00:41:55.590 --> 00:41:58.389 which three enemy aircraft were destroyed. Though 00:41:58.389 --> 00:42:01.269 seriously wounded in this engagement, Hall succeeded 00:42:01.269 --> 00:42:04.010 in landing his plane safe. The Medal of Honor 00:42:04.010 --> 00:42:08.230 series is a production of Veterans Radio. Military 00:42:08.230 --> 00:42:10.550 veterans touch everyone's life. I'm guessing 00:42:10.550 --> 00:42:13.150 right now you're thinking of a veteran, a close 00:42:13.150 --> 00:42:17.070 friend, relative. Maybe it's you. Even the toughest 00:42:17.070 --> 00:42:19.630 of us sometimes need help, but don't know where 00:42:19.630 --> 00:42:22.190 to turn for support. You don't need special training 00:42:22.190 --> 00:42:24.489 to help a veteran in your life. We can all help 00:42:24.489 --> 00:42:26.710 someone going through a difficult time. Learn 00:42:26.710 --> 00:42:30.289 how you can be there for veterans. Visit VeteransCrisisLine 00:42:30.289 --> 00:42:34.449 .net VeteransCrisisLine .net A message from the 00:42:34.449 --> 00:42:54.579 U .S. Department of Veterans Affairs. And we 00:42:54.579 --> 00:42:57.119 are back on Veterans Radio and it is a grand 00:42:57.119 --> 00:43:00.320 old flag. And we're going to be talking with 00:43:00.320 --> 00:43:03.460 a gentleman who has recorded just a wonderful 00:43:03.460 --> 00:43:06.340 song about the flag. So joining me on the line 00:43:06.340 --> 00:43:10.860 right now is Dave Kelly. And he is a songwriter, 00:43:11.039 --> 00:43:14.059 a singer and everything else. Hi, Dave. Welcome 00:43:14.059 --> 00:43:16.900 to Veterans Radio. Hey, Dale. How are you doing, 00:43:17.039 --> 00:43:19.900 my man? I'm doing well. Where are you located? 00:43:19.980 --> 00:43:25.039 Are you in Nashville? No, I'm in North Carolina, 00:43:25.760 --> 00:43:28.440 Gastonia, North Carolina, just outside of Charlotte, 00:43:28.519 --> 00:43:33.320 about 10 miles. But I spent a lot of time driving 00:43:33.320 --> 00:43:37.000 back and forth there. But no, we've lived in 00:43:37.000 --> 00:43:41.340 North Carolina for, oh, I don't know, five years 00:43:41.340 --> 00:43:44.500 now. So when I was in the Marine Corps, I was 00:43:44.500 --> 00:43:47.960 just down the road in New Bern, which is an air 00:43:47.960 --> 00:43:51.909 facility. And of course, I always loved to the 00:43:51.909 --> 00:43:55.010 south anyway and one of our daughters lives down 00:43:55.010 --> 00:43:57.429 here with five grandchildren so we decided to 00:43:57.429 --> 00:44:01.230 move here great place well happy father's day 00:44:01.230 --> 00:44:08.329 then well same to you young man oh by the by 00:44:08.329 --> 00:44:12.210 the way by the way just so you know and no offense 00:44:12.210 --> 00:44:16.090 intended my last name is pronounced Kaylee I've 00:44:16.090 --> 00:44:18.449 got it written down here and I messed it up again. 00:44:19.250 --> 00:44:25.070 I just feel privileged to be on your show. Well, 00:44:25.949 --> 00:44:28.389 it's a privilege to have you on. So let's talk 00:44:28.389 --> 00:44:32.510 about this organization that you and Keith wrote 00:44:32.510 --> 00:44:35.650 this song called Raise It High. It's for the 00:44:35.650 --> 00:44:37.949 American Braille Flag Project. Can you tell our 00:44:37.949 --> 00:44:41.050 audience what that's about? Well, what it's about 00:44:41.050 --> 00:44:47.369 is the organizers which is Paul Kaminsky and 00:44:47.369 --> 00:44:51.210 Walt Peters. They live in Florida. They put Braille 00:44:51.210 --> 00:44:56.130 flags. They do ceremonies in all VA hospitals 00:44:56.130 --> 00:45:00.469 and anything to do with like, they're going to 00:45:00.469 --> 00:45:04.769 be up at that Memorial and where was that? Oh, 00:45:04.769 --> 00:45:06.929 I can never remember this stuff when I'm supposed 00:45:06.929 --> 00:45:10.809 to. It's a Memorial where they crashed that plane 00:45:10.809 --> 00:45:16.239 on September 11th. Just down the road from here, 00:45:16.480 --> 00:45:18.780 but they do ceremonies like that. They're in 00:45:18.780 --> 00:45:22.579 Washington DC and, and anywhere that they want 00:45:22.579 --> 00:45:25.440 it. They try to get a, uh, they're made out of 00:45:25.440 --> 00:45:29.380 bronze and placed in, you know, like, uh, VA 00:45:29.380 --> 00:45:33.440 hospitals and VA facilities wherever. So they're 00:45:33.440 --> 00:45:35.760 trying to get them all over the United States. 00:45:35.880 --> 00:45:38.559 Well, they've already actually got them in different 00:45:38.559 --> 00:45:41.079 places in the United States. And I'm kind of 00:45:41.079 --> 00:45:45.079 new to this organization, but. It's for blind 00:45:45.079 --> 00:45:51.480 VA, you know veterans and anybody actually It's 00:45:51.480 --> 00:45:55.039 for everybody, but they emphasize as far as I 00:45:55.039 --> 00:46:01.800 know they emphasize the veterans It allows it 00:46:01.800 --> 00:46:06.980 allows somebody that that is sightless to With 00:46:06.980 --> 00:46:14.449 Braille to read the the the Braille the stuff 00:46:14.449 --> 00:46:19.630 about Braille and about the flag and That kind 00:46:19.630 --> 00:46:23.030 of stuff so it's it's quite a neat organization 00:46:23.030 --> 00:46:26.570 actually Yeah, I was just gonna let people know 00:46:26.570 --> 00:46:28.730 and what's kind of cool about it from what I 00:46:28.730 --> 00:46:31.710 could see is that it's it's a Braille plaque 00:46:31.710 --> 00:46:34.769 With a flag with with the stars and everything 00:46:34.769 --> 00:46:40.389 is are kind of raised up Right, right I'm new 00:46:40.389 --> 00:46:43.940 to this This group and Keith Bradford out of 00:46:43.940 --> 00:46:47.880 Nashville a very talented songwriter I've been 00:46:47.880 --> 00:46:50.519 working with Keith now for over 20 years on different 00:46:50.519 --> 00:46:54.099 projects and He says we need to write a song 00:46:54.099 --> 00:46:58.860 for these guys and he's he's uh, he knows both 00:46:58.860 --> 00:47:04.380 of the Guys that are the leaders of this right 00:47:04.380 --> 00:47:08.139 now and he knows them real well and he got me 00:47:08.139 --> 00:47:13.110 involved with it and we He wrote this song and 00:47:13.110 --> 00:47:16.309 my goodness they loved it and so that's their 00:47:16.309 --> 00:47:19.530 theme song now And I couldn't be more flattered 00:47:19.530 --> 00:47:23.429 to be involved with something like that Well, 00:47:23.429 --> 00:47:25.489 I think that's that that's a cue to let's see 00:47:25.489 --> 00:47:28.710 if we can hear this song so we're gonna play 00:47:28.710 --> 00:47:32.449 this song it's called raising the flag and Raise 00:47:32.449 --> 00:47:36.670 it raise it raise it and higher. Yes, right and 00:47:36.989 --> 00:47:41.730 So let's listen. This is David Cayley singing 00:47:41.730 --> 00:47:44.750 a song written by Keith Bradford. So here we 00:47:44.750 --> 00:48:13.750 go. Raise it high, let freedom ring, for every 00:48:13.750 --> 00:48:18.349 heart that served and sings. Oh, eyes may fade, 00:48:18.630 --> 00:48:23.050 the soul can see, the flag stands tall for you 00:48:23.050 --> 00:48:30.849 and me. Bronze and Braille beneath his touch, 00:48:31.349 --> 00:48:36.480 a pledge and brave me. so much from Arlington 00:48:36.480 --> 00:48:41.500 to schoolyard walls the flag unites it calls 00:48:41.500 --> 00:49:16.869 to all With braille and bronze we testify Their 00:49:16.869 --> 00:49:26.230 legacy will never die Raise it high, let freedom 00:49:26.230 --> 00:49:31.369 ring For every heart that served and sings Though 00:49:31.369 --> 00:49:36.130 eyes may fade, the soul can see The flag stands 00:49:36.130 --> 00:50:06.849 tall Yeah, the flag stands tall for you and me 00:50:06.849 --> 00:50:13.130 All right, that's a David Cayley and raise it 00:50:13.130 --> 00:50:16.590 high that's a great song Dave Thank you. Thank 00:50:16.590 --> 00:50:18.929 you and please call me Dave. That's a little 00:50:18.929 --> 00:50:24.969 less formal And the Pledge of Allegiance is involved 00:50:24.969 --> 00:50:28.480 in that too so they can you know, it's I can't 00:50:28.480 --> 00:50:33.280 imagine being blind because, you know, those 00:50:33.280 --> 00:50:36.019 people are wonderful that, I mean, I don't know 00:50:36.019 --> 00:50:39.079 how they get around and stuff. And I couldn't 00:50:39.079 --> 00:50:41.340 be more pleased in being involved with these 00:50:41.340 --> 00:50:44.480 folks. They're so genuine. And of course, I'm 00:50:44.480 --> 00:50:47.579 a, I'm a U S Marine veteran and I'm a patriot 00:50:47.579 --> 00:50:51.400 and a patriot. And I just love this sort of stuff. 00:50:51.420 --> 00:50:53.760 And like I said before, I'm proud to be involved 00:50:53.760 --> 00:50:57.550 with them. Well, it sounds like a great organization 00:50:57.550 --> 00:51:00.769 and I'm going to try and get them on at a later 00:51:00.769 --> 00:51:04.989 date to talk about it. The organization is called 00:51:04.989 --> 00:51:09.969 the American Braille Flag Project and their website 00:51:09.969 --> 00:51:21.559 is abfp .us. and I'm looking at on their website 00:51:21.559 --> 00:51:24.199 right now. And as you mentioned before, this 00:51:24.199 --> 00:51:28.360 plaque is so amazing. And I tried to close my 00:51:28.360 --> 00:51:30.820 eyes and imagine what it'd be like to be blind 00:51:30.820 --> 00:51:35.000 and touch this thing. I know, I know. It's amazing, 00:51:35.179 --> 00:51:38.659 isn't it? How people do that. And like I say, 00:51:38.840 --> 00:51:42.139 I just I'm proud to be involved with it because, 00:51:42.539 --> 00:51:45.639 you know, this country, this is a wonderful country. 00:51:46.300 --> 00:51:49.659 And like I said, I was in the Marines a long 00:51:49.659 --> 00:51:54.320 time ago, but I'll tell you what, I'd do it again, 00:51:54.440 --> 00:51:57.260 let's just put it like that. Well, I think there's 00:51:57.260 --> 00:52:00.860 a lot of us that would do it again. Yeah. I tried 00:52:00.860 --> 00:52:05.559 to get this on the Armed Forces radio, but you 00:52:05.559 --> 00:52:09.360 know, there's so much politics involved in the 00:52:09.360 --> 00:52:12.800 music and with everything actually. And I didn't 00:52:12.800 --> 00:52:16.329 have much luck. with that boat. When I contacted 00:52:16.329 --> 00:52:19.329 you, Dale, Ann Arbor, I'm actually from Kalamazoo, 00:52:19.329 --> 00:52:23.349 Michigan. I grew up there. I saw that. Well, 00:52:23.349 --> 00:52:26.289 let me tell you where people are going to be 00:52:26.289 --> 00:52:28.769 able to listen to your song. Number one, they're 00:52:28.769 --> 00:52:30.929 going to be able to listen to it live right now, 00:52:31.030 --> 00:52:35.670 obviously. We're on four stations. We're on WAND 00:52:35.670 --> 00:52:38.250 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We're on a station in 00:52:38.250 --> 00:52:40.909 Detroit. We're on a station out in California 00:52:40.909 --> 00:52:44.230 and one in Minnesota. We are also on the Wreaths 00:52:44.230 --> 00:52:48.210 Across America radio, which now has an agreement 00:52:48.210 --> 00:52:52.170 with a station in Maine. And they replay our 00:52:52.170 --> 00:52:56.449 program on Wednesdays, I think it is. And so 00:52:56.449 --> 00:52:58.809 that's going to get out there. We're going to 00:52:58.809 --> 00:53:01.309 post it on our website so people can come and 00:53:01.309 --> 00:53:05.349 listen to it later this evening. And then tomorrow 00:53:05.349 --> 00:53:09.349 we upload it as a podcast. So, there's gonna 00:53:09.349 --> 00:53:12.090 be more and more people hearing this great song, 00:53:12.289 --> 00:53:17.389 Dave, and I'm just happy to be able to help you 00:53:17.389 --> 00:53:19.269 spread the word. And there's actually, if you 00:53:19.269 --> 00:53:21.670 go to these people's website, people can buy 00:53:21.670 --> 00:53:24.969 a copy of this along, they have a CD out with 00:53:24.969 --> 00:53:27.230 a couple of other songs on it too. Yeah, I don't, 00:53:27.469 --> 00:53:30.929 see we got a video on this song too. Yeah, that's 00:53:30.929 --> 00:53:34.949 on YouTube. Did I send you that? I found it. 00:53:37.559 --> 00:53:40.380 That's being proactive, Dale. I love it. I love 00:53:40.380 --> 00:53:44.119 it. Do you see my ugly old face on there? I did. 00:53:44.519 --> 00:53:47.039 I did. You're like me. We have, you know, a face 00:53:47.039 --> 00:53:52.239 for radio. Yeah. You know, I am so humbled by 00:53:52.239 --> 00:53:55.320 all of this that I'm all, you know, I was born 00:53:55.320 --> 00:53:58.880 in Blackpool, England, and my dad was in the 00:53:58.880 --> 00:54:03.699 war over there. and for five years and I came 00:54:03.699 --> 00:54:07.440 along and then they brought me here and I'm very, 00:54:07.440 --> 00:54:12.199 a very lucky man. I spent 14 months in Okinawa 00:54:12.199 --> 00:54:15.400 when I was in the Marine Corps and believe me, 00:54:15.400 --> 00:54:18.920 that was an eye -opener there with the difference 00:54:18.920 --> 00:54:21.099 in cultures and everything. And I always tell 00:54:21.099 --> 00:54:24.760 these kids, you know, you ought to go live in 00:54:24.760 --> 00:54:27.699 a third world country. once and see how good 00:54:27.699 --> 00:54:31.099 we've got it here because it was split in Okinawa 00:54:31.099 --> 00:54:35.420 you had the the soldiers camp, you know the the 00:54:35.420 --> 00:54:38.500 base and then you had the regular People that 00:54:38.500 --> 00:54:41.119 were natives there and it was like day and night 00:54:41.119 --> 00:54:43.019 Of course, that's been a long time ago it might 00:54:43.019 --> 00:54:45.980 have changed by now, but it opened my eyes big 00:54:45.980 --> 00:54:50.139 time Believe me to know, you know, I was 18 years 00:54:50.139 --> 00:54:53.440 old and you know everything at 18 years old, 00:54:53.440 --> 00:54:56.440 you know Until I got over there and I found out 00:54:56.440 --> 00:55:01.780 how much I didn't know Dave I have to let you 00:55:01.780 --> 00:55:04.219 go. We're coming up to our program We're gonna 00:55:04.219 --> 00:55:06.440 play your song a little bit of it again when 00:55:06.440 --> 00:55:09.079 we go out But I want to thank you so much for 00:55:09.079 --> 00:55:11.559 letting me have this and again to remind our 00:55:11.559 --> 00:55:16.679 audience. It's the American Braille Flag project 00:55:16.679 --> 00:55:22.789 the website is a B a B F P US the song is Raise 00:55:22.789 --> 00:55:27.690 it high singers Dave and Kaylee. So Dave, thanks 00:55:27.690 --> 00:55:30.250 very much for being on the program. Thanks for 00:55:30.250 --> 00:55:33.250 having me, Dale. I appreciate it very much. Be 00:55:33.250 --> 00:55:36.050 safe. Okay. All right. We got to get out of here 00:55:36.050 --> 00:55:38.050 because we're going to play the song. So until 00:55:38.050 --> 00:55:40.750 next week, Rebecca Grant's back on next week 00:55:40.750 --> 00:55:42.969 to talk about what's going on in the world. Until 00:55:42.969 --> 00:55:55.820 then, you are dismissed. A soldier stands with 00:55:55.820 --> 00:56:00.199 sightless eyes Yet through his hands he feels 00:56:00.199 --> 00:56:07.400 the stars Each drive a story, each scar apart 00:56:07.400 --> 00:56:14.340 Raise it high, let freedom ring For every heart 00:56:14.340 --> 00:56:18.840 that served and sang Though eyes may fade, the 00:56:18.840 --> 00:56:23.730 soul can see The flag stands tall for you and 00:56:23.730 --> 00:56:31.869 me Bronze and Braille beneath his touch A pledge 00:56:31.869 --> 00:56:37.889 and grave meaning so much From Arlington to schoolyard 00:56:37.889 --> 00:56:42.590 walls The flag unites it calls to all