All across America and around the world, this
is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio. And
now, your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry.
And welcome to Veterans Radio. My name is Dale
Throneberry. I was a CW -2 helicopter pilot in
Vietnam in 1969. And I'm still here. Yay. We've
got a really interesting program for you today.
Our guest is going to be Dr. Rebecca Grant. Most
of you are familiar. She's been on our program
many, many times. And we're going to be talking
about what's going on in Iran. So stick around
for that. And there's many other things that
we're going to talk about. Not only what's going
on in Iran, but also what's going on as a result
of what happened in Iran. So as I said, make
sure you stick around. You know all about Dr.
Grant. But before we get into talking to her,
we got to thank all of our sponsors and a couple
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you can purchase tickets to ride. And the cost,
I believe, it has been in the past, is about
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-odd years since I've flown a helicopter? I don't
think I'll ever forget. It's sort of like riding
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And Freedom River is located north of Ann Arbor.
It's a great site. They just finished building
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I also want to make sure that you are, we just
got a message from Wreaths Across America that
Veterans Radio is now being carried on WRGY in
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.org. Got it? Dale at veteransradio .org. Okay,
I've got a little piece of music that I'm going
to play here before we bring Dr. Grant on. So,
Derek, whenever you're ready, go. All right.
What is going on? So joining me on here right
now is our favorite. expert on American foreign
policy and all things military, Dr. Rebecca Grant.
She is the vice president of the Lexington Institute
and she has been a national security analyst
based in Washington DC for many, many years.
Dr. Grant, welcome back. I'm glad to be back.
Now, who is that artist? It sounds like Marvin
Gaye. Yes. Right, but It's so true. What is going
on? Dale, you and I often talk a little bit in
the week before the show about possible topics.
And this week, we didn't even have a moment to
catch our breath. But it's clear what we have
going on today. And that is the analysis of the
incredible strike by seven B -2 bombers and a
total of 125 US aircraft participating. on targets
in Iran. You know, something that we've thought
about, heard contingency planning for for a long
time, but maybe we never really thought it would
come to pass. But it has. And the US has indeed
attacked an emergent nuclear weapons target site
in Iran. Right. And I think that the whole thing
took many, many people by surprise. As you said
this week, I'm sure it was a slam -packed for
you throughout the entire time. But the president
had said that he was going to think about it
for two weeks, and then a couple of days later,
wham -o. And the secretary of defense had an
article I think I read this morning that talked
about the discipline and planning for weeks and
weeks and so forth. But I think that the actual
event took everybody by surprise. My concern
about this whole thing is that some of the ramifications
that could occur as a result of this. Yes, as
you say in the Army branches and sequels, let
me just rewind for just one week because last
Weekend was June 14th, the Army's 250th birthday,
which I know you covered. The parade in Washington,
D .C., where President Trump was there, and he
spoke just very briefly. And even then, there
was speculation because the Israeli attacks on
Iran had begun just a few days prior. But so
that was on the Saturday. You know, on the Wednesday,
we had President Trump in Canada for the G7 meeting,
long scheduled meeting with A bunch of new leaders,
Britain's Keir Starmer, Mark Carney in Canada,
who's new in the job, and then others that he
knows well, such as Francis Emmanuel Macron and
Giorgio Maloney from Italy. A group, by the way,
that's been very involved in diplomacy with Iran
around the nuclear program for quite some time.
Now, Trump is there and scheduled to be there,
and he leaves, he goes to a meeting, goes to
the dinner, and he flies back. uh overnight right
actually he landed really early at andrews air
force base i was doing some live coverage and
land about five a .m. all because there were
big matters to consider so then for a few days
we were poised thinking that something action
might be imminent when president trump then said
well i'm going to give iran two weeks i think
everybody thought well okay it's going to be
a little while and then of course you know looking
back what we know is that in fact that decision
had been pretty nearly locked and loaded. Big
clue was the deployment of somewhere between
25 and 30 aerial refueling tankers. Some of them
did drag some additional fighters over into Europe
and that region. Dragging is when the fighters
fly alongside the tanker as they deploy forward.
And that included some pretty top of the line
fighters like the F -22. But I'm told, you know,
I think we'll hear more about this. Probably
President Trump is very talkative. We probably
have a little bit more to say about it, but we're
told that a real decision point here came as
Trump was again offering a sort of an in -person
meeting with the Iranians. You know, he originally
had offered to send Vice President Vance and
some others. It might have been Secretary Rubio,
I believe, or someone. It was a really very high
-level delegation in addition to the five or
six rounds of nuclear talks that had already
been held. But apparently Trump had behind the
scenes offered to go himself, probably to Turkey,
our NATO ally, to talk with Iranian representatives.
Seems like Iran's president, who's relatively
new in the job, he's been there about a year,
was okay with that. And I think the foreign minister
as well, but they literally couldn't get Ayatollah
Khamenei to sign off even on the meeting. Who
knows, right, how that all works? You know, the
Ayatollah is 86 years old, et cetera. And that,
I think, may have led to some of this decision
point. The ramifications, you've just got to
be thinking about it. You know, what is going
to happen first, of course, protecting our U
.S. forces in place in Central Command. And then
I think kind of looking at what are the potential
threats here. And then what are Iran's medium
-term moves, such as potentially closing the
Strait of Hormuz? Right. And it sounds like they're
thinking about doing some of those things. My
question to you, Dr. Grant, is that in reading
all the news this morning, and as I mentioned
before, I know you've probably been talking with
people about this all day, but is that One of
the stories was that somebody representing Russia
had said, well, you know, we can certainly help
Iran, you know, resupply their, not their weapons,
because I don't know if they've developed one
or not yet, but certainly part of their, you
know, their infrastructure for building the bomb,
I guess you could say. And also that China is
kind of out there, you know, like they always
are. Oh, Russia. Boy, they just don't miss any
opportunity to make an unhelpful, almost darkly
humorous and horrible comment. Before this happened,
Russia was trying to put their ore in to potentially
negotiate and take away some of the highly enriched
uranium. The backstory here is that Iran actually
does have a civilian nuclear power plant, perfectly
normal. And you actually buy fuel from that on
a global market. A lot of it's supplied from
Russia. You don't make it yourself. So the Russians
had built this plant for them. And I think they're
planning some upgrades. So there's a pretty long
standing relationship there. And Russia is, in
fact, a partner in that 2015 nuclear deal, which
the US exited. But so unhelpful. I mean, I've
seen statements with Russia saying, well, we'll
just give them some nuclear warheads. I mean,
they're not going to do that. That is the type
of unhelpful thing. Don't forget the Russians
purchase Iran's Shahid drones, which they use
on Ukraine. And they actually like these Shahid
drones from Iran so much that they set up a dedicated
production line in Russia to make the Iranian
drones. So, you know, these countries are pretty
close. And Russia has been no help at all in
this situation. No, because they've got their
own deal going on with Ukraine, which has kind
of been pushed way back on the news cycle as
far as what's going on there. In some article
I read this morning, he said that, you know,
well, we control all of Ukraine now, and we know
that's not true, but he could say it. It's so
true. When Israel's strikes on Iran started on
June 13th, a few days later there was another
big Russian missile attack on Ukraine. There
had been, in early June, which now seems like
a long time ago, the record -setting levels of,
I think the top was 499 drones with some missiles
mixed in, shot from Russia. Against basically
Ukraine city. There's really no aiming at military
targets going on here and there were another
couple big attacks during the timeframe of Israel
strikes on Iran and before the US strike and
they hardly They hardly made even the sort of
the defense trade press And you know, you got
to feel a little bit for the Ukrainian people
who are still putting up with this and nothing
is resolved You know in that situation. I think
what happened here though was that You know,
President Trump had been very, very clear in
his policy that, you know, Iran could not have
a nuclear weapon. He says he'd give them a 60
-day ultimatum. I think that's true. Again, something
that the news, so much other news of the day
that we've kind of gotten away from that a little
bit. But clearly, I think from a military tactical
perspective, if you will, this was the moment
when previous Israeli strikes had weakened really
decimated Iran's air defenses. You talk about
one of the key sites here is Fordow, the fuel
enrichment plan. That was the big target, the
big underground target. And it's been defended
with Russian air defense systems since 2016.
You know, interesting that the nuclear deal changed
from 2015 and they put the air defenses up there
in 2016. I tell you, it makes you wonder. Obviously,
they were up to no good in there. And so, you
know, this was a moment for them to attack. I
think I was surprised by the scale of the B2
attack. I don't know if you were, but I was really
impressed. The use of seven, that's pretty significant.
I mean, I always think I can't remember where
I read it. We don't have that many B2 bombers.
Seems like they sent, you know, half of them
over there. That's exactly right. We have 19
B2 bombers, originally. 21 were built. The 21st
actually, which is I think one of the ones that's
still flying, was never meant to, it was a test
article and it wasn't going to go to flyable
status. You know, if you produce a military aircraft,
usually the first several are for things like
static fatigue testing, live fire testing, this
and that testing, and they just generally don't
even plan to put the seat covers and the scented
strips and the rest of the avionics in there
sometimes. But the Clinton administration actually
decided to take this B2, which was one of the,
I feel like it might even have been Air Vehicle
1 or 2, Incredibles that is, and turn it into
the 21st B2 just as well. So we have 19 of these.
And the other thing is this is a nuclear capable
bomber. So while our forces aren't on the same
nuke alert that they were in the Cold War, The
B -2 wing, the 509th bomb wing, still has a nuclear
mission. They have to be ready to provide aircraft
into the triad if called upon to do so. In fact,
their name, the 509th bomb wing, is the wing
that dropped the atomic bomb. And the number
509th was restored by the Air Force for the historical
reasons and assigned to the B -2 wing. um, mark
that heritage. So, you know, they've got to have
ready for that. And of course, you know, it's
a plane, right? So there's always a few of them
that are out for intermediate level maintenance,
um, modification of this and that, you know,
the planes have, they're about 30 to 35 years
old. I guess the newest were done in about 97.
So they're always out getting modifications.
So you take a, subtract a few from that. You
might have one that the new B -2 pilots are learning
to fly on and then you need seven to go to a
mission. It's incredible. Back during Operation
Iraqi Freedom, the B -2 was used and I think
the maximum number ever used in one night was
three. So seven is remarkable. As I was mentioning
when I was introducing you, Dr. Grant, is that
you are, you know, you are heavily into all things
military and I'm really grateful for you to talk
about this B -2 bomber because I was saying B
-2, you know, I remembered it, you know, in Iraq
and Afghanistan, but I didn't realize how long
ago it had been built, you know, initially, you
know, went online. And then, you know, they bring
out these bunker busters So maybe you could help
us with our with our audience explaining what
a bunker buster really is. Oh Yes, I'd be glad
to and and you're right I do have followed the
b2 for a long time and I've been in this field
for a long time. So there we are the bunker busters
are relatively new, you know, your listeners
will know that the concept of heavy bunker buster
ordinance of really I think they had some in
World War I, but really dates from World War
II. Strikes like the, actually some of the attacks
on some potential heavy water facilities in Nazi
-occupied Norway, things that really needed heavy,
heavy, heavy bombs. And in those days, heavy
was one to 2 ,000 pounds or maybe a little bit
more. The difference, and then we saw in the
Gulf War, there was a 28 ,000 pound bomb that
was actually pushed out of the back of a C -130.
It's amazing what our Air Force can do. You would
want to be holding on when you were pushing that
thing out the back of the 130, used against American
ingenuity, used against an Iraqi bunker in the
time of Saddam Hussein. What's different with
this new massive ordnance penetrator is really
two things. One is the explosive material that's
in the bomb itself. Let's go all the way to the
other end of the spectrum. There's a bomb that's
used quite a bit called the small diameter bomb,
and it's a really small 250 pound bomb, but it's
got the oomph of a much bigger bomb because it
used to be the tritonol, but all that that's
the explosive material is considerably upgraded
so there's a lot more bang within a smaller footprint
that's different with the mop but the really
key thing with a massive ordinance penetrator
is actually the fuse so they have it's the fuses
are programmable and they're smart so it has
to sense the penetration of the bomb body through
layers of dirt and concrete, which obviously
had dirt, concrete have different densities.
And this fuse has to comprehend when it's entered
an underground chamber where the underground
machinery and factory complexes were at the Fordow
fuel enrichment plant and then detonate. So that
is sort of the advanced technology behind the
mop. The B2 only, the B2 carries two, and you
know, usually Dale with bomb loadouts, it's not
really the weight. I mean, the B2 takes on, I
believe, 100 ,000 pounds of fuel in an air refueling,
if you could imagine. So it's not the weight,
it's the configuration of the bomb's fins and
how they go in the bomb bay and how they go on
the rack. That means the B2 is the one aircraft
that's certified to carry two massive ordnance
penetrators and it's been tested. You've seen
some little bit of reporting here, been there
over the past couple of years, but really it's
been developed, I'd say within, really operationalized
within just sort of the last sort of five to
seven years. And it's very much designed with
exactly this type of target set in mind, Iran
or I think potentially North Korea as well, but
I think specifically. to get to these underground
facilities, which the Iranians built to try to
be impervious to air attack. I wonder, have you
heard anything about the effectiveness of these
bombs going off over there? No, only what has
been briefed first by President Trump on Saturday
night, a very brief statement, and then by Secretary
Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Dan Cain this morning that they are very happy
with this. There is some satellite imagery out
that shows six. I mean, they look kind of small
because the area is so it's sort of desert semi
arid area. So they say they're very happy with
the destruction and they're obviously not going
to tell us the details, which is too bad because
we'd all really like to know. I think they'll
be watching for a couple of things. One is is
what what the crews and the you know, the gun
camera footage basically showed. from the strikes.
Then they do a lot of seismic sensing. There's
a lot of nuclear related sensing. You know, the
Air Force has a special plane that's configured
to sniff out radiation in the atmosphere, all
sorts of ways to check that. But I think most
of all, they're gonna see what the Iraqis do.
I'm sorry, the Iranians are doing up at that
site. I mean, they did a whole bunch of trucks
drive up and they started shoveling out the entrance.
or has nobody walked into that area at all, that's
going to be another which they'll see from satellite
monitoring. What is the Iranian posture around
those sites? Ultimately, and the UN has said
this already, ultimately Rafael Grossi, who is
the man who heads the UN's International Atomic
Energy Agency, he's a decent chap, he's been
in that job a long time, hardworking Brazilian,
and they're ultimately going to have to go in
there and take a look. But that won't be for
a while. I think that was one of the questions
was, you know, that as a result of this bombing,
did they release any radiation into the, you
know, into the atmosphere at all? And as you
mentioned, they're not going to be able they're
not really going to get going in there probably
for a little while anyway. That's right. And
it's it's that's the job of the IAEA. You know,
Grossi himself has been to the Zaporizia power
plant in Ukraine, which is like the biggest nuclear
power plant in Europe. The Russians took it over,
you know, three years ago now and have been running
it. So he's been up there to look and make sure
the Russians are running it correctly. Horrible.
I mean, what a job to have to do. So and then,
of course, the UN, you know, I'm a little jaded
on. I feel the UN hasn't really covered itself
in glory in handling Ukraine and Iran and all
this. But the IAEA does does their best. And
they are the ones who two years ago found that
the weapons -grade enrichment was indeed going
on at Fort Al, enriching up to 83 % enriched
uranium. And you know, you need just 90 % to
make the bomb. So it was the certification by
the UN, I think, that really has kind of begun
this sequence. And they've also reported on other
facilities. And it was, in fact, the UN's report
from several days ago now saying that they felt
Iran was not in compliance with, now wait for
it, the nonproliferation treaty, which I think
dates back to the 60s, which is when if you got
a nuclear power plant built in your country,
but you would sign the treaty pledging not to
develop nuclear weapons. Most countries did that
and benefited from having nuclear power and all
that comes with that. So the UN has certified
Iran out of compliance with the NPT. Obviously.
I would guess. I would guess. I go back to this
thing about what the potential is. Let's talk
a little bit about Israel and Iran. And I'm having
to think that they had to work in conjunction
with the US when they started bombing Iran. And
Iran started sending Raqqa back. everybody starts
throwing bigger and bigger rocks until we drop
a really big one on them. And one of the concerns
was that Israel may be running out of their,
you know, their iron shield materials that we
provide for them. Is that something you've heard?
You know, people really are asking. They build
some of the Iron Dome components on their own
and we supply some and we've worked With them
over the years on on Improving and upgrading
that system Who knows how their strikes their
stockpiles are rather? I'm sure they are getting
a little bit low But one hopes that they've sort
of made some provisions to do that, you know
if this all really You know the relevant context
here and again, it seems like it's been so long
but is really dates back to April of 2024 this
to me is when everything changed, okay? When
Iran launched the 300 missiles and drones against
Israel in April 13th, 2024, and they did it again
in October. And this was the unthinkable. Iran
had finally attacked Israel, and Israel was able
to shoot down, I think actually all of the drones
and missiles at that point with help from our
U .S. Navy who did Intercepts with destroyers
and our KB fighter pilots off the carrier and
with help from the Jordanians because it goes
across their airspace and they have a really
good Air Force They don't like to be in the they
don't like to be in the press, but they're very
good They shot down a bunch of stuff April 20
24. So I think that attack by Iran on Israel
That just changed that whole relationship and
I think without One sometimes hears, oh, this
is Israel's war with Iran. Well, you know, it
was Iran that attacked Israel twice. Israel did
a small attack in October of 2024, taking out
some of the air defense systems around, in fact,
some of the key nuclear sites and then the campaign
that we see now. So the policy is clear. And
in this case, Israel and the U .S. are not always
in perfect agreement on every diplomatic item,
but there was complete agreement that Iran cannot
have a nuclear weapon. And Dale, I think the
events of the last 10 days just prove that out
completely. They don't have an understanding
of the Ayatollah, does not have an understanding
of deterrence in the way that we think of it
here in this country. And they've made clear
they're willing to attack anything. Right and
with and can you imagine, you know, we have we
have now I think probably very close to 50 ,000
US forces across the Middle East from Syria to
the two carriers on the Red Sea and a lot of
bases in between Can you imagine they're there
to contain Iran? Can you imagine trying to do
force protection if there's nine to fifteen Iranian
bombs in the mix? It's just it's unthinkable.
And I think that I think the scenarios like that
are what? led the president to choose to to carry
out these strikes. It's very, very serious, very
serious decision. I think it was a difficult
decision for him, not one he wanted to have to
do. But I certainly see the case for the military
necessity. It's kind of unusual for us to be
in the US, you know, to really take the initiative
and I mean, I know that we, you know, the CIA
and special forces and all those other things,
they go and kind of find stuff out. And I'm sure
that some of our troops were actually in, you
know, in Iran, setting up their radars and directional
things to help, you know, get the jets in there.
But I, like you, I am concerned about those 50
,000 American service people over there. One
of the things that I heard this morning, of course,
is that one way they could retaliate is to close
off that was at the Gulf of Hormuz. Yeah, the
Strait of Hormuz, that little hook. Well, good
luck. It's a very narrow point. And you know,
it's funny whether their neighbor there in the
waterway is the UAE, the United Arab Emirates,
and they'll tell you they're only 32 kilometers
away, the Iranians, you know, and it becomes
so difficult. for the more moderate states in
that region to know how to deal with Iran. They
all have a lot of business relationships. The
UAE and Iran, I think, share an undersea natural
gas field. They have trade relationships, but
you just don't know how to talk to these people.
To me, this is the longer -term ramification.
Clearly, some of the recent force deployments
are there to enhance force protection. I think
General Karela at Central Command is, you know,
the force protection is extreme. They're watching
for Iranian missiles. Our Space Force sees every
Iranian missile launch. They're watching for
drones. We have plenty of fighter jets there
and other systems to take out drones. They're
watching for just the RPG attacks that were from,
you know, Iran back to militias in Iraq. That
were that killed I believe 600 Americans during
our time in Iraq. But the question here is like
when? When do you get the Iranians to talk to
you? I told is just in he is in his own world.
It is just so impossible to know how to handle
that Well, it seems like you know, I mean it's
been infuriating, you know ever since we they
overturned the Shah was that 79? Yes nobody's
really been able to negotiate any sort of peaceful
coexistence over there. I'm curious about the,
you know, what the other countries, I mean, you
mentioned the UAE, but you know, you got Saudi
Arabia, you got Yemen, you got Iraq, again, you
know, they're kind of, you know, in between Iran
and Israel. So what's going to happen there?
I mean, they had a bloody, bloody war, you know,
what, 25 years ago or so. So, such a good point.
The Iran -Iraq war of the 1980s, the war of the
cities, the overspill of which led to the Kuwaiti
tanker reflagging operation, President Reagan's
attacks on some of the Iranian oil rigs out there
in the water. That war was a horrible war involving
chemical weapons, airstrikes. Death on a large
scale, and that had come really on the heels
of Iran's 1979 revolution as Iraq kind of tried
to poke it at all this. And they settled in there,
but it took, I believe, a full eight years to
settle it. And so I think what we're looking
at here in our situation today, the other states
in that region, they do not... You know, Iraq,
it's a little difficult because there's a lot
of Iranian influence in Iraq and the politics
and various things. And that's a result that
has come about in the aftermath of our war in
Iraq. But most of the states in that region,
they do not want war. They want to get back to
business. They're horrified at Iran's terror
activities and all this. Now, if it's, oh, you
know, the ideological message, whatever that's
the Iranians, she is, they can live with it.
But it's gotten to this point. So while they
will not come out and say it publicly, I think
there is strong, strong, strong regional support.
They agree you cannot have a nuclear -armed Iran.
And if you have Iran with a nuclear weapon, well,
first of all, you have Israel really preparing
its nuclear strike options. And you have Saudi
Arabia potentially saying, well, We had better
build a bomb as well. And it goes from there.
So this is something that this strike, I believe,
has avoided. So I do not know that we're going
to get regime change. That is not an objective
of these strikes. I don't know if Iran is going
to become a better place. It's a big country,
a lot of people, great history and culture, terrible
economy, a lot of repression and unrest. But
all that is always very unpredictable. What Operation
Midnight Hammer has achieved is, for now, in
Iran, without a nuclear weapon. And that was
just the bare minimum, we need to get by not
only in that region, but to continue to have
any sort of world and global stability. And no
thanks to China, who, as I've said so many times,
buys 90 % of Iran's oil and has kept them in
business. I was just going to mention them. I'm
worried about the ramifications that our attention
is so focused on the Middle East that some other
things may be happening elsewhere, like the North
Korea stuff. And the Chinese are building more
and more ships and more and more airplanes and
more and more and more of everything. And I'm
not sure how we can handle that, I guess would
be my concern there. And also, if the Iranians,
as you mentioned before, I don't know how fanatical
some of them are going to be. This is a conspiracy
theory I'm making up as we go. But how many of
the Iranians that are living in our country are
like the sleeper people? And suddenly they're
all going to rise up and do terrible things.
So those are the things that I've been talking
to friends and so forth that people are mostly
concerned about is what is the retaliation, if
any? They're going to be. Well, two excellent
points. And if you and I are sitting as part
of Xi Jinping's inner circle in Beijing, the
Americans flailing around with having to strike
Iran and deploy all those forces, since China's
long -term plan is to take us down as a global
power and stomp all over us, this works. So it's
a terribly cynical view. It's really an issue.
It's something that in that bigger perspective,
we really have to, we really got to tamp this
down in the Middle East and get out of there
to a greater extent. Back to the issue about
sleeper cells. So, you know, my view here is,
first of all, I think Homeland Security, FBI,
really all over this, but wow, some of the things
Iranians have tried, I think a great most of.
The Iranians that live here, you know, a lot
came after the overthrow of the Shah. A lot of
it's perfectly, you know, very civilized. Iran
was a very civilized advanced culture before
1979, right? It could be again. But some of the
things they've done. An Iranian was indicted
for plotting to assassinate Ambassador John Bolton,
who had been in the Trump I administration and
a former UN ambassador. This was in 2022. We
know that Iran has been plotting to assassinate
Donald Trump. and has threatened other leaders.
Back in 2013, an Iranian cyberspace team hacked
into a water dam in upstate New York called the
Rye Bridge Dam and almost got into its systems,
the SCADA controls, and almost managed to turn
the thing on and off, but they got caught. Again,
FBI indictments on this. So certainly Iran has
some cyber capabilities. I think they would love
to try some sleeper type activity. Their doctrine
is, this comes from the revolution period, is
to strike. And that's why they built up the Maas,
Hezbollah, the hoodies. This is their whole game
plan is to... attack and build up chaos, you
know, and the Middle East will say, well, they're
not going to do it themselves, but they're going
to get all these other people to go and do this.
But that's why they've built up this terror network.
That's part of their national policy. It just,
it's incomprehensible. So there certainly is
a risk. And I think that all the whole, you know,
see something, say something is very much applies.
But I do believe also, this has been in the wind
a long time and there's been a heightened security
concern, frankly, since the October 7th, 2023.
attack out of Gaza into Israel. And so I think
the FBI and Homeland Security are all of this.
No telling who came across the southern border.
They're going to be working overtime. I mean,
Hezbollah said that they didn't want anything
to do with America, at least, you know, in the
short term. So I'll be interested to see what
goes on. Just an aside before I let you go here
is, I'm a little bit concerned about the advisors
that President Trump has, because I don't see
a whole lot of experience there. And I was just
wondering what your thoughts were on that. Oh,
I hear you on that. And I will say, oh. One individual
who I think really is the public is getting to
know a little bit more now is our chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Cain.
He had been an Air Force Three Star, a guardsman,
I believe an F -16 pilot who flew combat in Iraq.
And he had some time deployed there as a general
in the Air Operations Center. And I think he'd
met President Trump during the anti -ISIS campaign
back in the 2017 -2018 timeframe. I've been very
impressed with him. He actually did extremely
well in his Senate confirmation hearing. He's
very cool, man a few words. very level -headed,
and in watching his Pentagon briefing this morning
and just his general attitude, this is an airman
who knows every bit. So when he says, this is
a real complicated strike package that we flew,
he's flown those strike packages. He's planned
them. He's commanded them. His expertise is actually
exactly what was needed for Operation Midnight
Hammer, and he seems to be that calm and collected
and experienced. He's in a very significant job
as basically the top military advisor to President
Donald Trump, but in this case, General Cain
certainly has an ideal experience as an F -16
combat pilot within. He just, he just knows all
the intricacies. You talk about air refueling
for a, you know, a 90 planes in a strike package.
He knows that in his sleep. So I'm really glad
that he, that we have that advice there. I also
think Secretary of State Marco Rubio has done
a fantastic job in his, now his two jobs. as
Secretary of State and National Security Advisor.
Okay. Well, that's what I wanted to hear. Because
I want to make sure we can all sleep at night.
That's right. And let's remember, too, Iran has
been weakened. I think the end game is very difficult.
But the work that was done by the B -2s against
the Iranian target set, this was the right thing
to do. This was truly a danger. a real danger,
and the danger of doing nothing was much, much
greater. We let this go on far too long. This
was the moment. It was done in a very serious
spirit, and they had every chance to come to
the negotiating table prior to that strike. But
it is good that Iran is now not as close to a
nuclear bomb. That's good news. That's good news
for all us to hear and I appreciate you taking
your time out of your very very busy day I'm
sure to come here on veterans radio and calm
some of our fears and let us know what really
happened and I'm looking forward to Contacting
you probably in the near future to see if we
can figure out what the results of this whole
thing were That sounds great. It's always an
honor to talk to veterans radio. Thank you. Thank
you so very much. That's dr. Rebecca grant talking
about what's been going on in the last day or
two, and I'm really excited to, I was very excited
to have her come on and talk about Operation
Midnight Hammer. So we're gonna take a quick
break, and when we come back, we've got some
new news to talk about with you. So you're listening
to Veterans Radio. The Medal of Honor is the
highest award for valor in combat given a member
of the Armed Forces of the United States. There
have been over 3 ,400 recipients of the nation's
highest award. This is one of them. Captain Louis
Millett was wounded by grenade fragments but
refused evacuation. Details after this. If you
have a VA claim denied by the Board of Veterans'
Appeals, contact Legal Help for Veterans at 1
-800 -693 -4800. They're experts in handling
cases before the U .S. Court of Appeals for Veterans'
claims. Their number again, 1 -800 -693 -4800.
While personally leading his company in an attack
against a strongly held Korean position, Millett
noted that the first platoon was pinned down
by small arms, automatic, and anti -tank fire.
Millett ordered the third platoon forward, placed
himself at the head of the two platoons, and
with fixed bayonet, led the assault up the fire
-swept hill. In the fierce charge, he bayoneted
two enemy soldiers and boldly continued on throwing
grenades, clubbing and bayoneting the enemy,
while urging his men forward by shouting encouragement.
Despite vicious opposing fire, the whirlwind
hand -to -hand assault carried to the crest of
the hill. His leadership and personal courage
so inspired his men that they stormed into the
hostile position and used their bayonets with
such lethal effect that the enemy fled in wild
disorder. During this fierce onslaught, Millet
was wounded by grenade fragments but refused
evacuation until the objective was taken. and
firmly secured. The Medal of Honor series is
a production of Veterans Radio. Military veterans
touch everyone's life. I'm guessing right now
you're thinking of a veteran, a close friend,
relative. Maybe it's you. Even the toughest of
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.net. Veterans Crisis Line dot net a message
from the US Department of Veterans Affairs And
we're back here on veterans radio and I hope
that you enjoyed and learned a little bit from
dr. Grant as I mentioned before she's always
Always willing to come on our program at short
notice and I you know with everything that's
going on today I wanted to really thank her For
taking time out of her very busy schedule. I'm
sure I'm sure if you go to television not yet
if you go to the TV news I'm sure you're going
to see her on many different outlets this evening
Talking about some of the same things that we
talked about here. So as I as I mentioned we
are going to try and figure out when we can get
her back on, or some other folks that we've been
talking to over the years that will give us a
little bit of insight as to what's going on in
Iran. And as I mentioned, it is kind of frightening
when you think about it. Nobody wants to get
involved in another conflict in the Middle East.
Over the last 20 years, another thing where we
didn't necessarily have a plan when we went in,
and we didn't have a plan when we got out. I've
got to leave it up to the powers that be. So
I'm hoping that they will do a good job and do
what's right. for all of us at that time. Here
on Veterans Radio, as I mentioned, I let her
go a little bit early. So I wanted to tell you
what's coming up in the future. I already talked
about our fundraiser coming up on September 28th.
That's a great opportunity for us, and I'm really
excited to be out at Freedom River. It's a wonderful
place for veterans to go with their families,
to relax. They've got fishing, they've got boating,
they've got, as I mentioned, they're going to
eventually have training programs out there.
For our Radio on the River thing we're going
to have all kinds of different organizations
that will be available to you. When you come
out, the VA will be there. There's going to be
some other organizations, women veterans and
so on and so forth. We'll have booths there to
show you. We're going to have a display of military
uniforms and artifacts and so forth. So I think
it's going to be kind of a fun day and food and
music. What else did you have? Oh, and storytelling,
because that's what we do, storytelling here
on Veterans Radio. As a matter of fact, next
week, I think we've got a really cool storytelling
program coming up. We're going to be talking
to a couple of Army nurses from Vietnam. The
main speaker or the main guest is Sarah plum
and she has written a book called warrior nurse
talks about PTSD and healing and I just wanted
to read a little bit from the back of the book
and because she was in an area that I was in
in Vietnam and I think I probably flew over her
hospital It says that the 12th evac hospital
in Coochie Vietnam Sarah plum is an operating
room nurse during the fighting in the Iron Triangle
of 1967 the Iron Triangle is west of Saigon west
and northwest between the Parrots Beacon and
so forth out in that area. Anyway, so it said
that mass catalyzes with severely wounded soldiers
show up for Sarah and her fellow nurses, and
the surgeons treat them in the midst of mortar
attacks, monsoons, and exploding artillery. I've
heard this story so many times from nurses from
the Vietnam era. We've all seen the television
version of MASH. It wasn't like that. These men
and women were in operating rooms, sometimes
24 hours a day, you know, trying to put together
and put back together American soldiers. They
also took care of local villagers and kids and
even sometimes the enemy wounded would come through
their hospitals. Her story is intertwined. With
a gentleman by the name of Johnny who's hit by
American artillery And Jim a baseball pitcher
with multiple wounds including his pitching hand
and encompasses her terror on the tarmac of Benoit
Airbase on the day that she leaves culture shock
emerging post -traumatic stress assaults by protesters
being head nurse of an orthopedic ward at Madigan
General Hospital up in Washington I believe and
her growing awareness of the effects of war on
her and her fellow soldiers. So next week we're
going to have her on the program with two other
nurses from the Ann Arbor area who also were
in Vietnam. They were further north. They weren't
in Cu Chi. One was in Pleiku, and one was in
Phu Loi, I think. I don't know. I was down south,
so I'm not familiar with all those places. But
they're going to be on the program together to
talk about really what it was like being a nurse
in Vietnam. I know that many of you have listened
to our program where we talked about the book,
The Women, which is a fictional story of nurses
in Vietnam. And this is this is a group of veterans
who have been overlooked for years and years
and years. And I'm very happy to give them an
outlet for their stories and just the admiration
that the men and women in Vietnam had for army
nurses and their docs, of course. is beyond the
pale. They just did an amazing job daily, every
single day. They had to face multiple amputations,
terrible, awful wounds and burns and everything
else. So I encourage you to listen in next week.
I think you'll find a very interesting program.
And of course, the following week, the first
Sunday of July will be our benefits program.
And we've got a new contact at the VA health
care side of it. So we're going to be able to
have someone on to talk about that. I know there
are many concerns from our veteran community
about what could or may be going on at the VA
hospitals around the country. So hopefully we're
going to be able to. Talk about those and maybe
we can eliminate some of the questions that you
might have and some of the concerns. I can't
imagine that anybody's going to do anything too
drastic to the VA system. There are veterans
that can be a very loud group of people when
they get upset. So I don't think they're going
to want to do too much. I understand them willing
to want to save money and that's fine. And sometimes
you've got to... Sometimes you've got to knock
down the whole forest before you can, you know,
replant all the trees. I'm hoping that they don't
go to that extreme. But please, just, you know,
give everybody a moment to think about what is
going on, because many of the cuts and budgets
and so forth that were talked about for the last
five, six months have been reinstated. and they're
still trying to figure out a way to get us out
of debt, and it's not gonna be an easy task.
So I'm trying to encourage people, my friends
who might be on the other side, to exercise patience,
and we'll see what happens. So that's coming
up. As I mentioned the first Sunday of July.
So Again, I want to thank everybody for listening
today. I know we've got time left to go So I'll
just keep going on here for two minutes as my
as my sign is is out there I know the I talked
about Radio on the River. There are other fundraisers.
Oh, I know. There's a great fundraiser for people
here in the local area, in the Ann Arbor area,
coming up on July 9th. It is a fundraiser for
the Washington County Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
And it's going to be at the freight house over
in Ypsilanti. And I believe it starts at five
o 'clock. It's $20. Great music. Again, great
food, great stories. It's so heartwarming to
see all of these veterans getting together and
helping each other. You know, the saying was,
you know, when we were in combat that we had
your back and we like to keep that going now
and saying that we have your back while you're
here. Come on out and support the memorial. There's
all kinds of organizations in your local area
that are always looking for volunteers or always
looking for some sort of donation that can help
them meet their causes. There's dogs out there.
There's all kinds of fundraisers, people marching
and running and riding bikes across the country
trying to get people to realize. mental health
or issues that need to be taken care of. We have
a local guy here locally who is really promoting
the 988 emergency number to be on all police
cars, to be available for everybody. So, yeah.
Join a group, find some organization that meets
your needs. And I think that you'll, it's so
rewarding to be involved helping these men and
women. Now a younger generation of men and women
coming up. So we got ten seconds So this is Dale
Thornberry for all of us here at veterans radio
till next week. You are dismissed God bless America
Stand beside her and guide her Through the night
with the light from above From the mountain to
the prairie to the ocean White with morn, God
bless the man God bless America, my home sweet
home God bless America, my home sweet home