September 8, 2024 • 26 mins
Newt commemorates the third anniversary of the terrorist attack at Abbey Gate outside of Kabul Airport, which claimed the lives of 13 American heroes and approximately 170 Afghan civilians. Newt’s guest is Christy Shamblin, the mother-in-law of Sergeant Nicole Gee, one of the service members killed in the attack. Shamblin shares personal stories about Nicole, her life, and her service in the Marine Corps. They also discuss the new film "Culture War: The Deadly Consequences of a Woke War Machine," which features the Gold Star Families of the 13 fallen service members sharing their experiences and losses. The film, produced by the American Principles Project, is currently streaming on X, YouTube, and Rumble.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
On this episode of the News World. August twenty six,
twenty twenty four, marked the third anniversary since we lost
thirteen American heroes in the cruel terrorist attack at Abby
Gate outside Kabbo's Hamid Karzai International Airport. Approximately one hundred
and seventy Afghan civilians were also murdered in that attack.
(00:26):
We will never forget the thirteen brave Americans, eleven Marines,
a soldier and a sailor who lost their lives defending
their team and helping to save tens of thousands of
Afghans seeking freedom and the opportunity for a better life.
In the new film Culture War, The Deadly Consequences of
(00:47):
a Woke War Machine, the gold Star families of the
thirteen fallen service members talk about their experience and their loss.
Culture Wars, produced by American Principles Project, was released September third.
It is streaming now on ex YouTube and Rumble. Here
to talk about the new film, I'm really pleased to
(01:09):
welcome my guest, Christy Shamblin, mother in law of Sergeant
Nicole g who was one of the thirteen service members
killed in action in Kabbo, Afghanistan. On August twenty sixth,
twenty twenty one. Christy, welcome and thank you for joining
(01:36):
me on News World.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Oh, thank you so much for having me. I really
appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Well, this is really important, and I know it's really
emotional and difficult, so I'm grateful you would take the time.
But maybe we could start by talking about how Nicole
came into your son's life, you know, when they first
met and how you first got to know her.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Oh, thank you so much. My daughter in law, Nicole
was a superstar. She was everything you could ever hope for,
a wonderful human American young woman. Her and my son
went to high school together, and I kind of tongue
in cheap joke that they didn't really date in high
school because my son needed to step it up a
(02:19):
little bit. And so after high school they started dating
and quickly got engaged and married, and they both were
Marine Corps members, and they moved to North Carolina and
bought a home and started their life together. She was
the most motivating and encouraging human I've ever met, and
(02:41):
I consider her to be a blessing every day that
I spent with her.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I kind of.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Joke I won the daughter in law lottery and it's true.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
It is amazing. I mean, she had a perfect attendance,
certified as bilingual in Spanish, and maintained honor role before
graduating in twenty sixteen with the four point one GPA.
That's pretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
And she did that.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
All while supporting herself from sixteen on.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Really Wow, Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
She also in very good at time management.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
She was very good at time management. She used to
wake up at four am to make her workouts.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Wow. So what made she and your son decide to
become marines?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
My son joined first, and he was a recon marine.
He always was a little bit of an adventure spirit.
He likes adrenaline, and the Marine Corps and recon marine
fit right in with that.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
He's also a quiet person.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
He doesn't like a lot of attention. And when he
joined and through boot camp and everything, I think that
Nicole saw the brotherhood that he was experiencing in the
Marine Corps, and she also wanted to make sure that
they were together. And once they knew that they would
be stationed near each other when they were married, you know,
(04:03):
she joined and she found her own sisterhood in the
Marine Corps. I think she I know that she enjoyed
her experience more in the Marine Corps than my son did.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
I think she was going to make a life of it.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
She thrived, she was a leader, and she loved her
Marine Corps.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I noticed that five days before she was killed, she
posted a photo with herself and a baby with the caption,
I love my job. I mean, that's really an amazing
life if you can have.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
It, Yes, sir, it is. It's shocking to think of
what they were experiencing there five days before this catastrophe.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
It was help and we know that.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
And she still took moments to have a positive mental
attitude and celebrate what she could. And that was absolutely
her spirit in life.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
She must have been quite a daughter in law in
that sense.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Oh, she was spectacular. Missed her very much.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
I think for most of us, you make it real
and personal because it's in your family. You know. August
wenty six was a tragic day. Can you walk us
through how you and your family first heard the news.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Sure, I can only say that it was God's hand
in my life that day. Because my son lived in
North Carolina at the time and I lived in Oregon.
Nichole's family lived in California, and my son and I
were together in their hometown of Roseville, California, on a
summer family vacation together and we got the phone call
(05:40):
the night, you know after it happened, asking our location,
and a couple hours later we were met at our
hotel by our casualty coordinators. And I can say as
soon as the news hit that there were thirteen, my
son knew. He said to me right away, I have
(06:02):
a bad feeling mom. And once we didn't hear from her,
you know, for a period of time, it just grew.
I mean, we stayed up all night and just waited
for that knock at the door, and when it came,
it was just surreal. And to know that there were thirteen,
you know, twelve others with her was the beginning of
(06:23):
a holy life for us.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Did somebody come from the military to personally tell you.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yeah, we had two wonderful young men who are the
casualty coordinators for the area we were in, and they
had the unfortunate job that night to come and notify us.
They have my respect and love forever. It's not a
job I'd ever want.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
When you think about it, how do you hope Nicole
will be remembered by those who hear her story.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
As an encouraging, motivating force to know that you, as
your very person, just as you are, can be spectacular
and you can do the best you can do today
with exactly what you have in yourself. And that's what
she taught us every day. I hope with this evacuation
that we can make some changes so that the next
(07:17):
evacuation is casualty free. It's unacceptable that on our watch,
under our control, we lost thirteen service members. It's different
than losing them in war, and I hope that people
can understand that this was preventable and it should have
been prevented.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Did you feel that in the weeks afterwards you had
adequate support from the system. How were you treated?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah, it's hard to look back on that time because
you know, we were in shock. But I can say
that the people who helped us most were volunteer organizations, veterans.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Harley writers.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
I mean, people come out of the woodworks to really
support you.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
It did not come from.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Our government officials in the beginning, minus the military. I
love the military. The Marine Corps has been very supportive
to us, and I want to acknowledge that. But so
far as government officials, it was crickets until we started really,
you know, making some waves.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Were you there in Delaware when the bodies were returned?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (08:25):
What was that?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Like?
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I'm not military. My kids are, but I'm not.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
I've never been under secured, tower guards and things like that.
It was something I can explain, and I hope nobody
listening or you know, I don't wish the experience on anybody.
The experience meeting President Biden was an eye opening one
for me because I wanted to believe the best of
(08:54):
that situation, and meeting him kind.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Of shattered that.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Why was that.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
This was three years.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Ago and he didn't seem altogether aware of his surroundings.
He repeated the same thing to the two families that
were close enough for me to hear that he said
to us, it seemed like he was a well meaning
elderly man, but not somebody who should be commander in chief.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
When President Biden called the withdrawal from Afghanistan an extraordinary
success and went on to say, quote, the extraordinary success
of this mission was due to the incredible skill, bravery,
and selfless courage of the United States military and our
diplomats and intelligence professionals. It seems to me from your standpoint,
(10:06):
how can you describe losing thirteen Americans as an extraordinary success?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Exactly? And not only that, but the supplies left behind.
We saw the Taliban's celebratory parade with all of our
equipment that they to.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
This day deny was left behind, the.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Other Americans that were left behind, the Allied partners that
were left behind, the people we brought over that weren't
vetted every part of it. I can't, and we've asked
please meet with us and explain, give us some details
of how you can call this a success. I only
know my perspective. Please tell me how it could have
been a success from your perspective. And we've just never
(10:42):
had a reply.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I'm very confused by that because there's been three years
now and the Biden Harris administration has not had you
to the White House.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Nothing, zero crickets.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
The first thing we've had is the post from Vice
President Harris a day after the anniversar this last week
when she criticized former President Trump for being at Arlington
with us. That's the first public acknowledgement or private first
time in three years.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yes, sir, that's frankly so surprising to me. I think
most presidents would have reached out personally to each family.
I think presidents usually feel personally responsible for the young
men and women they order into combat. Lincoln wrote letters,
and you can imagine in the Civil Wars handwriting losing
(11:32):
thousands of people. But he had a desperate sense of
personal responsibility for him. I'm truly surprised that Biden and
Harris have not, because it was so easy to have
had you all in for coffee, to have sent you letters,
to do something to indicate the loss that you have
for the nation. I mean, that's what makes gold Star
(11:54):
families different, is it You've lost loved ones who are
in the process of serving the country. And I'm curious
because I gather that almost from the beginning that Trump's
reaction has been very different from the Biden Harris reaction.
How would you describe that difference?
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Like night and day, we didn't reach out to former
President Trump to meet with us. He heard about our
reaching out to the White House. After the withdrawal was
called a success. We reached out and asked for a
meeting for them to explain to us how they could
call it a success. We heard nothing back, and when
he heard that we didn't hear anything back, he said, well,
(12:36):
do you want to come and meet with me in Bedminster?
And we accepted that invitation. You know, when we considered it,
some of us were a little nervous, you know, it
was unexpected, and we said, well, what are the parameters?
And he said, I don't have any what are your parameters?
Speaker 3 (12:54):
And so that's the difference.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
What was that visit like, I mean, was it just
pro form or did they actually pay attention?
Speaker 2 (13:02):
He paid attention. We were scheduled to be there for
only an hour or less. Our expectations were just to meet,
say hello and maybe let him know some stories of
our loved ones, but we ended up spending hours with him.
When he walked in the room, he knew our hero's names,
(13:22):
their stories, he knew rank nicknames. He took the time
to get to know them before he came into that space.
And that so speaks, I think, to what he brings
to his values. Our service members, these young men and women.
The oldest one Hoover, was thirty one. All the rest
(13:45):
were under twenty three. They had their entire lives in
front of them and they were serving our country, and
they deserve respect and honor, and while they get that
from their families and their communities, we're not getting that
from our current administration.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Now, all of this became, i guess, much more public
and much more relevant than last week with the visit
to Arlington, which, when I first saw it live that
day Clys than I were watching it that morning, looked
to me like an appropriate presidential thing to do. And
then of course the news media, which is trying to
(14:21):
protect Harris and attack Trump every chance they get, promptly
fixated on this one employee and whether or not it
was all appropriate, and it suddenly became an excuse to
attack Trump. And then the gold Star family spoke out
pretty aggressively in defense of him. Can you walk us
through from your perspective, was he invited? Is it something
(14:45):
you wanted? What's your reaction to the whole thing?
Speaker 2 (14:49):
It's shocking, and it really does kind of go back
to that point of they will stop at nothing, and
we do feel attacked. The third year anniversary was coming up,
and the WHO family has led the charge for us
in laying a wreath on the tomb of the Unknown
Soldier on the day of their deaths, and so we
take part in that also and have done that for
(15:11):
the past three years with them and also with Brian
Canos and his family. And this year the Hoovers reached
out and invited President Trump to participate, and once those
communications started happening, we enthusiastically agreed. Again with this circumstance,
we did invite the White House and I have receipts
(15:33):
for that. Senator Cox sent the letter for us. It
was a very well written and respectful letter, and we
have not heard back from even that. Instead, we got
criticized on social media.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
What even now you haven't heard back.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
No, still today have not heard a word. But the
day the event was beautiful. President Trump, I don't think
he said more than a dozen words. He listened to
our family members talk about our loved ones. He visited
with a wounded many of the wounded warriors from the
(16:10):
Abby Gate exit. He spent time with them, and it
was very valuable for all of us. And we asked
for pictures. And it's hard to explain, and I get
that it may be difficult for some people to understand,
but this is where we go to celebrate my daughter
in law now and we don't get to have her
over for celebrations. We go to the cemetery, and it
(16:32):
is an unfortunate reality, but it is our reality.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
From your perspective. Trump did what he'd been asked to do,
and he did it in a respectful presidential way, and
then he gets attacked by Harris and the media. Then
I think they were shocked because you all collectively came
back and corrected the record to their great discredit. I
(16:56):
think it's amazing. So now one of the most interesting
project you all have been doing. What led you to
become involved in culture war? The deadly consequences of a
World War machine? The idea of putting this movie together
is I think really important.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Yeah, it's not in my usual wheelhouse.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
I'm not a political person in any nature, you know, normally, Well.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Wait a second, you make me embarrassed. I should have
asked you, what is your wheelhouse?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
I'm a real estate agent and a contractor. I flip houses.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Yes, what area do you do you market in?
Speaker 3 (17:33):
I'm in Virginia.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Okay, So anybody looking for a house in Virginia, if
they look up Christy Chamblin, you'll be glad to talk.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
To absolutely in Stafford right outside the military base.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
We might as well turn this into a commercial for
your business while we're chatting.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
But that explains why you're so outgoing. I mean, you
have a great personality. I suspect you do very well
getting people into So to go back to the film,
we'll go to this other wheelhouse. Now, what made you
decide to be part of the film.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Once we started to learn these things that I've learned,
And it only happened because I was trying to find
out how and why my daughter in law was killed.
Meeting politicians going to Washington, I would show up at
hearings that were publicly announced. I sat behind Blinken when
he told everybody.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
That it was a success.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Seeing what is happening there shocked me. And there are
people who do care, and I will say most of
them were uniform before they started their career as a politician.
But you know, there's a lot of people who care,
but a large majority when I would go and meet
with them, some of them didn't know the details.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Of the Afghanistan exit.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Politicians who are in a place to make policy.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
And are paid a whole heck of a lot.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Of taxpayer money to do it, didn't know the circumstances
of my daughter in law's death, and that was shocking
to me. And the more we kind of looked at it,
and the more we found out how.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
This evacuation really did crumble. Change has to be made.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
That's what motivated me to take part in this is
we have to have change. I can't sit by and
watch another evacuation happen where Americans are going to welcome
their service members home in coffins.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
It's unacceptable.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Christy, what was it like from being a realtor selling
houses in northern Virginia to suddenly speak at the Republican
National Convention in front of thousands of people and a
national audience.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
It was surreal.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
When we got up on the stage, I had that
moment where I couldn't figure out if the stage was shaking,
but it was me shaking. But what I learned from
that is, honestly, when the crowd started chanting back our
children's names, it was the feeling like the nation was
behind us, and we haven't got that before. And I
(20:03):
truly believe that it is because you know, President Biden
and Vice President Harris have refused to acknowledge our heroes
and we haven't had that feeling of Holy Cow. The
nation loves our heroes who died for them, and it
was amazing. I didn't expect that our intention in being
(20:24):
there was to bring focus back to our kids and
our military. And we know that President Trump supports our military,
and it's evidence to me by the fact that he
meets with us and talks with us and listens about
our heroes.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Chris and I were there that night, and it was
very compelling and very emotional. I'm curious, though, was any
of the gold Star families invited to the Democratic Convention.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
No?
Speaker 1 (20:48):
No, if you think about it, I mean, this really
goes way beyond partisanship. I mean, this is about patriotism.
It's about the nation, it's about the military service, and
it's trying the one party now has sort of cut
itself off and can't imagine honoring the people who risk
their lives for the country. But I'm delighted you were there.
(21:10):
I can assure you from our personal experience. Nicholas and
I thought you all collectively were very effective and very
powerful and very emotional. It was one of the high
points of the entire convention.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Oh thank you.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Hearing our kids names chanted back was a high point
for us.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
My dad spent twenty six years in the infantry. I
grew up as an army bred. It is sort of
staggering to me how shallow and unfeeling the whole Afghan
withdrawal was. I mean, we were abandoning millions of peoplehood
counted in US, thousands of people who'd actively helped us,
and we're going to be targeted by the Taliban. As
(22:05):
you point out, we left without really briefing allies, and
we left in such a chaotic way that it is
one of the low points in American military history. And
as a part of that process, we had thirteen young
men and women get killed who they should be alive today,
They should be having families, enjoying life. So in that sense,
I think this whole concept of that there are deadly consequences,
(22:29):
you can have a Pentagon that is woke with no cost,
because the purpose of a pentagon is to be in
a very very dangerous world and to deal with people
who are deeply opposed to us and would like to
kill us. What you're doing here is important now. The
Culture War is a film is available and is streaming,
so people can go to it, and we're going to
(22:51):
have it on our show page so people can find it.
Tell me why you think that everyone should see culture.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
War first and foremost so they can become familiar with
the Afghanistan exit. It really is laid out very well
how it failed, and it was set up for failure
by President Biden and Vice President Harris.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
I'm sad to say, but they clearly lay that out.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Our congressmen give their side of the story from the
DC policymaker perspective, and we need that if we're going
to make any change. People need to watch this so
that they can reflect it in their votes. To be honest,
we need this country back, and President Trump's the best
way we can do that.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
I think it's very important. I'm very impressed that the
gold Star families seem to have come together as a
group that they have in a sense, turned the tragedy
of the young people they lost into an opportunity to
help the country and extend the duty, if you will,
(23:59):
of their loved ones by doing things. And I think
this is a further step in that direction. And that's
why I really wanted to have you share with us
and talk with us, because you are a witness to
history in a way that very few people are, and
you have a moral and emotional commitment that people have
(24:22):
to honor. And I think it's important that the gold
Star families were prepared to continue as patriots, to be
very active citizens. And in that sense, Christie, I want
to thank you, and through you, I hope you'll share
with all the other Ghostar families my personal appreciation as
a former Speaker of the House and as I said,
(24:43):
as an army brat who grew up in the military,
I think that what you all have collectively done is important,
will make a difference, and is a real contribution to
getting America back on track. And I want to thank
you for joining me and anything I can do to
be of help to you or to any of the
(25:03):
GoldStar families, I hope you'll feel very free to call
on me, and I'll do all I can to be helpful.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. I
appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Thank you to my guests, Christy, Shandlin. You can get
a link to the new film Culture War on our
show page at newsworld dot com. News World is produced
by GINGRIDH three sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is
Guernsey Sloan. Our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for
the show was created by Steve Penley. Special thanks to
(25:40):
the team at gingbrigh three sixty. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld,
I hope you'll go to Apple Podcast and both rate
us with five stars and give us a review so
others can learn what it's all about. Right now, listeners
of neut World concern up for my three free weekly
columns at gingrichsthree sixty dot com. Slash his letter, I'm
(26:01):
Newt Gingrich. This is Newt's World.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
M
On this episode of the News World. August twenty six,
twenty twenty four, marked the third anniversary since we lost
thirteen American heroes in the cruel terrorist attack at Abby
Gate outside Kabbo's Hamid Karzai International Airport. Approximately one hundred
and seventy Afghan civilians were also murdered in that attack.
(00:26):
We will never forget the thirteen brave Americans, eleven Marines,
a soldier and a sailor who lost their lives defending
their team and helping to save tens of thousands of
Afghans seeking freedom and the opportunity for a better life.
In the new film Culture War, The Deadly Consequences of
(00:47):
a Woke War Machine, the gold Star families of the
thirteen fallen service members talk about their experience and their loss.
Culture Wars, produced by American Principles Project, was released September third.
It is streaming now on ex YouTube and Rumble. Here
to talk about the new film, I'm really pleased to
(01:09):
welcome my guest, Christy Shamblin, mother in law of Sergeant
Nicole g who was one of the thirteen service members
killed in action in Kabbo, Afghanistan. On August twenty sixth,
twenty twenty one. Christy, welcome and thank you for joining
(01:36):
me on News World.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Oh, thank you so much for having me. I really
appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Well, this is really important, and I know it's really
emotional and difficult, so I'm grateful you would take the time.
But maybe we could start by talking about how Nicole
came into your son's life, you know, when they first
met and how you first got to know her.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Oh, thank you so much. My daughter in law, Nicole
was a superstar. She was everything you could ever hope for,
a wonderful human American young woman. Her and my son
went to high school together, and I kind of tongue
in cheap joke that they didn't really date in high
school because my son needed to step it up a
(02:19):
little bit. And so after high school they started dating
and quickly got engaged and married, and they both were
Marine Corps members, and they moved to North Carolina and
bought a home and started their life together. She was
the most motivating and encouraging human I've ever met, and
(02:41):
I consider her to be a blessing every day that
I spent with her.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I kind of.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Joke I won the daughter in law lottery and it's true.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
It is amazing. I mean, she had a perfect attendance,
certified as bilingual in Spanish, and maintained honor role before
graduating in twenty sixteen with the four point one GPA.
That's pretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
And she did that.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
All while supporting herself from sixteen on.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Really Wow, Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
She also in very good at time management.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
She was very good at time management. She used to
wake up at four am to make her workouts.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Wow. So what made she and your son decide to
become marines?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
My son joined first, and he was a recon marine.
He always was a little bit of an adventure spirit.
He likes adrenaline, and the Marine Corps and recon marine
fit right in with that.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
He's also a quiet person.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
He doesn't like a lot of attention. And when he
joined and through boot camp and everything, I think that
Nicole saw the brotherhood that he was experiencing in the
Marine Corps, and she also wanted to make sure that
they were together. And once they knew that they would
be stationed near each other when they were married, you know,
(04:03):
she joined and she found her own sisterhood in the
Marine Corps. I think she I know that she enjoyed
her experience more in the Marine Corps than my son did.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
I think she was going to make a life of it.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
She thrived, she was a leader, and she loved her
Marine Corps.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I noticed that five days before she was killed, she
posted a photo with herself and a baby with the caption,
I love my job. I mean, that's really an amazing
life if you can have.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
It, Yes, sir, it is. It's shocking to think of
what they were experiencing there five days before this catastrophe.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
It was help and we know that.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
And she still took moments to have a positive mental
attitude and celebrate what she could. And that was absolutely
her spirit in life.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
She must have been quite a daughter in law in
that sense.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Oh, she was spectacular. Missed her very much.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
I think for most of us, you make it real
and personal because it's in your family. You know. August
wenty six was a tragic day. Can you walk us
through how you and your family first heard the news.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Sure, I can only say that it was God's hand
in my life that day. Because my son lived in
North Carolina at the time and I lived in Oregon.
Nichole's family lived in California, and my son and I
were together in their hometown of Roseville, California, on a
summer family vacation together and we got the phone call
(05:40):
the night, you know after it happened, asking our location,
and a couple hours later we were met at our
hotel by our casualty coordinators. And I can say as
soon as the news hit that there were thirteen, my
son knew. He said to me right away, I have
(06:02):
a bad feeling mom. And once we didn't hear from her,
you know, for a period of time, it just grew.
I mean, we stayed up all night and just waited
for that knock at the door, and when it came,
it was just surreal. And to know that there were thirteen,
you know, twelve others with her was the beginning of
(06:23):
a holy life for us.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Did somebody come from the military to personally tell you.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yeah, we had two wonderful young men who are the
casualty coordinators for the area we were in, and they
had the unfortunate job that night to come and notify us.
They have my respect and love forever. It's not a
job I'd ever want.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
When you think about it, how do you hope Nicole
will be remembered by those who hear her story.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
As an encouraging, motivating force to know that you, as
your very person, just as you are, can be spectacular
and you can do the best you can do today
with exactly what you have in yourself. And that's what
she taught us every day. I hope with this evacuation
that we can make some changes so that the next
(07:17):
evacuation is casualty free. It's unacceptable that on our watch,
under our control, we lost thirteen service members. It's different
than losing them in war, and I hope that people
can understand that this was preventable and it should have
been prevented.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Did you feel that in the weeks afterwards you had
adequate support from the system. How were you treated?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah, it's hard to look back on that time because
you know, we were in shock. But I can say
that the people who helped us most were volunteer organizations, veterans.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Harley writers.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
I mean, people come out of the woodworks to really
support you.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
It did not come from.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Our government officials in the beginning, minus the military. I
love the military. The Marine Corps has been very supportive
to us, and I want to acknowledge that. But so
far as government officials, it was crickets until we started really,
you know, making some waves.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Were you there in Delaware when the bodies were returned?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (08:25):
What was that?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Like?
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I'm not military. My kids are, but I'm not.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
I've never been under secured, tower guards and things like that.
It was something I can explain, and I hope nobody
listening or you know, I don't wish the experience on anybody.
The experience meeting President Biden was an eye opening one
for me because I wanted to believe the best of
(08:54):
that situation, and meeting him kind.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Of shattered that.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Why was that.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
This was three years.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Ago and he didn't seem altogether aware of his surroundings.
He repeated the same thing to the two families that
were close enough for me to hear that he said
to us, it seemed like he was a well meaning
elderly man, but not somebody who should be commander in chief.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
When President Biden called the withdrawal from Afghanistan an extraordinary
success and went on to say, quote, the extraordinary success
of this mission was due to the incredible skill, bravery,
and selfless courage of the United States military and our
diplomats and intelligence professionals. It seems to me from your standpoint,
(10:06):
how can you describe losing thirteen Americans as an extraordinary success?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Exactly? And not only that, but the supplies left behind.
We saw the Taliban's celebratory parade with all of our
equipment that they to.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
This day deny was left behind, the.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Other Americans that were left behind, the Allied partners that
were left behind, the people we brought over that weren't
vetted every part of it. I can't, and we've asked
please meet with us and explain, give us some details
of how you can call this a success. I only
know my perspective. Please tell me how it could have
been a success from your perspective. And we've just never
(10:42):
had a reply.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I'm very confused by that because there's been three years
now and the Biden Harris administration has not had you
to the White House.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Nothing, zero crickets.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
The first thing we've had is the post from Vice
President Harris a day after the anniversar this last week
when she criticized former President Trump for being at Arlington
with us. That's the first public acknowledgement or private first
time in three years.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yes, sir, that's frankly so surprising to me. I think
most presidents would have reached out personally to each family.
I think presidents usually feel personally responsible for the young
men and women they order into combat. Lincoln wrote letters,
and you can imagine in the Civil Wars handwriting losing
(11:32):
thousands of people. But he had a desperate sense of
personal responsibility for him. I'm truly surprised that Biden and
Harris have not, because it was so easy to have
had you all in for coffee, to have sent you letters,
to do something to indicate the loss that you have
for the nation. I mean, that's what makes gold Star
(11:54):
families different, is it You've lost loved ones who are
in the process of serving the country. And I'm curious
because I gather that almost from the beginning that Trump's
reaction has been very different from the Biden Harris reaction.
How would you describe that difference?
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Like night and day, we didn't reach out to former
President Trump to meet with us. He heard about our
reaching out to the White House. After the withdrawal was
called a success. We reached out and asked for a
meeting for them to explain to us how they could
call it a success. We heard nothing back, and when
he heard that we didn't hear anything back, he said, well,
(12:36):
do you want to come and meet with me in Bedminster?
And we accepted that invitation. You know, when we considered it,
some of us were a little nervous, you know, it
was unexpected, and we said, well, what are the parameters?
And he said, I don't have any what are your parameters?
Speaker 3 (12:54):
And so that's the difference.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
What was that visit like, I mean, was it just
pro form or did they actually pay attention?
Speaker 2 (13:02):
He paid attention. We were scheduled to be there for
only an hour or less. Our expectations were just to meet,
say hello and maybe let him know some stories of
our loved ones, but we ended up spending hours with him.
When he walked in the room, he knew our hero's names,
(13:22):
their stories, he knew rank nicknames. He took the time
to get to know them before he came into that space.
And that so speaks, I think, to what he brings
to his values. Our service members, these young men and women.
The oldest one Hoover, was thirty one. All the rest
(13:45):
were under twenty three. They had their entire lives in
front of them and they were serving our country, and
they deserve respect and honor, and while they get that
from their families and their communities, we're not getting that
from our current administration.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Now, all of this became, i guess, much more public
and much more relevant than last week with the visit
to Arlington, which, when I first saw it live that
day Clys than I were watching it that morning, looked
to me like an appropriate presidential thing to do. And
then of course the news media, which is trying to
(14:21):
protect Harris and attack Trump every chance they get, promptly
fixated on this one employee and whether or not it
was all appropriate, and it suddenly became an excuse to
attack Trump. And then the gold Star family spoke out
pretty aggressively in defense of him. Can you walk us
through from your perspective, was he invited? Is it something
(14:45):
you wanted? What's your reaction to the whole thing?
Speaker 2 (14:49):
It's shocking, and it really does kind of go back
to that point of they will stop at nothing, and
we do feel attacked. The third year anniversary was coming up,
and the WHO family has led the charge for us
in laying a wreath on the tomb of the Unknown
Soldier on the day of their deaths, and so we
take part in that also and have done that for
(15:11):
the past three years with them and also with Brian
Canos and his family. And this year the Hoovers reached
out and invited President Trump to participate, and once those
communications started happening, we enthusiastically agreed. Again with this circumstance,
we did invite the White House and I have receipts
(15:33):
for that. Senator Cox sent the letter for us. It
was a very well written and respectful letter, and we
have not heard back from even that. Instead, we got
criticized on social media.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
What even now you haven't heard back.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
No, still today have not heard a word. But the
day the event was beautiful. President Trump, I don't think
he said more than a dozen words. He listened to
our family members talk about our loved ones. He visited
with a wounded many of the wounded warriors from the
(16:10):
Abby Gate exit. He spent time with them, and it
was very valuable for all of us. And we asked
for pictures. And it's hard to explain, and I get
that it may be difficult for some people to understand,
but this is where we go to celebrate my daughter
in law now and we don't get to have her
over for celebrations. We go to the cemetery, and it
(16:32):
is an unfortunate reality, but it is our reality.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
From your perspective. Trump did what he'd been asked to do,
and he did it in a respectful presidential way, and
then he gets attacked by Harris and the media. Then
I think they were shocked because you all collectively came
back and corrected the record to their great discredit. I
(16:56):
think it's amazing. So now one of the most interesting
project you all have been doing. What led you to
become involved in culture war? The deadly consequences of a
World War machine? The idea of putting this movie together
is I think really important.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Yeah, it's not in my usual wheelhouse.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
I'm not a political person in any nature, you know, normally, Well.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Wait a second, you make me embarrassed. I should have
asked you, what is your wheelhouse?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
I'm a real estate agent and a contractor. I flip houses.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Yes, what area do you do you market in?
Speaker 3 (17:33):
I'm in Virginia.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Okay, So anybody looking for a house in Virginia, if
they look up Christy Chamblin, you'll be glad to talk.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
To absolutely in Stafford right outside the military base.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
We might as well turn this into a commercial for
your business while we're chatting.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
But that explains why you're so outgoing. I mean, you
have a great personality. I suspect you do very well
getting people into So to go back to the film,
we'll go to this other wheelhouse. Now, what made you
decide to be part of the film.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Once we started to learn these things that I've learned,
And it only happened because I was trying to find
out how and why my daughter in law was killed.
Meeting politicians going to Washington, I would show up at
hearings that were publicly announced. I sat behind Blinken when
he told everybody.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
That it was a success.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Seeing what is happening there shocked me. And there are
people who do care, and I will say most of
them were uniform before they started their career as a politician.
But you know, there's a lot of people who care,
but a large majority when I would go and meet
with them, some of them didn't know the details.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Of the Afghanistan exit.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Politicians who are in a place to make policy.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
And are paid a whole heck of a lot.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Of taxpayer money to do it, didn't know the circumstances
of my daughter in law's death, and that was shocking
to me. And the more we kind of looked at it,
and the more we found out how.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
This evacuation really did crumble. Change has to be made.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
That's what motivated me to take part in this is
we have to have change. I can't sit by and
watch another evacuation happen where Americans are going to welcome
their service members home in coffins.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
It's unacceptable.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Christy, what was it like from being a realtor selling
houses in northern Virginia to suddenly speak at the Republican
National Convention in front of thousands of people and a
national audience.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
It was surreal.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
When we got up on the stage, I had that
moment where I couldn't figure out if the stage was shaking,
but it was me shaking. But what I learned from
that is, honestly, when the crowd started chanting back our
children's names, it was the feeling like the nation was
behind us, and we haven't got that before. And I
(20:03):
truly believe that it is because you know, President Biden
and Vice President Harris have refused to acknowledge our heroes
and we haven't had that feeling of Holy Cow. The
nation loves our heroes who died for them, and it
was amazing. I didn't expect that our intention in being
(20:24):
there was to bring focus back to our kids and
our military. And we know that President Trump supports our military,
and it's evidence to me by the fact that he
meets with us and talks with us and listens about
our heroes.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Chris and I were there that night, and it was
very compelling and very emotional. I'm curious, though, was any
of the gold Star families invited to the Democratic Convention.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
No?
Speaker 1 (20:48):
No, if you think about it, I mean, this really
goes way beyond partisanship. I mean, this is about patriotism.
It's about the nation, it's about the military service, and
it's trying the one party now has sort of cut
itself off and can't imagine honoring the people who risk
their lives for the country. But I'm delighted you were there.
(21:10):
I can assure you from our personal experience. Nicholas and
I thought you all collectively were very effective and very
powerful and very emotional. It was one of the high
points of the entire convention.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Oh thank you.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Hearing our kids names chanted back was a high point
for us.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
My dad spent twenty six years in the infantry. I
grew up as an army bred. It is sort of
staggering to me how shallow and unfeeling the whole Afghan
withdrawal was. I mean, we were abandoning millions of peoplehood
counted in US, thousands of people who'd actively helped us,
and we're going to be targeted by the Taliban. As
(22:05):
you point out, we left without really briefing allies, and
we left in such a chaotic way that it is
one of the low points in American military history. And
as a part of that process, we had thirteen young
men and women get killed who they should be alive today,
They should be having families, enjoying life. So in that sense,
I think this whole concept of that there are deadly consequences,
(22:29):
you can have a Pentagon that is woke with no cost,
because the purpose of a pentagon is to be in
a very very dangerous world and to deal with people
who are deeply opposed to us and would like to
kill us. What you're doing here is important now. The
Culture War is a film is available and is streaming,
so people can go to it, and we're going to
(22:51):
have it on our show page so people can find it.
Tell me why you think that everyone should see culture.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
War first and foremost so they can become familiar with
the Afghanistan exit. It really is laid out very well
how it failed, and it was set up for failure
by President Biden and Vice President Harris.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
I'm sad to say, but they clearly lay that out.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Our congressmen give their side of the story from the
DC policymaker perspective, and we need that if we're going
to make any change. People need to watch this so
that they can reflect it in their votes. To be honest,
we need this country back, and President Trump's the best
way we can do that.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
I think it's very important. I'm very impressed that the
gold Star families seem to have come together as a
group that they have in a sense, turned the tragedy
of the young people they lost into an opportunity to
help the country and extend the duty, if you will,
(23:59):
of their loved ones by doing things. And I think
this is a further step in that direction. And that's
why I really wanted to have you share with us
and talk with us, because you are a witness to
history in a way that very few people are, and
you have a moral and emotional commitment that people have
(24:22):
to honor. And I think it's important that the gold
Star families were prepared to continue as patriots, to be
very active citizens. And in that sense, Christie, I want
to thank you, and through you, I hope you'll share
with all the other Ghostar families my personal appreciation as
a former Speaker of the House and as I said,
(24:43):
as an army brat who grew up in the military,
I think that what you all have collectively done is important,
will make a difference, and is a real contribution to
getting America back on track. And I want to thank
you for joining me and anything I can do to
be of help to you or to any of the
(25:03):
GoldStar families, I hope you'll feel very free to call
on me, and I'll do all I can to be helpful.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. I
appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Thank you to my guests, Christy, Shandlin. You can get
a link to the new film Culture War on our
show page at newsworld dot com. News World is produced
by GINGRIDH three sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is
Guernsey Sloan. Our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for
the show was created by Steve Penley. Special thanks to
(25:40):
the team at gingbrigh three sixty. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld,
I hope you'll go to Apple Podcast and both rate
us with five stars and give us a review so
others can learn what it's all about. Right now, listeners
of neut World concern up for my three free weekly
columns at gingrichsthree sixty dot com. Slash his letter, I'm
(26:01):
Newt Gingrich. This is Newt's World.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
M
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