WEBVTT 00:00:04.839 --> 00:00:08.699 All across America and around the world, this 00:00:08.699 --> 00:00:15.779 is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio. And 00:00:15.779 --> 00:00:19.780 now, your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry. 00:00:22.899 --> 00:00:25.800 And welcome to Veterans Radio. My name is Dale 00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:28.960 Throneberry and today is a Best of Veterans Radio 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:33.020 from 2021. We're going to be talking with James 00:00:33.020 --> 00:00:35.640 Kitfield. He's the author of In the Company of 00:00:35.640 --> 00:00:38.380 Heroes, the inspiring stories of Medal of Honor 00:00:38.380 --> 00:00:41.899 recipients from America's longest wars in Afghanistan 00:00:41.899 --> 00:00:45.899 and Iraq. Just a great story and I think a really 00:00:45.899 --> 00:00:48.060 good interview. So I want you to stick around 00:00:48.060 --> 00:00:51.039 and listen to that. And we'll get right into 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:53.159 that. But first, I know we have to thank our 00:00:53.159 --> 00:00:55.740 sponsors always. So first of all, we've got Legal 00:00:55.740 --> 00:00:58.679 Help for Veterans, Specializing in Veterans Disability 00:00:58.679 --> 00:01:01.950 Claims. Give Legal Help for Veterans a call at 00:01:01.950 --> 00:01:06.489 800 -693 -4800. The National Veterans Business 00:01:06.489 --> 00:01:10.069 Development Council, better known as NVBDC, is 00:01:10.069 --> 00:01:12.329 the nation's leading third party authority for 00:01:12.329 --> 00:01:15.010 certification of veteran -owned businesses. For 00:01:15.010 --> 00:01:18.090 more information, go to their website, nvbdc 00:01:18.090 --> 00:01:23.109 .org, or give them a call at 888 -237 -8433. 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:26.459 The Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center in Ann 00:01:26.459 --> 00:01:29.920 Arbor, Michigan. More information go to va .gov 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:33.260 slash Ann Arbor Health Care. The National Vietnam 00:01:33.260 --> 00:01:36.340 Veterans of America. Never again will one generation 00:01:36.340 --> 00:01:39.769 of veterans abandon another. For more information, 00:01:39.870 --> 00:01:43.670 go to their website, vva .org. And our two local 00:01:43.670 --> 00:01:46.150 veterans service organizations, the Irwin Prescott 00:01:46.150 --> 00:01:49.189 and American Legion Post 46 and the Charles S. 00:01:49.269 --> 00:01:52.349 Kettles Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 310, 00:01:52.730 --> 00:01:55.370 both of Ann Arbor, Michigan. If you'd like to 00:01:55.370 --> 00:01:58.469 support Veterans Radio, please go to our website, 00:01:59.109 --> 00:02:01.810 veteransradio .org, click on the donate button, 00:02:01.870 --> 00:02:04.969 and thank you in advance. All right. So here 00:02:04.969 --> 00:02:07.859 we go. Straight into our interview. With James 00:02:07.859 --> 00:02:10.800 Kitfield in the company of heroes. Well, I was 00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:14.539 always reading this book in the company of heroes 00:02:14.539 --> 00:02:20.080 and thinking about all of these amazing men who 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:22.960 are in a volunteer army to figure to begin with. 00:02:23.560 --> 00:02:26.560 I don't know about you, but that takes a lot 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:30.949 of courage right there, I think. And. their missions 00:02:30.949 --> 00:02:33.270 that they had, especially in Afghanistan that 00:02:33.270 --> 00:02:35.110 I've been reading about, of course, in Iraq and 00:02:35.110 --> 00:02:38.110 Fallujah and the stories that we've heard about 00:02:38.110 --> 00:02:41.729 these men on veterans radio, actually, I just 00:02:41.729 --> 00:02:43.830 had to get a hold of this book. And so I want 00:02:43.830 --> 00:02:47.759 to bring on the author of in the Company of Heroes. 00:02:47.979 --> 00:02:52.199 His name is James Kitfield. He is a senior national 00:02:52.199 --> 00:02:54.439 security and foreign affairs correspondent for 00:02:54.439 --> 00:02:56.879 the National Journal Magazine. He has written 00:02:56.879 --> 00:02:59.860 on defense, national security, and foreign policy 00:02:59.860 --> 00:03:02.379 issues from Washington DC for over two decades. 00:03:03.020 --> 00:03:06.240 He has written about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, 00:03:06.520 --> 00:03:09.419 and he's been reporting from the Middle East, 00:03:09.719 --> 00:03:13.189 Asia, Latin America, Africa. Seems like you've 00:03:13.189 --> 00:03:14.810 been everywhere, so I want to welcome and just 00:03:14.810 --> 00:03:16.710 get you right on the air. So James Kitfield, 00:03:16.729 --> 00:03:19.629 welcome to Veterans Radio. It's great. It's great 00:03:19.629 --> 00:03:22.009 to be with you. Thanks for having me on. Thank 00:03:22.009 --> 00:03:24.789 you very much for agreeing to be on the program. 00:03:24.909 --> 00:03:28.849 As I was reading through the book and about all 00:03:28.849 --> 00:03:32.069 the SEALs and the combat -controlled guys from 00:03:32.069 --> 00:03:35.590 the Air Force and Marines, everything else that 00:03:35.590 --> 00:03:38.469 is out there, how did you get involved in this 00:03:38.469 --> 00:03:41.599 particular story? Well, as you mentioned, I have 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:44.759 covered these conflicts from the inception, so 00:03:44.759 --> 00:03:48.879 for a couple of decades, but mostly for National 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:51.500 Journal, which is kind of a policy magazine. 00:03:52.599 --> 00:03:55.620 So my reporting was typically talking to the 00:03:55.620 --> 00:03:58.259 generals and the senior leadership about how 00:03:58.259 --> 00:04:00.199 they thought their strategies were being implemented, 00:04:00.199 --> 00:04:03.319 et cetera. But I was always struck by the young 00:04:03.319 --> 00:04:06.469 men and women who serve so so courageously on 00:04:06.469 --> 00:04:08.669 the front lines, and I of course ran across them 00:04:08.669 --> 00:04:11.729 many times during my reporting trips and wanted 00:04:11.729 --> 00:04:14.110 an opportunity to tell their stories because 00:04:14.110 --> 00:04:16.810 it's their lives that are most directly impacted 00:04:16.810 --> 00:04:19.069 by these strategic decisions that I've covered 00:04:19.069 --> 00:04:21.910 for so long. And I got an opportunity, the Navy 00:04:21.910 --> 00:04:24.430 Department reached out to me, the most recent 00:04:24.430 --> 00:04:26.350 Medal of Honor recipient at that time a couple 00:04:26.350 --> 00:04:29.389 years ago was Navy Seal named Britt Slabinski. 00:04:30.329 --> 00:04:32.709 And I just, in the interviewing Britt Slabinski, 00:04:32.930 --> 00:04:36.870 I was just so amazed at the story. It was almost 00:04:36.870 --> 00:04:40.050 Homeric in its kind of dimensions. And there's 00:04:40.050 --> 00:04:44.009 all these quick decision points where each time, 00:04:44.009 --> 00:04:46.290 you know, Slavinsky and his whole team, you know, 00:04:46.329 --> 00:04:48.529 could have done the easy and the safer thing. 00:04:48.550 --> 00:04:51.050 And they chose to do the hard and dangerous thing, 00:04:51.189 --> 00:04:52.730 because it meant going back up on a mountain 00:04:52.730 --> 00:04:55.529 and getting the fallen comrade. And I was just 00:04:55.529 --> 00:04:59.529 so inspired by the drama, but also from the courage 00:04:59.529 --> 00:05:02.889 that these men to a person showed that I wanted 00:05:02.889 --> 00:05:05.120 to tell more stories like this. Well, I mean, 00:05:05.259 --> 00:05:09.459 his story is they're all amazing stories. I mean, 00:05:09.699 --> 00:05:11.300 they just make the hair in the back of your neck 00:05:11.300 --> 00:05:14.259 stand up every time you read them. And I mean, 00:05:14.379 --> 00:05:17.160 the interesting thing about Slobinsky is that 00:05:17.160 --> 00:05:19.899 he is, I guess you could say his friend, John 00:05:19.899 --> 00:05:22.699 Chapman, received his Medal of Honor for the 00:05:22.699 --> 00:05:26.459 same battle, isn't it? Right, and that's pretty 00:05:26.459 --> 00:05:29.439 rare, although there are three battles depicted 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:33.079 in the book where not one but two service members 00:05:33.079 --> 00:05:35.000 received the Medal of Honor, which is exceedingly 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:40.240 rare looking back in history. So yeah, that's 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:44.000 very rare. And they were bunkmates in their tent 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:47.040 in the Special Forces camp. They used to play 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:50.279 chess all the time to take their minds off the 00:05:50.279 --> 00:05:54.509 war. It was just heart -rending because they 00:05:54.509 --> 00:05:56.930 lost John Chapman up on top of that mountain 00:05:56.930 --> 00:06:00.550 and thought he was shot and killed. It turns 00:06:00.550 --> 00:06:04.250 out a drone captures him. He was knocked out, 00:06:04.250 --> 00:06:07.949 but he was not killed. Woke up and fought bravely 00:06:07.949 --> 00:06:10.790 for another 20 minutes and eventually sacrificed 00:06:10.790 --> 00:06:13.649 his life, left his fighting position to play 00:06:13.649 --> 00:06:15.689 down cover for a quick reaction force helicopter 00:06:15.689 --> 00:06:19.589 that was coming to try to rescue him. So it was, 00:06:19.709 --> 00:06:22.389 you know, these stories are full of a braver 00:06:22.389 --> 00:06:25.610 but also heart -rending tragedy as well and it's 00:06:25.610 --> 00:06:27.850 part and parcel of these stories. You can't get 00:06:27.850 --> 00:06:32.709 away from it. No, you really can't. I was thinking 00:06:32.709 --> 00:06:35.790 before we were going on the air we had a Medal 00:06:35.790 --> 00:06:39.889 of Honor recipient here in our local area. Charles 00:06:39.889 --> 00:06:43.589 Kettles was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and 00:06:43.589 --> 00:06:48.509 he had received a Number two, the number two 00:06:48.509 --> 00:06:53.449 medal, a service medal. Right, finally got it 00:06:53.449 --> 00:06:56.930 upgraded, only less than a year before he passed 00:06:56.930 --> 00:07:00.889 away. But he was probably, and you mention this 00:07:00.889 --> 00:07:02.910 in a book, and this is kind of a common theme 00:07:02.910 --> 00:07:05.329 that runs through all of these men that you've 00:07:05.329 --> 00:07:10.230 talked about here, how humble he was about the 00:07:10.230 --> 00:07:13.250 award to begin with, which everybody looks up 00:07:13.250 --> 00:07:15.939 to, you can't help but look up to it. and that 00:07:15.939 --> 00:07:20.040 he he always gathered his whole crew around him 00:07:20.040 --> 00:07:22.300 whenever he was talking about what occurred on 00:07:22.300 --> 00:07:24.680 the day that you know he earned the medal of 00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:27.540 honor is he always talked about his crew and 00:07:27.540 --> 00:07:29.079 how he could never have done it without them 00:07:29.079 --> 00:07:31.959 and this seems to be a running theme throughout 00:07:31.959 --> 00:07:35.240 all of these that they could not accomplish their 00:07:35.240 --> 00:07:37.720 missions without the teamwork that was involved 00:07:37.720 --> 00:07:39.740 and when i when i said at the beginning of the 00:07:39.740 --> 00:07:42.899 program You know that I was part of army aviation 00:07:42.899 --> 00:07:45.560 and we you know, the motto is above the best 00:07:45.560 --> 00:07:49.420 I I didn't even really appreciate that myself 00:07:49.420 --> 00:07:52.379 Until I started talking through veterans radio 00:07:52.379 --> 00:07:55.060 really to all those of men and women who have 00:07:55.060 --> 00:07:57.860 been on the ground Because those I mean that 00:07:57.860 --> 00:08:01.660 is really where? everything happens Sure, and 00:08:01.660 --> 00:08:04.060 you and you mentioned that is the common thread 00:08:04.060 --> 00:08:06.579 to these stories is this humility these these? 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:10.079 remarkable individuals show And, you know, the 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:12.600 comment was made more than once to me that, you 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:15.240 know, although this is a great honor, it's also 00:08:15.240 --> 00:08:18.120 a very weighty burden, because it reminds these 00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:20.339 individuals of the worst day of their lives when 00:08:20.339 --> 00:08:22.879 they lost friends and comrades and brothers -in 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:26.699 -arms and just saw horrific things and had to 00:08:26.699 --> 00:08:30.439 do extraordinary things to survive. But they 00:08:30.439 --> 00:08:32.639 bear that burden because they want to bring attention 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:34.940 to their teammates and their colleagues and their 00:08:34.940 --> 00:08:38.340 brothers -in -arms. And so there are 25 individual 00:08:38.340 --> 00:08:40.740 stories here of Medal of Honor recipients, but 00:08:40.740 --> 00:08:43.139 it's not just stories of them, it's stories of 00:08:43.139 --> 00:08:45.620 their units and their teams, because without 00:08:45.620 --> 00:08:50.899 exception, the teams show just extreme, extreme 00:08:50.899 --> 00:08:56.179 valor. Yes, these individuals stood out, but 00:08:56.179 --> 00:08:58.220 the company of heroes reflected in this book 00:08:58.220 --> 00:08:59.840 is not just the Medal of Honor recipients, it's 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:01.559 many of the service members around them who had 00:09:01.559 --> 00:09:04.509 their back. Right, yeah, there's a lot of great 00:09:04.509 --> 00:09:07.549 side stories that you bring into this. We're 00:09:07.549 --> 00:09:09.509 talking with James Kitfield, he's the author 00:09:09.509 --> 00:09:11.950 of In the Company of Heroes. It's the inspiring 00:09:11.950 --> 00:09:14.649 stories of Mel Ivana recipients from America's 00:09:14.649 --> 00:09:18.470 Longest Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And in 00:09:18.470 --> 00:09:20.990 fact, I'm going to read, there's a quote on the 00:09:20.990 --> 00:09:25.850 back cover here. And this is from General David 00:09:25.850 --> 00:09:29.190 Petraeus. former commander of the surge in Iraq 00:09:29.190 --> 00:09:32.129 US Central Command Coalition forces in Afghanistan 00:09:32.129 --> 00:09:34.990 and former director of the CIA and he says a 00:09:34.990 --> 00:09:37.090 Tremendous tribute to the bravest of the brave 00:09:37.090 --> 00:09:40.309 in Iraq and Afghanistan uh... jane kitfield's 00:09:40.309 --> 00:09:42.629 in the company of heroes is a dramatic and throw 00:09:42.629 --> 00:09:45.570 an enthralling reminder and even in the toughest 00:09:45.570 --> 00:09:48.750 of times in the post nine eleven wars the extraordinary 00:09:48.750 --> 00:09:51.289 men and women in uniform who fought america's 00:09:51.289 --> 00:09:54.889 longest wars never back down from the enemy never 00:09:54.889 --> 00:09:57.429 quit on the mission and most important always 00:09:57.429 --> 00:10:00.289 remain true to each other this important book 00:10:00.289 --> 00:10:03.779 describes brilliantly why those of us why those 00:10:03.779 --> 00:10:05.759 of us privileged to lead our men and women in 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:09.019 combat truly consider them America's new greatest 00:10:09.019 --> 00:10:11.740 generation. I cannot recommend it too highly. 00:10:11.940 --> 00:10:15.419 That's from General Petraeus. And I was listening 00:10:15.419 --> 00:10:17.440 to some of the other interviews that you have 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:19.580 given, and this is kind of a topic that comes 00:10:19.580 --> 00:10:22.639 up because of the withdrawal from Afghanistan 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:27.299 that was so chaotic that some of these people 00:10:27.299 --> 00:10:30.500 or some of these men and women are probably suffering 00:10:30.500 --> 00:10:33.399 from post -traumatic stress. just from the idea 00:10:33.399 --> 00:10:37.059 that we didn't accomplish our mission? Yeah, 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:40.120 you know, to a person, and I've written a lot 00:10:40.120 --> 00:10:43.440 recently in my journalistic hat about the withdrawal 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:45.799 from Afghanistan and how it went so wrong, but 00:10:45.799 --> 00:10:50.059 suffice to say, it is a gut punch to all who 00:10:50.059 --> 00:10:54.299 served there. I mean, it's bad enough going out, 00:10:54.379 --> 00:10:56.899 but to see the Taliban rolling behind you was 00:10:56.899 --> 00:11:01.879 just heartbreaking for those who, you know, lost 00:11:01.879 --> 00:11:05.100 blood, sweat, and tears over there. And there's 00:11:05.100 --> 00:11:09.500 no doubt that this will cause them to relive 00:11:09.500 --> 00:11:12.820 some of the worst days of their lives. And so 00:11:12.820 --> 00:11:15.580 the question was asked to me a number of times. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:18.460 So what we did, what we sacrificed, was it in 00:11:18.460 --> 00:11:23.299 vain? My answer is always no. I was in Washington, 00:11:23.419 --> 00:11:25.720 DC as a national security correspondent on 9 00:11:25.720 --> 00:11:31.460 -11 and spent the next five to 10 years engrossed 00:11:31.460 --> 00:11:33.220 in trying to understand how we got hit like that, 00:11:33.419 --> 00:11:35.919 who did it, why, and understand everything about 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:38.659 al -Qaeda. And I can tell you personally for 00:11:38.659 --> 00:11:41.360 all the many counter -terrorism experts I spoke 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:43.740 with in and out of government thought we were 00:11:43.740 --> 00:11:47.600 going to be hit again with successive 9 -11 type 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:50.200 terrorist spectactors in the years to come. And 00:11:50.200 --> 00:11:53.259 we weren't hit again like that because we sent 00:11:53.259 --> 00:11:56.019 our service members over to fight the terrorists 00:11:56.019 --> 00:11:59.549 where they were home base. That meant going to 00:11:59.549 --> 00:12:02.309 Afghanistan, toppling the Taliban, decimating 00:12:02.309 --> 00:12:05.210 the top leadership of al -Qaeda, including Osama 00:12:05.210 --> 00:12:08.190 bin Laden. It meant after the Iraq invasion, 00:12:08.889 --> 00:12:11.070 fighting al -Qaeda in Iraq and decimating that 00:12:11.070 --> 00:12:13.450 organization and killing its leader, Abu Musab 00:12:13.450 --> 00:12:18.149 al -Karwi. And we also decimated the leadership 00:12:18.149 --> 00:12:20.250 and decimated the caliphate of the Islamic State 00:12:20.250 --> 00:12:23.789 of Iraq and Syria. So all of those groups want 00:12:23.789 --> 00:12:26.470 nothing more than to strike a 9 -11 -type blow 00:12:26.730 --> 00:12:28.149 against the west and the reason they weren't 00:12:28.149 --> 00:12:30.169 able to is because we had pressure on them they 00:12:30.169 --> 00:12:32.110 were constantly looking over their shoulders 00:12:32.110 --> 00:12:35.190 having to wonder if we were coming to get them 00:12:35.190 --> 00:12:37.990 and that's what kept us safe so that is that 00:12:37.990 --> 00:12:40.269 is not in vain that service kept us safe the 00:12:40.269 --> 00:12:42.529 question you know the withdrawal from Afghanistan 00:12:42.529 --> 00:12:45.649 raises will we be able to continue to keep the 00:12:45.649 --> 00:12:49.289 country safe now that that region is now pretty 00:12:49.289 --> 00:12:51.289 fertile ground for them to lay roots again and 00:12:51.289 --> 00:12:55.200 we will find out about that Yeah, that's always 00:12:55.200 --> 00:12:58.700 the issue. And when we leave these places is 00:12:58.700 --> 00:13:00.759 what happens to the people that are left behind. 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:03.980 And we can see some of the results from what 00:13:03.980 --> 00:13:08.700 news is coming out of Afghanistan. And I keep 00:13:08.700 --> 00:13:11.019 flashing back, of course, to Vietnam when we 00:13:11.019 --> 00:13:14.190 were. When we were out of there in 75 and you 00:13:14.190 --> 00:13:16.649 know who we had left behind with that, but that's 00:13:16.649 --> 00:13:19.190 that's getting way off topic and I apologize 00:13:19.190 --> 00:13:22.889 for that James Let's go back to the Medal of 00:13:22.889 --> 00:13:25.070 Honor. Let's talk about a little bit about the 00:13:25.070 --> 00:13:26.669 history of the Medal of Honor How did how did 00:13:26.669 --> 00:13:30.929 this award come about? It's doc. It was started 00:13:30.929 --> 00:13:34.090 by President Lincoln during the Civil War wanted 00:13:34.090 --> 00:13:40.049 to honor originally it was just for NCOs and 00:13:40.049 --> 00:13:43.029 enlisted personnel, but it was expanded in 83 00:13:43.029 --> 00:13:46.149 to include officers as well just in time for 00:13:46.149 --> 00:13:48.529 Chamberlain who led the bayonet charge down a 00:13:48.529 --> 00:13:51.309 little round top to save the flank of the Union 00:13:51.309 --> 00:13:55.250 line during the battle of Gettysburg to receive 00:13:55.250 --> 00:13:59.450 the Medal of Honor. And from then on, you know, 00:13:59.610 --> 00:14:02.490 in every war we've had, there have been Medal 00:14:02.490 --> 00:14:06.169 of Honor recipients showing this extraordinary 00:14:06.169 --> 00:14:09.370 valor right up through World War I and World 00:14:09.370 --> 00:14:14.649 War II, Korea, Vietnam, and now the wars in Iraq 00:14:14.649 --> 00:14:18.769 and Afghanistan. It's just that when you have 00:14:18.769 --> 00:14:23.269 face -to -face combat, some people will distinguish 00:14:23.269 --> 00:14:27.629 themselves in those situations and the services 00:14:27.629 --> 00:14:29.929 want to draw attention to that because those 00:14:29.929 --> 00:14:33.129 people are exemplary and they want to They want 00:14:33.129 --> 00:14:34.950 to show the bravest of the brave, as Jonah Petraeus 00:14:34.950 --> 00:14:39.149 said. Right. And it's not the easiest award to 00:14:39.149 --> 00:14:44.169 be given because there are, I guess, the rules 00:14:44.169 --> 00:14:47.570 and regulations that go behind it, because there 00:14:47.570 --> 00:14:51.669 are supposed to be witnesses and written statements 00:14:51.669 --> 00:14:54.269 and so on and so forth, aren't there? Right. 00:14:54.289 --> 00:14:56.649 So it's a very involved process, which is why, 00:14:56.649 --> 00:15:00.639 in many cases, there's years past between the 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:03.419 action itself and the receiving of the award. 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:07.879 And so your chain of command has to recommend 00:15:07.879 --> 00:15:10.720 a service member for the Medal of Honor. It has 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:14.000 to go up through the chain of command. If they 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:17.139 think it indeed is worthy of launching an investigation 00:15:17.139 --> 00:15:19.700 that talks to witnesses, interviews witnesses, 00:15:19.820 --> 00:15:22.399 looks at all the data from the battle. In these 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:24.139 wars, there's obviously a lot more data because 00:15:24.139 --> 00:15:26.860 we have full video in some cases of these wars. 00:15:27.509 --> 00:15:30.250 surveillance drones but we're circling overhead 00:15:30.250 --> 00:15:32.769 but it goes up to the truth investigation and 00:15:32.769 --> 00:15:34.509 finally the secretary of defense has to sign 00:15:34.509 --> 00:15:37.309 off on the in the final decision president of 00:15:37.309 --> 00:15:40.350 states makes a decision and and then awards are 00:15:40.350 --> 00:15:43.970 are given at the white house so it's a it's a 00:15:43.970 --> 00:15:46.070 quite involved process it's not uh... it's not 00:15:46.070 --> 00:15:49.549 something that's unlikely no not at all and and 00:15:49.549 --> 00:15:53.309 and your book you mentioned that uh... you had 00:15:53.309 --> 00:15:55.509 the privilege i guess you could say i'm going 00:15:55.509 --> 00:16:00.639 to a medal of honor uh... reunion where there 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:06.700 aren't that many left no and and yeah there is 00:16:06.700 --> 00:16:08.960 they have each year the Medal of Honor Society 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:13.039 holds its annual meeting the one you're referring 00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:15.399 to was held at the Naval Academy a couple of 00:16:15.399 --> 00:16:19.500 years ago but I went to the one just before COVID 00:16:19.500 --> 00:16:22.980 and which was in Tampa and it's a chance to honor 00:16:22.980 --> 00:16:25.220 all of these individuals and they go out and 00:16:25.220 --> 00:16:28.340 speak to local schools and you know it's just 00:16:28.340 --> 00:16:32.000 you know it is the most exclusive fraternity 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:36.039 in the world and so people are just flocked to 00:16:36.039 --> 00:16:39.279 be able to meet these people and uh and and for 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:40.940 good reason they're just extraordinary individuals 00:16:40.940 --> 00:16:44.039 like you said them for all of their accomplishments 00:16:44.039 --> 00:16:47.259 and and achievements they remain a very humble 00:16:47.879 --> 00:16:50.559 I should also say that a lot of them have been 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:52.779 very public about their own struggles with post 00:16:52.779 --> 00:16:57.620 -traumatic stress mental issues. They're the 00:16:57.620 --> 00:16:59.700 bravest of the brave, but they talk about this 00:16:59.700 --> 00:17:03.539 because they want veterans and other combat veterans 00:17:03.539 --> 00:17:06.740 and service members to seek out help when they're 00:17:06.740 --> 00:17:09.799 trying to cope with their own post -traumatic 00:17:09.799 --> 00:17:12.099 stress. And that would be a good time, if you 00:17:12.099 --> 00:17:14.140 don't mind, I can give the number out for the 00:17:14.140 --> 00:17:18.380 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. I'm sitting 00:17:18.380 --> 00:17:22.839 here in front of me too. Yeah, that's 800 -273 00:17:22.839 --> 00:17:26.900 -8255. That's the National Suicide Prevention 00:17:26.900 --> 00:17:30.019 Lifeline. So these individuals, almost to a person, 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:32.119 have suffered post -traumatic stress. I mean, 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:35.099 if you read these stories, you understand why, 00:17:35.420 --> 00:17:37.039 what they've been through, what they've seen, 00:17:37.140 --> 00:17:42.789 what they've lost. open about those tribals, 00:17:43.170 --> 00:17:47.009 which in one example was an attempted suicide 00:17:47.009 --> 00:17:49.549 of himself, one of these Medal of Honor recipients, 00:17:49.789 --> 00:17:52.529 Dakota Meyer. They went those stories out too 00:17:52.529 --> 00:17:55.089 because they think that they want to get rid 00:17:55.089 --> 00:17:58.230 of the stigma about seeking help for post -traumatic 00:17:58.230 --> 00:18:00.970 stress because they've all been through it. Absolutely. 00:18:01.210 --> 00:18:03.130 I think the other thing probably is they don't 00:18:03.130 --> 00:18:07.490 want people thinking of them as Superman and 00:18:07.490 --> 00:18:09.849 that they're above the fray, but they're not. 00:18:09.930 --> 00:18:12.480 They're just You know, as we always say, you 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:14.619 know, they're just ordinary people who did extraordinary 00:18:14.619 --> 00:18:19.119 things in the service of their country. And I 00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:21.779 just can't remember the particular story where 00:18:21.779 --> 00:18:24.519 the Medal of Honor recipient, another one of 00:18:24.519 --> 00:18:27.960 his team members, after the battle and everything, 00:18:28.099 --> 00:18:30.319 everybody came home, that did eventually, unfortunately, 00:18:30.859 --> 00:18:34.920 did commit suicide. And, you know, for our audience 00:18:34.920 --> 00:18:36.900 out there that's listening right now, we're all 00:18:36.900 --> 00:18:40.410 very familiar with the number 22 a day. And even 00:18:40.410 --> 00:18:43.710 though that has dropped miniscule, if that's 00:18:43.710 --> 00:18:46.630 a word, there's still over 20 veterans a day 00:18:46.630 --> 00:18:48.809 that are committing suicide. And so we have to 00:18:48.809 --> 00:18:51.829 we have to make sure that they're aware that 00:18:51.829 --> 00:18:55.069 help is out there and that it is not it is not 00:18:55.069 --> 00:18:57.809 wrong to seek out that help. And every one of 00:18:57.809 --> 00:19:00.910 these stories that I've read in this book talk 00:19:00.910 --> 00:19:04.410 about the survivors that are talking about, yes, 00:19:04.710 --> 00:19:08.029 seek help. We can't we can't fight these battles 00:19:08.029 --> 00:19:12.250 by ourselves. That's exactly right. And these 00:19:12.250 --> 00:19:15.650 individuals are very outspoken about, again, 00:19:15.990 --> 00:19:17.430 what they've been through, because they want 00:19:17.430 --> 00:19:19.529 other combat veterans to know that there's help 00:19:19.529 --> 00:19:23.910 out there. And the bravest of the brave need 00:19:23.910 --> 00:19:26.670 help, too. And they want to make sure that if 00:19:26.670 --> 00:19:29.250 people need that kind of help, they seek it out. 00:19:29.410 --> 00:19:31.910 Because you're right. You can't fight those battles 00:19:31.910 --> 00:19:35.470 alone. No, not at all. I want to read another 00:19:35.470 --> 00:19:38.009 quote here. This is from Stanley McChrystal, 00:19:38.150 --> 00:19:40.730 General Stanley McChrystal. And he says, every 00:19:40.730 --> 00:19:43.509 generation must do its part. Unfortunately, heroes 00:19:43.509 --> 00:19:47.190 emerge. In his fascinating account, James Kittfield 00:19:47.190 --> 00:19:50.029 shares stories that will inspire Americans of 00:19:50.029 --> 00:19:52.710 this in future times. And I think we'd better 00:19:52.710 --> 00:19:55.910 get into some of these stories. And I know I 00:19:55.910 --> 00:19:58.890 asked you earlier if you had any that you would 00:19:58.890 --> 00:20:00.730 prefer to talk about or that you want to talk 00:20:00.730 --> 00:20:04.759 about. Well, you know, it's like choosing between 00:20:04.759 --> 00:20:08.039 your children, right? There's 25 just unbelievable 00:20:08.039 --> 00:20:10.779 stories in this book. Each one of these individuals 00:20:10.779 --> 00:20:12.940 is extraordinary in their own right and did extraordinary 00:20:12.940 --> 00:20:15.980 things. Talk a little bit about Bruce Lewinsky 00:20:15.980 --> 00:20:18.519 since he started, that interview started me on 00:20:18.519 --> 00:20:22.099 this journey, if you will. So he was in Afghanistan 00:20:22.099 --> 00:20:28.079 as a young SEAL team leader in 2002, so very 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:32.430 early in the post 9 -11 wars. And they had, if 00:20:32.430 --> 00:20:36.230 you'll remember, in an initial battle in Tora 00:20:36.230 --> 00:20:39.369 Borah, Al -Qaeda had been allowed to, Al -Fahm 00:20:39.369 --> 00:20:41.849 al -Adn and his lieutenants had been allowed 00:20:41.849 --> 00:20:46.230 to basically get away into Pakistan because we 00:20:46.230 --> 00:20:48.430 had trusted some local warlords to close the 00:20:48.430 --> 00:20:51.430 news around it. So this battle was to single 00:20:51.430 --> 00:20:54.630 out a group of Al -Qaeda's that were in the mountains 00:20:54.630 --> 00:20:56.910 and they were trying to close the net on them. 00:20:57.309 --> 00:21:00.630 He was in charge of an overwatch. team and they 00:21:00.630 --> 00:21:03.390 were inserted at night on top of this mountain. 00:21:04.430 --> 00:21:06.710 Snow in the middle, this is in February, snow 00:21:06.710 --> 00:21:11.210 drifts up there, freezing cold. They, because 00:21:11.210 --> 00:21:16.109 of a screw -up in timing, they can't disembark, 00:21:16.109 --> 00:21:18.970 you know, and sneak into their overwatch position. 00:21:19.269 --> 00:21:20.470 They have to, the helicopter has to drop them 00:21:20.470 --> 00:21:22.569 off right at the top of the mountain. Helicopter's 00:21:22.569 --> 00:21:25.309 ambushed. And in the ambush, trying to get out 00:21:25.309 --> 00:21:27.309 of it and use a helicopter pilot would understand 00:21:27.309 --> 00:21:30.829 that this is miraculous. They took RPG hits. 00:21:31.650 --> 00:21:34.150 They did get out of it and crash landed a few 00:21:34.150 --> 00:21:37.170 miles away, but in the confusion, one of the 00:21:37.170 --> 00:21:39.589 seals falls out of the back of the helicopter. 00:21:40.470 --> 00:21:43.529 So they crashed, you know, before even sunrise, 00:21:43.710 --> 00:21:45.990 they crashed, landed in a helicopter, got taken 00:21:45.990 --> 00:21:48.190 back, they'd been ambushed, they'd lost a man, 00:21:48.329 --> 00:21:51.069 and they got to go back to base. And Brick Slabinski, 00:21:51.349 --> 00:21:52.990 and this is one of his decision points, has to 00:21:52.990 --> 00:21:55.269 decide, you know, do I risk my whole team in 00:21:55.269 --> 00:21:57.130 what is certainly going to be a suicide mission 00:21:57.130 --> 00:22:00.349 to go rescue the Navy Seal Roberts, Neil Roberts, 00:22:01.089 --> 00:22:04.470 or do I just say that, you know, or do I, you 00:22:04.470 --> 00:22:06.670 know, save my team? Because it was clearly going 00:22:06.670 --> 00:22:08.490 to be something like a suicide mission. The Al 00:22:08.490 --> 00:22:10.049 -Qaeda group on top of the mountain was bigger 00:22:10.049 --> 00:22:14.769 than they were, dug in, and they would be fighting 00:22:14.769 --> 00:22:17.910 uphill through snowdrifts. And yet they decided 00:22:17.910 --> 00:22:20.369 to go back, and he announced that decision to 00:22:20.369 --> 00:22:22.390 his team and to a person, including John Chapman, 00:22:22.630 --> 00:22:25.769 and all five of them shook their head and said, 00:22:25.789 --> 00:22:28.779 let's go get them. Knowing what their odds were, 00:22:28.980 --> 00:22:30.519 and they weren't good. Indeed, when they went 00:22:30.519 --> 00:22:33.140 back up, the helicopter again is ambushed. They 00:22:33.140 --> 00:22:37.579 get out this time. They fight really fiercely. 00:22:38.940 --> 00:22:41.200 But John Chapman is hit and presumed dead. Another 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:43.539 Navy SEAL shot through the leg, would lose that 00:22:43.539 --> 00:22:48.220 leg. So he's a major casualty. They have to retreat 00:22:48.220 --> 00:22:50.579 off that mountain, or at least down the mountain. 00:22:50.940 --> 00:22:54.799 But as I said before, the drone catches the firing 00:22:54.799 --> 00:22:57.420 position where John Chapman was laying unconscious 00:22:57.420 --> 00:23:00.700 for 12 minutes. He starts moving around and then 00:23:00.700 --> 00:23:04.119 starts fighting fiercely and in a couple of cases 00:23:04.119 --> 00:23:06.380 hand -to -hand combat as he held off this al 00:23:06.380 --> 00:23:09.380 -Qaeda group almost out of ammunition when the 00:23:09.380 --> 00:23:12.940 quick reaction force helicopter appears to try 00:23:12.940 --> 00:23:15.740 to rescue him and he exposes himself to what 00:23:15.740 --> 00:23:17.900 he knew was mortal danger to try to lay down 00:23:17.900 --> 00:23:20.849 fire for that helicopter and he's killed. So 00:23:20.849 --> 00:23:25.670 just a heart -rending, tragic story, but full 00:23:25.670 --> 00:23:31.410 of inspiring, you know, men who live by the creed, 00:23:31.450 --> 00:23:35.269 we leave none of our own behind. And there's 00:23:35.269 --> 00:23:37.269 inspiration in that that I wanted to share with 00:23:37.269 --> 00:23:41.890 readers. And there's 25 stories like that. Exactly. 00:23:42.230 --> 00:23:44.410 And that's something that is instilled in you 00:23:44.410 --> 00:23:46.509 from your first day of basic training, I think. 00:23:46.990 --> 00:23:49.690 is that you never leave anyone out on the field. 00:23:50.690 --> 00:23:55.869 I can think of so many missions where we would 00:23:55.869 --> 00:23:59.490 go back to try and find people. And the helicopter 00:23:59.490 --> 00:24:02.349 pilots that received the Medal of Honor from 00:24:02.349 --> 00:24:06.230 Vietnam were all going back to pick up people 00:24:06.230 --> 00:24:09.329 that were still on the ground. And you can't 00:24:09.329 --> 00:24:11.690 leave them. That's just the way it is. And these 00:24:11.690 --> 00:24:14.549 mountains that you were talking about in Afghanistan 00:24:14.549 --> 00:24:19.599 are not These are 15 ,000, 16 ,000 foot up. Yes. 00:24:19.740 --> 00:24:22.460 The Hindu curse is, you know, if it wasn't for 00:24:22.460 --> 00:24:25.500 this conflict, I've heard this comment by many 00:24:25.500 --> 00:24:27.599 people who served there to some of the most beautiful 00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:31.059 mountains in the world, but they are, they have 00:24:31.059 --> 00:24:34.019 some of the most remote valleys, you know, valleys 00:24:34.019 --> 00:24:36.400 where the inhabitants have never even seen the 00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:38.619 people in the next valley, much less American 00:24:38.619 --> 00:24:41.299 troops. So we spend, you know, probably five 00:24:41.299 --> 00:24:44.000 or six of these stories are from units that we 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:47.900 put up. deep in these mountains to try to sort 00:24:47.900 --> 00:24:50.380 of plug the infiltration routes that the Taliban 00:24:50.380 --> 00:24:52.700 and al -Qaeda were using to come from the Pakistan 00:24:52.700 --> 00:24:57.640 sanctuaries into Afghanistan. And those stories 00:24:57.640 --> 00:25:02.039 are harrowing because they are typically outnumbered, 00:25:02.180 --> 00:25:04.720 surrounded by these wily mountain fighters who 00:25:04.720 --> 00:25:08.880 grew up in those mountains. And they are very 00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:11.500 hard to be reinforced and very hard to get air 00:25:11.500 --> 00:25:14.599 cover because they're so remote. And there are 00:25:14.599 --> 00:25:17.900 just a number of really, really dramatic battles 00:25:17.900 --> 00:25:21.200 in the Hindu Kush. Just really heart -rending 00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:24.680 stuff because it was probably the toughest terrain 00:25:24.680 --> 00:25:27.819 on earth to try to fight in. I know, and they 00:25:27.819 --> 00:25:31.000 were out there in such small fire support bases. 00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:35.920 Their bases were not very big at all. No, and 00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:40.339 if you'll remember, this was largely when the 00:25:40.339 --> 00:25:43.339 Iraq war was not going well. So we had to siphon 00:25:43.339 --> 00:25:46.319 off the majority. The Iraq war was a major effort. 00:25:46.519 --> 00:25:49.819 Afghanistan was like a holding mission. And because 00:25:49.819 --> 00:25:52.880 of that, they didn't have anything like the heavy 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:56.759 lift helicopters, the ISR in terms of surveillance 00:25:56.759 --> 00:26:00.420 drones. They were shorthanded and they were short 00:26:00.420 --> 00:26:04.589 equipped. And in these terribly remote places, 00:26:05.309 --> 00:26:08.369 often outnumbered, because the Taliban can choose 00:26:08.369 --> 00:26:11.829 when to mass its forces on one of these remote 00:26:11.829 --> 00:26:16.089 bases. So that was a tactically really, really 00:26:16.089 --> 00:26:19.869 difficult duty in those mountains. And eventually 00:26:19.869 --> 00:26:22.490 after the last one, Cop Keating, which is another 00:26:22.490 --> 00:26:26.127 one of these famous conflicts, battles where... 00:26:26.119 --> 00:26:28.740 There were two El Havana recipients from that 00:26:28.740 --> 00:26:32.200 same battle. They were very nearly overrun. The 00:26:32.200 --> 00:26:35.460 enemy got inside the wire, killed a lot of Americans, 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:41.380 and they were just able to fight them off. But 00:26:41.380 --> 00:26:45.099 after that, the U .S. military put all our forces 00:26:45.099 --> 00:26:49.200 out of those mountains and bombed them. Not that 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:50.859 the equipment fell into the hands of the enemy, 00:26:51.319 --> 00:26:53.759 but they realized they were just putting these 00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:56.950 units in really indefensible positions. And some 00:26:56.950 --> 00:26:59.170 of them, their positions were outrageous. I mean, 00:26:59.789 --> 00:27:02.029 I think it's that story we're talking about where 00:27:02.029 --> 00:27:04.410 the base was between the mountains. It was in 00:27:04.410 --> 00:27:07.849 the valley. Everything was above you. Right. 00:27:08.349 --> 00:27:10.269 That was cop kidding. Yeah, but they called it 00:27:10.269 --> 00:27:14.549 the fishbowl because one of the Medal of Honor 00:27:14.549 --> 00:27:17.109 recipients looked up and said, you know, I'm 00:27:17.109 --> 00:27:19.269 going to have a very sore neck after this year 00:27:19.269 --> 00:27:21.349 deployment because I'm constantly looking up 00:27:21.349 --> 00:27:25.539 this whole time. And they were, you know, shot 00:27:25.539 --> 00:27:28.539 at by snipers so regularly that they were afraid 00:27:28.539 --> 00:27:31.099 to, in daylight, to even go to latrine. They 00:27:31.099 --> 00:27:33.380 had to wait till night to crawl to the latrine 00:27:33.380 --> 00:27:37.220 because there were so many snipers hiding in 00:27:37.220 --> 00:27:39.539 the rocks on the mountainside. So it gives you 00:27:39.539 --> 00:27:44.180 an idea of what kind of duty that was. We're 00:27:44.180 --> 00:27:47.160 talking right now with... James Kitfield is the 00:27:47.160 --> 00:27:49.220 author of in the company of heroes the inspiring 00:27:49.220 --> 00:27:51.380 stories of Medal of Honor recipients from the 00:27:51.380 --> 00:27:53.759 Iraq and Afghanistan wars We have to take a quick 00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:56.720 break. So James if you'll stick around Actually, 00:27:56.740 --> 00:27:58.480 this is where we pay a little respect to one 00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:01.059 of the Medal of Honor recipients That is in your 00:28:01.059 --> 00:28:04.720 book and that is going to be Paul Smith so uh... 00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:06.579 you're listening to veterans radio will be right 00:28:06.579 --> 00:28:09.099 back after this short break the battle of honor 00:28:09.099 --> 00:28:11.460 is the highest award for baller and combat given 00:28:11.460 --> 00:28:14.039 a member of the armed forces of the united states 00:28:14.039 --> 00:28:16.039 there have been over three thousand four hundred 00:28:16.039 --> 00:28:19.240 recipients of the nation's highest award this 00:28:19.240 --> 00:28:22.039 is one of them such as first class paul smith 00:28:22.039 --> 00:28:25.900 gave his life to protect his troops tales after 00:28:25.900 --> 00:28:30.000 this If you have a VA claim denied by the Board 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:32.000 of Veterans' Appeals, contact Legal Help for 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:36.619 Veterans at 1 -800 -693 -4800. There are experts 00:28:36.619 --> 00:28:38.859 in handling cases before the U .S. Court of Appeals 00:28:38.859 --> 00:28:41.500 for Veterans' claims. Their number again, 1 -800 00:28:41.500 --> 00:28:46.799 -693 -4800. On April 4th, 2003, a call went out 00:28:46.799 --> 00:28:49.680 for a place to put some Iraqi prisoners. Sergeant 00:28:49.680 --> 00:28:52.400 First Class Paul Smith volunteered to create 00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:56.039 a holding pen inside a walled courtyard. Soon, 00:28:56.079 --> 00:28:59.549 Iraqi soldiers... numbering perhaps 100, opened 00:28:59.549 --> 00:29:02.650 fire on Smith's position. Smith was accompanied 00:29:02.650 --> 00:29:06.250 by 16 men. Smith called for a Bradley, a tank 00:29:06.250 --> 00:29:09.289 -like vehicle with a rapid -fire cannon. It arrived 00:29:09.289 --> 00:29:12.190 and opened up on the Iraqis. The enemy could 00:29:12.190 --> 00:29:14.509 not advance so long as the Bradley was in position, 00:29:14.730 --> 00:29:17.390 but then, in a move that baffled and angered 00:29:17.390 --> 00:29:21.450 Smith's men, the Bradley left. Smith's men, some 00:29:21.450 --> 00:29:23.509 of whom were wounded, were suddenly vulnerable. 00:29:23.900 --> 00:29:26.359 Smith could have justifiably ordered his men 00:29:26.359 --> 00:29:29.440 to withdraw. Smith rejected that option thinking 00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:31.960 that abandoning the courtyard would jeopardize 00:29:31.960 --> 00:29:34.759 about 100 GIs outside including medics at an 00:29:34.759 --> 00:29:38.039 aid station. He manned a 50 caliber machine gun 00:29:38.039 --> 00:29:40.779 atop an abandoned armored personnel carrier and 00:29:40.779 --> 00:29:43.359 fought off the Iraqis going through several boxes 00:29:43.359 --> 00:29:46.700 of ammunition. As the battle wound down, Smith 00:29:46.700 --> 00:29:49.559 was hit in the head. He died before he could 00:29:49.559 --> 00:29:51.839 be evacuated from the scene. The Medal of Honor 00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:55.640 series is a production of Veterans Radio. Military 00:29:55.640 --> 00:29:58.000 veterans touch everyone's life. I'm guessing 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:00.599 right now you're thinking of a veteran, a close 00:30:00.599 --> 00:30:04.519 friend, relative. Maybe it's you. Even the toughest 00:30:04.519 --> 00:30:07.099 of us sometimes need help, but don't know where 00:30:07.099 --> 00:30:09.640 to turn for support. You don't need special training 00:30:09.640 --> 00:30:11.940 to help a veteran in your life. We can all help 00:30:11.940 --> 00:30:14.160 someone going through a difficult time. Learn 00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:17.700 how you can be there for veterans. Visit veteranscrisisline 00:30:17.700 --> 00:30:21.839 .net. Veteranscrisisline .net. A message from 00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:31.319 the U .S. Department of Veterans Affairs. We're 00:30:31.319 --> 00:30:34.559 back here on Veterans Radio, and we are talking 00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:38.160 with James Kitfield, the author of In the Company 00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:40.799 of Heroes, the Medal of Honor recipients from 00:30:40.799 --> 00:30:43.259 Iraq and Afghanistan, and that Medal of Honor 00:30:43.259 --> 00:30:47.130 that just played was about Paul Smith. And I 00:30:47.130 --> 00:30:49.849 just wanted to read a paragraph from the end 00:30:49.849 --> 00:30:52.589 of the chapter on Paul Smith in here called The 00:30:52.589 --> 00:30:56.970 Gates of Baghdad. Evidently, when Paul Smith's 00:30:56.970 --> 00:30:58.829 belongings were sent home, his parents found 00:30:58.829 --> 00:31:01.269 a letter that he had written from Iraq but had 00:31:01.269 --> 00:31:04.250 never mailed it. And in it, he told his parents 00:31:04.250 --> 00:31:06.890 how proud he was of the privilege to be given 00:31:06.890 --> 00:31:10.309 25 of the finest Americans we call soldiers to 00:31:10.309 --> 00:31:13.369 lead into war. And then Paul Ray Smith made a 00:31:13.369 --> 00:31:16.299 pledge to put their welfare first. which he would 00:31:16.299 --> 00:31:18.680 honor with his life. He was prepared, Smith wrote, 00:31:18.720 --> 00:31:21.720 to give all that I have to ensure all of my boys 00:31:21.720 --> 00:31:26.779 make it home. And this is like a common story 00:31:26.779 --> 00:31:29.880 for all of these Medal of Honor recipients, James. 00:31:31.059 --> 00:31:35.640 Yes, that's exactly right. And the thread that 00:31:35.640 --> 00:31:37.839 runs through all these stories is people who 00:31:37.839 --> 00:31:41.599 are selfless and when they had a brush with eternity, 00:31:41.640 --> 00:31:43.779 instead of doing the safe thing, they put their 00:31:43.779 --> 00:31:47.220 lives on the line. in order to save their buddies. 00:31:47.460 --> 00:31:49.720 There were at least seven, I believe, that were 00:31:49.720 --> 00:31:52.640 actually threw themselves on a grenade or tackled 00:31:52.640 --> 00:31:56.920 a suicide bomber to absorb the blast and protect 00:31:56.920 --> 00:31:59.500 their brothers in arms, knowing that they were 00:31:59.500 --> 00:32:02.740 about to die. But they went ahead and did it. 00:32:03.640 --> 00:32:05.960 And certainly, Paul Smith, I was actually embedded 00:32:05.960 --> 00:32:09.039 with the small headquarters element, tactical 00:32:09.039 --> 00:32:11.769 headquarters element right behind his unit. And 00:32:11.769 --> 00:32:14.849 so that was the original invasion of Iraq. And 00:32:14.849 --> 00:32:18.670 his engineering battalion just did amazing things. 00:32:19.509 --> 00:32:25.250 They captured a contested bridge and waded into 00:32:25.250 --> 00:32:28.309 the water and were cutting the wires of the demolition 00:32:28.309 --> 00:32:31.089 that the Iraqi Republican guard types had put 00:32:31.089 --> 00:32:35.130 on the bridge to blow it up. So they were quite 00:32:35.130 --> 00:32:39.230 a unit at the Air Force battle. The Baghdad airport 00:32:39.230 --> 00:32:41.359 was from the very beginning the place where we 00:32:41.359 --> 00:32:43.099 were going to try to capture and then launched 00:32:43.099 --> 00:32:44.980 even you know they're who they're battle for 00:32:44.980 --> 00:32:48.480 baghdad if you will from the airport complex 00:32:48.480 --> 00:32:52.640 and you know that he was uh... that little courtyard 00:32:52.640 --> 00:32:54.819 that he set up and was going to be for prisoners 00:32:54.819 --> 00:32:58.019 uh... that turned out to be the flank of of the 00:32:58.019 --> 00:32:59.960 the unit that was fighting to to capture the 00:32:59.960 --> 00:33:02.700 airport so if he had allowed the iraqi republican 00:33:02.700 --> 00:33:05.400 guard to sweep through them he would have jeopardized 00:33:05.400 --> 00:33:08.160 the whole, the flank of the whole effort to capture 00:33:08.160 --> 00:33:11.160 the air force. So he, the airport I should say. 00:33:11.579 --> 00:33:15.859 So he was an amazing guy and he was determined 00:33:15.859 --> 00:33:18.619 that they would go no further than him and his 00:33:18.619 --> 00:33:22.519 50 caliber machine gun on top of an armored personnel 00:33:22.519 --> 00:33:25.359 carrier that was disabled. So he couldn't even 00:33:25.359 --> 00:33:27.519 pull that out of the field of fire if he wanted 00:33:27.519 --> 00:33:29.880 to. And he never left. He just said, keep feeding 00:33:29.880 --> 00:33:34.849 me bullets and I'll keep firing. So he was an 00:33:34.849 --> 00:33:40.470 extremely heroic sergeant. You were talking about 00:33:40.470 --> 00:33:45.190 the couple of people who jumped on grenades. 00:33:46.009 --> 00:33:49.990 We have another one of our Medal of Honor segments 00:33:49.990 --> 00:33:53.869 where we talk about Ross McGinnis. Can you talk 00:33:53.869 --> 00:33:57.369 about what he did? Ross McGinnis. I'm trying 00:33:57.369 --> 00:34:02.640 to remember right off the top of my head. He 00:34:02.640 --> 00:34:09.780 was in Iraq, fighting in what they call the really, 00:34:09.780 --> 00:34:12.860 really rough part of Baghdad that I've actually 00:34:12.860 --> 00:34:15.159 been through myself, wouldn't want to go back 00:34:15.159 --> 00:34:19.179 again. And they were in a convoy. He was the, 00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:22.179 he mounted a machine gun on top of a Humvee. 00:34:22.239 --> 00:34:24.900 And so he's the gunner and they turn a corner 00:34:24.900 --> 00:34:28.920 down a dusty street. and someone dropped a grenade 00:34:28.920 --> 00:34:35.400 through his turnstile, if you will. And at that 00:34:35.400 --> 00:34:39.219 point, he was the only one in this armored Humvee 00:34:39.219 --> 00:34:41.219 who could get out. He could have just hopped 00:34:41.219 --> 00:34:43.420 out the top because he was standing up behind 00:34:43.420 --> 00:34:46.059 his machine gun. Instead of that, he drops down 00:34:46.059 --> 00:34:51.480 into the Humvee and basically captures the grenade 00:34:51.480 --> 00:34:55.460 against the bulwark with his body armor. knowing 00:34:55.460 --> 00:34:58.460 that that was going to be the last thing he ever 00:34:58.460 --> 00:35:02.940 did. But he saved everyone else in that Humvee 00:35:02.940 --> 00:35:07.320 by that heroic sacrifice of his own life. I can't 00:35:07.320 --> 00:35:11.639 believe what these people did. We talked with 00:35:11.639 --> 00:35:14.480 Flo Groberg on Veterans Radio back in December 00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:20.400 of 2017. His Medal of Honor was received for 00:35:20.400 --> 00:35:24.949 basically tackling a suicide bomber. who was 00:35:24.949 --> 00:35:28.110 trying to get to a, I believe it was a general 00:35:28.110 --> 00:35:30.070 or some brigade commander or something along 00:35:30.070 --> 00:35:34.750 those lines and pushed him aside and the vest 00:35:34.750 --> 00:35:41.869 went off. Yeah and Flo is a great guy and yeah 00:35:41.869 --> 00:35:45.750 he not only tackled the suicide bomber but he 00:35:45.750 --> 00:35:48.630 you know he went through just incredibly difficult 00:35:49.930 --> 00:35:52.769 rehabilitation. He lost most of us, one of his 00:35:52.769 --> 00:35:56.909 legs. He had been a kind of a standout track 00:35:56.909 --> 00:36:02.269 star in college. He's an immigrant. His story 00:36:02.269 --> 00:36:05.449 was just amazing how he found his inner warrior 00:36:05.449 --> 00:36:10.050 again that allowed him to press through really 00:36:10.050 --> 00:36:13.969 excruciating rehabilitation and become this really 00:36:13.969 --> 00:36:18.460 interesting entrepreneurial guy who uh... has 00:36:18.460 --> 00:36:21.800 a great life but uh... it was in the in the story 00:36:21.800 --> 00:36:24.940 of how he'd struggled i mean the survivors survivors 00:36:24.940 --> 00:36:29.119 guilt he suffered uh... almost drove him crazy 00:36:29.119 --> 00:36:31.760 uh... and he admits this in his book and he's 00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:34.699 and and his lowest point another one of the world 00:36:34.699 --> 00:36:37.300 uh... soldiers at walter reed who had lost i 00:36:37.300 --> 00:36:40.840 believe uh... all both arms and both legs came 00:36:40.840 --> 00:36:43.500 to him and said you know Look, I know you're 00:36:43.500 --> 00:36:46.099 having a bad time. There's people in this hospital 00:36:46.099 --> 00:36:47.760 who have it even worse than you and you need 00:36:47.760 --> 00:36:52.880 to rediscover your warrior and Pro Bird said 00:36:52.880 --> 00:36:56.840 that person saved his life. So that's another 00:36:56.840 --> 00:36:59.679 one of the stories in there that just shows you 00:36:59.679 --> 00:37:03.519 how these people all have each other's back and 00:37:03.519 --> 00:37:06.639 really showed amazing courage in coming to each 00:37:06.639 --> 00:37:10.139 other's aid when it mattered most. I think it's 00:37:10.139 --> 00:37:15.179 really interesting and just awe -inspiring when 00:37:15.179 --> 00:37:16.860 you think about it, especially some of the ones 00:37:16.860 --> 00:37:21.420 that did survive. In the book, you're talking 00:37:21.420 --> 00:37:24.739 about the corporal Kyle Carpenter, and then we 00:37:24.739 --> 00:37:26.440 had the privilege of talking with him back in 00:37:26.440 --> 00:37:31.119 December of 2019, but he was literally blown 00:37:31.119 --> 00:37:36.869 apart and survived. Absolutely. He's an amazing 00:37:36.869 --> 00:37:42.769 person. In another case, a young Marine in Afghanistan 00:37:42.769 --> 00:37:45.909 in the Kandahar, sort of the birthplace of the 00:37:45.909 --> 00:37:49.150 Taliban, and they're manning an overwatch position 00:37:49.150 --> 00:37:52.389 on top of a roof on their little makeshift base. 00:37:54.269 --> 00:37:56.590 And a grenade gets thrown on top of the rooftop 00:37:56.590 --> 00:37:59.230 and he jumps on top of it to try to save his 00:37:59.230 --> 00:38:05.860 friend. hurt so badly. I don't think many people 00:38:05.860 --> 00:38:07.980 thought he would survive but it was miraculous 00:38:07.980 --> 00:38:10.019 that he survived. He had to go through more than 00:38:10.019 --> 00:38:14.559 40 operations to put himself back together and 00:38:14.559 --> 00:38:18.420 it really excruciating pain. You're doped up 00:38:18.420 --> 00:38:21.059 on a lot of pain medication. You're having hallucinations. 00:38:22.059 --> 00:38:24.480 He hallucinated that he saw his own burial and 00:38:24.480 --> 00:38:27.079 none of his marine friends came to see him because 00:38:27.079 --> 00:38:30.239 they were mad at him for leaving them in Afghanistan. 00:38:31.400 --> 00:38:36.199 If you can imagine that. This young man who could 00:38:36.199 --> 00:38:39.340 have been totally embittered by this experience 00:38:39.340 --> 00:38:42.900 really found his meaning in life and has become 00:38:42.900 --> 00:38:45.880 a motivational speaker. You've talked to him, 00:38:45.880 --> 00:38:51.039 he's just a really inspiring person and has a 00:38:51.039 --> 00:38:55.139 Twitter handle, chicks dig scars, has a sense 00:38:55.139 --> 00:38:57.380 of humor, but he's almost like a warrior philosopher. 00:38:58.519 --> 00:39:01.360 So he took the worst day of his life and he made 00:39:01.360 --> 00:39:05.280 a life change. Just an amazing, amazing young 00:39:05.280 --> 00:39:09.400 man. To our audience out there, as I mentioned, 00:39:09.780 --> 00:39:11.860 we're talking with James Kitfield. The book is 00:39:11.860 --> 00:39:16.559 in The Company of Heroes. I can't recommend highly 00:39:16.559 --> 00:39:19.619 enough that you go out and read these stories. 00:39:20.739 --> 00:39:22.719 And I know that sooner or later there's going 00:39:22.719 --> 00:39:24.440 to be a woman who's going to receive the Medal 00:39:24.440 --> 00:39:27.820 of Honor. And it's going to be the same thing. 00:39:29.099 --> 00:39:31.909 They just go above and beyond. Never it isn't 00:39:31.909 --> 00:39:36.989 and they never ever give up. I can't Go ahead. 00:39:37.130 --> 00:39:38.989 Sorry. No, I'm just going I'm looking at the 00:39:38.989 --> 00:39:43.329 names on the list here, you know, and I can't 00:39:43.329 --> 00:39:45.349 even you know, I don't even know where I want 00:39:45.349 --> 00:39:49.630 to go first because they're all such just Fantastic 00:39:49.630 --> 00:39:52.889 stories. I'm gonna ask you while I'm gonna go 00:39:52.889 --> 00:39:56.769 on here for a minute about Kyle White and in 00:39:56.769 --> 00:40:01.820 a second and But there are 25 stories in the 00:40:01.820 --> 00:40:05.000 book about Medal of Honor recipients and you 00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.260 know Luckily, it seems like most of them survived 00:40:09.260 --> 00:40:13.659 Some of them did not But I wanted to ask you 00:40:13.659 --> 00:40:19.400 about Kyle White So Kyle White was With a unit 00:40:19.400 --> 00:40:22.420 in again one of these units I talked about in 00:40:22.420 --> 00:40:26.480 the Hindu deep in the Hindu Kush they go into 00:40:26.480 --> 00:40:30.670 a village late and at night and camp out, and 00:40:30.670 --> 00:40:32.170 they're supposed to meet with the elders the 00:40:32.170 --> 00:40:36.849 next morning to do outreach, which is what their 00:40:36.849 --> 00:40:39.130 mission really was, was try to sort of gain at 00:40:39.130 --> 00:40:42.690 least the trust of these mountain villages so 00:40:42.690 --> 00:40:44.949 they would be told when the Taliban was lurking 00:40:44.949 --> 00:40:49.250 around. And something didn't feel right. The 00:40:49.250 --> 00:40:52.289 meeting kept getting pushed back and pushed back, 00:40:52.289 --> 00:40:55.099 and when it finally happened, Almost every man 00:40:55.099 --> 00:40:57.400 of fighting age showed up and and they started 00:40:57.400 --> 00:41:02.159 hearing strange strange commands on the radio 00:41:02.159 --> 00:41:04.659 in a language that even their interpreters didn't 00:41:04.659 --> 00:41:06.219 understand so something didn't feel right so 00:41:06.219 --> 00:41:09.340 they Exited this village and were walking back 00:41:09.340 --> 00:41:12.420 a single file fruit on this goat trail trying 00:41:12.420 --> 00:41:15.679 to get home And they go to a part named ambush 00:41:15.679 --> 00:41:18.780 alley because it's famous for the Taliban like 00:41:18.780 --> 00:41:20.860 an ambush people there and indeed they do get 00:41:20.860 --> 00:41:24.800 ambushed He gets knocked out by an RPG, and when 00:41:24.800 --> 00:41:28.900 he awakens, almost his whole unit has disappeared. 00:41:28.940 --> 00:41:32.159 He doesn't know what happened to them. But he 00:41:32.159 --> 00:41:34.519 and a couple of Afghans and a couple of wounded 00:41:34.519 --> 00:41:38.019 Americans are the only people left on this ridgeline. 00:41:38.980 --> 00:41:45.099 And he helps save one person. He treats his wounds. 00:41:45.460 --> 00:41:50.179 He's fighting off the enemy. It wasn't for him, 00:41:50.380 --> 00:41:52.400 you know, everyone who was left in the mountain 00:41:52.400 --> 00:41:55.320 would have died. And he's calling, and finally 00:41:55.320 --> 00:41:58.800 he's calling in, you know, airstrikes, et cetera. 00:41:59.340 --> 00:42:03.300 And quite famously, almost every commander in 00:42:03.300 --> 00:42:05.260 Afghanistan was on the radio that listened to 00:42:05.260 --> 00:42:07.099 this young trooper, who I think was, you know, 00:42:07.420 --> 00:42:10.460 early 20s at the time, was just managing this 00:42:10.460 --> 00:42:14.079 fight all on his own. And he was the last person 00:42:14.079 --> 00:42:18.179 to... He made sure that they evacuated everyone 00:42:18.179 --> 00:42:22.380 else besides himself. And finally, he was the 00:42:22.380 --> 00:42:25.360 last man off that mountain and saved a lot of 00:42:25.360 --> 00:42:31.659 lives in the process. It's awesome. I know that's 00:42:31.659 --> 00:42:37.000 not the right word, but it's just what these 00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:42.000 people can do. Your last story in the book is 00:42:42.000 --> 00:42:45.190 about Army Sergeant First Class Thomas pain and 00:42:45.190 --> 00:42:48.329 you call that chapter last man out. Why is that? 00:42:49.369 --> 00:42:53.489 So Sergeant pain was a member of the ranger regiment. 00:42:53.989 --> 00:42:58.010 They fainted, you know, famously Fought and so 00:42:58.010 --> 00:43:01.809 many battles in these wars, especially Well in 00:43:01.809 --> 00:43:05.449 both Iraq and Afghanistan, but he's this he's 00:43:05.449 --> 00:43:09.730 involved in the the fight Against the Islamic 00:43:09.730 --> 00:43:12.510 State of Iraq and Syria. So he's the most recent 00:43:12.510 --> 00:43:15.349 and the last chronologically the last Medal of 00:43:15.349 --> 00:43:17.530 Honor recipient when I wrote this book, which 00:43:17.530 --> 00:43:20.730 is, you know, I finished the end of last year. 00:43:21.690 --> 00:43:26.409 So they get word that ISIS is going to execute 00:43:26.409 --> 00:43:30.710 these hostages, more than 80 hostages, most of 00:43:30.710 --> 00:43:34.510 them Kurdish military types and Kurdish civilians. 00:43:35.469 --> 00:43:38.489 And they're digging, ISIS is already, they're 00:43:38.489 --> 00:43:40.369 digging the graves outside the prison where they're 00:43:40.369 --> 00:43:42.170 going to shoot them and execute them, which is 00:43:42.170 --> 00:43:45.469 their sort of brand, if you will. And they launch 00:43:45.469 --> 00:43:49.530 a very dangerous hostage rescue mission. And 00:43:49.530 --> 00:43:53.150 during that mission, they lose Thomas Paine, 00:43:53.429 --> 00:44:01.989 lost one of his colleagues. But the prison is 00:44:01.989 --> 00:44:04.869 burning. It gets lit on fire during this firefight 00:44:04.869 --> 00:44:07.949 trying to rescue the hostages. And he has the 00:44:07.949 --> 00:44:10.269 bolt cutter. So he runs into, under machine gun 00:44:10.269 --> 00:44:13.340 fire, the firing ISIS is firing from within the 00:44:13.340 --> 00:44:17.300 prison. He goes under machine gun fire three 00:44:17.300 --> 00:44:19.340 times into a burning building where the smoke 00:44:19.340 --> 00:44:22.539 is so deep that it's so dense, it's about knee 00:44:22.539 --> 00:44:25.519 high, that you could get a breath. And three 00:44:25.519 --> 00:44:27.519 times he goes back in there to try to get open 00:44:27.519 --> 00:44:30.280 this door on the fire and eventually actually 00:44:30.280 --> 00:44:35.019 does do that and is able to then usher out. Many 00:44:35.019 --> 00:44:37.519 of the hostages were so scared because there 00:44:37.519 --> 00:44:39.800 was still an ongoing firefight inside the building 00:44:39.800 --> 00:44:42.159 and it's burning. And he had to basically, you 00:44:42.159 --> 00:44:45.019 know, bodily sort of get them out of there. And 00:44:45.019 --> 00:44:50.380 they rescued all 80 hostages. And it was just 00:44:50.380 --> 00:44:54.840 an amazing thing to hear how this unassuming, 00:44:55.039 --> 00:44:57.519 not very big guy, nice guys, you think they'd 00:44:57.519 --> 00:45:00.340 be talking guys and they're not, they're wiry 00:45:00.340 --> 00:45:04.500 types frequently. But he just, you know, when 00:45:04.500 --> 00:45:06.840 he was telling me this story and I was just, 00:45:07.019 --> 00:45:09.199 I couldn't imagine what it would be like to... 00:45:09.199 --> 00:45:11.880 to be him and to decide not once, not twice, 00:45:11.900 --> 00:45:14.420 but three times to run down a hall while you're 00:45:14.420 --> 00:45:16.980 getting machine gun shot at you into a burning 00:45:16.980 --> 00:45:18.579 building, you know, it's about to collapse at 00:45:18.579 --> 00:45:22.559 any moment and to save strangers. And that's 00:45:22.559 --> 00:45:25.800 what he did. And yeah, it's an inspiring story, 00:45:25.880 --> 00:45:30.059 but it was harrowing as well. Every one of these, 00:45:30.079 --> 00:45:33.079 as I mentioned earlier on, the hair on my neck 00:45:33.079 --> 00:45:35.599 standing straight up going wide, wide, you know, 00:45:35.699 --> 00:45:37.840 it's like watching a movie. Don't go in there. 00:45:38.730 --> 00:45:41.730 because it's not going to be good for you. What 00:45:41.730 --> 00:45:43.809 would you say would be one common trait that 00:45:43.809 --> 00:45:47.570 all of these men had? Most of them, as you mentioned, 00:45:47.909 --> 00:45:52.090 were fairly young. Right. So there is a selflessness 00:45:52.090 --> 00:45:56.489 in all of these stories that when it came right 00:45:56.489 --> 00:46:00.289 down to it, they were willing to sacrifice their 00:46:00.289 --> 00:46:03.230 lives to save the lives of their fellow service 00:46:03.230 --> 00:46:05.989 members and brothers -in -arms. And that comes 00:46:05.989 --> 00:46:08.070 through in literally, I think, every one of these 00:46:08.070 --> 00:46:10.750 stories. They could have taken the easy way out, 00:46:10.929 --> 00:46:13.590 and no one would have thought less of them, because 00:46:13.590 --> 00:46:17.230 some of these things were, like I said, as stark 00:46:17.230 --> 00:46:18.909 as jumping on a grave, knowing you're going to 00:46:18.909 --> 00:46:21.170 die, or going back up in a mountain when you 00:46:21.170 --> 00:46:23.769 know it's a suicide mission. But they did it, 00:46:23.769 --> 00:46:27.610 and they did it because they valued the lives 00:46:27.610 --> 00:46:31.010 of their colleagues and the creed that you leave 00:46:31.010 --> 00:46:34.199 no man behind more than their own lives. And 00:46:34.199 --> 00:46:35.940 that's a common thread that comes through all 00:46:35.940 --> 00:46:38.519 these stories and that's, you know, that's the 00:46:38.519 --> 00:46:42.840 inspiring part, I think. That we have such a, 00:46:42.840 --> 00:46:45.500 you know, this force of volunteers that we sent 00:46:45.500 --> 00:46:49.559 to fight these wars are as good as any force 00:46:49.559 --> 00:46:51.739 we've ever fielded in our country's history. 00:46:52.420 --> 00:46:54.820 And each one of them volunteered for duty. They 00:46:54.820 --> 00:46:56.860 weren't drafted and they didn't have to do it, 00:46:56.880 --> 00:47:01.260 but they volunteered to do it. So many of them 00:47:01.260 --> 00:47:05.039 were on their fifth, sixth, seventh, ninth tours. 00:47:05.900 --> 00:47:08.340 Granted, they're not a year long, but they're 00:47:08.340 --> 00:47:12.599 still just a psychological buildup to going back 00:47:12.599 --> 00:47:17.320 into combat is just so foreign to my thinking. 00:47:18.599 --> 00:47:20.480 There wasn't any way you were going to get me 00:47:20.480 --> 00:47:25.420 to go back to Vietnam. And they keep coming back. 00:47:30.800 --> 00:47:33.000 The military would never go back on the all -volunteer 00:47:33.000 --> 00:47:34.880 force, but one of the repercussions of having 00:47:34.880 --> 00:47:37.380 a fairly small volunteer force that fought our 00:47:37.380 --> 00:47:40.280 longest wars was they did have to go back and 00:47:40.280 --> 00:47:43.800 back and back and back. And each time, you know, 00:47:44.039 --> 00:47:48.079 studies have shown your likelihood of having 00:47:48.079 --> 00:47:51.260 post -traumatic stress issues goes up. And it's 00:47:51.260 --> 00:47:54.039 also very tough on families to go through that 00:47:54.039 --> 00:47:57.139 again and again and again. So that was one of 00:47:57.139 --> 00:47:59.260 the detriments of having an all -volunteers force. 00:47:59.260 --> 00:48:01.440 It was relatively small that we never reinforced 00:48:01.440 --> 00:48:04.460 with an all -around draft. Now the military would 00:48:04.460 --> 00:48:06.780 tell you that the fact that they're volunteers 00:48:06.780 --> 00:48:08.760 is why they're so good. You know, it's a professional 00:48:08.760 --> 00:48:12.739 force. But it did have some drawbacks in the 00:48:12.739 --> 00:48:15.059 sense that we had to send it back so many times, 00:48:15.280 --> 00:48:18.000 and that, you know, they suffered for that. I 00:48:18.000 --> 00:48:20.690 can't imagine. I mean, I know that... You know 00:48:20.690 --> 00:48:23.550 the draft supposedly, you know what went after 00:48:23.550 --> 00:48:25.489 everybody and we know that didn't necessarily 00:48:25.489 --> 00:48:29.170 work out quite evenly But you know, they weren't 00:48:29.170 --> 00:48:30.550 professional. They just you know, okay I'm gonna 00:48:30.550 --> 00:48:32.750 be out in two years or I'm gonna be out and you 00:48:32.750 --> 00:48:35.989 know 60 days or whatever it might be You know, 00:48:35.989 --> 00:48:38.369 the politicians couldn't stand up under the pressure 00:48:38.369 --> 00:48:40.190 of the people at home saying no, no, no, not 00:48:40.190 --> 00:48:44.929 my son and then you know right now You're talking 00:48:44.929 --> 00:48:48.869 about an elite fighting force That's from all 00:48:48.869 --> 00:48:52.650 over the country. And that's a great thing I 00:48:52.650 --> 00:48:54.489 liked about the military is you've got to meet 00:48:54.489 --> 00:49:00.369 people from everywhere. I'm from New Jersey originally, 00:49:00.409 --> 00:49:02.230 and I never would have hung out with people from 00:49:02.230 --> 00:49:06.869 Mississippi or Texas or Kansas or California 00:49:06.869 --> 00:49:09.230 if I hadn't gone into the service. I would have 00:49:09.230 --> 00:49:11.800 known nothing about that part of the world. That's 00:49:11.800 --> 00:49:15.119 right. And that's one of the beauties of military 00:49:15.119 --> 00:49:18.500 service is that you are thrown together with 00:49:18.500 --> 00:49:20.719 people who you would never normally associate 00:49:20.719 --> 00:49:24.320 with or even have a chance to meet. And I found 00:49:24.320 --> 00:49:27.079 that to be one of the most ennobling things about 00:49:27.079 --> 00:49:30.420 military service. And I think we lose something 00:49:30.420 --> 00:49:33.260 when we don't have that. But yeah, like I said, 00:49:34.019 --> 00:49:36.829 the politicians were not anxious to... make a 00:49:36.829 --> 00:49:39.030 tough decision on reinstating the draft. And 00:49:39.030 --> 00:49:40.809 the military didn't want it because they had 00:49:40.809 --> 00:49:43.289 these really good volunteers who were professionals 00:49:43.289 --> 00:49:45.869 who would stay around a lot longer. And for a 00:49:45.869 --> 00:49:50.090 high -tech military, that's preferable than having 00:49:50.090 --> 00:49:52.389 draftees who don't really want to be there. Can 00:49:52.389 --> 00:49:55.010 I read you a quote from David Villavia, who's 00:49:55.010 --> 00:49:56.769 one of the Medal of Honor recipients in here? 00:49:56.769 --> 00:50:00.730 Sure, absolutely. This stuck out to me because 00:50:00.730 --> 00:50:03.730 it gets to this partisanship that we're experiencing 00:50:03.730 --> 00:50:06.820 in this country now. and how these stories, none 00:50:06.820 --> 00:50:09.340 of that comes through. And he says, he said, 00:50:09.440 --> 00:50:11.860 there's a million plus reasons why Americans 00:50:11.860 --> 00:50:15.239 are divided right now. And throughout our history, 00:50:15.380 --> 00:50:17.380 we've always disagreed and dissented, but we 00:50:17.380 --> 00:50:19.599 always found a way to put our differences aside 00:50:19.599 --> 00:50:21.519 and focus on what's best for the nation when 00:50:21.519 --> 00:50:24.639 it counted most. And he's talking about the army 00:50:24.639 --> 00:50:26.539 here. We don't care if your dad died and left 00:50:26.539 --> 00:50:28.699 you millions of dollars or not. I personally 00:50:28.699 --> 00:50:32.300 never cared what God a soldier worshipped, what 00:50:32.300 --> 00:50:35.050 color they were. or who they love. If someone 00:50:35.050 --> 00:50:37.550 is willing to get shot at for me and my buddy, 00:50:37.710 --> 00:50:40.369 I will lead or follow you anywhere." I think 00:50:40.369 --> 00:50:45.969 that's pretty reflective of the values these 00:50:45.969 --> 00:50:49.710 guys put on the teamwork and the bonds of friendship 00:50:49.710 --> 00:50:53.650 and brothers -in -arms that form and no one's 00:50:53.650 --> 00:50:58.349 asking what party you're from. They're a team 00:50:58.349 --> 00:51:01.469 and they'll literally die for each other and 00:51:01.469 --> 00:51:03.289 that's... That's something you don't see very 00:51:03.289 --> 00:51:06.610 often in American society anymore. No, you don't. 00:51:07.090 --> 00:51:09.230 And unfortunately, we are coming up against the 00:51:09.230 --> 00:51:11.230 clock. So I want to make sure I get this out 00:51:11.230 --> 00:51:13.630 one more time. James Kitfield, the book is In 00:51:13.630 --> 00:51:16.150 the Company of Heroes, the Inspiring Stories 00:51:16.150 --> 00:51:18.449 of Medal of Honor Recipients for America's Longest 00:51:18.449 --> 00:51:22.010 Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. James, I want to 00:51:22.010 --> 00:51:24.849 thank you very much for your time today. I encourage 00:51:24.849 --> 00:51:27.989 people to buy this book. I think you're going 00:51:27.989 --> 00:51:30.170 to be really impressed with the kind of men and 00:51:30.170 --> 00:51:33.210 women that we've got in today's military. Thanks 00:51:33.210 --> 00:51:36.190 for having me on. Thank you very much. I hope 00:51:36.190 --> 00:51:38.769 you enjoyed today's program in the Company of 00:51:38.769 --> 00:51:43.610 Heroes, the book by James Kitfield. Wow, you 00:51:43.610 --> 00:51:45.809 know these men that have been awarded the Medal 00:51:45.809 --> 00:51:49.429 of Honor are just So special and they are all 00:51:49.429 --> 00:51:52.869 so humble You know, I've had the privilege here 00:51:52.869 --> 00:51:56.909 on veterans radio of talking to about 30 living 00:51:56.909 --> 00:51:59.250 Medal of Honor recipients and it's been such 00:51:59.250 --> 00:52:02.469 an honor to talk to these men but that Common 00:52:02.469 --> 00:52:04.610 thread that runs through all of them is how humble 00:52:04.610 --> 00:52:07.429 that they are how it's never them it's always 00:52:07.429 --> 00:52:09.969 you know, the other troops that did that deserve 00:52:09.969 --> 00:52:15.519 the award and Just great men. So anyway, I hope 00:52:15.519 --> 00:52:18.000 you enjoyed the program. It was very meaningful 00:52:18.000 --> 00:52:22.139 to me to play this today. Somebody was asking 00:52:22.139 --> 00:52:25.460 me, Dale, why are you playing God Bless America 00:52:25.460 --> 00:52:27.719 and America the Beautiful at the end of the programs 00:52:27.719 --> 00:52:30.920 these days? And I said, well, mainly it's to 00:52:30.920 --> 00:52:34.489 remind everybody of what an incredible, wonderful 00:52:34.489 --> 00:52:37.190 country that we live in. It's not perfect. We 00:52:37.190 --> 00:52:40.230 know that. But we are a work in progress and 00:52:40.230 --> 00:52:42.969 we are still continuing to try and try and try. 00:52:43.349 --> 00:52:46.809 And I just feel that I am so fortunate and lucky 00:52:46.809 --> 00:52:49.170 to have been born in the United States of America. 00:52:49.429 --> 00:52:52.130 I just want to share that enthusiasm with you 00:52:52.130 --> 00:52:56.230 every week. So we're going to go out today. on 00:52:56.230 --> 00:52:58.869 a version of God Bless America and America the 00:52:58.869 --> 00:53:01.070 Beautiful done by the Brothers of the Heart. 00:53:01.170 --> 00:53:03.949 This is one of my favorite versions. So until 00:53:03.949 --> 00:53:06.130 next week, this is Dale Thromberry. For all of 00:53:06.130 --> 00:53:09.769 us here at Veterans Radio, you are dismissed. 00:53:27.820 --> 00:53:35.940 Stand beside her, and guide her Through the night 00:53:35.940 --> 00:53:43.380 with the light from above From the mountain, 00:53:43.920 --> 00:53:53.900 to the prairie, to the ocean White with foam, 00:53:54.739 --> 00:54:11.179 God bless them My home sweet home God bless America 00:54:11.179 --> 00:54:50.549 My home sweet home Oh beautiful for space America, 00:54:50.549 --> 00:55:40.449 America God shed His grace on thee Like with 00:55:40.449 --> 00:55:40.670 more